mjblogz
Oct 15, 2012
Before iPods and TV’s in cars, the passengers’ only source of entertainment was either an Etch-A-Sketch or looking out the window. In my generation (black and white TV’s were the rage!), we looked out the window. So, segue to the present. My daughter is learning to drive and the...
Sep 18, 2012
Mayan exhibition in Philadelphia
You know what I’m talking about. The Mayan calendar and their prediction that the cycle we’re in ends 12/21/12; that this is it, kaput, put out the light, throw away the key.
But I know better.
You see, I was in Philadelphia at a book writers’ con...
Sep 3, 2012
My daughter throws all the emphasis on the word “food,” so it sounds like it’s made up of two syllables and not one. “Fooo-ooodd.”
She’s home from college, bored, and with nothing to do except do her laundry and constantly check the items in the refrigerator, st...
Aug 27, 2012
I remember when the label maker came into being. What a very cool thing to be able to manuever the wheel around, press down the thingy-majiggy, and out popped a small plastic label that you could stick on to toys, or your cassette player (now I’m really dating myself!), and for my father, eve...
Aug 16, 2012
Every summer since we moved up to Monroe from Long Island we’ve taken time at the Jersey Shore. (A name which has now taken on a whole new meaning for reasons I won’t get into.) But for eleven years, we’ve taken the drive down the Garden State to one of the exits to the shore, whether Seaside, Poi...
Aug 1, 2012
We write a lot about toddlers and babies, and even the “school age” child, but this one is for the tweens. Those 13-14 year olds that still like playing board games, but not the traditional ones that they’ve played for eons, but something trendy, but still really, really fun. Th...
Jul 9, 2012
This is a scene from the spectacle that is ZARKANA, Cirque Du Soleil’s hypnotizing stage/circus now playing at Radio City Music Hall. It is only here, says their spokesperson Nicole Heymen, for the rest of the summer. The show then moves to Las Vegas for what is being called its “perm...
Jun 29, 2012
This is Jeff Daniels. He plays a news anchor in Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO drama, “The Newsroom.” The show’s trailer has been playing on youtube and facebook of late (I can’t include the link here because it has an expletive in it, and this is a family website.) But the ...
Jun 20, 2012
This time of year is my absolute favorite. I got a feeling for most parents, it is, too. For one thing: NO MORE MAKING SCHOOL LUNCHES (for those who do).
I remember being so tired of making sandwiches for my kids by mid-June, and relished the thought of not thinking about creating a “nutrit...
May 10, 2012
My brothers and I have been slowly cleaning out my mother’s house — the family house — over the past few weeks. Some stuff was easy to remove like recent knick knacks and decorations that held few memories, the sympathy cards wrapped up in a rubber band, pieces of furniture purcha...
May 2, 2012
She came out on the stage at the 92nd Street Y looking all the star. A white Ralph Lauren pantsuit with her trademark knotted tie, and she seemed to glow. Tall and thin, Diane Keaton has gracefully aged before our eyes during her illustrious career that really took off after the 1979 film, The God...
Apr 27, 2012
Nature deficit disorder. I have been reading about that over the last few years. It’s defined as a disconnect between our children and their natural world. In his book of a few years ago, Last Child in the Woods, author Richard Louv coined the phrase and suggests that the result can be atte...
Apr 16, 2012
This is the tree house I stayed in on my last night. Caroline stayed securely locked up in the stone hut, looking more to sleep than to be kept awake by the nocturnal animals roaming around, growling and searching for food.
I bunked down in the left bed, kept the plastic sides rolled up so I could ...
Apr 10, 2012
MJ here, in Mpumpalanga, and tomorrow we go on safari. It’s been a great, and busy time, and the people we are meeting, both natives and tourists have been genuinely friendly. We are in an agricultural area, and so are seeing lots of banana trees, avacodo trees, nut trees, and many farms in ...
Apr 8, 2012
That’s not exactly the message of this blog, but it sets the stage for what’s to come.
There we were, heading towards the Cape of Good Hope. Now, if you didn’t fall asleep like I did in 4th grade social studies, you probably understand the importance finding this point on the Afri...
Apr 7, 2012
This is Vicky’s B & B, called South Africa’s smallest hotel. It’s made the local papers, and while we didn’t meet Vicky herself, we met her daughter.
This hotel is in one of the townships outside Capetown called Khayelitsha. This, as well as the others we visited on ye...
