Kathryn, Jenny, and Eve, the founders of Seattle Mom Blogs, have passed the torch to Mamaspod. We’re excited to come together and bring both podcasted reviews of places you suggest, interviews of local bloggers and reviewing recommendations from resources like Red-Tricycle, and Parent Map. You’ll see these updates occuring over the next few weeks as we launch our exciting new section. Everything else remains the same with the same fantastic columnist writing the quality posts you’ve come to love and enjoy.

But before we start the new year, we want to make a promise to you: Our resolution is simple, one word actually, and it’s “Connect.” We’re honored to be trusted with this community to continue the momentum Eve, Kathryn, and Jenny started. We couldn’t fill their shoes but we’re honored to walk in their wake.

So thank you, Jenny, Kathryn, and Eve, for getting such an amazing group of women together. For thinking of community in our local area. For wanting to bring moms together in person as well as online. It’s been freaking lovely to meet each of you and I know this isn’t a good-bye, just a new venture for you all. We’re glad to keep alive your vision and hope you’ll stay close.

Do you have a story you can share? Do you have a memory from SMB that you want to post? Let us hear it. Tell thank you to these ladies who brought us together. I know I personally gained not just a new venue to share thoughts but friends I consider real. So thank you, ladies. Very. Much.

The next gathering will be sometime in February. We’re starting an anual wine-tasting event. Watch for that announcement. We may need plastic wine cups, though. As it’s been told, ONE OF US breaks things. (And thank you for that memory, too, ladies. It’s one of my favorite SMB stories: That night at the Method Party that I totally SPAZZED and broke a glass. Rad. I love you for loving me anyway.)

Much love and bringing in the happiest of New Years!

Unfortunately I don’t have that pregnant belly to blame for my lack of equilibrium these days…

Anyway, if you’re a Northwest parent not experiencing a bit of cabin fever, this post is not for you!  This post is for those of you who have a little or a lot of snow and don’t know what to do about it.  Rather, don’t know how you’re going to make it until 2009 with children starting winter breaks early and Starbucks closing much earlier than they are supposed to.  The nerve.

I am so not kidding.  I ventured out this evening to stock up on my holiday appetizer supplies before another big freeze and 2 of the 4 Starbucks in my town were closed!  I don’t know about the other two stores, maybe they were open, but I wasn’t going to put my family in danger to find out…not even for a gingerbread latte.

So if you’re like me, latteless, frazzled, feeling cooped up and getting a generous dose of children, maybe these tips will be helpful.  Maybe not, but you can’t say I didn’t try.

A Mom’s Guide to Surviving the Winter Weather:

