New England Mamas

I’m the Mom of a Catholic School kid

I attended Mass this morning at our church. I'm not sure I can technically say "our" church since the only one going on a regular basis is my daughter. But today was Family Mass Day, so I rearranged my company's entire morning schedule (no joke) to be there.

Why? Because it's Catholic School Week, and she asked me to go. And how could I explain to her that everything else in my life is more important than church right now when I'm sending her to Catholic school?

Which resurrected the nagging, internal discussion I seem to have over and over in my head - why am I sending my child to Catholic school? What am I hoping she'll achieve there that she may not achieve by attending our public school?

Friday Family Fun Night

Some time ago I promised my children, ages 5 and 7, that my husband and I would try our best to keep Friday nights free of adult plans so we could institute Friday Family Fun Night. It would be a guaranteed night of the week when we would put down the laptops, blackberries and remote control and just do something silly or fun or creative as a FAMILY. It's crazy that we even had to pick a family night, but during the week between their school work, my husband and I working full time, and extracurricular activities that creep their way into our lives, I had to make this promise to them and to myself.

What do we do on Friday Family Fun Night? It totally varies on the weather and the mood. But here's an idea of what we've done this winter and maybe you can incorporate them into your family fun night, or use them to kick off your own weekly routine.

The State of Marriage Today

I came across this interesting research report from the Pew Research Center while I was fumbling through some demographic data for work (I know – research reports – yawn!). But the basics of the report got me thinking about my own marriage and our family dynamic. I started to wonder if I'm more like the rest of the married couples across the country than I had thought.

In part it read,

Time to protect our girls

Boy oh boy, I've got a fire under me and it was just started by the local Fox News station in Boston; I doubt they are alone in their behavior but it was the only one I caught tonight so they get my rage.

At the top of the 10:00 broadcast they reported on a string of fights involving young girls in Lowell, MA. While the story is newsworthy enough and could have been covered in a 30 second recap, they decided to go a step further and repeatedly show the fights between the teenage girls, two of who were only in 8^th grade. It was bad enough these fights were caught on camera in the first place and broadcast on YouTube (and subsequently removed because they violated YouTube's policies) but then to show them again, and again, on the nightly news simply disgusts me.

Review - Piggy (Craigie) On Main, Cambridge, MA

Pork. The other white meat. And I went to a place last weekend known as Craigie On Main in Cambridge, MA and they loves them little piggys. I really don't know if it was the excitement of brunch with the lovely ladies from my high school who I hadn't seen in almost a year, or the atmosphere of this quaint restaurant featuring an open kitchen, but the food was delicious and the service impeccable. I mean, the waiters fold your napkin every time you move from your seat. How many times does that happen in your house these days?

Fork you!

I'd like to meet the genius who invented the popular phrase "finger food" so they could join my family as we sit down to the dinner table and define EXACTLY what is and is not considered finger food. What do I mean? Let's play a simple game called "Finger food or NOT." Be careful, some of these are apparently tricky:

Ski Bunnies

I skied once.

I was 27 years old and we went to SugarLoaf or SugarBush or some Sugar Mountain. I hated it. I stood up, fell down, ran over some poor 5 year old holding onto the tow rope, fell again, swore, fell and tried to take a lesson. The instructor kept telling me to keep my knees apart. I don't think it was a pick up line. But I wanted to shout back, "Do you think I'd purposely cross my skis every 3 feet because I enjoy falling on my ass?" After that quick lesson I went straight to the lodge to call it a day. Sounds like a fabulous time, right?

So why on earth would I sign my kids up for skiing lessons?

My 40 minutes with a disabled child

I knew a woman in college whose laugh could make heads turn in a room – in a good way. She was so full of life and optimism I often envied her. We were never extremely close, but did see each other out frequently among mutual friends. She went on to marry her college sweetheart and they settled outside of New York City.

They decided to start a family not long after they were married and the pregnancy went fantastic. No complications. A healthy baby boy was going to bless their lives. The big day arrived and as he was emerging into his new world the Doctor decided to use forceps to help him out. A decision, to this day, no one ever understood.

Donuts are not your friends.

(By Christine)

Did you make a resolution to lose weight in the New Year? Yeah. Me, too. In my house, I employ the old Weight Watcher methodology of decades ago – set your target for 10% of your current weight and don’t put a date to it.  Slow, even progress works just fine.  No one says you need to drop 20 lbs in 4 weeks. But you do need to move. Can’t lose weight eating Lean Cuisine on the couch all day.  Sorry, it’s a fact.

Plus, in my world I need my own pace and goals. I can’t have a celebrity fitness instructor shouting at me from behind the flat screen TV. That doesn’t motivate me.  It makes me hide in the bathroom.

So, in my quest to lose the few extra pounds that snuck back on the last time I successfully lost some weight, I started hunting for fun and healthier recipes and ideas to keep peace in the house while Mama empties the cupboards of sugar, fat and sugar.