New Rainy Day Stash

My kids love Mom’s Special Closet. Well, it’s really a shelf in our coat closet.  On that shelf I keep a revolving stash of goodies to pull out for my kids on rainy days, special occasions or whenever they could use a pick-me-up.  It’s also come in very handy when we need a last-minute birthday gift.  I try to keep an eye out for inexpensive trinkets when I’m running errands.  Well, today my kids hit the jackpot with the Target dollar bins…

I’ve got play-doh, markers, DIY jewelry box and piggy bank kits, coloring books, lip balm, sidewalk chalk, pens, notepads… I can’t wait to surprise them!   This will last us all the way until Fall. Do you have a rainy day stash?

Never say Never to your baby

Last weekend princess and I hit the theaters to see “Never Say Never” … heard of it????  A film about none other than Justin Bieber.  In my household Justin Bieber is king – princess “loves” him.  And yes, I said love.  I have no idea where she’s picked up the concept of loving a boy and definitely no idea how or where she learned of being so excited to see a person that she curled away very shyly closing her eyes and blocking her face.  It was a new emotion that I had never ever seen before.  I guess anyone who invokes that kind of emotion truly deserves to be a Twitter trending topic every day!

If you haven’t seen it, it’s a cute film.  It chronicles 10 days in his life.  I like his music (probably because I have no choice because it’s always on) and the movie gave him life in my eyes.  He seems to be a good kid and I hope he stays that way.

The bigger theme for me was the underlying relationship with his mom (a single mom) and his mom’s freedom in letting her son be who he was. This is a concept that I struggle with because princess’ personality is so big and deep and I often restrict her based on my own personality and fears.  I have to catch myself, as they say in Trinidad, when I realize that I’m not letting her be.  Justin’s mom seemed to have little difficulty in letting her son be and I wonder whether her strength was purposeful or accidental; that was not apparent from the film.  That’s a strength I am searching for – the strength to let your baby be especially at  such a young age.  I look at princess and pray that she’ll be a successful woman in whatever she chooses, but I never imagined that I would be struggling with this at such a young age.

And yes….all this from a Justin Bieber film :)

Playdate Politics

Now that Chatterbox and Giggles are officially “in school” I’ve been encountering a whole new issue to navigate – playdates and birthday parties.  Apparently around the ages of 5 and 6, it’s common practice to drop off your child at a party or playdate.  We have yet to do this, mostly because Hubby absolutely won’t hear of it.  He is extremely protective (which is a great quality), but this translates into minimal activity not supervised by yours truly.  Not only does it end up being a drag for me, but I can see how it will become an issue for our girls – well, all of our kids, really – down the line.

Problem A: Where I Feel Like a Jackass

Giggles’s classmate’s mother invited Giggles to a playdate at her house on a work day.  Seeing as how I’ve actualy known the mom for several years, outside of the school, and seeing as how we just went to a playdate at her house after the holidays, I thought it would be ok if the nanny dropped Giggles off for a couple of hours so she could have her playdate.   As I suspected, Hubby would hear none of it. I had to explain that to the other mom and felt like: (a) I was offending her by implying that she wasn’t trustworthy; and (b) a jackass.  We settled on a day when I have off of work and would be able to accompany Giggles.

Problem B: Where I realize that I am more of a Free-Range Parent than I realized

Chatterbox was invited to a birthday party for a classmate whom she adores.  The kicker? The party is actually box seats at Disney on Ice! Major in 7-year-old land, I’ll assume.  She is one of just 2 girls invited to join the birthday girl and I know she would absolutely love this outing.  We’d need to drop Chatterbox off at the girl’s house and she would ride to the show and back with them.   I’ve met the mom before but don’t really know them at all.  Combine that fact with the “driving in their car” element, and Hubby is aghast.  He’s been spouting off all of the potential scenarios in which the outing could be unsafe and how he cannot believe I would be so irresponsible as to even entertain the idea.  I think it goes without saying that I would never intentionally put my child in harm’s way, so this really irks me.  He even came up with the idea of us buying a ticket (box seat!?) to watch the show with them. Am I too trusting? Or is Hubby overprotective?

And in a separate but also a playdate-related issue:

Problem C: Where I Feel Like a Mother Bear

Giggles also has another friend at school whom she adores.  She has been begging me to setup a play date for her with this little girl for months.  I sent the mom an email asking if we could get the girls together to play.  She replied and said we could plan to do it over Winter Break since schedules were crazy at that time.  I saw her at the school’s Christmas Program and she said: “Oh yes, we need to get the girls together!” and that she would be in touch.  Well, it’s February and I’ve heard nothing.  To make matters worse, I see her weekly at the school and neither she nor I have made any further mention of it.  I have no idea what the issue is.  Is it that she’s simply extremely busy or forgetful? Is it our race? Does she think Giggles isn’t “fit” to play with her daughter? The fact that Giggles has not stopped asking me to setup the play date is what really bothers me. I want my babies to be happy.

How would you handle these scenarios?

