From the Mom

Lipstick to Crayons

If you came here from Great Day, they accidentally put up the wrong link. Until it’s fixed, my Lipstick to Crayons Web site where you can learn all about couponing and cutting your grocery bill in half  is http://www.lipsticktocrayons.com.

Taking Wins Where You Can Get Them

My 15-year-old daughter is slowly, but surely, coming out of her swimming slump. She returned from a high-altitude training trip in Arizona last Sunday and is swimming in the Parkway Summer Sizzler swim meet this weekend. Like many of her teammates, she’s not tapered and really tired from the training trip, but her coach saw definite improvements in her stroke so far at the meet this weekend.

I can’t tell whether her stroke is good or bad because I’m not a swimmer. Like I told her coach, she looks perfect to me all the time.  And the poor thing added 57 seconds in mile the first day of the meet. That wasn’t fun, but true to her nature, my girl kept her chin up and remained positive. She has the utmost faith that what her coaches keep telling her is true. So, she returned to the meet on Saturday and had a couple of good swims. In fact, she was only 8 seconds off her best time in the 800 free, and being in a practice suit, untapered, we considered that a WIN!

The coach says this shows good body position. I say it's a cool picture.

Getting feedback from coaches after a race.

  

Her backstroke is fun to photograph, and is hopefully coming back, too.

She doesn't swim butterfly often b/c it's not her stroke, but I love to get pictures when she does.

And here is her slowly but surely improving backstroke start. Yea! We see progress.

Power of Digital Video JVC Blogher Contest

JVC recently launched the JVC HD Everio “Power Your Passion” BlogHer ‘10 Sweepstakes, which gives bloggers a chance to win an expenses paid trip to the BlogHer ’10 Conference in New York City on August 6 – 7, 2010.

For the second consecutive year, JVC will provide four winners with roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations and a full registration to this popular event, along with a JVC HD Everio camera to power their blog with rich high-definition content. From now until June 20, 2010, women bloggers can enter the JVC HD Everio “Power Your Passion” BlogHer ‘10 Sweepstakes by visiting the sweepstakes home page and explaining how digital video could power their passion for blogging.

Video has proven to be a powerful medium for many bloggers, but the addition of high definition content can boost traffic, increase reader engagement and enliven a blog. JVC is asking bloggers how video has enhanced or could enhance their blog to help them communicate with their audience.

Bloggers can enter the sweepstakes in one of four categories: Parenting; Business & Entrepreneurship; Travel & Leisure; and Health & Community. The sweepstakes is open to all female bloggers residing in the U.S. and one winner from each category will be selected at random. Each winner will receive a BlogHer ‘10 Conference registration, roundtrip airfare to New York, hotel accommodations for three nights and a JVC HD Everio GZ-HD620 camera.

Participants can also submit additional entries by blogging about the power of digital video, subscribing to the JVC newsletter or following JVC on Twitter (@JVC_USA) or on Facebook. Winners will be posted to http://hdeveriosweepstakes.jvc.com on June 23, 2010 and will be notified via email.

JVC is an official sponsor of BlogHer ’10 and will have an exhibit at the New York conference. JVC will also sponsor the first annual Mouthy Housewives Happy Two Hours event during the conference, which will take place at the Forty Eight cocktail lounge on August 6, 2010.

Dance Recital and Affordable Dance Lessons

I often sing the praises of my local YMCA. It’s a great place to exercise. The staff members treat you like family and they love on your kids while you workout. It’s affordable. It’s clean. It has all the latest equipment and exercise classes. It has free coffee and free Wifi. And they offer tons of classes and camps for all ages. This year, we took advantage of the Y’s very affordable dance class for my two-year-old. Yes — they have classes for kids as young as two! It was worth every penny (a mere $30 a month for members) to see Ginger and her friend, Kamryn, in the dance recital. (Thank you Miss Tammie, Katy, Kim, Marta, Jodie and all the other volunteers on recital day). You can watch the video and listen to me laugh all the way through it below:

If you’re looking for an affordable place to get your kids started in dance, karate, youth sports, drama, swimming, etc., check your local YMCA!

Superfan Parents

So often, we get to read about parents who act like morons at sporting events. I know I’ve written about those kinds of parents, and I’ve certainly seen thousands of keystrokes dedicated to the same. But over the last few weekends, I’ve witnessed first-hand some of the best examples of parents who are “superfans.”

