The TRUTH About Motherhood

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Throat Punch Thursday;Dead Beat Dad & Mommy Dearest Edition
I realize that there are a lot of assholes in this world. I realize that children can drive you up a flipping wall and make you pull all of your hair out.Believe me. I understand this. But it takes a special kind of crazy bitch and douche bag to go to these lengths. I’m really losing my tolerance for people in general.Put on your big girl panties and deal with it people! Watch the video. Then we’ll talk.
https://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt.swf
I know by now you have all heard about Zahra Baker, the missing 10 year old from Hickory, North Carolina. The case started out as an amber alert after her Father,Adam Baker, and Step Mother, Elisa Baker, reported the little disabled girl missing last Saturday afternoon. They reported that she was last seen sleeping in her bed about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Really? Would you wait 12 hours to report a 10 year old girl missing? Where the hell did they suppose she had went? Out for cigarettes in her car? Or maybe they thought she had run off and eloped.
Zahra, a 10 year old survivor of bone cancer who had lost her hearing and had a prosthetic leg, we are suppose to believe disappeared in the middle of the night. Apparently, it mus happen on a regular basis since No one thought to report it.By the way, Zahra has not been found and is assumed dead, the hearing aids have been found, but not the prosthesis, Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins has said. Still with me? Does any of this make any logical sense to you so far? ME, neither. I’m not buying it.I’m calling BULLSHIT! I’m also quite irate.
A search warrant application filed in the case said authorities responded to a call about a burning mulch pile at the family’s home about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.Seriously, who burns mulch before day light?Oh yeah, that’s right..assholes who are trying to hide something and work with wood chippers, maybe burning a little 10 year old girls remains; evidence.
Upon arrival, firefighters found a Chevrolet Tahoe with its passenger door open and an envelope with handwriting on it on the front windshield.They notified the police, who approached the SUV and smelled gasoline coming from inside. The note written on the envelope was addressed to a “Mr. Coffey,( Adam Baker’s boss, Mark David Coffey). Hmmm? Sort of suspicious, don’t you think?
The note said, “Mr. Coffey, you like being in control now who is in control .We have your daughter and your pot smoking red head son is next unless you do what is asked $1,000,000 unmarked will be in touch soon.” In the bottom right, the note said, “no cops,” You know, just as an FYI. Wow! These people maybe have a combined IQ of, I’m guessing, 47? Coffey and his daughter were at the residence at the time of the fire, according to the warrant.
Adam Baker called police about 2 p.m., saying someone had poured gas in his car and left a note saying they had his boss’ daughter. Baker told police he believed the person who left the note had kidnapped Zahra. The Bakers consented to a search of their home. A cadaver dog indicated the possible presence of human remains in or on the Chevrolet Tahoe as well as a burgundy Toyota Camry on the property. Authorities were testing swabs taken from the Tahoe to determine if blood was also present. So, let’s think..what do we really think happened?
Since then, it has come to light that Elisa Baker, who was already in custody on unrelated charges, admitted to police that she wrote the ransom note that was left on the car Saturday, the day Zahra was reported missing. Police are charging Elisa Baker with felony obstruction of justice.Relatives and friends of the family have alleged that Elisa Baker physically abused Zahra and said she was reported to state social services officials.The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has declined comment on the case. It has also come to light that no one outside of Adam and Elisa have had a visual on Zahra in almost a month.What the FUCK? Seriously,there are so many idiots involved in this case that I am wondering who should get the Throat Punch. The list would probably be smaller of who doesn’t deserve it.
This case disturbs me to my core. Want my two cents?Probably not but you’re going to get it anyways. I think that the crazy bitch Step Mother and piece of shit Father, know what happened to this little girl.Maybe it got a little too hard to take care of the little girl. Maybe they were just lazy white trash, who shared a brain. All I know, beyond speculation, is the little girl is gone and the Step mom admitted to writing the ransom note. Does this not remind you of Jon Benet Ramsey? Reminiscent of Caylee Anthony? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there needs to be a license and IQ requirement to have children. I know it’s hard sometimes, but kids are not merchandise from the local Target, you can’t take them home, try them on and return them.They are NOT goldfish, just because you are tired of taking care of them, feeding them, paying their medical bills, what have you..you can NOT drown them, flush them, hang them, stab them, bury them in cement or throw them in the river or a wood chipper. There was more than one person responsible for the death of this little girl; the school who never reported her missing, the step Mom and dad who probably are literally responsible, DCFS who never followed up,the relatives who just didn’t think it was important enough to do something, and where the hell is Zahra’s birth mother? Did this bitch just give her a jacked up name, find out she was sick and abandon her to her fate? It takes a village people! And Zahra’s whole freaking village needs to be pistol whipped and thrown into the wood chipper! Throat Punches are too good for these people. I hope enough evidence is gathered to put these people in prison for the rest of their lives.Maybe there they can get the punishment they deserve from their inmates!
