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This week we're talking MOMMY BLOGGING.

Do you consider yourself a mommy blogger? Do you hate that term? Do you think mommy bloggers are changing the way people do business online?

We want to hear what you have to say!



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Last year I read H.B. Moore's novel, Alma the Younger, and reviewed it. I thought it was her best novel to date. And I wasn't alone because that book won the Best of State Award in Literary Arts for fiction for 2010.
This year Moore's new novel, Ammon, will be a definite contender for the award in 2011.

Here's the first paragraph of the back cover of the book:

With the fire of a newfound testimony, Ammon and his brethren leave Zarahemla to preach the gospel in Lamanite lands, carrying nothing but hunting weapons and the promises of God. Spotted by an enemy scout, they part ways in the dense jungle with hopes of reuniting at the close of their harvest. Ammon follows the Spirit to the borders of Ishmael, where he's ambushed just seconds after spotting Elena, a fair-skinned woman who captures his interest.

This novel will appeal to young adults and adults alike. It offers a lot of action and adventure mixed with romance. Most of the story is told in two view points: Ammon and Elena (the woman who captures his heart).

The main character Ammon lives up to his name being the strong, tall, handsome Nephite prince who has renounced the throne to serve God by spreading the gospel in enemy territory.

Elena is a wonderful leading lady in this tale, who is adventurous and handy with a bow and arrow. She has a strong loyalty to family and especially her father. And, of course, she's very pretty.

I really enjoyed this book. Moore had quite a task of telling a story that many LDS people already know, but she's added wonderful layers making the tale come to life with setting and tension. I loved reading scenes based on the story in the Book of Mormon and seeing how she handled them.

As always Moore's writing is smooth and draws the reader in. I especially like how she added character thoughts that ring true. For example, in a tender scene between Elena and Ammon, Elena thinks ... "She knew he had been born a prince and was meant for something greater than defending the king's flocks, yet in her eyes, his greatest service had been making her feel valued." Moore hit a universal theme. All women want to feel valued.

I enjoyed Ammon and I highly recommend it. To find out more about H.B. Moore and her books check out her blog My Writer's Lair.
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The September 2011 Visiting Teaching Printable is ready for download!

How To Print

-Download the zipped file by clicking the pink “Click Here To Download” button
-Your computer should automatically download a zipped file
-Right click the folder and select “Extract” to open the folder
-You now have the images on your computer ready to print!

This month’s digital paper pack comes from Leelou Blogs. Pick up your Smarty Pants digital scrapbooking kit here.

These images are for printed non-commercial, personal use only.

1. I don't dust. If I see it, I wipe it. If I don't....it's not going anywhere, right?
2. I don't iron.  My shirts are going to be chewed on, pulled on, puked on, peed on....no one is going to notice if my collar is crisp!
3. I don't vacuum every room, every week either. Yes, I know, that's gross.  
4. I also don't change everyone's sheets on a weekly schedule. They're kids. They don't sweat (but what they do is WAY, WAY worse. That's when I change them!)
5. Window washing. Because whenever I wash them, someone follows behind me licking the windows. I've caught the 6-year-old at this. It's disturbing.

This season of my life is messy.

It's full of sticky handprints, bare feet, and diaper changes. I know that I won't always have a baby in my arms. Pretty soon, those tiny tooshies won't be fighting to sit on my lap. There won't be bare feet running from the garden, to the swing set, and back again. I won't be pestered for a snack, even though we just had lunch.

Yes, this season of my life is more chaotic, more loud, and a little more messy than I had planned for. I really do look forward to having clean windows again... but for right now, this is my life, and it's a good one.

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Do not, I repeat DO NOT believe the commercial hype from Dawn Dish Detergent about "getting the grease out."

It may get the grease off your dishes, but out of hair? Yeah. Not so much.

Moxie likes to put crap in her hair. Water. Jam. Lotion and currently, her favorite: Carmex. Lots and lots of Carmex.

Carmex does not come out of your hair with one wash of Dawn Dish Detergent. Or even seven.

I was sitting at the computer at my parents house, doing something incredibly important.  Like checking my email and ignoring my kids.  My sister came in and said :”Uhh, you need to take care of your kid, pointed at Moxie and then walked out, laughing.”

I looked down and Moxie had taken my brand new—JUMBO I might add—bottle of Carmex and smothered her hair in it. The entire bottle in her hair.

Seriously people. That is nasty.

And greasy.

I freaked out because how in the Sam-Hill am I supposed to get that OUT?

I immediately put her in the tub and used regular shampoo. All that resulted was a wet, greasy mess.

