Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Diet... Part Two

Well I managed to keep down one of McDonalds Carmel Frappe's last night, which is the most callories I think I've taken in all week... Granted it was only 550... But stll I think that's progress. I weighed myself today and I've dropped eight pounds in two weeks. I guess at this point I can say "yay" ...maybe... I came really close to eating breakfast this morning until the husband/soon-to-be-ex called and decided he wanted to buy himself a new car since I got the Accent last night. He thinks he has the right to sell the Altama now and take the $18,000 profit from that... Pay off the $5,750 he owes me per our agreement on the Altama... And then just take the remainining $12,250 and put it towards a new fully loaded Hyundai Sonata... Something doesn't seem right here... I feel like i'm getting the short end of the stick... Had we had split the Profits off the Altama we both would have walked away with $9,000... But he wanted to keep the Altama, and besides, in our agreement that Altama is supposd to be used a colateral that he pay off my Accent, because if he defaults, I take full ownership o the Altama since it's basicly paid off. But now that he's gone out and got the cheal Accent for me, he's dcided to go sell the Altama so he doesn't have to har the proffits... Besides, him getting a new car where he owed $12,000 on it, isn't much colateral for me... Because if he defaults on my little $11,500 car... What's the point of me taking ownership of a car that's got $12,000 still owed on it? The wole point was using the basicly paid off car as leverage... That makes since right? Cuz it makes since to me... But he's not getting it. His phraise of the day "You win again, see this is why I want a divorce, you're always trying to control me" ...Funny, I thought he needed a divorce cuz his gilfriend wasn't cool with him having a wife ::shrugs::

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

New Car

Ok so here's our dilemma... We have one car... We've got a 2 year old fully loaded Nissan Antama, the car is all but $4,000 paid off. So my soon-to-be-ex and I got to talking, we were originally discussing selling the Altama and splitting the profits and then goin our separate way and buying new cars... But that really seemedlike a waist... We've paid off $21,000 on that car... Only $4k to go... It's almost paid off... Plus, my husband LOVES that car... PLUS the only problem is that my credit is so shot from our marriage that I wouldn't qualify for a loan... So we worked out a deal where he would take ownership of the Altama and finish making the payments on that car, and in return take out a loan for my new car and make half the payments on that. So, we started looking into prices on Nissan Versa's, Hyundai Accents & Elantras, and Kia Forte and Soul's. After a week we finally found a 2010 Hyundai Accent up near DC and got the dealership down to $11,500 out the door (taxes, licence, tags, all) by far (well $2,000) the best deal. So we drove 3-1/2 hours up to DC got the car... Wound up taking more like 4-1/2 or even 5 because the freeway got shut down for an hour... Spent maybe 45 minutes at the dealership filling out the paperwork, they didn't give us the run around or anything... In an out... And I've finally got a car of my own! Yay! Step one to Independence.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Best Diet

If anything, this divorce will make me thin... I've hardly eaten in three days. I managed to eat a bowl of dry cereal Saturday, only half a plate of oven baked frys yesterday... And all I've managed to eat today was a "Crunch Wrap Supreme" from Taco Bell. Unfortunately I've picked up smoking... So I might wind up with lung cancer, but at least I'll be thin.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

The truth...

So last night I got to thinking... My husband's been talking to his buddy in NYC an aweful lot latley... And the fact that this kid had a Phoenix number was just not sitting right with me... So I recided to become my own private investigator. So I logged into my husband's Facebook account and went through all the girls on his friends list looking for a Phoenix number... And there I found it... Skanky Whitney. Funny thing was, this number my husband had been texthing and calling, night and day... He went as far as to program the number under his buddy "Patrick" so I wouldn't suspect anything... But what made me really suspicious were the texts that he forgot to delete that said "My address is XXX Granby St... Is tonight casual or what" ...Uhh ok, well Patrick lives in NY, so why would he be giving my husband a local adress... And I didn't undestand the casual comment like they were going out or something... Because that night by husband didn't say anything to me about goin out, he was tryin to rush me off to bed... Musta been plannin on headin over to her house as soon as I fell asleep.

So I went through his Facebook friend list, wasn'teven hard to find her number listed right there on her page. I confronted him about it... And as he says "it is what it is". This definatly hurts more then his previous excuse for a divorce that he "just didn't love [me] any more"... This goes beyond that... Now only does he not ove me anymore, he's compleatly move on... Only a week and a half after telling me he wants a divorce... And I am still compleatly in love with him... It just kills me.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

A little advice...

A little advice for any girls thinking of cheating with a married man...