For the complete story please go here.
P.S. My faith in humanity has hit an all time low with this case.
2010/10/15
Back-to-School means Time to Get Back to Me
Summer was insane around here, packed full of traveling and the making of all the fun childhood memories but now it’s time to get back to me. It was awesome for the girls and us too. I love having them home but for me it was a little bit of the summer of Mom Interrupted.
My house looked like a cyclone hit it at all times. Getting work done felt like a covert opp because I was doing it after they went to bed, before they woke up and sneaking away for quiet moments at my keyboard while they were occupied with the Big Guy outside; all the while my heart was longing to be outside with them enjoying it. The mommy guilt was strong with me this summer, even though I was putting most things aside to be in the moment. It just never felt like enough.
I’ve noticed the older they get, the faster the summers go and more and more often I feel myself being torn between being their mom, his wife and my own person. I want to be happy and to be happy; those three components need to coexist in harmony. I need to be there for them but I definitely need to be here for me too. When the balance gets out of whack, my entire universe starts spinning off its axis. The truth is that one thing fuels the other and makes it better.
But how do I be there for them and still get back to me?
Being a good wife means a happy marriage, which means a stable, happy home for my children but none of that is possible if I am not happy with myself. So I have these three balls in the air at all times; my career, my daughters and my husband. Usually it is easy, I mean these are my priorities so 3 priorities are perfect until anything unexpected or extra comes up (which has been happening all summer) and then all the balls start dropping and I am jumping around like a mad woman trying to catch them before they hit the floor and shatter because obviously in my mind my balls are fragile. But my balls are strong; they are made of rubber. Anyways, enough about comparing my family to balls. The point is they are more resilient than I give them credit for and so am I.
But school has started back and I am writing in quiet from the hours of 8-2:30 and our routine is hectic but it’s manageable because we work together as a family to function smoothly. Sure there are hiccups but with everyone being flexible and having our priorities, life is easier. The thing that really keeps all the balls in the air is recognizing when one of us needs a break from the juggling or needs some extra TLC.
Every so often when things at the office get a little too hectic or my husband has a big project due, we all recognize that he might need a little more time to play Call of Duty and kill some zombies to decompress so I ask him to do less around the house during that time. Sometimes the kids get overwhelmed with homework and extracurricular activities, especially when they have performances or big tests coming up and that’s when they get extra cuddles, more understanding and maybe a pass on chores. And sometimes, I really need a day of quiet, to sleep in or just someone else to juggle all the balls for awhile because my arms are exhausted and this is when my family steps in and takes over; back-to-school is one of those times of year.
The girls are excited and anxious about starting a new school year with new teachers and new friends but at the same time, I am juggling all the balls and about 20 more and after a summer with just throwing balls and letting them fall where they may, this is near impossible and very stressful. I am in desperate need of a girl’s weekend in Chicago, a week at the beach or just a spa day.
Who am I kidding, I would settle for a day of no obligations; sleeping through the night without any interruptions and waking up on my own, a hot, relaxing bath, take out, no kids bickering and a back massage by the Big Guy. That sounds just about like perfection to me.
What’s your idea of the perfect back to me day?

Disclosure: I am a Wayfair ambassador but all opinions about how I get back to me are my own.
2015/08/21
Teachers Humiliate Students with Mandatory Poop Inspection: File Under WTF!
Apparently, in Gustine, Texas (wherever the hell that may be) a group of elementary school students were “asked” to lower their pants for a semi-strip search and poop inspection of their tiny tushes on Monday.(OK, I just used the word tushes instead of asses but make no mistake, this is not acceptable or meant to be funny.)
School faculty members told two dozen co-ed students , aged 11, to drop their underwear after continually finding feces on the gym floor.
Students were separated into groups of boys and girls and ordered to “pull down their pants” so administrators could “check if they could find anything.” WHAT.THE.F*CK??? This is not the first time a teacher in Texas has stepped over the line in the pursuit of discipline.
As a mother of a 9-year-old, ordering an 11-year-old prepubescent child to drop their pants for “poop” inspection is not only way out of line, it is humiliating and demeaning and who the fuck are these teachers to be looking at kids’ asses anyway? This is a complete invasion of privacy. Can you say mama’s gonna go bat shit crazy?
Gustine Independent School District Superintendent Ken Baugh acknowledged that making kids “drop their pants” goes too far. However, he said the students were only asked to lower their pants a little to determine who the defecating culprit was. As far as I’m concerned low enough to check for feces is low enough to expose their private parts. His reasoning is about as stupid as saying you had sex just a little…just the tip. Wrong is wrong and if this were my child, I’d be filing charges against these idiots.
I completely understand the frustration the faculty was feeling at finding feces on the floor repeatedly but in no world is inspecting a kid’s ( that you haven’t given birth to) ass for poop or anything else ever an acceptable form of discipline. No matter how annoyed and/or pissed off you may be about random defecation hijinks.
