Is there a Shopaholic in your future?

Two week ago I went with a friend to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. I read all the books in the series, and while I can't always relate to Becky, I certainly find her funny. And Isla Fisher was the perfect choice, she portrayed the character beautifully.

You probably have already seen the trailer, but if you haven't, here it is:



I enjoyed the movie, it was definitely a "girls night out" type of movie, for a relaxed evening and some fun with friends. But even more than the books, it left me wondering: are we celebrating shopaholics? I don't mean it as a critic to the movie, but when you think about it, Rebecca isn't the only popular character who got herself in financial trouble because of her shopping expenses. Carrie Bradshaw did, too. SATC aficionados will remember when she realized that she couldn't afford to buy her apartment but she had over $40,000 worth of shoes in her closet. And that was without counting the clothes and other accessories.My daughters obviously don't watch SATC, and my shopping habits are nowhere near Rebecca's or Carrie's or any other one of those gals – but Stella already has a passion for shoes, makeup and jewelry, and I do wonder what it will be like to shop with them when they grow up. Will they be all about the "magic cards" like the child version of Rebecca in the preview?

I was just talking about this with another friend who also has two girls, and she had the same concerns. Sure, it's probably too early for me to worry about it, but in a few years Sarah will be a teenager and then she'll have to start managing her pocket money and any money she gets as part of birthday presents, etc. Perhaps I should start teaching her now about saving money and so on – although I am not entirely sure I'm the best person for that, to be honest. I don't even trust myself with a credit card, I only have a debit card for my own shopping: much safer, once the money is gone it's gone, can't go below zero ;-)

I think probably that'll be the best way to go for Sarah too, especially if it's something I have some control over, like the Current debit card by Discover, where parents can set spending limits and restrict the categories the card can be used to shop from. Something like that would make me feel a bit better, sort of like a child safety on a pc: you set the parameters, and then you can give your child a reasonable amount of freedom to use the pc, or in this case their card, with their own money.

I do realize that like everything, we'll have to let go of any control on this too, when our kids grow up – but it's nice to know there's smarter ways to draw that fine line between freedom and lack of control. 'cause I don't know about you, but I prefer my purchases without a side of guilt.

Family Event Alert: Disney on Ice

I know, not one of my normal event alerts, but this sounds like fun! If there was one closer to me I'd definitely take the girls!

What: Disney on Ice tour: Like the musical numbers one can enjoy at Disneyland, these shows feature the most popular Disney characters, only the stories are choreographed to be performed on ice skates.

My daughters both love Disney characters and had a blast at Disneyland, so I'm a little disappointed I won't be able to take them to any of the shows... If you are lucky enough to live where the performances will be, I wouldn't miss it! It sounds like a really fun show for the whole family.

When and Where:
Houston
Disney On Ice presents Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey
April 15-April 19

Dallas/Ft Worth
Disney On Ice presents Mickey & Minnie's Magical Journey
March 18-March 29

Sunrise/Miami
Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy
March 26-April 5

Toronto
Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy
March 18-March 22

Kansas City
Disney On Ice presents Mickey & Minnie's Magical Journey
April 1-April 5

Denver
Disney On Ice presents a Disneyland® Adventure
March 12-March 15

Phoenix
Disney On Ice presents a Disneyland® Adventure
April 9-April 12

Chicago/Rosemont
Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic
Sept 8-Sept 13

Price of ticket: Get 4 tickets for just $44 by entering the code "MOM" at the Disney On Ice website or on TicketMaster.

Offer good on all performances, minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each. Offer not valid on Gold Circle Seating, Front Row and VIP seating or combinable with other offers. Other restrictions may apply.

Why shoes are better than computers, and other parenting nonsense

As a mom, I am used to having little personal space. I am used to being interrupted constantly. I'm also used to the fact that my daughters end up copying what I do. So if I spend hours on the computer (and I do), it isn't that strange for them to develop an interest in it. And I'm ok with that. What's annoying is that I now often get nudged to get off the computer because my oldest wants to use it. "How much longer are you going to be?" "Why aren't you using your laptop?" are things I now hear often. (She knows better than to ask to use my laptop - for now.)

They mostly play games on the computer - it used to be Sesame Street and the Teletubbies, now it's mostly Barbie and Nickelodeon. But because in the past we have also downloaded games, I never tire to repeat "don't download anything without asking" and she is pretty good about that - for now. Recently she asked me to create an e-mail account for her. I did. But I'm relived she hasn't used it yet. I dread the day when she will discover chatting, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, the works. Because it's not like I can just hover in the background, watching everything she does. So I figured the best thing I can do is educate her. I found a site, NetSmartz, which is targeted to middle school and high school internet user. Granted, Sarah is a bit young for that, but I figure it's a good place to start. At least she won't find it boring, because it has cool graphics, and it sort of looks like a comic book.

