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I am proud to announce that I have been chosen to be part of the 2012 Kinder Moms through Mom Central.  You may remember my posts (here, here & here) last year when I was a Kinder Mom.  Evan is SUPER excited that I was chosen again.  He loves Kinder surprise eggs.  Over the next few months, I will be writing about blog post prompts that Kinder has provided.  All of these prompts revolve around a very important idea….taking time to play is important.  I couldn’t agree more, which is one of the reasons I’m so happy to be involved!  Make sure to check out Kinder’s Facebook page for announcements about their 2012 toy line and exclusive contests!

This months post is supposed to be all about how I will be spending March Break with the family.  Umm….*blush*….I will be spending March break doing this….

….and no…Evan is going.

I would feel guilty if we weren’t going to DISNEY WORLD in February.  We are so no guilt here. Not even a little teensy weensy bit.

A pic from our last Disney trip (we left Evan at home).

Now that we have that covered!  We try to go on some kind of trip with the kids every two years.  Two years ago we went to Disney and a Disney cruise (what can I say….we love Disney).  We talked about going to Mexico for  beach vacation this year but we gave the kids the choice.  It took them about 2.3 seconds to yell “DISNEY!”  Getting all 5 of us to Disney takes loads of planning on my part.  I started months ago with dinner reservations, hotel reservations, etc.  Thankfully with all that pre-planning, I can now semi-relax and get ready for our big trip.

One of the things I still have to do is make a list for what we take on the plane.  We have two flights on the way there with a 3 hour layover.  When I fly by myself I often fly by the seat of my pants because I can always buy snacks and magazines along the way.  Unfortunatly that does NOT work with kids.  I was reminded of this fact last time I flew with Evan when we were delayed by 2 hours & the plane ran out of food before getting to us.  Good times.

Some things I will pack for the flight:

• Granola (either homemade or we like the Costco brand)
• Granola bars
• Fruit leathers
• maybe a Kinder Surprise or two
• everyone will have an empty water bottle (for refills after we get through security)
• Nicole & Will’s iPods
• Mine & Dewey’s iPads (which I will load with new books and games for Evan)
• iPod/iPad/iPhone/BlackBerry chargers (why can’t they all be the same????)
• Books and toys for those times we can’t have electronic gadgets on

One thing I struggle with….should I take more/bigger food.  I would love to take sandwiches but I don’t like taking peanut butter on planes (because of possible allergies in other people) and I don’t like taking sandwiches that need refrigeration b/c you can’t keep them cool that long.  The rules around gels and liquids really cut down on what you can take.  Add to that the rules about taking fruit and veggies across the US border and it makes it even harder.

The other thing I’m going to pack?  A positive attitude.  I tend to turn into a stress ball when we take these kind of trips.  This time I am going to do my best to go with the flow and make everyone’s time as fun as possible.  It will be Evan’s first visit and I don’t want to ruin his magical time by being an ogre!  Cross your fingers for me that I will succeed!

Are you and your family taking a trip this Spring or are you planning a staycation?

Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Robin from Farewell Stranger tagged me in a “Getting to Know You” post.  After a full night of working late and a BlogWest twitter party, this was the perfect post for me tonight!

Little ol' Me.

Her Questions:

1.  What’s your superpower?

Well, it depends on who you ask! If you ask Dewey, he would say that I am “Rules Girl! Here to enforce rules wherever she goes!”  Yes, he says it often…can you tell?  I would say my superpower is multitasking.  I am a crazy multitasker!

2.  What blog do you never miss? (And you can’t say mine because (a) that would be BS and (b) this is not me fishing for compliments.)

Hmmm…I always read Notes from the Cookie Jar, Tales from the Fairy Blogmother, A Lot of Loves and many others that I can’t think of now after a glass of wine.

3.  If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

When I was younger, I wanted to go by my middle name, Elizabeth.  These days, I’ve finally come to terms with my name.  Yes, it’s weird and , yes, everyone spells it wrong.  It is what it is.  I just wish I was a bit more “merry” to go with my name.

4.  Do you consider yourself a “blogger” or a “writer”?

I consider myself a blogger though I’m starting to change that.  I love writing but I’ve never been one to write without a reason.  I am going to change jobs to one with a huge technical writing component.  Not sure that will improve my blog writing at all but one can hope!

5.  What was your biggest failure and what did you learn from it?

Hmmm….I can’t remember one huge failure.  I feel like I fail in a million little days every day.  One failure I think I have is that I didn’t try harder to figure out what I was passionate about in university.  I chose a major that I knew I could get a good job in.  Thankfully, I have figured ways to weave what I love into a career built on that degree.