I washed with regular shampoo three more times but yielded nothing but a screaming kid.

I combed it while it was wet with shampoo in it and all that garnered was a need for a thorough tub cleaning. 

I remembered the commercial from Dawn saying “It get’s the grease out”. 

Yeah. It doesn’t. I tried. Four times.

We were leaving to head up into the mountains on an impromptu picnic so I slathered Moxie’s hair into a pony-less-pony-tail and we headed off.

Seriously gross, people.


I stewed and fretted the entire trip (after taking pictures of the pony-less- pony-tail wearing girl crying) wondering how I was going to get this mess out of my kids hair.

This is where my testimony of Google started to falter because when I Googled “How to get Carmex out of my kids hair” all that came up was from Carmex itself saying “Dawn Dish Detergent gets Carmex out EASY.”

Yeah. Already tried it, and it doesn’t work.

I stumbled and fumbled around until I came up with a sure fire method of getting Carmex out of your Child's hair. I combined a couple of methods I found on Google and it works. Trust me. My Testimony has been restored. 

1. Wash your child’s hair in Dawn Dish Soap—just use a dime sized amount.

2. Take a serving spoon and sprinkle Corn Starch over your child’s hair.  Rub it in really good so that it makes a paste on your child’s head.

3.  Shampoo with Dawn Dish Soap (while Corn Starch is still on head).

4. Rinse and repeat.

I usually have to do steps two – four 3-4 times.

5. Wash child’s hair with regular soap.

The Corn Starch absorbs the grease and pulls it out of your child's hair.

It would have been fine had I only had to do this process once.  I have, however, had to do this process no less than five more times since my first invention of it.  It really does work.  It’s gross, and you have to scrub the tub really good because of the corn starch and carmex mixed together make a nasty greasy tub ring.

Let’s hope this Carmex wearing phase of Moxie’s goes away soon and is not indicative of future phases.

Like Mo-hawks.

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Elisa is the owner of Mormon Mommy Blogs . Her husband, four kids (ages ranging 16 to 3), a mortgage and a dog is what provides her food for fodder on her non-award winning blog: Crazyland: Tales from the Motherboard.

image credit: teachersalary.org

Dear Parents of School Attending Children,

As a former teacher, there are some things I hope you'll keep in mind as you send your children off to school this year.

First and foremost, your child's teacher wants to be your child's teacher. She (or he) has spent more hours than you can imagine working to be so. Even new teachers have worked tirelessly to be the best they can be for your child. Please realize that.

Secondly, you and the teacher are on the same team. You have your child's best interest in mind and so do they. When I was teaching it seemed to me that quite a lot of parent's forgot that detail. Multiple times in my short career, I saw evidence of this. Sometimes it was simply in the form of speaking badly of their child's teacher in front of their child. Sometimes is was completely bailing their child out of a consequence or of a disciplinary action. Sometimes it is yelling three inches away from the teacher's face in front of their child. Whichever way, it communicates to the child that it's teacher vs. parent -and every child knows the parent always wins. This makes day to day classroom management much more difficult than it should be. Cutting each other down is just not what teammates do. Teammates work together and communicate.

Also, please keep in mind although the challenges they meet on a daily basis are more fit for super heros, your child's teacher is in fact a human. Your child is one of many in the classroom full of children who have unique and varying needs, needs that must be met multiple times a day, every day. To keep up with the demand most teachers put in ten to twelve hour work days. Try to keep that in mind when you get annoyed because your child's test wasn't graded right away, or a progress report didn't get sent home on the usual day.

I'll leave you with just one more tiny thing to think about. Similar to the work of mothers, the work of teachers is often unnoticed and/ or unappreciated. From time to time a simple "thanks" is really nice to hear.

Best Wishes,

A Former Teacher

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Heather likes to think of herself as A Goddess in Progress, which is where she normally shares the personal experiences of her life as a military wife and mother. She also can be found at Blossoming Bloggers, a blog for women wanting to grow their own blogs.

I am grateful to say The Flying Dream became less and less frequent and finally disappeared altogether when I figured out that I didn’t have to “pedal” so hard….

During my twenties I filled my environment with reminders that I was a daughter of a GOD –- and, therefore, ought to be perfect. Sadly, my little family suffered for it. My mothering was too intense at times and my honey-man was roughed over now and again for chancing to be ill on a Sunday or forgetting the tithing check.

Gratefully, a speaker at a stake women’s conference introduced a concept honestly new to me: GRACE. She spoke of the folly of trying to “earn” our way into the Celestial Kingdom, describing a Savior who stands with open arms to embrace us while we keep our distance with excuses. (Mormon 6:17) This visual struck a deep chord with me.