These parents have every right to be irate but I’d be doing more than just attending a school board meeting. I’d be taking the entire school to court, demanding an apology to my child and gathering a group of like minded parents to beat the asses of those teachers responsible. The school humiliated these children, illegally strip searched and invaded their privacy on school grounds, with no officers or parents present. They just did whatever the hell they wanted to. Where are the boundaries? Do these teachers think they are untouchable? They could have done anything to these children while their pants were down and no one was around. We entrust our children to them every day and they have breached that trust in an irreconcilable way.
What would you do if your child was told to strip down for a poop inspection?
2015/01/28
Throat Punch Thursday-New York State of Mind Edition
It’s getting down to the wire and I am so tired. I was up until 3 am last night trying to get my Project Mom Casting video to upload to You tube. At this moment, I’m typing with one eye open, texting with my other hand, and keeping up with my twitter tread (I’m beginning to think that I may have some sort of social media addiction.There may be a 12 step program in my immediate future.)I’ve had to think about this one for awhile. There has been a lot going on in the world this past week but I don’t think I have the strength tonight to give a roundhouse kick to nuclear reactors, deadly weather, or even all the doomsday prophets. But , fret not, I have someone that I think deserves a good swift kick in the head, punch to the throat and then maybe 1 more to the head.
I am referring to Nicole Imprescia, the mother who is suing the preschool that her daughter,Lucia, was enrolled in because she felt that they were educating her substandardly for the elite elementary schools of New York city and therefore ruining any hope of little Lucia ever attending an Ivy league university. Ms. Imprescia is demanding that her hefty $19,000 tuition be refunded since she was forced to remove her child from the school only after 3 weeks because the school had the audacity to let her 4 year old fraternize with lowly 2 and 3 year olds.
Look, I am not from New York City. I am from the Midwest. I’m not a bumpkin, we have waiting lists and qualifications too for the elite schools. In fact, my own daughter attends one of the most prestigious schools in our city. We were on one of those lists. Would I pay $19,000 for preschool? Not even if I had so much money that I were wiping my ass with $100s. It’s PRESCHOOL. It isn’t even the real thing yet. I know education is important. I work in the field. I’ve seen what dropping the educational ball can do to a child. Here’s my issue; parents you CAN work with your children outside of school to educate them. They are like little sponges.It actually takes more effort, on your part, to NOT teach them something.My problem is that, perhaps, Ms. Imprescia could have been a little more diligent in her exploration and selection process of a school for little Lucia before actually enrolling her. Had she simply, knowing her own daughter, taken into account what the school could offer or could not, perhaps she could have saved herself the $19,000. I don’t know the exact reasoning why this woman is suing the school. Blaming the school that her daughter may or may not gain entry into an Ivy League school at some distant time in the future seems to be reaching quite extensively. If she wants this to come to fruition, perhaps she should bring this suit in about 15 years when Lucia IS actually denied admission to some illusive Ivy League university.
As for now, I am positive that she signed some sort of paperwork stipulating that if she left the school of her own free will that she would forfeit the money.Apparently, she missed the boat on an elite preschool herself or she would have read the mound of paperwork that she signed in triplicate a little bit more closely. So,Mommy dearest, you get the throat punch for not reading your paperwork and getting mad and wanting to take your toys an go home.
But then again, these situations could not present themselves if we didn’t all fork out these ridiculous tuition fees. I think it has a lot more to do with mompetition and a lot less to do with believing that the wrong preschool is going to subtract valuable IQ points from our children.

2011/03/17
Who’s Protecting Our Daughters?
It is once again Throat Punch Thursday and after the past two weeks, I feel like I might need to create a tab on my blog labeled misogyny gone wild. People, I don’t want to stay up here on this soap box defending women’s rights and equality but what is going on in the world? People have lost their damn minds and the world has declared rapid fire war on women. So today’s throat punch is plural. It’s ok though, last week I gave you sunsets in San Diego so I owed you one anyways.
First, there is Mrs.Hall, a mom of teen boys, who wrote a blog post titled, FYI ( if you’re a teenage girl) in which she blames all the braless teen girls on social media for her sons’ sexual urges. Look, I get it there are some women who are submissive and agreed to all that “obey” and “submit” shit in their wedding vows, who believe misogyny is a good thing. I am not one of those women. I know that good Christian parents want to raise good Christian children. I do. I get it. I sent my kids to Catholic school for just this reason. I want my girls to be raised with a good moral compass just as much as Mrs. Hall wants her boys to be raised with a “good moral compass.” That’s my job; to raise my girls to have self-respect and be strong, independent women who love their bodies and don’t need societal approval. I want to raise self-confident, intelligent and happy children. I want them to become women who know that at the end of the day, the only person they have to qualify their choices with is themselves and God. Not to me, not to some guy and certainly not to some guy’s overbearing, crazy mother.