1, the wife usually has access to the phone bill, IE call logs so it might be a good idea to not excessively text and call their JOINT ACCOUNT...

2, when you're cheating with a married man you might want to be DISCREET and not add him as a Facebook friend...

and 3, above all, you shouldn't list your stupid phone number on facebook... When the wife sees 200 texts from some random number, she might get suspicious and look at her husband's friends list and when your number listed on your account, that could be a dead give away.

And the truth will set you free...

Well well well... The truth was bound to come out sooner or later...

The Emotional Stages Of Divorce

By Pauline H. Tesler, M.A., J.D., & Peggy Thompson, Ph.D. - Authors of Collaborative Divorce

Divorce is an emotional task unlike any other in modern society, and different people experience it in different ways. While some individuals go through nearly all of the extreme emotional states that we describe here, others have an easier time getting through this period and will maneuver these choppy waters with more skill. The important thing to remember is that all the emotions we discuss are normal, but while some are readily acknowledged by the people experiencing them, others are so uncomfortable that it's difficult even to admit they exist. The wide array of emotional states that many people experience during the early stages of the divorce process can diminish their capacity to think clearly, impair their judgment, and make rational decision making difficult or impossible.

Grief and Sorrow

Being sad when a marriage ends is natural. Although it's painful, grief is a healthy emotional response to the loss of an important relationship. We are hardwired to feel it, and it wouldn't be reasonable to expect otherwise. While sorrow and grief can be very hard to handle, most people do understand and accept the inevitability of these feelings.

We know from research, theoretical writings, and personal experience with thousands of people going through divorces that though the emotional impact of a divorce is as severe as that of a death in the immediate family, the grief and recovery process does have a beginning, middle, and end. Though they may seem endless, the pain and confusion surrounding separation and divorce do gradually lighten and finally go away -- for most people over a period of eighteen months to three or four years following the marital separation, though recovery can be quicker or slower.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a pioneer in the hospice movement, first described the stages of grieving about and recovering from a major trauma such as death or divorce:

•Denial: "This is not happening to me. It's all a misunderstanding. It's just a midlife crisis. We can work it out."
•Anger and resentment: "How can he [she] do this to me? What did I ever do to deserve this? This is not fair!"
•Bargaining: "If you'll stay, I'll change" or "If I agree to do it [money, childrearing, sex, whatever] your way, can we get back together?"
•Depression: "This is really happening, I can't do anything about it, and I don't think I can bear it."
•Acceptance: "Okay, this is how it is, and I'd rather accept it and move on than wallow in the past."
Understanding these stages can be very helpful when it comes to talking about divorce and decision making. It's important to know that when you are in the early stages of this grief and recovery process, it can be challenging to think clearly or to make decisions at all, much less to make them well. Identifying your present stage of grief and being aware of it is an important step toward ensuring that you will make the best choices you can.

Guilt and Shame

Experiencing guilt and shame is also a normal reaction to the end of a marriage. These feelings arise when we feel a sense of failure -- of not having fulfilled our own or our community's expectations. In the case of divorce, people often feel guilt and/or shame because they have failed to stay married for life. That's partly a matter of personal expectations -- not fulfilling the promises made to a spouse -- and also partly a matter of not fulfilling what our culture seems to expect from us. If our culture's expectations about marriage and divorce are reasonable -- if they fit well with how people actually behave in that culture -- and we don't measure up, the guilt and shame felt at the time of divorce may be appropriate. If the culture's expectations don't match well with the reality of marriage and divorce as people actually live it, the guilt and shame can be much more problematic -- difficult to see clearly, difficult to acknowledge, difficult to manage in a divorce. In addition, there are some marriages in which one or both partners have engaged in extremes of betrayal, deceit, or even criminal behavior that almost always involve feelings of guilt and shame.

Regardless of whether the feelings arise from not having met one's own or the culture's ideals or from actual wrongdoing, we know that for many individuals, guilt and shame can be so painful that they change very quickly into other, more tolerable feelings, such as anger or depression -- often without the person's even knowing that the guilt and shame are there. This is why it is so common in divorce for each partner to blame the other and why it can be so difficult for divorcing partners to accept responsibility for their own part in a failed marriage.

We've encountered few divorcing people who find it easy to see or accept their own feelings of guilt and shame. These powerfully negative feelings often remain under the radar, hidden and invisible, where they do the most harm. Strong feelings of guilt or shame can make it difficult or impossible to take in more balanced information, to maintain your perspective, and to consider realistically your best alternatives for how to resolve problems.

