Jun 22

You Love Me, You Really Love Me

Uncategorized 3 Comments »

This week I was honored to receive the Beautiful Blogger Award from Amanda at Tales from the Crib. With every honor comes responsibility. Instead of a speech, it’s my duty to share seven little known facts about myself and then nominate other great blogs.

So, here’s my list of random things. Let’s see how many of these things are new to you.

  1. I have a secret desire (or maybe it’s not-so-secret desire because I tell people all the time) to have a British accent. Don’t start making fun of me or calling me Madonna yet. My husband threatened to switch seats on the plane if I didn’t stop using my faux accent on the flight home from London. I just think everything coming out of your mouth sounds smarter if you say it with a little, Super Nanny twang.
  2. I always thought I’d have all boys. Growing up I was mostly a tomboy – I liked sports, getting dirty, and playing outside. My neighborhood was predominantly male and I grew up around boys. As a result, I had lots of “guy friends” over the years and always pictured myself raising boys since I wasn’t a girly-girl. I’m not at all disappointed to raise girls and have loved watching them be tough but girly (i.e. afraid of spiders but not intimated to compete with the boys.)
  3. I have a HUGE fear of birds. My husband thinks it’s ridiculous that such a fearless person can turn into a mess when a bird gets too close for comfort. Where does this crazy fear come from? I was attacked by a flock of geese when I was four and they pecked holes in my tights. So, much for a trip to the park to feed the ducks. As an adult, my husband coaxed me into the aviary at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego to overcome my fear. Immediately upon entering the closed facility a bird swooped down from a corner and tried to nest in my hair. (My husband says it tried to land on my shoulder, but I swear it was trying to birth its young in my lovely fro.) Needless to say, I ran out screaming, nearly wiping out a few small children in my pathway to the exit.
  4. I don’t like pie. I’ve actually confessed this one before but it’s always so shocking to people.
  5. I don’t like baseball either. But I’m totally patriotic. I promise. I vote. I pay taxes.
  6. I don’t know how to sing. My husband and kids are all are great singers. It must be paternally genetic or something. My side of the family hardly sings, “Happy Birthday” and would never be caught dead singing Christmas carols. I adore that my husband sings my girls to sleep most nights. I’m not jealous at all. It’s an honor I can only adore.
  7. I cry every year on the first day of school. I’m not entirely sure what it is that gets the waterworks flowing each fall, but it’s real. My “baby” starts kindergarten this fall and I asked my husband to take the day off work to help me cope. I started off asking for a week, so I figure I’ve made progress. What a wuss, I know.

 

Blogs I think I pretty fantastic in no particular order

  1. Tales from the Crib (of course)
  2. Coupon Geek
  3. Coupon Gal
  4. Safely Gathered In
  5. Mormon Mommy Blogs
  6. Save at Home Mommy
  7. Pinching Your Pennies
  8. Org Junkie
  9. SugarDoodle

10.  Mom’s Favorite Stuff

11.  Hair Today (even though she doesn’t post anymore L)

12.  Procrastinating Writers

13.  Stress Tips

14.  Marking Time

15.  All of my friends personal blogs

Question: How many of my “seven things” were new to you? Did I surprise anyone?

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Jun 21

Baby Mama: The Final Post Before Baby

Baby Mama Series No Comments »

I am very excited that I am only a few weeks away from just being one person again. Being a baby house is fun and different, but it does get old quickly. My husband says these words to me everyday, “It is weird that there is a baby inside of you.” Yes, thank you, my love, it IS weird that there is a baby inside of me; not only weird but uncomfortable and at times painful.

At the doctor yesterday, we scheduled three more doctor visits, one per week for the next three weeks. As I was setting up the third one, I realized it was quite possible that we would already have the baby before that third appointment. That was when it really hit me. Oh my heck!! We only have a very short amount of time left, we could be measuring it in days and it wouldn’t be a high number.

So then I came home and realized that I have a list of things to do. Then I look down my list and realize that I am in this limbo of time, where we are close to having the baby but not quite close enough. I do need to pack a bag for the hospital, but it is still a few weeks away, when is the right time to pack a hospital bag? So I toss that “to do” aside for a while, and keep looking down my list.  Next on the list is go shopping, well I can’t do that until after the baby shower. Good heavens! Is their anything on the list I can do early? It seems a little premature to get out the baby toys or put together the diaper bag, so those items get procrastinated too. The only thing I end up doing is washing the car seat and setting it by the car; but I feel better. I am one step closer to being baby ready.

Sometimes I forget that I have a five pound parasite inside of me, and I try to act like I am just a normal person. For example we took our daughter camping a couple weeks ago. That may have been the dumbest thing I have ever done. Normally I can sleep anywhere. However, I slept very little that night. My poor hipbones which are trying to make room for baby just couldn’t handle the baby pressure on one side and the hard dirt bed on the other side. Another time I decided that I really hadn’t been exercising enough lately so I put a Jillian Michaels aerobics video on the TV. Now her routines are a little rigorous normally, but I felt like such a failure when I was winded during the warm-up. 

