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
I Follow 2007-06-16 15:17:47 Join the “U Comment, I Follow” movement and give your blog commenters the link-love they deserve!
Carnival of Homeschooling 2007-06-20 21:11:04 I’ll be hosting next week’s Carnival
of Homeschooling
over at Homeschool Hacks (which is undergoing a bit of a reformation). If you have a homeschooling post to submit, please send the following info to carnivalofhomeschooling@gmail.com:
Post Title
URL of Post
Blog Title
Blog URL
Summary/Description of Post
This week’s Carnival is posted at Consent of the Governed. Always a good read.
Posts to Ponder 6.19.07 2007-06-19 21:44:57
CrazedParent wrote a post over at Maya’s Mom about Survival of the Mommiest. She’s listed some useful resources for keeping your kids busy during summer vacation, and there are even more ideas in the comments.
My sister and I are walking a half-marathon in November and during my workouts/training I’ve been enjoying some podcasts. I play a little game: How many miles can I walk per podcast? So far, two of my favorites are Motherhood Uncensored and MommyCast.
Sk*rt is a new social networking/bookmarking site for women. So far it’s looking very promising. The Parent Bloggers Network has a contest going on to help spread the word. Just write a post (ASAP) answering the question: “What’s under your Sk*rt?” You could win $275 in prizes.
summer fun, kids, podcast, mommy, sk*rt, Parent Bloggers Network
Read more:Ponder
It’s Bizarre How Much I’m Looking Forward to This Surgery 2007-06-25 19:06:37 Wednesday morning I go under the knife. I’m getting a tubal ligation and a repair of an umbilical hernia. And I’m SO looking forward to it.
The tubal is pretty self-explanatory: no more babies for me. And no more birth control pills. People have had various reactions of surprise when I’ve mentioned my plan. “Are you sure you want to do that?” Absolutely. I’m 38 and happily married with a son and a daughter. There’s no way I am interested in having any more children. “Why don’t you have your husband take care of that?” Well, frankly, that’s just none of anyone’s business. “Are you nervous about having surgery?” Nope. I’m kinda surprised about this myself, but I have absolutely no nervousness. I’ve had general anesthesia before. I’ve even had a similar surgery before.
Not only do I have no apprehension, I’m actually psyched about the surgery. After the tubal, a second surgeon comes in to take care of my umbilical hernia. When I was pregnant with my s Read more:Bizarre
, Forward
, Surgery
Make a Rainbow on a Rainy Day 2007-06-23 09:58:26 Another great idea from Family Fun magazine: Drop several drops of food coloring (multiple colors) on a sturdy, rimmed paper plate and send your kids out into the rain (works best when there is a light shower). The colors will splatter and blend, leaving your child with a beautiful work of art, a lesson in color mixing, and a bit of fun on a rainy day.
Read more:Rainbow
, Rainy Day
News for Kids 2007-06-23 09:36:56 New Flash Five is a new web site where kids can find age-appropriate updates on current events. Their mission is to “encourage young people to take an interest in news and current events.”
Creepy Mommy Blogs 2007-07-02 08:56:58 Lawyer Mama has a wonderful post about mommy blogging in response to a commenter that called us “creepy.” It’s an older post, but I just found it via Sk*rt and think it’s worth some linky love.
Read more:Mommy
, Blogs
I Am Invincible 2007-07-01 20:13:27 When I was in a hospital bed recovering from my surgery, there was a woman in the bed next to me who was extremely anxious about her imminent procedure. I don’t know her specific situation, but it got me thinking about my lack of concern.
I don’t worry about disastrous things happening to me. Some people worry about having an accident, having surgery, losing a job, or losing a spouse. PHAT Daddy will sometimes remind me of the risks of working for ourselves. Lose one big client and we probably wouldn’t be able to pay our mortgage. But I’m not concerned.
Of course bad things *could* happen. It’s not that I’m in denial about risks, it’s that I truly believe I can overcome any problem life throws my way.
