Balancing Life 101 Part 3
February 4, 2010 by TiaHejny · 1 Comment
By Camille of www.makeitworkmom.com
Finally, the most important factor in the balancing act of motherhood and career is YOU! No pressure, but so much, and so many people, depend on you. Aside from trying to meet the expectations of your supervisor at work, you have your own expectations and responsibilities in your personal life that are demanding your attention. Bills need to be paid. Clothes need to be washed and folded. Meals need to be prepared. The house needs cleaning. You may have community or church responsibilities. And on top of everything, your children need you. Unless you take care of yourself, you will not perform at your highest level. And, if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!
- Give health a priority. You need your body to function properly in order to accomplish so much! My back went out last month and I was reduced to lying flat on my back or walking doubled over. It slowed me down and frustrated me to no end because I could not function! You need your sleep. You need some exercise. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you need your fruits and vegetable and all other healthy foods that provide energy and a healthy body. Cupcakes are fine in moderation.
- Lower your standards. We all have good intentions of completing everything on our agenda. However, the reality is that sometimes we just won’t be able to accomplish everything we want to. Life doesn’t follow the same routine every day. There will be disruptions, distractions, and disappointments. Prioritize your agenda according to what absolutely needs to be done, and don’t punish yourself if the list isn’t checked off completely at the end of the day.
- It’s OK to say “no”. You know your abilities and limitations. Don’t be afraid to tell the PTA president you can’t make cookies for the meeting, or the neighbor that you aren’t able to help with a carpool. Stay focused on your own priorities and don’t overload your schedule. I found a great article the other day, sharing the secrets of multi-tasking. During your “me” time, you can check it out for more tips.
- Give yourself “me” time. You need time to unwind, and to focus on yourself and your own development. Maybe it’s spending time scrapbooking or baking. Maybe it’s shopping at an antique store or blogging. Maybe it’s just soaking in the tub. If time is so limited that your only time alone is on your commute, plug in an audio book, or your favorite CD and relish the moment. Get together with your girlfriends for dinner or a pedicure every once in a while, and remember to leave the guilt home!
About the Author: Camille is a thirty-something mommy with two beautiful daughters, Ad and C8, living in two worlds. By day, she works full-time as an employment recruiter/ staffing supervisor, with a 100-mile daily commute, living in a world governed by policies and professionalism. And by night, she transforms into a mother, living in a world where everything is governed by “Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Moe” and fun. Like so many other moms, she wishes she could stay at home with them, but certain situations require her to work full-time. To learn more about Camille visit www.makeitworkmom.com or contact her via twitter @makeitworkmom.
Teaching Children to Give—Reindeer Cookies as Holiday Neighbor Gifts
November 29, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 5 Comments
When I think of favorite holiday activities, giving is the first one that comes to mind. I love seeing all the Angel Trees around town, collection bins for the Food Bank, boxes accepting winter coat donations, and much more. That so many organizations are centered on helping those in need is uplifting. I appreciate them making it easy for me to play a part in that outreach!
My parents were like these organizations. They provided ample ways for our family to help others while at the same time helping us fall in love with the act of giving. So, as the holiday season gets under way, I want to share a few ways you can teach your children to fall in love with the act of giving as well.
Service and giving can have many different recipients: self, family, friends, pets, neighbors, community, the world, etc. Part 1 of my “Teaching Children to Give” series focuses on those right around you—your neighbors.
Neighbors are a vital part of the community in which you live. They often are the people you see at common places in your life—at the grocery store, at church service, at your kids’ school, at volunteer activities, at community events, and more. Showing appreciation for them and teaching your children the importance of valuing them is not only important, but can be fun!
Baking reindeer cookies is a tradition I started with my two boys several years ago. My mother in law shared the recipe with me and helped us bake our first batch. Now, my family bakes these every Thanksgiving holiday weekend and takes them around to our neighbors to kick off the holiday season with a bang!
Check out this Whrrl story for more pictures and detailed steps on how to make them!
If you join or log in to Whrrl, please comment and share your fun holiday giving traditions too!
RSVP—#GNO Shares Simple Summer Meal Ideas Tues on Twitter!
July 12, 2009 by jyl johnson pattee · 25 Comments
With everything going on during the summer months, sometimes it’s hard to put together quick, easy, and healthy meals in minutes. Join #GNO here this Tuesday where we can all share simple summer meal ideas!
- What: Girl’s Night Out (What’s GNO? Click here to find out!)
- When: Tuesday, July 14, 9-11 p.m. EDT
- Where: Party with us on our very own Custom Tweetgrid! (Use hashtag #gno.)
- Topic: Simple Summer Meals
- Who: @bowlher @citymama @mombloggersclub @erikalehmann @plussizemommy @rachelferrucci @scrappinmichele @thinkmaya
- Party Favors: Remember to check out this week’s giveaway sponsored by Campbell’s.
