Gimme A Break

We’re hardly a month into the new school year and already my kids’ extracurricular activities are in full swing. My chauffeuring schedule is close to bursting at this point.

I can appreciate the sports practice and games but I don’t appreciate the extra bus runs these involved. I am being selfish, but just a little . It’s the short gaps between picking up one kid and dropping another off that drives me nuts.

We’re always happy though when the kids show an interest in a new sport. If your kids are into baseball, a good place to check out Baseball Gloves and other related gear is KidSportsInc.com which carries a wide range of sports gear.

What I really like about the site is that they have a replacement parts section. You know how kids are with their stuff. So as a parent, it’s a good thing to know where you can find replacements if something breaks and needs fixing.

The clearance section on the site is also good to know. Personally I try to save whenever possible when buying kiddy stuff which they will usually outgrow in no time.

I think sports enthusiasts are easy to shop for when it comes to gift ideas. Just grab their favorite sports gear and you’ll have them beaming from ear to ear.

• I bet it’s for fun
• more than a nurse’s guide to good living
• dressing up as your favorite character
• what kids want
• getting your kids to do their chores

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It’s not likely that I’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year. We almost never have. We used to go out for dinner and then when the lines got too long and the price of Valentine’s dinners hit the roof, we abandoned the idea altogether.

This year won’t be any different, I don’t think. I know it’s been said many times before that love shouldn’t be celebrated on just this one day of the year. And I tend to go with that.

Valentine’s is a fun concept, no doubt, but I’d be happy to just leave the spending to those who are new to the feverish excitement of love and are game for any excuse to swoon over each other :wink: , eh?

• what’s up on Valentine’s Day?
• Happy Father’s Day
• yay for retail therapy
• busy days!
• long weekend

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I was horrified when the red icons on my dashboard starting flashing and my air-conditioning started pumping out hot air as I was picking up the kids from school. I had no idea what was wrong!! OMG!

Then I heard a huge ugly clanking sound coming from the base of my minivan. I sped all the way home, keeping my fingers crossed that we would actually make it home before the car came apart. Horrors!

The first person I called was my mechanic. He listened calmly almost as if I was making all this up. Nah, but he’s a really nice guy and promised to send someone over immediately.

As it turned out, one of my belts had snapped. Yikes! That sounded serious. Of course I hoped it wasn’t since tomorrow is my busiest day of Mom’s taxi runs. I really can’t afford not to have my car although that would be the perfect excuse to sit home and not have to be driving all over town in this ridiculous humidity.

Luckily the two mechanics were pretty good. They even came with the right spare parts and fixed my car right on my porch without having to tow it in. Whew! Big relief!

• sloppy mechanic
• snap and crack
• Wednesdays
• 5 tips when out in the sun
• planning for next week’s lunch

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The gym is wonderfully quiet this time of year. I guess everyone’s too busy shopping and eating to be worried about exercising. Truth be told, I’ve been slacking some too myself and not been as consistent as I usually am.

But then my trusty ol’ Jiminy Cricket (i.e. my conscience) is ever vigilant and nags me if I don’t work out for at least five hours a week. So although I’m not going to the gym as often this month, I’m intensifying my workouts while I’m there.

In fact, this is the second week in a row that I’ve overdone my arm workouts. OMG, my arms are hurting like hell again now just after they recovered from last week’s workout!!

I’m usually quite careful not to bust my muscles. But this week, since the gym is so nice and quiet and there are so many machines at my disposal, I felt inspired to work harder than usual.

My arms are nicely toned now and that makes me extremely tank-top happy. Except that each time I move my arms, my muscles are screaming inside ! Ouch!!

• friendly tips from a workout fanatic
• staying fit
• neighbors, friends and moving
• have I lost weight?
• the mark of bravado

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I’ve got friends who play the stock market but pretend they don’t. Yet there’s something about the way they rush to the TV screen whenever they’re a clip about Dow Jones or the Nikkei Index, and the whispered cell phone conversations with their non-existent remisiers.

To be honest, I’m a little intrigued and quite tempted to try my hand at this game. But being someone who can’t tell the difference between a remisier and a futures broker, do you really think I should?

• hand-me-down cell phones
• compare free cell phones
• ducking the questions
• buh-bye, cell phone
• how did your child get his/her name?

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Over dinner last night, a group of us parents were joking about how many of our kids are learning to drive.

Many of the parents are already allowing their kids to drive to college despite just having gotten their spanking new drivers’ licenses. If you ask me, that’s taking too big a risk to have the kids driving on their own on major highways in rush hour traffic.

I would prefer to accompany the child while they drive for the first few month. The joke here is that we’d need to seriously consider buying life insurance if we were to do that.

• logistics brainwave
• I gotcha covered
• buying home insurance the easy way
• morning jam
• the stress of driving

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Last month, round about the time when most people had left town for the holidays, I looked out the window and saw someone scaling my neighbor’s gate. I couldn’t believe it. I could’ve sworn I saw their entire family packed into their minivan and head out of town only a couple of days before.

To be honest, I didn’t quite know what to do. Just a couple of weekends prior to this, his grown daughter had had her hand stabbed and her handbag snatched in broad daylight. The culprits didn’t get her handbag though because she fell to the ground and her handbag was tossed under her car.

After that incident, my neighbor (her father) decided to beef up security around their house by putting in extra locks. At any rate, back to my story about the guy scaling their fence.

Turned out it was my neighbor, home early from his holidays, who’d forgotten his keys. Poor man probably had so many locks installed he missed bringing some of the keys.

He should’ve just called the localized locksmith service from Basad Inc instead of trying to climb in. It’s pretty dangerous and it was dark too, and I would’ve called the police if I hadn’t recognized him from his bright yellow shirt.

• lost and found my keys
• missed
• the making of a fool
• a small price for peace of mind
• my good neighbor

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Every year at around this time, you’ll hear me talking about hibernating. I’m not Mama Bear but there’s nothing to stop me from entertaining pleasant thoughts of hibernation especially come Chinese New Year.

I really just want to curl up and be lazy and not have to do the customarily unavoidable stuff like bake cookies, entertain guests and visit relatives. Gosh, just the thought of it bores me to bit.

I know the kids enjoy the festival so I don’t have the heart to say, let’s get out of town and hide away in, say, a secluded Hilton Head rental where we won’t be swamped with entertaining.

I’m not trying to be a spoilsport. It’s just that I lead such a busy, busy life that I look upon holidays and festivals as an opportunity to kick back rather than get myself even busier, know what I mean?

• the French connection
• they came anyways
• Unitard to the rescue!
• teacher says, an hour a day
• hi-ho hi-ho, it’s back to work we go

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