You have a problem with "princess"?

To the mother that posted on scarymommy about how we shouldn't be calling our daughters princesses...

First of all, man are you angry! Who cares if people call their daughters "princess"? Your eye rolling at the mom who called her daughter "princess" at Target was uncalled for, and unnecessary. Stop judging other mothers. You have no idea what is going on in her life.

Do you really think calling a girl "princess" will make her grow up entitled and selfish? I am pretty sure that takes some serious indulging and lack of punishment. It sure as hell isn't because the word "is loaded with meaning."

Although I am not calling my daughter "princess" as a nickname, I do use it to my advantage. I ask her, when she tries knocking down her brother: "Is that how a princess acts toward others?" If she get's too rough with the dog, I remind her that princesses are kind to all animals.

She takes princess lessons seriously.

Our adult world is not magical, it can be ruthless and callous. The years our daughters want to be a princess are so short, and I (and without question, Grandma) will indulge Kenzie with a wardrobe full of lace and frills and satin. Complete with heeled shoes, tiaras, and big gaudy jewelry.

If you knew my daughter, you would know that she loves to wear these wonderful costumes while skate boarding, biking and snowboarding. She doesn't let the word "princess," or the fact that there are no snowboarding princesses, hold her back. She is making her own style of princess, and I think Disney would be proud.

Does that mean that she can't do her chores? Snow white, Cinderella, and Aurora (sleeping beauty) all were shown doing chores while growing up. This made them kind, gentle, and gave them really good practice at singing.

Cleaning her spot after dinner.

Does indulging the inner princess bring about little entitled diva's? It could, but only if you allow that kind of behavior.

She has to sit in a time out and watch the bubbles.

I grew up obsessed with Disney princesses. My neighbors and I would act out Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty with our Barbies. When I was 9, the holy grail of Disney movies came out: The Little Mermaid. (To a 9 year old, this was the be-all end-all of princess movies.)  I knew there was nothing in this world I wanted more than to be a mermaid. My neighbors and I would act out every scene, sing every word, we even tried to write the piano music to all the songs.

I would say that as an adult I don't have delusional thoughts about magical kingdoms, princes, and some fairy tale ending that leaves me feeling depressed. In fact, I would say I have a pretty healthy attitude about reality, hope, and fantasy. I can't even describe how I feel when I watch her, watch a classic Disney movie for the first time. To see her smile and squeal when a song comes on she already knows. To see her dance and sing along with me while we play a certain song over and over until we fall down laughing. To sing songs and act out parts of the movie she loves the best. Of course I am always the villain now, which suits me pretty well since becoming a parent.

Belle "shopping" with her Cinderellas.

If my daughter turns into a spoiled, self indulgent adult one day, I won't blame it on the word "princess". It will certainly be my fault, for not teaching her about kindness and helping others. So the next time you want to be pissed off, go watch a Disney movie and lighten the hell up.

Follow our Kenzie on instagram @instaprincessdiaries.



Seriously? How can you roll your eyes at that?

Paranoid? Or cautious?

Growing up in the era of America's Most Wanted, Unsolved Mysteries, Law and Order, and Crime Stoppers, I was taught to be on guard at any moment. Each face in the grocery store was possibly a criminal still on the loose. Was I paranoid? Or just being cautious?

This has followed me into my adult years.

One dark winter evening a few years ago, I pulled into a very busy grocery store parking lot. I had to park very far away from the doors, and earlier that day I had fallen down the stairs and twisted my ankle. I was limping pretty bad, but I needed a few ingredients for dinner that night.

I got out of the car, and as I was limping toward the doors, I noticed a man walking toward me. He started asking me if I could give him money for gas. I said "No!" a little too loud and shuffled as quickly as I could to the drive leading up to the store.

If only they just looked like a typical hoodlum.

I knew he was watching me hobble away.

Inside the store I figured I had better get a plan together. He knew where I parked. The lot was full, so it would have been easy to hide. He knew I was injured. If he wanted to attack or steal my purse, I would have been an easy target.

Along with my grocery items, I bought a set of knives that could easily be opened without scissors. As soon as I left the store I stood out front opening the set. I held the biggest one blatantly in my hand as I walked back to my car in the dark.

Sure, I looked crazy, but I will not go down because of stupidity.

