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A Mom’s “Best Ever” Mother’s Day Weekend Away – Florida Style

April 24, 2009 By

Bert quenches his thirst ~

This will be my final post as an intern at Mom’s Talk Network. Our assignment was to write a post about something that was “best.” After a busy year running after my family of six, and especially after the last ten weeks of being an intern, I am daydreaming about an escape to the beach. The beach is one of my favorite places to  unwind. I’ve lived near the coast my entire life and to me there is nothing like lounging at water’s edge or taking a really nice long walk along the shore. (photo credit: turtlemom4bacon)

After leaving the kids with a sitter, I’d start the day with my husband at Cracker Barrel (which we’re lucky to have close by) and have an Old Timer’s Breakfast which is two eggs cooked to order, buttermilk biscuits, butter and preserves, hashbrown casserole and bacon.

After breakfast, we’d then get on I-75 and head south to The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg and get on a Dolphin Cruise. Tampa Bay is a great spot to watch dolphins, manatees and pelicans.

We’re probably be ready for a nap after this. It’s time to get in the car again and drive another 30 miles to the Harrington House Beachfront Bread & Breakfast Inn in Holmes Beach, Florida where we’re staying for two nights (dreaming big here!) Harrington House is one of Florida’s most highly rated B&B inns located on Anna Maria Island. It is a warm and homey place and best of all, has a beautiful spot on the Gulf to watch those amazing sunsets.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opxG2I2ixo0

After settling and having a good long nap, it’s time to think about dinner. Nothing fancy; after all, this is Florida! We’re really laid back here. I’m happy to find a place on the beach with great seafood, good music where we can dress casually and watch the sun set.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhGAHvN7KqQ

The ultimate veg-out: spending a nice chunk of time at the beach with my iPod and a few books. Unfortunately my husband hates doing that so he’s headed out on a charter boat into the Gulf for a long day of fishing (I should mention that he’s a choleric,Type-A personality and I’m melancholy!)

This also gives me a little time for another thing I love to do that he hates…horseback riding! I’ve always dreamed of horseback riding on the beach. There is a cool place in nearby Bradenton that offers horseback riding on the beach…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtMQoR6xb0

We’ll spend one more evening together at the Harrington and head back to our family on Sunday morning. Hopefully the kids will have cleaned up the kitchen before we get back!

This is a dream and it’s highly improbable that it will happen for Mother’s Day this year. But what will happen is that my son will cook and serve breakfast in bed for me, I’ll get sweet handmade cards from my other kids and a whacky Mother’s Day card from my husband. I’m happy and blessed to have the privilege of being a mom.

Happy Mother’s Day to Kelly, my fellow interns and all the readers of the Mom’s Talk Network blogs. Thank you Kelly, for giving this green newbie the chance to be an intern. Thank you readers for reading my posts over the past ten weeks. It’s been a great learning experience – the best online learning experience ever!

Filed Under: Mom Topics

Free Gift to Moms from Suze Orman

April 24, 2009 By

I had the honor of participating in a live call with Suze Orman yesterday.  I use the word ‘participate’ loosely of course – I didn’t ask any questions, but I did listen. (On my BlackBerry on the road to my Tweet Up!)

Suze has partnered with Avon in an awesome way and the call was an opportunity to ask Suze questions about business and finances.  It was super informative and though provoking.

If you’re looking for a business opportunity, and want to learn more about Avon, click here.

Time Sensitive Free Offer:

You can get a free Will & Trust Kit from Suze if you act fast!

Just go to SuzeOrman.com and click the “Will & Trust Kit” link in the blue bar on the left-hand side of the home page. Click the orange “Gift Code” button and enter “Moms Rule” into the gift code field. Click the green “Submit” button and follow the instructions to redeem your free copy of the Will & Trust Kit. This gift code will be valid until Midnight EST on Saturday, April 25th.

Filed Under: Money & Finance

More Great Tips from The Household Helper

April 23, 2009 By

Life's More Fun When You're Organized
When I started the blog internship, I was still unpacking boxes in our new house.  I reached a point where I didn’t know what to do with all the stuff we had accumulated, so I asked The Household Helper for help.  Here are more guidelines on how to sort through clutter after a move.  Her six month rule is awesome–if you don’t know what to do with something after six months, get rid of it.

I have items  from the move that I’m just not sure what to do with.  Do I store these things or make a decision to get rid of them?  I would call these the “gray” areas of clutter — I can see the usefulness of hanging onto items, but don’t necessarily love them or feel anything other than they may be useful  ”someday.”

Moving into a new space is always a challenge. Lots of times you find that things you had in your former home don’t work in the new home. I do have a couple of ideas for what to do with the items you are not sure what to do with.

