A Night of Firsts – A Parenting Moment

When you become a parent, you find yourself celebrating a lot of firsts.  First tooth, first word, first steps and the first day of school.  We try to prepare our children for the firsts in life.  Maybe we should focus on preparing ourselves as well.

Two major firsts took place in our family this weekend.  Princess had her first date which coincided with her first prom.  Good times!

Lost in the excitement of finding the perfect shoes and getting a mother-daughter mani and pedi was the fact that this was a first for me too.  My baby is careening toward adulthood at an alarming pace.

After all the pictures had been taken on Saturday, I stood there and watched my daughter.  The little chubby cheeked toddler has grown into a beautiful young lady.  I hugged her and told her to have fun.  I released Princess to  her date.  She smiled and waved.  Then she was gone to experience a new adventure.

I was left with conflicting emotions.  A part of me was happy that my daughter reached this milestone even as the mother in me mourned the little girl who only lives on now in memories and old photographs.

Yes, parenting is a moment of firsts.  I’ll continue to help prepare my kids.  And take lots of pictures.

Which parenting “firsts” have you recently gone through?

NBA Playoffs Preview – Lakers Edition

I’m a Lakers fan from way back.  I got my start watching Lakers games with my dad in the 80’s.  Magic Johnson was my favorite player.  I’ve been there through the good times (Kobe/Shaq 3 peat) and the bad (Kwame Brown and Smush Parker).  Last year was a disappointment as the Lakers got swept in the second round against Dallas.  Things this year looked promising despite a new coach (Mike Brown – Why?) and some curious signings/trades (Lamar Odom-bad, Ramon Sessions-good).

And then Metta World Peace unleashed an elbow.  The player formerly known as Ron Artest has a reputation.  If you are an NBA sports fan, you know the history.  I wasn’t happy when the Lakers signed him.  We had just won a championship with Trevor Ariza and I didn’t see a reason to change that.  But Ron Artest came in and kept the crazy at bay.  He hit some big shots and we won another championship.  All was right in the world.

Fast forward to today.  Metta will be suspended for seven games.  This leads into the playoffs where the Lakers will face either Denver or Dallas.  A challenging post season just turned into mission impossible with LA’s weak bench.  Kobe, Bynum and Gasol will have to play to their highest levels just to get out of the first round.  Now it’s hard for me to see how my team can make it to the Finals.

I am a Lakers fan.  Ride or die with the purple and gold!  This post season should be entertaining.  And if my Lakers don’t make it I will still watch.  There are a lot of good teams in the NBA.  Whoever wins will deserve the trophy.  Just please don’t let it be the Miami Heat.

Any Finals predictions?  What’s your favorite team?

Getting Your Hustle On

 

In today’s economy, a lot of people have to work two jobs to make ends meet.  I am thinking about starting a small business on the side to compliment my full-time gig.  The only problem is, would I have enough time to devote to the business and continue with my writing at the same time.

Anybody out there working more than one job?  How do you make time?

Fake Mommy Wars: What We Moms REALLY Want

Here is a follow up to my post earlier today about the “mommy wars” from the website, My Brown Baby.  This is the quote that resonated with me:

 But are we women really this politically naïve that we’d toss our valuable vote into the ring of a man who neither understands nor gives two crap-filled diapers about what mothers want? What mothers need? Are we really so politically stupid that we’d let this man, his rich wife and their equally rich-and-out-of-touch cronies distract us from the real issues while we bicker and get all emo over who works harder—women who work solely in the home vs. women who hold down full-time jobs outside the home? When, exactly, do we mothers come together and demand politicians—whether Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, black or white—get down to the real issues that affect us mothers? When do we stop arguing over stupid s**** and start exercising our political might to affect real change?

via Millionaire Ann Romney and the Fake Mommy Wars: What We Moms REALLY Want.

The “Mommy Wars” Don’t Exist

Do we really need this?

By now everyone has heard about Hillary Rosen and the statement she made to Anderson Cooper on his talk show.  As a reminder, here is what she said,

“What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country saying: ‘Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues. And when I listen to my wife, that’s what I’m hearing.  Guess what?  His wife has actually never worked a day in her life.”

And everyone lost their minds.  It didn’t seem to matter that Hillary was talking about Mitt Romney’s economic policies.  No, what people heard was an attack on stay-at-home moms.  Please, stop.

By making this non issue a major news worthy debate, Republican politicans are pulling the old divide and conquer routine.  I believe there is no such thing as the “mommy wars” and here’s why.  Some mothers work outside of the home.  Some work at home.  Whether that decision is make by choice or circumstance, all mothers want the same thing.  We want our families to be safe.  We want access to quality health care (including reproductive health care) and good schools.  We want safe neighborhoods.  And while women are not some monolithic interest group, all mothers make decisions every day that they feel benefit their children.  I don’t think our beef is with each other.

 

There is no such thing as the “mommy wars”.  But there is a war on women.  It seems as if some men in this country want to roll back the clock.  Why are they questioning a woman’s right to affordable health care including contraception, abortion and equal pay for the same job?  Why are issues that were decided years ago in some cases up for debate?  We, as women, need to stay focused on that.

Mary J Blige Burger King Commerical is Racist?

So, everyone is upset about a Mary J Blige commercial for Burger King?  Mary singing about chicken wraps is supposed to be racist?  Huh?  Have we as a society thrown around the word “racist” so much that we have forgotten the definition?

This isn’t racist.  This is just a cheesy commercial by the Queen of R&B drama.  I like chicken.  A lot of my friends like chicken.  Who doesn’t like chicken?  Take it easy, people.  See for yourself.

 

Do you think this is racist?  Please explain why.