Domestically Challenged

Working vs. Stay at home mom

As you all know, I am very much interested in the Mommy Wars debate. Not so much because I believe in one side more than the other, but because I have been on both sides and see the validity in both.

Here is a great blog entry about it from a blogger whom I must now begin stalking, Surrender Dorothy.

I am attempting to figure out what the hell a trackback is, so we will see if it works. I have no idea what it's purpose is, but for some stupid reason it seems like something I should be doing.

Which Muppet are you?

I found this cute little test over at Martha O'Conners blog and gave it a whirl. I think it was pretty accurate...

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

GCC tour stop - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

If you are looking for some good books, keep checking back here for the GCC tour stops. Summer is a busy time of year.

This stop features author Jennifer Lynn Barnes, whose first book Golden went on sale recently. Now, normally I read through the press release, post about the book and move on. Something on Jennifer's bio stopped me:

A Native Oklahoman, Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a recent graduate of Yale University, where she studied cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought).  Her research on animal and child cognition has been featured on ABC’s World News Tonight, Animal Planet, and The New York Times, and Jennifer will be spending the 2006/2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge.

Jennifer wrote Golden at the age of nineteen, and her second book, Tattoo, will be available in January of 2007.

Now, when you first read that, you probably can't tell what line stopped me. Was it that she graduated from Yale (you go girl!)? Was it that she will be doing research abroad? Or was it the fact that she wrote Golden WHEN SHE WAS 19?

HUH? 19?!?!?

Do you remember what you were doing when you were 19? Are you cringing, blushing, or both? ;) Sounds like a woman who knows what she wants and knows exactly how to get it.

About the book:

At Emory High, there are two kinds of people: those who matter, and those who don’t.

When Lissy James moves from California to Oklahoma, she finds herself in the middle of a teenage nightmare: a social scene to rival a Hollywood movie. And if understanding the hierarchy of the Goldens vs. the Nons isn’t hard enough, Lissy’s ever growing Aura Vision is getting harder and harder to hide, and if she’s not careful, she’s going to become a Non faster than you can say “freak.”

But it’s becoming clear that Emory High has a few secrets of its own. Around the halls, the term “special powers” goes way beyond one’s ability to attract the opposite sex, and there may be something more evil than the A-crowd lurking in the classrooms. Lissy can see a lot more than the average girl, but she’s about to learn the hard way that things aren’t always as they appear and you can’t always judge a girl by her lip gloss.

What People Are Saying:

“…A well-balanced blend of fast-moving fantasy and light, playful chick lit.”

–Kirkus Reviews

“Golden glows with the spot-on 
insights and pitch-perfect prose of someone whose knowledge of adolescence is absolutely fresh… Golden is a captivating mix of everyday teen terrors and supernatural suspense."

-Borders Online, July Newsletter

Check out Jennifer ~

Website:

http://www.jenniferlynnbarnes.com

Blog:

http://jenlyn-b.livejournal.com/

GCC tour stop - author Lauren Barnholdt

This tour stop features author Lauren Barnholdt. Her first book, called Reality Chick hits stores in August. Here's the info:

All hour study fests.....all-night parties.... Going away to college means total independence and freedom. Unless of course your freshman year is taped and televised for all the world to watch. On uncensored cable. Sweet and normal Ally Cavanaugh is one of five freshpeople shacking up on In the House, a reality show filmed on her college campus. (As if school isn't panic-inducing enough!) The cameras stalk her like paparazzi, but they also capture the fun that is new friends, old crushes, and learning to live on your own. Sure, the camera adds ten pounds, but with the freshman fifteen a given anyway, who cares? Ally's got bigger issues -- like how her long-distance bf can watch her loopy late-night "episode" with a certain housemate...

Freshman year on film. It's outrageous. It's juicy.

And like all good reality TV, it's impossible to turn off.

Bio

Lauren Barnholdt is a twenty-six-year-old writer who was born and raised in Syracuse , NY . Her articles and short stories have appeared in Elements Magazine, Girls Life, and on mensclick.com. Her first book for young adults, REALITY CHICK, is in stores now. Lauren also teaches a popular online course called How to Write and Sell the YA Chick-lit Novel. She is currently at work on her next YA book, which will be out next summer. Lauren now resides in Central Connecticut , and when she’s not writing, she watches a lot of reality TV.

Visit her website at www.laurenbarnholdt.com and her blog at www.livejournal.com/users/laurenbarnholdt.

Now you have NO excuse to not have a good read this summer!! :)

Another reason being an author is cool...

I am so narcissitic. Everytime I go into a bookstore I have to check and see if they have my book in. Imagine my utter delight when I went to my local B&N and saw not 1, but 3 copies of me there!

Potty Time!

OK, so my daughter is now officially over 3 and still isn't potty trained. I made the executive decision that we would begin the torture process.

I went out to Target and bought anything that I thought may help, including a variety of bribes. I left off the alcohol (which I really could have used), but remembered the toys and candy.

So far, the process has been pretty good. Yesterday was an accident free day (though the lake she created this morning more than made up for it) and she has even held it during a few car trips. I hate having to put her in diapers and pull ups at nap and at night, but its better than the mess she creates.

What blows my mind is that she is SO much more difficult to train than my son was. I mean, he was done in two days with VERY few accidents and was night trained in like two months. And this was before he was 3. Not her. She sits on the potty sometimes for over 30 minutes, only to get up and sit back down and go. She scoots all around the house on the potty and has even eaten snack while sitting on the mini-can.

