I just sent this letter to the makers of Emergen C:

Hello- I wanted to express my disappointment that fructose is the first ingredient in a children's supplement. It seems that with all the knowledge of how harmful white sugars are your company could have come up with a better alternative like agave or rice syrups .

As an adult, I can make my own decisions about how much sugar I take in daily (though it would be nice to have fructose replaced in all your products). My son depends on me to make those decisions for him. If I did my research correctly, the amount of sugar in one Emergen C Kids is a little over a teaspoon. Adding an extra teaspoon of sugar per day in a little body does not seem like such a wise choice.

As a mom, I'm doing my best to make sure he gets the best, healthiest start possible. He has a cold right now and I was going to start giving him your new supplement to see if it would help shorten the cold's duration but changed my mind after reading the ingredients. I like Emergen C and am using it myself to try and ward off my son's chest cold but again, children and adults process sugar differently.

What's the point of trying to get our children healthy just to give them sugars? Fortunately my son is not overweight and has no dietary issues. But not everyone checks labels carefully. It's a shame that parents who are trying to do the right thing for their kids might be harming them unknowingly. I hope this is an issue the company will be working on in the future. Thank you.

What do you think? Not too harsh, right? I know it's hard to avoid all sugars but am I wrong to feel that it shouldn't be the first ingredient in a supplement? I'll admit I didn't check the label before I started using it. My mom takes it whenever she feels a cold coming on or people at her office are sick and says it works well for her.

I've been following suit and was excited to see that Emergen C had a new line for kids. I went on the website to request a free sample (oh yes I did!) but then read the nutritional information and changed my mind. He's not "sick enough" to be dosed up on cough medicine.

At this point I'm trying to keep the cold from getting worse and hopefully make it shorter. I've been giving Drama Kid Hyland's instead of the emergen C but would love to know if you've found a good supplement or cold shortener for your kids. (photo from Google Images)

1980 Called and Wants Its Boombox Back

Drama Kid is being a bit of a brat lately and it's totally killing my holiday spirit buzz. I've been a cookie baking fool this week and have two more batches left today. I thought some Christmas music would help restore my inner peace and harmony but even at the highest volume, I couldn't hear iTunes on our PC all the way upstairs let alone over the mixer.

Not having any speakers for my iPod, I came up with a totally ghetto solution and dragged out the boombox my uncle gave me when I was 14.


The picture does not do this justice. This thing is big and heavy! But, even after 21 years it still rocks the bells (Holy shit! Now I feel old).

My Husband Got Shit For His Birthday

For the past several years, we seem to have been under a "when it rains, it pours" cloud that only seems to dump on us in November and December. The day before Drama Kid's first birthday the nanny we had at the time quit with no notice. A few days after that the owner of our apartment put it on the market giving us one month to move out or buy. Then Drama Dad totaled his truck. In the years since, Drama Dad has been laid off of two jobs, cars have needed major repairs and I lost my job. Happy Holidays!

This year, we thought we'd escaped the downpour and spoke too soon. Last Saturday we were deciding where to go for hubs' birthday dinner when the shit hit the fan. Literally. One of the downstairs toilets has been stopping up fairly often the past few weeks. I was on the computer and Drama Kid used the loo next door. I could tell by the sound that it was in danger of overflowing. I'm now an expert at overflow stoppage and was able to avoid any spills.

Drama Dad hauled out the plunger again and went to work. And then he said "we're going to need a plumber," and I could swear I heard our credit card commit suicide and plumbers all over the city mark up their "weekend emergency service" prices.

I went into the bathroom and saw this:

You can thank me later for not getting a closer shot. Know what's worse than a bathtub full of shit? Two bathtubs full of shit! Where is Mike Rowe when you need him?


And those baskets on the floor? The ones full of toiletries that used to fit in the master bathroom cabinets at our last apartment but not our house? Yep, they were in the tub. Hubs went to get the phonebook and I tried to stifle my gag reflex and breathe through my mouth.

Roto Rooter arrived, opened up the clean out drains and sent down a snake ($125). The snake made it far enough to relieve the pressure and allow the tubs to drain, but there was still a blockage. We agreed to the extra charge to have a camera sent in (condo colonoscopy) and fully expected them to remove broken toy parts or evidence of some of Drama Kid's mischief. But the diagnosis was worse: tree roots had broken through the pipe. The new estimate? $650. Happy Birthday honey!

After I regained consciousness I was all prepared to start returning the few Christmas presents I've bought and find a way to hock some jewelry when our neighbor came over and asked if we were having plumbing problems.

We got him up to speed on what Roto Rooter had said and done so far then went door to door to ask if anyone else was having problems too but everyone was out. We asked the Rooter man to hold off on anymore work until we called the HOA since the blockage was more than 50 feet from our house. Birthday dinner and Christmas are saved!

To make a long, shitty story short, the HOA is responsible for the repairs and they will reimburse us the $325 we spent. It took much scrubbing before I would even think about taking a shower. My hands smelled like bleach until yesterday which is totally preferable to the alternative!

What about you? Do crises seem to happen to you all at once? Have you ever had a bathtub full of poo?

My Son's Favorite Christmas Song Yo

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