I have officially hit a wall. Literally. I am so sleep deprived the other day I back-ended someone in the post office parking lot — while the driver was in the car! She yelped as I hit her bumper.

“What’s the matter with you?“ the woman barked.

I mumbled some nonsense. But I saw the car. I was looking right at it as I was backing up and it did not dawn on me to hit the brake. Fortunately, I did not have the kids in the car.  

Sleep deprivation is not only torture on the body, it is dangerous. I remember feeling exactly this way when Ari was Eli’s age — six months old. I was a zombie. I would absentmindedly walk out of the grocery store without paying or leave my ATM card in the machine without exiting the transaction. Just this past weekend I lost my parking ticket at the mall and had to pay a lost ticket fee ($12). Later on, I found the ticket in my shopping bag, which would have cost me $1 if I had produced it at the booth. Ugh.

The good news is the woman I back-ended dropped all charges. She told me that she could easily spray-paint the scratches and would not charge me or my insurance anything. I must have used some stored good karma, which is quickly running out unless I get some sleep!

Guilt at the Grocery Store?: I heard about this on the radio. Supermarkets in London will unveil “smart carts“ or shopping carts that will give you detailed information about the products you are buying like whether they are sugary and high in fat, according to The Vancouver Sun.

Whatever you call it, this intelligent grocery cart will contain an interactive screen which will be able to tell shoppers just about anything they want to know about the food they’re purchasing.

This means that it could alert diabetics or those with peanut allergies that a product might harm their health, and could also tell the weight conscious, by flashing a red warning, that they’re about to buy something that’s high in fat or sugar.

Market research has suggested that many people prefer this since they find the current labels on foods difficult to read or understand. And by replacing those labels, companies can avoid much of the packaging, thereby helping the environment.

I have a sweet tooth. So my cart would go crazy.

No Toxic Baby Toys in CA: Hopefully, this will carry repercussions for the rest of the country. Breaking from his own party, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar signed legislation that bans a toxic chemical, phthatlate, from plastic baby toys. The Governator broke with industry groups over this bill as well as two ammunition ones vehemently opposed by the NRA. Sweet.

Much Needed Celebrity Gossip Break:  All the trashy mags are abuzz with rumors about Jennifer Lopez’s supposed pregnancy. I’ll believe it when I see a birth announcement. But that did not stop me from ogling her midriff in the photos published by US Weekly. Also in the magazine: sources close to Marc Anthony’s exes say Lopez is a good stepmother.

Wicked stepmother? Hardly. “I have bonus children,“ Lopez once said about Anthony’s daughter, Arianna (from a relationship with former NYC police officer Debbie Rosado), and sons Cristian, 6, and Ryan, 4 (Mom is Anthony’s ex-wife, actress Dayanara Torres). “I love being a stepmom,“ Lopez has said. And Anthony’s exes agree. “Dayanara says she is wonderful with the kids,“ says a source close to Torres. “Jennifer tucks them in at night. She’s very sweet with them.“

Speaking of Lopez, actress Rosie Perez recently talked smack to TMZ.com:

Rosie says it was she, not Keenan Ivory Wayans, who hired Lopez as a dancer on the hit ’90s comedy show “In Living Color.” “He didn’t want her because she was overweight and didn’t dance well, but I said, ‘she has star quality.’”

What a cut-throat world Hollywood is.

Onto that other high-profiled momma, Britney Spears: She has monitored visits with her children who are in full-time custody with daddy K-Fed. But long-time estranged mom, Lynne, and sister Jamie made it to her Beverly Hills home to offer emotional support, according to People magazine.

I am intrigued by stage moms like Lynne. I am sure she like all of us doesn’t want her children to struggle. But what happens when these good intentions go terribly awry? What a nightmare for her as a mother. I know everytime I see older clips of a scantily-clad Britney I think, “Where is her mother in all of this?“ Yikes!

Finally, American Idol was fined $5,000 for violating U.S. child labor laws since singers Jordin Sparks and Sanjaya Malakar were only 17 at the time of their tour, according to TMZ.com.

The Labor Department also says that 19 Touring lacked a certificate of eligibility to employ singers under the age of 18. Who says Sanjaya’s a singer?

Oh smack!

What else is in the news, MotherTalkers? What’s up with you?