A Blog for Busy Moms – MOMania

Americans are so accustomed to stress that a recent study finding 75 percent of adults feel moderate to high levels of stress would hardly qualify as “news” to most of us. My personal response to those figures was a simple, “eh, that’s about right” – even though I doubt my life at the moment could be classified as particularly stressful.

I am married with three young children, and there are certainly stresses that go with that. But on the whole, our family isn’t facing any major upheavals –the birth of a baby, unemployment, a big move, divorce, loss or sickness of a family member – that can really cause stress levels to spike. We are among the millions of Americans in the middle, who are going along to get along. For that, I feel incredibly grateful.

But do I also feel stressed? Yes. Moderately to highly stressed? Yes, often. For me, it’s the little things that pile up – endless housework; training our dog not to eat the window casings on the house; …

Continue reading How stressed are your kids? Do you know what’s making them feel so anxious? »

Parents who grew up on the program may be devoted to Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Bob and Maria, but does the landmark children’s show still grab the attention of 21st century kids?

Continue reading Do kids still love Sesame Street 40 years on? »

You know it's time to update your kitchen when your friends' high school photos on Facebook look like they could be taken today in your house.

After two years of thought, planning and saving, we are finally renovating our kitchen this week.

I don’t want you to think we’re updating the kitchen purely for aesthetics. I currently only have two of four burners that actually heat and both 27-year-old ovens are calibrated way off and are releasing tremendous heat from the top. And while the 27-year-old dishwasher still cleans, I feel certain it’s a fire hazard. Plus for some reason it was never attached to the counter above so the entire thing tips forward when you open the door to put dishes in.

So while I’m thrilled not to have a kitchen that look like it’s straight out of an ’80s movie, I’m also happy to have appliances that won’t burn down my house.

I’ve been looking at granite, appliances and tile since the summer. I give the same story to each salesperson: …

Continue reading Renovating: Is there good design with kids in mind? »

It’s Nov. 3 ladies, how far along are you on Christmas?

About three weeks ago an old friend announced on Facebook that she had just finished her Christmas cards! It totally stressed me out!  About a week later, she announced that had finished a bunch of her Christmas shopping online.

Is this friend uber- organized or just plain crazy? (I think there’s a fine line.)

I was inspired (panicked?) by her getting a jump on things and decided to get a little ahead myself. After the kids went to bed on Halloween night,  I uploaded a bunch of photos and designed our Christmas cards on Shutterfly.com. It is a relief to have that project done.

I also started working on another time-consuming holiday project – a calendar filled with photos of the kids and family for both sets of grandparents. (I even make two versions of the calendar so the Giarrussos aren’t looking at Walshes and vice versa.) I think I’ve got about five months done so far.

I also bought a few Christmas …

Continue reading Are you already working on Christmas? »

(To avoid confusing my seafood man at the Publix I will clarify the blog schedule for this week and next. Theresa will be writing Monday and Tuesday of this week and then Keith will fill in Wednesday to the next Wednesday. I will have one blog during that time because we swapped out the Halloween one for a blog to be named later. If you get confused, just look at the byline to know which one of us is writing.)

My girlfriend in Buckhead goes out once a week for a girls’ night. It’s costing her a fortune because her friends don’t choose Waffle House, but her sanity seems intact.

I have another friend on Facebook who goes hiking with her girlfriends on her day off. Now you know I wouldn’t choose that particular activity but how luxurious to have an entire day with your friends. (She also has a nanny, which is how she can leave for an entire day and not worry about kids getting off the bus – also luxurious.)

I realized after my friend told me that she was getting out …

Continue reading How often are you getting out? »

(Editor’s Note: Keith Still will be filling in for me for part of next week and the week after while we bring our kitchen back to the future. (Get it? It’s an ’80s reference because my kitchen looks like the ’80s.) But she had a burning question about Halloween so she wrote today’s topic also.)

