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Friday, January 27, 2012 5:00:34 PM Simon Helberg, who plays Howard Wolowitz on the hit sitcom, and wife Jocelyn Towne are expecting their first child this spring, their rep confirms to PEOPLE.  
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 12:30:00 PM The rattle's handle is small enough to fit into a child's throat, posing a choking hazard and violating federal rattle standards.
Friday, January 27, 2012 7:10:02 PM Vincent Van Gogh had his problems, that's for sure. But fortunately for him, and us, the Dutch painter was able to self-medicate. And the Philadelphia Museum's current retrospective of his work in nature unveils his particular skills at bringing landscapes to life. WSJ's Dan Neil reports.
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Our new Guest Blogger, a 26 year old stay at home mom,
she attended Florida State University for pre-med, the wife of a professional
baseball player, and know is the proud Mother of a 6 and 16 month old. For her,
and I am sure some others, sometimes you can go a bit stir crazy. She travels a
lot and sometimes finds it challenging to work and keep the family together.
When I spoke to her about Blogging she said something that made me think… and
laugh… she said she misses enticing her brain with things other than bottles,
burps and baths. Well, let’s just say she has some interesting things to say
“When you’re working the night shift.” …read on and enjoy!
 When you"re working the
night shift. - Alissa Zandy
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Some of you have no idea what I am talking about, but my guess is that most of
you do. The night shift can better be described as pacifier replacing, dry
diaper providing, bottle warming, belly filling, rocking machine!
It"s 8 pm and my son, daughter, and I begin the trek upstairs to go "night
night". Anthony has no problem with his new found love for sleep. My daughter
however, she likes to stir things up. I"d like to think that she will be the
life of the party someday. As I lay her in her crib, she curls up into this
adorable bundle and closes her eyes. I think to myself, what a peaceful little
angel. She is going to sleep great tonight. I close the door and make my way
downstairs. No sooner do my feet hit the floor it starts...the night shift that
is.
The next 8 hours can be classified as nothing short of absurd. The first wake is
my prime of the night shift, this is where I really excel. Then again it usually
occurs around 10 pm while I am still up. I hustle upstairs, bottle in hand, and
deliver the goods. Then "night night", back to bed.
The second waking usually occurs between 2 and 4 in the morning. The noise
coming out of her room is like nothing I have ever experienced, it is down right
disturbing. I have to bake for the neighbors to keep them from filing a noise
complaint. Try making Tiramisu on three hours sleep.
The nice thing about the third waking is that my alter-ego Vivica gets up for
this one, so its a blur. I don"t know this woman but I am certain that we would
never be friends. Now the home stretch, I can feel it. Morning is not far away.
I make my way back to bed, put my head on the pillow, fading....fading.....
and.......MA! This can"t be happening. I glimpse at the monitor and sure thing,
Anthony is standing, blanket in hand, looking right into the camera...MA!
Day breaks and we"re up. As I fumble with the coffee pot my husband comes down
the stairs. Big stretch. Yawn. "Man I slept great last night, how about you?"
As if honey, as if.
Let"s just say that there is no competition in our house for employee of the
month.
-By Alissa Zandy
May 10, 2010
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Fresh - Jim Noonan
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Introducing Jim Noonan with LIFE BETWEEN NAPS! Jim
Noonan is a former shoe salesman, landscaper, park ranger, office clerk,
unauthorized handyman, "actor," waiter and student. At no time during his
journeys did he ever imagine that he would take a full-time job with no salary,
insurance or stock options, but that's exactly what happened. Jim is currently
working for a $20 a week allowance as a stay-at-home dad, a job his wife gave
him (on the second interview) after a new teaching degree and a plethora of
student loans failed to land him a job. It didn't take long for Jim to find the
humor and horror of being a stay-at-home-dad, and he now channels his
experiences with Lucy, 3, and Ruby, 1, into Life Between Naps: The narrative
adventures of a full-time, unemployed, stay-at-home dad
“Daddy, I want a different glass of milk, this one taste funny, I think it’s
fresh.” I roll my eyes; knowing all too well that further questioning would be
futile, for once Lucy deemed something “fresh,” it was otherwise undrinkable.
With her arms folded squarely across her chest and her nose pointed up at the
poorly hung chandelier illuminating our dining room table, she pleads for a new
glass, an “ice-cold” glass.
I’m not exactly sure how or why this started, but for some reason Lucy has
classified all beverages into two categories. They are either considered
“fresh,” which could mean any one of the following: Warm, smells funny, tastes
funny, looks funny, thick or orange. Everything else is considered “ice-cold.”
To make matters even more confusing ice cubes do not turn “fresh” drinks into
“ice-cold” drinks, but sometimes switching cups can. It is also interesting to
point out that if you were to… let’s say take a drink out of Lucy’s cup that was
filled with “ice-cold” chocolate milk, it would instantly become “fresh,” unless
you give her a straw. A straw has the uncanny ability to turn “fresh” into
“ice-cold,” but this trick only works on milk, shakes and smoothies… that is,
until today.
“Its not helping dad, it’s still fresh.”
“But I gave you a straw.”
“I know, but it’s not working. The milk taste strange… or wetter. I don’t like
it.” The truth is, I know exactly what she’s talking about and I couldn’t have
put it better myself, the “wetter” part anyway. Let me explain….