When we moved to our small mountain community I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. People leave things open around here: Cars, garages, doors... My neighbor comes over and tells me if my dog gets out of my yard. My other neighbor told me she is a busy body that watches the neighborhood from her second story condo. He seemed annoyed, but I was grateful.

On Sunday, Dan granted me 3 exquisite hours of solo alone time. I needed to run some errands and do some shopping before our upcoming trip.

As I headed to Target, I noticed a big white truck riding pretty close behind. Close enough for me to worry when I hit my brakes extra hard approaching a yellow light. As I approached the next stop light, yellow again, I went through it and watched it change to red. The white truck, following ever closer, was still on my ass. There was no mistake that he ran the red light.

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, making me pay attention. I veered over to make a left into Target and he was right behind me.

I turned quickly, while he waited for cars to go by. Our target parking lot is split into 2 different areas. I pulled into a spot and waited to see what he would do. Sure enough, he pulled into a space close to mine, and I sped off to the other end of the empty lot. I sat there waiting to see what he would do. He got out of his truck and watched mine.

With my heart racing, I left target. I circled back around and parked in the other lot, far from view of the white truck. I spent a long time perusing the isles and an additional 15 minutes just reading greeting cards. All the while, watching the people around me. I didn't see him again.

I don't know what would have happened, had I not noticed him, maybe it would have been innocent. However, I will never ignore my internal warning system, because crazy is everywhere. Even a small mountain community. Maybe even more so...

http://www.summitdaily.com/news/12041459-113/vanmatre-victim-according-mountain

Do you have any stories about that "feeling" that something isn't right? Did you protect yourself, or ignore it?

Hello, I'm here.

It's been a long time since I have written. Writing feeds my soul, and it is starting to starve without it.

Since it has been months since I have actually attempted to write anything with feeling, I'm not quite sure where to begin.

First of all, being a work-from-home parent of a 1 year old and a 2 1/2 year old, is as you would expect. It's like being trapped on a sinking ship, trying to blow up a life preserver that has a hole in it. Sometimes it appears that the ships hole has been patched and we are sailing to the shore... and just as I can see land it starts to sink again. Trying to blow up that broken life preserver leaves me exhausted and out of breath.

Work has tripled in the past few months. I'm not complaining, it has just caused me a few premature wrinkles and about 2-3 hours less sleep at night. I'm managing. The good news is that I feel really great about my accounting business, but I could kick my own ass, for taking that extra job at Dan's office back in January. I took it because I wanted a day away from the house, but after a month they gave my dusty desk to someone that actually shows up every day, and I was banished back to my home.

No bother, I have plenty of extra time now that Ketcher is mobile. His favorite places to play are in the pots and pans cupboard, and in his sister's bedroom. It's so easy to work when both kids are banging their hearts out to something that sounds like John C Riley at the end of Stepbrothers. (starts at 3:14)



With Ketcher's mobility, comes Kenzie's hyper awareness that her brother is all up in her business. Every toy is a battle. Every snack is something to hoard. Every bath frays my nerves. She is ready to spring at any moment. Even the hugs look more like wrestling moves from WWF... er, WWE is it now?  Anyway, you get the idea.

I am going to order one of those referee whistles. I'll let you know how it works out.

I have been combing pinterest and facebook articles trying to come up with some sort of sanity savor. Naps are getting shorter, bedtimes are getting later, and I am trying to salvage a small piece of peace in my day. Then I found it...

The baby still has his two naps per day. Kenzie watches a movie during his first nap and during the second nap she proceeds to either kick the living hell out of the door of her room, or beat on her windows and walls until she feels she has achieved her goal - to make Ketcher wake up and cry.

Leave the door open you say? Oh... that's cute.

Anyway, this afternoon nap is a critical time in my day for conference calls, damage control, and other work related items that need my full attention.

I was lazily reading through my facebook parenting websites, at 5am one morning, and I found this gem...



http://www.cuttingtinybites.com/2015/05/guide-to-quiet-time-boxes.html

These boxes serve 2 purposes: 1. Aiding in Kenzie falling asleep at 7pm. 2. Keeping her arms and legs from making noise during nap time.

