May 29, 2008 by sylvia.

I admit, the last post is close to 6 months ago. No need to repent here but I really, really suck as a blogger. Just too busy to even muse about nothing. So instead, I am here to vent.

I want to know why mean girls are so mean.

Is it genetic? Is it learned? Is it acquired by the desperate individual who does not want to be left out? The truth of the matter is, I can’t answer this. All I know is that mean girls exist and I wish I can pummel the bejesus out of’em. I suppose in some ways, they are a necessary evil. How else can we appreciate the sisterhood and comraderie of girls? Mean girls remind each and every one of us that we are truly blessed for having the friends we have acquired and sustained in our lifetime. We celebrate when Cinderella outshines her two evil sisters in fairy tales, we rejoice when Mr. Darcy ignores Ms. Bingley’s plea to get atttention in classic literature and we are overjoyed when Lindsey Lohan makes a fool out of the mean girl clique in the movies. But no one ever seems to ask the underlying question. "Why are mean girls mean?" Can we just chaulk it up as simple jealousy? Lack of confidence? These are the usual run of the mill answers, but I aim to find out what is behind this facade of callous behavior. It can’t simply be a behavioral issue. To be continued . . .

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December 5, 2007 by sylvia.

Instead of writing about the doldrums of staying-home-motherhood life, I decided I am going to post anything of interest. Whether written by me or someone else, I’m hoping it can stir some level of interest to my friends and family.

Fit and Fat  better than Lean and Lazy(**Guess my life span will be a little longer since I fit in this category)

By CARLA WILLIAMS
ABC News Medical Unit
Fitness may actually be a more important factor than your weight when it comes to living a long, healthy life, a new study suggests. Researchers report that older people who are fit — even if they are also fat — are likely to live longer compared with those who are out of shape. The study is the latest research to suggest that being a bit overweight may not be as dangerous to your health as other factors. A November Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study suggested that being up to 25 pounds overweight doesn’t appear to raise the risk of dying from cancer or heart disease. And a Duke University study in July posed a puzzling — and controversial — paradox in which obese people who’d endured a heart attack appeared to have a better chance of surviving it than their skinnier counterparts.

However, medical experts warn that you shouldn’t ignore your body mass index completely; instead, they recommend using fitness as a means for maintaining a healthy body weight. “Our results showed pretty clearly that fitness provides substantial protection against dying,” says study author Steven Blair of the University of South Carolina at Columbia, who is also the director of research at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas. “Even people who are obese, with a body mass index of 35 or higher, if they are fit, they have a much lower chance of dying than those who are unfit.”

Blair and colleagues looked at 2,603 adults over age 60 and evaluated their fitness levels using treadmill tests. Their findings, to be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that weight isn’t everything. Other medical experts not affiliated with the research agree with this conclusion.

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September 24, 2007 by sylvia.

First step to recovery is admission, so here it is. I am an overprotective-paranoid about abduction-fear of lead poisoning-catching hard to name diseases-freakish mom. I am not sure where this stems from considering I was raised by “sure, you can stay out as late as you like, in fact, don’t even bother calling me if you’re staying out late ’cause “I trust you” mom.  Regardless, I am going to post this fantastic article I found this morning just as a reminder that our kids will not crumble like morning coffee cake if bitten here and there.

Buffer the Children, and Imperil Common Sense By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 23, 2007; Page M01

