Northside Woman

Technology helps stay-at-home moms stay relevant, sane

By LESLIE DUNN
www.snarkmom.com

I was never one of those girls who wanted to be a mom when I grew up. I didn’t play with dolls. They creeped me out. I thought babies were cute, but boring. So I couldn’t imagine actually wanting to stay at home with one all day.

Fast-forward a couple decades and here I am, a stay-at-home mom to the cutest little guy in the world. I absolutely love it and feel like I am truly doing what I was always meant to do with my life – I just never knew it until now. I’d be lying, however, if I said there was never a dull moment. There are plenty of them when your constant companion has not yet mastered the English language and would rather move magnets around on the refrigerator than read and discuss “The Hunger Games.”

That’s why I’m thankful to be a mom in this Internet age. In my former life, I was a public relations professional who did a lot of writing and editing. Now, thanks to modern technology, I can write and edit from the comfort of my home, whether it’s for fun or for a freelance job.

I can also keep up with critical current events in between diaper changes and renditions of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” I don’t know if you heard, but Kim Kardashian got divorced. And Snooki is pregnant. And a British singer named Adele is really hot right now. See, I’m still with it even though I spend most of my time in yoga pants.

Twitter is also great when you want to glance at what’s going on in the world during a hectic day. I always enjoy getting tidbits of information and wisdom from the personal friends, publications, musicians, politicians and drag queens I follow.

Even though your world might revolve around nap schedules, meal times and a teething tot, you can stay plugged in to the rest of society through the modern-day marvels of computers, smartphones and social media with minimal effort. Staying at home with children is no longer the isolation chamber it may have seemed in the past.

That being said, I’d caution you to avoid lurking the Internet’s mommy message boards. While they can be helpful, I’ve also found they contain many horror stories about children seeing ghosts…not comforting when you have to feed a little one at night in a dark, silent house. Or maybe that’s just my experience.

How do you like to stay connected while staying at home with your children?

Leslie lives in Roswell with her husband and nearly 1-year-old son. She blogs at www.snarkmom.com and tweets at twitter.com/leslieie.

Spring brings annual Dandelion Debacle

By DIANE SIMMERING
Tangledinkudzu.com

Springtime in Atlanta is my favorite time of year. The trees and flowers have awakened from their winter nap and are sporting their finest attire. The birds are happily singing, and the sound of children’s laughter fills the air. It is also the time of year when a humorous battle between man and nature is taking place right in my own front yard; the man – my husband, the nature – dandelions.

My husband loves our lawn and is a fanatic in providing it with proper care. He carefully mows, prunes and works until our grass is pristine. It’s a job he truly enjoys and is very good at, so it is with a mixture of commiseration and amusement that I’ve watched him declare war on the pretty yellow dandelions covering our yard.

Determined to defeat this springtime foe, the initial plan of attack was to mow them all down in a “show no mercy” approach as each dandelion was decapitated and flung in tiny pieces from underneath the mower blades. My husband was very satisfied with the initial assault as no yellow soldiers were left standing. It appeared the battle had ended swiftly, but had it really?

The very next morning, we stepped outside to discover the intruders were back! My poor husband spent the entire morning yanking them out of the ground and hurling them into the nearby woods. As he annihilated each one, I heard him mutter, “That’ll show ‘em.”  Unfortunately, hubby underestimated the dandelion’s tenacity and within a matter of hours, reinforcements arrived for another round of combat.

After a second day of battle, hubby retreated to his war room (a.k.a. his office) and came out later exclaiming he had a better understanding of his opponents and felt certain he would defeat them.

I’m afraid it will be a tough battle to win as the dandelion is a powerful adversary proficient and hardy in design, allowing them to survive and reproduce in often inhospitable conditions. They are also devious in their ability to transform from a pretty yellow flower to a fluffy white parachute able to travel great distances, thus increasing their numbers.

As the battle between man and nature rages on, I’m going to soak up some sun while sipping sweet tea and enjoy the fight. It’s really tough to choose sides in this war, as I love my husband and our beautiful lawn, but I also love aiding the enemy by sending their parachutists sailing over the battlefield.

Diane Simmering lives in Northeast Georgia with her husband, two teenage sons and dog Gus. She writes about her highly caffeinated life as a part-time drama queen and Southern mama of four on TangledInKudzu.com and muses about parenting teens on EyeRollDiaries.com. Diane is passionate about her family, friends, adoption and advocacy. She is a lover of coffee, sweet tea and belly laughs.

Here I am, back in middle school

By AMY M. DAWSON

Now that my daughter is in sixth grade, I find myself back in the middle again. Middle school, that is. That fun mix of algebra, acne and angst we reflect on like a tooth extraction: had to be done, glad it’s over.

Why is that murky time so wrought with emotion? Is it the raging hormones? The ravenous hunger brought on by an explosion in height? The inability to keep one’s skin clear no matter how extreme — or flammable — the solution?
Part of the turmoil is taking those first tentative steps toward romance. Of course, these faux-relationships are fraught with awkward overtures, last on average three days and often are a miscommunication: “I thought you asked if I like the color blue, not will I go with you!”

But learning how to navigate middle school romance can help avoid bigger heartbreak in the future. Here’s some advice I’ve given my daughters:

• If you tell your posse of BFFs who you think is cute, everyone within a 100-mile radius will know within the hour. Middle school girls are genetically wired to download tidbits of juicy info at warp speed. They aren’t bad friends; they simply lack the ability to store information. Plan accordingly.
• Let him text or call you first. If you call a boy, he will brag to his friends that you like him. You’ll come home upset, and I’ll have to shoot some kid dirty looks until he graduates from college. Save us both the effort.
• Put nothing in writing. Even subjects as mundane as lunch can be humiliating if read aloud by your teacher. Also, I am saving items for an elaborate, multimedia presentation at your rehearsal dinner. Don’t add to my arsenal.
• We’re nuts — spread the word. I don’t condone lying, but I’ll take no issue with you hinting your family has a world-class machete collection. Or that your aunt is rumored to have beaten an intruder half to death with a flip-flop. If boys think you have crazy and potentially violent relatives, they tend to handle your feelings with care.
• If a boy doesn’t ask you to the dance, it doesn’t mean you aren’t wonderful. It probably means he was scared to call, or maybe he’s grounded for making straight Fs (because he’s not very smart if he doesn’t think you’re wonderful.) Don’t allow your worth to be determined by some kid whose name you won’t remember in five years.
• Be kind. Boys may act tough, but they feel insecure and get their feelings hurt, too. Manage your friendships so everyone maintains their dignity.

It’s a shame so many opinions about ourselves are formed when we’re unsure of ourselves and our place in the world. I wish I had known then that the algebra gets done, the skin clears up and the angst … well, it gets transferred years later to worrying about your kids in middle school. But I’m pretty sure that turns out okay, too.

Amy is an Alpharetta-based columnist and writer who will neither confirm nor deny if she considers flip-flops a weapon. amymacpr.blogspot.com