Settling in to My New Schedule

It’s been about 3 months since I started a new “part-time” work schedule, and I finally feel like I’ve found a groove.  For a while I was questioning my decision to alter my schedule because my days “off” were complete chaos.  I was running back and forth between school and school bus drops offs; in between I would run an errand or two and hustle back home to get L’il Buddy down for his nap. Before I knew it, it was time to do school picks ups again.  The house would be a mess and I never even got the chance to open my laptop, let alone get some blogging or Blogalicious work done.

I’m pleased to say that I’ve developed a routine and have regained control of my days.  Of course some Mondays are better than others, but for the most part, I’m a happy camper.  My kids love it too and look forward to the days that I stay home.  On the flip side, because I work from home on Fridays, I am only in the office 3 days/week.  While this is great for my family, it’s tough on my work mindset and workload.  But I’m not complaining; I’m sure I will figure that out too.

Is there such a thing as the perfect work-life balance?

*Updated* Celebrate Black History Month with Your Kids ~ “Mirandy and Brother Wind” Show World Premiere (GIVEAWAY)

Congrats to A Shorter Mama for winning the family 4-Pack!! (Scroll to the bottom for the Random.org screenshot)

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the performing arts – and I’m trying to expose my kids to the joys of live theatre as well.  We got the perfect opportunity this past weekend when we were offered passes to see the Press performance of Mirandy and Brother Wind at Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, MD, a partnership with the African Continuum Theatre Company.  My kids have been going to Adventure Theatre since they were infants (Go, Dog. Go! is still one of our favorite performances ever), and so we were excited for this show.

The story, based on the book by Patricia McKissack, takes place on Mirandy’s family farm in 1906.  It’s Springtime and everyone on the farm is busy handling chores; but where’s Mirandy? She’s off enjoying the weather and practicing for the upcoming Cake Walk dance contest.  She is determined to win this year and (literally) take the cake from Orlinda who always wins the contest.  Her mother and grandmother tell her the tale of Brother Wind who can dance like no one else.  From that moment on, Mirandy sets her sights on capturing Brother Wind and making him her dance partner in the Cake Walk.  The story that ensues is fun and teaches everyone a lesson about freedom.

I have to admit that when the show first started I was a little annoyed by the uneducated Negro dialect and the cotton picking references.  But I had to acknowledge that this was a period piece set to shed light on that time in history.  I was quickly swept away by the actors’ singing and dancing and the entertaining storytelling.  The actress that plays Mirandy is phenomenal! Watch out for Felicia Curry.

For fascinating historical information, including a snapshot of life during the early 1900′s as well as recipes for Snow Ice Cream and Strawberry Cake, check out the comprehensive Dramaturgy for Mirandy.

Mirandy and Brother Wind runs at Adventure Theatre from January 24-February 13, 2011 and at the Atlas Performing Arts Center as part of the Intersections Festival: A New America Arts Festival, February 25-March 13, 2011. Tickets are $15 for General Admission, BUT!

I am giving away a Family Four-Pack of tickets to see Mirandy and Brother Wind.  Just leave me a comment telling me why you’d like to win.   Giveaway ends at midnight on Wednesday, February 2nd.

*Disclosure: my family received complimentary tickets to see the show.

Week 2: Down Another 2lbs

Considering the SABOTAGE attempts on my weight loss executed this weekend by Lisa (wine! flatbread! molten chocolate cake!) and Justice Ny (banana split!!?), I was pleasantly surprised at this morning’s weigh-in. Instead of lamenting where I might have been save for Saturday’s transgressions, ahem, I will focus my energies on making this next week an even more successful one…

Ladies, I fly above all the haterz!

Heh heh.

Parents’ behavior log

You’ve heard me say time and time again that I’ve always wanted a spunky kid and that I got exactly what I asked for.  She’s a smart little cookie and is very independent.  The flip side is that she’s very opinionated and she’s hard to control most days.

We’ve all seen behavioral logs from your child’s teachers.  Many of you probably even have one or two of your own for your kids. Princess devised her own behavior log that rates mom, dad and herself every day! Haven’t seen this one yet….have you? The impetus for the chart was her anger at dad one day for some kind of punishment and upon entering her room not only was there a hand-drawn picture of daddy with his name on it with a big line through it, but there was this log that she designed.  Three equal columns with our names affixed to the top of the chart and a legend at the bottom. There are three options – check mark, x and a star – each progressively worse than the former.

Of course, it was funny upon first sight because neither of us could imagine that she would design this all on her own.   We also thought the novelty would wear off; it hasn’t.  Princess rates us every night before the lights go out for bed.  As you can see mom isn’t doing so well (middle column).  In fact, I swear her default for me is the star because “I give her too much trouble” as she would say.  Her rating is based on how good we were to her that day. Trust me, she takes this chart very seriously.  Neither mom nor dad is permitted to write on this chart and she completes it every.single.night.

At first it was funny – not funny as in hilarious but funny as in stunned to laughter. Stunned that she would be so insightful to rate us as she’s rated, and stunned at her tenacity and persistence in maintaining this record.  I sure hope she’s going to be the next barack obama or steve jobs with all this spunk.  Otherwise, good father have mercy!

