CurrentMom

A Sweet Bite of Summer Year-Round: Recipe for the Best Blueberry Cobbler

Meal Monday

It's been a tough few weeks at my house. My toddler's immune system is getting knocked around as if the "cold season" started a month ago, causing him suffer through one cold after another (please let him be healthy when he is inevitably exposed to the flu!). And his immune system likes to share, so we have gotten every single cold, too.  Which has made the fact that it's my husband's and my busiest time of the year at the office even harder than usual.

When I'm tired, sick, and working nights and weekends, meals that normally make it onto the easy weeknight meal list seem insurmountably difficult to get onto the table. We've been eating a lot of frozen vegetables and delivery pizza.

And so I have been longing for the never-ending, light-filled evenings of summer when I would stay up to make a great dessert. And what would I make? This recipe for the best blueberry cobbler.

Does High Unemployment Help Twitter?

Startup Sunday

Photo by Dimitry Ekz via Twitpic.

I pose to you this question: is Twitter booming because one in 10 American workers is unemployed?

Don't worry, this isn't an anti-Twitter screed about aimless people tweeting about the latest Oprah episode or the weather. I happen to think Twitter is a great resource for networking, sharing information and deepening professional connections. In other words, it's a good place to job hunt or promote an entrepreneurial venture.

So again, I ask: does high unemployment help Twitter? To begin the conversation, take these selected data points from last week.

• A graphic designer at loose ends tweeted me with a creative re-design of my Twitter background. He was trolling for new clients and, I imagine, had time on his hands to play with a design.
• An editor I recently started writing for invited me to join him on a Twitter game. (I'm not a gamer but I was happy at the prospect of a personal connection on top of our professional one.)
• I saw a job listing on Twitter and forwarded it to a friend who was recently laid off.

Not only does high unemployment give people free time to spend on Twitter -- and the incentive to network their way to work -- it also provides space for people interested in starting their own business. If you're looking for work, it's a prime opportunity to drum it up for yourself.

Personally, I have yet to land a new client from using Twitter. But Twitter is driving lots of traffic to my About.com blog and to this one, which helps my bottom line. I know that being fluent with social media makes me more attractive to some news organizations. And most importantly, Twitter has given me an informal way to connect directly with other people writing about work-life issues, gender roles and entrepreneurship.

What about you? Are you on Twitter -- or starting your own business -- because you're unemployed? Or, do you take great offense at the suggestion? Please chime in.

One More Person to Weigh in on "Balloon Boy"

Sharing Saturday

Photo credit: Timothy K. Hamilton via Flickr

Ahhh, the Balloon Boy.  A child that captured our imaginations and our hearts, and just as quickly, dashed them.  A community rallied around his family, hoping to save him from what was considered to be imminent danger.  Strangers and friends joined together, as the rest of the nation watched captivated and praying.  For those of us with children, we were especially spellbound with thoughts centering around "what if this was our child?  Could he (or she) actually do something like this?"  Will the balloon boy be OK? 

And then, a collective sigh, as he was seen safely, hiding in the garage. 

This was a family’s fifteen minutes of fame. And it was capitalized on. Now these parents are faced with legal charges: conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and making a false statement to police. 

Toughing Out Toddler Temper Tantrums

Family Friday

My youngest child turned three last weekend, and to celebrate, we visited the various attractions in Hershey, Pennsylvania (including Hersheypark in the Dark in 36-degree rain), as well as the new Hershey Story museum.  Although my older two enjoyed themselves immensely, the birthday boy threw a seemingly unbroken string of temper tantrums.

Anyone who has ever picked up a parenting magazine in a doctor's office knows that parents are supposed to ignore temper tantrums.  If you pay attention to them, or God forbid give in to them, you'll reinforce the behavior, resulting in even more tantrums.  I get it – we all get it.  We parents aim for words, not screams and tears.

A few months ago, one of our friends (annoyingly blunt and usually right) told us that our toddler is "controlling you through grunts."  My husband bristled, mostly because it's true – Danny often prefers to point and grunt, resulting in someone fetching the item in question.

And no, he does not have a speech disorder.  When it's convenient for him, Danny routinely rattles off sentences like "I want my candy bag!", "Where are my alligator slippers?", and "I want more milk, please." (Sense a theme yet?)  I think he has simply found that tantrums get more interesting results sometimes.  For instance, the other four of us have often gathered around him, mid-tantrum, studying him as if he were an alien or a two-headed dog, all the while shooting out hypotheses:
- "Is he hungry?"
- "Is he thirsty?"
- "Does his ear hurt?"
- "Is he tired?"
- "Does he just want to be held?"

Honestly, who could resist all that attention?  As my mom says, he's "no dummy."

Tantrums have increasingly emerged at the beginning of dinner, and I suspect he is bargaining for something tastier, like cookies or cake instead of "growing food."  In general, tantrums pop up when life does not unfold according to his wishes.  This past weekend, our family walked the three blocks from our hotel to the Hershey Story museum.  Danny decided that he did not want to walk or ride in the stroller; his goal was to be carried.

Not Sewing for Halloween

Image by Lyn Millett via Flickr

Technology Thursday

I am not sewing a Halloween costume for my son. I will be surprised if I ever sew a Halloween costume for him. It is just not something I can imagine wanting to spend time on. I recognize he may some year wish to be something at Halloween for which I can't purchase or easily improvise a costume. But I hope not. It's not because I don't sew -- I have a sewing machine and even use it from time to time. But I use it to make quilts, not clothing. And I can't hand sew anything. Well, I could probably sew on a button if I had to, but I've never properly learned to hand stitch. And, almost of the quiltmaking I do, though, I do with the help of technology.

A few years back I decided I needed to find something to do with my hands. I was spending way too much time with words, concepts, analytical frameworks, and just bits, bits, bits and words, words, words. It was time to find a way to incorporate atoms back into my life.