Guilt can cause spouses to feel they have no right to ask for what they need in a divorce, causing them to negotiate unbalanced, unrealistic settlements they later regret. Family lawyers have a saying that "guilt has a short half-life," and because guilt is such an uncomfortable feeling, it can easily transform into anger. We often see people who have negotiated guilt-driven agreements having second thoughts and going back to court to try to set aside imprudent settlements.

Similarly, shame often transforms into blame, anger, or rage directed at the spouse. Bitter fights over children or property can be propelled by feelings like these, because modern divorces seldom brand either partner as Snow White or Hitler, Prince Charming or the Wicked Witch, and therefore the anger, which needs to go somewhere, goes into fights over matters that courts are permitted to make orders about.

Fear and Anxiety

Fear and anxiety are common because of our hardwired "fight-or-flight" instinct. Our bodies react to stresses (such as an angry phone call from a spouse) by using physical alarm mechanisms that haven't changed since our ancestors had to react instantly to avoid being eaten by saber-toothed tigers. You react to stress physiologically in the following ways:

Your heart speeds up, and adrenaline pours into your bloodstream Your adrenaline makes your heart contract more forcefully and may cause you to feel a pounding sensation in your head You may feel hot flashes of energy Your attention homes in on the event that triggered the strong feelings, limiting your ability to take in new information When people are under chronic and severe stress, they may have anxiety attacks, in which they tremble and their heart pounds. Or they may be paralyzed by almost overwhelming feelings of fear that seem to come out of nowhere. We work with many people who experience these feelings as their marriages end. People who feel overwhelmed or confused in this way tend to fall back upon old habits of thought and action rather than looking intelligently at the facts of their situation and weighing the best choices for the future.

Old Arguments Die Hard

As marriages become troubled, couples often rely on old habits of dealing with differences that lead to fights rather than solutions. If those old habits didn't lead to constructive solutions during the marriage, they will surely yield no better results during the divorce. In addition, people feeling anxious and fearful may resist pressure to move forward and resolve divorce-related issues because of feeling unready, while their spouses may be impatient, seeing no reason why the divorce wasn't over months ago. Bitter fights in the divorce courts often stem from differences such as these.

Unfortunately, both our court system and our culture at large encourage us to take action in divorces based on how we feel when we are at the bottom of the emotional roller coaster, when we are most gripped by anxiety, fear, grief, guilt, and shame. After all, that's when most people are moved to make the first call to a divorce lawyer. As a result, people are encouraged to make shortsighted choices based on emotional reactions that do not take into account anyone's long-term best interests. The resulting "bad divorces" harm everyone and serve no one well. They are very costly; they fail to plan intelligently for the future; and they inflict psychological scars on both the adults and the children.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Loosing my mind...

I feel like I am slowley loosing my mind! Seriously! It sucks sitting in the house all day with no one but a 4 year old to talk to. My husband's realizatin that he needs a "different life" seriously couldn't have come at a worse time. Lil'bit's classes just ended last Wednesday... So we're on "summer break" for another week or so... On top of that we've been having a horrible heat wave out here. It's been averaging 98 degreese with around 75% humidity... Soooo no park days this week. All we've gotten to do all day has just been sitting in the house. We've gone through all the craft supplies and baked goods, we can't even go in the backyard to play in the sprinklers till atleast 6pm because of the heat... I'm just at a loss of what to do. I'd love to be able to go, well anywhere really... Unfortunatly we only have one car... So since my "husband's" life clearly takes prioridy over mine, he gets the car.


The time had just been passing soooo slowley. Usually I have... Well had, 5pm to look forward to, I would have a reason to clean the house and fix dinner... I would have a mental list of topics to talk about... Things I either read on the internet or saw on the news... Now I feel sorry for my poor mom and grandma... I call my mom every day before work and after she gets off just to be able to talk to an adult... And geez, I called my grandma yesterday morning and just ranbled on and on and she seriously couldn't get me off the phone fast enough, same with my dad... It's sad, my family's getting tired of talking to me :-(

Name Change

My husband's been trying to be funny during this whole "process". The other day he came by the house to drop off laundry and what not... Yes, he wants a divorce and to go live with his friends... But he still brings his laundry here for ME to do... But anywayz, he made some comment like "Well look on the bright side, at least now you don't have to change your last name" (I kept my maiden name after we got married)...

Well that got me to thinking... My blog...
"Marine Wife, Toddler Mom, Random Blogger"

Well obviously once the divorce is finalized I'll no longer be a "Marine Wife" ...And with my daughter being 4 now, that hardly constitutes a "toddler" ...Maybe I'll change my blog name... No idea what I could change it to...

