This Full House Archive

Category: Raising Teens, Tweens & Killer Dust Bunnies

  • #OneSmallChange Challenge: Step #1 –
    The Brain Dump

    Now that it’s October, the beginning of cold and flu season (a.k.a. creeping crud) here in Jersey, I’m very excited to be partnering with the good folks over at Puritans Pride in accepting their One Small Change challenge: to make one very personal (yet simple) change toward healthier living and then committing myself to remain accountable by posting my progress in a three-part blog series, throughout the month.

    Okay, that’s great, but why?!?

    That’s a very fair question and I am MORE than happy to tell you EXACTLY why, thanks:  because I’m hoping to help encourage other folks to slow down, take a few minutes out of every day, to think about simple ways you can take good care of YOU, too!

    I’m going to start by cleaning out the most cluttered area in the house: my head

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  • Confessions of a Professional Over-sharer

    My husband, Garth (not his real name) and I recently bumped into friends of ours at the market, literally — the deli counter can be a very dangerous place, especially on a Sunday night — which, by the way, some folks consider to be a perfectly acceptable "date night" and typically a pretty good indication that these same folks also happen to be parents of older kids.

    Parental Unit #1:  I'm going to head out to the store and pick up a few things.

    Parental Unit #2:  WAIT, I'll go with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Personally, we prefer to cruise the aisles at either Lowes or Home Depot.

    Aaaaanyway, the wife and I started chatting.

    I mean, our "friend's wife".  

    I don't have a wife.

    Although, I feel it safe to say that we could ALL use an extra wife, or twenty, right about now, am I right?!?

    Soooooooo, we were chatting about our kids (because, but of course!) when her husband comes up to me and says:

    "So, you gonna blog this too?!?"

    I still truly believe it as a moment of innocent teasing.

    This is the same guy who honks his horn every time he drives past our house, several times a day and, no matter where I am or what I am doing, I holler: 

    "Heeeeeeeey, Wayne (not his real name, either!)"

    Still, I can't help but wonder:  in the age of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, are people IRL (who also happen to be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and/or Instagram) still a little leary about my blogging?

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  • Hard to Digest Moments: Watching movies
    with your teens.

    Liz and Glen's Hard to Digest Moment

    I am honored to be able to partner with Kellogg’s as a Champion of #GreatStarts blogger, with many thanks for their sponsoring this blog post and allowing me to share our stories with families (like mine) and (hopefully) help get each day off to a great start.

    Have you seen the latest Kellogg’s commercials? How’d That Happen and Tweezers are part of the Rice Krispies “hard to digest” campaign, showcasing awkward moments between parents and kids.

    When our little ones get smart enough to ask questions that we’re just so NOT ready to answer…yet…and, I’m sorry to say, the conversations don’t get ANY easier once your kids get older (whenever they actually decide to talk to you, I mean).

    So, when my friends at Kellogg’s challenged me to capture our own version of a “hard to digest” moment and then encouraged me to create a humorous video about it…*snort*… it was like giving a kid the keys to a virtual candy store.

    This time, I asked my 14 year-old son to help and he said yes (cue choir of angels, singing):

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  • Evolution of Filling Out Back-to-School Forms

    This vlog was actually inspired by a recent conversation on Facebook (beeeeeecause, I get my best ideas from you guys!!!) and dedicated to anyone who's ever had to sit down and fill out eleventy-hundred back-to-school forms:

     

    For those of you who are new to this rite of passage:  this is what having had 4 kids, attending 4 different schools (sometimes at the same time, even) in 13 years will do to you, just so you know.

    Aaaaaand, you're welcome 🙂

    © 2003 – 2013 This Full House With a fan page on Facebook and everything!

  • Dealing with mean girls (and boys) from a teenager’s point of view.

    2 days into the new school year and my youngest has already had to deal with 7th grade (a.k.a. the birthing ground for mean) girls, who seem to be prepping themselves to be catty women when they grow up (if ever), and it’s breaking my heart.

    Unfortunately, it’s easy for us parents to say things like, “they’re just jealous” and “because the new boy talked to you at lunch, first” or “they see you as a threat” because we’ve ALL been there, right?!?

    Aaaaaand, therein lies the rub.

    You see, my kids have a real hard time understanding (or even believing) that their parents may or may not have dealt with mean behavior, at some point in our lives, and that at least one other person in the bathroom/class room/gym/hallway/lunchroom imagined it to be really funny, at the time, too.

    In this case, calling your name out loud, turning their backs and then giggling their little fool heads off or just walking into a room…

    [cue: giggling little fools]

    …then casually glancing down at yourself, wondering if you’ve mistakenly put your pants on backwards or something and, well, as if being 12 years-old wasn’t difficult enough, right?!?

    So, having lived through a couple of mean moments (or twenty) of their own (dammit), I asked my two oldest girls (they are 19 and 17) and my son (he’s 14) for their thoughts on dealing with mean girls (or boys) from a teen’s point of view.

    Because I am very open-minded, not to mention they are MUCH smarter than me, like that! 

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  • Because, I’m Awesome, My Husband Said So!

    I've been blogging for nearly a decade (because 10 years doesn't sound nearly as great as all the gray hairs I've managed to nurture, along the way, YO!) and I've seen lots of good things happen to some pretty terrific people.

    Some really craptastic stuff too, dammit.

