After being asked to interpret “Somebody call 911, shawty fire-burning on the dance floor” by my 6 year old (it’s more complex than you might first think), I was delighted to see my 8 year old took it upon himself to interpret the radio edit of “I’m in Miami Trick”.

This is how it went in the backseat of the car tonight

Radio: “Drink all day. Play all night….”

8 year old: “That guy just said he’s going to drink water all day and play video games all night.”

Both boys listen quietly until radio says it again.

6 year old declares: “Yeah! I heard it too!”

Glad they got that one figured out.

Don’t look now, but school’s here! Are you ready for one of the biggest challenges for Moms of school-age kids – preparing school lunches day after day?

There’s hope and help for you yet. Here are 7 back-to-school lunch tips. Hey, I can’t come over and make your kids’ lunches for you, but these tips will surely make it much easier:

1. Make dinner do double-duty.

You’re already in the kitchen preparing your family’s dinner, why not use that time to get a head-start on the next day’s brown bag lunches?

Make a double batch of meals that taste just as good “the morning after,” you know, like fried chicken. Or cook dishes that can be transformed into something “new”, such as pasta sauce that’s just as yummy as pizza topping (on ready-made crust of course).

To make meal planning easier, take a look at <a href=”http://schmoozins.com/p/dine-without-whine.html”>Dine Without Whine.</a> It’s a monthly service for planning your family’s meals and grocery shopping.

2. Include lunches when meal planning.

To do tip #1, you need to be more organized. This means including  your kids’ lunches when planning your family dinners.

3. Let the kids participate.

Lighten your load and teach your children some important life skills at the same time. Even small children can help  prepare their lunches.

If morning is too stressful, then make this an after-dinner activity – which brings us to…

4. Make advance preparations.

Do whatever you can do ahead of time. For example, cook in batches on the weekend, or put leftovers in packable containers the night before.

5. DIY fast food.

Commercial packed lunches are attractive but unhealthy. But who says you can’t make your own? Buy your own colorful and attractive lunch boxes, such as a bento-style lunchbox.

Fill it up with a variety of healthy food. Think of mixing up foods with different textures and colors. And cut them up into small pieces so they’re easy and fast to eat.

6. Soup it Up.

Soup makes a quick and healthy lunch. You can cook a large pot in the weekend and pack it in a thermos for a warm and satisfying lunch. Serve with whole wheat bread and some fresh fruit and you’ve got a complete meal!

7. Sprinkle in some fun.

Sneak a little surprise into your child’s lunchbox once in a while. It could be a little chocolate treat, stickers, or a sweet note from you. Getting something unexpected makes lunch fun.

With planning and creativity, your children can have healthy, delicious lunches without too much work for you.

For meal planning help, go to <a href=”http://schmoozins.com/p/dine-without-whine.html”>Dine Without Whine.</a> It makes meal planning a breeze, while helping you save time and money.

Then you’ll have time and energy for those school lunches.

Are you still slaving away writing meal plans and endless grocery shopping?

Or are you just flying by the seat of your pants, spending too much money on unhealthy drive through meals?

Either way – it doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s a quick solution for you that you can use right away (it’s FREE by the way).

But if you’re not sure or if you think you’re doing just fine with meal planning on your own, then try this out anyway. It’s a no-cost, no-obligation sample of a menu plan and grocery shopping list good for one week.

Use these, and you just might be surprised that you’ve got an extra hour or two in your week – plus some leftover from your grocery money.

Here’s the link to this cool f r e e stuff again.

(Disclaimer: Yes, this post plays on stereotypes and I know not all men fit this profile. In fact, I know some obsessively compulsive neat freak mens and women who this post will describe quite well. In fact, our own Quadfather says he vacuums about 4 times per week, but my guess is he is not the norm. )

It’s a typical scene. Nagging wife gets annoyed at husband who:

• Leaves a GIANT mess after making dinner.
• Doesn’t put his tools away after doing repairs.
• Doesn’t put away packing materials after putting something new together (it’s not always a husband…sometimes it’s a son)
• Empties a closet after looking for something, but doesn’t put everything back when he finds it.

At our house, we have a basket where we keep some stuff we need for when we go out the door. Gloves and mittens in the winter. Dog leashes, etc. Recently, my husband was looking for something and he tossed everything out of the basket to find it. Of course, he didn’t put anything back.

I asked him why he always does that and he told me something like, “I don’t like to redo things that are already done.”

I didn’t quite get it at the time, but I observed his behaviour for a while and it finally came to me. He’s about getting what he wants and the extra stuff is well extra.

• If you want dinner, you cook it. Cleaning up has nothing to do with eating your dinner.
• If you want something out of a drawer, a closest or a basket, you get it. Putting stuff back has nothing to do with getting what you want.
• If you are fixing something, you get it fixed. Putting the tools away doesn’t make the item fixed work any better.