Thursday, June 24, 2010

When your husband says he doesn’t love you anymore or want to be married anymore...

I found this online somewhere... Wish I had the link to the sight... Anyway, I think I'm between 4 and 5... I'm still bargaining with God... Well I call it praying. Although I'm not getting anything back... I don't know, hopefully step 5 comes soon.

1. Of course you are going to fall apart, and mourn the loss of the future you thought you’d have.

2. You will feel like death itself and even welcome your own.

3. Then, when your mind somewhat clears, you’ll wonder what really occurred. You will question what you might have done to cause the marriage breakdown and wonder what you might have done to save it.

4. Then you will bargain with God, your husband, even your children, or with anyone who will listen as you urgently try to get things back to normal, and get yourself back into his heart, head, and bed.

5. And, when things somewhat settle, and you’ve gotten some rest, and you emerge from the initial impact of what has occurred, you will see that this is not about you, or what you did or did not do. You will see there that there is no real power in bargaining with him, or real value in your becoming whatever you think he’d prefer you to be.

6. You will see that, quite apart from whatever he decides to do, there is great power and value in picking up your life, one emotion at a time, and doing what is best for yourself and your children.

Condoms for 5 year olds

This is soooo wrong...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

He loves me, He loves me not...

A couple weeks ago, my husband of six years, whom I've known for eight years, whom I've gone through two deployments and with whom I have a wonderful and adorable 4 year old with, told me that while he "loves" me, he's just not "in love" with me. This really came out of no where... We hadn't been fighting, not arguing in the slightest. Everything had been great. So for him to randomly inform me he no longer loved me, I didn't freak, I just suggested we seek out counseling. But he went on the explain that he no longer has ANY feelings for me, in fact, he never loved me, he doesn't want to get help or "work" on the marriage, he just wants a divorce and to move on.

I feel like a discarded pet that a kid has got bored with. You'd think for me to be essentially dumped this way that we were dating... Who dumps their wife of 6 years like this?

I'm now at a total loss of what to do. I've become so enveloped in my husband's life, I can't even think a complete thought without my husband involved. How do people do it? Honestly... can a marriage be so bad that you're willing to break the closest relationship you've ever had with someone, the most meaningful, just to say "I stopped loving her" or "it got too bad." I know how naive and ignorant this sounds. Trust me I do.

I think one of the problems is that, music and movies portray love as this fiery, passionate, sexual emotion and feeling that makes you lose control. But guess what? Love is a verb, not a noun, and it requires action and choices that will keep you and your spouse together. Sure, y’all may get on each other’s nerves from time to time. You may not agree all the time, and you may have some fundamental differences. But it’s nothing that cannot be overcome with some solid communication and the choice to love one another NO MATTER WHAT!

Marriage is forever, or at least it should be... Or at least that's what I believe. It's not a fad as popular belief would have it be. It's not a contract, as many military marriages are. And it just kills me, because I do NOT believe in divorce... And here I am going through it.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

R.I.P.

She's pretty iconic and until today, we didn't even know her name.

The nurse famously photographed in the VJ Day picture being kissed in New York's Times Square when World War II ended, died this week at the age of 91.

Edith Shain passed at her home in El Lay on Sunday and leaves behind three sons, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Sad, but at least she could say she live a full and happy life. Plus, there is a little piece of her that will forever live on in history, which should be really cool for all those grand kids of hers.

Our condolences to her family.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Obsessions (part 2)

Following last week's post about my "vampire obsession"... My husband and I were driving around today and I had my iPod hooked up to the stereo and a Pixi Lott song came one and he says "Is this chick British" when I say yes he goes "Gawd, you are just obsessed with that country!" So his backing...

  • I have 3 Pixi Lott songs (out of 2000) on my iPod
  • I drink tea in the morning instead of coffee.
  • I watch Doctor Who.
  • I used to have a British friend.
  • I make Yorkshire Pudding instead of dinner rolls.

That's it... Based on the above I just must be obsessed with Brittan. HaHa!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

I came across this interesting article that claims you can "go diaper free" and "potty train your baby's from birth". As crazy as it sounds, my daughter's (old) Lebanese pediatrician tried to talk us into this... Well not from birth, but when we went in for her 3 month check up he really started pushing me to potty train her... I mean it makes since... In 3rd world countries they can't afford diapers... Even cloth ones... So I guess it is possible. I mean it didn't work for us... I tried for about 4 months and just gave up, my daughter was just flat out not ready to potty train... None the less I found this article interesting.