Because really, she is approaching the age when the only way they listen is if they think it's something cool. And that's about the same age when moms, even young moms like me, tend to lose the "cool" factor in the eyes of their kids. Man, I am dreading that day. With Sarah, I need to come up with things like "I can beat you at this Wii game" and such, so I know it's short-lived. But with Stella, I figure as long as I have some great shoes I'll retain the cool factor in her eyes. One out of two isn't so bad. AND I'll make up for lost ground when Sarah hits her teens and wants to borrow said shoes. See? I knew there was more to shoe shopping than fashion: it's a good parenting tool too! At least if you have girls. Moms of boys, you'll have to find another excuse.

Let's play shape-up

The other day I was with a friend, discussing exercise and such, and she said: "This is the worst time of the year for regular gym-goers. The first few weeks of the new year the gym is full of people who have included 'exercise' or 'weight loss' as part of their New Year's resolutions, and the gym is overcrowded, full of people who don't really want to be there, and let me tell you, they are not good company". Heh. That sounds like a familiar scene. Statistics tell us that over 50% of the people who started going to the gym as part of their vow to get healthier, slimmer, more active in the New Year will drop out within the first 3 months, and likely not return at all before the year is over.

Is that a surprise? Hardly. And not because exercise is a generally disliked activity - it's because when you say "exercise" most people envision sweating for hours running on a treadmill, or frantically pedaling in spinning class. Personally, I have to admit that neither of those things sound tempting to me, either. I don't really like running or pedaling without ever getting anywhere (although some would beg to differ, since regular spinning got them to a smaller size).

The truth is that in order to be healthier, more active, you don't necessarily need to have a gym membership. You can workout outside. Your can get some equipment or videos and workout at home. I personally have a nice collection of videos, and while most gym bunnies snob exercise videos as dorky and "so 80s", anyone who has tried some of the new videos knows that there are some really good workouts out there on DVD. BeachBody, would appear as the obvious choice, because their 30-minute infomercials make them sound very appealing.



To be honest, I have tried 4 different programs they carry and I didn't like any of them. I found Power 90 incredibly boring, while some others, like Yoga Booty Ballet, Hip Hop Abs and Turbo Jam were way too cheesy for me. Not to mention that Turbo Jam didn't feel safe for the knees and Hip Hop Abs was, as my friend Sam would put it,"a load of wank". I ended up giving them away or trading them on SwapaDVD.com which, frankly, is just a brilliant idea. It's great to have a place where you can trade your DVDs if you don't like them, because you never feel like you wasted money, as long as you get to try something else. By the way, if you decide to check out SwapADVD (a free service), my nickname is HipMom - feel free to add me to your buddy list if.

An even better option, if you don't really know what you ware looking for, is to rent workout DVDs and try them at home for a few days. Netflix has some workout DVDs. Another option is Mypypeline.com, where you can download videos to keep or "rent" them for 24 hours and stream directly from your pc. The cool thing is that they also have programs for lots of different goals and levels, from beginner to advanced, from getting fit to play golf to postpartum fitness.

In the past year, a new trend has developed: people using Wii Fit to become more active. To be completely honest, I don't think you can have a well-rounded fitness routine by using only the Wii Fit, however it does offer lots of good points:
1. for starters, it's infinitely better than doing no exercise at all. At least you are standing and moving around.
2. if you are a busy parent you may find it easier to fit in a few challenges on the Wii Fit with your kids, than getting through a 30-minute workout uninterrupted (yes, that is from personal experience).
3. if you are just starting out, playing is a way for you to gradually get into exercising, improve your balance, your strength, your cardio capacity, without it feeling like too much work.

The market for Wii Fit-related products has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year, and now there are lots of games and activities to choose from. Even Gillian from The Biggest Loser made a Wii Fit workout!



Everyone wants to get in on the action! The popular videogame chain GameStop has actually come up with a month-long a campaign called “Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body” that includes a special incentive to discover active gaming. This isn't limited to Wii-Fit, it also includes Dance Dance Revolution and other active games, as well as games that do more in terms of "sharpening the mind" like Brain Age or Crosswords DS. You can stop by a local store and try out games that match your interests and skill level, and if you spend $35 or more on designated products will receive a free 12-month trial subscription to Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Redbook, Good Housekeeping or Esquire.
This is your chance to see if this is something you might enjoy, because you can try different things for free!

