You're Not the Boss of Me: Adventures of a Modern Mom

by Erika Schickel

Sometimes described as "Erma Bombeck in leather," Los Angeles writer Erika Schickel is sexier and hipper than the divine Erma, but just as side-splittingly funny as she shares her misadventures in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758215371
• ISBN13: 9780758215376
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Fresh and funny

What a fun read - quick, easy, hilarious. It's interesting to see how others plod through the ups and downs of mommyhood.

The Southland's Answer to Anne Lamott!

Parenting is hard work. Sure it's full of warm fuzzies, tremendous rewards, love, nice smells (sometimes) but also heartache, frustration and a lot of doubt. I sometimes feel a little insecure around all the perfect parents and their perfect solutions for their perfect kids. Makes me feel, well, not so perfect. When I first had my son I went out and bought Anne Lamott's book, Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year, and discovered it's OK not to have a clean house, a clean head of hair and although not great, no big deal to drop your baby on the floor once or twice. During that first year, Anne Lamott helped reinforce the fact that I didn't have to be perfect and with great parenting came great mistakes. Nine years later, I just put down my copy of You're Not The Boss of Me, Adventures of a Modern Mom, Erika Schickel's keenly observant, no apologies look at life, motherhood, family and friendship. She's my new hero! Her interest in everything (check out Journey to Another Girl) and ability to really connect with life is delivered in a style of storytelling that invites us all to pull up a chair, snuggle in front of the crackling fire and enjoy the show. She kinnda makes you feel like her best friend and when she saves her best friend Rae's daughter from choking you want stand up and give everyone a hug. Traveling with Erika's through her life, which at times can be pretty damn intimate, is like sitting with a good friend and maybe a good friend is the only one who can tell you what parenting and for that matter what life is really all about. I laughed and cried all the way to the end as I connected and realized this is one mom who was never going to judge. Ms. Schickel is the Southland's answer to Anne Lamott, only a little bit hipper with a lot more edge but not edge like an Alterna-Mom, but edge like as in a cool human being. On the road to making a family, this book should be on the top of your list!

Thought provoking, funny book

Schikel really captures those "special" moments in parenting - the teary or embarassing or chest busting pride moments. But more than that, she relives for me the everyday rituals, common dramas, myriad of park visits - all of those moments I mean to record but opt instead for sleep at the end of a long day. When I laugh or get choked up while reading this book it's because Schikel has given a voice to and helps me gain perspective on the new "Me" - as mother.

not only is this book extremely funny ...

I brought Erika's yellow paperback with a picture of a frightening man-baby with me to the dermatologist. The People magazines were all old, so I cracked it open for a look. First thought: "this book is funny" ... and the essays are the perfect length for a waiting-room read. What surprised me, and reason I am posting my humble review, is that mixed in with girdles, lap dances, and fetuses the size of crock pots, is a patchwork quilt of heartfelt sentiment that rings truer than any Hallmark card. If you are a mom who can become lost in the scent of your baby's hair, while forgetting to wash your own, then this book is for you.

twenty-five amusing essays reflect on family life

These twenty-five amusing essays reflect on family life starting with the proverb that "Unsafe sex is so hot" as author Erika Schickel and her spouse Doug remove the layers of protection to go skin on skin resulting in the positive blue line appearing on the home stationing kit. Each of the entries are insightful as Erika's womb contains a foreign insurgent who starts as the size of a microscopic pimple but nine plus months later is a whale until she sheds the pounds naturally with the birth of Georgia and the new role of tushi cleaner. Talk about insanity, she and Doug begin the process over again. This is a fun look at family from the perspective of the mother as Ms. Schickel turns Erma Bombeck inside out with the pits and cherries gone as only the bowl requiring cleaning is left behind. Fans of humorous insightful looks at the modern security momma will want to read YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME as the parents learn who rules the roost. Harriet Klausner