• Yes, it’s cold outside.  Tip #1 involves a little work on your part which will reap great rewards later.  It involves doing laundry.  That’s right, laundry.  Make sure your dryer is empty while the kiddos are out playing in the snow.  That way, when they come in, you can incorporate what I like to call the “peel and dump” system.  Each child peels off his/her snow clothing and dumps it into the empty dryer.  After all children have done this, press start and dry the snow clothes.  Ta-da!  Warm, cozy and, most importantly, dry clothes to put back on after a break inside!
• Tip #2 is to actually go out in the snow with your kids, at least twice a day.  I know, I know, it is much easier to watch them with your hands wrapped around a mug of vodka hot cider from the living room window.  But if you go outside, move around a bit, breathe the crisp air, you will feel much better.  You might even get a tiny dose of Vitamin D from the sliver of sunlight coming through the snow clouds.
• Tip #3 involves games, any kind of games.  Put your patient hat on and play some games with your children.  You have nowhere to go and nothing to do anyway, so why not take advantage of this down time and engage with you kids.  I don’t care if you’re playing Guitar Hero or Scrabble, the point is to play.  Have fun.
• Tip #4 is to relax.  Yes, there are very few days left before Christmas.  Yes, you probably did not check everything off your “to do” list before the snow storm hit, it’s okay.  Give yourself a break - you have the perfect excuse to not overdo it this year, besides the horrible economy.
• Tip #5:  snuggle.  Give extra hugs to your kids and, if you can stand it, your spouse.  What you will get back in return will surprise you.
• Tip #6 is to walk.  Don’t just stay confined to your yard or neighborhood.  Take this opportunity to walk further (but be safe about it) around your neighborhood than you normally do.  Talk to neighbors (as long as they aren’t crazy) you might not get the opportunity to talk to during the rest of the year because of your busy schedule.  Say hello to passersby.  Smile a little extra.  Take the kids with you and show them that you are all a part of the larger community.
• Tip #7 is to give.  People spend a lot of time and effort tracking down the perfect charity to give to. Why not take this opportunity to give as locally as you can?  Locate the giving tree in your nearest supermarket, ask store owners if they have a local charity they give to, call your local food bank and ask them what kinds of foods they need the most.  Give what you can, it’ll make you feel good.
• Tip #8 is to be prepared.  If you must travel, make sure you have plenty of supplies in case you get stuck on 1-90 somewhere between Seattle and Spokane.  Never mind, I hear most of the streets are closed in Spokane, so I’d avoid going there all together.  But in the off chance that your grandmother lives there and you cannot avoid it, bring water, snacks, blankets, boots, outerwear, hats, traction helpers (like sand of kitty litter) for your tires should you get stuck, a shovel, flashlight and anything else you can fit in your car with you.  You can never prepare too much and a very wise person once said, “An ounce of preparation is worth it’s weight in gold.”  Believe it.
• Speaking of believe, tip #9 is to do just that.  Believe.  This time of year is a magical time whether you are celebrating the religious significance of the season or just celebrating your own way.  It all counts.  Take the time to tell the stories, make the cookies, decorate the house and make the wishes, for this is really what it is all about.  Whatever your family’s traditions are, do them.  Celebrate your blessings and look forward to a new year . . . hopefully with a little less rock salt and a little more Starbucks (it is the Northwest, coffee capitol, USA).

And if these tips don’t work, there’s always schnapps cocoa!  But most of all, know that you are not alone, we are all in this parenting boat together!  Happy Holidays!

Carrie can be found most days at Stop Screaming I’m Driving where she chronicles her life as mother to three active children, wife of one busy fire fighter, constant doer of laundry, and picker upper of Legos. She takes offers of free babysitting and bribes of lattes (vanilla, extra foam) very seriously. Feel free to reach her at carrieb[at]seattlemomblogs[dot]com.

Registration is open online and at select locations (listed on the website), or participants can register at Westlake on the day of the event.

If you’d like further information or want to connect with someone at the Arthritis Foundation for an interview, I’m happy to set that up. I’ve included the basics below:

WHEN: 7:30 – 10:00 a.m., Sunday, December 14

6:45 a.m. Registration begins

8:00 a.m. Costume Contest judging

8:20 a.m. Wells Fargo 1K Children’s Run with the Elves

8:50 a.m. Start of Rudolph Runners 5K Race

9:00 a.m. Start of Dasher Dashers 5K Race

9:10 a.m. Start of Santa Striders 5K Walk

10:00 a.m. Post Event Bash – Awards, prizes and giveaways

WHERE: Westlake Center
WHO: All Seattle residents and visitors interested in ringing in the holiday season in support of the Arthritis Foundation.

WHY: Arthritis affects 46 million Americans today and is one of the leading causes of disability in the country.

CONTACT: www.seattlejinglebellrun.org or 206.547.2707

If there’s something festive in a neighborhood near you and you’d like to send us your review or invite us to come podcast with you, let us know!

I’ve never had an identifiable eating disorder, although I’ve wished for one on many occasion. I even considered just how much weight I could lose if I did, wondering if you can catch an eating disorder from watching too much Project Runway or the new 90210 as I took another bite of Chunky Monkey.  If I’m lucky enough to catch a stomach virus that my kids have brought home from school, my first thought is not “I hope I get over this soon,” it is “I wonder how much weight I can lose from getting sick?”

Houston, we have a problem.