We spend, on average $87.69 a month on milk. Milk? Yes, milk. That is more than
our electricity, cable, water and phone services. That’s right my friends, our
average monthly “milk bill” is second only to rent. Seems crazy right? Why so
much? Are we drinking the milk of new born unicorns? Have we stumbled upon a
magical creature whose lactatious secretions can cure 12 kinds of cancer, make
your breath smell like purple sunbeams, turn flatulence into Burt Bacharach
melodies and last but not least, allows us to speak telepathically to the late
great Bea Arthur during the first full moon of each month? Thank you, thank you
for being a friend. The answer is yes…kinda.
You see in this household we drink… cow milk. I know, big deal, so what, we all
drink “cow” milk. Oh, no-no-no, wait-wait-wait, this milk doesn’t come from one
of those stupid lazy cows you see in pictures or movies who just stand by a
fence deciding which stomach their gonna ploop their current mouthful of grassy
wet cud into. No sir, we get our milk from “organic” farmed cows… they come from
heaven. And at $5.99 a gallon that’s what I have to convince myself every time I
buy some.
I’ll admit I do spend a suspicious amount of time at the grocery store checking
out the $2.99 stuff I drank when I was a kid, I’m not gonna lie, we had some
good times. But I’m always snapped back to reality the moment someone grabs a
jug and puts it into their cart, I wanna yell, “Hey, you with the mortal’s milk.
Do you even know who milked the lazy cow responsible for producing that creamy
white mess you allow your children to pour over their Fruit Loops? Do yuh? No?!
Well, it was a person, or a machine or something. You don’t know, you don’t know
nothin’.” This outburst would no doubt alert the manager to the crazy man
berating innocent bystanders in the dairy aisle, and within seconds I’ll be
schlepped out the doors by my collar screaming “Free Attica!” Then I’d laugh all
the way home knowing that the organic milk my daughters will be enjoying for
dinner was righteously squeezed by the tiny yet aggressive hands of Zeus
himself. Now that’s quality you can’t put a price on. Cool, yummy, rich,
delicious organic milk, “The bovine nectar of Gods.”
So for three and a half years, I was fine letting my daughters drink this
outrageously expensive elixir that my wife has claimed, “Prevents the early
onslaught of an un-natural puberty (I’m paraphrasing).” Apparently, a few years
ago she heard that somewhere in Europe, a 5-year-old girl started to “mature” at
a rate that is usually reserved for the teen years. Anyway, after hundreds of
tests (at least that is what I’m assuming), Someone decided this problem was
caused by the extra hormones that are placed into non-organic milk and not the
nuclear power plant she lived next door to (Okay, I made that last part about
the nuclear power plant up. But really, Milk? I can’t imagine all the
possibilities that were eliminated before someone said, “Well it’s not the ozone
or high electromagnetic fields, let’s try milk. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll
try Skittles.” I’m just sayin’… it seems like a stretch). Thus, our organic milk
experiment began, although not without trepidation. Sooner or later I think we
both knew (I’m frugal), the numbers were gonna get to me…
$5.99 per gl. x 3 per wk = $17.97 x 4(weeks a month) = $71.88 x 12(months a
year) = $862.56 annually, for milk! (Tax not included)… which brings us to today
and Lucy’s glass of “fresh--wetter” milk.
I’ve been watering it down, hard, and I make no apologies. Folks, we are living
in turbulent times, you don’t need me to tell you that. The economy is in the
tank and I’m unemployed. I’m doing something good, something commendable; I’m
stretching the almighty dollar. So what? So, maybe Lucy has to drink a few
glasses of “Organic Lite” for a couple of years. Just imagine all the money
we’ll be saving. If I can eliminate just one gallon a week that’s an annual
savings of $287.52! With that amount of money, I could buy this household
something it really needs, Scotch. A nice hand crafted, single malt bottle of
“ice-cold” Scotch.
*I did absolutely no research whatsoever on the benefits or hazards of drinking
“organic” milk. I have however done some personal research on the benefits of a
good Scotch and I think it could be worth the investment. I’m also gonna catch
hell from my wife.
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MCB Focus
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March – Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day
Five Classic, must have, Dr. Seuss Books:
- The Cat in the Hat: A Dr. Seuss classic, and probably one of Dr. Seuss' most famous book. This book should be on any
child's reading list.
- Green Eggs and Ham: No Dr. Seuss book reader has a complete collection without Green Eggs and Ham.
- Hop on Pop: This Dr. Seuss book is easy to read, and will make any child laugh.
- Fox in Socks: This book is sure to get a laugh when read with your children. "Socks on Knox and Knox in box. Fox in Sox on box on Knox... whew! Is your tongue numb yet?
- The Sneetches: Watch out for Sylvester McMonkey McBean, the Fix-it-up Chappie. He bamboozled the Sneetches so watch out, but he does a good job of teaching that pointless prejudice can be costly.
To learn more about Read Across America, visit the following links:
Looking for Books?
What better way to celebrate the joy of reading than to stock your shelves with your favorite Dr. Seuss books? We know you're busy, so your friends at
MyCityBaby, have done all the work and found the top Dr. Suess books. Yep, we made it ridiculously easy for you to get books for this special day.
Simply click on the book to the right and you will be brought right to the Amazon.com page for the book... what could be easier? MyCityBaby and Amazon have special delas on many
Dr. Seuss books and they can be delivered right to your door!! So why not order a book today, sit back, relax and enjoy reading with your child.
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