6.  What’s the most embarrassing song in your collection?

Anything by REO Speedwagon.  I love them & their cheesy selves.  Anytime they come up on my iPod Dewey laughs incessantly at me.

7.  Are you shy?

Ummm…no.  I am very outgoing in most situations.  I’ve done lots of outside sales positions which would kill me if I were shy.

8.  How do you prioritize yourself in your own life?

I don’t.  Ok…I try to sometimes but it is hard.  I work full time, have a son, two stepkids and a husband who works crazy amounts and is in a band.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember that I should get to do what I want too.  I’m getting better at it though.

9.  Where do you stand on chocolate?

I like chocolate but I don’t lust after it like many people.  I like sweets in general not just chocolate.

10.  What’s your biggest source of inspiration (other than your family, etc.)?

These days it’s social media.  When I see how many people I connect with every day from near and far I am amazed.  It has helped me reinvent my career and meet people I never would have encountered otherwise.

11.  What do you hope to do this year that you’re really excited about?

Some of the things I have on tap this year that I am super excited about are: Going to Disney World with the kids, going to Mexico on a couple trip with my husband, attending BlogWest and Real Growth Retreat for Women in Business …and that is just now through April!  Crazy, huh?  This year is going to be a great year of new beginnings for me.

Now it’s my turn to tag 11 bloggers and give them 11 questions to answer.  I hope they will play along!

The rules:

1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about herself on his/her blog.
3. Answer the questions the “tagger” listed for you in her post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You must choose 11 people to tag and link to them in the post.
5. Go to each blogger’s page and mention that you have tagged him/her.

I’m Tagging:

• Shan at Tales From the Fairy Blogmother
• Marilyn at A Lot of Loves
• Jen at Family, Food, Fitness and Fun
• Sami Joe at Peek Thru Our Window
• Catherine at The Dabels Divulge
• Leslie at Ruff Rumminations
• Shash at Shasher’s Life
• April at Frugally Green Mom (did you know she’s my cousin?  Yep!)
• Sarah at Mama Craft
• Yes I know that is only 9 but I’m getting sleepy…..if you read this & want to join…Yay! Leave a comment and let me know!

My Questions:

1. What is the one thing you wish you were better at as a blogger?
2. What is your favorite way to treat yourself/pamper yourself?
3. Do you (or have you in the past) work outside the home?  If so, what do you do?
4. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
5. If you could magically be anything you wanted to be (without needing additional education or childcare) what would you be?
6. Do you like to travel? If so, what is your favorite destination?
7. Are you an adventurous eater?
8. How would you describe yourself?
9. Have you ever met your online/blogger friends in real life? What was it like?
10. Do you have a best friend? How long have you known them?
11. Do you still live in the same town where you grew up?

Even if I didn’t tag you….feel free to participate!  You can either write a blog post or just answer in the comments.

It’s Groundhog Day, or, as I like to call it, the least relevant day of the year if you live where I do. I don’t care what’s happening in the rest of the world - six more weeks of winter would be an early spring; we’ve been having unseasonably mild weather which makes me a bit superstitious that it is going to be ALL WINTRY BLASTS ALL THE TIME come April and May.

But Groundhog Day - you will be happy to know - is not just a weird, made-up holiday like you may have assumed. It actually has roots in pagan European weather lore! Good times. Despite my previous feelings that Groundhog Day is the stupidest day of the year, which was largely based on weather bitterness which I am trying to overcome by finding within me an invincible summer, I now say hooray for the groundhog! The lowly groundhog, elevated to the status of having its very own day. It’s not everyday we celebrate a rodent. We should all be happy for the groundhog.

Today is also the day Sid Vicious died, which seems a bit of a “who-gives-a-shit” piece of information, but since he overdosed on heroin to be with his beloved crazy-ass Nancy, maybe he was somehow confusing Groundhog Day with Valentine’s Day. I mean, you do that much smack in your lifetime you probably have a hard time keeping up with the calendar, you know?

Many, many of our special days have roots in pagan rituals, but not - as you likely already know - St. Valentine’s Day. St. Valentine was a Christian martyr, and I’m a little fuzzy on the details as to how his day became synonymous with love and chocolates and those cheap incarcerated teddy bears that proclaim they are prisoners of love. In any event, I am very much looking forward to Valentine’s Day this year because my kids are at the hilarious stage when talking about anything romance related has them shrieking with disgust.  It’s quite amusing.  Their teacher started a heart-themed calendar for the month of February and it’s the Worst! Calendar! Ever!  The boys have taken to bringing home Geronimo Stilton books from the library, and we have been reading them at bedtime.  There was a chapter where a female mouse VERY CREEPILY goes after Geronimo in a romantic way, and the boys were actually screaming with horror.  It was kind of horrible, come to think of it.  If there had been a gender reversal - a male character going after a female one in the same manner - there would have certainly been an uproar about it.

