Well, today has been some kind of day for this mom let me tell you.
For starters, I took my youngest son, Joseph, to a pediatric neurologist to get his head checked – for MIGRAINES. The poor guy, he is only 11 years old and he has inherited his mother’s head problems!! He has had headaches on and off for the past two years, however, they have gotten worse – much worse. So, it was time to see the doc about it all. Joseph was very comfortable with the physician, and so was I, and we now have a LOG to keep track of all J’s headaches and everything he ate and did the day he got the headache….should be interesting – but we need to track down the triggers so J can stop kneeling down at the toilet feeling like his insides are going to come gushing out and the throbbing pain behind his eyes goes away! It is not a good feeling, I know. So, we have a plan and Joseph is happy and so is his mama…
After being gone today from 11am to 4pm, it was time to prepare for a phone chat (Mom Writer’s Talk Radio interview) with actress and mom writer Brenda Strong!!! OMG!! I was so happy and nervous at the same time. I just want to say that Brenda (who is on the TV series Desperate Housewives and was in the movie The Deep End of the Ocean, and in gobs of other movies and TV shows) is one amazing lady!! She was so easy to talk with and fun and so down-to-earth – Please check out this special Mother’s Day show with Brenda Strong and Jackie Mitchard the week of May 12th at Mom Writer’s Talk Radio www.momwriterstalkradio.com :)
Posted by: Paula on April 27th, 2006 | No Comments »
Bye-Bye Boardroom: Confessions From A New Breed Of Stay At Home Moms
By Rachel Hamman
Capital Books, 2006; $16.95
THE AUTHOR
Rachel Hamman is not your ordinary soccer mom. She has been named one of the Most Remarkable Women by Barbara Walter
Posted by: Paula on April 22nd, 2006 | No Comments »
First let’s chat about the tooth extraction for my 14 year old son, Phillip. I could tell the kid was nervous. Who wouldn’t be, he’s never had that done before, so he was asking lots of questions and getting blotchy red like he does when he is nervous. We were told no eating or drinking in the morning as he was getting Novacain and the laughing gas – Laughing gas? Just the sound of it makes me want to run and hide. So, the poor kid gets up in the morning and can’t eat. His appointment wasn’t until 12 noon. So, I say to him while we are in the waitng room and he is red blotchy and asking question after question – Are you hungry Phillip (as I see from my watch that we have been waiting for over an hour and it is 1:15pm)? He looks at me and says, NO. Butterflies in the stomach – poor soul. How can he be a 14 year old growing boy and not be starving without food by 1:15pm?!
So, finally, his name is called, he enters the room like a real trooper, we all chat, I sign forms – Forms that sound like normal attorney bullshit forms to cover their ass of course. Then it’s time for mom to exit the room….I give Phillip’s arm a squeeze and say, see ya in a little while. He doesn’t make eye contact and mumbles, OK.
And out to the waiting room I go.
No sooner do I get my butt cozy in a chair and pop open my book, the nurse comes in calling my name – Huh? That’s it? He’s had the laughing gas, the Novacain shot AND the tooth extracted already? I look at my watch – all of 3 1/2 minutes for an hour and a half wait?!!
Yep.
I enter the room and there he is looking sort of spacey and still blotchy with a large piece of white gauze jammed into his face. I smile at him and ask, how you doin’ sport? He mumbles with his mouth all contorted something I didn’t get, so I nod and smile and we are on our way.
Ends up we didn’t have to pay a dime – that’s right. They felt bad that we waited for so long with a 14 year old starving and blotchy, so they sent us on our way without taking a penny. I like that doctor :)
Ah, what else is new in the past several days….Oh yea. Have you ever heard of Podshow- podcast network? If not you should go check it out. I was approached by Podshow to join their network and have my podcast, Mom Writer’s Talk Radio on their site – can you freekin’ believe that?!! We chatted over the phone and they have sent us a contract – hell yeah, and it is a decent one at that :) So, pretty soon you shall see and hear us at www.podshow.com. How cool is that?!!