It’s not my job to police all the teenage boys in the vicinity and shame them into staying away from my daughters. It is not my job to make my girls feel like they should be ashamed of their bodies and are less than a man. I refuse to teach my girls that men are slaves to their penises so girls have to operate on the defensive, lest they be raped and it be their own fault. Because men succumbing to their sexual urges is natural but a woman doing the same is shameful and sinful and any woman who does so is not only in danger of going straight to hell but also in taking every penis within her reach with her. This is what Mrs. Hall fears most.
Mrs. Hall you don’t think too much of your boys if you believe them to be so weak. I don’t understand how you can demean young girls for going braless in selfies when you, yourself, posted topless photos of your sons on the beach. Your misogyny and willingness to perpetuate double standards, sickens me. Why not just raise your boys to not look at braless selfies? Or can you not trust them to escape the hold of the braless teen breast?
Bottom line, Mrs. Hall’s post was condescending and seething in passive aggressiveness. Don’t tell me to control my girls. Don’t tell my girls to control themselves. Do your job and teach your boys to control their own sexual urges.Keep your threats of online exile and maybe consider parental controls, limiting social media for your boys or just plain taking it away. By the way, I think it’s pretty effing creepy that you sit around the table as a family and scroll through photos of teen girls looking for braless selfies so you can pass judgement and dole out consequences. You get a throat punch, Mrs.Hall, for your very unbecoming behavior as a mother and a woman.
Second, a convicted rapist, Richard Thomas, collapsed after police told him he may have contracted HIV from the woman raped while she slept. Thomas “let himself into her home uninvited in the middle of the night and she awoke to find him raping her from behind. He’d been drinking heavily and taking ecstasy and claims to not recall any of it.
Thomas was sentenced to five years and four months after pleading guilty to raping a woman while she slept. He will find out from test results later this week whether he’s contracted the disease.
Okay, let me just say that I don’t give a rat’s ass if Thomas remembers doing it or not. He did it. Whether you remember it or not is inconsequential. He seems to have absolutely no remorse about what he has done, even though he has definitely ruined her life by taking away her sense of security and safety in her own home and violating her in such a vulnerable position, now, does he really expect people to feel sorry for him that he might have contracted HIV?
I don’t. In fact, if he has contracted HIV, he’s gotten what he deserves. He may be the first rapist in the history of the world who has. I wish he’d caught some sort of venereal disease that made he penis shrivel up and fall off because, for what he’s done, that is exactly what he deserves and owes his victim. I don’t feel sorry for you, Mr. Thomas, instead I bestow upon you a Throat Punch. Fuck you and your bullshit story about not remembering, may your HIV serve as a constant reminder that women are not here solely for your entertainment and use.
Third, the University of Vermont frat brothers who are looking via Craigs list for a MILF (a woman over 25. What?) to come clean and cook for them in exchange for free sex with the lot of them. Like a house mother but with, you know, “perks” because that is what every grown woman wants, right? The privilege of having sex with some fumbling, drunk college frat brother who doesn’t know his head from his asshole. EWWWW! Boys, that’s why women almost always date older men; sexual experience, mental maturity and stable finances. What grown woman wants an inexperienced, selfish lover who smells of Axe body spray and skunked beer?
We are a house of 10 men who all are seniors at UVM and are looking for an attractive older woman to come and cook for us every few days. In exchange she gets her pick of the men of the house to have.
Requirements aren’t lengthy; be a woman older than 25 who can cook and would like to enjoy some hot sex with a number of fit 20 somethings. Hopefully you can come by every week for a meal and some play time. Obviously we can work to accommodate your schedule. 😉
We are located in Burlington, are a fun and clean group of guys, and are all 21+.
These boys clearly have no respect for women, mommy issues and a warped sense of humor. Well, at least I hope this was an attempt at humor, a Craig’s list ad written under the influence of a night of binge drinking. Because if not, the University of Vermont campus has bigger problems and might need to hire some extra escorts and pass out rape whistles to all the incoming freshman and female janitorial staff because these boys don’t discriminate. I wonder of any of them are recent graduates of Steubenville?
Fourth, Facebook and porn! Oh dear Lord Facebook, what the hell were you thinking? Yesterday afternoon, I jumped on FB to check my account and what to my shock did I sit down to see staring me back but a screen full of a close up shot of some woman’s vagina being manually manipulated by herself. At first, I was so stunned and a vagina on my FB tread was so out of context that it really took me a moment to figure out just WTF I was looking at. Seriously. Then, I immediately saw that it was an photo attachment to a comment left on Arianna Huffington’s status. In my shocked state, I was fumbling to unfollow and hide the photo before one of my kids walked into my office and saw it. I am not ready for the masturbation conversation yet. The really crazy thing is that FB will snatch down a photo of a mom breastfeeding her baby in a second and deem it as inappropriate but the up close beaver shot fell through the cracks. Is FB just more of a beaver man than a boob man? I don’t know but I prefer my Facebook without the side of pornography. Thank you. So FB, you too get a throat punch.