Years of scripture study followed. HOW, I wondered, were the prophets able to continue toward greatness despite their inadequacies? I knew what the end was supposed to be without being square on how to get to that end: living the gospel like a project manager with complicated lists, flow charts, and deadlines wasn’t working.

It took a while, but I finally got the answer. In his mercy, Christ offers His perfection in absence of our own. Personal "perfection", or "finishing", is a long way off -- impossible to attain in this life. In essence, our lists and flow charts can be boiled down to ONE goal:

Uniting ourselves with Jesus, becoming One with Him through a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

When this lesson sunk deep, Moroni’s charge to “lay a hold of every good thing” no longer perplexed me. My life had been a juggling act of “good things”, but now I knew that I just needed to wrap my arms around the Savior and hold on tight. Looking back on the years since my “rebirth”, I can hardly believe how naturally my joy and successes have come.

This was possible not just because I was embracing the Savior, but because He was holding ME. The fear of "falling" (Jude 1:24) melted away as little by little I felt “lifted up”, not in pride, but in perspective. I began to see others, especially my family, through the Lord’s eyes: discovering" my children instead of "molding" them, "respecting" my husband instead of "perfecting" him, until today, I can honestly say I look forward to the resurrection, when I expect to be “brought forth triumphant through the air…”

No pedaling required.

[Note: Our two youngest (homeschooled) kiddos graduated from Brigham Young University-Provo last week. The last time we actually visited "the Y", was just before our move to England nearly a year and a half ago…]

We stroll across the campus of our alma mater. Actually, calling it our alma mater is a little presumptuous since we never actually graduated. But lucky for us, we just happen to be in town thirty years later – visiting our kids who are getting degrees -- when we get the call that Dale’s college transcript is required to complete the Visa process. So, all it takes is this little walk and $2.00 to settle a dispute between the United States of America and Great Britain.

No sooner has the twenty-something behind the window handed us the paper, but Dale questions whether it’s worth the two bucks. There are so many starts and stops on that paper; it reads more like a bus schedule than a college transcript. We belly laugh and wonder out loud: what in the world were we thinking?! It’s hard to remember. What we do remember is that, for us, the final school bell rang when our first baby was born severely disabled; her care required daddy to carry four jobs to pay for the therapy that mommy carried out 24/7.  To leave off school for her sake was the first crossroads decision we ever made—the first of ten thousand million
trillion.

Shall we try a new job? Do we pay the taxes or the mortgage? Is the opportunity worth a move to another state? What about another baby? Woops. Too late. There are so many decisions of significance in marriage that I shudder to think of making them alone. We woke up one morning and I was foolish but he was wise and then two nights later he was impetuous and I was careful, followed by six days of my emotion and his logic: back and forth, round and round, up and down: we balanced each other out and filled in the gaps.
 
I’m trying to pack our bags to leave the old college town.

“Look at this hotel room,” I say, “All our clothes are hither and yon.”

“That’s us,” he agrees. “You’re hither and I’m yon.”



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It's almost September. We definitely like that, because September means it's AUTUMN which means it's LESS HOT, and that is a WIN.

Of course we would be remiss if we didn't at least mention Hurricane Irene. Not that we LIKE hurricanes. We just like watching everything unfold. And I especially like how the weathermen are the new network stars. How many ways can you describe "heavy wind"? GO!

In all seriousness though, if, like myself, you are in an area with hurricane and tropical storm warnings please, please take precautions and stay safe.

(And HEY! Bonus! Your food storage and emergency preparedness will come in handy! Way to be exceedingly righteous!)


Here's the latest issue of The Barrel. This is also the last issue of The Barrel, because it is undergoing a renovation. Amen.

I have been listening to Amos Lee for years.  He is an artist that has flown completely under the radar, and his backup singer /piano player from his debut album  is more famous than he is. She sings back up on several of his tracks.  

He is able to blend blues, soul, jazz and folk in such a natural way.  He is reminiscent of Jack Johnson, or John  Mayer and his voice reminds me of a cool Midwestern evening.  I know. That sounds weird, but whenever I listen to him. . .  my mind wanders to warm evenings in the Midwest, with fireflies blinking and the sun slowly setting.  I can see it in my minds eye. Peaceful, happy, warm nights with Amos.

He paints vibrant pictures with his music.  It is  the kind of music that causes me to contemplate and think, and it is wonderful driving music.  It is music that compels me to write.  His music is  memory inducing music.