My story is typical.  I am not unlike most of the female population in that I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable in my skin.  The only moments when I praise my size are in retrospect, when I look at my image in photographs that are many years old and I wonder why it was that I thought I was so horribly overweight?  I know this about myself and that is why I so desperately want to avoid passing this on to my children, especially my daughter.

Seattle-area girls are not immune to the national epidemic of not loving their bodies either.  According to  “Real Girls, Real Pressure:  A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem:”

• Two thirds of girls (67%) in Seattle believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members
• 62% of teen girls in Seattle reported engaging in negative activities, such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying,smoking, or drinking, when feeling badly about themselves
• The self-esteem tipping point happens during the transition to teenage years, resulting in loss of trust and communication with adults
• Parents’ words and actions play a pivotal role in fostering positive self-esteem in girls:  The top wish among girls in Seattle is for their parents to communicate better with them, which includes more frequent and more open conversations, as well as discussions about what is happening in their own lives.

There you have it.  Now, what do we do about it?  For the past several years, I’ve seen the commercials, I’ve seen the ads in magazines, and read about the amazing, empowering and important work of the Dove Self-Esteem Project and The Campaign for Real Beauty.  Thankfully, this group has been gaining momentum, doing outreach for girls all over the country and conducting self-esteem workshops for women nation wide (there is one coming up December 16th, in Seattle, click here for a link to more details).

They’ve released yet another eye-opening video about the state of our girls - remember the one about beauty?  Take a peek by clicking HERE - it will take you to the videos.  There are four, including the one where the model morphs from a regular woman into a print ad.  Please watch the video titled “Onslaught.”

We can’t control the media, even though we can influence it if we try hard enough.  We can control how we communicate with our daughters.  We can be better role models and show them how to love themselves, their bodies, no matter what their size.  We can encourage them to be healthy, strong and beautiful all at the same time.  Educating ourselves, attending workshops, and communicating, with the help of companies like Dove, I really believe our daughters will be in a much better place than we ever were.

Carrie can be found most days at Stop Screaming I’m Driving where she chronicles her life as mother to three active children, wife of one busy fire fighter, constant doer of laundry, and picker upper of Legos.  She takes offers of free babysitting and bribes of lattes (vanilla, extra foam) very seriously.  Feel free to reach her at carrieb[at]seattlemomblogs[dot]com.

Head on over to Stop Screaming I’m Driving to enter for a chance to win Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters:  How the Quest for Perfection is Harming Young Women, by Courtney E. Martin.

 

 

* cross - posted at Stop Screaming I’m Driving 

Behold: Copyright Infringement Be Dammed, good tips from Bally Total Fitness.

Taking the bite out of holiday eating from Bally Total Fitness®

If you’re trying to watch your calorie intake, the holidays can seem like the season of temptation. But with these tried-and-true tactics for healthier holiday snacking from BallySM, you can enjoy the holidays and make it to New Year’s without regrets (or extra pounds).

CURB YOUR APPETITE BEFORE PARTIES
Eat a small, filling meal within an hour of going to dinner parties. Some good choices: a cup of hot soup (broth-based rather than cream-based) or a half-sandwich made with whole-grain bread.
BEWARE OF THE BUFFET
The lure of holiday buffets can cause even the most cautious calorie counter to overindulge, so decide before going to the party what you plan to eat. For example, have raw veggie appetizers instead of fried ones, a good-sized piece of broiled fish but just a little lasagna for dinner, a roll but no butter, or a favorite holiday dessert but no standard- issue cookies. And whatever you do, don’t linger near the food tables—you’ll be more likely to eat absent-mindedly.

WATCH YOUR ALCOHOL CALORIES
Remember that each glass of wine, beer, or mixed drink adds calories. And the more you drink, the less inhibited you may become about controlling what you eat. Try alternating your cocktails with a glass of water to cut calories and stay hydrated.

Now the next step is actually doing this. Do you have any of your own tips you’d like to contribute? I need all the help I can get.

And, also! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Read more of Leslie’s sarcastic blahblablah at Mrs. Flinger and find podcast reviews, interviews, crafts, events and topics for the Seattle Parent at Mamaspod.Com.