Of course, we women know that life isn’t just about living in the now. The mess and the dirty dishes, make it a little harder to put together a meal the next time. We want to be prepared for when it happens, a man will just deal with it (and only as much as he needs to) when he comes to it. And when we want to find something in that drawer the next time or need a tool, we want to know exactly where it is. For some reason, that male creature doesn’t care about it so much.

So now, after 13 years, I *get* it…but am still stuck on how to reprogram this behaviour. Ideas?

Just saw Taken the other day. It’s the story of Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) who has 96 hours to save his 17 year-old daughter (Maggie Grace) who has been stolen/kidnapped on a visit to Paris. As an ex-CIA agent, Bryan has a self-proclaimed  “particular set of skills” that make it possible to track these guys down, find his daughter and have his vengeance.

Well, Bryan definitely has a particular set of skills that takes the viewer through a pretty intense series of events to get his daughter back.

While the movie was intense and well worth watching, I have to say that Maggie Grace’s performance really disappoints. And even a day later, I’m still thinking about it…seriously.

This 25 year-old was cast to play a 17 year-old, which I have no issue with. They managed to make her look age-appropriate, but when she got the character description of her needing to be an “innocent 17 year-old”, I have no idea how she interpreted to mean a “12 year-old trapped in a 17 year-old (or 25 year-old) body”. The innocence was taken to extreme…the skipping while walking was incredibly distracting and it was just all wrong. Thankfully, while her character is key to the movie – the movie is focused on her father and his stopping at nothing to get his daughter back.

It’s definitely a worth-see, for the action, for analyzing the father’s actions…but not for the family background. That was YAWN.

Search for it on Amazon:

A couple days ago, I posted about my dilemma when it comes to meals in this house. I also mentioned that I have some potential solutions underway.

At first, I thought – if I need to eat differently, then perhaps I could make it simple and eat pre-packaged foods from any of the many weight loss options like Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem…whatever. But here are the problems with that:

1. I eat packaged food. Although it can taste good sometimes, it’s not truly healthy eating. Processed foods may help me lose and maintain my weight, but I need to be eating REAL food for true good health. Plus, I like to enjoy food WITH my family.
2. My family still eats high in saturated-fat and not necessarily healthy foods. My family members may not have weight issues, but my goal is the long-term health of all our precious assets.

So, I couldn’t do it. I needed to do something else.

Interestingly enough, I do have a decent amount of nutritional information and know how I can make a rich meal healthier…but I still need to get my husband on board. He still gets a little on edge when I don’t measure the milk and margarine for the kids’ macaroni and cheese, so I have to brings in something more “official” to make him happy. Enter…

Eating Well’s Comfort Foods Made Healthy, which takes many of the popular comfort food recipes and reworks them into healthier options. There is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book saying that everyone defines comfort foods differently and it’s definitely true that not all the recipes are for what we might think of traditional comfort foods in Canada or the U.S.  That’s not really a problem for me because I love all types of foods, but it certainly does matter to my better half (and my youngest son is following in his daddy’s picky footsteps).

Regardless, I’ve found quite a few recipes to try out for our family.

We loved the Chicken Noodle Soup with Dill on pg. 66…actually, I was out of dill, so used some basil and another herb (LOL…I forget which) – it was awesome. I also had to add several cups of chicken stock as it seems the soups in this book use less stock and I assume it’s due to salt content. But to make it more palatable to my family, I souped it up for them.

Also very tasty were the Blueberry Maple Muffins on pg. 35 – and they got a good grade from everyone in the family. My oldest would have eaten the whole loaf of Banana-Nut-Chocolate Chip Quick Bread on pg. 32 if he had the chance. I made it sans the nuts because…well…I don’t like nuts in my baking.

We also tried the Caesar Salad on page 75. We added skinless grilled chicken breast and made garlic bread from whole wheat french bread. My kids have always liked Caesar Salad in it’s usual high in saturated fat format, but usually only pick at it. I was amazed to watch them devour all their romaine lettuce.

The Golden Baked Pork Cutlets (pg. 102) were really good. My mother always breaded and fried pork chops and they’re sooooo good and this was a close second.

Overall, all has gone well thus far and we continue to work our way through the book. I had a little oops today when I made the Hearty Minestrone Soup on page 69.  My husband and the youngest were horrified when they saw the results and my oldest who is always willing to try, didn’t really care for it. I actually liked it and know what I’m having for lunch over the next couple of days. It’s a very hearty soup, heavy on the spinach and other greenery…plus, the potatoes weren’t the mushy texture my husband has grown to love.

The key now is to find a good number of recipes that we like, so can make them a part of our regular meal-planning and we can continue to well together as a family.

You can find out more about the book here.