Interestingly, if you ask me whether I’m an optimist or pessimist, I’d say the glass is half empty. My mother taught me to always be prepared for the worst. When it comes to the small stuff I think negatively, but when it comes to the Read more:Invincible
Mentos & Diet Coke 2007-07-05 09:51:18 How is it that I’ve never heard of the Mentos & Diet Coke
experiment? I think I’m going to follow Melissa’s lead and not tell my kids what to expect. Definitely sweet!
I Kinda Loathe Product Reviews 2007-07-04 22:35:50 Pay Per Post. Blog to Profit. Sponsored Reviews. Review Me. Product reviews are the new black.
Many of my favorite bloggers have recently opened up their own product review blogs. Izzy’s even keeping a blogroll for them all.
Savvy companies are now recognizing the viral power of bloggers and tripping over themselves to mail out free samples of everything from tampons to toilet cleaner. But anyone with a little public relations knowledge knows that influencing people involves trust and commonality. When the mommy blogs I read suddenly start posting about life insurance, moving companies, and eco-friendly home products, something just doesn’t feel right. Readers can tell when a post is a review or paid post vs a post where the blogger just talks about something they use and love. Bloggers recognize this, hence the explosion of “review blogs.”
Now I like to get free stuff as much as anyone, and I like to make money as much as anyone, but I have to wonder how long Read more:Kinda
, Loathe
Easy-Bake Oven = Waste of Money? 2007-07-10 21:41:14 L is taking Cooking Camp this week. Today he brought home an apple turnover he made from scratch. Yum.
He’s always been into cooking. A couple years ago he was watching Emeril Live every single night. He likes to help me cook and play like he has his own cooking show.
Last year he was browsing through a toy catalog and saw an Easy-Bake Oven. He put a star by it and wanted to add it to his wish list. He didn’t receive it, then something stirred his memory a few months ago and he started asking for it again. So I found one on Ebay.
Tonight we tried it out for the first time, and here’s the thing… I don’t get it. The cakes it makes are about 2 bites big. And the mixes are pretty expensive for 2 bites worth of food. I might be willing to overlook the expense if I felt my kids were learning or experiencing something valuable. But they’re mixing this tiny bit of powder with water and trying to scrape it into a tiny pan, then pushing it through a light-b Read more:Money
Potter-Mania! 2007-07-10 20:35:06 What are you more excited about: the new Harry Potter
movie out tomorrow or the new Harry Potter book coming out on the 21st?
Read more:Mania
It’s Tough Being on the Fringe 2007-07-08 00:41:44 I recently had a brief email conversation with someone I respect as an intelligent female blogger. Our conversation ended with her observation that we were “coming from very different ideological places.” Yeah, I get that a lot.
I suppose I’m on the fringe. I homeschool. I’m agnostic. I’m neither republican nor democrat, and only sometimes libertarian. I vote consistently to make my voice heard, but don’t always vote for one of the “top two” choices just because I figure one of them is the lesser of two evils. I believe in the power of true capitalism and small government. I believe in the US Constitution. And as I’ve said many times on this blog, I believe that self-responsibility is the most important trait a person can have.
Blogging has connected me to several wonderful people who share my views. But time and time again I find myself in that “different ideological place” than lots of other mommy bloggers. Why does t Read more:Tough
My Review of Harry Potter 5 2007-07-11 22:49:50 If you haven’t seen the HarryPotter
movie and don’t want to know about it, please skip this post and come back to it at a later date.
I just returned from seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I’m a little disappointed. Maybe it’s because this was the first time I read the book *before* seeing the movie. Or perhaps I expected too much of the mammoth book to be included in the movie in a complete and fulfilling way. The movie was great, but I left the theater feeling like I got too little of the story.
First, what I liked:
The casting was terrific. Professor Umbridge, Luna Lovegood, and Bellatrix Lestrange were outstanding. (Umbridge’s little speech about how school was supposed to be theoretical and not practical made me giggle!)
The battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore was everything I’d hoped it would be.
While they left a lot out, I can understand the reasoning and overall the movie moved along quite well.