- RSVP: Enter your twitter URL/ID in the list below (e.g., http://twitter.com/jylmomIF).
BowlHer ‘09 Giveaway—Campbell’s Gift Basket & FLIP Camera
July 12, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 351 Comments
Campbell’s is excited to reward one Mom It Forward community member with some fun products that make simple summer meals fun and easy.
The Prize
One lucky winner from this site will be selected to win a Campbell’s gift package, including the following:
- A FLIP camera
- Campbell’s Cooking Companion Cook Book
- Thermos
- Green Bean Casserole Dish
- Campbell’s Products
Entry Requirements
To enter to win, you are required to do the following three things:
- Leave a comment on this post, including your e-mail address.
- Join the BowlHer ‘09 Facebook Fan Page!
- Post one of these messages on your Facebook wall or on Twitter:
Going 2 @BlogHer in Chicago? RSVP 4 @BowlHer ‘09 party—Sat 7/25, 8 pm @ http://bowlher.com. PLS RT
GIVEAWAY! Win a Campbell’s gift basket, including FLIP camera http://bit.ly/IF6ov PLS RT
Leave an additional comment for each of these extra entries (for a total of five extra entries):
- Join the Mom It Forward Friend Connect (in right sidebar).
- Join the Mom It Forward Flickr Group.
- Join the Mom It Forward Facebook Group!
- Click here to join the Mom It Forward Facebook Page. (This is different than the group!)
- Take the Summer of Service Challenge this week and comment on that post.
The Fine Print
No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Collective Bias and Campbell’s employees and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, July 19 at midnight PDT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.
Topic Talk—Thanksgiving Comfort Food!
November 15, 2008 by jyl johnson pattee · 3 Comments
Today’s GNO Gals bring us more delightfully delicious dishes with a touch of comfort—as in comfort food. Welcome:
- Alice at Plain Cook.
- Beth at Coming Up for Air.
- Chef at I’ll Make a Foodie Out of You.
- Kelli at Gohn Crazy.
- Nicole at Pinch My Salt.
Creamy Mashed Potatoes picture courtesy of Nicole at Pinch My Salt.
Alice inspires us to go crazy with cranberries this season with her many recipes featured on plaincook.com. Here are a few:
Cranberry Jello
Cranberry Pineapple Jello
Cranberry Jello Salad With Port Wine
Fresh Cranberry and Cream Salad
Cranberry Pecan Salad With Feta Cheese
Coming Up for Air reminds us what Thanksgiving is about and that it is bigger than our corner of the world. She inspires us to think globally:
… we have taken a break from our normal history routine to learn about Thanksgiving across the centuries, across the world, across religion and across tradition. Thanksgiving is not just something we Americans celebrate because of the pilgrims. Thanksgiving has been celebrated for centuries by many different countries and cultures as a way to express thankfulness for the harvest, for protection and for the blessings of nature. So far, we’ve learned about the Chinese celebration Chung Ch’ui – which starts with the celebration of the moon’s birthday on the 15th of August. We’ve learned how the Greeks and Romans celebrated the harvest and the stories of their gods and goddesses. And we’ve learned about the Jewish holiday Succot and what a beautiful expression of thanks this festival is. Tomorrow we learn how ancient Egyptians celebrated harvest.
I’ll Make a Foodie Out of You shares family holiday tips from her pastry-chef perspective. My favorite? Her delicious recipe for marinated asparagus wrapped in phyllo dough. I am drooling just thinking about the yumminess! I may not be able to wait until the holidays to try out this tantalizing treat.
She also provides some basic, but expert advice like the following:
Sugar Cookies boring you? Then make a huge batch and seperate them into smaller ones. Add different extracts, or maybe even some citrus peel and your completely changed it into something edgy. I like to take my sugar cookie dough left overs and add lemon zest with a little orange blossom water. Think high end tea party, they are ungodly delicious.
Gohn Crazy shares her first Thanksgiving meal with us. Can you almost taste Thanksgiving after seeing this pic? Mmmmmmm!
Pinch My Salt shows off comfort food at its best with the creamy mashed potatoes featured above and this amazing batch of sweet potato rolls. Once again, we appreciate Nicole for being our guest tweet this week. It has been a treat to visit her blog every day for yummy recipes and beautiful pictures. Check out her holiday series throughout this season for wonderful holiday recipes.
Thanks to today’s featured GNO Gals—and everyone that participated this week in Topic Talk—for their mouth-watering pictures and yummy recipes. Next week’s theme is giving and charity in celebration of our live auction to help provide Thanksgiving meals to families facing hunger this holiday season.
Wanna be featured? Please comment here or e-mail us at mommygossipgno AT gmail DOT com and provide your BLOG URL, linking to the post you’d like featured.
