Planning

16 May

last minute

Before you were born, Mommy used to live her life with as much spontaneity as possible. This meant only buying disposable (read: IKEA) furniture, never owning a plant, and booking 99% of her travel on lastminutevacations.com.  Now Mommy has heart palpitations if the entire family’s Christmas flights aren’t booked by June. It’s not just travel that now requires an Excel workbook. Even a trip to the park demands hours of preparation. Mommy doesn’t understand why such a tiny little person requires SO much stuff to travel two blocks. After running up and down the stairs for an hour collecting your diapers, wipes, snacks, thermos, bib, sunscreen, clothes, extra clothes, hat, sunglasses, shoes and sand toys from 26 different areas in the house, Mommy finally understands why all parents eventually bite the bullet and build Little Tikes play structures/eyesores in their own backyards. Occasionally Mommy lives on the edge and takes you somewhere without a diaper bag. Unfortunately, this is akin to investing one’s life savings in a Ponzi scheme, except riskier.

DRINK: Manhattan. You can no longer fly there on a moment’s notice, but at least you can enjoy this classic cocktail without leaving home! 1.5 oz rye whiskey, 0.5 oz sweet vermouth, 2 dashes bitters, 1 cherry. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all of the ingredients and a few ice cubes to a cocktail shaker and stir. Gently shake and strain into a chilled martini glass, garnished with a cherry.

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The Terrible Twos

14 May

Little_DevilEverybody is having a pleasant time at The Home Depot until we have to do something like not buy you a table saw and then it’s HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A TWO YEAR OLD SCORNED. WATCH DEAR MOMMY AS I SCREAM BLOODY MURDER AND DEMAND SATISFACTION. OH THIS PUBLIC SHAMING ISN’T WORKING AND YOU STILL WON’T LET ME PLAY WITH A DEATH TRAP? WATCH AS I HURL MYSELF ON THE GROUND AND MY FACE GOES RED AND TEARS STREAM DOWN AND SNOT FLIES EVERYWHERE AND STRANGERS JUDGE YOUR PARENTING OUT LOUD. YOU CAN TRY TO GENTLY COAX ME OUT OF THIS BLIND RAGE BUT EVENTUALLY I WILL BARF ON YOU. EVEN THOUGH YOU SWORE YOU WOULD NEVER DO THIS YOU BRIBE ME WITH CANDY WHICH LEADS TO MORE JUDGEMENT FROM THE CASHIER AND AN EPIC SUGAR CRASH WHEN WE GET HOME. BA HA HA HA HA HA! Mommy has been coping with the stress of The Terrible Twos by doing calming yoga and journaling nightly. Just kidding, she’s having a drink.

DRINK:  The Ginger Peachy. One shot of peach schnapps for your nerves served on ice with gingerale to settle your stomach.  Have two and it won’t be so terrible.

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Exploding Closets

9 May

nothingtowear

Every inch of storage in Mommy’s house is bursting at the seams. Mommy has stopped inviting people over because she fears an innocent play date will turn into a hoarding intervention before your impressionable young eyes. Back when they were searching for real estate, Mommy and Daddy failed to account for the 500 square feet in additional storage they’d one day require for the baby gear, clothing and toys you’d outgrow before your second birthday. And Mommy’s convinced that the day she trucks it all to Goodwill will be the same day she discovers she’s pregnant with baby #2. And who knew Mommy’s wardrobe would one day include pre-baby wear, maternity wear, maternity-leave wear, back-to-work wear, and replacement wear for all her baby-stained wear?  To be fair, you’re not totally to blame for Mommy’s storage woes. At some point, Mommy may want to consider parting ways with her teenage diaries, a decade’s worth of stolen office supplies, and her collection of Cindy Crawford VHS workout tapes. And it’s not like Daddy’s tacky lamp collection, bench press and Kegerator could be seamlessly incorporated into the living room décor when his Man Cave was dismantled to create your playroom.

DRINK: The Pack Rat. 2 oz vodka, 5 oz grapefruit juice. Fill a cocktail glass with ice and pour in vodka and grapefruit juice. Stir well. Serve one to Daddy before you gently suggest that he donate his tabletop Air Hockey game to charity.