But alas!  This is the way of the world, it seems.  Being a mother of boys makes one acutely aware of gender bias.  Take, for example, what used to be Boy Scouts but is now just Scouts, versus Girl Guides.  It’s okay for girls to be with only girls, but not okay for boys to be with only boys, is the take-away message I am receiving.

We’ve all heard about the uproar over the new Lego line that is aimed at girls.  Personally, I looked at that line and immediately coveted all the sets for myself.  They are CUTE.  I also covet one of those Maplelea dolls - I really like Taryn.  But anyway, I think we’re all aware of the uproar about Lego, how Lego is supposed to be gender neutral, etc., etc.  I do not agree.  I think that Lego is generally marketed to boys.  Girls do play with Lego, of course, just as boys play with dolls, but predominantly those items are gender-marketed.  Is this a bad thing?  I don’t know.  We don’t live in a gender neutral world, people.  I am not saying this is right or wrong, I am saying that this is reality.

But I digress.  I am simply amused that my boys have reached the stage where little hearts cause them to make retching noises, whereas I have reached the stage where Valentine’s Day evokes feelings of the craving variety, as in chocolate and wine.  Come to think of it, perhaps chocolate and wine should be the new way to celebrate Groundhog Day!  Yes!  Let’s celebrate the groundhog with a nice glass of Shiraz and a pile of frozen York patties, shall we?

Quick Peanut Butter Curry

Coming up with something new and exciting to cook after a full day of work is hard. Thankfully I have a few blogs that I go to over and over again for inspiration! Dinner With Julie is one of those. When I saw her recipe for Quick Peanut Butter Curry, I knew I had to try it.

Quick Peanut Butter Curry
Adapted from Dinner With Julie

1 medium steak…about 3/4lb
vegetable oil
2 or 3 garlic cloves
2 tsp curry paste (I used mild)
big spoonful of peanut butter (probably close to 1/4 a cup)
1/2 to 3/4 can of coconut milk

Season steak with salt and pepper.  Slice thinly.  Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet.  Sear the steak slices until browned.  Remove the slices to a plate.

Add the garlic cloves and curry paste to the skillet.  Cook for a moment and then add the peanut butter and coconut milk.  Cook for a few moments to thicken and add the sliced steak back in.  Serve hot over rice.  We like steamed broccoli on the side.

Recipe Notes:  Serves 3 normal or 4 small portions.

Today was Day 1, Month 2 of the 12in12 challenge. February is make and share one photo-a-day. I just finished a month of walking daily, and so today’s photo is of my wet walking boots drying by the fire.

Today I completed book number 5 of the 50 book pledge!

Our book club is reading The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay this month. I downloaded it to my e-reader on my tablet for the ability to read on the bus, at the dr.’s office, etc. It was a surprisingly light read for the topic. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for our discussion at book club!

I have her first book The Birth House, just waiting on my bookshelf, received for Christmas too!

It’s 11 a.m. and I’m done. Done in. Done for the day. Just plain done. I feel like I’ve given everything I’ve got and that I’ve got no more left to give. But here’s the problem. I have two kids. I have to find more to give, because they’re going to demand that. And they deserve that. Whether they’ll get that is another story.

Here’s how my day has gone so far, in a nutshell. Bear decided he wasn’t going to school today, and he was adamant. He’s missed a lot of school lately for one reason or another, so I was equally adamant that he was going. I did my best to listen to him and sympathize with his concerns. I tried to find solutions to what was bugging him. I explained, I pleaded, I snuggled. I did everything. And when nothing else worked, I informed him that if he didn’t get dressed, I would get him dressed. You can imagine how that went over.

Bear did eventually get dressed.

Correction…we eventually got Bear dressed. Yes, we. The ODD Dad is working from home today, so he pinned Bear down while I dressed him. Again, you can imagine how that went over. I don’t advise pinning your child down to dress him if you don’t have to, because it’s a pretty miserable process for all involved. It started with just me trying to get him dressed, but between his kicking, screaming, crying and writhing, it took me about 5 minutes just to get his underwear on. That’s when I called in the reinforcements.

Once we got Bear dressed, he informed us that he was going to hurt his friends at school so that he could get sent home. Last time he threatened that, I kept him home, but I can’t do that everytime. Is he all talk? No idea. Guess we’ll find out.

So The ODD Dad carried a struggling Bear out to the van (and I removed the snow brushes after Bear tried to club me with one) and off he and I went to school. The ODD Dad and I had agreed that he would call the school as soon as I was out of the driveway to warn them that we were on our way. (I figured it was the least I could do.) I wasn’t sure if I’d need help getting Bear into school, and they’re extremely supportive that way. The hand-over went well, and they’ll be keeping a close eye on him today.

