May is the new December

A friend of mine declared recently that "May is the new December."

Boy, she is NOT kidding.  If you are at all involved in your children's life, and if they are at all involved with any activities beyond eating, drinking, bathing, sleeping, going to school and coming home, then your weeks leading up to the close of the school year are just as busy as those leading up to the holidays.

Recitals and performances, tournaments, bees, competitions, concerts, and countless other exhibitions of the talents that your children have been honing throughout the fleeting school year, must be attended.

Loose ends must be tied up.  Missing books must be found and returned.  Gifts must be purchased or made for teachers in appreciation for their efforts to help shape our "young breed."

This is the time that the weekends become crowded with First Communion and prom and graduation celebrations.  You know they are coming. You just don't often know when or how many until you've already got multiple balls in the air and you've abandoned the ink pen on your calendar and resorted to pencil instead.

In the midst of all this, winter clothes must be purged and replaced with summer wardrobes. 

Those of us who wear all the hats of running a small business or work away from the home must still find time to keep those initiatives moving forward.  The good news is, I decide when and where and who I work with on most days.  But what I want to get done and what is humanly possible are two different things in May. 

And just like the Winter holiday season, those who enjoy it most are the ones who simplify and prioritize.  The ones who trade in at least some of the "nice-to-haves-but-not-necessary-for-happiness" in exchange for "this-must-be-done-to-preserve-sanity" tasks wind up getting to June with a sense of sentimental accomplishment, traditions and memories that their children will cherish.

I'm working on that.  But it's a feeble attempt at best.  What do you think?  Is May the new December at your house?


photo credit: MrB-MMXhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/marlon-bunday-mmx/4692932272/">MrB-MMX> via photo'>http://photopin.com">photo pin cchttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc>

Dive right in and just keep swimming

This blog, East Row Mama, has served as a private place to park my thoughts over the last several years.  It began as a "toe in the water" back in 2008 - when I first began to explore the new media channels that were exploding all around us.

I was coming out of a stretch of nearly ten years as a fully engaged, stay-at-home spouse and mother and was making the difficult decision to return to the workplace. I was also facing the difficult challenge of discerning what exactly I might do out there after being away for so long.

Since that time, my path has rapidly evolved and I find myself looking at this blog, shocked to realize that it's been nearly 3 years since I posted anything to it. 

I'm choosing to see that as an indicator of growth. Lack of activity here is evidence that I've found meaningful things to occupy my time elsewhere. As it turns out, what it really means is that I decided to ditch the "toe in the water" approach to all of this and, instead, I dove right in to the deep end and kept swimming into the open water.

Now, I find myself returning to this early spot - like a wistful, sentimental pilgrimage back to my roots. I am still a mom. I am still a spouse. But I have my own identity - I am my own person. The path is not easy, but I am energized by it, and that makes it worthwhile. I'm excited to blow the dust off this blog. It's time.

I read somewhere once that, no matter what else is going on, all a woman really wants is control over her own life. It's true. I don't need to control others. But I do need to at least have the sense that ultimately, I am in charge of my own life.

I'm an urban mama in the East Row. And I do some other things too. Welcome to my joyful madness.


photo credit: Έλενα Λαγαρία via photo pin cc

The "Lion of the Senate" Moves On

I was surprised by my own emotional reaction to the news of Ted Kennedy's passing.

More than anything else, I felt the magnitude of the passing of an era. He was the one who carried the torch for his fallen brothers. He was the glue that kept a legendary family unified.

Forced to exist in a world where the media wanted to define him by scandal, he refused to accept that label and forged ahead to make the world a better place with courage and relentless energy.

In a statement issued by his family they described him as "the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our eyes."

In spite of a life filled w an extraordinary amount of tragedy, Senator Edward Kennedy always believed that our best days were still ahead of us. If he was able to maintain that kind of faith in a life plagued with loss and heartache, how can we not?

facebook vs LinkedIn for business

I'm still working on establishing my facebook presence for my business. While I have a fan page for my product, to date, I have used facebook primarily as a tool for maintaining personal relationships with friends and family.

While there is some overlap with my LinkedIn connections, my facebook participation definitely has a different purpose. I am still working to reconcile how that will fit with facebook as a business tool. I'm all for transparency, but I think there's room for maintaining appropriate boundaries. I understand there are privacy settings etc, but they are somewhat unwieldy and the time it takes to maintain all that concerns me as I already spend a good bit of time engagine in SM. I'm wearing lots of other hats and there's only 24 hours in the day.

Since I began joining relevant LinkedIn groups, my experience as a user has changed dramatically. I routinely have meaningful interactions and make connections that are mutually beneficial. I think that once people begin to understand the value of LinkedIn as more than just an online resume, the value of this tool will become much more dynamic. For those of us who have figured it out, it already is.

Of course, then there's the working inside the home thing

So to continue my thoughts on the whole working mom thing. While I'm starting to figure a lot of it out, there's lots more to get a handle on. For example, how do other people stay on top of the house - especially in summer, when the kids are home all day to mess it up?

I am wearing so many hats as a start-up entrepreneur that most of my physical energy is invested in business efforts. I make a diligent and conscious effort to interact with my children and spend quality fun time with them every day, but there would be practically zero household routine if my husband were not such a proactively helpful partner.

My kids are willing helpers when it comes to picking up their stuff... after much armtwisting, cajoling, nagging, threatening, growling and gnashing of teeth. I know they aren't like this at school. The Montessori classroom has a strict expectation of order that they thrive on during the school day. Why does it get left behind when they walk through the front door of their home?

When asked about this phenomenon at the parent conference, the teachers explained that it requires a lot of energy during the day to do all the work that they do and maintain the self control required to keep it all together. They suggested that it might be healthy for the kids to feel comfortable and have a more relaxed structure at home. Reduces stress they said. Ok. I can see that. But what about my stress level?

I want my kids to feel an inner sense of satisfaction from maintaining a tidy environment. That should be the reward. I don't think it should be necessary to provide material incentives and bribes to get them to do what needs to be done to keep the family home pleasant.

So far, it's working great for me. Yeah - right.

I think I'm getting a hang of this Working Outside the Home thing

It's been about 18 months since my husband and I decided to launch our startup game company. In that time, I have struggled to figure out how women do the motherhood/career thing. I have so much respect for those who manage to keep it all together and get it done. I, on the other hand, am still trying to figure it all out.

The good news is that, with time, I am beginning to feel a new sense of confidence. This confidence comes not so much from figuring out how to hold it all together, but rather a new understanding of priorities and an appreciation for juggling skills

I don't feel intimidated by those "super moms" who have the house perfect, the kids scrubbed and dinner hot on the table when hubby walks in.

Granny's 3 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

1 box White Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 small can Pumpkin
1 bag Hershey's Cinnamon chips

Mix by hand until just blended with a whisk or wooden spoon

Grease muffin pans with butter

Bake at 350 for 25 mins give or take a couple of mins depending on your oven.

Tips:
use icecream scoop to measure batter into muffin pans
you could also bake this as a loaf and add walnuts and/or raisins