I’m hanging the label superfan on these parents not just because they are fans of a given sport (in this case, swimming), but because they cheer on and genuinely, GENUINELY, wish for, hope for and applaud the success of young athletes who belong to OTHER parents. And they truly feel bad for and try to encourage those athletes who miss the mark for which they were reaching.

My 14-year-old daughter is a competitive swimmer, and she’s been in a bit of a slump for about 12 months. There are some real signs that her “slump” or “funk” may be over, and she’s had three weekends of meets recently in which she’s had some success. Not quite the success she wanted to be having after 12 months of hard work and what she calls “failed swims,” but certainly enough success that she’s feeling hopeful and encouraged and her Dad and I are overjoyed. Throughout her struggles, other swimmers and parents of other swimmers have cheered her on, pumped her up, and all-around encouraged her. It’s been wonderful and it’s meant a lot to us and to her.

The last two weekends, I enjoyed witnessing many of these same parents (plus a few others) do the same for numerous other swimmers within our own club and outside of our club. It was heartwarming. I saw these Moms and Dads hold their breath and then cheer victoriously when swimmer after swimmer achieved their goals. Some of these people were parents of swimmers who’ve already achieved said goal, but some are parents of teens who desperately, DESPERATELY want the same thing for themselves and haven’t gotten there yet. Two Moms in particular were checking times before each race and saying things like, “Okay, cheer for Jane Doe, because she’s only two seconds off. Now, everybody think good thoughts for John Doe, because he’s been trying to get this cut for a year.” Etc. They rallied the fans into the court of whatever kid was in the water. Very cool.

Anyway, I wanted to give a shout-out to all those parents who are doing it right — cheering on their own kids, but also cheering on the kids who are competing right alongside their own kids. And come to think of it: it just so happens that the children of these indivdiuals are doing the same thing down on the deck. Hmmm . . . . . now that’s proof that you’re doing something right, too. Hats off!

Adorable Children’s Hair Accessories

Since my baby girl was born, I have placed big bows on her head. I don’t think anything can dress up a simple outfit for a child better than a perfectly adorable hair accessory, and in my opinion, the bigger the better.

That’s why I was delighted to discover Ladybugs and Butterflies — a company that makes children’s hair accessories by hand, piece by piece.

Ladybugs and Butterflies offer their beautiful embellishments on four different types of hair clips. The toddler snappy clip, which is flat and 1 1/2 “, is the type of I clip I chose for my daughter’s hair accessories, and it really does hold just onto the smallest, finest amount of hair. They also offer the 1 1/4″ infant snappy clip, which is guaranteed to hold in the finest and just a few strands of newborn baby hair. They also offer the original 1 3/4″ alligator pinch clip and the 2″ French barrette that is great for big girls with thicker, long hair.

Ladybugs and Butterflies has plenty of products for those who like ponytails and headbands in sizes that work for all hair types. And the baby head bands are super soft and stretchy, so they won’t leave marks on your baby girls’ heads.

The site is easy to shop because it’s organized in so many different ways: you can view products by latest collection, headbands, hairclips and pony O’s, etc. Once you pick a product (like the Bella Marie, which is my favorite and which is often on my toddler’s head), then you choose the clip type and color. Prices range from $4 for pony O’s to $7 for most hair clips and about $16 for headbands.

Check them out soon to accessorize your daughter’s wardrobe, and don’t forget to look for items that will go perfectly with an Easter ensemble.

Ticket Giveaway to Disney Rockin Road Show

I’m giving away four tickets to the Disney Rockin Road Show at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis (Feb. 20 6:30 p.m. show). Head on over to Lipstick to Crayons to enter!

Coming soon — new information on swimsuits!

I keep getting inquiries about the 2010 swim suits, but I’m not an expert and have as many questions as the next person. So I’ve decided to resort to my “journalism” days and do some old-fashioned phone interviews of a few experts. I’m gathering my notes and promise to write up the information in the next week. Stay tuned, and if you don’t already subscribe to my site, do so in the right hand corner.

Stop — I want to get off!

Remember when you could ask for “do-overs” and when you could demand that the merry-go-round be stopped so you could get off? Well, my family has had a challenging (to say the least) week and I DO NOT want a do-over, but I would like to step off this insane ride for a few moments to catch my breath.