Would you stand by his side right after he told you he was gone?

My weekly guilty pleasure – Real Housewives of Beverly Hills – has raised an issue that has stirred my interest since last week. What would you do if you were Camille Grammer?

She’s not my favorite housewife, in fact, not really even my favorite person but I wonder how many women would have gone to an event with their husband right after being informed that he wanted out of the marriage. Would you have gone? Would you have been smiling?

My Working Woman’s Retreat

When our basement flooded last spring, we took the disaster as an opportunity to revamp our basement.  We laid new carpet and have plans for a new wet bar and kids’ play area in the works.  What made me the most excited though, was the prospect of converting our rarely used guest bedroom into a home office for me.

Our guests have a love affair with our sectional.  It didn’t matter that we had decked out the guestroom with new furniture and flat screen tv; everyone who came to visit always ended up sleeping on the couch.  I don’t blame them – it’s like sleeping on a cloud.  That said, a perfectly good room was going to waste; now was my chance to take advantage!

We had an interior designer friend come and take a look at the space.  She immediately said: “This can be your Working Woman’s Retreat!” I was determined to make it so from that point on.  I got to work creating a design plan; I envisioned what I wanted my space to feel like {bright, soothing, warm} and what I wanted it to look like {light, chic, feminine} and scoured websites and magazines for the elements that I wanted to include.  Of course, in a household with 5 people, my home office was at the bottom of the budgetary and scheduling priority lists, so it’s been slow going to pull it together.  But I’m excited to say that I finally reached a turning point in the last month where the ball has gotten rolling!

The first major challenge was finding a desk.  I knew exactly the desk I wanted. I had seen it on an episode of “Run’s House” (don’t laugh).  Angela and Vanessa had a huge white French Provincial table with curved legs in their Pastry offices. Like this:

And so I searched. For something similar but that didn’t break the bank. I was flat out of luck.  Turns out those tables are treasured antiques and run in the neighborhood of $1500 and up.  That was not going to work. I was getting very discouraged and took to checking Craigs List like a madwoman.  I responded to an ad that I saw posted and dragged my entire family out to the girl’s place, with my husband’s pick up truck, to see it. What a letdown! Her table was in terrible shape, chipped and yellowing and rickety. After that I gave up the search for awhile. And then…2 weeks ago I FOUND MY TABLE ON CRAIGSLIST.  Within a few hours it was delivered to my house in great condition for a great price. Woot! I was on my way.

Meanwhile, I was contacted by CurtainWorks asking if I might be interested in reviewing a set of their curtains.  They were featuring all of their styles in blue as the color is one of the design trends for 2011.  What perfect timing!  I was sent their Messina velvet curtains in Peacock.  They are the perfect addition to my space and add a luxurious, rich quality.  We had painted the walls to the office a light, light blue and carpeted the floor in a similar shade; these curtains are the perfect accent.  The length is great too; I ordered the length longer than needed so that they would pool in a bunch on the floor.  Instead of using them to cover the window, which is small is this basement room, I decided to use the curtains as coverings for the closet.  I plan to use the closet for file storage and like the idea of sprucing up a typical supply closet with these gorgeous curtains.  I am now in search of  the perfect curtain ties to complement the curtains…oh and a steamer to get them silky smooth! If you are in the market for curtains, definitely give CurtainWorks a shot. Their prices are super affordable ($49 – $79 for these!) and they are currently offering FREE shipping on orders over $125.

Image Source: CurtainWorks.com

Aren’t they pretty?

In addition to a fabulous bronze snakeskin, studded end table and studded leather chair that I scooped up at HomeGoods, I’ve added a pretty lamp, desk and wall accessories, decorative mirrors and Southern magnolia wreath to the mix.

I’ve still got a ways to go, but I am excited to say that my Working Woman’s Retreat is well underway.

Down 3lbs and #ProjectMeToo

They say that setting a concrete goal increases the likelihood that you’ll actually reach it.  So, here I go: my goal for the next four months is to get into bathing-suit-ready shape in time for our family vacation to the Bahamas during our kids’ Spring Break.  I was inspired by Wifey’s #ProjectMe post to wear a bikini by her 40th birthday.  I am not so brave as to aim for a bikini (or as to post my weight for the world to see! GULP. ) but I figure this is a start.  Now, I wore a bathing suit several times last summer, but let’s just say I did NOT feel fabulous doing so.  I would love to get to a point where I can feel confident and comfortable in a swim suit.

Thanks to Jonesie, I signed up on My Fitness Pal last week and have been tracking my food intake.  I have to admit, my confidence levels are low. I’ve tried so many times before – what’s going to make this time around any different? The key for me is – and always has been – exercise.   I did tennis in November and December but it was hard to keep up with since it was Monday evenings at 7pm – smack in the middle of dinner/homework/bedtime with the kids.  I’m off to a good start though – I weighed in today and I am DOWN 3LBS!!