Owner: PHAT Mommy URL:http://phatmommy.com Join Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:36:52 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: PHAT Mommy is what happens when a former dot com entrepreneur confronts the reality that parenting and homeschooling two kids is a grueling, yet rewarding, job. Come chat with me about stay-at-home-motherhood, the education of our children, and how to sta Site statistics:Click here
When Did Success Become a Curse Word? 2007-04-26 17:07:43 There are some excellent discussions going on in the comments of my post on Winning, Losing, Praising, as well as a related post at O’DonnellWeb. Check them out now. I’ll wait.
OK, all caught up? Super. Now, I have a question for all of you. How do you feel about “winning” in academics? Do you teach [...]
Please visit my blog for the full story.
Read more:Become
, Success
BlogHer Questions 2007-04-24 17:41:56 I’m about 95% committed to attending BlogHer this July. To those of you who’ve gone before, please share your wisdom with me.
If a person can only attend one day, would Friday or Saturday be better in terms of meeting people, networking, and, um, partying?
What “track” are you taking for the conference? There’s a few [...]
Please visit my blog for the full story.
Drawing Star Wars 2007-04-30 14:22:48 My son has really been into drawing lately and I just came across this awesome book, You Can Draw Star Wars. I ordered it for him as a surprise! Hat tip to Geekdad.
Her First Haircut 2007-04-29 21:45:15 C got her first haircut. Not really a haircut, but just a trim to get rid of the scraggly stuff. I thought she’d be fidgety, but she sat still and, well, she’s just adorable.
Read more:First
, Haircut
Cheerios - So Much More Than Food 2007-05-01 22:47:53 Cheerios has a new fruity variety - like Froot Loops, but with less sugar. When they asked me to review the new cereal, I immediately accepted because (a) we had already tried Fruity Cheerios and liked them and (b) I had some great craft recommendations using the cereal. Crafts? You betcha!
First, the taste: Yummy, but [...]
Clean Up with Bar Towels 2007-05-04 05:19:50 I love this tip from Elizabeth via ParentHacks: Buy bar towels in bulk and use them for all kinds of clean-ups. Bigger than a washcloth + smaller than a hand towel = perfect size! I use old washcloths for tons of stuff, but bar towels sound like a much better option.
Read more:Clean
, Towels
Mommy Blogging 2007-05-06 16:15:39 Jamie Lee has a wonderful and insightful post up at Maya’s Mom entitled: Mommy
Bloggers - The Urge to be Heard.
Read more:Blogging
What Was She Dreaming? 2007-05-05 22:17:17 C woke up in the middle of the night. When I went in to check on her she kept holding her hand up and whining something I couldn’t understand.
“What’s the matter, honey?” I asked.
“I wanna high-five!!!” she cried.
“Ok, give me a high-five.” She slapped my hand, turned over and went back to [...]
Read more:Dreaming
Only in America 2007-05-08 14:05:24 Only in America
… I got a good morning chuckle out of this one!
When Your Husband Hogs the iPod… 2007-05-08 05:54:10 … make him buy you your own!
My husband wasn’t all that interested in the iPod
when we first bought it, but recently he’s been downloading podcasts and using it frequently while practicing his guitar-playing. And, well, I need the iPod to take to the gym.
So it was a pleasant surprise to find this [...]
Read more:Husband
Take a Week Off From Punishing 2007-05-08 05:37:39 I always enjoy reading Stu’s parenting suggestions at GNM Parents. I’d love to see this one work, but I’ve never had much luck with the “no punishment” route.
Read more:Week Off
How Did I Get HERE? Part I 2007-05-10 17:45:21 This is the first of a series in which I will be revisiting the past 10 years and exploring that all-important question: What do I want to do with the rest of my life?
It was the summer of 1996. I had recently left my job covering IPOs for Bloomberg Financial Markets so I could start [...]
Social Responsibility and Bratz Dolls 2007-05-15 14:40:56 This morning I was catching up on some blog reading and got to this post by IzzyMom: a call to action to ask Scholastic to remove Bratz
books from their offerings at school fairs. Her post got me thinking about this whole idea of businesses being “socially responsible.”
I’m still exploring my feelings on this [...]
