This is a quote from a video I saw on Yahoo! this week. It featured a mom named Erica, who writes for The Boston Globe and a mom website, Bo-Moms. She was talking about whether or not Facebook makes you a bad mom. The interview highlighted the pros and cons of online interaction with friends throughout the day, namely through Facebook, and concluded that, like any other hobby that a mom has, it is healthy – in moderation.
I enjoyed the interview, basically because I felt like I could relate to Erica so well. She shared a story about her 2-year old physically grabbing her hand off of her mouse in an attempt to get her attention. Yeah, occasionally things like that happen around here. 
I am a huge fan of Facebook. It is a great way for me to stay connected to all of my dear, distant friends – and like the moms mentioned in the video, it helps me feel connected to the world outside my own little house. I occasionally have an intelligent thought rattling around my brain – one not related to grilled cheese sandwiches or potty-training – and I relish the opportunity to share those thoughts with someone older than the age of 3. Facebook is fabulous for that.
I always hear people say, “It’s a time-waster!” Yes, it certainly can be! The key is however much time we spend on Facebook or any other internet activity is really our choice. The interview discusses this: making a plan that suits your family best, whether it’s to get online for 30 minutes a day or to wait till the kids are asleep (which is what I do), and to keep family time the first priority. If it’s something that keeps your emotional well-being strong, it’s not a bad thing. Erica also says that “you’ll just know” if it’s taking too much of your time, the same way we try to keep our other hobbies in check. At that point, we should just turn off the computer and settle in doing something else (with the kids!).
Do you use Facebook? Do you like it? How do you keep a healthy balance of internet time (or “me” time) and family time? All practical suggestions are welcome!
Are you taking a Christmas road trip this year? Check out the web tool CostToDrive.com if you need to budget how much it will cost to make that road trip this year. All you have to do is enter your destination and the year, make, and model of your car and then it will calculate about how much would spend on gas getting there. My husband recently shared this gem of a website with me. He had read about it over J.D. Roth’s Getting Rich Slowly blog where he does a more in depth review of the site in his post.
CostToDrive.com is pretty cool if you love to budget and plan for trips like I do!
As many of you know, our family is adopting a child through Reece’s Rainbow and a while ago, The Mom Crowd hosted a raffle to help bring another child from Reece’s Rainbow home. You can catch up with this beautiful family and their new daughter, Addison {AKA: Nika} at their family blog. Is that enough “hyperlinking” for ya?
I wanted to take a moment to share with you about Reece’s Rainbow and their mission. Reece’s Rainbow is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to raise awareness regarding the plight of children with Down syndrome in foreign orphanages and their availability to be adopted, to raise adoption grants for waiting children, to seek out adoptive families for these children, to help adopting families during their adoption process with fund raising opportunities and paperwork assistance {and emotional support-I threw that one in!}, to provide humanitarian aid to foreign orphanages, to facilitate support groups for birth parents of children with Down syndrome to help decrease the number of children placed in orphanages, and to enact social change abroad about children with Down syndrome and other special needs through the testimony of adoption.
In 2006, Reece’s Rainbow expanded from an outreach program for families with children with Down syndrome in Atlanta to an organization promoting international adoption of children with Down syndrome. In the short two years since beginning this new focus, over 120 children with Down syndrome and other special needs have found forever families with the help of Reece’s Rainbow. As of June 2008, they have dispersed over $86,000 to adopting families and have waiting children with substantial grants ready for their prospective parents. Many orphans around the world are not receiving adequate nutrition and health care. In Eastern European and other countries, orphans with Down syndrome are commonly transferred to mental institutions if they are not adopted by the age of four. After they are transferred, most die within the first year from lack of basic care.
There is a special way you can help Reece’s Rainbow fulfill their mission. Every year, Reece’s Rainbow hosts a Christmas Angel Tree Project. Right now, you can see every child with Down syndrome waiting for a family through Reece’s Rainbow and sponsor one or more of them for Christmas. With every $35 donation, you will receive a special ornament with a picture of the child you are sponsoring for Christmas. Will you consider sponsoring an orphan with Down syndrome this Christmas? In order to receive an ornament, donations must be received by December 15th. Please visit their site today and help bring an orphan home for Christmas!
Earlier this week, McKenna gave excellent tips for giving gifts to your kids’ teachers. It got me thinking about this time of year and how special gift giving can be. Now that Black Friday is behind us and the holiday season is here, I’m getting things ready for the grandparents.
This is the second year that my sisters-in-law and I put together a calendar with pictures of our children for Grandmom. There are four grandchildren, so we each selected three pictures of our children, giving us 12 for the year. I ordered the calendar through winkflash.com, and with shipping included, each of us only had to put in $7! Last year, the debut calendar was a huge hit, so I know this will be a tradition for years to come.
Of course, photo calendars are just the tip of the iceberg; all the major photo processing sites offer great gifts using special pictures of your choice. I have purchased magnets and coasters using special pictures as well. Playing cards and jigsaw puzzles are also a cool idea. If you prefer to go a bit more straightforward, a photo album or framed picture is always a hit. In these penny-pinching times, I have gone for these gift ideas more than once. I’m also fond of framing the kids’ artwork, but I’ll only do this as a gift idea sparingly.
What other ideas do you have for grandparent gifts?
There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Some blogs exist to keep friends and family up to date on family happenings, some are to document weight loss, some blogs are specific to product reviews, some blogs document outfits worn each and every day, and some blogs are devoted to saving the world from “unnecessary” quotation marks. Anyone can have a blog! One very trendy way to keep your blog fresh is to participate in themes of the day. Here’s some popular recurring blog entries you can participate in to keep your blog fun to read and also network with other people on the internet! So, the next time you have writer’s block on your blog, try joining one of these hosted blog events! You may even make a friend or two along the way!
SUNDAY
-
Grains of Gratitude. Brady’s Bunch hosts Grains of Gratitude every Sunday and invites participants to blog about what they are thankful for. I think this is a great opportunity for people to focus on what they are grateful for and Sunday could not be a more perfect day for that reflection!
MONDAY
-
Magic Marker Monday! Hosted by 5 Minutes for Special Needs, every Monday participates post a picture of their child’s artwork for the week. This includes pictures of artwork made at school, at home, on the walls of your living room, or anywhere else your child has expressed his or her artistic side. They ask that you leave them a comment to let them know you participated in this event! 
TUESDAY
-
Tackle It Tuesday! This event is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom and invites participants to pick a household project needing to be done. They can be big or small. The idea is to take a before and after picture of you project. I have watched a friend of mine participate in this blog event and it’s been really good at keeping her motivated and productive! I’m impressed with her Tuesday productivity!
WEDNESDAY
-
Wordless Wednesday This has got to be the most popular blog theme event in the blogging community. It’s everywhere! On Wednesdays, bloggers are invited to post a picture without any words. I have seen some creative blog entries on W.W. You can be as creative or as simple as you like on W.W. and you can be confident that many a blogger is participating in this event, so you will not be alone!
- Other Wednesday events include, Weightloss Wednesday. On Weightloss Wednesdays, bloggers blog about their weightloss journey and usually include their weight and measurements. Apparently, blogging your weight is the best kept weightloss secret around!! There’s something about telling the world how much you weigh that motivates you to lose that weight! A friend of mine lost 26.5 lbs while sharing her weightloss journey with all of her blog readers! It was quite impressive to follow.
What fun blog themes have you enjoyed participating in? What are some Thursday, Friday, and Saturday blog themes you’ve seen?