    Focusing on the great, the thing I love MOST about blogging communities?  There is almost always someone ready to lift you up and out of [enter whatever has you in a funk, right at this particular moment, right here] by the very simple act of typing three little words:

    "I get it."

    Then again, there are times when the suckage starts to run REAL deep and, well, the damned gerbil refuses to slow down long enough for me to get the words out of my head.

    Never mind, having to worry about good grammar, proper punctuation and my terrible habit of using pretend words.

    See: craptastic.  See also: suckage.

    Besides, there is almost always SOMEONE ELSE who is most probably wading their way through some really craptastic suckage…worse even, dammit…and that someone may be reading this very blog post, right now, thinking:  

    "Duuuuuuuuude, you have NO idea."

    Sooooooo, I try to blog about stuff that perhaps help make OTHER folks (yes, maybe even YOU!) feel a little better about themselves. 

    Today is NOT one of those days.

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  • Did I Ever Tell You About the Spider Eggs in Our Wallpaper?

    I finally caught up with Melisa, today — she's having a tough week — although, she'll tell you everything is okay, no really; she's fine.

    Still, girl could use a virtual hug.  G'head, I'll wait.

    Not for nothing, but having 3 out of 4 of my kids having attended, entering and/or graduating high school, this year (the boy is a freshman, our middle girl is a senior) I feel it safe to say that…YUP!!!…sending off "your youngest kid" to college is a really BIG deal!!!

    Personally, I hate to think what it will be like for Hope, when she's ready to fly the nest, with me still hanging onto her ankles and everything, just saying.

    Aaaaanyway, to help lighten things up a bit, I started telling Melisa this story, but she was running late (okay, fiiiiiiiiine, she said she was running late and I believe her…dammit!) and I was all like…that's okay, never mind…maybe I'll just blog it then.

    Why?  For two reasons: 1) as a cautionary tale and 2) for informational purposes, of the sort of crud that goes on…behind closed walls…especially, when you're not looking.

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  • I Blog, Facebook & Instagram: Therefore, I Remember

    Cape Cod 2013 for Facebook

    I left for BlogHer13 on July 24th and I haven't been home, since.

    Okay, so I was home for a whole entire day and a half, before leaving for our first family summer vacation in, well, forever, giving myself enough time to:

    • unload my suitcases
    • wash clothes
    • drop Doofus-Dawg off at his country canine cousins' house
    • take my teens shopping for last minute vacation-y sort of stuff
    • [deep breath, exhale]
    • clean the house
    • because, coming home from vacation to a messy house is worse
    • and THEN reload suitcases all over again

    In an attempt to ignore the pain in my lower back and the constant throbbing in my pinky toe — long story, short (you're welcome!) I fell down the stairs at Melisa's house and we were both surprised to learn that I had only broken my toe — I tried to focus on stuff to help keep me from passing out while dodging packs of squeeing tweens at Forever 21:  

    • I cannot WAIT to sloooooooooow down and disconnect
    • to not have to worry about stuff other than whether it is low or high tide
    • which directly affects where we park our beach chairs
    • or not, whatevvvvvvvvvvvver

    Guess what?  Disconnecting is harder than you may believe — especially when traveling with teens, or pretending that social media has not become an important part of our life and perhaps not in the way that most people think.

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  • Donate a Photo: Taking Selfies for Good & Healthy Essentials Giveaway

    Our Beach
    We are currently vacationing in Cape Cod, MA (a.k.a. my pretend home), and with our oldest girl working full-time and our middle girl entering her senior year in high school (no, I’m not quite sure how THAT happened, either!) we’re taking advantage of sharing every possible moment, together:  oh yes, there will be selfies 🙂

    Today, I’m very excited to partner with my friends at TheMotherhood.com and share with you information about Donate a Photo: a free app developed for Android and iOS platforms that allows consumers (like you and me) to
    give back to causes we care about by taking those selfies and
    turning them into a way to do good — #SelflessSelfies.

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  • Simple Ways to Show Your Husband You Love Him: Then, There’s MY List!

    My husband's niece is getting married in two weeks and the kids are ALL invited to, what they've begun to very dramatically refer to as, "the wedding".

    They also get to witness their father (you know, my husband) officiate over "the wedding".

    Garth (not his real name) recently became an ordained minister (because his niece and her future husband asked him to) and for $25, or something like that, so can you!!!

    [ducks to avoid lightning bolt]

    Aaaaanyway, the kids CANNOT wait to be able to say, "That's our dad, Reverend Garth (not his real name) up there!" even if it is for just one day.

    In other words, "the wedding":  is a very BIG deal.

    I thought it would be nice to have each of us write a letter to Amy and Jim, expressing our gratitude for allowing ALL of us to celebrate their wedding…I mean, "the wedding"…together. 

    So, I searched the interwebs for some ideas and…holy hints from Heloise…I couldn't help but feel like an old fart (or a seasoned flatulent, for those with verbal sensitivities) especially, when reading newlywed advice like, "How to Show Your Husband You Love Him".

    After 20+ years of marriage (which is almost as long as when we were single, YO!) I'm all like, we still married?!?  GOOD!!!

    Still, I wish some seasoned flatulent would come up with practical marriage advice.

    [one beat, two beats]

    So, you want to see MY list?  Based on actual advice, for newlyweds, I found published on the interwebs:


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