Ah Summer... Part 2

There's a thin line between love and hate. It was May the first time I heard La Cucaracha pumping through the streets this year. An unseasonably cold, cloudy day. Not your typical Cucaracha kinda day. It's difficult to describe the cocktail of emotions I felt in that moment: Anger, fear, lust, hatred... I scrambled to the front window to confirm the obvious. And in my mind, I waved my fist. When I was a kid, the ice cream guys were hunky, shirtless teenagers in tight cut-offs who rode bikes with freezers soldered to the front end. Oo la la. They had dark tans, money belts, freedom... and they had ice cream. Now I was a pretty private kid but, overcome by emotion, I confessed to my mother that I would one day marry a DickeeDee. These days, ice cream sales have gone a little more corporate. It's now a camper van (heh?) that rolls by echoing robotic music, hand claps and literally calls out to kids. Total pediphilemobile. As a parent, I now hate the ice cream man. WHY are they combing the streets, interrupting our bed-time stories and our nourishing dinners, turning innocent children into intolerable whiners? I used to want to marry a DickeeDee. And now I want to kill him. A natural progression?

The truth about "Sunscream"

That's what my kids call it...they really think it's sunscream.  hee hee.  Now, rather than tell you what I know about how to keep our kids safe in the sun (besides the obvious long sleeves and pants and hats and staying in the basement playing wii unless it's raining), I want to ask YOU what you know about sunscreen.  Please send me your wisdom.  I'm confused by 'all natural' 'kid friendly' 'waterproof' 'no tears' and all that.  Does it have to be opaque with zinc and aluminum in it to work?  Does everything except organic stuff fill our kids pores with toxins?  And don't we want them to have a little Vitamin D?  Dermatologists are saying that even getting a tan is the body desperately defending itself from UV harm.  Aw, crap!  Seems to me I've heard there's more incidence of cancer because we are missing that sunshine vitamin.  I'm flustered.  Then again, I'm of the generation that slathered on baby oil and iodine...Help a girl out!

Word to Your Mother

A friend posted this article (click on actual article for easier reading).  

The funny part is I had just heard from someone, who does not have the joy/massive undertaking of children, wondering why I hadn't responded their email yet.  I think they were feeling a little ignored...I shot back a slightly hysterical and over-informative list of obstacles that preclude even reading emails and then wondered if I shouldn't have clicked "Send".  Then I tripped on this article and laughed my butt clear off.   Hope you like it too.

Ah, summer...

Ah, summer... Time to bare it all. And discuss it with your children. Mini Me: "Are those your veins??" Me: "They're called Spider veins. Lots of people get them when they're older." Mini Me: (With an exhilarated sigh) "I can't WAIT to see where I get them!" ...And if you're really lucky you'll get crows feet, corns and pee your pants in public! Is this why it's 'no minis over 30'?