If Kenzie does take a nap, she usually stays up in her room until around 9pm. That's a lot of noise, and a long time for her to be messing around. So out with the nap, and in with "quiet time".

I made 15 boxes to rotate over the next few months. Each box has a book, at least one puzzle, blocks or another building set, and a variety of toys that never really get played with on a daily basis.

These only took a few hours to make - due to
the kids removing each toy as I placed it in the box.

I also went to the library and checked out 2 CDs worth of stories to play while she is in her room. Be warned: the fairy tales and fables are actually freaky and quite dark.  Nothing like a little Rumplestiltskin to scare kids into behaving.

Yesterday was the first day. I put her in her room, with the drapes open enough to shine some light in. I opened the box of toys and made a big deal of how awesome it all was. I pushed play and left. I went upstairs to watch it unfold on the monitor while I did some work.

Not one sound came from her room the whole time. She happily built a tower, played with the puzzles, looked through the books, and generally seems quite content.

She was a little over tired by the time 7pm came. I was trying to get her calmed down and in bed by reading and made this mistake:

Me: "It's time for bed. Do you want to read or are you going to screw around?"
Kenzie: "Oh, screw around."
- at least she's honest.

So, we counted the stars and I left the room, fully expecting her to jump up and start kicking the door. No kicks ever came. She fell asleep instantly and slept until a little after 7am.

The battle has been won...

Now it's the end of the day. I have mastered being an awesome parent today, which has left me nearly comatose on the floor. I can feel my phone vibrating. I have 67 emails that came in between 3pm and 7pm and all of them are urgent. I peel my face off the carpet, and brush the dog hair off  - I really need to vacuum -  I haul myself up to my room to work until midnight.

Tomorrow, it starts again...

Do you have any ideas for gaining a few moments of peace throughout the day? I need all the ideas I can get!

Thanks for reading!
-Amanda

20 Childhood Foods from the 80s/90s

If you grew up in the suburbs in the 80s/90s, Goldbergs is a must watch. 25 minutes of remembering what life was like before work, kids, and responsibilities. It was a time we didn't need to work out, we didn't care if our jeans were tight. We ate quickly and rushed out of the house to play "bloody murder" with all the kids in the neighborhood until the street lights came on.

It was a time when we didn't think about "organic" and "local" and checking ingredients on the back of a box. Our moms put on their sensible heels and shoulder pads and went out into the working world while we sat home and fed ourselves. We wouldn't have had it any other way.

Pizza Rolls



Little pockets of fiery heartburn.

Pizza in a tiny bite sized pocket, that is sure to burn your mouth completely. What's the sauce that's in these things? Is there really pepperoni? No one really knows because there doesn't appear to be any recognizable ingredients. The one thing we absolutely know for sure is that you will get raging heartburn 10 minutes after having one if you are older than 25.

 

Ramon Noodles

Maybe you were in high school scarfing these down while watching Animaniacs after school or in college coming home from the bar at 2am, watching a Jay and Silent Bob movie... everyone from the 80s has eaten these. A package of noodles that has zero nutritional value and leaves you starving an hour later, this pantry staple still entices me after all these years because you can't beat $0.30 for a 12 pack.

Bagel Bites

We couldn't get enough pizza in the 80s and with the 90s brought bagel bites! The supreme way to eat pizza while watching late night TV. If you were lucky enough to have the cheese and pepperoni stay on top of the bagel, then you only had to wait 45 minutes for them to cool off so you could take a bite without burning your mouth to the point of blistering. Good times...

Tiny Cereal Boxes

Did you know you could make your own bowl out of them?

When my mom came home from the grocery with these tiny boxes of sugary goodness, I couldn't wait to turn one into a bowl and eat and some breakfast. Except that box of Honey Smacks... nasty.

Hostess Desserts

Nothing says dessert like a twinkie, or a ho-ho, or a cupcake, or a fruit pie. Nothing was better than peeling the chocolate coating off the ho-ho, eating it, and then savoring the cake swirl inside. Mmm...

Tato Skins

Chips are delicious but nothing says healthy like Tato Skins. These hard, salty and disgusting little chips made every parent feel little better about feeding their kid chips.

Funyuns

I could eat a bag of these right now.

A bag of fried onions, sort of. If you were ever friends with me in my childhood, you know how much I loved Funyuns. Sure they tear up the roof of your mouth and you smell like a foot hours after eating them, but they were worth it. 

