BURBMOM: THE BEGINNING

A few years ago I started a blog.
I don’t know why I started a blog.
Why , Oh, why did I start a blog?

I started writing every day. I enjoyed the writing. I enjoyed the online community that developed around my blog and the blogs that I read regularly. Before long I found that many of the people I considered friends were people I had never met in person.

A year and 1/2 ago one of my online friends emailed me to make sure I knew about a group of bloggers meeting in Dallas. I signed up anxious to meet my friends.

As the details formulated, I mentioned that I lived close to the airport and could easily pick up people who were flying in for the weekend. Shauna, the person who was organizing the event emailed me asking where I lived. I replied…

Flower Mound, TX (it is just North of DFW in the metroplex)

When she replied that she lived in Flower Mound too I nearly fell off my chair.

One of my anonymous blogging friends was my neighbor.

We met in person soon after this revelation. Soon after that we met our non-Flower Mound blogging friends for an amazing weekend of fun.

That is how it started. As a blogger writing under the name Texasholly, I ended up with a local friend.

It should be easier to meet local moms.
It should be easier to meet local moms.
It should be easier to meet local moms!

And that is why Burb Mom was created. So much of our life is LOCAL. The places we go, the experiences, the frustrations, the activities, the food, the FUN!

It all starts at home. It all starts in our town. It all starts in our ‘burb.

We created a place where we want to hang out. A website that tells the story of our community.

We don’t just want to tell this story by ourselves. We want you to join us.

Oh! What about that french toast pictured above?
That is a picture of what I ate at the first official Burb Mom meeting (at Le Peep) proving that breakfast is the most important meal of the day…

This was the first post we published when we started Burb Mom in November of 2008.  I am re-running it because I am feeling a little nostalgic and mushy.

My so-called suburban life

Ever feel like you are having a totally cliche sort-of day?

Like perhaps you once found yourself walking through the campus of a college, spirit-wear donning your body, backpack full of books, autumn leaves swirling around you; as if you just stepped off the glossy pages of the school’s recruiting catalog?

Or perhaps you have looked up in the Starbucks you are visiting and noticed everyone else happens to be checking their Blackberry like you, sipping their venti non-fat vanilla latte with two equal like you, and wearing a navy shirt and tie combo that looks frighteningly like yours?

Around 12:32pm today I realized I was having a cliche sort of day.

This morning, my alarm clock went off at 5:00 am.

I attempted to get some writing done and pour two cups of coffee down my throat before greeting my 2 children for the day and sending my husband off to work with a kiss.

I fed the children eggs and toast (okay, I fed my boy eggs and toast. The two year old only eats waffles and yogurt. Every. Single. Morning. Yes, I totally allow it.)and filled sippy cups with the special mommy concoction of 2/3 water and 1/3 part juice.

I dressed the children, brushed their teeth, combed their hair, and sent them to play together in a bedroom while I dressed myself.

I put on a crisp white t-shirt, a cardigan, khaki pants, and sensible non-athletic tennis shoes.

I fastened my hair back with a clip and attached some non-descript silver earrings to my ears.

Breakfast dishes were loaded in the dishwasher, appointments were scheduled via various phone calls, and children were herded to the car.

We stopped at the park, the children’s clothing store, and the post office.

One child completely fell apart in the clothing store over having to leave the Lego table and the general public was again reminded of why age two is often described as being terrible.

The other child was wearing an orange safety vest and carrying a walkie-talkie, informing said general public he was a Police Officer.

Upon completion of errands, the two children and I met the husband for a light lunch of sandwiches and soup at a local delicatessen.

Lunch was eaten, good-byes were administered, and everyone (minus the husband) loaded back into the family station wagon to head home for naps.

Today, I was the walking billboard for the stereotypical image of The Stay-at-Home Mom, right down to my cardigan sweater and screaming toddler. My former 20-something year old self might shudder at such an image, but honestly I kind-of life my suburbia life.

