2008
Unfriendly Signs: Crunch Zone
December/04/2008 05:41 PM Filed in: Commentary
Crunch Zone
by Nicole Hanratty
Just a little holiday cheer for all of you who need a smile while you’re meeting the demands of your over-committed calendar this month... Read More...
Thanksgiving Disasters
November/11/2008 05:25 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Thanksgiving is coming and so are the relatives, all of which brings up memories of Thanksgiving Disasters Past.
We’ve had knock down drag outs in Mammoth, flues that cleared tables, been lost on roads that seemed to go in circles on our way to Big Bear, and had arguments that made moving to Syberia seem like a completely plausible solution. Read More...
Multi-Tasking Or Attention Deficit Disorder
November/06/2008 05:19 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
On my way to sit down at my desk to write this article, I heard the dryer ending its cycle. I ventured into my other office--the laundry room--to pull out my husband’s white tee shirts and get them folded while they were still warm and wrinkle-free.
I knew I needed to get my bottom in my desk chair and avoid further distractions, but as I was putting away the fresh laundry I noticed my child’s closet was in desperate need of organization. There were multiple jackets on the floor that needed hangers and shoes that weren’t on shelves. Read More...
On Tour
September/23/2008 02:45 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
It’s been a year full of travel and this Rock Star is ready to unpack her suitcases for the remainder of the year.
There have been some bumpy flights, cancelled plans, airport dramas, annoying inconveniences and general travel mayhem along the way, but there were only a few things this Diva (to my husband’s dismay) and our offspring couldn’t handle. The best of the complaints are compiled here in a list for your enjoyment (hopefully) and sympathy (unlikely). Read More...
One Good Compliment
September/08/2008 02:38 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Monday mornings are rarely, if ever, jump out of bed with a smile on your face days. Most of us struggle just to get our feet on the floor and find our way to the coffee pot.
Once we fill our mugs and start to wake up we face the reality of the emails chores and to do lists that must be dealt with for the day. We take a glance at the week at large and instantly begin to long for Friday already.
This morning was no different for me until I logged on to my computer and received the sweetest random compliment (Thank you L!) My negative mood took a turn for the positive side and my errands suddenly didn’t seem so humdrum anymore. Read More...
Sensor Wife
September/05/2008 02:31 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Welcome to my morning.
As my husband and I stand in line one after the other waiting to fill our own coffee cups with fresh pressed coffee from my favorite appliance in the house, (our Miele cup by cup coffee maker that turns out six different flavors--decaf and regular--cappuccinos and espressos), I turned the dial to make my own personally programmed favorite cup of coffee.
My husband stands behind me, empty mug in hand, and asks, “Is the coffee maker actually still programmed for all of the different types of coffee capsules that are in it?”
“Of course,” Miss Organized informs. Read More...
Cereal Diet
August/28/2008 02:25 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
I know my mother in law is panicking right now thinking that I’m about to announce that I have served my husband nothing but cereal for the past week. I can see her and her sister-in-law, (thanks for being one of my most loyal readers Aunt Carol), on the phone right now trying to determine if they should call Husband Protective Services on me. But hold on to those casseroles you’re about to rush over, your son has been eating just fine.
(For all of my serial dieting friends, this one’s for you.)
Rise and shine it’s six a.m.; time to disrobe, hit the scale, and decide whether this an “Egg’s benedict with pancakes on the side, I can eat whatever I want” day or an “I’ll just have fruit” kind of a morning. Will you be shoveling down cheese dip with Tostitos for lunch, (thanks for sharing with me T), or licking the wrapper of your Fi-Bar for extra morsels? Read More...
20 Year Reunion Crashers
August/08/2008 02:04 PM Filed in: Events
Kristen Antillon, Heather Lipari and
NicoleHanratty,
20-Year Reunion Crashers
by Nicole Hanratty
Chatsworth High School Class of 1988 had their twenty-year high school reunion last Saturday night and yours truly was among the younger classman who crashed in on it.
How could I resist?