So, not only do I have to eventually teach her to wipe herself, but I have to teach her that she should actually be peeing in the bathroom and that it isn't a good idea to eat while sitting on the toilet. Reading - yes, eating - no.

Check out Baby Talk Radio!

Be sure to check out Baby Talk Radio - I am now a contributor!

Re-entry Mommas

So I recently received an email from a mom who is planning to return to the workforce and it really got me thinking. She was concerned that her skills as a mom wouldn't translate to the working world. I can totally see where she is coming from and I think a lot of moms have the same fears.

Personally, I think the fears while legit, they shouldn't hold moms back from doing what they want to do. The key is focusing on the positives. Don't focus on the fact that you are a waitress, cook, cleaner, taxi, etc., etc. Focus on your ability to do what needs to be done no matter what. Focus on your organizational skills and your ability to multi-task.

Here are a few good links for re-entry moms:

http://careerplanning.about.com/od/stayathomeparents/a/return_to_work.htm

http://parenting.ivillage.com/mom/workfamily/0,,lz_6qvs,00.html

http://www.babycenter.com/dilemma/toddler/toddlerwork/1313496.html

http://www.momresumes.com/What%20To%20Do%20When%20Mother%20Is%20On%20Your%20Resume.htm

GCC author Joshilyn Jackson!

This is going to sound sooooo cheesy, but I am SO in awe of this woman. Not only is she a phenomenal author (if you haven't read her first book gods in Alabama, RUN to a bookstore, buy it and do not resume regular life until you finish it), and an absolutely hilarious blogger (see Faster than Kudzu) but she is SO nice. So nice, in fact, that she offered me help with a book proposal that later turned into my first book Domestically Challenged on a Sunday while she was at home writing. How's that for nice?

Her second book, Between, Georgia has just hit the shelves and I am waiting for my autographed copy now. Look at that cover...isn't it divine?

OK, enough of my drooling and blabbering, here's the skinny on the book:

Synopsis:

There's always been bad blood between the Fretts and the Crabtrees. After all, the Fretts practically own the tiny town of Between, Georgia, while the Crabtrees only rent space in its jail cells.

Stacia Frett is a deaf artist with a genetic condition that is causing her to slowly go blind. She's lost the love of her life, and when her vision goes, she'll lose her career as well. She's asking God why He keeps her breathing in and out, until the night fifteen year old Hazel Crabtree shows up on her doorstep brandishing a stomach swollen with a pregnancy she'd hidden for nine months. Stacia thinks Hazel's unwanted baby might be God's answer, and so the Fretts decide to steal it...

Thirty years later, Nonny Frett is a successful interpreter living in Athens, Georgia. She understands the meanings of "rock" and "hard place" better than any woman ever born. She's got two mothers, "one deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy." She's got two men; Her husband is easing out the back door and her best friend is laying siege to her heart in her front yard. She has a job that holds her in the city, and she's addicted to a little girl who's stuck deep in the country. And she has two families; The Fretts, who stole her and raised her right, and the Crabtrees, who lost her and can't forget that they've been done wrong.

In Between, Georgia, population 90, the feud that began before Nonny was born is escalating, and a random act of violence will set the torch to a thirty-year old stash of highly flammable secrets. This might be just what the town needs, if only Nonny wasn't sitting in the middle of it...

A #1 BookSense pick

In her accomplished second novel, Jackson sweeps the reader away to a place where gravel crunches underfoot and the smell of corn bread wafts in the air. Between, a tiny dot on the Georgia state map, is oversized when it comes to personalities. The plot is precise and sweet, and Jackson includes the perfect ingredients: quirky characters, a picturesque setting and ample surprises. Evocative and lovingly crafted.
     - Kirkus *starred review*

I can't WAIT to read this book!!! :)

GCC tour author - Kyra Davis

This GCC tour stop features Kyra Davis, author of Passion, Betrayal and Killer Highlights.

Synopsis:

Sophie Katz has just offered a man $12,000 for his services…is she desperate of just meshugeneh?

Considering the kind of disasters that usually befall the half-black, half Jewish mystery writer, probably both.  Because the last time Sophie saw sexy P.I. Anatoly Darinsky, he practically danced a jig when she waved goodbye-a normal reaction for a man who’d nearly bought the farm due to her misguided attempts at vigilante justice. What are the chances he’d agree to take incriminating pictures of her sister’s philandering husband?  Or that he’d let her tag along-you know…for research?

But when her brother-in-law turns up dead and her sister becomes the prime suspect Sophie’s priority is finding the real killer.  With or without Anatoly’s help.  Her brother-in-law’s secret life yields plenty of suspects, but the

San Francisco

police aren’t taking any of them seriously.  So Sophie does what comes naturally to her: she stirs up trouble (to lure the killer out, of course). 

But if her crazy plan works will everybody survive the outcome? 

In the rollicking follow-up to Sex, Murder And A Double Latte, Sophie hones her irreverent humor and sleuthing skills to a sharp edge.  Fans of Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Millhone will no doubt love Sophie and find her snappy comebacks and quirky cohorts as addictive as good coffee and a sexy dye job (okay, let’s stick with the caffeine).

About the author: Novelist Kyra Davis has spent her life in

San Francisco

and the greater Bay Area, where she currently lives with her young son.  Now a full-time single parent and writer, Davis previously divided her time between a career in the fashion industry and various artistic endeavors such as acting, singing and dancing.

First of all, she's a single mom and a writer?!?!? Kudos to her!! This sounds like another great read. I am hoping to have more time to read in the near future and plan on getting this and its prequel soon!