Archive for 'Mom Blogs:' Category
The Rockwood Files: Duck season! rabbit season!
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 One of my favorite Looney Tunes cartoons is the one where Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck argue about whether it’s duck season or rabbit season. Elmer Fudd stands nearby with his shotgun, ready to fire on whichever rascally varmint loses the argument. In a classic Bugs [...]
Getting Healthy for Good: Eating seasonally, locally
By Laurie Marshall My sister has been a brilliant menu planner for some time now. I’m always jealous of the images she posts on Instagram and Twitter that look healthy and yummy. Guilt starts to creep in and I think “I should make more creative, healthful meals for my family.” The thing is, though – [...]
Life with Ladybug: Ten years later
By Shannon Magsam Have you ever heard of the 10-year rule? It’s the theory that it takes at least 10 years to be considered an expert in a given field. I was reminded of that rule today because it’s the 10-year anniversary of my most important job. So naturally, I was thinking to myself, “Does [...]
The Rockwood Files: Live up to your labels
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 Labels can be powerful. And I’m not talking about symbolic labels like “geek” or “diva” or the generalizations we assign to people. I’m talking about real labels. The sticky ones. The kind with words in capital letters that tell you where things go. For years, I’ve [...]
Fun video: “Goodnight Gadgets!”
Can your preschooler beat you at a game of Angry Birds? Is your house buzzing with gadgets like our homes are? Between our two families alone, there’s an iPad, an HP TouchPad, an iPod Touch, a Kindle, a Nook, an ancient iPod, a couple of iPhones, a Blackberry, two GPS devices and probably a few [...]
Military Mama: Let the countdown begin
By Jade Stone It’s official! The countdown to deployment has begun. Today we received a tentative training schedule. Jay leaves tomorrow for the first stint of a long stretch of training segments that will occur at various intervals. The first one will be 2 weeks with a 4-day break followed by a 6-week session which [...]
The Rockwood Files: The wind beneath my tiny wings
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 Like millions of other people, my life changed when I got an iPhone three years ago. It made me more accessible – which isn’t always a good thing. It gave me the ability to read news stories while waiting in drive-thru lanes, which is convenient. And, [...]
Life with Ladybug: Never stop learning
By Shannon Magsam I don’t really like the word resolutions. So at the beginning of a new year, I prefer to set “goals” instead. Instead of a bunch of random ideas, I plan one or two goals for each area of my life: family, friends, spiritual, financial, business and health. My overall goal in 2012 [...]
Empty Nexter: Set Kick-Butt Goals
By Carrie Perrien Smith Ask anyone that you know who produces great results and you will find a common thread in the fabric of their success — the ability to set and meet goals. As I’ve seen in my life with amazing frequency, goals are miracles simply waiting to happen. Here are key elements to [...]
The Rockwood Files: Slippery slope
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 The day after Christmas, we packed kids, suitcases, snacks, and movies into the minivan and drove 12 hours north to Minneapolis, Minnesota to visit Tom’s parents. In addition to relatives, we hoped to see a little Christmastime snow. But when we got there, Minneapolis had unusually [...]
Getting Healthy for Good: So, how’s it really going?
By Laurie Marshall How many resolutions have you given up on so far? Maybe “given up on” is too strong… have you postponed any? Re-configured one or two? Maybe just switched one out to a lower spot on the priority list? Yeah, it happens. That’s why, this year, I made NO RESOLUTIONS. Or, at least, [...]
Military Mama: The Wait is Over
By Jade Stone Well, the New Year is well underway and now we begin the countdown until summer. There will be lots of changes in our very near future and there’s no time like the present to get started on them. We now officially have an unofficial date set for Jay to leave. It appears, [...]
The Rockwood Files: Fat chance
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 I really don’t want to jump on January’s fitness bandwagon. It’s so cliché, isn’t it? I’m already tired of the ads for treadmills and sports bras. But I’m afraid I have no real choice. I’d like to think I’m still the girl I was in my [...]
Life with Ladybug: Horsin’ around
By Shannon Magsam, Ladybug’s mama I got a horse! I got a horse! I mean, my daughter got a horse. My parents actually went out and bought the grandkids a horse. Unfortunately, they live 2 ½ hours away. And I think this might be a ploy to get us to move closer. But still! A [...]
The Rockwood Files: New Year’s Perspective
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 We got a call last week with upsetting news. Our 22-year-old nephew Andrew was just diagnosed with leukemia. It hit us like a punch in the gut. I can only imagine how it must have felt for Andy and his parents and brothers. It began a [...]
Getting Healthy for Good: Bring it 2012
By Laurie Marshall As many of you are doing this week, I’m ignoring my bathroom scale. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I am stepping on the scale. Then I am looking down at the number. And then I’m choosing to ignore what it says. It’s been a tough road for me over the last couple [...]
Military Mama: Simply celebrating
By Jade Stone I hope this finds your holiday season running smoothly. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels like every year it becomes more and more stressful. But this year, I was inspired to do something different. A few months ago, my worship team leader at church came to me and asked [...]
Techno Mama: Is Facebook killing your blog?
By Sarah Martin Hood, technology blogger We live in an age of easy, instant information. Have a question? Google it. Wondering what ever happened to that old high school friend? Check Facebook. But are we evolving into a world that’s more interested in headlines than details? If we can’t get what we need in 10 [...]
The Rockwood Files: Mom’s Letter to Santa
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 Dear Santa, I’m nearly exhausted this time of year so I can only imagine how worn out you must be as you gear up for your magical trip around the world. Even with help from all those elves, you must feel a lot of pressure this [...]
Empty Nexter: Reach out to lonely hearts over the holiday
By Carrie Perrien Smith It was my first Christmas after the divorce. Our daughter was six. I was thirty. I was living with half of my belongings in a two-bedroom, low-income apartment that I could almost afford. My dogs were staying with my parents in Tulsa until I could get my finances together and buy [...]