The Least Grateful Houseguest You've Ever Had

What do you get when you put two 30-something divorced siblings into a small Manhattan apartment together for several months?  (Three months, one week and 3 days to be exact, but who's counting?)

Sibling rivalry, revisited in adulthood, still looks like this

Strained relationships? Lots of snapping? A child that delights at seeing her Uncle dressed up in a suit, because she's put together the fact that job interviews will lead to his moving out?

Well, we wouldn't know about any of that.  But we do know for sure that it leads to high comedy.

Today we bid dear Poker Chick Brother farewell .  You may remember him from guest posts such as "Clumsiness Runs in the Family", which we sort of hate because it's the most read post on this blog ever.  Don't read it, ok? Definitely don't click that link and give him the satisfaction.   We're not bitter at all.   Nope, not us.

Poker Chick Brother and his amazing sturdy back spent a few months blowing up and deflating an air mattress every single day and sleeping on our never-as-neat-as-it-should-be living room floor.  He grudgingly *tolerated* being woken up at 7am every day, as mini would stare at his but crack over her breakfast cereal, which according to him she slurped unnecessarily loudly.

Most people, we'd venture to guess, do not get the pleasure of living with their siblings all over again after everyone has left for college and started their own lives.  That said, you were all horrible teenagers, right?  It would be much more civil in adulthood, right?

Right?

Wrong.

Turns out all those immature fights as children had nothing to do with childhood and everything to do with two siblings living together, period.  Bumping into each other while trying to brush teeth at the same time in a tiny bathroom.  Running out of the room in disgust as one sibling laughs with glee after encouraging a malodorous waft of you-can-guess-what into the other sibling's direction.  Coming home late from work excited for leftovers only to find out they are gone.  Fielding insights and criticism into one's housekeeping or lack thereof...

We got to relive that all over again.

So....

You'd think after all this we'd be happy to see the least grateful house guest in America finally leave, yes?

No.
 
After finally living alone for one night, it is eerily quiet and not nearly stinky enough around here.  You see, the sibling moved out.  After months of mooching, he moved all the way cross country to the West Coast.  Moving out and not even staying in the same city to babysit?  That, we believe, is the least grateful thing he's done yet.

Congratulations on finally landing a gig, Poker Chick Brother.  This floor is always here when you need it.

Food Allergy Awareness on the Rise

CDC chart showing incidence of food allergy in children rising at alarming rates. 

Things are looking up for peeps with food allergies.  While the CDC reports on the rising incidence of food allergies, a highly scientific and statistically sound poll by Poker Chick shows awareness and food-allergy friendly policies have increased by 324% in the past year alone.  We're talking better labeling, more nut-friendly schools and camps, more routine Epipen training in those who work with children, and better awareness and training in restaurants.  This explosion in the level of awareness and accommodation in the world makes it much easier for a child to live a normal life despite severe allergies.

Oh, wait. You were looking for scientific proof to back up our data?

Behold.  This week alone we had a few excellent experiences:

1. A mother, on her own, made an egg, nut, seed free cake for her child's birthday party simply because mini was attending.  While this has been done before, note in this case the person in question is not an old close friend of yours truly, simply a lovely member of her community who wants to be inclusive.
2. We are sending mini to a day camp for the first time which is not only a half hour bus ride outside of the city, but a place where someone else will be providing mini's meals, for the first time in her little life.  While we'd be lying if we said we weren't having heart palpitations, the numerous calls from camp staff (nurse, head of her age group, head of catering, head of the whole camp) have reassured this mother completely that they are taking all concerns seriously, not mocking or judging this mother as "neurotic" (see earlier post on this topic) and making every accommodation one could possibly hope for.
3. Just this week, Delta finally changed their allergy policy* to restrict peanuts on the whole plane vs. just clearing a 3-row area.  As a mother who watched her daughter start to sneeze repeatedly by the end of a 3 hour flight with said "3-row area", we are most relieved to hear this news.  It may even make us feel safe enough to try a *gasp* 5 hr. flight.

Thanks to our friends at Home Free for sharing that last bit of news.  You can read more about research they've done on food allergies on their latest blog.

*If you're looking at the link, scroll down to the section marked "peanut allergies"

The Good, the Bad, and The Dairy

We interrupt the seriousness of late to bring you a special edition of....Poker Chick in Israel!

Today's edition is a series of brief summary points.  Stay tuned for a longer post in a day or two.

The good
True to our disorganized spontaneous style, we took a last-minute opportunity to visit with family in Israel over the holiday weekend.  Good way to scope out places to bring the mini to next time.

We finally logged into email to find out that Condolence Call placed in yet another screenplay competition! Nice, random surprise.

Enjoying a typical Tel Aviv Shavuot agenda:
   11:30 brunch at Brasserie
   13:00 Gordon beach
   16:00 roof party 

The bad
Last minute ticket to Israel = most expensive middle coach seat you'll ever buy.

No advance plans means sleeping on an airbed with no blankets on a dirty living room floor with no shades on the windows. Oy.

The dairy
Landed just in time to make it to a special pre-Shavuot Shabbat dairy lunch with 12 of our closest cousins (5 of them children).   Mmmm.....blintzes......

The just-plain-odd
Spending time with a woman who lives in Immanuel.  Wow is life different there.

Looking for a pharmacy open on Shabbat (there are whole listings in the Tel Aviv paper devoted to this topic).   Still, it's a must.  Beach without sunscreen here = death wish.

Sitting here writing with windows open, busy street below, a cool breeze, and....wait, is that techno music we hear in the background!? Never mind, we're in Tel Aviv, that isn't odd at all.

Proof That Advertising Peeps Are Not Normal

An article from Fast Company confirms what we've said all along: advertising peeps are not, in fact normal.

We all knew this of course, but someone has finally run the numbers to prove it.  Our favorite stat is that 70% of ad peeps knew about BK's "subservient chicken" campaign, vs. 8% of non-ad peeps.  We know what you're thinking.  We were surprised to see it as low as 70%. too.

Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore

Now that we've put REO Speedwagon in your head (you're welcome), we'd like to interrupt our usual schedule of negativity with a blast of....

it's coming.......

wait for it.....

optimism.

Yes, you heard us. Optimism.

It's funny how life doesn't work out the way we expect.  After struggling for a while, this week seems to be the week that the universe finally said "Ok, Poker Chick! We've handed you enough piles of crap for now.  Time to experience something different."  In one week we have sudden grown up ten years.  We've purchased an apartment, taken care of ourselves despite a broken toe, volunteered at school, danced all night, laughed with friends until our stomach hurt, hugged mini tightly after her piano recital, met some awesome new peeps, and finally figured out how to fix that leaky faucet and broken cabinet that have driven us nuts for years (hint: it involves two simple words: call, handyman.)

We had this vaguely familiar funny feeling for a while and we ignored it for a while and it went away.  It came back little bits at a time, and today in the glorious spring sun we realized what it was: happiness.  Hello, happiness.  Even if you're fleeting, we missed you.  As a temporarily happy person, we are now ready to use that horribly ugly-sounding word people use to describe women like us without shame.   Mrs. Costanza accent and all.

Yeah, we realize we still don't know how things will turn out.  We realize next week might suck.  Or, it might now.  We've got optimism now.  Bring it.