If you can’t make it tomorrow (and even if you can), consider joining us for one of our future outings.  We are in the process of planning trips to some of our other favorite places; Seattle Children’s Museum, Seattle Aquarium, Museum of Flight, and other local venues.  Stay tuned for the next outing!

Almost three years ago, my husband and I decided, what the heck, we’d leave our family and friends behind and travel 12,000 miles away to a foreign country which we’d heard so much about and watched everyday on TV.

We imagined eating everyday at a diner with checkered floors and Formica tables where a waitress who knew us by name would pour us coffees and ask us if we’d have our usuals. We dreamt of sightseeing every weekend for two years, visiting little tucked-away towns where old men sat on rocking chairs and outside barber shops, watching us warily while they smoked pipes and/or played cards. We imagined living in a nice big house with a white picket fence and neighbors coming over to play and a dog we’d name Clunkers (like Phoebe’s friend’s dog in Friends).

Come January it will be three years. We’ve eaten at a diner, let me see, three times because we discovered that diner food was not exactly very healthy. In fact, we rarely even eat out and the kids are so used to the Malaysian dishes I cook daily that they don’t even like diner food.

We still do try to travel regularly but tend to make for the outdoors more than just visiting small towns, although I still love them (I live in one!). Old people don’t really sit out on their front porches because it’s cold or wet or it isn’t the 50s anymore or maybe they’re more mobile these days and prefer to be up and about. 

We live in a town house and therefore have no space for a dog. We hardly know our neighbors because, well, nobody ever came over to welcome us to the neighborhood. I guess my condo is just not that sort of a community. 

You may say that much of what we thought of America, all those whimsical, romantic notions planted by American media and movies, have been dashed. It wasn’t exactly a rude awakening. It was more like a gentle, sneaky sort of unveiling. Like the diner thing. The novelty wears off when you discover how expensive it is to eat out, or when you discover Trader Joe’s and realize you can make better pancakes or hash browns and eat them in your jammies at home.

However, there were a lot of pleasant surprises for us, things we never knew about America. More accurately, things we were skeptical about and may have had problems believing could happen. For instance, even when we knew that Seattle - and perhaps much of Washington - was considered a liberal place and welcoming to foreigners of a different culture, we expected to be discriminated against all the same. Who can blame us, coming from a country where discrimination and oppression happened on a daily basis, you pretty much just learn to accept it and live with it.

Not only have we’ve been made to feel welcome, at times, it feels as though we’ve always been one of you. We’re not discriminated against (there have been occasions but they were more rude than serious), but we’re not given any special treatment either. Everyone gets the same opportunities if they work hard. Everyone pays taxes. So far, the only thing that’s been different for us from Americans has been the fact that we can’t vote. 

Which brings me to the point of my whole entry: The presidential election has been such an educational, inspiring experience for me and my family, to be here to see for myself how true democracy works, how when you place your faith in a system of laws and the constitution, that when your voice matters, real change can happen. To a Malaysian, this is nothing short of a miracle.

My own country, Malaysia, is facing challenges of its own today and I cannot help but wish and hope that it too can find the change it so desperately needs. Although we claim to have a democratic system, it is a broken one and sadly, its people are powerless to fix it. However, in our last general election, we managed to salvage part of it. For us, the road to change will remain a long and difficult one. 

So even though beneath your shiny veneer, all the whimsy, glamor, celebrity and fantasy, you may be flawed, you America, are still a great nation. Living here, being a part of this historic event, has made me a little less skeptical and a lot more hopeful that with time and determination, with people and belief, all things are possible. My children, unlike my husband and I, will grow up knowing that this is the way it should be. That there is always hope and with hope, a little less skepticism and a little more faith. 

For that, I thank you.

See what I mean when I say YOU have inspired the world (yes, the first guy is the guy we want to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia ;)). 

Read more of Jennifer Tai’s writing at The I’mPerfect Mom or enjoy her photos at www.jennifertai.net. If you have questions, anecdotes, or topics for Tea Leaf Journals, email jenn[at]theimperfectmom[dot]com.