Luckily I only have a few more weeks until everything is back to normal.  Or as normal as it can ever be with a brand new baby that I get to take with me everywhere.

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Jun 17

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Tried and True Thursdays No Comments »

Need some help planning Father’s Day? Here are three “Tried and True” websites to inspire you on how to spoil all the great Dads in your life this weekend.

FamilyFun.go.com – For things to do and make-at-home crafts

Gifts.com – You can sort by the “type” of Dad you’re shopping for – outdoorsy, sports lovers, etc.

MommySavers.com – tons of frugal ideas from her readers for ways to celebrate this 100 year old tradition

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Jun 16

Jamba Juice For Only a Buck — Today Only

Deal of the Week, Wildcard Wednesdays 1 Comment »

Today only Jamba Juice is giving away Superfruit Smoothies for only $1.

Enjoy Summer with this (almost) freebie.

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Jun 14

Sailing Through Parenthood

Mommy Monday 1 Comment »

When I asked my four-year-old what she wanted to do this summer, she quickly and confidently replied, “I think I’d like to sail around the world.” Clearly, the media firestorm around 16-year-old, Abby Sunderland, has sparked the attention of my young adrenaline junky.

My response is the same as it always is when she decides she thinks something dangerous is appealing. I sigh and say, “Really.” And her response to my flatness is always ignored as she proceeds with a laundry list of reasons why it’s super cool to do dangerous stuff.

When she was two I was flipping through the channels and she saw a half-mili-second of something that caught her interest. She begged me turn back a few channels and then had me stop on an Olympic slalom ski jump of all things. The only words she could string together to express her excitement were. “Wow! Fun! Fun!”

She was born with an awareness about her that even my family doctor recognized as she emptied his shirt pocket while he leaned forward to look in her ears when she was only a few months old.

Then there was the time when she drove in her Grandma’s little red sports car and said, “Gamma go fasta!! C’mon fasta!!”

At six months of age she was trying to walk – which sounds adorable – but when you have a “danger lover” on your hands it really is a curse not a blessing. She’d troll around the playground and go down the tall twisty slide. I really couldn’t keep her from being who she was – a fun loving, thrill seeker. Yes, I had to keep her safe, but I realized that term had a new definition for my free-spirit.

Other moms would scorn, glare, or even lecture me about how irresponsible I was. I could empathize with them. At times, before the birth of this child, I probably felt some of those same judgmental feelings towards anonymous mothers at the park, the ones that seemed to let their kids do things that appeared to be too overwhelming at such a young age. Most of the time I’d blow them off and every once in a while one of those well-intentioned helicopter moms would try to hover over my child and I’d remind them to fly in their own designated airspace.

Now, I see the Sunderland family take on ridicule from the media and supposed parenting experts for letting their child take on such a difficult goal. I have to sit back and observe from a different place. I don’t know their circumstances, but I do know what it’s like to parent a child that has more zest for life than can be contained in a small body. There’s really more than one way to sail through the solo voyage of parenthood.

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Jun 11

Going Nuts

Foodie Fridays No Comments »

Nuts make the top ten list of super foods (for the full list click HERE) because studies have found that the heart-healthy fats in nuts help knock down cholesterol levels and the high fiber content and protein in nuts help you lose weight because eating nuts fills you up. They also have antioxidants which can help prevent cancer cells making them a super food because they have multiple health benefits.

With that said, don’t go crazy on your nut consumption because they pack a powerful punch to your body, even in small doses. (They are also high in calories in large doses).

Don’t like nuts? Are you sure you’ve tried them all? For example, I hate peanuts, but a couple of my kids love them. My husband likes pistachios and I’m an almond fan. Also consider walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and many other varieties. I recommend that you taste different varieties until you crack into one you like.

You can eat them in small handfuls (look for 100-calorie packs to help with portion control.) You can also sprinkle them onto salads and side dishes or add them into baked goods or hot and cold cereals. They add great texture and crunch to lots of favorite recipes.

Here’s a recipe for a great strawberry salad with almonds that I posted a few months ago. My kids gobble it up and say, “This tastes so yummy I don’t even feel like I’m eating salad.”

Click HERE for the recipe.

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Jun 10

Great Summer Reading Programs

Tried and True Thursdays No Comments »

Most public libraries have summer reading programs to incentivize kids to read while they’re on summer break. Major bookstore chains have also added their own programs.

Here’s a few to summer reading programs that offer FREE books for completing an alloted number of books. You can sign your kids up for one, two, or all three. It’s a great way to get your kids off the video games and excited about reading.

Barnes and Noble. If you read 8 books you get one book for FREE. The kids get to keep track on their summer passport. They also have great tips and tricks for parents and a suggestion reading list. Check out their program HERE.