There were more like itsparenting.com swiping content from bloggers and claiming it as their own, even being so ridiculous that they featured a post about themselves being plagiarist. Huh? Or how about Cherice Moralez, a victim of rape, being held responsible for provoking her rapist and in some way consenting when she was only 14 when it happened, the rapist was 49 and they both agreed it was not consensual. The judge ruled otherwise giving the rapist only 30 days in jail! Cherice Moralez committed suicide because we live in a misogynistic society who doesn’t protect it’s women from it’s men. This is a fact and a trend and I want better for my girls. I want them to be treated with the respect and reverence they deserve by men, by their government and most importantly by other women.
Who do you think deserves a throat punch this week?
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2013/09/05
Mommy’s intuition; what would you do?
Today, my Mother in law and I took the girls to the splash pad. The day was gorgeous, 90 degree weather, the sun was shining, there was a slight breeze blowing. It was the perfect type of day to take the girls to a wonderful wholesome fun family activity; the local parks department splash pad. My girls are water babies and in the heat, the splash pad is the safest way for preschoolers to beat the heat…or so I thought.
We arrive and the girls are overcome with excitement, dressed in the new bikinis that their Grandma ChaCha had gotten them for this visit. Bella was over the moon about the cheetah print bikini with the hot pink piping on the edges and Gabi was sporting a red, white and blue striped bikini as beautifully as only a 3 year old American girl next door could. They were absolutely adorable.
It was seriously about 100 degrees out, so the splash pad was packed with children running through the glistening cool water.At first the girls were filled with trepidation, it was a little overwhelming with all of the bigger kids running about but soon they became acclimated and were having the time of their life.
Grandma ChaCha and I sat on the bench ,looking on at the girls, mentally recording every grin and smile. Then I started snapping pictures because the girls were just too irresistible not to. It was another one of those days that you just knew memories were happening. Then it all changed.
The splash pad is in the middle of a public park. We had noticed early on that there was a man training a Border Collie. I am always uber aware of our surroundings. I am a people watcher by nature.We thought it was ridiculous but hey , it was his dog and whatever…. we had human babies to watch. Then the man walked his dog over to the splash pad. Not necessarily a great thing to do but whatever, as long as he kept the dog close to him and kept it away from the children. Of course, every single child ( with the exception of mine) ran over to pet the obviously dehydrated Border Collie. My children asked but, first I don’t let my kids pet strange dogs and second, quite frankly, something about this man gave me the heebie jeebies…before he even opened his mouth to talk. He kept skulking around, watching the kids run through the fountains as they sporadically came up to him and asked to pet the dog. It felt like he was one of those guys who uses their dogs to pick up girls but these “girls” were actually “girls” ages 2- 13. I kept my girls close without alarming them…or him. But for some reason, he kept gravitating toward where we were. He kept circling where we were sitting, and then he came in for conversation. The girls were oblivious but he kept smiling at them and trying to engage my Mother in law and myself. At first, I was pleasant. After all, I wasn’t raised in a cave but then things got weird. He smiled at my 3 year old, practically salivating and licking his lips ( like a man who is speaking to Pamela Anderson while she’s wearing her bikini) and says, “My , you sure are a cute little thing!” And then he proceeded to keep trying to chat up me and my Mother in law.Now, it wasn’t exactly what he said but how he said it and the way he was looking at my girls that sent off my Mommy intuition/alarm. I don’t leave anything to chance when it comes to my daughters , I’d much rather insult an adult with my over protectiveness than let my child get hurt because I was too trusting and I think most parents understand that view point. Our children are the priority,all else is less important…period! Then I noticed him sizing up my 5 year old, as he was talking.I felt my skin crawl. At this point, I was despondent towards him and pretty much ignoring his very existence.My main focus was trying to figure out how the hell to get out of this situation short of saying,”Can you please get your creepy mind the fuck off my children you sick bastard!!” So, I tell my girls…”5 minutes, we’ve got to go meet Grandpa!” My Mother in law, looked like she was on high alert as well, so something was definitely not right with this man. He continued trying to engage us, then it went completely creepy. He proceeds to talk at us and tell us that he was in the service but came out and immediately had himself fixed ( why would you tell a complete stranger this? I think what he meant to say was after he was caught for being a molester he was chemically castrated!) because he didn’t want children ( then why are you hanging around the splash pad full of children, Chester?) and he continues to say that it is so easy to have kids, “You blink and you have like four kids!” Something in his tone was as if he were implying that children were disposable. I know you may be thinking to yourself, this woman is completely overreacting. But if you were there, you know that feeling you get when something is most definitely not right with someone? That was the feeling that I had. My stomach was in knots; this man had me about to vomit he made me so nervous being around my children. I suddenly felt creeped out and insulted simultaneously ( it was a train wreck of creepy activity) It felt like that any minute he was capable of pulling out a knife and grabbing my girls and running off…in broad day light…he was that CREEPY!! I grabbed my girls with nothing more than a ,” Let’s go.” I covered them up and we left. Normally, I would have changed them in the car but this freak started following behind us. I was prepared for battle. I was pissed, freaked out, and scared all at the same time. Endorphins was oozing from my pours.My fight or flight response was in overdrive.I have never come in contact with someone whom, I felt, actually were a threat to my children. But this man made me feel afraid for them. It was reminiscent of that scene in the original Texas Chainsaw massacre when the creepy guy gets in the van and then cuts himself and they are stuck in the van with him. You know you don’t want him there, but you are afraid of what might happen if you spook him, Needless to say, we will NEVER go to that splash pad again..EVER.