Posted by: Paula on April 21st, 2006 | No Comments »
So…hope everyone had a relaxing Easter weekend. I worked Saturday but took the whole day off Sunday! That is big for me. I enjoyed the day with my gang and pigged out for dinner on our pig :) We called family and friends far away and it was great to talk with them.
Get this – on Saturday I worked on preparing questions for my radio show as we are interviewing an awesome and very big author – are you ready? Jacquelyn Mitchard is going to be a guest on Mom Writer’s Talk Radio the week of Mother’s Day, can you believe it?!!!!! Jackie is a doll and so sweet to work with – such a giving person. She has seven children and is such an incredibly beautiful writer. I have read several of her books (and seen the movie The Deep End of the Ocean) and I just got her new book, Cage of Stars which I am SO ready to dive into!!! Be sure to come listen in the week of May 12th to hear Bestselling author, Jacquelyn Mitchard chat with Alana and I here at www.momwriterstalkradio.com. AND…I have my fingers, eyes and toes crossed on this one – my agent is trying to get either Michelle Pfeiffer or Brenda Strong on the show!!!! Wouldn’t that be grand.
Well, my 14 year old son, Phillip is in NYC for the next couple of days…he went with the school and is going to have a fantastic time of course, it’s New York City!!! I’m sort of jealous – I would love to have gone along however, NO can do. Oh well, as I was hugging his neck this morning before he left I told him to be sure and take some fun pics to bring back home – Oh, and they are going to see Phantom of the Opera!! If you have never seen this it is a must! I was lucky enough to see it in NYC 5 years ago with my best frend from NY for my birthday and it is an incredible show.
So, Phillip, mom will be holding down the fort here until your return (I miss you Phil)…
Ok, I guess I should stop talking and go get some dinner on the table – that is what is so nice about the holidays…LEFTOVERS!
Chow.
Posted by: Paula on April 17th, 2006 | 1 Comment »
Am I getting old?
Nah!!! Some days I just feel like I am, but, I see my children getting bigger and older, which means I am getting older too. The hubby says no worries Paula, you are still 29…he knows the right thing to say. Well, at least my hair is still its natural color.
My oldest son, Tony, is about to end his first year of college already. Where the hell did his first year go? He will be 19 before I know it…Nineteen!!
My next son, Nick, is 17 and graduating high school in a month or so and then after summer he is off to college which is over 3 hours away…how will that one ever manage without me?
Phillip, son number three, (14) is entering high school in the fall. Seems as though he was just a chubby little tike, smiling and puking all the time (one of his all time favs) and now he is entering 9th grade!
My fourth son, Joseph, just turned 11 and will be going into middle school next year – good God, middle school?! Seems we were just doing the potty training and teaching him how to tie his shoes…now this kid is doing everything – he plays all sports, does gymnastics, can play the piano, guitar and the drums, he loves to write stories and can create the most amazing drawings. We went for a conference the other day to chat with his 5th grade teacher and we were surprised when he recommended "Julliard" for Joseph. Swell guy. Maybe Joseph will make it to Julliard some day, I have no doubt that he will.
Okay, my fifth child, Anna Grace is 4 now. She will be driving before I know it, the way time is slipping away. And by the time Anna is driving, I will need to color my hair!
Ok, ok, I need to snap out of it and stop being so depressing already. This is Easter weekend and we are planning to devour one of our own home grown hams and eat all of our own eggs (that’s right from our own piggies and chicks), there’s nothing better.
Happy Easter to all!
