TheMommyBlog

Tuesday, January 06, 2009 Bad Mood Dude

Man, I completely hosed this site today while upgrading to EE 1.6.6. I won’t spell that out so you’ll think I’m brighter than I am.

Everything was ducky until the last renaming of files and I couldn’t find the flipping index. The HOME PAGE. Gone.

So I’ve been having a heart attack for the last hour and a half, frantically renaming and refreshing and sending “the sky is falling” emails to Joelle at Moxie, as if she were my hosting provider and not this site’s designer, but thank goodness I did, because she remembered something about my installation that I’d forgotten. I needed three simple files for the multiple site manager. Imagine my relief when that polka-dotted background came up… and then I couldn’t access the entry page in the panel. WHAT? According to the cp home page, I had no entries, or blogs for that matter. Jesus wept.

Okay, one more language file for a plugin. And then I went and stood in line at the pharmacy for my prescription. As soon as the kids are home, I’m crawling back into bed. The three hours I spent there after school drop off weren’t enough, and I need to park my head somewhere so sinuses can drain.

You’re welcome.

Monday, January 05, 2009 Me, Me, Me, Wonderbelly

It’s always satisfying to see a design of yours online… and the latest Wonderbelly Design is on The Diaper Duty Diary!

Melissa wanted a bright, diaper-y banner to boost her look, and she picked a great background to go with it. I love doing little makeovers like this! If anyone’s in the market for a touch up or new design, give me a holler!

Monday, January 05, 2009 Family, Momversation

I can hear you laughing from way over there. Riiight, Mindy will make resolutions… right after she figures out the basics. First, breathe in and out regularly. Then, pay my bills. With practice, pay them on time. Simple things. I’m not going to be making room on my mantle for a Nobel Prize anytime soon, but I do plan to be here next year. Can we start with that?

• What’s your New Year’s resolution?
• Fighting the Post-Holiday Blahs

Panelists: Giyen Kim of Bacon Is My Enemy, Mindy Roberts of The Mommy Blog, and Nataly Kogan of Work It, Mom!

Saturday, January 03, 2009 Other people who write, Family

So the kids have been off from school for two weeks now, and it’s been great wearing pj’s the whole time and letting the routines, bedtimes, and meal quality slip, but we are now engaged for re-entry. Brace yourself. Items may have shifted during flight. It will take some time to regain balance and agility, especially in the homework department (frankly, I’ll be happy just to find their backpacks).

Alpha Mom has an excellent set of tips on How to Get Your Reluctant Child to Do Homework (without Yelling, Threats or a Double Martini). First, I’m going to side with Phil, who says the kids shouldn’t be drinking martinis while doing homework. The rest is awesome advice. I’m going out to buy several egg timers this weekend (because they for sure will be broken, “fixed” or otherwise tampered with). Personally, I think Tip #4 is the most critical.

By Christina of Fairly Odd Mother

1. Make Homework a Priority.
Set a time of the day aside for homework and don’t stray (often). If homework is something your kids have to squeeze in between karate, piano lessons and soccer practice, they’re not going to think of it as important. And, unless you really enjoy overdramatic tears and hearing every excuse in the book, avoid doing homework right before bedtime at all costs.

Read more…

Friday, January 02, 2009 Me, Me, Me, Fun, Family

Get yourself a nice boyfriend and a wii and play Rock Star for four straight hours. The last hour, I was on drums, and boy are my arms tired.

It’s much harder than it sounds, and oh, how I wish we had real cymbals. The bad news is that the kids will be super frustrated with it because you have to read and be able to monitor several areas of the screen at once. Sort of second nature to a couple of computer geeks, but my daughter will be pouting for months.

We left on a high note—scored 91%—after we played “I’m Paranoid” by Garbage seven hundred times. The ratings were soooo funny. Whenever we messed up it made this guitar twang sound and the screen blinked FAILED. I was all, dude, we fell off the stage. I’m going to have shin splints in one leg from the foot pedal in the morning.

My favorite part was glancing down at the aftermath on the coffee table: a tin of Peppermint Bark, an empty bottle of champagne, a hammer (for the bark), Phil’s stocking, drumsticks, a microphone, and the instruction manual.

And a big Ted Nugent THANK YOOOO shout out to my brother for giving us the loudest, most distracting gift this year. Last year it was an Optimus Prime talking helmet and the year before, The Thing hands and feet.