Topic Talk—Holiday Dishes & Drinks
November 13, 2008 by jyl johnson pattee · 3 Comments
Today’s GNO Gals share a variety of holiday dishes and drinks. You’ll want to read all the way to the bottom of this post, which will make you feel like you just licked the bottom of the cake-mix bowl. It’s that good. Let’s hear it for:
- Brandie at Joy of the Kitchen.
- Brandy at Not Your Average Soccer Mom.
- Cindi at Moomettegram’s Musings.
- Joy at All Because Two People Fell in Love.
- Tori at Thoughtfully Simple.
Chocolate Mini Marshmallow Velvet Fudge picture courtesy of Moomettesgram’s Musings.
Joy of the Kitchen shares a family Christmas tradition—Persimmon Cookies—and this story:
Several years ago, our family gathered at the beach for Christmas. My mom was living there at the time, so we crowded into her oceanside condo. Let me tell you, it was rough. (Ok, it was cold, but when I’m walking on the beach I just don’t care!) Anyway, Grandma brought a HUGE batch of cookies with her. All I remember was my uncle grabbing his coffee can full of cookies, tucking them under his arm and threatening (jokingly?) anyone who touched his stash.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do.
Not Your Average Soccer Mom ponders whether to brine or not to brine her buttered and seasoned turkey. What do you think?
Moomettesgram’s Musings refers us to two recipe posts:
Chocolate Mini Marshmallow Fudge (shown above)
Bacon Cheese Roll Up Appetizers
All Because Two People Fell in Love absolutely recommends brining your turkey and provides great instructions and this explanation:
I brine my turkey-Alton Brown from the food network swears by it and lets face it the guy knows what he is talking about so I trust him. Basically it is just soaking your turkey in a salt water (a few other spices) bath for about 8 hrs. It does something with something (kinda science talk I don’t understand) but it makes it very juicy.
Thoughtfully Simple adds this tasty drink to the mix today. What meal would be complete without a delicious drink and dessert? How much better then if you combined the two as Thoughtfully Simple does with her pumpkin martini:
Thanks to today’s featured GNO Gals for their mouth-watering pictures and yummy recipes during this week’s holiday food-themed Topic Talk.
Wanna be featured? Please comment here or e-mail us at mommygossipgno AT gmail DOT com and provide your BLOG URL, linking to the post you’d like featured.
Topic Talk—Sweet Treats for the Holidays!
November 12, 2008 by jyl johnson pattee · 6 Comments
Today’s featured GNO Gals share sweet treats with us. Give it up for:
- Christy at Southern Plate.
- Jessica at Momma Cooks Cooking.
- Kaye at The Butler Diaries.
- Kristin at Give Me a Minute, I’ll Come Up With Something.
- Mikki at My Recipe Box.
Marshmallow Sweet Potatoes courtesy of Southern Plate.
Southern Plate provides perhaps the sweetest of the sweet treats—chocolate cobbler (shown below) and chocolate gravy.
The chocolate cobbler makes the perfect holiday dessert.
And, the chocolate gravy can be packaged up and given as delicious neighbor and friend gifts.
Check out the Southern Plate cookbook for more mouth-watering goodies.
Momma Cooks Cooking shares two delicious Pampered Chef recipes. Check out her Iced Gingerbread Cookie recipe for a sweet treat.
The Butler Diaries writes about holiday traditions and memories. She says:
I’m sure that you all know how quickly the Holidays can sneak up and before you know you are scrambling for just the right gift and groceries. Those wonderful ingredients to make that one special dish that you, your spouse, kids, Uncle Harry, Aunt Millie, or Cousin Bob just can’t live without at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, a tradition.
Every year for 32 years, the same tree was put together and decorated on December 6, my birthday, pop corn strings were made and hot chocolate topped it off. Three years ago, I had to give up the tree and buy a new one. No tree will ever be as beautiful to me as the one I grew up with. Keeping tradition, we still put the tree up and decorate it on December 6 and there is always hot chocolate.
Check out her hot chocolate recipe and other yummy holiday food ideas in this post.
Give Me a Minute… shares this tasty treat—eggnog cheesecake bars. Mmmmmm!
My Recipe Box in addition to her yummy Cream Cheese Pie recipe, shares this recipe for daily living:
1 c. love
1 c. patience
1 c. forgiveness
1 c. charityMix well with loving heartstrings and serve 1 tablespoon every morning, noon and night.
Thanks to today’s featured GNO Gals for their mouth-watering pictures and yummy recipes during this week’s holiday food-themed Topic Talk.
Wanna be featured? Please comment here or e-mail us at mommygossipgno AT gmail DOT com and provide your BLOG URL, linking to the post you’d like featured.
Topic Talk—Everything’s Coming Up Cranberries!
