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Good News for Julia Louis Dreyfus

Good news for funny moms everywhere.  It looks like the New Adventures of Old Christine will get the chance to live on.  According to the NYTimes, CBS plans to announce tomorrow that it plans to pick up "The New Adventures of Old Christine" after the studio that produces the show almost sold it to ABC.  Funny how it took almost losing this gem of comedy for CBS to wake up and realize that it has a fabulous comedy on its hands.  

In case you haven't seen the show, for now, you can check it out online but as a former CBS insider, you should know that some of the most talented comedy writers in television work on the show.  And the cast is top notch.  My husband and I constantly find ourselves laughing out loud over Christine's latest indiscretions and to me, that's the true measure of a classic comedy.

Though Christine is technologically challenged, I think that the shows' executive producer, Kari Lizer is an incredible talent who has managed to adapt her own home life (she's a single mom whose ex husband was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High) to the screen.  Though millions of moms blog about their daily lives, Kari Lizer has transformed her own experiences to television and to do that successfully is the stuff that dreams are made of.

So even though the cat isn't officially out of the bag yet, I'd like to be one of the first to congratulate the cast and producers at The New Adventures of Old Christine - in my book, it's one of the best comedies on television today and hopefully, by next season, it'll get the attention it truly deserves.

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Recommends on 05/13/2008

Back to the 'Hood with my GPS

I took a trip down memory lane with my hubby this past weekend.  You see, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.  Except, the Brooklyn where I grew up has not experienced a renaissance where eco-conscious Generation Y's rave about their hip neighborhoods on the outskirts of Manhattan.  I grew up in Canarsie.  A section of the boro that popped up in the late sixties with non-descript brick houses that were all connected to one another.  My childhood memories of Canarsie started with a game of stoop ball with Carol Schnitzer who lived across the street from my house.  We'd play for hours until it got dark and then I'd sneak down to the basement and try to nudge my way into a poker game with my brother and his underage friends.  Ah, the fun was just non-stop back when I was seven.

Since my parents and all my friends moved away from Canarsie more than a decade ago, I admit that I secretly was excited to pass by my old house.  But that's when our Garmin hijacked my plans.

We started our night in Coney Island at a Russian club called Rasputin - my husband's work friends organized a get together with several couples and I have to say, it was one of the most enjoyable nights we've had in a long time.  There was dancing, a leggy blonde who had a voice like Celine Dion and one guy who looked like Owen Wilson with a Russian accent.  After we enjoyed a glitzy cabaret act which reminded me of a performance straight from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, we glanced at our watches and realized it was already passed midnight and it was time to hit the road.

When we got to the car I started getting giddy about taking my husband back through the streets of Brooklyn to my former home on Paerdegat 6th street but then he decided to plug in our GPS system.  At first, I was in complete agreement with the directions Bernice (that's our nickname for her) mapped out for us but after a certain point, when I would have turned right and driven towards my favorite pizza place (that would be Original Pizza on Ralph Avenue) Bernice kept on going straight ahead.   As we started passing familiar street names, I also began seeing the names of places that my parents used to intentionally avoid when I was kid.  You see, there are parts of Brooklyn that are downright dangerous - especially at 1 in the morning when your GPS system is leading you to the point of no return.  

Bernice kept on going, and going and going and the neighborhood got worse and worse and worse.  There were buildings with boarded up windows, Sutter Avenue - the block where my mom grew up that I vividly recall her telling me became a haven for crack addicts and at one point, when the GPS fell off the window and I started to instinctually duck under the dashboard, my husband lost it.   As I fumbled to put the Garmin back on the window and he told me to calm down, all I kept thinking was why didn't I listen to my instincts?  Why did I trust a gadget that obviously couldn't tell the difference when it was sending us into a war zone when I could have used the 20+ years experience I had acquired navigating my way through my old favorite haunts like Kings Plaza, Jahn's and Roller Palace?    

Instead, for a few fleeting minutes we were transported to a scene from Bonfire of the Vanities, and I missed my chance to visit my old house.  What I've now decided is that the GPS system will only be taken out when I'm traveling through places where I frequently get lost - like New Jersey for instance (is it just me, or did they purposely design signs in Jersey to confuse drivers).  And if I ever do get the chance to visit my old block again, I'll leave the Garmin where it belongs...back at home.