Apr 6, 2012
Well, of Capetown, anyway. I heard from our driver that it is the second windiest city in the world, and he asked me if I knew of the top windiest city in the world. “Chicago?” I said proudly. “Yes,” he replied. I didn’t catch his name because we’d just arrive...
Mar 25, 2012
When I worked in a kindergarten-first grade school before becoming editor, I got to see first hand how many young kids were asthmatics and allergy sufferers. Plastic bags of their inhalers and other medication would be stored in the nurse’s office, and every field trip meant that we had to m...
Mar 18, 2012
I spent most of today cleaning out sections of the garage that store all the games we’ve been playing for the past twenty years, and some even further back than that. Twister, Stratego, Clue, Life, Monopoly. And not just one version, but whatever the big hit movie of the day was, like...
Feb 22, 2012
Postpartum depression, after-birth anxiety, and other mental health issues can be quickly overlooked in the wholebirthing experience. There’s so much going on between the excitement of a new life, the onslaught of visitors, the congratulations, the flowers, and the backslaps. The new mother...
Feb 22, 2012
Going INto Africa
A few months back I announced that my daughter had chosen where she wanted to go on her 11th grade trip, the trip I give my daughters before they go off into the world, and the opportunity of international travel may not be so available. My oldest chose Paris, with a ride through...
Jan 20, 2012
Well, she actually texted it to me. My oldest. About five years ago. It was around early spring and time to figure out what my girls were going to do over the summer. I had one rule: that it had to be something more than sitting at home. It was really easy. It could be anything my girls wanted...
Dec 21, 2011
As an editor, writer, and an emailer, I am sitting way too much. But I balance that — or so I thought – by visiting a gym three times a week for the elliptical machine and weights, plus walks on the weekends. I think many of us have a similar lifestyle: sitting for long periods with a ...
Dec 10, 2011
There is a terrific alternative to holiday shopping, and trying to get the next best electronic device. Plus, it’s in a direction that’s opposite of where everyone is heading, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. My 16 year old daughter joined me — be still my heart ̵...
Dec 9, 2011
As you know, our Hudson Valley Parent office gets lots of products to review, talk about and giveaway. I’ve had this product on my desk for awhile, and because it has to do with reading, and encouraging connections between the generations, I wanted to try it out.
The “Read me a book! ...
Dec 5, 2011
I’d heard about the Dead Sea Scrolls but didn’t know any more than they’d been found in the 1940′s by some shepherds, and their discovery was probably the greatest of the modern era. That got my attention and ventured there early Saturday morning during the hustle and bustl...
Nov 29, 2011
I grew up in a game-playing family. Every week, my parents and my brothers and I would either play poker (with pennies) or another game that required a board, and I think was called DelMonico — it was always a lot of laughs, and the conversations we had were precious. Another game that my fa...
Nov 14, 2011
Because that’s its name: The Amadeus’ Bride room. It’s just one of the wonderfully wacky rooms at the Roxbury Motel in nearby Delaware County. I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting the Roxbury this past weekend along with three other ladies: my 16-year old daughter and her...
Nov 10, 2011
(No, I’m not doing a soft-shoe routine — sans shoes — but enjoying a Kimoodo routine with Master Mikhail A. Kuns.)
I love to try out new things, and I’ve had a curiosity about Kimoodo for awhile. This Martial Arts practice promotes relaxation, health and movement. I’...
Nov 8, 2011
I had the opportunity to take a long train ride on Saturday which provided valuable reading time. This day I took the book, Ivan! A Pound Dog’s View on Life, Love, and Leashes, by Tim McHugh. I love dog stories, am a sucker for dog stories, and know that at the end I will cry. (Much like k...
Nov 4, 2011
(The beautiful campus of Mount St. Mary’s, Newburgh)
I regret not going to college right from high school. But at the time, my parents were practical blue collar workers who didn’t think college was meant for a girl. Their three sons were all expected to go, but as long as their daught...
Oct 28, 2011
(Spirits of past residents are reported to exist at Boscobel.)
Ghosts and things that go bump in the night. It’s that season again, and if you know me, you know I love a good ghost hunt. I was invited to tag along with famed HudsonVal...
Oct 23, 2011
(view from Route 97, Hawks Nest)
What a great Fall season we are having here in the Hudson Valley. A break from nature’s wrath, I suspect. We had such a tough August and this grand weather has made it easy for us to get out and breathe again.
I needed to breathe a bit today because last ni...