When you're a new parent, the modern diaper--whether a Huggies Little Snuggler or an organic cotton cloth laundered by a local delivery service--seems like the world's greatest invention. You happily wrap your baby's dimpled bottom in one to contain the continuous stream of messes. You put him down in his crib or strap him into his car seat, and while he sleeps soundly the miraculous diaper keeps everything tidy for hours.

But what if someone told you that you didn't need diapers--at all?
Willow Lune (right) talks to San Francisco moms Wendy Cown (left) and Thais Derich about going diaper free.

Berkeley mom Willow Lune tells parents just this in the Intro to Diaper Free Babies classes she teaches around the Bay Area. She explains that babies are born with awareness and control of their bodily functions and the ability to communicate when they want to eliminate. She talks about babies offering up cues (grunts, wiggles, cries) to signal their parents to hold their bare bottoms over a toilet, a sink, a grassy field. And she shares how cultures all over the world never use diapers. In fact, Lune originally got the idea to skip the diaper stage with her own daughter after visiting Tibet, where young children sported crotchless pants and simply squatted and peed outside.

Lune is part of a growing number of parents who potty train their babies from birth and see it as a way to save thousands of dollars, reduce landfill waste (single-use disposable diapers are responsible for one third of the nonbiodegradable waste), avoid diaper rash, and to strengthen the bond with their children. While many parents find it convenient to keep their kids in diapers until age 2, 3, even 4 or 5, mothers like Lune find it easier to never deal with the hassle of changing a diaper--and then finding a place to dump it.

"If you go diaper free you'll be cleaning up a mess sometimes," says Lune, who is also a certified practitioner of Medical Qigong (Chinese energy healing). "If you're using diapers, you'll be cleaning up messes all the time."

Thousands of parents across the United States have joined Internet groups in search of tips on going diaper-free, often referred to as "elimination communication" or "natural infant hygiene." Through a nonprofit group, Diaper Free Baby, 50 local groups have formed in 35 states to encourage the practice. The San Francisco/East Bay chapter has 263 members and the San Francisco/Peninsula group 290 members. There are even a few books to guide parents through the process, from Ingrid Bauer's Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene to Christine Gross-loh's The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative.

Potty training a child before he can even crawl might seem extreme, especially in America where 95 to 99 percent of parents use disposable diapers, according to Procter & Gamble, maker of Pampers and Luvs. Most of our mothers followed the recommendations of Dr. Benjamin Spock, who discouraged potty-training in the first year. Or maybe your parents took the advice of pediatrician and author T. Berry Brazelton who surfaced in the 1960s and believed in allowing children to proceed at their own pace. But now some parents are questioning this approach.

Willow Lune uses a baby doll to show parents how to hold their infants over a Tupperware container, which makes a great potty.
On a recent Sunday afternoon in San Francisco's Mission District, a group of parents and their babies gather in new mom Wendy Cown's apartment where Lune is teaching a diaper-free class. The moms and dads settling down into Cown's living room are weary eyed, but their eyes brighten as they begin to talk about the regularity of their children's poops and pees.

One mom shares that her baby only goes poop once a week while another says her son releases a constant drizzle. This information is important because these parents all hope to stop using diapers.

Lune is there to tell parents exactly how to make that happen and she begins to go over the process for infant potty training. Parents need to observe their babies closely, looking and listening for cues that might be a sign the child needs to go potty, she explains. Many infants have a pee or poo cry; some babies start grimacing, wiggling, kicking, or fussing, or stop nursing. Once you notice the cue, you take the child to a potty, a sink, a tree, wherever is convenient, and then you give him a signal, such as making a "sss" sound, to alert him that it's OK to eliminate. Eventually, the child will learn to make the same "sss" sound to tell you when he needs to go.

While Lune thinks it's easiest to start before a child is 6 months old, she says you can start at any time.

The babies in the group are various ages, a few weeks old to 18 months, but Lune encourages their parents to go for it.

"Anyone can do it," Lune says. "You just have to tune closely into your child. It's about knowing your baby."

The parents have lots of questions. "What do you do at night?" Lune encourages co-sleeping. "What should my child wear?" Lune says its OK to use a diaper but she encourages parents to go without and put their kids in crotchless pants. And then the group jumps into a discussion about all the products that are available for parents going diaper free.

"There's a Web site where you can buy special potties and crotchless pants and onesies that read 'I'm diaper free,'" Lune says. "But I think that's missing the point. By going diaper free we're trying to eliminate the amount of stuff in the world."