Your decor may be the biggest challenge.  Sometimes items that you loved in your new home don’t quite work.  Before throwing your hands up in frustration, take some time to try your items in different rooms and areas.  You can use T-pins (found in the quilting section of craft stores) to temporarily hang items.  You can hang items with these pins without putting big holes in your walls.

Once you have the basics unpacked and settled, let your items float from area to area for about a week. If after that time you haven’t made a commitment, it’s time to either toss it or store it.

What if you have something, such as cool curtain clips you purchased from a trendy store, that you won’t use right now but may someday down the road?  What about art and decorations that don’t look quite right in your new space?
This is an easy problem. Create a box to keep in your storage space labeled decor. Place items in the box that you’re not sure what to do with. Items that you may use “some day”.   Now to make sure these items don’t get out of hand you need to:
  • limit the items you can hang onto for “some day” to only things that will fit in that box. If the box is full, and there is something you want to add to it, you need to purge the box and make room for it.
  • set yourself a date to re-visit the box in say 6 months.  If by then you haven’t found a home for those items, then it’s time to let them go.
  • Another really fun and practical idea is to host a swap.  I did this a couple years ago. I invited my friends and family over for cake and coffee and told them to bring any unused decor with them: artwork, shelves, accessories.  While socializing and snacking, we all got to go “shopping” for new decor.   We had the opportunity to help each other out with our decor dilemmas and bounce ideas off each other.

Creative Commons Licensephoto credit: ifindkarma

Filed Under: Home

Cross Blog Conversation with the Dinker and Giggles Mom

April 21, 2009 By

For my Cross Blog Conversation,  I was lucky to catch Alaina Frederick,  busy wife, mom of 3, and a blogger who shared how her blog and website have evolved over time.   This is helpful info, as many of us new mom bloggers think we have to come up with a perfect focus before we even begin.

E: Alaina, you’ve been involved in blogging and online work for quite some time.  How has your blog evolved and changed?

A: Erin, that is really an interesting question!  I first started my blog as a way to let my customers know of specials for my then online boutique. It was first just something I update when I had something going on.   Over time I ended up realizing that storing products, packing them up, dealing with returns, exchanges, and just all of those goodies was not for me.  So I took a break and that is when I started journaling on a “mommy blog”.  To me it was just a way for me to share funny moments and pictures with our family.   I loved it–it was such a great release.
Quickly my drive for my online boutique came back, but I wanted more to have just an outlet to share  the great natural products I came across. So Dinker & Giggles was back–but this time just as a blog.  Over the past year my site has slowly grown with my children. At first I was writing a lot about cloth diapers, breastfeeding, and babywearing.  It’s where I was in my life.   Now that my youngest is over a year many of those things I’m just not excited about.  Almost as if I’ve “been there, done that”.  So today the site has grown with me.
My main focus right now in my personal life is being transparent- admitting that I have a problem with food and finding fun ways to solve it.  So I started a Lifetime Challenge for myself. 100 lbs in 365 days – and to continue the healthy outlook for life!
Now, I’m not all about weight loss– that would just be boring to me!  I’m still writing about natural parenting and home life but it’s with a giggle I call it.  Taking things that we are struggling with in our own home and with our parenting techniques and finding fun ways to fix them.
To finish our conversation, go look at Alaina’s blog right now.
Filed Under: Home

Be a Little Green with Red Worms

April 19, 2009 By

One of my favorite posts for this internship was one about worms!   Urbanwormgirl came up with a new kind of at-home party that turned out to be a big hit with moms.   Instead of Mary Kay or Pampered Chef,  moms talked worms, vermiculture, castings, and how much leftover food a tray of  indoor worms could consume.  Worms, it turns out, consume a great deal:  crushed eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags, bread, oatmeal, watermelon, apples, small amounts of wet cardboard, and even clean Kleenex.

For those moms who don’t want to compost outdoors, indoor worms are easy to feed and maintain.  And, red worms are the new green:  since food waste contributes to a big portion of what goes into landfills (the third largest source of garbage), having a little worm habitat in your home can reduce how much you and your family throw away.   Think how much food a  mass of worms could eat with the leftovers from a school cafeteria!   Worms are vegetarian, of course, and don’t eat meat or dairy products.

 To learn more,  here are resources for all things worm-y.  According to this article, worms are much easier to keep than bees. . .or pretty much any kind of critter.   What they give in return is priceless for your plants and garden and doing something a little green for the environment.

Two popular books to get you started on indoor or outdoor composting are the aptly titled The Worm Book, a favorite of gardeners and those wanting to understand how to start composting indoors or out, and what kinds of worms work best.  

Cascade The Worm Factory 3-Tray Worm Composter - Black   A beautiful, easy to maintain worm condo.

 

Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System

 

 A second popular book:  Worms Eat My Garbage explains how to set up and maintain a composting system from A to Z.

 

  A stylish and sporty hoodie, once you are really into worms.

Filed Under: Green Living
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