No. 1 My sister, who so lovingly toted her younger sister out and about with her to all of the fun parties, was in that class. I couldn’t miss seeing all those older boys I hung out with while avoiding the less cool guys my own age and her fun loving girlfriends who never left me out of the joke. Read More...
Absence Makes the Heart Grow More Appreciative
July/28/2008 01:57 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
There is one sure way to make your husband appreciate you ladies... Leave the house for a month and clear out your refrigerator before you say au revoir!
Yes, I did do that and yes it did prove my point.
I would like to send a special thanks to my mom and my mother-in-law for offering to do my husband’s laundry for him and prepare him meals. (Aren’t we girls supposed to stick together?) Read More...
Dog Flight
June/30/2008 01:48 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Family vacations are always fun but tend to put even the best marriages to the test. Find me a couple traveling with kids and I’ll show you a husband and wife who are bickering over the responsibilities that go along for the ride. Throw a dog into the traveling mix and I’ll show you an all out battle.
(Special note: Were it not against all laws of matrimony, the picture above would be of my loving husband asleep across the aisle from me with his mouth hanging wide open sitting on the plane totally oblivious to the world around him. And yes, there may have been drool.) Which brings me to the nice man who was, unfortunately for him, seated next to me and left to fill my hubby’s snoring shoes.
From moment one, my spoiled first time traveling Jack Russell Terrier was not a happy camper trapped inside of her fancy rolling travel bed.* Why was she being deprived of mommy's nice warm lap? Who would pet her for the next six hours? The sweet little canine whined as if she were stuck back in coach.
The man next to me introduced himself as "Ajay" and was unbelievably tolerant. He told me all about his two Golden Retrievers at home that he adores. I thanked my lucky stars that I was sitting next to a dog lover. Anyone else would have been trying to jump out of the aircraft window as the whining intensified.
Ajay tried every trick he knew to help me quiet my indignant pup. I am certain he was motivated to help by the front row view of the panic induced sweat rolling down my forehead, not to mention a personal interest in enjoying a flight free of incessant crying. My uber-intelligent JRT scoffed at his attempts to use the Dog Whisperer quieting techniques, so he gave in and reached down to pet her. Instant success!
The woman sitting one row back and across the aisle from me looked at her flying neighbor and loudly stated, “I hate dogs. Thank God I brought my headphones.”
Oh boy, it was gonna be a long flight... Read More...
Promotion At Work
June/23/2008 01:42 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Dear all of my Rock Star friends,
I have such exciting news and I want to share it with all of my readers first! Rest assured that you are the first to read it, hear it and know it...
Yours truly has received a promotion! I am now and here forward the President of Household Operations of the Hanratty Residence! Read More...
Summertime Fun
June/20/2008 01:30 PM Filed in: Charity | Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
How many days, hours or minutes were your kids released from school and let out into the wild before you hammered them down with “The Lecture?” You know the one... “If this is how you’re going to act then I’m signing you up for ____(insert torturous activity, e.g. summer school, macrame, volunteer work)___ and shipping you off to ____(insert undesirable location, e.g. Great Grandma’s house, sleep away camp in Yuma, Arizona)___.
I like to keep a scratch count of how many times during the summer I actually reiterate that lecture. When my scratch count begins to resemble a never-ending picket fence on a long drive in the country, I usually decide it is time for one. I strap on my seatbelt and don’t look back... Read More...
Midlife Crisis
June/15/2008 01:12 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Okay, so I am a little behind, but I recently downloaded I Heart Huckabees from iTunes to my iPhone. If only I had watched this movie before I went through my first midlife crises... Darn it! Now, I have to go through it all over again!
What is so troubling about this existential comedy that has me all wound up? In a word, me! I think it is a problem when someone relates more to a movie than real life and in this film, I found myself wanting to jump in and embrace the characters as if they were my personal spiritual gurus. They made me think more about my own religious beliefs, (which, to be fair, is a cocktail concoction of some version of Judaism, Christianity and Yoga “Lite&rdquo
, than five years of Catholic school ever did. Confused? Don’t worry, so is my family. Read More...I Always Wanted To
May/27/2008 01:03 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Every morning I wake up, run to the mirror and check to see if it is finally visible and obvious! But each day, I walk away confused and wondering why there is nothing noticeably different about me.
