Momania: A Blog for Busy Moms

It’s taken two years of baby stepping into camping but we are finally ready to go tent camping this year and set it all up ourselves.

If you remember last summer we camped in Yosemite National Park but in the Curry Village, they set the tent up for you and you had a bed. The campground was also just a short walk away from a cafeteria and restaurants. This was a safe way for us try sleeping in a tent, using a communal bathroom and showers and having some meals outside.

So this summer we are planning about three nights of camping in Yellowstone and then maybe two in the Grand Tetons. (You don’t make reservations for the campgrounds in the Grand Tetons so we could stay longer.) We may also camp in Zion National Park in Utah either driving up or down.

In Yellowstone we will be on a campground with bathrooms and showers and will be about a mile from food services if we need them. We are planning to set up our own tents, sleep on air mattresses and make at least two of the three …

Continue reading Camping for real this summer: Need your advice on equipment, how-tos! »

Our family in Yosemite last summer.

It’s National Park Week, which means you get free admission to any of the 401 National Parks across the United States through April 28.

You know as a family we love our National Parks, and I love to promote them any chance I get. Last summer, we visited eight National Parks in California, including Yosemite, Sequoia, King’s Canyon and several around San Francisco. (We especially loved exploring the ships in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.)

This summer we are planning to hit the Daddy of All National Parks – Yellowstone! It was America’s first National Park created in 1872. We also are planning to visit the Grand Tetons and Zion National Park in Utah and maybe some others along the way. (See the next blog around noon — we need camping advice!)

To promote National Park Week, which runs April 20 to the 28, and it’s Junior Ranger program, the National Park Service posted on …

Continue reading It’s National Park Week: Where will your family go? »

The Huffington Post created a slideshow of top prom trends based off trends seen at awards shows and red carpets. Here are what they predict your daughters will be wearing this year to prom.

From The Huffington Post — there’s a slide show on the link to illustrate all the looks:

1. Gold metallic
2. Ravishing reds
3. Bright white
4. Long slits
5. Sweetheart necklines
6. Color pop – whole dress in bright colors
7. Sequins
8. Peplums
9. Embellished prints
10. Old Hollywood waves a la 1940s
11. Statement necklaces
12. Peeptoe booties – I don’t think girls are really doing this.
13. Metallic heels
14. Lace heels
15. Colorblock heels

I saw on another site a lot of very scary sheer bodices and sheer cutouts. They seemed a little much for high school.

So will your daughters be wearing any of these trends? What are you seeing that’s in or our this prom season? Are girls registering their dresses so there are no repeats?

Continue reading 15 prom trends for 201: What will your daughter be wearing? »

A mom sent me note wanting to talk about Carnival Cruises. She writes that after the cruise lines problems earlier this year, the prices have dropped making it more affordable for family to take a cruise, but would you want to cruise on Carnival?

The mom said her adult son was set to cruise with Carnival recently but his cruise was cancelled due to the earlier problems. She says he would never sign up for another cruise with Carnival again.

While Carnival’s pricing has been affected by the problem, USA Today reports other cruise lines are not dropping their prices as well.

From USA Today:

“It used to be that ‘as goes Carnival, so goes the rest of the contemporary market,’ but now it’s to a much lesser degree,” said Kevin Weisner, vice president of CruiseDeals. Weisner said that while Carnival pricing can “create a drag” on lines like Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, those companies have more of their fleet in Europe where they source locally.

“Carnival remains primarily a …

Continue reading Great prices now for a family, but would you cruise Carnival? »

Dove has posted a new video looking at how women see themselves, and it really is quite moving. (I will admit I teared up at the end.) So watch the video and then look at the sketches below.

From Mashable.com:

“A former forensic artist for the San Jose police department met a series of women and asked each to describe the way they look. He had no way of seeing them behind a curtain. He prompted them to detail everything: hair length, facial structure, their most prominent features. He then sketched each participant from their self-description.”

“Each woman was asked before the study to get to know one of the other participants. The forensic artist then prompted each woman to describe the other’s face. “

“At the end of the video, the artist reveals two sketches — one from the participant itself, one from their partner. The differences are remarkable.”

How do you think you see yourself? Would you be more critical than a stranger?

Continue reading Dove experiment: How do you see yourself? »

Broward County School District in Florida leads the state in the number of students arrested on campus. The criticism is that principals have relied too heavily on school-assigned police officers to deal with discipline problems often causing unnecessary arrests. Now the district wants to try a new approach to remedy discipline problems, such as petty theft, substance abuse, or in-school gambling, and reduce arrests.