Complete with toddler tantrums, lack of private restroom breaks and sensible non-athletic tennis shoes.

Lynley Baker Phillips is a stay-at-home mommy to two, blogger, former special education teacher, and referee in all major toy disputes. Her writings have been featured in various publications and on her mother’s refrigerator door. Contact her at savethephillipsfamily@hotmail.com or check out her blog at http://www.savethephillipsfamily.blogspot.com.

Oprah & Chef Cora’s 7-day Menu Challenge: Day 1

Last week I watched the Oprah episode with three chefs from TV showing American families how to cut down on food costs. Each chef boasted that his/her recipes were easy and could be done at home.  Each chef declared that following the recipes would save money.   Each chef posted the recipes on Oprah.com.

I was a bit skeptical.

OK, I was a LOT skeptical.

There is good reason for my skepticism – I am not a very good cook.

I decided that we were going to try and see if it worked.

I looked online and chose Chef Cat Cora’s recipe list. It has 21 meals which include breakfast, lunch and dinner for 7 days. She states that it will feed a family of 4 and that the whole week would cost less than $150. Her list of recipes also included a shopping list which I printed so I would be ready for the grocery store trip.

I enlisted the help of Bianca. Making one meal a day would be a shock to my system, let alone 21 in one week so I figured I could use the help. And since we decided this could not go undocumented…here is our story.

Chef Cat Cora’s 21 meal menu
Chef Cat Cora’s shopping list for 21 meal menu

We started by taking our printed shopping list to Wal-Mart. It was easy to use because it was organized by areas within the store. When a choice was needed we chose the store brand or the cheapest product that would work.

There were three things that Wal-Mart either didn’t carry or was out of stock: Butter leaf Lettuce, Orzo, and fresh mint.

We found the missing items at a different store substituting for the Butter leaf Lettuce which wasn’t at either grocery shop.

Being very eager cooks we chose a recipe that sounded good and prepared our first meal from the list for dinner:

Spicy Chicken and Mango Stir Fry

This was one of the recipes that Chef Cora demonstrated on the Oprah episode in a real family’s kitchen.  She suggested using it for a lunch but once we looked at all the recipes we realized we had another problem…

*insert haunting music here*

A problem that we will discuss tomorrow.

*insert foreshadowing music here*

Is it called foreshadowing if I just come out and announce that we will be discussing it tomorrow?

Anyway, that is what we chose and we started to chop an onion.

and  another onion.

How many onions?

The picture tells the story of a heaping pile o’ onions with a side of post-chopping weeping.

We thought that two onions seemed like a lot for this recipe, but since we don’t have our own TV show or even regularly cook we decided to follow the recipe EXACTLY.

Then there is the issue of the chicken.

Cluck.  Cluck.

The recipe calls for “3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken , sliced into 1/2-inch thick strips”.

What?

We just bought three WHOLE chickens.

Cluck.  Cluck.

Let the skinning and de-boning begin.

We will be the first to admit that it wasn’t pretty…

*insert foreshadowing music here*

Finally we have chicken!

Whoo hoo!

Finally we have dinner!

Whoo hoo!

This is the entire dinner.

This is the final product that will be split into four portions.

For our purposes we are going to chart the results for 2 adults and 3 small children.  Especially since the small children are super picky and will probably not eat much of anything because they are my small children.

The verdict?

4/5 LOVED the recipe.

1/5 refused to try it.

Triumph at dinner…

The post cooking  reality check report:

I will make this recipe again.  Next time I will start with skinless, boneless chicken.  It would also be a huge help to have all the vegetables pre-chopped.  Because we are not super handy with a knife the chopping took a very long time.  I am pleased to announce that both Bianca and myself still are the proud owners of 10 fingers each.

I think it is a bit labor intensive for a lunch, but appropriate for dinner.  I would add a side of rice. With a side of rice I think that this could be stretched to feed four small adults. We didn’t have any left-overs and we only fed two adults and two willing children.

