The 5th annual BlogHer conference is right around the corner, and look who’s having a party in Chicago! I’ll be attending the bash… see you there?!
My Family
Behind the sass and attitude of LTV Mom, you will find a wonderful husband and father. He and I have been together for 19 years, married for 15. I’ve always loved him as a partner in crime, but today we celebrate him as the best daddy I know.
We had a pretty mellow day. He chose BBQ for lunch and family games in the afternoon. But Daddy asked for a special meal for dinner. Here’s what the Kid and I whipped up:
- Gruyere Cheese Puffs — oh so yummy, a delicious and unique appetizer!
- Shrimp cocktail — with homemade cocktail sauce.
- Sea scallops with vegetable ragout — huge hit, can be an appetizer or an entree.
- Grilled brown-sugar peaches with white chocolate — need I say more?
Dinner was followed by a dance routine with MC Hammer (U Can’t Touch This), Black Eyed Peas (Boom, Boom, Pow) and Billy Joel (You May Be Right). Good thing I was wearing a sports bra!
– LTV Mom
This has been an amazingly busy Spring, and Summer looks even busier. As a result, I have been working late nights and watching lots of “Laptop Television.”
Oddly enough, and perhaps it’s the endless deadlines that are my life, I find myself doing most of my commentary on Twitter instead of my blog. So, here’s a quick snapshot of what I’m watching these days and some of my favorite Twitter comments:
@StacyLibby I hate, hate, hate lip-syncing. Instant fast-forward. #sytycd
@glennia @StacyLibby: I like Kayla, too. She looks 10 feet tall when she dances. #sytycd
@CityMama love Kupono’s slight pidgin-hawaiian accent . Makes me feel at home. #sytycd
@StacyLibby Top Chef Masters + LOST = Laptop TV Mom is in Heaven!
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
@StacyLibby Conan predicts “YouTube, Twitter and Facebook will merge to form one super time-wasting web site called ‘YouTwitFace‘” #conanobrien
- LTV Mom
Image Credit: There are No Rules by Jane Friedman
Dance Recital Glitz and Glam
Activeion: My Green Machine
When I was a little girl, I really wanted a Green Machine to ride around the block with my friends. Do you remember those funky tricycle-like toys? I had a Big Wheel that I rode for hours and hours, but those Green Machines looked so darn cool. Alas, I never got one.
However, a few weeks ago I attended an event with Bill Nye the Science Guy who introduced me to a new kind of Green Machine… and this one is pretty cool too. It’s also environmentally friendly and my four-year-old loves to play with it. I am talking about the Activeion (pronounced Active-Ion) cleaning solution.
Those of you who know me can stop laughing now. I am not the uber-domestic type and I rarely (never?) talk about cleaning products. (After all, I hired a house-cleaner as soon as I could afford one, and I would lose my mind without her!) But, I am going to tell you about this particular cleaning product since I believe in its benefits and purpose.
After both fathers died of cancer within seven short months, my husband and I decided to do whatever we can to create a clean and green home for our family. We no longer cook with a microwave, we use chemical-free laundry detergent, we wash with plant-based soaps and shampoos, and we eat organic food whenever possible. We have tried some “green” cleaning supplies… some good, and some not-so-good. Needless to say, when the folks at Activeion invited the moms from the Silicon Valley Moms Blog to discover a healthier way to clean our homes, we were all ears.
Now, what I am about to tell you will blow your mind. The Activeion will clean your home, and practically eliminate germs and bacteria, using tap water. Of course, it took someone like Bill Nye to explain how it works. My husband (who, along with Bill, has a degree in Mechanical Engineering) was in love with the concept. Here’s what I heard:
“You fill the container with normal tap water, blah blah blah, electric charges flow through the water, blah blah blah, water grabs dirt, blah blah blah, water grabs germs, blah blah blah, windows are clean without streaks, blah blah blah, your house is clean without chemicals.”
I was sold. Of course, I took an Activeion home and “played” with it. (It lights up green when you use it!) I cleaned everything from my windows to my car to my toothbrush holder. Everything is clean, and there is not a chemical in sight.
So, there’s my pitch. I highly recommend you visit the Activeion Web site and check out the video that explains how it works. (Trust me, Bill Nye does a much better job than LTV Mom!)