It is not unusual to walk down the sidewalks of Manhattan and have to dodge a parent pushing a small child on a tiny plastic tricycle. Although the parent is in full control of both speed and navigation, that child is almost always wearing protective bike gear, including a helmet.
It is no secret that parents in a certain demographic have become overprotective of their children. No dodgeball, you could get a concussion! No sugar; no milk; no meat. And, heaven forbid, no being pushed down the street at 1/4 mph without a helmet. There are a host of threats in the world against which parents must be on guard, not the least of which are lead-laden toys from China, and so it seems like a particularly cruel form of masochism to play offense against risks so rare that they are akin to worrying about being struck by lightning.
The fretfulness of some parents, and the speed with which they malign the parenting skills of others, dominated the debate that preceded the debut of “Kid Nation” on Wednesday night. The reality show plopped 40 kids, ages 8 to 15, in a deserted New Mexico town and instructed them to organize their own community without the direct help of adults.
As with most reality shows, the realism is subjective. The children were surrounded by adults on the production team. And while there were risks — reports say some kids mistakenly drank bleach, for instance — there were no serious injuries. Kids missed school during the filming, but so far there have been no reports of children failing a grade as a result.
The anger revolved around whether the producers skirted child labor laws, whether the kids were put at excessive risk of injury and whether their parents had been horribly irresponsible by allowing them to participate at all.
The essence of the fury, however, seemed to be that “Kid Nation” dared to tangle with the culture’s distorted views on childhood.
A child is now the equivalent of a minor royal who should be coddled, revered and praised at all times. To put a child in the position of possibly skinning a knee is unacceptable. To risk bruising a child’s delicate ego is an abomination. To make a child cry — and capture it on tape — could signal the end of civilized society.
Children are innocent savants in popular culture. That concept was captured in the book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” That same notion is the subtext behind the television show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?,” which suggests that kids have a basic, uncomplicated knowledge that trumps the messy version of adult intelligence that is marred by experience, presumptions, nuance and . . . sin.
Parents are in a difficult position as they navigate popular culture and try to keep their children from being prematurely exposed to sex or violence. But now that children have infiltrated all areas of society — pushed into expensive restaurants, fancy boutiques, bars, Saturday night movies and everywhere else in their ergonomically correct double-wide strollers — vigilance that once applied only to Saturday morning cartoons and play dates now has to be enforced everywhere. An activist group, Kidsafefilms.org, complained recently to airlines that many in-flight films, though edited for content, remain inappropriate for children. Offending films listed on the group’s Web site include “Spider-Man 3,” “Casino Royale” and “King Kong.” No matter that the vast majority of airline passengers are over the age of 18. Should airline films be edited to the standards of a 6-year-old?
The culture has created an untenable situation for parents and children alike. Long before Britney Spears shaved her head, showed her privates and fumbled at the Video Music Awards, she was pilloried for stumbling on the street while holding Baby No. 1.
Children are assumed to be so fragile that they cannot be jostled. They must be consulted on the family’s dinner entree. It takes a TV nanny — a “Supernanny” — to remind parents that it’s ridiculous to negotiate with a toddler.
Children have been turned into miniature, high-maintenance consumers who require designer labels to keep up with the Suri Cruises and the Maddox Jolie-Pitts of the world. Political ads use children to mouth demands for universal health care or Social Security reform. They have become the fallback weapon: four feet, 60 pounds and 10 sticky fingers’ worth of guilt. When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to levy a congestion toll on drivers coming into midtown Manhattan, supporters ran ads using children: Decrease pollution. Do it for the kids. What about the wheezing, coughing grandparents?
The heavy FCC fine levied against CBS over Janet Jackson’s split-second wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004 was partially justified because children were watching the performance.
Is it any wonder that these highly celebrated children grow up to be demanding teenagers on “My Super Sweet 16″? Teenagers’ interests and eccentricities dominate popular culture. Their films control the box office during the summer.
Their baggy trousers changed the silhouette of adult clothing so that grown men see nothing wrong with pants that hang off their rumps.
Teenage girls have become the standard of womanly beauty and adult women try to diet and exercise their bodies back to the physique of a 16-year-old.
For those with the wherewithal to coddle their children, it is a luxury to be able to worry that catching a glimpse of “King Kong” on a cross-country flight might give one’s child a bad dream. But it is a nightmare to envision a nation under the tyranny of children.

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August 24, 2007 by sylvia.

So I decided to answer this over-asked question once and for all for anyone who might be remotely interested in la vida de Los Sheehans.

Lots of outdoor parties day   and night. Getting together with old friends   and newer ones.

Some traveling abroad (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico) (Guanajuato, Mexico)

Some more local (South Lake Tahoe) 

lots and lots of swimming in our backyard   And the ability to always look back at these times with a smile

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June 29, 2007 by sylvia.

Ann Coulter is a bitch. This is not new news. Nothing seems to sway this woman. When Elizabeth Edwards pleads to stop making personal attacks on her husband, especially in reference to her son’s death, Coulter just laughs and says ” that was three years ago.” Ouch! But let’s not hash out all the awful things she has said in her so-called life as a “best-selling author,” conservative columnist and political commentator. Let’s just get down and dirty about what is really troubling this I-still-want-to-be-the-skinny-hot-blond-babe but looks more like a horse-faced aged drag queen who really needs to get about three inches cut off the drying straw she calls hair. By the way, I’m not a liberal nor a conservative. This is not about advocating any political views.