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Confessions on 05/12/2008

The Eagle Has Landed

wiifit.jpgI have to tell you Role Mommies, I sort of feel like a Publisher's Clearing House winner or one of those Extreme Home Makeover families today.  Why do you ask?  Well let me tell you.  A limousine pulled up in front of my house today and out walked three athletic individuals who were just in the neighborhood dropping off a surprise present.  Okay, want to know what it was?  Get ready for it...A Wii FIT!!!!   Yes, I am the first on my block, the first in my neighborhood, probably the first person in Westchester to claim ownership of this prized possession that now sits in my basement waiting for me to hop aboard.

So getting back to this morning.  It had totally slipped my mind that the Wii Fit training team was going to be visiting, so I got dressed, hardly put on any make-up and slipped on a pair of incredilby holy (that would mean full of holes not actually the religious kind) socks.  The trio felt so bad for me that they reached into my brand new Wii fitness tote bag and handed me a pair of socks that I could wear on the balance board.  Then my private trainer Patrice started to put me through the paces.  We warmed up with some stretches, did a little yoga moves and then I even attempted a few push ups.  Then we were ready to assume the position.  It was Wii Fit Time!

After calculating my height and age, I hopped aboard and much to my delight, I am not overweight!  However, when I tried out a basic balance test, I learned that I am as fit as a 52 year old.  For those of you who don't already know my age, I'm only 38.  Ouch.

And so, we got started.  First I had to pick a trainer - I decided to go with a female since Patrice had been so friendly during the warm-up.  We then did a few yoga exercises which I handled pretty well.  You have to work hard to stay in the zone and the balance board even shows you if you're not doing the pose correctly - that thing is friggin' ingenious. 

Moving on to the "Let's make a fool out of yourself category."  I hopped right into the aerobics portion of the routine with the Hula Hoop game.  Move your hips in a wide circular motion and catch as many hula hoops as you can without being bopped in the head by one of them.   After a few tries, I actually got the hang of it and lasted about a minute rocking my hips all over the place.  I can only imagine the laugh these trainers got when they hopped back into their town car and hit the Big Apple.

But wait, there was more.  As my Wii Fit bank calculated how much exercise I had completed - 6 minutes for the day...go me - it was then time to try out a little balance training with some ski jumps.  While the trainers assured me that no one usually lands on their feet the first time around, I was determined to redeem myself.  And guess, what? I did!  I landed on my feet both times and during the second jump, I soared nearly 122 imaginary feet in the air!  What a head rush!

So before I knew it, my time with the Wii Fit team was over.  But they left me with a wonderful parting gift...my very own Wii Fit.  Now I can use it to set up my weight loss and fitness goals - I'm determined to be my own fitness age by at least July.  I can even program how much weight I'd like to lose and the Wii Fit will tell me how much exercise I'll need to complete to look halfway decent for bathing suit weather.  While I'm contemplating giving it another whirl tonight, I think I may opt for something a little more relaxing since I caught a head cold from my daughter earlier in the week.  Lucky for me, it's like Christmas around the Feldman household.  I received a box from Hachette Publishing filled with a dozen books from authors like James Patterson, Arianna Huffington, Kim Catrall (hello Sex & The City) and many many more!  So now here's my dilemma - work out or curl up with a book on the couch?  That is the burning question.

A big thank you to the Nintendo team for making me feel like a million bucks today and for those of you wondering when you can get your hands on this priceless treasure, then set May 19 in your calendar.  That's when the Wii Fit officially arrives in stores.  Or, if you'd like to come over and give it a whirl, maybe I'll let you use it...psych!

Incidentally, I actually recorded video of myself trying out the Wii but by some strange stroke of luck, my Flip camera refuses to let me load it up to my computer.  And so, you'll just have to imagine me looking like a fool today and if you run into Patrice and those two awesome Wii Fit reps, they can tell you yourself!

  

Posted in: Blog, Role Mommy Confessions on 05/08/2008

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