ALSO, amazingly enough, the team at Activeion is giving an Activeion cleaner to one lucky LTV Mom reader! Please go to the comment section and share your best tip for keeping a clean and green home! I will draw one lucky winner at random on Monday, June 23. Yep, one week to share and enter.
You also can click HERE to order an Activeion, and you too can have your very own green machine!
– LTV Mom
LTV Dad, Bill Nye, LTV Mom
Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
My husband knows when I’ve had a bad day at work. When he walks in the door to find me watching Cash Cab on television while making tater-tot casserole, he knows to stand back. And to pour a glass of wine.
Whether it’s a bad day at work, a cranky client or a pissed off family member, I can count on comfort food to make me feel better. I just dig through my mom’s recipe box to find some good, old fashioned Midwestern food. Green bean casserole, hashbrown potato casserole, broccoli casserole, and (my personal favorite) tater tot casserole are bound to make me feel better.
And what is the common ingredient in all these foods?! You got it, Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. I always keep a can of the creamy goodness in my pantry. You can’t make a good casserole without the soup!
I love talking about my personal comfort food, so i jumped at the chance to read and talk about the new book from Kate Jacobs called “Comfort Food.” The author says this about the book: “Comfort Food is about the power of food to bring people together and the joys of savoring every bite of life.” How great is that?
This book also gives you a behind-the-scenes look at network cooking shows. If you are a fan of cooking shows, like my personal favorites Top Chef and Chopped, you will enjoy reading about the trials and tribulations of a celebrity chef! (Oh, if I could only have job — and looks — of Padma Lakshmi. I’d be in heaven!)
Food is such a part of my life, and this Iowa transplant always bonds over Midwestern food with other Midwesterners-turned-Californians. Just this weekend, I met a woman from Ohio and we bonded over fried chicken, mashed potatoes and greens beans with bacon. Sigh, I get hungry (and happy) just thinking about the food my mom made!
No matter where you grew your roots, there is always a special recipe of comfort food to calm your fears, fill your belly and warm your soul. What is your favorite comfort food?
– LTV Mom
This post was inspired by Silicon Valley Moms Blog book club selection Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. USA Today calls the book, “The kind of book you rush home to finish.”
Katie Couric
News about the recession is everywhere. We watch it on TV, and read about it online and in print. Journalists spend hours trying to explain how we got here, what’s next, and how to fit the massive economic problems we face as a country. All the doom-and-gloom has me worried about my family, my job, my house, my retirement fund, and my future. Well, it took a journalist, the one-and-only Katie Couric, to make me stop thinking about my world and start thinking about the innocent people who truly suffer during the recession: our children.
We all know Katie Couric as the anchor of CBS Evening News, but you might not know she also has a YouTube channel, keeps a Twitter handle, and writes for NYC Moms Blog. Katie’s recent blog post and upcoming series on “Children of the Recession” made me stop and take a breath, and then inspired me to want to raise awareness of how kids are being affected by this very grown-up crisis. Here are staggering statistics Katie reported in her blog post and in her upcoming series:
- Since this recession began sixteen months ago, one million children have lost their health insurance as their parents lose their jobs. [LTV Mom: What are the long-term affects of these one million children skipping wellness exams and dentist appointments year after year?]
- A CBS poll found that 56% of parents surveyed have discussed the economy with their kids, and half of all the parents have discussed their own family’s financial situation. [LTV Mom: I come from a very tight-lipped family, but this seems so important and obvious. I need advice to teach the basics of "economics" to my four-year-old.]
- The poll found that 21% of parents said they are now buying generic brands and less expensive food items for their children. [LTV Mom: Is it safe to assume these kids are now eating over-processed, super-fatty and unhealthy foods? Now see bullet one about no healthcare.]
You can learn more about how American kids are affected by the recession as the Early Show and the CBS Evening News feature stories all this week. Please watch and encourage others to watch. Let’s talk about what we learn, and then explore how we can help.
I also can confirm that Katie Couric is passionate about this topic. In fact, she invited writers from the Silicon Valley Moms Group to join her and her team to discuss the upcoming series and to explore how she can keep the series going throughout the upcoming months. During our hour-long call, Katie wanted to hear what is happening in our hometowns, learn about our experiences, listen to our frustrations, and praise those who are helping children through this time.