Like many, I really didn't see the big deal about Wii until my husband got one last Christmas. And now I see why it isn't like the other game consoles, a passive thing. Same with Wii Fit: I wasn't even sure I wanted it, but my husband got it and now I have to admit I'm glad he did. My favorite part about using Wii Fit is reason number 4: after a while using the Wii Fit, you will likely realize that you don't actually dread exercise as much as you though, and you might feel more comfortable branching out into other activities, be it pilates, kickboxing, dancing, or jumping on the elliptical trainer that has been sitting in the home office pretty much unused (*ahem* no reference to anyone specific, I swear).

And then you'll be on your way to a healthier, slimmer you. It may be trite, but little changes add up.

Into the wild

Today was a lovely day. And if that sounds sappy, please consider that my Saturdays are usually spent running errands and cleaning. Instead, let's revisit what happened today:

Good stuff:
- I went to the movies with my daughter Sarah.
- I bought a cute pair of boots on sale.
- We went to see the Holiday Boat Parade at Stamford Harbor.
- I got a great adjustment at my weekly chiro visit, which got rid of my backache.

Not-so-good stuff:
After the great adjustment I found out that the stupid insurance company kept my lovely chiro waiting for 5 months before ultimately declining coverage for the last 5 months of treatment. If it wasn't for the fact that I try to keep this blog PG13, I would share a few colorful adjectives that go with said insurance company in my head.

Still, you can't make one thing ruin your entire day, so I choose to look more closely at the first list (which is longer, anyway).

My favorite part of the day was definitely spending time with Sarah. We never get to do stuff, just the two of us. Today Stella stayed home with daddy so Sarah and I could enjoy some time together, and we went to see Madagascar 2. We are huge fans of Madagascar, so I was just as excited as she was – in fact, I even attached some Madagascar character dog tags to my bag, while Sarah refused to go out wearing them, concerned that she might look ridiculous. I obviously had no such concerns.

We loved the movie – it reminded me a bit of Shrek, the way the humor appealed sometimes to the kids, other times to adults, and most often to both. Sarah of course had a better idea than I did about the movie before we even entered the theater, since she has seen the preview and played the game several times already.

Yes, she played the game before watching the movie. Originally I had planned on going to the movies first and giving her the game after, but she had a stellar couple of weeks at school, getting three good grades in a row; and then, the day before Thanksgiving, she went through her very messy room and re-organized and worked until it was perfectly tidy. So come on, she deserved a reward – hence the Madagascar 2: Return to Africa Wii game!
And she really loves it. All weekend she has used her TV time/PC time to play the game, and is still super-excited about it. I think it's perfect for her age. It consists mostly of mini-games, which I think are better to keep children interested; and of course being a Wii game, it isn't exactly stationary :-)

It contains lots of action but no violence, and because it revolves around cartoon characters it keeps those watching entertained as well – Stella seems to think so at least! She just sits and watches her sister play, and laughs and laughs. I tell you, I don't know many things that can keep them BOTH entertained for a while, and anything that accomplishes that is a plus in my book ;-)

If you got this far despite not knowing what the heck I am talking about because you have never seen Madagascar, I gotta tell you, I am truly flattered that you find me this interesting, but really – you need to get off the pc and go rent Madagascar. Go on. Especially if you are a New Yorker. Just go. I know very well it's a cartoon, thank you very much – but don't let that stop you. Otherwise I'll send Gloria to sit on you.

And if you don't get that, it's because you haven't seen the movie yet ;-)

Let's talk about Barbie

In the immense universe of toys that have been produced since the beginning of time there's one doll that has aged gracefully: Barbie.

There is always some kind of controversy about Barbie: it used to be that her outfits were too outrageous, then it was that the pregnant Barbie gave a wrong idea of how babies are really born; now the main controversy is that Barbie, according to many, promotes an unhealthy body image. True, she may not be anatomically correct, but people, she is a doll. And not any doll, either: she is the one doll that has passed the test of time. Probably because she appeals to the spoiled princess in all of us: she has cars, pools, airplanes, and lots and lots of clothes and accessories. I love Barbie, even now, at 32. And I hate imitations. I am a Barbie snob.

For me, one of the cool things about having two daughters is all the Barbie time we can score. Sarah owns several Barbie dolls, and her dolls came with a horse, a nursery set, a kitchen and a playschool set among other things. They currently reside in the playroom we have in the basement - her Barbie paraphernalia is (barely) contained in a large plastic see through toy/storage box, and Stella LOVES to dig through it and take out all the Barbies, the accessories, the horse. She can't dress a Barbie on her own yet, but she can put shoes on the dolls, and she thoroughly enjoys picking out a pair of shoes for each doll (of course).