Oct 4, 2011
I remember those days like they were yesterday. It was this time of year, in 1992, and I’d just given birth to my firstborn, a girl. The nurses at the Long Island hospital immediately checked her out, cleaned her off, wrapped her up, put a beanie on top, and presented her to me like a fine ...
Sep 14, 2011
I don’t watch much TV, mostly because as a freelance writer all these years, most of my free time was either spent researching a story, or writing one. Plus, my kids ruled the TV channels, and as long as they obeyed my TV watching-time-limits, I was fine with my two shows a week: The West Win...
Sep 7, 2011
I’ve been a fan of this guy since the early 1970′s. His melodies were like magic, and it amazes me that even after all these years, he can still play a mean piano, compose toe-tapping tunes for either a movie, a broadway show, or his own albums. He has a gift, and at age 64, he’s...
Sep 1, 2011
One of my duties here at the magazine is to keep the website fresh, and we decided to update our online video collection and thought, “ok, we’ve had wonderful experts discuss important topics and give some terrific advice,” but let’s get to some babies. I spent yesterday aft...
Aug 25, 2011
I guess as a writer, most life events get analyzed and thought about, and eventually written about. And this is one of those times. My mom, 89 years old, feisty, independent to the end, passed last Sunday morning. She was in the hospital, a place she had avoided since giving birth to me (the same ...
Aug 3, 2011
‘Wakes up at 7:30, and plays quietly. He doesn’t cry but waits for mommy to come and get him for breakfast.” Isn’t that just the best way to start the morning? Dylan Rheal was born this past February. His mom, Marci Rheal of Newburgh, won our very first “expectant m...
Jul 29, 2011
I got back into running this summer, and am prepping to run in a 3K event at the Jersey Shore in September. The one thing that I have never been able to find was an attractive bag that could slip around my waist, and small enough so as not add extra weight (I have enough of that already), or too b...
Jul 27, 2011
They are creeping into our lives more and more. In magazines, printed ads, even people are being tattooed with them. They’re called, “quick response” codes, or QR codes for short. Inside those tiny boxes of black and white is a code that coincides with a website page, or pages....
Jul 22, 2011
HV Parent blogger, Tenise, wrote about texting just as I was enjoying this new book on my desk, Crazy Things Parents Text by Stephen and Wayne Miltz. There wasn’t much on these two guys, either in the book, or their website with the same name. But they are definitely on to something funny, a...
Jul 15, 2011
I absolutely love this book, and the whole idea of accepting the fact that cleaning our homes is a fact of life, not to be shunned all year until December when company is coming. (Like someone I know does!) The author, Lauren Cassel Brownell, quotes her wise Aunt Verna of New Mexico who says, ...
Jul 8, 2011
(Renegades taking the win, July 7. Photo from website)
I love baseball….I’ve loved it since I was a kid and watched the ’69 Mets create the miracle of their first World Series win. I actually brought a transistor radio to school with me to listen to the on the way home from schoo...
Jul 5, 2011
My first born daughter was one of those kids quick to run off to this or that, and when my second was born, I couldn’t always keep up with her. She ran off at a Long Island mall food court and scared me out of my mind. (After 5 harrowing minutes of searching for her and being “thisclos...
Jun 30, 2011
I have been remiss in my blogging because I’m recovering from this past weekend’s Florida getaway. I left early Friday, and returned late Sunday. I wanted to get every second of Florida sun, and am paying the price. I also wanted to see an old buddy, Phyllis, who moved to Jacksonville...
Jun 16, 2011
You see this big guy? He’s listed as one of the big five in Africa, along with the rhino, elephant, lion and Cape buffalo. I guess they have the biggest teeth? Not sure. But I’m headed to his turf and I tell you, he intimidates me. I’m going...
Jun 14, 2011
I had one of those “OMG” moments when I couldn’t find my wallet on the way home from work. I’d just stopped at the store, and after parking, reached into my bag to make sure I had enough cash for my shopping, and my wallet was nowhere to be found. I checked everywhere, unde...
Jun 8, 2011
The picture to my left is a fancy coupon organizer. I took it off Mrs. A’s Coupon Organizer website. I had an incident last night that I have to share. And, hey you..you supermarket managers, listen up!
I got to finally do my grocery shopping last night, around 9:15. The store was moderat...
Jun 3, 2011
My heart has been heavy with the reports of the devastation out in the mid-west, towns leveled from the tornadoes, homes just shredded. It made me think back to a time when we moved from our home on Long Island up to the Hudson Valley. We had a Cape in Valley Stream, purchased at a great price i...