Harry’s growt
THIS Is Gonna Be Fun 2007-07-16 06:18:03 If you’re going to BlogHer in Chicago in 2 weeks (eep!), you’ll want to check out the Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Cool Mom Picks. They’ve created a list of photo opportunities and assigned points to each. Just pack your camera, print out the list, and start snapping pics. Then post them to your blog after the conference and the bloggers with the most photo-points will win some sweet prizes (bling!).
What a cool idea - well done Kristen & Liz. BTW, you two are my blog idols, so prepare to be stalked for a photo.
BlogHer, Cool Mom Picks, photos, scavenger hunt
The Domestic Diva Web Guru 2008-03-10 10:27:24 The fabulous Mrs. Fussypants recently invited me to be a contributing editor (”The Web Guru”) for her new powerhouse site, Blissfully Domestic
. I’m truly enjoying my work over there (even if I am chronically late with posts - sorry Alli!), and am very pleased with the direction my “blogging life” is going these days. I’ve [...]
March: In Like a Lion 2008-03-01 23:41:18 March is coming in like a lion. Not so much weather wise, but work wise, health wise, family wise.
I’ve had three new blog clients in the past two weeks. I blame thank Mrs. Fussypants and her tireless promotion of Blissfully Domestic, where I contribute articles as the “Web Guru.” I love web design. But [...] Read more:March
Get Some HubLove 2008-02-28 14:00:48 Love to write? Passionate about a topic? Wanna make money and earn recognition and/or traffic to your site? Check out HubPages, a community of writers who “earn money by publishing their Hubs (content-rich Internet pages) on topics they know and love, and earn recognition among fellow Hubbers through the community-wide HubScore ranking system.” I’ll be [...]
Links You Might Love 2-17-08 2008-02-17 16:51:51 You might be a Libertarian if… read all about it at the Carnival of the Libertarians.
The Case Against Time-Outs. I really believe in this parenting philosophy, but have yet to discover any practical, effective alternatives.
Join the Blissfully Domestic Diva’s social network for “everything you need to make family life easier.”
Similar Posts:Carnival Time
Carnival of Homeschooling
Carnival of [...]
Who Do Homeschooling Parents Think They Are? 2008-02-15 11:00:28 There is an interesting discussion going on at the Asbury Park Press web site about the pros and cons of homeschooling.
This is one of my favorite comments (and in case you don’t catch it, this is sarcasm):
TANSTAAFL2: I don’t know who these parents think they are. You would think they might leave the shaping of [...] Read more:Homeschooling
, Parents
I Heart U, Do U Heart Me? 2008-02-11 07:59:49 Click below to send me a Valentine (I won't get to see them until Valentine's Day), then go to Wishroll and get the code for your own Valentinr. Read more:Heart
What NOT to Say to a Customer at Macy’s 2008-02-09 19:01:25 The sales associate asked me, "Plus size jeans?" Um. I was thinking more like the higher end of the regular size jeans, but... Read more:Customer
Links You Might Love 2008-01-25 23:05:24 Things That Make Me Want to Homeschool: OK, it’s first grade, but a teacher telling a child “however you spelled it is fine” when they ask how to spell something? That is just WRONG.
Just learned about the Weekend Blog Hoppers. I’ll be joining in the fun. You?
Sarcastic Mom shows us what a true threat looks [...]
I Must Stop Insanely Over-Reacting 2008-01-23 18:31:45 Holy hell, I think I have the absolute lowest tolerance when things go wrong.
At the top of my to-do list for the past two months has been this item: Get license renewed. I put it off until I realized that I’ll be boarding a plane soon to go to Disney World and an expired license [...] Read more:Insanely
The Fine Line Between Coddling and Controlling 2008-01-17 14:06:02 I want my kids to feel comfortable, attached, and confident that I will be there for them, and yet I know that pushing them to separate a bit is necessary for their growth and maturation. Read more:Controlling
Thanks To Miley Cyrus, I Relived My Childhood 2008-01-07 23:34:12 Miley rocked hard and you could see her passion. But I thoroughly enjoyed watching the audience and remembering my own teenage dreams and celebrity infatuations. Read more:Thanks
, Childhood
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