US Olympic Athlete - Speed Skater Allison Baver
Chatted with US Speed Skater, Allison Baver and her mom about the Olympic Experience and feeling ‘at home’ in the P&G Home in Vancouver.
US Olympic Speed Skater - Chad Hedrick Wins Bronze - Reaction
Learn more about Chad Hedrick.
US Olympic Athlete Noelle Pikus-Pace talks family, skeleton and Team USA
Every day I love my job - as a mom, as a blogger, as a vlogger, as someone who loves social media. But sometimes something special happens - this interview is part of that special journey to the Olympic Games.
Visit Noelle Pikus-Pace to learn more about the woman, the athlete, the mother.
And keep an eye out for her on Thursday when she competes.
Kanye West’s Outburst on the VMAs Proves he is a Terrible Role Model
I don’t often jump into the fray of pop culture, but I have to confess, I think Kanye West is classless. His social skills are suspect and I am disturbed his celebrity means there are kids who look up to him. Or maybe they did.
If you didn’t see his latest antics, you could initially watch the replay on Youtube, but the video has been pulled, I imagine as a result of copyright. At MTV’s Video Music Awards last night, Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech to basically say Beyonce should have won.
Reasons Kanye West should not be a role model:
1) He is a sore loser
2) He is a bully and thinks belittling others is appropriate
3) He clearly doesn’t know when to keep his thoughts to himself
4)He is the disastrous combination of a narcissist and an egomaniac
5) He is wasting an amazing opportunity to focus his talents for good
This is a performer who has a following - there are people who love his music - and he is taking that genuine opportunity to use his celebrity for good and stomping on it.
I’m all for free speech - but there is a LINE. How dare you interrupt anyone when they are accepting an award - let alone a 19 year old. From what I have seen, Taylor is very close to her mom. If I was Taylor’s mom, it would have taken all the restraint I possessed to not jump on that stage and yank him down. Forcibly.
That said, clearly Beyonce is the Anti-Kanye. When she won likely the most coveted award of the night, she remembered her feelings as a teenager at the VMAs and brought Taylor out to have ‘her moment’.
Fortunately, there are Beyonces in the world to overshadow the Kanyes.
Dear Social Media,
Friend - you are a crap shoot.
You are a giver and a taker.
You have put me back in touch with friends from days gone by(thanks Facebook!), but you have also opened the doors to less savory (though flattering) events.
I never expected to see and hear from some of those High School folks again - but I am loving the reconnection. Wait….you’re a mom? A dad? And you have kids the age WE WERE when I last saw you? Crazy.
And the college crew - how mind-blowing to watch them come out of the woodwork with husbands, wives and kids.
To say nothing of my new circle of social media gurus - men and women, mommy bloggers, women entrepreneurs, and work at home gals - all new friends.
Twitter. Ning. StumbleUpon. I Digg you all.
And then of course, there are our new friends in the Czech Republic. You see, since my family was unwittingly made the poster-children for a local grocery store - I’ve been getting visits from all over the world.
And, hey, new visitors - thanks for stopping by….I know you came to see this:
the ’wow-did-that-really-happen-story”, but I like making new friends - feel free to come by again.
You can also see a few other versions of the story by clicking here, or here and here if you speak other languages.
5 Diet Tips For Kids That Don’t Involve Food or Exercise
I’m grateful again. This time to Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, M.D. for giving me this wonderful guest post. We all make our children’s health a priority, but Dr. Dolgoff also makes it her life’s work. You can visit her here, where she specializes in child and adolescent weight management. I hope you find her tips as useful as I do!
Obviously diet and exercise are the key to losing weight. However, there are many other little things we do every day that either help or sabotage our ‘get healthy’ efforts. Here are some tips on how you can make your child’s weight loss easier without starving of spending hours at the gym.
1. Teach your children to like what they see in the mirror. Focus on their great legs or strong arms. Remind them that their bodies have many wonderful attributes. Dieters with higher self-esteem lose more weight!
2. Help them lose their inner negative voice. We all have that little voice in our heads, telling us that everything we do is wrong. “You shouldn’t have eaten that…” “Why didn’t you go to the gym today?” This voice makes us feel worthless. When that voice arises, tell your kids to tell the voice to shut up! Or teach them to counter back with something positive. “Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that but I only had a half portion. To make up for it, I will cut back on my afternoon snack.” “I really didn’t feel like going to the gym today but I will go tomorrow, even though tomorrow is usually my off day. I don’t want exercise to seem like a chore; I can reschedule my gym sessions as long as I get in my 4 or 5 days.”
3. Celebrate small milestones. You don’t have to wait until goal to congratulate your children. Set smaller mini-goals so they have that sense of accomplishment. And pick a (non-food) reward. Maybe let them buy that new shirt they’ve been wanting or let them go with their friends to the movies on a school night. Just find something that they want that doesn’t involve food. It needn’t be expensive!
4. Dieting can be stressful. Help your children find a non-food way to deal with stress. Some people like yoga. Others try deep breathing. I like taking a long, hot bath with a good book! Your child may want to spend a few minutes playing a video game. Exercise can also be a stress release. Plan in advance- make sure they know how to handle stressful situations so they don’t instinctively turn to food.
5. Teach your children to enjoy food! It may seem counter-intuitive but if your children really enjoy a meal, they may eat less. First, teach them to eat slowly. Savor the flavors. Notice the feeling of the food on their tongues. They should not just throw the food down their throats. Have them pay attention to the food and allow their bodies the time it takes to realize that it is full.
A special day
Maybe today’s date is significant for you - a birthday or an anniversary.
For many of us, today is just another day.
But for a certain special group of people - today’s date - February 28th - marks a day to spread the word about a kind of suffering many of us don’t experience.
Today is World Rare Disease Day. For those suffering from a rare disease, today is a day to talk about rare illnesses and how they affect a person and their family - a misdiagnosis, delays in finding the true problem and potentially the inability to receive treatment - rendering their condition fatal.
I won’t pretend I knew of World Rare Disease Day before this last week. The person who gets the credit for enlightening me - Carrie Ostrea. Carrie is a mother of three. Her youngest, 7 month old Hannah, suffers from an incredibly rare disease - Gaucher’s Disease - Type 2 or Type 3. Her condition is often painful and is believed to be terminal.
But this news has not stopped Carrie, her husband, Robert, or either of their older children - Ethan and Abby from believing in miracles or fighting for a cure.
This is Hannah’s brief story.
You can visit Hannah’s website to learn more.
I asked Carrie how people could help. Of course monetary donations are helpful in the search for a cure, but, to Carrie - one of the most important things you and I can do is to simply spread the word about rare diseases. While so many suffer from different symptoms, much of their experience is the same - the waiting for a diagnosis, the fight for a cure, the lack of available resources.
I would love it if you passed this story around - to give Hannah’s family and those like them a little bit of the hope they could truly use.
