Three Great Toy Finds – Thanks, Easter Bunny!

Happy Belated Easter! 

We really enjoyed Easter last week.  As is our tradition, we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had brought each child a toy, a book, and lots of candy.  He had also taken the eggs we decorated the day before out of the fridge and hidden them all over the family room.  After gorging, we headed to church, then brunch, and then naps.

Each of the toys that the Easter Bunny brought were big hits with our 5-, 3-, and 1-year-old kids, so I thought I’d share the info.

My Madeleines

“The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it… but ….as soon as I had recognized the taste of the piece of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-blossom which my aunt used to give me …. immediately the old grey house upon the street, where her room was, rose up like a stage set…”
                    - Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past*

I had a madeleine experience of my own the other day:  while eating a piece of peach pie,** I was carried back to the summer afternoons of my childhood, when my mother magically transformed farmers’ market peaches into a mouth-watering slice of heaven. 

Sounds Familiar. What A Shame.

I try not to blog about political issues, but I can’t stop thinking about the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal. So much for the justice crusader; the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

We’ll just add him to the wall of shame. He’ll have plenty of company.

Here are a few thoughts:

1. Spitzer should be impeached for sheer stupidity or hubris.

My March Miracle

Something wonderful has happened at our house. Think of it as the opposite of the Hanukkah miracle: something awful that was seemingly going on forever is coming to an end. That’s right; we are coming to the end of our mammoth-sized package of Costco toilet paper.

It was an innocent mistake. Costco’s Kirkland brands are usually better than average. I’ve been pleased with their frozen shrimp, their bulk chicken, and their batteries, among other products. I’m a suburban mom; I love me some Costco!

With TP on my list, I wheeled my cart into the back-of-the-store aisle where mountains of paper products lined the shelves. The Kirkland brand was significantly cheaper, so I decided to give it a try. “How bad can it be?” I asked myself.

I can now say with authority that it can be very, very bad.

My Breastfeeding Surprise: A Cautionary Tale

I took a five-day training course when my first son was a baby.  I was nervous about requesting a private place to use my breast pump during breaks, but the (male) receptionist was very considerate and discreet.  He reserved a conference room for me with a lockable door. 

The conference room was perfect.  There was a long wooden table, chairs, and an electrical outlet.  Compared with some of the other places I’ve pumped since then (bathrooms, storage closets, etc. ) this was a suite at the Ritz. There were windows were on the street side of the building, but since we were on the ninth floor with no adjacent buildings, this was fine.

I headed for the room during my first break. I unloaded all the necessary gear:  the bottles, the tubing, and the pump itself.  I opened my blouse, hooked everything up, and set down to the task at hand.

If you’ve never seen a woman use a breast pump, let me describe the scene.  Picture a cow with an electric milking machine attached to its udder.  Now imagine what that cow would look like tipped on its side.  Slap that view on the front of a woman wearing black slacks and an open blue Oxford shirt, and that pretty much summed me up at that moment.