The moral of the story; it is our moral obligation that if something feels wrong for our children,as their protectors, we must do whatever it takes to keep them safe, no matter how crazy it seems.My only regret is that I didn’t call the cops on this guy for lurking around the splash pad accosting mothers and leering at children and that I didn’t grab my girls and run the minute he looked in their general direction. By the time we left, only about 10 minutes had passed from start to finish but I felt dirty and violated.What do you think? Did I over react? Or does Mommy intuition trump all rhyme or reason?
2010/07/15
Learning to Disrupt the Pink with GoldieBlox Giveaway
When I was a little girl, I was raised that little girls did “girl things” like play with baby dolls and Barbie dolls. Boys played with Legos and Lincoln logs. Girls were pretty and boys were dirty. Boys got to have all the fun while all I got to do was chores and play with toys that taught me how to be a “young lady“. Enter easy bake ovens, play houses, baby dolls who cried and needed their diapers changed. But it doesn’t have to be that way and I’ve partnered with GoldieBlox to change that.

When I tried to climb trees or build forts, I was promptly told that those things were not very “ladylike.” It’s damn hard to climb trees in skirts. Don’t get me wrong; I loved doing all those things but maybe I would have liked to play with the Legos or built something with Lincoln logs? The point is this; I didn’t even know what an Engineer did until I was in college at Purdue University…dating an Engineer. So how could I have ever chosen to be an engineer when no one thought it was worth the bother to teach little girls to be anything more than princesses, mothers and maids until now. Enter GoldieBlox.

We live in a world where men grossly outnumber women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Girls lose interest in these subjects as early as age 8, GoldieBlox is determined to change the equation. Construction toys develop an early interest in these subjects, but for over a hundred years, they’ve been considered “boys’ toys”. By designing a construction toy from the female perspective, GoldieBlox disrupts the pink aisle and inspires the future generation of female engineers.

Debbie Sterling, a female engineer from Stanford University, was always bothered by how few women are in the engineering field. The numbers are definitely skewed in the engineering field. So, Debbie did something about it. She started a toy company in 2012 called GoldieBlox to get little girls to love engineering as much as she does.

The mission of GoldieBlox is to create fun toys that develop spatial skills and teach basic engineering principles. Girls like to read and boys like to build. Put spatial plus verbal together, story and construction and that’s how GoldieBlox was born. GoldieBlox is a book and a construction toy combined, starring Goldie the girl inventor and her motley crew of friends who go on adventures and solve problems by building simple machines. As girls read along they get to build what Goldie builds using their own tool kit. At the beginning of every GoldieBlox story, they introduce some basic engineering vocabulary with a basic “Bill of Materials.” The pieces you get with GoldieBlox are based on the Seven Simple Machines (wheel and axis, lever, pulley, etc.) These are the basic building blocks of every physical thing. Once you learn these simple machines, you can’t see your world the same way again, because you understand how things are built.

No longer are we teaching our girls that they have to stand by looking pretty while fetching cold drinks for the man folks. Nope, we are teaching our girls that they can put on a pair of cute jeans and work-boots and go build it themselves. By designing construction toys from the female perspective, GoldieBlox will be more appealing to a broader audience of children and parents who previously considered engineering a job for boys. Engineers solve some of the biggest challenges our society faces. They are critical to the world economy, earn higher salaries and have greater job security. And they are 89% male. There’s more to girls than just pink and fluff. We can be anything we want to be in this world. We are bigger than the pink aisle. Our dreams and skills can’t be contained.

One of the most critical skills we can teach our girls is confidence and perseverance. By giving girls confidence and exposure to words, when they see and hear these words later in life, they won’t be as intimidated, because they will already understand the concepts!

GoldieBlox teaches girls not to give up. Goldie never gives up and always tries again at making something. I love that message and I saw it come to fruition when my own girls were playing with their Goldieblox and the Parade Float and the Dunk Tank. I also love watching the confidence they have in building new things, not just what the instructions say. Thanks to GoldieBlox both of my girls have began to ask if they can join the schools robotics team. My husband is an engineer so this thrills him. I know what a turning point this is in history, so it pleases me too.