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No more eff bombs

7 May

27468496Mommy wishes she was able to fully max out her vocabulary to appropriately colour how much being bashed in the head by a Mega Block REALLY FUCKING HURTS. But now that you’re repeating everything she says, she’s got to pull back the profanity full stop, even when it’s super warranted like when she can’t find her Starbucks card or Daddy forgets to put the seat down. Mommy now finds herself spelling out words at work, this meeting about a meeting is b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t. However, it’s not just Mommy’s potty mouth that needs a bar of Ivory soap. On the last car ride, Mommy cranked the Kiss FM and thought it was cute how you were rocking out along with her. Until you announced your arrival at Nana’s house by yelling “It’s Britney, bitch.”

DRINK:  The Bleeped Out.  1oz Limoncello, 1oz vodka, teaspoon of sugar, a few raspberries and a basil leaf. Combine all ingredients in a highball glass and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes or more. Add ice cubes and top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a slice of lemon, which you may need to suck on to stop you from saying holy fucking shit this is delicious.

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Spring

2 May
flickr/Robert S. Donovan

flickr/Robert S. Donovan

Spring is in full bloom! Which means Mommy’s supposed to spend her boatloads of free time either cleaning, tackling her tax return, or googling “What does aerate your lawn even mean?”

DRINK: Spring Fever. Throw your to-do list to the Spring breeze this weekend and enjoy this refreshing, seasonally inspired cocktail on a sun-drenched patio. You deserve it! In a mixing glass, muddle 2 strawberries, 1 tablespoon (chopped) basil and 2 tsp sugar. Add 1.5 oz gin and 1 oz fresh lemon juice. Shake vigorously. Transfer to an ice-filled highball glass, top with club soda and garnish with a strawberry. Note: Does not pair well with TurboTax.

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The potty

29 Apr

16430_lgMommy heard urban legends about children who self-potty trained and actually believed them. According to a woman she met once in a park for eleven minutes, if she put a Cheer for Me! Potty out and talked positively about your bowel movements you would magical get the hang of numbers one through two. Tomes like “My Potty and Me”, “The Harlem Potty Shake,” and “Stop this Crap and Crap in the Toilet Already” now adorn your bookshelf but it’s like you’re not invested in the protagonist struggle at all. What you are really good at is explaining that you have, in fact, shit your pants. Usually loudly in public and nowhere near a change table, something to the effect of “ATTENTION SHOPPERS. I HAVE DEFECATED. PLEASE GIVE MY MOMMY LOOKS AS DIRTY AS THE CURRENT STATE OF MY PULL UPS. THANK YOU.”  As you climb the upper echelon of diaper sizes, and prices, Mommy is actually considering the hippie bare-bottom method and letting you run around naked. She just needs to do a quick cost analysis on re-carpeting her entire house vs. Pamper Points. Uh oh, you’re doing the squat and smile in aisle four. Mommy knows what this means: It’s my potty and I’ll cry if I want to. Mommy is convinced that by the time you get the hang of potty training, she will probably be in Depends. Oh the irony.

DRINK: The Potty Mouth. 1oz white rum, 0.5oz brandy, 0.5 oz Amaretto. Shake over ice with orange juice and a squeeze of fresh lemon and strain into a glass. Garnish with sprig of fresh mint under your nose.

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Her caffeine addiction

28 Apr
Flickr / thepinkpeppercorn

Flickr / thepinkpeppercorn

New motherhood gave Mommy two gifts: a beautiful baby and a caffeine addiction, both with remarkable headache-inducing and bank account-depleting powers. Good thing Mommy discovered the perfect headache remedy: more caffeine! Mommy’s Starbucks habit recently escalated to a point where impulse buying a $300 espresso machine on eBay was actually a financially responsible move. In theory. Unfortunately, the machine is so complicated that Mommy can’t operate it until after she’s had caffeine. Which means the Delonghi is now collecting dust on (80% of) her kitchen counter. One day Mommy will be on trend and give up caffeine completely, along with gluten, dairy and American Idol. Unfortunately this will also turn her into the most miserable human being on earth. Like you, caffeine is something Mommy just can’t imagine her life without.

DRINK: Wake-up Call. 2 shots espresso, ¼ cup almond butter, 1 ripe banana, 1 cup ice. Combine ingredients in a blender and enjoy this protein and caffeine-packed breakfast smoothie. If kicking your java habit is not in the cards this year, at least consider trading up from Randy Jackson to Adam Levine.

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