Sarah, on the other end, at the ripe old age of 9, doesn't play that much with Barbies anymore. I think it might have something to do with one of her obnoxious ex-schoolmates teasing her, because she used to always ask me to "play Barbies" with her. She still remains faithful to the Barbie movies though, and I can see why: they are pretty much fairy tales in movie form, and they feature really pretty clothes, cute pets and catchy songs among other things. If you ask her which Barbie movie is her favorite she will have a hard time deciding, but she has no doubt who her favorite sidekick is: Bibble, from the Fairytopia series. He is pretty cute, if a little annoying (I can only take baby talk in small doses, and only from babies).

Right now, all she can talk about is the new Barbie movie, Barbie and the Diamond Castle - where she heard of it, I have no idea, since we are one of those weird families who don't have TV connection and only watch DVDs, so she doesn't see commercials. Be as it may, she knows about the new movie and she really wants to see it, so much so that the other day, while we were discussing our upcoming trip to Disney World, she asked if there was a Barbie-themed park somewhere - no doubt hoping that she'd get to see real-life Barbie movie characters walking around, and perhaps score some cheesy cool bag along with a free copy of the movie.

She doesn't know, but she will be getting it soon, as long as she keeps up her grades. Or maybe she does know - you never know with girls, really. And she is my daughter, after all. You never really know what she is thinking.

Teaching responsibility

I am a mom, and it was just a matter of time.

This year I found myself uttering that sentence, yes, that one, the one that is so cliché it makes me cringe: "They grow up so fast!". My oldest daughter, Sarah, turned 9. She is tall, with long legs like her dad, and dark brown eyes like me. She is wonderful.

Sarah is growing, she is quickly approaching her tweens, and it shows. Because although I do mean it when I say she is wonderful, she is also developing her own personality, her own tastes, and starting to make up her own mind about more and more things - which translates into her disregarding what I ask her to do, or what I recommend she wear for the day, and so on. It's fine, it's normal. Except I do want her to know the difference between duties and hobbies, between things that need to be done and things that are nice or fun to do.

It's the eternal question for a parent: finding the line between letting them develop their own tastes, form their own personality, make their own decisions and giving them enough guidance to make the right decisions, not to become spoiled brats. Of course the best thing is to set a good example. But kids don't spend the whole day at home - how to make up for any bad influences they might get? We all know that at a certain age, what our friends do seems so much cooler than what our parents do, especially if they go in opposite directions.

But recently I found a tool on MomCentral that I feel helps me show that playing "on my team" is also cool: The Responsibility Project. Sarah enjoys watching the videos, empathizes with many of the characters and forms her own conclusions, based on what she sees. Sometimes she likes me watching with her or discussing the topic with her, other times she lets a few days pass before she bring it up - almost as if the video she saw provided her with food for thought and she needed time to form an opinion, decide where she stood on the topic or issue. That's how I like to think of it, at least; I like to think she she is reflecting on how to treat others, giving help when it's needed, being nice without expecting anything in return. And she likes to have the chance to form her own opinions.

It's a win-win.

Short and sweet... but it won't make you fat

Ok, I had a crazy busy weekend and I have tons to do this week to get everything ready for next week's trip - so let me give you a summary of some cool things I ran across in the past few days:

1. Endless.com's free overnight shipping: how cool is it that you can order a dreamy pair (of several ones) of shoes or a bag (or several ones) and have it arrive to your house the day after, without paying for the overnight shipping? And that if you don't like it you can send it back - also for free? I tried it and loved it - if my husband only knew he'd be shaking in his (new) boots!

2. Recyclable toothbrushes: I had been buying these toothbrushes for months when I found out that you can actually send them back to the company and the plastic will be recycled to make plastic decking, picnic tables and boardwalks. How cool is that? I used to buy them at Whole Foods, but now they also have them at Target, for $2.04. And I scored a coupon, too! If you want to use it, just go here. So you can keep ther environment clean as well as your teeth *wink*

3. A wonderful post illustrating the feelings of mothers the world over on unsolicited advice: Things you should never say to a new mother

4. RememberTheMilk.com - finally you can do it all in one place: create to-do lists (that you can manage also offline), mark your important dates, set reminders for tasks on your list or your event and choose if you want to getthem by e-mail, text or IM. And all for free! Hate the name, like the website.

5. DailySugar: I already love TeamSugar so I was excited to hear about their daily newsletter - but a little incentive never hurts, right? Subscribe to DailySugar and be entered to win a Giant City Balenciaga bag! Invite friends, and you have more chances of landing the fab prize.

Feel free to drop a comment with any websites or stuff you'd like to pass on! I love new things :-)