Bugles

These were much more fun to wear on our fingers than actually eat. The taste was more dusty than tasty... Gag me with a spoon.

Fake Fruit

There was Fruit Rollups, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Wrinkles, Fruit Gushers, and Shark Bites. They came in everything from Garfield, to Ghostbusters, to Ninja Turtles. No sense in buying real fruit when you could just hand out tiny packs of sugar instead.

Chef Boyardee

Scalding hot on the outside, icy on the inside.

I can't limit this to just one product. There was spaghettios, spaghettios with meatballs, ravioli. Then there were smurfs, dinosaurs, pac-man, teenage mutant ninja turtles and tic-tac-toe. Then to top it off they came out with the mini cups... What can't this chubby chef do?

Squeeze-It's

It's a good day when you pop open your He-Man or She-Ra
lunch box and see one of these.

Let's wash down all this sodium rich goodness with a lot of sugar in a really nasty tasting plastic bottle. It's the ultimate BPA packed drink. The taste = subpar, the thirst quench = zero, the fun bottle that made you feel cool = priceless!

Tab or Faygo

Cream soda is heaven in a bottle.

Sure Tab was a huge 80s drink, but in my part of the world there was only one brand of soda to drink and it was Faygo. Orange, grape, redpop, moon mist, cream soda, root beer, cola and so much more.

 

Hi-C juice boxes

Some of the rich kids had Capri-Sun, the rest of us had Hi-C and it was AWESOME. Especially the ecto-cooler flavor which tasted like... well I have no idea, but I'm sure it was tubular.

Kool-Aid

My life wouldn't have been complete without a full jug of Kool-aid in the fridge, and 100 packets of powder in the pantry. I don't know a house that didn't have Kool-aid in hand, all the time in the summer. There's nothing like a giant purple stain surrounding your whole mouth in every single picture from your childhood.

Happy Meals

Remember these transformers? Micky Ds food that
converts into play figures. Double win!

Nothing says a happy child like a happy meal. We didn't want them for the food, we wanted the toys! Of course 80s happy meals consisted of a box you could make into a tiny house or castle, cookies, chocolate milk or soda, gnarly chicken nuggets and a selection of sauces that were tossed for plain old ketchup. Man, to be a kid again...

Let's not forget about the other drive-thru knock off happy meals. My favorite was Arby's because I actually liked their food, but their toys were definitely subpar.

Gum

Why were these squares so giant?
No one needs to chew that much gum at once.

 

We had the BEST gum! Ouch gum that was in the shape of a bandaid, Bubbleyum, Bubble Jug, Doublemint, bubble tape, big chew, and bubblicious which blew the most gigantic bubbles that would get stuck all over your hair and face. Everyone loved gum, like, no duh!

 

Blow Pops!

 

There's gum and then there's gum with sharp bits of sucker all stuck into it. Finding a blow pop in your lunch box was the ultimate in parental lunch packing.

Sour Candy

You only ate these for shock value. Thinking about them made your mouth water, didn't it? I loved anything sour: Tear Jerkers, Cry Baby's, DinaSour Eggs, and the weakest of them all - Sour Patch Kids.

Nuts & Bolts



One final shout out to my favorite 80s food of all time, homemade Chex Mix. In my house it was called Nuts & Bolts and it wasn't made with peanuts or chocolate. It was rad goodness in a crunchy, salty bowl.  I learned how to make this for my kids because sometimes, nostalgia tastes better than healthy.

Share if you want to send some childhood nostalgia to someone in need. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I may have missed some of your favorite 80s/90s food, please remind me and my readers what it was by commenting on facebook or below!

Transformation Tuesday... er... Wednesday

It's almost the end of the 1st quarter of 2015. Have you stuck to your New Years resolution? Have you changed for the better since 2014?

Time to celebrate the good changes since 2014.

Good vibes!

The goal was set, it was achieved, now bring on the good vibes. Dan and I must both be radiating some good ones, because after 2+ years of trying to find some close friends, we have managed to find a small group of like minded young professionals to tear up the town with. Date nights are 10x more fun when you have people to laugh with. We even had a BBQ to celebrate the amazing weather on Saturday and people didn't leave our house until 1am. It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again!