We’ve had three deaths in our extended family since Jan. 2, my computer was eaten alive by a trojan virus and our furnace quit working on the same day the temperatures hit the teens and the windchill took the mercury below zero!

Now let’s back up the truck and I’ll give you more details.

My husband’s uncle died on Jan. 2 from injuries he received in a horrible car accident just after Christmas. He lived in Kentucky, so my husband and his parents made the eight-hour drive from St. Louis to Kentucky late Monday night, returning on Wednesday. It was particularly hard on my mother-in-law, who is close to all of her siblings.

My great uncle also died on Jan. 2 after being ill for some time. He lived in the St. Louis area, so I was able to attend his wake Tuesday night (Jan. 5), but only after arranging carpools for my older children and only with my toddler in tow. It was a challenge, but I’m glad I went for my Mom, who is very sad, and to see lots of family that I seldom see.

On the same day as the wake, my brother’s father-in-law died after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. I knew this man before I even knew his daughter, who became my sister-in-law, because he had been my boss at my first teenage job at the Florissant (MO) K-Mart. He was a kind man who my brother had come to love and who was loved dearly by his daughters. His wake and funeral this weekend will be very sad and it will be hard to watch his widow, my brother and sister-in-law and their boys grieve the loss.

Certainly less important, but significantly disruptive, has been the destruction of my computer by a trojan virus. (Remember, I’m a freelance writer/communications professional who MAKES A LIVING AT HOME WITH A FUNCTIONAL COMPUTER).  This happened Dec. 30 and my poor husband has spent countless hours attempting to salvage it (amid all this other craziness), but we finally gave up. It is my intention to save the money to buy a Macintosh — IAM DONE WITH PC’S. But, as a Band-aid (and after more than one three-hour conversation with Microsoft support professionals on the other side of the globe) we’ve purchased a new computer. Now, I’m waiting for my dear husband to get home from work and “make it so.” In other words, I want him to restore all the crap off the back-up external hard drive, and set up all the other systems and processes I need to work. I am tired of working on a slow laptop that doesn’t like me to answer work emails, open attachments, save anything to the hard drive, open more than two Internet windows, blog, update my site, etc.

I should have been back up and running YESTERDAY but the supplier from which we ordered my new computer failed to deliver it yesterday as was promised. We were told it was “backordered” and they could not tell us when it woudl arrive. Unacceptable. We canceled the order and began shopping elsewhere. While doing that, we noticed it suddenly felt very cold in our house. “No honey — that’s not ME being ICY because I’m mad about my computer not arriving. It really is cold in here.” Hhrummpf! Like I could be enough of a witch to lower the temperature of the house!

Anyway, that’s when we discovered that the furnace wasn’t working. Guess what? Heating and air conditioning dudes are really busy when it gets super cold outside and the weather guys are predicting six inches of snow! To spare you boring details — our furnace is “temporarily” fixed while we wait for a part to be ordered that is due next Tuesday. No guarantees it will keep heating the house until then. Just a “let’s hope so” from the furnace dude.

Surprisingly, I haven’t had a complete tantrum yet. I’ve had a few “almost tantrums,” but no complete tantrums. My Beth Moore Bible Study is helping — this week’s lesson was on waiting/patience, neither of which are my strong suits and both upon which I needed desperately to focus. I was reminded that God’s in control, not me. And THAT gives me some peace. So, I’ll stay on the merry-go-round of life and be grateful for it.

Why blog?

As a Mom, I am seldom able to complete a sentence without being interrupted. Heck — I’m seldom able to complete a thought without being interrupted. Even when I’m working (I work from home part-time as a freelance writer), I’m often asked, “Mom, what’s for dinner?” or “Mom, can you take me to swim practice,” or “Michelle, do you know where the checkbook is?” or “Michelle, can you drop my stuff off at that dry cleaners?”

I’m very good at multi-tasking. I’m a woman who has cooked hamburger while nursing a baby while talking on the phone. No lie. It’s not safe, and I don’t recommend it, but I’ve done it. I am not, however, good at having a complete thought or saying a complete sentence while being constantly interrupted. In fact, having my thoughts and words interrupted makes me a little crabby sometimes.

That’s probably why I so appreciated this quote that my friend sent me yesterday:

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