Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Awkward moment shows true comprehension gap between mother and daughter.
It was Saturday night and I was prepping for a Moms Night Out. This was to be no ordinary moms night out where you don your latest new fashion – or the clothes that are clean and unstained and haven’t been worn in the past day – in my case. Some of us ladies were headed out to enjoy a subscription party purchased at a preschool auction and the theme was White Trash Bunco. Sounds fun, right? I was thrilled to play Bunco for the first time. It was as much a right of passage for me as a mother as my first Tupperware party was for me as a new bride. And on the eve of Mother’s Day, I couldn’t think of anything more stereotypical – cocktails and Bunco with a random group of moms. But the White Trash aspect was a bit of hurdle for me. I’m not a…
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The Peninsula Humane Society's Scott Delucchi showcased oxygen masks that allow firefighters to treat animals suffering from smoke inhalation on "The Sharon Osbourne Show" in a 2004 appearance.
I’ll always feel a little indebted to actor Wilmer Valderrama ("That 70s Show"). Thanks to Wilmer’s no-show, I was a guest on "The Sharon Osbourne Show." Let me correct that. My dog Cooper and I were guests on the talk show which aired in 2003-2004. Here's the set-up: In the winter of 2004, I received a call from someone claiming to be a producer from the show. This was at the time when my organization, the Peninsula Humane Society, was in the news for outfitting all our local fire departments with special oxygen masks that would allow firefighters to treat animals suffering from smoke inhalation. Naturally, I figured this was a friend pulling a fast one on me and almost hung up. He kept at it, I realized he was who he said he was and we…
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
It only takes a minute for a little one to lose his footing.
It only took a few seconds – one quick glance away to put my things on a chair – before Carson was completely submerged in our hotel’s hot tub and I was running toward him at full speed. It is the gurgling sound you only want to hear from a newborn overcome by his own saliva during a giggle, not your 3-and-a-half-year-old desperately gasping for air as he bobs up and down clinging onto a fleeting breath. Carson stands just 38 inches and the center of the hot tub when the water is at full capacity reaches 42 inches. There was no time to rip off my snuggly, Sherpa-hooded sweatshirt and terry cloth pants before plunging myself into the 100-degree water to seize my helpless child. One quick grab and Carson was just fine. There was no commotion…
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
A tantrum is a tantrum -- in a cart or in the bleachers.
We were checking out at the grocery store last week when my toddler spotted the gum kiosk near the register. Seeing that I had already bought a package of chocolate-covered pretzels, gummies and squeeze yogurts, I vetoed his persistent pleads for a pack of minty gum. I was resolute in my decision. I had three kid treats in my cart and three half-packs of gum in my purse. There was no need to buy more. I was wedged in line between a young lady who appeared to have no kids and in front of an older lady I thought might have raised a couple kids of her own. It was a moment all moms have had. You know the tantrum is coming and there’s no turning back. Your child has made his intentions clear and you have made your decision apparent… and one …
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Wild week at PHS ends with pomp and circumstance.
I’m used to getting upstaged by animals. When I speak at local service club meetings, the audience wants to know all about my dog, my wing man. "What breed is he?" I often hear. " How old is he?... Where did you get him?... Is he available for adoption?" Still, this week was a joke. I felt like the Invisible Man. And I could not have been any happier. In a two-day stretch, I was upstaged by 25 animals - none of them my own. On Wednesday, I issued a news release to my media contacts. The headline read, “Peninsula Humane Society’s New Wildlife Center Caring for First Groups of Orphaned Baby,” and the release included photos of the 10 ducklings and 10 goslings now growing up inside our Center for Compassion. These fuzzy, week-old babies …
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
I sang "Thunder Road" last night with Bruce Springsteen.
For three hours and ten minutes Tuesday night, The Boss flat out rocked the HP Pavilion. The concert was part of the 2012 Wrecking Ball Tour, and in typical Springsteen fashion, the new stuff was as good as the old--of which there was plenty, including my fave, "Thunder Road." As reviewed in Wednesday's San Jose Mercury News, "Springsteen was fiery, passionate and very much in control, working the crowd with the conviction and focus of a preacher in a revival tent." The night was one big Bruce Springsteen lovefest. And the love was returned by The Boss and his amazing band. At 62, he's never been better. Springsteen said it himself last night, "We want you to wake up tomorrow morning and say, `What the (expletive) happened to me? I feel …
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
PDA is a no-no for my first grader.
Well, it happened. The moment I always knew would come – but not for another five years, I thought. It was a shock for me but a right of passage for my son. My first grader was walking out of school laughing with two of his buddies as he walked directly toward me to say hello. Excited to see him, I said, “Hi Honey, how was your day?” I then leaned in to give him a kiss hello and he swayed back. I said, “What, no kiss hello?” Under his breath he muttered, “I will, just not here, I don’t want to be embarrassed in front of my friends.” I smiled, winked and acted more at that moment like his wingman than his mother, moving my body to the side and acknowledging his pals with an enthusiastic smile and friendly greeting. Since when did I become…
Sunday, April 22, 2012
A South City woman and a 10-year-old stray dog found in San Bruno with health and behavioral issues have become inseparable.
There's a new woman in my life. We're only email buddies at this point, but she's been on my mind and I'd love to meet in person. Yes, I'm married. And, my wife already knows. In fact, I shared the email chain and my new friend's photo with her. Now, it's your turn to meet her. Patch readers, "meet" Milly A., a South San Francisco resident and recent PHS/SPCA adopter who will be 90 years young next year. I met Milly late last week in cyberspace when she sent an email message to our webmaster, an update on the dog she adopted from us. Here’s that message: Dear Pawmaster, Although I had pet dogs all my life, at the age of 88 and confined to a wheelchair, I wasn't sure about getting another dog when Tigger died at the age of 14 last October…
Saturday, April 21, 2012
A platform to share your views? You know you want one.
In the last month, Belmont Patch's formidable crew of bloggers have posted on everything from opening night of "Our Town" to Belmont home market values. They post news of upcoming communit events and opine about public policy matters. Most of all, they're Belmont locals who share their unique viewpoints about what they find important, interesting and inspiring. And you could be one of them. Thanks to a new interface, it's never been easier to blog on Patch. All you do is click the "Want to blog on Patch?" button near the bottom of the home page or follow this link and you'll be taken to our blogger page where you'll see a button that says "Post on Patch." Click it, write what you want to say, upload some photos or videos if you like, and…
The admission rates for 2012 are extremely low. And a decision by San Jose State made things worse for some.
For a lot of San Mateo County high school seniors - and seniors across the country - 2012 proved to be an extremely hard year to be accepted at an institute of higher learning. Bay Area universities have been a part of the trend. At Stanford, the admission rate was 6.6 percent for those applying, no matter where they lived. That was third worst in the nation. More than nine of ten kids who applied to wear Cardinal red got a rejection letter in the mail. At Cal, the rate was three times better, at 22 percent, just ahead of UCLA (23 percent) and USC (24 percent). Yet, even those numbers suggest three of four seniors applying to college are being turned away. Ivy league schools such as Harvard and Yale posted record-low admissions rates, 5.…
Joan S. Dentler
6:00 pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Thanks for the catch Claire! more ›