Did we do the right thing? No clue.

Then on to Stitch. Poor Stitch gets put into his crib for safekeeping when Bear is melting down, and he doesn’t like that very much. Stitch is more of a free-range kid, so he doesn’t really like being stuck in one place. Add Bear’s yelling, screaming, door slamming and toy throwing, and Stitch sometimes gets a little frightened.

Today is a daycare day for Stitch, so after I dropped Bear off I came back home and picked up Stitch. Stitch only started in daycare last week, and he goes two or three days a week. He’s settling in well, but it’s still pretty new to him. He has a great time once he’s there, but that didn’t stop him from starting to cry as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? Cause that’s what I needed today. Then he clung to me, still dressed in his snowsuit and his puppydog hat with the ears on it, with tears streaming down his face. It was all I could do to not bring him back home with me, but I didn’t. Instead I turned and walked out, listening to his crying as the door closed behind me.

Then I came home and wrote this. And now that I’ve shared it, I feel a tiny bit better. I still feel emotionally exhausted, but now at least I can concentrate on getting some work done while the kids are gone. The school hasn’t called and neither has the daycare, so the kids must be OK. We’re lucky that both our children are in loving, nurturing environments, and I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

They’re OK. They’re OK. They’re OK.

And soon, hopefully I will be too.

Evan's first try at ice skating!

Link up your Wordless (or Wordful) Wednesday post! Please leave a comment after linking up!

People have come into my life in a profoundly perfect way over the past year. – Priscilla Warner, Learning to Breathe: My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life

I know just how this feels. It’s a remarkable thing. A gift really. To receive exactly what or who you need, precisely when you need it. I’ve experienced it myself in many ways through my own journey, which began just two years ago. And today, as I sit comfortably in the afterglow of Priscilla’s exquisite memoir, I realize it has happened yet again. Now, with this book, the timing is once again “profoundly perfect.” And even more, I’m certain it was meant to be. What more of an indication did I need but to learn as I read that we share a birthday.

I cannot speak highly enough of Priscilla’s writing. Not only is it elegant and gracefully honest, but accessible in that the context is precise, detailed and completely  imaginable. Her experience becomes the reader’s experience, and you can’t help but cheer her along as she writes of her year-long journey to bring calm to her life. She narrates her quest from the point of view of living it, but also as wise observer. This is a great gift to the reader because she offers a valuable opportunity for everyone to truly learn from her experience, and she does it by sharing all the parts of her journey, her thoughts, her worries, her conversations. All of it.

“Science gives us a lot of the raw information to work with [on anxiety and panic], but how everything applies to you as in an individual is a very specific thing, which you’ll have to figure out for yourself,” says Priscilla’s therapist, Dr. Jaeger.

And this is precisely what she does in this book. She takes the science, she takes the spirit ,and she shows us how she used it to figure it all out for herself. Powerful stuff.

As I read this book and connected with her journey to the very core of my being, as I cried and gasped in understanding and kinship, as I underlined bits and pieces of text, and left dark, heartfelt exclamation marks in the margins, I ironically, felt myself  holding my breath because of the connection I’d found.  I’m just now finding the strength and clarity to emerge from my own season of fighting panic to find peace, and it was the reading of this book that finally helped me recognize what I have done.  Two years ago, when I set out to find myself, I never expected that I would almost lose myself in the process. The markers for my own depression and anxiety were all there, but I now know that I wasn’t ready to face it until this season in my life. It nearly broke me, but in doing so, I was ready for it to save me. I have come across dark waters, but to cross I had to be willing to dive in, to tread water, and finally to extend each arm, tentatively at first, fighting strong counter currents, but soon growing stronger as I learned that I could swim.

This is the lesson of this book, this is the gift that Priscilla offers with her words, and in sharing the guidance she was given by so many others.

“The convention of panic was just a thin veil for you,” Rabbi Robert Sachs told Priscilla in an e-mail one day, which she then shared with us in her book. “It cloaked the stillness and compassion that is you. It takes great courage to let it all go and to display the unbearableness of so much love.

If you’ve struggled with anxiety or depression, or simply feel lost in your life, this book will inspire you to find a path to peace and happiness.

On Friday night I gave a speech at my church called “I’m Not a Bad Mother — Moving past the blame and shame of children’s mental illness.”

It was a cold, blustery night. Freezing rain had fallen in the morning, and then snow in afternoon and into the evening. The event had been advertised in local papers and on the radio, but I still had visions of an empty church. Instead, we had almost 100 people turn up to hear me speak.

Here’s what I had to say.