  At first glance, or with enough atmospheric dim lights, she may seem like your typical hot bottled-blond babe, but notice her scowl. She squints to give off that “come-hither” look but she looks more like she’s trying to drop the kids off at the pool. By the way, she doesn’t have kids so the reference to that has nothing to do with children. And I do believe if she cut off at least four or five inches off the dried crustied mane, she may actually pass as a woman.

It’s Ann at a book signing trying to do her best impression of what Paris Hilton would have worn in 1988. I suppose if you have no body fat and can get away with a LBD from a past era, you might as well. Oh did I mention it’s a fave for coming out transgender parties?

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June 27, 2007 by sylvia.

This was a question posed to my second daughter - Alex - as she pondered on life’s most perplexing question while finishing preschool. I remember this question and answering whatever was most common or popular at that age: nurse, teacher, rock star, ballerina. Now the first two is more of an answer given by a future realist. The last two, definitely dreamers. Alex answered “animal searcher.” In another words, a naturalist; One versed in natural history, especially zoology or botany. I’m not sure if this is an answer from a dreamer or a realist. What I do know, is that she is absolutely adorable in her pretend “naturalist” outfit.

But since we are nowhere near Africa nor anywhere remotely resembling the Sahara desert. we drifted into suburbia’s answer to a naturalistic excursion at a local amusement park. Costing only $10 per person, I could not help wondering if that covered the cost of labor for the man following the elephant around with a wheelbarrow picking up its excrements.

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June 21, 2007 by sylvia.

Simply put, I failed as a “blog writer.” Blame the chaos of raising three children while trying to maintain some decency of a normal life while the aging mind clutters its thoughts of momentary lunacies. So here I am trying once more to “blog” as one now terms the thoughts and comments of life to be heard by who ever wanders into this place.

This will be a cinch. Just random photos for folks to catch up on the growth of height and hair and such (will NOT mention the weight scene here)in the cloud of estrogen of the Sheehan household. To start off, here are some adventures of the two adult figures of the household who seem to refuse the aging process by uh hmm. . . “downing some consumption in the parking lot of a concert scene.”

How delightful do we not look as passersby look on as we take in as much alcohol as we possibly can consume before heading on to the (gasp, gulp) $10 to $14 pricing of Oakland Coliseum’s idea of a good time in a plastic cup of stale beer.

But alas, the Police is worth the trouble, is it not? I mean look around here, not a single disgruntled face in sight! Even though I saw the aging bald spot of a man in front of me more than the fabulous 50+ abs of Sting

Onward home we head in the blissful ride of Bay Area’s wonderful BART. As you can see, it took no time at all to get on this fantastically organized public transport system.

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June 19, 2007 by sylvia.

Have to start with some recent pics of the girls. I mean, what kind of a mother would I be, if I didn’t??? Not a bad one I would say. Just one who is not mindlessly obsessing about others to forget the troubled woes of past and present. Anyway, here are some recent ones for your enjoyment!

Alex’s preschool graduation June 2007

Notice I wrote “preschool” graduation! Yes, for those out there who do not yet have experienced the joys of juggling the lives and schedule of the newly anointed teeny weens (pre-pre-pre-pre-teen years, even before tweens), there are glamour shops throughout North America who cater to the whims and demands of five year-olds who can out whine Paris any day as they prepare their coming out parties! No seriously, what’s next? Forget “Sweet 16″ MTV, let’s get on with the “Yummy pre-tweens.” Thongs for tweens at Abercrombie is yesterday’s news folks! Alex and buddy Lexie This is Alex’s ummmmm hmmmmmm”boyfriend” Carson.

Natasha’s Ballet recital June 2007

The Diva prepares for her performance.

I am the star ballerina

But her heart belongs to Hip Hop

Lastly, let’s not forget the star of our show (also to save some $$$ on future therapy sessions of “where are the pictures of me???”), the one and only SALLY!

Before

After

Notice the lovely bangs the future hairdresser/stripper did on herself? As Chris Rock once said “my number one job is to keep her off the pole.”

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