Guess Who I'm Inviting to Dinner?

I don't know about you, but if you decided to become an Obama supporter, you've probably been receiving a ton of email blasts from their camp.  The messages come fast and furious - some are inspirational, some tattle on Hillary Clinton's latest misdeed, others urge you to join the grassroots movement and wave an Obama sign in the next state that will be holding a primary, but my favorite one of all has been the "you can have dinner with Obama" messages.  

When I first read the invitation and then saw the big honking DONATE NOW button right below it, I realized it was just a ploy to get me to fork over some bucks to the campaign so that he can keep steamrolling his way through to the nomination.  What I also realized is that even if I give $25 to Senator Obama, there's no way I'm going to wind up becoming the lucky person who will get to break bread with him on the campaign trail.

And so, I've decided that if Obama is truly reading all the commentary about himself in the blogosphere, that I would invite him over to dinner at my house.  But not just any dinner.  I've decided to invite Senator Obama to Passover with my family.  If he truly wants to know what goes on in the minds of bleeding heart liberals, several Democrats and three staunch Republicans, then I say, spend an evening with the Feldmans and get into that Pesach spirit.

If you get there early, my mom and I will give you a lesson on matzoh ball preparation - follow the directions on the box and add a little seltzer for buoyancy.  And then, if you're lucky, you can take a seat next to my dad, Neil who will re-tell the story of the first Passover from our vintage Waldbaums Haggadahs that we still have since 1976.  And don't worry if you can't follow along - most of our attendees are not of the Jewish faith since there were lots of intermarriages in our family.  My cousin Jeff married Terri, whose Irish; my sister-in-law Sherri, is married to Ed - an ultimate conservative whose family is from Puerto Rico; my father-in-law John is another Irishman; my cousin Lee's wife Sandy is Catholic but she converted to Judaism a few years back; then there's George and Evanthia - my husband's step father who is Greek (as is his girlfriend).  So Barack - if you and your family join the festivities, you'll fit right in with our Jewish melting pot.  

Come sing songs with us, learn how to use your red Manischewitz wine to symbolize the plagues.  And watch how my son, who is just learning to read attempts to tackle the four questions in Hebrew.  We've got lots of food to offer - from gefilte fish to chopped liver, to turkey, brisket, matzoh pudding and sweet potatoes mixed with apple compote, walnuts and roasted marshmallows. And here's the kicker - I won't ask you to give us a dime to come and partake in our fabulous meal.  You can breeze in like the wind just like Elijah does each year.  

So if you can make it to the first seder next Saturday, I'm officially inviting you, Barack Obama, your wife Michelle and your two kids to join in on the fun.  And if your children find the matzoh, they can feel free to use the $10 they receive to donate back to your campaign.   

Don't feel obligated to attend, because as my Grandma Dora used to say, "If you don't come, you don't have to go home."  But if you are in the area, feel free to give us a holler before sundown.  

You Had Me at Katie Couric

A few days ago Beth Blecherman, one of the incredible founders of Silicon Valley Moms Blog, which started out a few years back with a group of mom writers from the west coast and has expanded to Washington D.C., Chicago and New York City, called me with an incredible opportunity - the chance to go behind the scenes at the CBS Evening News and meet Katie Couric! OMG...what was I going to wear???

We all arrived early (looking great I might add) and chatted in the lobby for a while, until our incredibly young and affable guide (one of Katie's favorite digital geniuses) whisked us upstairs and gave us a tour of the studio and control room and took plenty of pictures of us with about 20 different cameras! While we were waiting in the newsroom, the woman of the hour breezed in and was ready for action. We immediately followed Katie into the studio where she recorded a few promos and a quick segment for her CBS radio show, took a picture of our group behind the news desk and when she had a little down time, she invited us into her office for a personal chat. They also shot some video of us with a Flip camera (must-have item for moms) that will wind up on Katie's YouTube page in a few days. Katie's behind the scenes videos are pretty funny - so check them out and get to know what she does when she's not delivering the news!

As we all gathered in her bright and inviting office - she's got pictures of powerful female leaders on her wall (gotta love her), Katie plopped down on the floor and started taking our questions. Right off the bat, one writer asked if Katie could call and surprise her mom and she immediately said yes and left the nicest message on her answering machine - I bet her mom will never erase that one! From there, we tackled tons of topics, from parenting, single motherhood, politics, American Idol, the power and dangers of the Internet and much much more. With every question we asked, I could sense that with Katie Couric, you get the real deal. An impassioned television journalist with the drive to accomplish anything she sets her heart out to achieve. She's got an engaging personality and an incredible sense of humor, and as she passed around a photo of her gorgeous girls, you could tell that at the heart of it, Katie Couric is a phenomenal mom who has always been there for her daughters and will continue to be a driving force in their lives (whether they want her to be or not :>) as they transition from their teenage years into adulthood.

I never thought that my journey away from CBS would one day lead me back through those doors again, but this time around, it was so nice to be on the other side as a writer who was given an amazing opportunity to meet a true Role Mommy. Major kudos to Jill Asher, Beth Blecherman and Tekla Nee, the founders of the Silicon Valley Moms Blog who invited me to become a part of the NYC Moms blog when it first launched a year ago. As I've attempted to reinvent my life and recapture my love for writing, I am so impressed to be in the company of the talented array of writers they've assembled on the site. From authors like Andi Silverman (Mama Knows Breast), Kelcey Kintner, a former television reporter and the gorgeous founder of Mama Bird Diaries, to television scribes Nancy Rabinowitz, to magazine writers like Amanda May and many, many more, at the heart of it, we're a group of mothers who are juggling our crazy schedules with our passion for writing, parenting, politics, entertainment, social commentary - you name it, it's on their site. With over 200 writers to date, Jill Asher, Beth Blecherman and Tekla Nee have managed to create a powerful community and voice for moms in five major cities (they've just added New Jersey too and one of my favorite authors Gwendolen Gross just joined that group too). At yesterday's Katie meeting, I got the chance to meet Devra from D.C., the author of Mommy Guilt and founder of Parentopia, plus Joanne, a lawyer who is best known for her incredible political commentary on Pundit Mom and Holli, who I had actually interviewed a few months back for MomLogic who by far had the best outfit and shoes in the crowd! Jill, Beth and Tekla should be incredibly proud of what they've accomplished so far. They have given a voice to intelligent, engaging and funny moms and for that, I'll be eternally grateful! So if you haven't paid a visit to their sites yet, then do it today...trust me you won't be disappointed Click Here to check out the NYC Moms blog.

My daughter's math problem

Do you think I'm using my computer too much?   Take a look at the word problem my daughter just wrote for her class:

My mom started working on the computer at 2:00.  She ended at 4:00.  How many hours did she go on the computer for?

Answer:  2 hours.