Borders and Waldenbooks. This program requires kids to read 10 books before they receive their FREE book. They have a more limited number of FREE books to choose from, but it’s still a FREE book, so how can you really go wrong. Check out their program HERE.

Borders.

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Jun 09

Father’s Day Gift Idea

Deal of the Week No Comments »

 

Snapfish is offering an awesome package deal of FREEBIES but the offer is only good today (June 9, 2010) so you have to hurry.

Here’s the deal. New customers get 50 FREE 4 x 6 Prints, a FREE 11 x 14 Photo Collage Poster, and a free 8 x 10 Print. Follow the link HERE. For FREE shipping use the coupon code DADSAVINGS.

Question: What are you planning to do or buy for Father’s Day this year?

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Jun 08

10 Minute Mad Dash to Sanity Restoration

Tidy Up Tuesdays No Comments »

Aaahhh summer.

Sleeping in late, moving at a snail’s pace, enjoying the great outdoors and … an eternally messy house. If someone dropped in on us at 3 o’clock on a summer afternoon they’d think we lived like pigs.

The teddy bear parades and tents made out of blankets and sheets have already begun popping up around our house and so have the endless piles of dirty dishes from the constant feeding frenzy we experience each summer.

Yes, I love summer. And I love my kids. But the mess is another story. Since you can’t get rid of the mess without getting rid of the kids (and they’re really just too loveable to sell on e-Bay.) Here are five tips for restoring order to your abode in just 10 minutes.

1.      Ignore the mess. Let them make a mess. It helps their creative minds work and keeps them occupied. However, friendly reminders to the tune of, “Whatever you get out you’ll have to put away,” prevent end-of-the-day meltdowns.

2.      Find 10 minutes. In our house 5 p.m. is the appointed hour at which playtime is officially over for the day. All messes must be cleaned up and we get ready for dinner and pre-bedtime activities. All Barbie village and abandoned stacks of blocks or books are returned to their home in 10 minutes or less. You’d be surprised how fast kids can clean even the biggest of messes.

3.      Give them a heads-up. Even though clean-up time always comes at basically the same time at our house, I always issue a 15-minute warning that the clean-up call will be sounding shortly. Again this helps keep major meltdowns from occurring during the witching hour.

4.      Bribe them. Lest you think that those 10 minutes are blissful at our house, think again. Kids are still kids. They whine and complain just like all kids do. However, for those who can work hard without making misery for the rest, they’re rewarded with TV privileges while I finish up dinner. Sounds too good to be true? The power of TV is still stronger than most other kid currency regardless of age.

5.      Make it fun. Cinderella taught us to whistle while we work. Throwing on some tunes that everyone enjoys always seems to vanquish the cries and whines from the young ones. In three or four songs all of the work is done and no one would believe that the living room went from family fort to fabulous again in about the same time it takes to find your cell phone at the bottom of your purse.

 

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Jun 08

Cable Car Moms

Mommy Monday 2 Comments »

     

After dragging my three children up to the top of Nob Hill (which was only 6 blocks from our hotel, but entirely uphill) to the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco, I was exhausted. I stood on the platform and observed the hard-working cables that keep the cars running up and down the steep slopes of the city. I don’t know if it was the tired sounds of the machines or the sweat pouring down the back of my neck, but it got me thinking: Cable cars and moms are a lot alike. 

First of all, cable cars run all day – except between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m when they return to the barn for a brief rest. Moms of newborns have been known to keep these hours. And moms of teenagers too. And overworked, busy moms with lots of hats to wear have also been known to keep “cable car” hours too. Pretty much if you’re a mom, you haven’t slept a regular eight-hour night in years – unless you were sick, and even then it’s debatable.

Next, cable cars run at a constant but slow speed all day long – 9.5 miles per hour to be exact. While it seems like a mom is never getting things done because she’s always on the go, it also feels like a mom can’t ever seem to get anywhere very fast. Just when a mom gets going, it’s time to stop again. Just like the cable car trudging up and down the steep hills of San Francisco, as mothers we’re journeying uphill all day to cross things off our lists with temper-tantrum-prone toddlers and pouting pre-teens in toe.

Finally, these antique cars’ cables are coated with a sacrificial lubricant that keeps the ropes gripping day in and day out. They compare this special tar-like oil to a pencil eraser eroding away instead of the paper. In mom-speak, our protective lubricant is the thick skin we develop so our own pride and self-esteem don’t wear away. In comes in  those times when we step into a tough spot to defend our family and find ourselves looking the lone wolf in a forest full of hungry salivating predators. In the end it’s that extra layer that helps us develop greater resolve than ever to do whatever it takes to keep our little den of wolf cubs safe and happy – day after day.

Cable cars have been around for what seems like forever (just like moms), will be around for a whole lot longer (just like moms), and seem to only get better and more beloved with time (just like moms.)

 

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