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Second, when Rachel left, I was able to quit my job, so I’m now staying home and taking care of Elanor.

With both of these changes, my bus riding habits have also changed pretty significantly. No longer do I primarily ride the commuting or express buses. Instead, I’m riding lots of different buses, and all during the middle of the day.

It’s a really different experience, for sure, riding the local routes of the express buses I used to ride. The demographic makeup of the express buses versus the local routes is very different. Instead of being filled with commuters with laptop bags slung over their shoulders and insulated coffee mugs in hand, reading the newspaper or magazines like The Economist, the daytime buses are filled with a much wider range of people. There are a lot of students, especially on the 17, which serves Seattle Pacific University. There are a lot more people riding with reduced fare permits, a lot more elderly people, a lot more people who look a bit rough around the edges.

If I’m blunt, the main difference seems to be that those on commuter buses are people who have made a choice to ride the bus because it’s easier to get downtown, or it’s cheaper than paying for parking, or it’s better for the environment. And on the daytime buses, there tends to be a much higher percentage of people who ride the bus because they don’t have a choice; it’s their only way to get around.

There are pluses and minuses to each sort of ride. The commuter buses tend to be quiet (which can be both a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether or not Elanor is with me). The daytime buses tend to be emptier, which is nice when I have Elanor and a bunch of stuff.

People are much chattier on the daytime buses, which annoys me sometimes, since I’m used to the unspoken rules of the express bus, which includes the rule that people don’t talk, and if you do talk, it’s done quietly so as not to disturb anyone else. When we ride the local routes, that rule doesn’t usually apply, especially if Elanor is with me. Lots of people tend to talk to me about her, always asking how old she is, and a lot of the time, commenting on how cute she is.

When I’m by myself, I can usually avoid talking to people by just not making eye contact, but when Elanor is with me, she usually makes eye contact with anyone and everyone, so I wind up talking to more people than I usually would. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; for the most part, people are nice and how cute Elanor is. (And how can I argue with that?) Plus, most people have a filter so they stop talking if I don’t feel like prolonging the conversation.

I’ve had to adjust my expectations and remember that it’s okay to talk to people on the bus, that I’m not on a commuter bus and no one expects me (or Elanor, for that matter) to be quiet.

I’m working on how to deal with the stroller rule. (Which, incidentally, I cannot find in writing anywhere on Metro’s website or in any of their printed materials I’ve seen. Interesting.) I bought a smaller stroller a few weeks ago, and since I’ve been at home during the day, I’ve tried bringing it on the bus with me several times when we’ve gone out to run errands.

About half the time, I’ve been asked to take Elanor out. About half of those times, the driver asks me to fold the stroller, too. And the other half of the time, the driver doesn’t say anything, and I’m able to leave Elanor in the stroller. (This is really nice especially when we’ve been shopping. Holding a diaper bag, a shopping bag, and trying to fold stroller by myself on a moving bus – all while holding a baby – is not easy. It’s enough that if we’re only going a couple of miles and we have the time, I just walk instead of having to deal with the hassle of getting on and off the bus.)

One driver told me that the reason he asks people to fold the stroller is that if he gets caught letting someone leave their kid in, he can get in trouble, which doesn’t surprise me.

I don’t know. I certainly don’t want to get anyone in trouble, but I really appreciate it when drivers don’t make me fold it. If I set the brakes, and set the stroller between my legs as well as hold onto it, it’s pretty secure. And if we’re on some of the newer articulated buses, it’s even better, because the seats right behind the handicapped ones have more legroom than the rest, and the space is just enough to fit the stroller in.

For now, I’m just trying to work around the rule. I only bring the stroller when I really have to, and otherwise just try to use the Ergo. It’s not a perfect system, obviously, but we’re figuring it out.  It’s just one of the many tradeoffs inherent in our carless lifestyle.

Coming soon: a post about my involvement with a Metro Transit Rider Advisory Panel. Yes, I’m a transit geek. I know. I’m okay with that.