Posted by: Paula on April 14th, 2006 | No Comments »
Yes indeedy, I have had quite the week of ups and downs. However, that’s the way life goes, right? One day I am reading a contract sent to me from a NYC literary agent who loves my book idea (Big Cheese Smile :) and the next day I am getting a "NO Thank You" message from a hot celebrity’s manager/agent to be a part of one of my upcoming books (Sob Sob). Oh well, I received some awesome news the other day – My online literary magazine for mom writers and authors was named one of the "Best Sites for Writers" by Writer’s Digest Magazine which you can read in their May 2006 issue on page 31….can you freekin believe that?!!!!
So, I got my haircut today and I soooo needed one. My last haircut (this is gonna be gross) was in December of 2005!!! I told you it was gross. Four months! I had so many deadends and so much build-up in my hair I was embarrassed for my beautician to wash my hair – and wash it she did….twice – and a major conditioning, thank God. Then she began cutting, and cutting and cutting.
I feel much better now with the new do.
What else is new —– oh, my radio show is going fantastic!! Alana (my fabulous co-host) and I have some really exciting and super plans coming up for the show, so check it out as you don’t want to miss a show!
Better run, I need to get my two younger guys to their bass guitar and drum lessons so they can MAKE NOISE, like boys like to do…
Posted by: Paula on April 12th, 2006 | No Comments »
is now all shiny.
The poor gal needed some major dental work and today was the day. We left this morning with our 4 year old Anna and drove an hour and 20 minutes to the hospital arriving at 10:45am. We were so proud of her, she was such a trooper. After prepping and drinking the loopey sedative drink, within 15 minutes our daughter was seeing two moms and two dads (loopey loopey). Then she was out – we kissed her and we were sent to the waiting area for the next few hours. The poor kid needed 5 crowns, 3 pulpotomies, 2 fillings and a cleaning…Yikes.
The time came when the surgery was over and the doctor came to chat with us – Phew, relief. All went well. It was time to go to recovery….
Back to loopey space cadet – Yay! She was awake and her mouth was shining, perfect and beautiful…and no more bad breath :)
Thank you Dr. Diner.
Posted by: Paula on April 7th, 2006 | No Comments »
I am SO happy and excited to be a part of the Mom Writer’s Talk Radio Blog Tour. MWTR is the weekly radio show I host with Alana Morales.
This tour stop features author Jean Hanff Korelitz. Her book is now available in trade paperback entitled, The White Rose (A Miramax Books Trade Paperback; January 2006; $13.95). It is a sophisticated, intelligent, and immensely appealing romantic comedy: a novel that proves Korelitz to be a writer with a keen understanding of modern mores and manners, a tender approach to love – and great comic timing.
About the book:
THE WHITE ROSE is set in Manhattan, where Marian Kahn has a full and comfortable life. At 48, she is long married and living on park Avenue, and a tenured professor of history at Columbia, not to mention a very successful author (with boxes of reader fan mail to prove it). Yet she risks everything when she falls passionately in love with Oliver, the 20-something son of her oldest friend and the owner of a chic flower shop in the Village – The White Rose. Their affair is crazy and Marian knows it, but she can’t seem to find her way out of it, and she isn’t sure she wants to.
Enter Barton, Marian’s snobbish cousin, and Sophie, an heiress and a student in Marian’s department, whom he is engaged to marry. It’s a truly unlikely match and one that Sophie begins to question when she meets Oliver, who personally delivers flowers to her door (ordered by Barton). As the relationships between these four become increasingly entangled, the effects are both comic and tender, and the lesson – that love is seldom straightforward, but always a gift – is applicable to all.
Ever since she first saw Richard Strauss’s opera, Der Rosenkavalier, Korelitz has ruminated on its themes of love and the passage of time, themes which, she admits, only resonate more as she ages. With THE WHITE ROSE she has cleaverly carried the opera’s preoccupations forward to a modern day setting, and produced a provacative, gratifying and entertaining novel for our times.
About the author:
Jean Hanff Korelitz is a novelist who lives in Princeton, N.J., with her husband, the Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Paul Muldoon, and their children.
Posted by: Paula on April 1st, 2006 | No Comments »