Picket Fence Post

1. “O’Briens and Obamas Ready for a New Family Pet” — Patriot Ledger/GateHouse News Service.

No. I didn’t write that headline. And no, I haven’t likened myself to Michelle Obama.

But I do have several things in common with the Obama family: I’m a working mom. I have kids ages 10 and 7. And, it’s very probable that we’ll both get dogs this year. (The Spouse is cringing upon reading that.)

This is my post-dead cat column where I discuss my three kids’ response to the passing of our feline, family pets of my past and whether we’ll get a dog.

2. “Marley and Motherhood” — Mommy Track’d.

Speaking of family pets . . . I went to see Marley & Me last week as an assignment for Mommy Track’d. And while I won’t spoil the movie for you, if you go, be sure to bring a box o’ tissues. You’ll thank me later.

That being said, my Mommy Track’d column is about the storyline for Jennifer Aniston’s character in the movie — she was a newspaper reporter who gave up her beloved journalism job after having kids — that doesn’t get as much play as the antics of the one-dog wrecking machine.

3. “Get Your Lipstick Tube Ready” — Mommy Track’d.

NBC’s Lipstick Jungle – which I first dismissed as a pink confection but later came to like during its second season – is hanging by a thread. Depending on how its ratings fared for its last original show (which aired on Friday), NBC execs will soon decide whether Brooke Shields & the Lipstick gals will live to see another day. This column is my argument for why it should continue.

4. “Live Blogging the Golden Globe Awards” — Suburban Mom: Notes from the Asylum.

The Girl and I watched the insipid Golden Globe arrival shows (flipped back-and-forth between stations) and then the awards show, though The Girl went to bed well before 9. I live-blogged the madness (Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais and Tracy Morgan get kudos) on my Suburban Mom blog.

As for what my tween-aged gal thought? She squealed upon seeing her favs – Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens – and was irate that Cyrus didn’t win the award for best song in a film.

Image credit: SF Chronicle/20th Century Fox/Barry Wetcher.

Soccer mom.

Security mom.

Alpha mom.

NASCAR dad. (One of the few father-oriented voting bloc monikers)

Mortgage mom.

Military mom.

Hockey mom.

Now, in today’s New York Times, I stumbled upon yet another entry in the let’s-define-moms-who-vote-in-some-quirky-way that I’d never seen before: Wal-Mart mom.

Why the attempt to label mom voting blocs? “Married women and women with children vote in higher proportions than single women,” an expert on women and politics told NBC this spring. “. . . Whatever affects their families, whether [it] is their children or their spouses or their own aging parents, family issues are of central importance.”

I don’t necessarily agree. Not every mom I know votes on the same issues. Not every mother votes on family issues. Or on education policy.

Believe it or not, it’s been my experience that women base their votes on all kinds of different issues, reflecting their individual values and priorities. And, like dads, they don’t vote in lockstep. Not all the soccer moms I know, for example, vote for the same people.

I’m with blogger and mom of three Erika Jurney who told NBC: “The people who place value on labels like ’security moms’ are pollsters and politicians, but in real life people are multi-dimensional and these tight labels are meaningless.”