November 12, 2008 by jyl johnson pattee · 7 Comments
Let’s hear it for our first featured GNO Gals in this week’s holiday food-themed Topic Talk:
- Beth at Sunshine Daydreamz.
- Cheryl at Mom Fuse.
- Deanna at Domestic Chicky.
- Dianne at Country And Loving It.
- Tara at Feels Like Home.
Sunshine Daydreamz shares a yummy cranberry sauce.
Mom Fuse gives us an alternative to turkey with her Cranberry Meatloaf recipe.
Domestic Chicky shares her top-secret recipe (shhhhhh!)—turkey marinade.
Country And Loving It expresses her memories and then shares her recipe for No Bake Fruit Cake:
Let me start by saying, I do not like fruit cake. I do not like any COOKED fruit. This isn’t cooked. And I don’t really call it real fruit, either. Candied cherries are not fruit, to me. I am also one of those country cooks who doesn’t measure anything. So don’t worry about being exact with the measurements. I knew it was Christmas when my momma made this. It tastes more like candy and I was always anxious to get a slice–even though I picked the cherries out. I remember asking could I leave a slice out for Santa and being so thrilled when the answer was yes. Seeing the empty plate and glass in the sink the next morning (and yes, I went and looked) is a childhood memory I will never forget. Hope you enjoy.
Feels Like Home shares three pie recipes. Can anyone say Mmmmmmm?
Cherry Pie
Pecan-Crusted Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Thanks to today’s featured GNO Gals for their mouth-watering pictures and yummy recipes during this week’s holiday food-themed Topic Talk.
Wanna be featured? Please comment here or e-mail us at mommygossipgno AT gmail DOT com and provide your BLOG URL, linking to the post you’d like featured.
RSVP for the Most Delicious GNO of the Year! Mmmm… Holiday Food!
November 8, 2008 by jyl johnson pattee · 27 Comments
Please join us Tuesday, November 11 for a tasty GNO treat while we chat about holiday food. This is one party that promises to be virtually delicious! RSVP at the bottom of this post and check out the next post to learn about this week’s guest tweet from Pinch My Salt.
- Everyone seems to have that one special item that makes the Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, or Christmas meal. What is that one thing for you?
- Do you have a story of a holiday meal you totally destroyed (along the lines of A Christmas Story)?
- What about your most successful holiday party?
- Who has memories of making a family recipe of dipped chocolates or that one fabulous Old Country baked item?
- Do you decorate gingerbread houses with your kids?
- Any other fun baking activities?
- Any tips you have to share?
- How do you spend the holidays?
- Share it with family?
- Thanksgiving at a restaurant anyone?
Join us:
- DATE: Tuesday, November 11
- TIME: From 6 to 10 p.m. Pacific (7 Mountain, 8 Central, & 9 Eastern)
- PLACE: Twitter
- WHO: Guest Tweet—Nicole from Pinch My Salt & on Twitter @pinchmysalt.
- TO DO: RSVP at Mr. Linky then check back and click on the names listed there to “follow” them on Twitter.
- RSVP: Enter your twitter ID (e.g., jyl_mommygossip) in Mr. Linky and your twitter URL (e.g., http://twitter.com/jyl_mommygossip). NOTE: Please do not enter your blog URL here!
Follow the #gno conversations here!
Wanna be featured during this week’s Topic Talk. If so, DM @jyl_mommygossip on Twitter, leave a message here, or e-mail us at mommygossipgno AT gmail DOT com to be considered. Please include the URL of the post you would like featured. Thank you!
Meet Nicole From PinchMySalt.com—Our GNO Guest Tweet
November 8, 2008 by jyl johnson pattee · 4 Comments
This Tuesday promises to be the yummiest GNO of the year. And, what makes it even sweeter is this week’s guest tweet. Join us in welcoming food blogger and photographer, Nicole, from Pinch My Salt and on Twitter @pinchmysalt.
We highly recommend you visit Nicole’s site before GNO this Tuesday. 140 characters on Twitter will not be able to convey the mouth-watering pics and fantastic recipes you will discover on her tasty blog (like this scrumptious pumpkin roll shown above).
But first, a little about her… in her own words!
My name is Nicole and I love food!
Recently relocated to San Diego, my husband and I spent four years in Sicily, stationed at a U.S. Navy base. I have always loved to cook but the sights, sounds, and tastes of Sicily inspired me in ways I never could have imagined. Pinch My Salt is the result of those experiences.
Over the last few years, I have come to realize that creating a meal in my own kitchen is not only healthier and more economical than eating out, it’s also much more fun! Through this site I hope to share my enthusiasm for cooking and perhaps convince a few people that with fresh ingredients, a little imagination, and some good music playing in the background, anyone can cook great meals and enjoy it too!
RSVP using Mr. Linky in the post above. And, join us this Tuesday at Twitter for a tasty GNO!