May 30, 2011
Trivia Question: (Answer found at the bottom. When draped over a casket, where are the stars placed?)
It’s Memorial Day and I was glad to see so many parades scheduled in and around Orange County. It’s a tradition that should never be forgotten.
And it’s easy to forget about ou...
May 23, 2011
We are looking for Hudson Valley video stars!! Some of the funniest videos I’ve seen on the internet have been made by regular people. That’s why we’re running a contest where our readers and fans can nominate the special Dad in their life, one that still has need for a diaper ba...
May 17, 2011
We love getting mail in the office, especially large boxes with fun stuff that marketers want us to talk about, use, and know about. Most of these items come to me — aren’t I lucky!! However, I now have a little barrier around my desk of boxes filled with books, samples of products, ga...
May 15, 2011
I’m a little behind in my blogging, so I’m going to cover two topics today. The last time we chatted, I mentioned my daughter’s request that our “mother-daughter, before you leave me and go to college” trip be held in Africa…on a safari tour. I was torn: torn wi...
May 9, 2011
My daughter’s recent class project was to interview a Veteran, and ask him, or her, a bunch of questions about their service, where they were stationed, how long they were there, and so on. There are no living Veterans in our family, so we called on the father of a good friend of mine. His n...
May 4, 2011
I never had a problem with my girls choosing inappropriate clothing for school, a formal affair, or whatever because I only let them have clothing I approved. Sometimes I’d put out three outfits for them to choose from, thereby avoiding nasty tantrums before school, or on the way to Nana̵...
May 1, 2011
I did a lot of “ooohing,” and “awwwing,” this weekend. Yesterday was my nephew’s son’s birthday. His name is James, and he’s all of two years old. And today was our “Cover Kid” event, where the kids who grace the covers of Hudson Valley Parent ...
Apr 27, 2011
I was talking about my summer camp experience the other day (it’s a story in our upcoming May issue), and how we’d go to a local public school and play dodgeball. Then, I remembered how our children’s activities are slowly being reduced in the name of “safety.” I thin...
Apr 23, 2011
I don’t know why I’m so resistant to cutting coupons. Or maybe I do. Back when I was a stay at home Mom, cutting coupons was something I did in the evenings to keep from snacking after everyone went to sleep. My kids were asleep by 7 or so, and my husband, who had to get up at some un...
Apr 20, 2011
I’ve just hooked up Sirius radio in my car. I stream online radio when I’m writing. I text my teenagers throughout the day. I listen to my iPod when I walk around the Lakes in Monroe. I have a laptop in the kitchen for instant recipes. (I don’t pre-plan dinner, but rather bu...
Apr 16, 2011
I know the spot where LaShanda Armstrong drove into the river. I pass it on my way to our South Street offices, and before Tuesday, it was a sight that cheered me. Seeing the water, the boats, the bridge in the distance has always given me peace. And yet, it beckoned this distraught mother as a w...
Apr 13, 2011
Cranky is one of my favorite words. It describes so many moods that you can’t explain. And this morning, I was just feeling let down by the gray skies and raindrops, and I could feel myself turn “cranky.” And the morning didn’t get any better. My dog has issues with the r...
Apr 9, 2011
It’s a beautiful sunny Saturday here in the Hudson Valley, and this morning, while walking my dog, I saw that my garden gnome had taken a tumble and was lying on the ground. That guy had a tough winter, and for much of it, he was buried under snow. Now, thawed out, he has been put back on hi...
Apr 6, 2011
As I prepare the May issue of HV Parent, I’m concentrating on stories that have to do with gardening, and teens, about health, something on nutrition. And, then an email caught my eye. It featured some very interesting gifts for Mom. Then it hit me, “Mother’s Day.” The se...
Apr 4, 2011
I’m blogging from the comfort of my kitchen. I have Saturday Night Live on right now, and am actually enjoying it. I remember when it first premiered back in, well, let’s not go there. But, I am trying to wrap my head around an incident that happened to me about three weeks ago. It mu...
Mar 28, 2011
It’s Monday. The hardest day for me to get myself going. But I had one of those weekends that reminds me how fortunate we are to live in one of the best places in the country. I had one of those “mom” retreats that we tend to talk about, but rarely act on. This weekend, two othe...
Mar 24, 2011
As the new editor at HV Parent, I’d been putting off my “first blog,” waiting for something truly momentous to discuss. But what am I waiting for? Momentous does happen, but everyday life is just as fascinating and ‘blog-worthy.’ Like the mail. Everyday in the mail ...