There’s been a 15-year tug-of-war going on inside my house and I’ve been losing most of the time…but now I’m determined that we BOTH win.

I’m talking about the battle of spousal metabolisms.

My husband has always been slim, has always enjoyed rich foods and regularly indulges in junk food.

As I got into my mid twenties, I found myself struggling to keep a svelte figure without dramatically changing what gained entry into my tummy on a daily basis. Now after the birth of our third child, I’m finding myself really struggling to get myself to a comfortable weight. I exercise regularly…but I’ve always had a hearty appetite and combine that with my husband’s love of rich comfort foods, I feel I’ve been fighting a losing battle.

I can say no to the junk food snacks he regularly eats. That’s not really an issue. But when it comes to meal preparation, we’re kind of at odds. He does a good chunk of the cooking so it’s the usual suspects then, but when I cook, he claims that healthier, lower-fat options leave him feeling unwell and unsatisfied soon after. And I usually bend because, hey – I love the taste of the comfort foods too (think anything fried, topped with cheese, creamy or otherwise).

Problem is – my waistline isn’t such a big fan and dear sweet DH is blind to it all (i.e. He knows the weight gain is there, but doesn’t care…but I do).

But you know what? I’m not going to do this anymore…I’m taking my slightly faded curves back! I think it’s important for me, for his long-term health and my kids as well (who are currently slim little guys following in Daddy’s footsteps).

Anyone else at odds with spousal metabolisms? Do share…PLEASE! I’ve actually instituted a plan over the weekend, but whether it works or not remains to be seen. I’ll post some updates very soon.

It’s the dream of many working moms or moms who are faced with the need to go back to work and leave their little ones behind. If you’ve wondered what it takes to be a Full Time WAHM (work at home mom), this email includes a resource to help you in that very direction.

Let’s be clear, working from home takes careful planning, discipline and energy. When you work outside the home, it’s easy to separate work and family life. When you bring the two together, chaos can erupt and there can be a big learning curve to getting it right.

But you can beat that learning curve!

One way to do it is to learn from other moms who have been there, done that. Luckily Just Add Sweat’s “Full Time WAHM Success Blueprint” brings you the success stories of 22 full time work at home moms…and hey, I’m one of those moms.

You’ll learn exactly how they make money, the top 3 techniques they use to grow their business, their biggest mistakes (so you can avoid them!) and what finally brought them to a full time income.

Learn about these 22 amazing ladies and get your copy here.

Not only will they inspire you, but they’ll give you the practical advice you need to become a Full Time WAHM.

This animated Star Wars flick has caused quite a divide amongst Star Wars fans with reviews ranging from “It totally sucked” to “Best movie ever.”

The movie has the Jedi Knights working to restore order in the galaxy being assaulted by the, you guessed it, Clone Wars. Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) and Ashako Pedawan, a Padawan Learner, are the stars of the show and face of against Jabba the Hutt (Kevin Michael Richardson), Count Dooku and more (Christopher Lee).

That’s about all I can tell you about it because I barely paid attention. Not because it was boring (well, not totally), but because I’d just given birth a week earlier and was simply enjoying the air conditioning , occupied older children and sleeping baby. I zoned out.

But the boys and Daddy quite enjoyed it. My husband said it was enjoyable because it was the kind of movie Dads (or Moms if they’re Star Wars fans) can enjoy with their young kids (but warning, the movie is rated PG for violence). But he figured that older generation Star Wars fans without kids wouldn’t get the same enjoyment out of it and that may be the reason for the wide ranging opinions on the movie.

Read more about: Clone Wars

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or are a guy or never watched the hit TV series), you’ll know the movie adaptation of the hit series Sex and the City was long anticipated this summer.

Having never watched an episode myself (but I climbed out from under my rock to catch the movie), I decided to tag along as my Sex and the City fan friend went to check it out. The movie version finally has Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) finally marrying her long-time boyfriend Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Their practical, mutual decision to get married also starts out with a plan for a practical and simple wedding, but it soon turns into a wedding with a huge guest list, ultra-fancy wedding dress (the girl wore a bird…a freakin’ bird…on her head!) and more.

But it’s not all about Carrie. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is still living in L.A. and maintaining a monogamous lifestyle, but comes to realize she really belongs in New York. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and her husband (Harry Goldenblatt) are trying to conceive. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is dealing with her husband’s infidelity. Unfortunately, when trying to deal with the devastating news, Miranda regrettably says something to Mr. Big that plants some seeds of doubt for him.

Overall, the movie was enjoyable and the characters were thoroughly interesting (of course, you die-hard fans already know this). Although, I wouldn’t necessarily make the decisions the women made at certain points, the way they handled themselves was very real and made this one chick flick that I actually liked. That doesn’t happen too often.

Read More About: Sex and the City