I am also giving away a GoldieBlox Parade Float and one Dunk Tank toy to one lucky reader. Easy to enter, simply follow me on Instagram and leave me your instagram account name in the comments. Ends 7/29 at midnight. Open to U.S. and Canadian readers.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

How do you get your girls to keep an interest in STEM?
2014/08/20
Les Misérables Proves that Where there is Love there is Hope
Earlier this week, we took the girls to see Les Misérables, the musical based on the novel by Victor Hugo. This has been one of my favorite musicals since I first watched it on PBS as a child. When I watched the movies with my daughters and the Big Guy, we all sung along and laughed and cried. But nothing beats seeing Les Misérables from any seat in the house at the theater. The voices on stage transport your soul back to a time of civil unrest during the French Revolution.
With glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo, this breathtaking production of Les Misérables, which broke box office records during its pre-Broadway tour, has left both audiences and critics awestruck, cheering “Les Miz is born again!”
Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption-a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Featuring one of the greatest scores of all time, with thrilling and beloved songs including “I Dreamed A Dream,” “On My Own,” “Stars,” “Bring Him Home,” “One Day More,” “Do You Hear the People Sing” and many more, this epic and uplifting story has become one of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history. Along with the Oscar-winning movie version, it has now been seen by more than 130 million people in 44 countries and in 22 languages around the globe. Les Misérables is still the world’s most popular musical, breaking box office records everywhere in its 33^rd year.
READ ALSO: Phantom of the Opera a Family Review
Nominated for three Tony Awards, this latest Broadway production is a more than worthy chapter in Les Miserables’ long history. It debuted at the Imperial Theatre in 2014 and ran for two years, drawing huge acclaim for its stripped-down storytelling, which jettisons some of the bloat attached to previous productions, and the atmospheric video projections that lend the show a hugely cinematic backdrop.
Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer from the original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, additional material by James Fenton and original adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. The original Les Misérables orchestrations are by John Cameron with new orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke, Stephen Metcalfe and Stephen Brooker. The production is directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell, designed by Matt Kinley inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo with costumes by Andreane Neofitou and Christine Rowland, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Mick Potter, musical staging by Michael Ashcroft and Geoffrey Garratt and projections by Fifty-Nine Productions. Music Supervision is by Stephen Brooker and James Moore, with casting by Kaitlin Shaw for Tara Rubin Casting.
Speaking of the cast, Nick Cartell as Jean Valjean, was probably the best I’ve ever heard. He moved everyone in the theater the way he told the story of Jean Valjean with his amazing voice. He presented Jean Valjean in an underdog way that made you really want to take him in and help him out. You rooted for him. You wanted to see him get the redemption he so desperately seeked. Another big voice was Paige Smallwood’s, Éponine. I would say she was equal to Cartell’s Jean Valjean. Her voice gave you all the feels and, even though we all know how it turns out for Éponine, I found myself wishing for a plot twist.
READ ALSO: Wicked, Good for the Entire Family
Josh Davis was a powerful and unrelenting Javert and while you want to hate him, you felt this underlying sympathy for him. Josh Davis’ performance was stellar. J Anthony Crane and Allison Guinn, Thénardier and Madame Thénardier, were hilarious and perfectly cast. They masterfully delivered every joke to perfection with bold, vibrant voices and impeccable timing. Other stand out performances were delivered by Matt Shingledecker, as Enjolras, Mary Kate Moore, as Fantine, Joshua Grosso, as Marius, and Jillian Butler, as Cosette. Really the entire cast was stellar. I could watch and listen to this casts’ production of Les Misérables over and over again.
One last cast member that I need to mention, Parker Weathersbee, as Petit Gervais, Gavroche, captivated me. He is making his national tour debut with Les Misérables and he brought the house down with his performance. He is such a big personality in such a young performer.
The new production is currently playing to sold-out houses across North America, Mexico City and on tour in the U.K. To date, Les Misérables remains the 5^th longest-running Broadway production of all time. If you’ve never seen Les Misérables, I highly recommend that you go see it on tour.
It has something for everyone; drama, a revolution, history, a love triangle, unrequited love, humor, tenderness, parental love and, my personal favorite, a man doing his best to survive the human condition while chasing redemption with a passion. A theme I think everyone who’s ever lived can relate to some degree. It’s hard to find the words to encompass such an amazing production with such a powerhouse cast. I was moved to tears throughout the show and it wasn’t just me, the Big Guy and my girls were tearing up several times. We were absolutely blown away.
READ ALSO: The Aladdin Experience
For me, giving my girls the gift of the theater is one of my favorite things aside from travel. But in a way, aren’t we transported to different spaces and times when we see a Broadway show? The memories of laughing, singing and crying in the theater together, looking over and sharing a smile, giving a standing ovation to a well-deserved group of performers, there is nothing quite like it. We will share those memories forever and one day, when I am gone, my girls will hear Fantine’s Death and think of me and the time we saw Les Misérables together when they were children, well, somewhere between children and women.