With my eldest child’s twelfth birthday and Halloween coming up this weekend, we are once again forced to realize that our daughter is growing up.

Since beginning middle school a couple of months ago, our daughter has become much more independent and responsible. She also has a close group of increasingly-independent and responsible friends. And while life with a middle-schooler is no cake walk, it’s also not nearly as bad (so far) as I had feared.

So as birthday number twelve approaches, our “little girl” is hoping to strike out on her own this Halloween and go trick-or-treating with her friends. She has trick-or-treated with her friends in a way for years – mainly because …

Continue reading Are your tweenagers trick-or-treating without you? »

My husband ran across a column which basically says adults without children waste their time. Robert Pagliarini, a financial consultant and author, wrote that the child-free have so much time on their hands they are never pressed to do anything and because of that they waste time.

Here are some excerpts from his CBS Money Watch column:

“I have friends without kids and I want to wring their neck every time they say, ‘I’m so busy. I don’t have enough time.’ You don’t have enough time?! Are you kidding me? My theory, which seems to be much more popular with my friends that have children, is that people without kids are inefficient and don’t fully value their free time…”

“Common sense says that if you have children, you will not be as productive. There’s no way you will be able to get as much done. That book you want to write? It will take a lot longer. Time for exercise? Limited. People without kids have so much more free time that it’s almost …

Continue reading Do adults without kids waste their time? »

We all know I’m a germaphobe, but I am wondering about some choices moms are making after they know one of their children has the Swine Flu. Here are a few examples to consider for our discussion:

1. A child is officially diagnosed with the Swine Flu. The mom, her husband and the child’s sibling all show up at a very optional social event two days later.  My feeling is they put other people at risk showing up when one of their children had full on Swine Flu.

The mother’s argument was that she was trying to keep the second child away from the first so he wouldn’t catch it, but a few minutes earlier she had said the doctor said they were most contagious before they felt sick. So her son had already been exposed under that theory.

2. Another mom reported that after her eldest was diagnosed with the Swine Flu she still sent her daughter to school the next day. One day later, that daughter had the Swine Flu. The mom and the baby ended up catching it too. The husband has …

Continue reading Swine Flu Etiquette: Should families self quarantine? »

I really appreciated everyone’s great advice for our camping trip last weekend. I thought about all that you guys wrote as I packed up and while we were at the campsite.

The Stone Mountain campgrounds are very nice. Although, Michael found it to be crowded and not just because of the Cub Scouts. He said it was like a tent city.

I liked the pavilion with the giant fire pit/grill area where we had dinner. The kids had a fantastic time running around like maniacs on the greens outside the pavilion and on the playground. It’s all very kid friendly – even my kids couldn’t get in trouble there.

We did have running water and electricity at the tent site, but we didn’t need it. There are bathrooms all around the campground, and they were actually pretty clean and didn’t smell funky at all.

Overall, the trip was extremely relaxing once we got there. (It was stressful trying to make sure your remembered everything you needed.) It was beautiful weather to be outdoors. (We …

Continue reading Camping for Dummies II: Things I did wrong! »

We now know why French maids are always getting it on – apparently the more housework you do, the more sex you are likely to have.

The Wall Street Journal’s Sue Shellenbarger reports that a new study shows that for men and women the more housework they help with the more likely they are to have sex with their spouse.

“Earlier studies have hinted at this connection for men; the sight of a husband mopping the floor or doing dishes sparks affection in the hearts of many wives. But the more-housework-equals-more-sex link for wives, documented in a study of 6,877 married couples published online recently in the Journal of Family Issues, is a surprise…”

” ‘Rather than compromise their sex life’ because of time demands at work or at home, ‘this group of go-getters seems to make sex a priority,’ says Constance Gager, lead researcher and an assistant professor of family and child studies at Montclair State University, Montclair, N.J. The study doesn’t measure what …

Continue reading Does more housework equal more sex? »