The parents talk about making their children crotchless pants by hand. Apparently, you can find directions and patterns online.

Lune leaves everyone with a final thought. "This should be fun," she advises. "This is about connecting with your baby and tuning into your child's cues. It's not about perfection. You don't need to make it to the potty every time. There will be accidents. This shouldn't stress you out."

Cown and the parents gathered in her living room seem ready to ditch the diapers. "I guess we'll just try it and see what happens," Cown says. Going diaper free: Is it as easy as it seems? "I think it's the hardest thing I've done as a new mom," says Nicole Gitcho of her efforts to help her son, Paise, go diaper free.

When Paise was two months, the Redwood city mom tried early potty training but she found it inconvenient and stressful. "I was overwhelmed by being a mom," says Gitcho. "There were so many new things like breast-feeding and napping and I couldn't fit in the potty training too." Gitcho's efforts were particularly stalled when she stayed with her parents for a month over the holidays. Relatives were holding and watching Paise and they weren't accustomed to his cues. And then he got diarrhea.

Gitcho eventually settled into motherhood and when her son was nine months and walking she tried again. This time everything went smoothly. She clued into his cues--her son grabs his crotch, pinches his hips, and stops playing--and encouraged him to walk to the potty. She started singing the same song whenever he showed signs of needing to go (this was her signal). At night, Gitcho kept him in bed and carried him to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Now, at 13 months Paise is diaper free.

"He feels a sense of accomplishment when he uses the potty," Gitcho says. "He claps his hands when he finishes. He enjoys flushing the toilet and washing his hands. He is able to use the toilet and to communicate when he needs to go. He is more comfortable now that he is using the toilet and not diapers. His pants are not wet or messy. There really is no need for kids to wear diapers."

Willow Lune's upcoming Intro to Diaper Free Babies classes

Classes held at BirthWays in North Berkeley; $35; register at diaperfree.eventbrite.com. You can also hire Lune to teach a class in your home).
•August 17, Monday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
•October 1, Thursday, 10 a.m.-noon
•January 26, 2010, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
•March 11, 2010, Thursday, 10 a.m.-noon
•May 13, 2010, Thursday, 10 a.m.-noon

Thursday, June 10, 2010

MY top 20 iPhone/iTouch app pics for Mom!

1. Cozi See previous post. This app allows you to orgnize to-do lists, calendars and grocery lists not only on your iPod/iTouch, but my favorite aspect of this app, is that you can access all your information online as well.

2. Intuition: Mom's Personal Assistant Simplify your life by quickly capturing your to-do’s, groceries, tasks and wish lists and organizing them the way you live – by location, category or due date. Share your to-do lists, groceries and tips with your friends and family via Twitter, Facebook or email. Save money by finding the best deals and offers near you. Receive money-saving coupons and offers that are relevant to your from the brands you know and trust.

3. Baby Log. Keep track of feedings, naps, baths, and diaper changes. Or create custom categories. Then export the data and get an overall view of the week’s stats.

4. Baby Daily Log Pro lets you keep a log of your baby’s growth and temperature, store photos, record and play back your baby’s first words, and more.

5. WebMD’s iPhone app enables parents to look up symptoms and try to figure out what’s ailing their children. Of course, it shouldn’t take the place of professional medical advice, but for those cases when your child has a minor rash, fever, cough, etc., this is a great resource to try and narrow down what is going on, and prepare for a doctor visit if necessary.

6. Sit Or Squat. When a parent hears "I really gotta go!" finding the nearest bathroom has to happen fast. Using your current location it gives you the nearest options, stats on cleanliness, changing tables and handicap-accessible facilities -- mark your favorite toilets for quick returns.

7.
MyKidInfo – is an iPhone app that’s name says exactly what it is… your kid’s information. A great way to keep all the pertinent information you need when you take your children to the doctor or dentist. Or even when you are signing them up for school or sports, etc., you’ll have their social security number, allergies and blood type information right in one convenient place. MyKidInfo also aims to be an aide in a crisis situation where you may have to quickly recall this information for law enforcement. Sells for $0.99.

8. Food Additives App: Concerned about food additives in your child's diet? This application lets you look up 450+ additives quickly and easily; sorted by name, risk type and symptom type. Great for parents of children with allergies, asthma or gluten intolerance.

9. AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner (Free) — If you’re a frequenter of recipe sites like AllRecipes.com and CasualCooks.com (and we know you are!) then you’ll be a fan of AllRecipes.com’s Dinner Spinner. This app helps you find food recipes, cooking tips, and more right from your phone. Instead of hauling your laptop into the kitchen to follow a recipe you found online, you can just read it straight off your iPhone! Browse recipes by Ingredient, Dish Type (appetizers, desserts, etc.), or by “Ready In” Time. If you’re feeling adventurous you can give the phone a shake to come up with something random. If you find something you really like, you can email the link to friends and family. You can also save favorites to access them later. If you like to experiment with new foods, or want to see recipes on your phone while you’re shopping, or just like the convenience of reading the recipe on your phone, then give AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner a try!

10. Kindle. One of the most exciting apps for the iPhone, Kindle lets you easily bring along most any book or magazine for you and your kids to enjoy on the go. Create your own family book club or read while stuck in a doctor's office, a book of your choice or read to your child.

11. Kidtivities. Scroll through 40 great activity ideas you can enjoy with kids two to six years old almost anywhere. Search by indoor or outdoor activity or shake to see what random project comes up.

12. BabySitter Nothing is more painful than having to figure out exactly how much you owe the babysitter—overpaying, underpaying…oh the drama! With the BabySitter, you click start as soon as you leave and stop when you arrive home and it will tell you how much you owe.

13.
Events Finder This app locates all events in your designated area. By identifying everything from concerts to festivals to sporting events, Events Finder is a good resource for parents who are looking for something fun to do with the kids on the weekend.

14. Lose It!
Contrary to popular belief, breastfeeding for three weeks after you give birth doesn't always get your body back to its pre-baby shape. You may actually have to eat less and exercise. Download Lose It! to set a weight loss goal and establish a daily calorie budget. Then keep track of your daily calorie intake and record how much you burn through exercise. For help with your workout routine, try IFitness, a comprehensive database that provides images and step-by-step instructions for over 160 exercises. Follow one of the applications' nine routines for weight loss or strength training and you might just fit into your skinny jeans by summer. (LoseIt! FREE/IFitness $1.99)

15. The Weather Channel (Free) — Keep track of the weather on the go. See local radar, forecasts, video, and more right from your phone! I use this more often than I actually watch the Weather Channel on TV, because the iPhone app doesn’t make you sit through an hour of “Storm Stories” before showing you the forecast. This is great for moms on the go who need to find out quickly what the weather is going to be like: “Should we go to t-ball practice today? Nope, we have a thunderstorm warning.” Selected locations even have access to traffic cams! The Weather Channel app is a must-have for weather aficionados or for moms who just want to find out quickly if they should pack an umbrella or not.

16. iStoryTime It’s a library of narrated and illustrated kids books for the iPhone. Great for driving in the car, on the airplane, or at a restaurant waiting for the bill when the kids are going crazy.

17. White Noise ($1.99 or Free) — We know you’re super busy, so most of the apps on this list provide something to help you keep organized or save time and/or money. This app is not for busy time — it’s for relaxing time. In all the hectic noise of life, you need some alone time! White noise provides soothing sounds for relaxation. The selection includes “Thunder”, “Beach”, “Rain Storm”, “Tibetan Singing Bowl”, and tons more. Even if you don’t have time to sit alone in your room and relax, you can spend 5 minutes in line somewhere just letting the soft sounds relax you. Turn a frustrating wait into a blessing of quiet time! If you’d like a little relaxing ambiance in your busy life, check out White Noise or White Noise Lite (less selection).


18. myHomework If you haven't already learned the hard way, kids these days are loaded up with major homework and keeping track of it sometimes falls to the parent. This simple app lets you enter a Title, Class, Type of assignment, Notes, and the all-important Due Date.

19. Bank of Mom Bank of Mom lets you shift your kids’ allowance from a cash operation to a line of credit, teaching simple financial concepts along the way. Create an account for each child, and make cash deposits for chores or allowance. You can also bank activities like sleepovers, or time for TV or video games. If you reward your kid with TV time for unloading the dishwasher, for example, you can shelve those dishes in her account and let her “withdraw” when she wants to bliss out on Nickelodeon.

20. Facebook
Do I really need to list why this app is great?

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Free Book For Twilight Fans

Calling all Twilight fans! You can read the latest book in the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. The book called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. According to the website the book "tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion." Click here to read the book. It is available to read online through 7/6/10.

If you perfer holding a book instead (like I do), Amazon has the book on sale for $7.54 with FREE Super Saver Shipping.
Click here to buy "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella" from Amazon. Added bonus -- $1 of each sale will be donated to the American Red Cross.