I'm not going stir crazy anymore. Yes we just got another 6 inches of snow last night, but I am getting out of the house on a consistent basis. We go on date night once a week, no matter what. I go out for drinks with friends every other week. I am taking the kids to the pool, alone, which before was a suicide mission, but I am strong enough now to carry a 20 lb baby + 15 lb car seat, a 10 lb bag of supplies, and a 28 lb toddler out of the pool area when she starts having a tantrum. 6 months ago, I would have never even considered it.

Cheers to looking and feeling amazing!

I am 2 months into the Body Beast program and things are still changing for the better. I have transformed my body into the best shape it's ever been with the help of P90X to lose weight and Body Beast to gain lots of lean muscle mass. At this point it is really just fine tuning and getting stronger. I wish I could wow you like I did a few months ago, but now this is just how I look. Badass!

That before pic will always make me cringe.
 

Huge accomplishment is in the last picture which was taken this morning, I had just finished my workout. The accomplishment is that I have a terrible cold and a sore throat but I STILL worked out. Yesterday I felt even worse but still did Bulk Legs, which is pretty much the most grueling workout ever.

I feel like I am eating healthier. Not as much processed food like frozen meals, but I am eating a lot of bagels with vegan butter spread. I think gaining muscle makes you hungrier for carbs. Dan really wanted to eat healthy for his last month of Body Beast so we are eating dinners that consist primarily of meat and veggies, with maybe a slice or two of crusty bread or corn bread.

My after workout (or sometimes during workout) drink is about 16 oz of water with 2 scoops of recovery drink and a teaspoon of creatine. Then I slam a protein shake immediately after. I added creatine after reading an article about creatine and sleep deprivation. It was specifically talking about the benefits to women after having children. Dan was already taking it, so I added it to my drink. It hasn't made me gain huge mass, or an excessive amount of water weight, but I feel like my arms and legs are definitely more defined and I get a great pump during my workout.

In case you wanted to know the brands I use.

The Mandy Project continues...

The second round of botox not only took 10 years off my face, it brought be right back into puberty when I had pimples all over my forehead. I haven't had a pimple in years. Plus this time it hurt a lot more. It wasn't just me either... 2 other people said it was more painful. I was looking to find something to help the wrinkles that botox couldn't fix anyway, so the search started for a new facial routine.

You can only see 1 pimple in this pic, but there are
 3 more the camera didn't pick up.

Since I will be 35 this year and I didn't even wash my face before bed until now. I wanted the best of the best, so I decided on the Nerium line of night & day cream. The added bonus is that I also bought the Firm cream to use on my stomach to tighten the skin from my pregnancies and subsequent weight loss. So far so good! Before and afters coming soon...

These are not my before and afters but they were my inspiration for trying the product:

This is not me, but if it can do this for her,
then firming me up should be a snap.

I really need to find a self tanner that works. I am trying out different brands and will share my knowledge with anyone that wants to look brown without gaining wrinkles. So far I have tried 4 brands, 2 more and my write up will be complete.

I put self tanner on one side. Can you tell?
I need better lighting.

I have lots more transformation Tuesday posts to come, it just takes a while when before and after pics are involved. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please share! Thanks for reading!

This post contains affiliate links, because if you're going to buy a product, why not buy it from me?

Me and My Phone

I have an intimate relationship with my phone. Oh don't act like I'm weird... lots of people have relationships with things. I know people that feel this way about their cars, ipads, computers, TVs, and their Keurig machines. I am just in the open about my relationship.

My phone is my assistant. Siri dictates my emails, texts, and helps me navigate. She organizes my emails, notes and tasks. Without her I wouldn't be able to juggle multiple jobs, appointments, and clients.

2 weeks ago my iphone 5c broke and I was pissed! It wasn't that I dropped it in the toilet, or Kenzie dropped it on the cement, or the screen shattered... nope the screen just wouldn't turn on. I stormed into my sprint store and demanded why they ever let me purchase that phone to begin with. As I glanced around not one of the workers had an iphone so I decided: never again!

I tried a basic LG G3 android phone and at first I was excited. It was bigger than the iphone and all my google related apps were already there right on the first screen.