Read more:Social
, Responsibility
, Dolls
In Defense of the Alpha Mom and Other Labels 2007-05-15 04:02:11 I get such a kick out of this mommy wars stuff. The war used to be between working and stay-at-home moms, but now it’s apparently between Alpha
and Beta moms. And don’t forget the Omega moms.
Mothers get all sorts of crazy about these “labels.” But, you know, I kinda like them.
Here’s the thing: People [...]
Read more:Defense
, Labels
How Did I Get HERE? Part II 2007-05-14 04:29:57 Continued from here.
I immersed myself in stay-at-home mom-dom. We had recently moved to a new town and I had no friends, so I joined the local MOMS Club and immediately began taking on responsibilities. I designed our chapter’s web site, did the layout for the monthly newsletter. Soon I was V.P., and the next year, [...]
How Did I Get HERE? Part III 2007-05-18 06:15:01 Part I
Part II
In her post, Stop Trying to Find the Homeschooling Mom a Career, Mother Crone wrote, “I HAVE a career. I am a homeschooling mother, and I LOVE that career.”
Her post was timely for me because I had been thinking the exact… opposite. As I read her words, filled with passion and dedication [...]
A Short Break 2007-05-21 20:52:52 I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a few days while I work on upgrading to Wordpress 2.2 and designing my summer blog theme. So here are some photos!
We spent last weekend in Mystic, CT with some friends. Here, L & C climb on an anchor at Mystic Seaport.
This is how my daughter entertains [...]
Read more:Short
, Break
, Short Break
Wiped Out 2007-05-27 23:33:22 Summer is here. We turned on the AC for the first time, got the fans out of the basement, and unpacked our summer clothes from the cedar chest. I can now wander around the house in my Daisy Dukes (which I wear ONLY in the house because, trust me y’all, it aint that pretty).
This weekend [...]
Read more:Wiped
Help Me Out With This Social Networking Thing 2007-05-28 08:15:52 I’m really into blogging. Surfing the web is one of my top three favorite things to do. I love the whole sharing of information and experience thing. I want to read as much as possible and I hate the thought that I might be missing something. I’m even developing a new blog so I can blog more about blogging.
That said, you can see how I might get a little carried away with these social networking sites/tools. There are tons of them, and they all (most?) allow you to create your own page, join communities, rate/post/follow content, etc. Just when I think I’ve found a few I’m going to stick with, I come across another one.
I’d like to know what you think. What are your favorite networking sites? Which ones bring you the best content and return the most traffic to your site?
blogging, social networking
Read more:Social
, Thing
Our Antiquated School System 2007-06-04 18:55:04 A must read for everyone: How the Public SchoolSystem
Crushes Souls. He makes a very important point: “We have an antiquated system designed to supply labor to an industrial economy that doesn’t exist anymore.”
BlogHers Act - Educational Freedom 2007-06-08 08:18:20 BlogHer is launching a new initiative, BlogHers Act, to bring together their 11,000 women blogger members (and subsequently their audiences) to make a difference in a single global cause, as well as to identify the top four issues that women online want the U.S. Presidential candidates to address in the ‘08 election year.
The founders of the program are asking women bloggers to post about their hot-button issues to help determine what BlogHers Act will focus on for the upcoming year. Many have already posted and commented about issues such as Iraq, global warming, global women’s rights, health care, child care, and even a few unique topics like rebuilding our infrastructure and alternative education. Some bloggers chose issues that they have personal experience with, and their stories are both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
The cause that I am most passionate about is educational choice and reform. Educational
choice, with no restrictions or requirements, should be legal arou Read more:Freedom
Memed In So Many Ways 2007-06-06 22:34:22 I’m not big on memes except for the occasional exceptionally unique idea that might come my way. But in the past few days, I’ve been tagged by three people and, well, since I haven’t had a whole lotta other writing going on here, I thought, “What the hell.”
Babytalkers wants to know seven random things about me. Alasandra does it one better, demanding eight things. And Mama Saga asks me to name my five favorite charities. So here goes…
Eight Things About Shannon
I’m working on losing 25 pounds and I’m currently down 9 pounds.
I am taking my first trip to Las Vegas next week!
I love to gamble.