I happily shared information about a San Francisco Bay Area organization called Shelter Network that provides housing and support services that create opportunities for homeless families and individuals to re-establish self-sufficiency and to return to permanent homes of their own. Shelter Network is more than “a cot and a hot” — they teach life skills, they do the leg-work to get families back in homes, and they keep children with their parents as the families get back on their feet.
I have been inspired to get off the couch — and perhaps turn off the laptop AND the television — to help the children in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the country. Please join me.
– LTV Mom
Calif. First Lady Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver calls it “an unprecedented television event” and “television at its best.” As a mom who spends hours writing about unimportant television, it is my honor to raise awareness of the new documentary called “The Alzheimer’s Project” which begins on HBO starting May 10, 2009.
Last week, writers from the Silicon Valley Moms Blog network were invited to join a private conference call with California First Lady Maria Shriver, who is raising awareness of the disease and the impact on patients and dedicated caregivers. Ms. Shriver appears in the four-part HBO documentary to help parents explain the effects of the disease to their children.
Maria Shriver is no stranger to the issue; in fact, she wrote the book called “What’s happening to Grandpa?” when her father, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s six years ago. She speaks with conviction, passion and reality. Not only was I moved by her, but also by the story she shares:
- Alzheimer’s claims a new victim every 70 seconds.
- 70 percent of patients are living at home.
- 76 percent of caregivers are (uncompensated) women, many of whom also have small children in the home.
- Caring for an Alzheimer’s patient is overwhelming — financially, personally and spiritually.
- Alzheimer’s could bankrupt the American healthcare system as we know it.
- This is a family disease, and there are no survivors.
The part of Ms. Shriver’s story that struck me the most — and has stayed with me for days — is this: Alzheimer’s is an old person’s disease, but a young person’s burden. I never thought of it that way. As our parents are getting older, many will become ill. It will become our challenge to take care of them both physically and financially, regardless of healthcare aid that is available or not available. Equally important, we need to solve the health and financial issues of Alzheimer’s before my generation goes from caregivers to patients. As Ms. Shriver said, “we don’t want our children to spend their lives — or their life savings — taking care of us.”
The documentary will appear on HBO or on-demand for everyone to see. For more information, click HERE.
To learn more about Alzheimer’s, visit the Alzheimer’s Association web site or call 1-800-272-3900 (24 hours a day).
– LTV Mom
Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guillette
“People who don’t have embarrassing stories are untrustworthy. Or at the very least, they aren’t telling the truth.” These words of wisdom come from author Suzanne Guillette, whose first book “Much to Your Chagrin” takes a fresh look at the moments in life — big and small — that are simply embarrassing but make you who you are!
I’d like to add a third category for people with embarrassing stories: people (like me) who are actually private and only tell their closest friends their most embarrassing tales. Of course, many embarrassing moments are a direct result of being socially awkward or from over-consumption. Yep, PR speak for too much wine, beer, cosmos, or whatever potion I was enjoying at the time. My loud laugh and inability to keep my opinion to myself have certainly caused more than one embarrassing moment. Let’s just leave it at that.
Reading this book brought back great memories of my dear friend Kristin, who has been an important part of my life since third grade. Kristin is the Queen of being goofy to the point of wrong. Nine times out of 10, she will pull a stunt to get a laugh from her friends, and usually ends up with an “OMG moment” that lives in infamy. Her spirit and energy are contagious, and even her goofs and spoofs are endearing and down-right hilarious.
With that, I am going to present my copy of “Much to Your Chagrin” to Kristin, the woman who could write her own memoir of embarrassment that I would love to read almost as much I loved witnessing.
– LTV Mom
This post was inspired by the Silicon Valley Moms Blog book club selection, Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guillette. The book is an honest memoir of embarrassing, laugh-out-loud, and oh-no-you-didn’t moments. The book is available at Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
Dad and Daughter at Disneyland
My family just returned from a wonderful vacation that included a trip to Disneyland and California Adventures. We spend two days riding the tea cups, eating Cotton Candy, and meeting Princesses! It was special to spend so much time together, even if our four-year-old was completely spoiled at the end of the trip.
Regardless, our trip was another reminder of how much I love watching a daddy and his daughter! My two favorite people melt my heart!
I recently wrote a post about “Dads with Daughters” over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog — click HERE to take a read.
– LTV Mom
Just trying to squeeze in some television between mothering, working and crashing.