It has to be a mistake. Or, maybe, other people can see it and I just can’t. There absolutely must be some type of sign on my forehead that reads, “Hey Strangers! Please tell me everything you have always wanted to do, but never have!” Read More...
Idol Gives Back Bake Sale
May/21/2008 12:54 PM Filed in: Charity | Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Today’s school fundraiser is a bake sale for Idol Gives Back. It is a great cause and I am more than happy to tie on my apron and put my over-priced kitchen appliances to work! When I put on my Baker Extraordinaire Chef’s Hat there is no limit to what I can create but the number one request was for home made cupcakes. Read More...
Bedtime Routines
May/15/2008 12:43 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Ah, bedtime routines. They're not just for newborns...we all have them. In fact, through adulthood, many of us rely upon them to fall asleep and some of us simply can't operate without them.
In my house, I believe that our bedtime routines are so vital that they actually directly affect the cosmic pull of the earth's rotation. I am so superstitious about all of these Ground Hog Day things happening over and over again that I wait for them, watch for them and then, BAM! When they happen, I check them off my list one by one and am slowly reassured that all is right with the world... Read More...
Blending Fun
May/12/2008 12:20 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
To watch the video clip on Fox 11 at Melange
Apothecary:
Click Here
Some friends are worth a 5 a.m. wake up call and a lot of extra primping. I can’t think of very many people that could make me set my alarm clock for one minute earlier than my normal daily routine already requires, but Denise Estrada is definitely one of them.
Last Friday morning was an exercise in “How to feed the dependents, make the lunches, get through the carpool line, walk the dog, pluck your eyebrows, apply camera-ready make-up, work the hair into an acceptable style and slip into an outfit that doesn’t scream, ‘I’m dressed all wrong!’” Read More...
Spray On Tan
May/08/2008 12:14 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
With summer around the corner, a tan is vital to pulling off shorts, sundresses and tank tops without anyone being scared off by your ghostly white existence! The pressure is on to show up bronzed, but this wrinkle-a-phoebe doesn’t want to appear 80 before her time, so I booked the next available appointment at a swanky salon for a hand painted Spray-On Tan.
Never had one? I hadn’t either... and my guess is, I never will again. Read More...
Charity Function Mayhem
May/05/2008 09:18 PM Filed in: Charity | Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
What could be more fun at a charity function than observing the “haves” put it all on the line for the “have-nots”? It’s certainly amusing to watch how the grown-ups behave when they get a night out to play...
What might you notice? Here’s my top ten checklist that hits the mark every time: Read More...
A Dog's Life Isn't So Bad
April/29/2008 09:05 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
Dog is such a complicated word. There are multiple expressions that utilize it with a variety of meanings. For example: being “a dog’s age” makes you ancient; “dogging it” is a cop out; “a dog’s life” is not an enviable one; “every dog has his day” gives us all hope that we may one day win the lottery; “letting sleeping dogs lie” is usually a wise decision; “going to the dogs” is a degenerative existence; “putting on the dog” shows off your wealth; while “teaching an old dog new tricks” forces us to break our old bad habits. Read More...
Bookshelf Personalities
April/28/2008 08:59 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
What’s on your bookshelf? Dare to divulge? It might just give us an insight on your personality and let us know a little more about you than you may be willing to share.
Here’s how your personality might come through... Read More...
Lunch at Geoffreys
April/18/2008 08:23 PM Filed in: Commentary
by Nicole Hanratty
See and be seen at Geoffreys in Malibu. That’s where I was spotted this week escaping reality on a perfect afternoon. My two favorite friends swooped me down to the beach to a surprise destination that I couldn’t have enjoyed more. (Thank you Richel and Stacey!)
For starters, the view is amazing! If you order up the right day, you will be enjoying a beautiful afternoon and I guarantee you will not want to leave this haven. One hour lunches are simply not acceptable. A two hour minimum is required for full enjoyment, but really even those are just for newbies. Put on your sunglasses and stay awhile. Read More...
Bag Quest 2008
April/07/2008 07:56 PM Filed in: Commentary