It took me 48 hours and I had my "must have" playlist downloaded, my work emails up and running, and at least 5 videos of the kids all nicely accessible. My contact list was missing and converting my iTunes into mp3s took some time but I managed it.

I was happily an android user until... I tried to download a siri type of app but it wasn't the same. This lady was pushy, she wasn't just willing to help me when I needed it. Nope. She was trying to get me to find gas stations, and stores, and use stupid emoticons. I deleted it immediately. Then I tried to reply to an email by typing. The autocorrect had a mind of it's own.

By the time I finished one message, I had 15 more waiting to be answered. I was hurrying to type and autocorrect was playing tricks on me. It was purposely trying to make me look like an idiot. I would type "they're" and it would correct to "their." I would type "then" and it would correct to "than."

It corrected "my" to "ty"
It corrected "Anway, we need..." to "And she weeds..."
It corrected "private space" to "pirate face"
It corrected "bring home lunch" to "boring nose punch"
It corrected "I f***ing hate this phone" to "I ducking ate this home"

I was trying so hard to type the right thing, but kept correcting to something totally different, even when I was spelling everything right. Oh hell no!

Plus there were all these notifications. Lights of every color were constantly blinking when the phone was off. It was letting me know there was an update, someone liked a facebook post I liked, I had 14 new emails, my texts were coming through as emails... it was all wrong! I was stressed out just trying to manage my notifications.

I had to fire my assistant. Today I took her in and faced the 3 scowling sprint reps (who seemed perfectly happy when I first walked in). I only had 14 days to try it, and today was day 14.  I switched her up for an iphone 6. Like most firings, I felt relieved when it was over.

I ran to my car after the switch and scrolled through my contacts, all accounted for! I looked through my iTunes, all there! I logged into my work emails and just like the wonderful assistant she is, she didn't hold it over my head that I had spent 14 days without her. Siri willingly turned all my words into perfect text and 2 minutes later my inbox was empty.

So here's to the one thing in my life that eases my stress and helps me manage my crazy schedule. I can't imagine a better assistant to share a St. Patty's Day drink with. Cheers!

I need a life.

The Favorite Child

"Ketcher is obviously your favorite." "Why don't you post any pics of Kenzie?"

I am going to address this since I have heard comments like these from no less than 10 different people.

I post pictures of Ketcher all over my instagram, facebook and occasionally twitter. In the last 6 months I have probably posted 2 pictures of Kenzie. Let me explain...

Why Ketcher's pictures are all over the place.

First of all, Ketcher is insanely cute. His gigantic eyes, chubby cheeks, spikey hair, and constant smile makes him look like a muppet. He is photogenic and easily holds still and smiles for any picture. I feel like it's my duty to plaster my walls with his face.

 

Learning to howl.

 

Second, that first year goes by SO FAST! Month to month he is changing more than he will the rest of his life, I need to capture it all. I learned with Kenzie that all too soon I will only remember that first year if I look at pictures.

Third, he is still mostly stationary.  He is just now on the cusp of being 100% mobile. I can set him on his butt and he won't move from that spot, but if I lay him on his tummy he is all over the house. I have to take pictures now because all too soon he will be running away from me or hiding when the camera comes out.

First week of army crawling.

Where did Kenzie go?

Kenzie is still here. She doesn't make the media because she can't stop moving. All the pictures I take of her are in a constant blur.

When I try to make her stay still, she hides her face or screams at me. Dan and I have tons of videos of her, but I don't generally post videos unless it's on youtube.

 She is also temperamental. One minute she could be singing and sweet, and literally the next breath she is screaming and crying. So I see her doing something hilarious, I run to grab my phone to take a video or picture, and by the time I get back (2 seconds later) she is in hysterics.

Our normal morning battle.

 

 

The battle continues.

 

Kenzie also wears the same outfit everyday. See that dress in the video below? 90% of the time she has this on. If it's in the wash she has a frozen dress she wears. It makes the pictures I do take look exactly alike. 

 

She still loves to pretend to talk on the phone.

Do I have a favorite?

Sure, I have a favorite child, however it isn't always the same one. It depends on the day and sometimes the hour. Rest, assured I love both my kids and they make me smile and laugh every day.

The very rare photo with both kids.
I didn't send Christmas cards this year but if I did,
this photo would have made the front.