We’re going to ride the Star Trek ride in Las Vegas.
I love Barry Manilow, but won’t be seeing him in Vegas because I recently saw his Vegas show in NYC. And because PHAT Daddy really couldn’t stand the torture.
I really hate sitting here trying to think of eight things to write about myself.
I saw the Karate Kid movies last wee
Check Out Spatulatta 2007-06-06 21:04:46 Spatulatta, the amazing cooking for kids web site, is working toward becoming a PBS show. Cool! Please help them out by taking their short survey and you’ll be entered in the drawing to win a Spatulatta gift basket.
Read more:Check
Vegas, Baby! 2007-06-12 13:42:55 I am writing to you now from a cafe at the Las Vegas
Hilton. PHAT Daddy is at a trade show doing business and I am spending my morning relaxing with a large cup of coffee, a chocolate chip crumb muffin, and my laptop. Soon, I will be off to the pool to swim, read, relax and partake of fruity beverages. Ah, this is the life.
Our flight was long and uneventful until the landing. Undoubtedly the WORST landing of my life. Both PHAT Daddy and I were about 30 seconds from hurling — and I never get motion sickness. But it was soon over and we were shuttling to our hotel. Ya know what really bugs me about traveling and waiting in lines and/or on buses? Those people who feel it’s necessary to have their conversations LOUD ENOUGH SO EVERYONE CAN HEAR THEM. I mean, are you really that important that you want the whole world to know your business?
So we arrived, freshened up, and immediately hit the Star Trek Experience (if you’re not familiar with Star Trek, you won’t ful
Take a (Lemonade) Stand 2007-06-09 18:51:54 Here’s a great way for kids to learn about the fine art of running a lemonade stand: Sunkist’s Take a Stand
2007. For $25, Sunkist is offering lemonade stand kits to kids ages 7 to 12 who want to raise money for their favorite charity. (Every year Sunkist gives away 10,000 of these kits, but apparently they are already gone this year.)
You could also set up your own lemonade stand and check out the Sunkist site for recipes, printables, safety tips and more. This is a great concept that allows kids to learn about measurement (preparing the lemonade), money, economics, marketing, art, and charity.
lemonade stand, kids making money, charity, Sunkist
Read more:Lemonade
Posts to Ponder 6.14.07 2007-06-14 23:08:39 I’ll be posting more photos from our Vegas trip tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a few posts of note from around the blogosphere.
Check out iBakeSale.com. 1) Sign up (free). 2) Choose a charity, club, PTA, organization, or yourself to benefit. 3) Shop online at the many participating merchants. 4) Get up 20% cash back to your choice in #2. Very cool. My idea is to set up a college fund account for my kids, then get my whole family to log on to iBakeSale.com when they shop online so the cash-back goes toward my kids’ education.
Help kid’s cooking site Spatulatta become a PBS show by taking their short survey and you’ll be entered in the drawing to win a Spatulatta gift basket.
Best blog re-invention award: Vodkarella.
Join the new forums at BebeReviews and you could win a cool prize.
Just two more days to vote in the Modern Mom / Fruity Cheerios Family Fun contest. Go check out the finalists and vote for your favorite.
Kelly has a beautiful post about the Power o Read more:Ponder
Things I Want to Remember 2007-06-18 10:33:43 My daughter is at that awesome, yet challenging, age of nearly 3 years old, and I want to remember some of the adorable, strange, and frustrating things she says and does.
She loves to get dirty. Any food or dirt she can smear all over herself makes her happy. Especially sand, mashed potatoes and peanut butter.
She sleeps with her pillow under her back, not her head. It looks so uncomfortable the way she is arched over the pillow, but apparently she likes it.
One night when our power went out she woke up in the pitch black and said, “Mommy! My eyes won’t open!”
She calls McDonald’s “Old McDonald’s.”
She disagrees with nearly everything her brother says to her. When he tells her she is a good girl, she yells, “No, I’m NOT a good girl!”
When I ask her “Do you understand?” she says “NO!” This is particular frustrating when I am trying to discipline — she makes it tough not to laugh.
Her favorite wor Read more:Remember
More from Vegas 2007-06-18 10:08:20 View all the photos from my trip to Vegas
here.
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