Happy Reading!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Obsessions

My husband thinks I'm obsessed with vampires... His reasons?
  • I read the Twilight books last year.
  • I watched the first two Twilight movies when they came out on video.
  • I DVR the Vampire Dairies.
I don't think he fully understands what the word "obsessed" means... Or how far people who are REALLY obsessed with vampires take it.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Nutella


I was watching TV this morning when a Nutella comercial came on and was reminded of a conversation I had with another mom at our ballet studio... First of all Nutella's been around for years and years, but it wasn't untill recently (the past month or so) that they really started pushing their comercials here in the US.

Don't know what Nutella is? Well it's this chocolaty, hazel-nutty spread, that has a cult-like following. People love Nutella for its balance of savory and sweet, and its versatility: You can put it inside crepes, atop waffles, eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon or bake with it. Delicious? Yes! Nutritious? Probably not.

As the comercial states: “As a mom, I’m a great believer in Nutella, a delicious hazelnut spread that I can use to get my kids to eat healthy foods. I spread a little on all kinds of healthy things, like multi-grain toast. Every jar has wholesome, quality ingredients, like hazelnuts, skim milk, and a hint of delicious cocoa. And Nutella has no artificial colors or preservatives. It’s quick. It’s easy. And at breakfast, I can’t use all the help I can get.”

Her narration made me laugh. They’re trying awfully hard to make it sound good for you. The interesting thing about the comercial is that it seems to suggest that it is some sort of health food. Although I've loved Nutella for years, I hardly ever eat it because it's so UNHEALTHY! HaHa. No seriously, I downed a whole jar during the last month of my husband's 2nd deployment and gained 10 lbs! Seriously.

I think it is highly irresponsible of Nutella to imply that their spread is healthier than it actually is, especially as the ad clearly encourages parents to give it to their children for breakfast. And I find it misleading to tell people about the hazelnuts, skimmed milk and cocoa, but not mention that it's over half sugar!


The message seems to be that you can get your kids to eat wholegrain bread and other healthy foods by slathering them with Nutella, which contains lots of fat and sugar. The commercial also implies that Nutella is mainly hazelnuts and milk. However, hazelnuts only make up 13% of Nutella, and skimmed milk makes up less than 7%. So while there are a few hazelnuts and at least some skimmed milk products in Nutella, they are drastically outnumbered by the other, less wholesome ingredients such as SUGAR, which is acrually the top ingrediant of the incrediant list. the second most common ingredient in Nutella is palm oil. The same palm oil which is high in palmitic acid, a fatty acid which the World Health Organization claims is convincingly linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease (see the report here, and skip to page 98 for the info on palmitic acid). In fact, roughly half the calories in Nutella are from sugar, and the other half are from fat and only about 4% of the calories are from protein. According to the nutrition label, a single 37 gram serving of Nutella (two tablespoons) contains 11 grams of fat and 21 grams of sugar. Half of the 200 calories in each serving come from fat.

The Nutella website also suggests that Nutella is healthy because it "is made with hazelnuts which are a great source of vitamins." Note that they don't say that Nutella is a great source of vitamins, because it's not. A single serving has 0% of the recommended daily intake of Vitamins A and C, and just 10% of the recommended intake of Vitamin E.

But is smearing healthy foods with f atty, sugary substances a good diet strategy for kids? What’s next? Asparagus dipped in chocolate?

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Swagger Wagon!

Virginia Beach's Patriotic Festival

I wanted to let those in Hampton Roads know about Virginia Beach's Patriotic Festival going on this weekend.

The City of Virginia Beach, the USO, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and Whisper Concerts are honoring the "military community" by hosting the sixth Patriotic Festival at the Virginia Beach Ocean front on June 4 - 6, 2010. Unfortunatly this event is open to the general public, so it will be filled with civilians... But hey, it's free, so I guess you can't complain that much.

Friday, June 4, 2010 Uncle Cracker
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Hall & Oates
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Jason Aldean

For more information:
http://www.patrioticfestival.com/

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Child Sizes.

I can't stand how some stores size their children's clothes... 4, 5, 6, 6X, 7, 8, etc. makes since... But then to combined sizes makes fitting children in clothing soooo much harder... 4/5, 6/6X, 7/8... My daughter is really between a 5 and 6 right now... But is WAY TOO BIG for the 4/5 sizes... And really too small for the 6/6X, since the 6X tends to be wider (and she's a skinny-minnie)... But I have no choice but to buy the "6/6X" size and have her just look sloppy in her baggy clothes... And why do girls have that 6X size anyway? Boys don't... They just go from 6 to 7.