I encourage you to share these experiences with your children if they are able to stay up, stay still and mature enough to appreciate the themes. My girls are 11 and 14-years-old but we’ve been taking them to Broadway shows and the ballet since they were preschoolers. This is how their love of the theater began.
Les Misérables will be at the Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend from March 19- March 24, 2019. If you miss it there, check out the Les Misérables website for future dates.
I do know that the Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon Les Misérables will return for its much anticipated Chicago engagement at Broadway In Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W Randolph) July 9-27, 2019, direct from a celebrated two-and-a-half year Broadway engagement.
Individual tickets for Les Misérables will go on sale at a later date. For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.
IfLes Misérables teaches us anything, remember always, that where there is love, there is hope.
2019/03/21
Hell Hath no Fury Like Laundrypalooza
Perpetual Laundry; the bane of my existence
Laundry anyone? When I was single, I only had to do 3 loads of laundry a week.3!!! Then I got married and that number went up to 4-5 per week, but he helped and actually I was doing less laundry.There was time to do all my errands and chores and a place for everything to be put away. There were no little people to pull things off the shelf, spill drinks or eat with their entire faces versus just their mouths. It was a simpler time, when laundry was just one of my household chores and not the overwhelming task it is today.
If you have little ones, and I am assuming that most of you do, you understand my agony over laundry. I have a 4 and 6 year old and I am perpetually doing laundry. I try as hard as I can but I NEVER seem to be able to catch up. Never! My little girls change their clothes, literally, 7 times a day…at least! If they are not changing their panties because they had a “drip” (which reminds me, do any of your daughter’s have this issue? I don’t know if this is normal or if they are hyper sensitive or if I need to get them to the doctor. Get back to me, will you please?) they are changing from their pants into dresses and back again, changing their shirt in the process. Heaven forbid that my little princesses dribble milk or sauce gets on them, foggedaboutit. No sooner than it happens their tiny little clothes are already falling to the ground. Should I be worried about how easily and seamlessly this happens? I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. Girls, keep your clothes on! My hamper can’t even keep up.
Laundry breeds when piled and sustains itself on socks.
To be honest, when we moved in earlier this year, I was really impressed with myself at how well I had managed to fold, put away and FIT all the laundry. Oh yeah, I was all cocky, walking around with my holier than though “My laundry is caught up, folded and put away, is yours?” look. Imagine my surprise, when I realized that I had at least one over sized laundry hamper overflowing with laundry…in the back of my SUV. This means, these girls have more clothes than I can actually fit into my house. You’d think they have more clothes than necessary but as evidenced by their 7 costume changes per day, you’d be wrong. Dead wrong.
On an average day, there is one load in the washer; one load in the dryer; two loads sorted on the floor to be washed and usually 2 from earlier in the day piled in a laundry mountain that the girls keep jumping into like the autumn leaves. Sometimes the clothes get folded and make it to a basket, or a couch, or the bed only to be relocated at bed time ( because they still have not walked themselves to their designated drawers) and sometimes the mountain just grows. On particularly busy Mom days, the laundry mountain dangerously high. I just know I should invest in one of those life alert necklaces so that when it finally avalanches upon me and envelopes me in the smell of soft ocean mist I can be found by rescue workers.
Six years after having my first child and I’m in the throes of laundrypalooza. I should honestly buy stock in Tide and Downy because at least that way, I’d be getting something out of all of this besides just carpal tunnel syndrome from all the folding (well, maybe it’s more tennis elbow from all the flinging of laundry because honestly, not so much folding ever really gets done over here.) Which reminds me, today at Kroger, the cart buster deal of the day is $2.50 off of Tide via this digital download coupon only available at https://bit.ly/wxfnIU.
Tide; The Laundry Tamer
Thank you to Kroger for sponsoring my participation in the “Deal Of The Day” promotion. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Attention Kroger Shoppers! Shop the Kroger Cart Buster event from February 26–March 10 for great values. Find out about all the savings at www.CartBuster.com! And from February 29-March 6, download exclusive, digital coupons for Kroger’s “Deal Of The Day” for even MORE savings at https://bit.ly/wxfnlU. Happy Savings! Why not start a sneak attack on that laundry pile?
2012/03/01
How Media Temple Rescued My Blog from GoDaddy
Media Temple saved my blog.If you are a blogger you know how important it is to have a dependable web host. Well, I used to be with GoDaddy.com. I know, I deserve what I got for ever hosting with them. Bad juju was sure to catch up with me but to be fair, we signed up with them a couple of years ago, before the elephant episode and before the disgusting GoDaddy.com nerd-slobbering kiss of Kate Upton. Both situations worthy of jumping ship but I am ashamed to say that I stayed with them. I had every intention of leaving them but I just never got around to it. I was afraid of change. Better to face the devil you know and all that. (more…)
2013/04/24