From The Miami Herald:

“Broward had 1,062 school-related arrests during the 2011-12 school year, according to a report by Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice. Miami-Dade County schools, which have significantly more students, had 552 arrests. Miami-Dade has in recent years employed a variety of strategies to reduce student arrests: psychologists and social workers are involved in the discipline process, school police officers were retrained to be more cautious in making arrests, and a Civil Citation Program gives students a chance to nullify a misdemeanor …

Continue reading Broward County schools trying to revamp discipline with less arrests »

For the last few weeks my 9-year-old has been very concerned about North Korea bombing America. He keeps asking me about the possible missiles the North Koreans have to deliver their nuclear devices. I keep telling him not to worry, but I can remember worrying in the 1980s about the Soviet Union attacking us as well. I understand what he’s feeling.

I worked hard on Monday to keep him away the news about Boston. I kept shooing him out of the room as I was trying to watch and read coverage on my computer. I didn’t want to add another potentially scary prospect to his analytical and imaginative mind. I can fairly easily tell him the North Koreans can’t reach America. It’s pretty hard to say that about terrorists when they’ve just blown up a marathon route in a major city. (If he hadn’t been so concerned about North Korea I probably would have at least told him about Boston. I mentioned it passing today to Rose. But I just didn’t want to stress the poor kid out!)

A friend …

Continue reading Are your kids worried about Boston bombing, North Korea? »

I ran across a very interesting column on The Root about racial etiquette and ethics.  The first installment addresses whether it’s insulting to tell a family that their biracial child is adorable and maybe even the cutest. Here’s the question and part of the explanation. (I wish I could pull more but check out the full column at the link

The Root:

“I’m a Caucasian woman with a biracial child (her father is black). I live in a predominantly white community. Why is it that whenever people discover that I have a ‘mixed’ child, they always say things like, ‘Oh, he/she must be so cute/gorgeous/adorable, those kids are always the best looking. You are so lucky.’ …

“You’re right to be bothered by the remarks from the Biracial Babies Fan Club. Here’s why: These people aren’t pulling an arbitrary appreciation for almond-colored skin and curls from the ether. Instead — even if they are not aware of this — they’re both reflecting and perpetuating troubling beliefs that are bigger than …

Continue reading Racial manners: Is it rude to call biracial kids ‘the cutest?’ »

Mattel’s “Dolls of the World” line, which was introduced 30 years ago is being criticized for Mexico Barble. All of the Dolls of the World Barbies are dressed in traditional garb and carry a passport.

From Today.com:

“Poor Mexico Barbie. She just wants to teach girls “about the culture, traditions and ancestral dress of Mexico,” according to her online description. Little did she know her two possessions, a passport and a Chihuahua, would stir up an argument over cultural diversity.”

“China Barbie, for example, wears a red silk embroidered gown and comes packaged with a panda tucked under her arm. India Barbie wears a sari and has a pet monkey. The beret-capped French Barbie does not come with an animal, but can offer buyers a basket of baguettes instead.

“Mexico Barbie has long, black wavy hair, tied back in a purple bow, and is “dressed for a fabulous fiesta” in a pink dress with ruffles, ribbons and lace. However, her accessories of a Chihuahua dog and a “passport and …

Continue reading Is Mexico Barbie a stereotype or just celebrating international heritage? »

Non-mom and former Atlanta resident Blair Koenig created a blog and now a book about the things she says parents are oversharing on Facebook. The book is called “STFU, Parents: The Jaw-Dropping, Self-Indulgent, and Occasionally Rage-Inducing World of Parent Overshare.”

From the AJC story:

“To write the book, Koenig borrowed heavily from her “STFU, Parents” blog, which she started in 2009 after noticing her own Facebook newsfeed becoming cluttered with even the most mundane photos and stories about her friends’ children.”

“The blog, which now attracts more than 1.5 million readers a month, asks readers to submit the most egregious overshares they see on Facebook, which Koenig separates into categories, including “Woe is Mom” (Mothers who complain about being mothers), “Mommyjacking (Mothers who use friends’ unrelated status updates to share news about their children) and, in Koenig’s opinion, the most noxious of the group – Sanctimommies (sanctimonious mothers). One submission …

Continue reading Hey non-parents, you think we’re oversharing? »