One of my best friends is fighting breast cancer right now. Everything looks good and she's being very strong. But I was trying to find a gift for her that was special and I came across Affirmagy blankets. Affirmagy sells soft and comfy blankets imprinted with positive affirmations. These blankets, called Affirmawraps, wrap you up in the power of words like Love, Courage, Strength and more. I sent one of these blankets to my friend and she loved… Read More

I put my kids to work in the garden this summer and I got to embarrass my kids at the same time! Making the girls roll their eyes at my geekiness was just a bonus but it was a fun perk. I like to garden but I'm not very good at it. Daylillies are almost impossible to kill and so I have a ton in my garden. My favorite kind of daylilly is a wild lilly that grows only in… Read More

For reasons that are too boring to write about, we cannot do a lot of landscaping in our front yard. I have lived with the work the previous owners did for a few years and this summer I decided to make a few changes. We have a rock garden that sits by our front porch. This part of the front yard has been one of my "peeves" the last few years but we have not been able to do a… Read More

Last week I talked to Anastasia Goodstein, author of TOTALLY WIRED. The book gives real world advice about how to help your kids navigate online, cell phone and technology use. Anastasia talked to me for quite awhile last week and I broke up my conversation with her into two parts. The first part of my talk with Anastasia Goodstein can be found by going here. Here is the rest of my conversation with Anastasia Goodstein, author… Read More

As the mother of 9-year-old and 13-year-old girls, issues about technology, online and cell phone use are huge in my household. The subject of kids and technology is a moving target. All the technology and new media that engage our kids everyday, MY SPACE, IM, online communities and blogs can be intimidating for parents. My husband and I are total "geeks," and despite our knowledge of the technology, we know it's a whole different ball game when it comes… Read More

Free time is a precious thing for modern kids. The older children get, the more activities, homework and stress they have. It's so different than when I was growing up and that is why I make a big effort to keep our summer loose. My kids are not enrolled in 100 classes and activities during the summer. I make sure that they have time in the summer to do N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

I realize that non-productive time is not popular… Read More