After taking an impromptu hiatus for Christmas and New Year, I have returned from the dead.  Okay, maybe I wasn’t actually dead, but after after all the chaos and running around dead seemed like it would  be a very restful option.

I read  comments that some of  you left having issues with features on the Handiland site and I have forwarded them on to the powers that be.  I have nothing to do with that side of things, but rest assured I am certain they will figure out whatever the glitch it is. 

I started out 2010 with the simple desire to make it a happier year.  I am not overly fond of huge life changing resolutions.  It seems as though you are setting yourself up for failure.  After so much change and upheaval last year, I thought that this year I really would like to shift my focus, and that of my family, on behaving in ways that make us happy. 

Now I am not talking about throwing all constraints to the wind and living a hedonistic lifestyle, but rather assessing opportunities or plans on the basis of whether they will increase our overall happiness.  I am trying to live in the present instead of telling myself that “I will be happy when…”  I am trying to weed out true obligations from guilt.  I am letting go of lots of baggage, both literal and metaphorical.

Some people resolve to say no more often because they have been living as people pleasers.  I have discovered that while I need to say no more often also, I also need to say yes.  To be open to opportunities as they come along.  To be spontaneous.  When my knee jerk reaction is to say no, to ask myself what is the worst that can happen?

So tell me, how has 2010 been to you so far?  Have you resolved to make and changes in your life?  And how is it going?

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.  ~Thornton Wilder

Wishing all of you a day filled with family, friends, love, and above all an awareness of all the things for  which you are thankful.

At the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month, we remember…
I remember as a child that veterans all seemed so old and from wars fought so long ago.  It was something from the past.  I wish I could say the same things now.

Where I used to see old men I now see boys.  Boys not much older than my sons.

Happy Veteran’s Day to all the veterans out there.  Thank  you for your service and sacrifice.

Wow, I am old.  I can remember watching this show as a child, when it first came on the air!  I remember vastly prefering The Electric Company– anyone remember that show?– to Sesame Street.

Over the past few months my 4yr old son has been watching Sesame Street videos on my iPhone.  It has been a great way to distract him when we are out doing some boring errands or something.  The original shows hold a special place in my heart.

Ladybug picnic

Alligator King

Rubber Duckie

Leave a link to your favorites!

If  you haven’t read anything that made you cry today, read this story. 

It is about a little girl who was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Unbeknownst to her family, she drew hundreds of pictures and wrote notes and hid them all over the house.   Once she died, her family began  finding them. 

Heartbreaking for sure, but I can only imagine that the notes are a source of comfort to her family.

There has been a lot of talk in my extended neighborhood, and among friends and family, about whether or not to vaccinate our kids for the H1N1 virus, the Swine Flu.  I have never had my children vaccinated for the flu.  None of my kids have any underlying health conditions such as asthma so it has never seemed necessary.  And, knock on wood, we have been very lucky in not getting the flu over the years.

I have noticed that there are two distinct camps: the no way, no how and the yes, Yes, YES!  And according to a recent poll this is the same division that exists across America.  47% saying they will get the vaccine, 47% saying they will not.  When I read this I joked that the other 6% were home in bed sick with the flu.

I was on the fence this year.  With the flu, both strains, running epidemic in my area I was considering getting the vaccination for the first time for all of us.  But before I could make a decision we all got the swine flu.  It wasn’t that bad, as far as having the flu goes.  The doctor told me that has been her experience as well.  That a majority of her patients have been less sick with the so-called Swine flu than she has seen with the regular flu. 

Everyone I know personally in my neighborhood has also had the Swine flu.  Some were more sick than others, but we have all had it now.  Most of the kids on my son’s sports teams have gotten it also.  I know that some areas of the country have not been as hard hit.

What have you done?  Do you think the swine flu vaccine is too new and experimental, as some people have said for their reason not to vaccinate?  Or are you vaccinating your family?

My daughter was invited to a classmates 7 yr old birthday party this weekend.  When I got the invitation I was happy to see that it was a home party, not some completely over the top extravaganza.   I went to the party assuming that I would be able to just drop her off.  Isn’t that what you are supposed to do at birthday parties? 

But suddenly I was inside the house among a sea of  mothers who were all staying, and hovering over their children.  All while I stood there contemplating my exit.  After about a half hour I  finally asked  if it would be okay of I left and went to do my grocery shopping.  The house seemed awfully cramped with children and their parents, and in some cases siblings. And frankly, I am more than a little concerned about what is going to happen when my daughter has her birthay party!  Is there a way to write on the invitation “no parents and no siblings” without it being awkward.

I felt bad leaving the party, for oh, ten seconds, then I merrily skipped down the driveway.

Is this the new norm for birthday parties?  Do parents usually  stay?  I am trying to think back to my own childhood but I am pretty sure that when I was 6 and 7 yrs old the only parties I went to were family parties.

I am heading out to buy my children Halloween costumes.  We have many, many costumes so I don’t need that many, but I do need some accessories and my daughter needs a costume.  Wish me luck finding her something that doesn’t make her look like a streetwalker.

This  might make sound really geriatric, but what happened to the basic witch costume or being a set of dice with a friend or a cat.  Or any other homemade costume?

I even had trouble finding a costume for  myself this year.  I wanted to be a witch.  A basic no frills, black dress, pointy hat witch.  I had to repeat the sentence, “No, I don’t want to be a sexy witch,” more times that should be allowed in a normal persons life.  And still the salesperson kept bringing me costumes that would be more aptly called Hooker Witch.

And while the costumes for girls have gotten smaller  and sluttier, the costumes for the boys have become more and more gory.

The violent costumes bother me even more and I am not alone.  In our house I have the rule that dressing up as a serial killer is not allowed.  I am not sure why someone would want their young child dressing up as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre killer or Freddy Kruger. 

Several years ago we had to stop attending a town sponsored Halloween party because it became too frightening.  It was a party geared for young elementary school children, so kids between the ages of 5-11.  The final straw for me when we were on a hayride looking at all the “spooky” decorations someone jumped out of the darkness with a bloody chainsaw, chased after the hayride and grabbed someone off of the hayride.  Traumatized children anyone?

I wonder what happened to children being children.  What is the rush to grow up so fast?

I am out of town this week on a business trip. I don’t travel all the much, a hand full of times per year for business and maybe one or two other times for fun, but my children still do not love it when I am gone from home.

What I do when I am traveling to make it easier on the children.

1) For longer trips I when my children were little, I would make a paper chain. At the end of each day they remove a link off of the chain. This is a great visual reminder of how long I will be away and help the people who are babysitting deal with the never ending question, “When will Mom be home?” This is also a great pre-travel project to do with your preschoolers, too!

2) Have stuffed animal will travel. Have you seen those television commercials for Cingular where the Dad finds the stuffed animal in his briefcase and takes photos of the stuffed animal throught his trip? A friend of mine told me that her children saw that commercial and wanted to do it also. Now when she travels she finds a surprise stuffed animal in her suitcase and she takes photos of it during the trip. Sending the photos digitally makes the kids feel like they know what is going on and helps them to feel closer to you.

3) Write notes to be left for the kids. When I am home, I write a note for my kids everyday and stick it in their lunchboxes. When I go away I write notes in advance, mostly generic so they can go in any one’s lunchbox, and have my caregiver put them in their lunchboxes or backpack every morning.

4) Bring home a present. Sometimes this is something a simple as a pack of M&M’s for each kid. yes, I could buy them at the local mini-mart, but really what else are you going to bring home from New Jersey.

So tell me, do you have anything that you do to make being away from your kids easier? And tips for making it go smoother for your caregiver?