I remember hearing him on David Letterman a several years ago, and being quite excited! Then there was that AT&T commercial using his song Sweet Pea.  It didn't click that it was Amos until I was listening to his album again.  He  played on Austin City Limits (!) -- which I would give my eye teeth to see!  He has also been featured on episodes of The House, Studio 60, Just Like Heaven, Six Degrees, ER and a season finale of Greys Anatomy.

I love his songs Shout Out; Colors; Careless; Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight; and Southern Girl.  In all honesty, I would be hard pressed to say which of his many songs are my favorite. They all play easy on my ears, and are subtle, simple, sultry and superb!

Give him a listen and see if you don't fall madly in love as well.

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Elisa is the owner of Mormon Mommy Blogs . Her husband, four kids (ages ranging 16 to 3), a mortgage and a dog is what provides her food for fodder on her non-award winning blog: Crazyland: Tales from the Motherboard.

How are you getting ready for back to school? Are your kids anxious? Join the discussion and let us know!

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I don't use the word golly anymore and I don't use the word awesome. I avoid the trendy words and look for an adjective that is unique.

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I don’t volunteer at my kids school. I don’t go to track and field day, I’m not a member of the PTA, and I most certainly don’t want to sit at a desk grading papers for my kids teacher. In fact, I have no intention of ever volunteering for anything, at all, ever.

Frankly, I think this makes me a genius.

I wish I could tell you a good reason for my indifference, or stand on a soapbox and defend my position. Basic fact of the matter is I just don’t care to do it. It’s not my thing.

Recently, I’ve heard that some schools are requiring parents to volunteer for 30 hours per school year. The schools want to make sure that the students are receiving the support they need.

To be honest, I think it sounds awful and makes me want to die inside.

I don’t want to be told how I should support my kids education. Oh sure, I’ll go to concerts and programs. I’ll even pay too much money for cotton candy at the school carnival. But the actual, physical act of going to my child’s class, is never going to happen. It’s just not for me.

I’m not a teacher. I don’t even babysit for my friends. I don’t want to have to pretend to like other people’s kids, and I don’t want slimy little hands touching me.

So no, I don’t want to be a volunteer in class or go on a field trip.... but I’m pretty sure their dad is available.

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About the Author: Caroline Bingham is managing editor of MormonMommyBlogs.com. You can find her on Twitter, @CarolineBingham, or on her blog, TheBinghamDiaries.com. Caroline and her husband live in Virginia with their four children.

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Congratulations Utah. You started school this week. Two thumbs WAY, way up.

Meanwhile, over here in my neighborhood, we are impatiently waiting for our teacher assignments to be mailed out. I heard a rumor that they would be dropped in the mail on August 26. Fingers crossed that’s true.

(How many of you just realized that I, Caroline Bingham, managing editor of Mormon Mommy Blogs doesn’t actually live in Utah? Mind blowing, I know. You’ll warm up to the idea eventually. Promise.)

Meanwhile let’s start talking about ACTUALLY awesome stuff from around the interwebs this week.

This story about why photographer Jennifer McKendrick cancelled four photo shoots is amazing. She saw girls bullying someone on Facebook, took screenshots, sent them to the girls AND their parents, and said, “If you are ugly on the inside, I'm sorry but I won't take your photos to make you look pretty on the outside.” That is gutsy, awesome, and makes me want to high five someone.

Want a FREE cookbook? Of course you do. Why? Because it has over 200 recipes that are a) delicious b) family friendly c) less than 10 ingredients and d) less than 30 minutes. Amen.

Chef Jeff is calling for a Dinner Revolution, and as someone who believes that family dinner is essential to a happier home and children, I’m a fan.

I’m also a fan Crispy Black Bean Burritos.

Amen again.

Click here to download your free eCookbook, a $27 value!

In other news, you know how we have Discussion Wednesday here on the blog? Yeah, we’re going to be doing that LIVE. Starting this coming Wednesday, August 24, Discussion Wednesday will be happening in REAL TIME, courtesy of our fun and friendly BlogFrog community. So please join us on August 24 at 11:00am MST for a FULL HOUR of myself and Elisa chatting with all of you. (that’s 1:00pm EST)

And if you can’t come at 11:00, no problem!  Because the discussion will probably continue past the lunch hour. It just won't be LIVE with Elisa and Caroline. Which means that you won't get to experience our wicked awesome e-chatting skills with a heavy emphasis on ridicule. In our defense, we find ourselves highly amusing.

And that pretty much sums up what we liked on the internet this week. Now, go do something else. I hear outside is looking pretty good these days.