Tune in tomorrow when we tackle THREE WHOLE MEALS in one day and dance to the foreshadowing music.

Read about Day 2

To see how this whole idea of following advice to see if it really works – check out our new Burbmom topic – Advice Reality Check.

Thursday – DFW Twitter

I have been on twitter for awhile…here is the shameless link to my Texasholly twitter profile.

When I started I had NO IDEA why.

I didn’t even LIKE twitter.

It is choppy, confusing and I often found myself talking randomly…to myself.

Not that I have anything AGAINST random.

When Burb Mom started I set up a twitter account and let it sit.  A few tweets here.  A few followers there.

Recently I decided to get Burb Mom’s Twitter under control.  I began searching out local businesses, news outlets, charities, events, bloggers, and random DFW citizens.

If you are from DFW and don’t have boobies or cash in your profile picture, I am now stalking you on twitter.

Really.

I am.

And I am having a great time.

Going local has brought a whole new meaning to twitter for me.

*Me, running across a field of daisies with open arms toward…the twitter bird*

It has decreased the choppiness, the confusion and the randomness.

The thing I have grown to love about twitter is the short attention span required.  I usually use my phone (the Tweetie iPhone app is my favorite).  It is something that can take just a few moments or a few hours…depending on the time I have available.

If you are on twitter, please let me know…

and let the stalking commence.

And here is the Burb Mom twitter link one more time.

Oprah & Chef Cora’s 7-Day Menu Challenge: Day 3

We made it through day one and flew through day two of our quest to attempt the 21 meal plan of Chef Cat Cora as seen on Oprah…so what does today hold?

For breakfast we made:

Garlic Mashed Potato Pancakes

Let me start by saying this tasted good, BUT I just don’t get it.

We started by making mashed potatoes from scratch…from scratch at 6:30 am.  And after adding a full stick of butter to the mashed potatoes we then FRIED them.  Is this why we couldn’t have yolks yesterday – we were saving up for this?

The recipe called for 2 cups of milk, but we found that it was extremely soupy after only one cup so we omitted the second cup.  Most of the “pancakes” turned out more like scrambled eggs.  We took the above picture of the best formed one.

The Verdict?

2/5 thought the pancakes tasted OK.

The post cooking reality check:

I will not be making this recipe again unless I have a ton of left-over mashed potatoes that I need to magically transform into something slightly different.  This recipe took WAY TOO much time if you are starting from scratch for a family breakfast.  My three boys wake early and hungry. They were not impressed with waiting for this or the way it tasted.

The portion size of this recipe was adequate if it was served WITH something.  I ate what would have been considered two portions of this and needed something else as well.  I usually eat some sort of protein for breakfast and this just felt like I was eating a 1/2 of meal.   I think this would make a better side dish for a lunch or dinner.

Let’s see if we have better luck with lunch!

For lunch we made:

Chickpea and Roasted Pepper Soup with Blanched Greens

The blanched greens recipe had been paired with the Cinnamon Chicken and Orzo we ate last night, but we were a little overwhelmed with the amount of cooking required to make all three items.  We thought it would be good with the soup for lunch.

I made one modification to the soup.  Instead of just pureeing just the peppers, I pureed the whole soup.

The Verdict?

4/5 liked the soup plus my husband who is not participating in this 21 meal trial ate a full portion as well declaring it yummy.

The post cooking reality report:

I will make both these recipes again.  The greens were very good and similar to a spinach and mushroom recipe I make for special occasions (minus the mushrooms).  The soup was filling and tasted good. I will caution that the younger children were not wild about this, but they don’t regularly eat soup.  Next time I might pull out some of the beans for them before pureeing.

The portion size was good.

SNACK TIME!

We ate the left over Leftover Frozen Yogurt Banana Pops
- yum!

Let’s make Dinner:

Open Faced “Tostada” Salads

The only thing we modified with this recipe was we doubled the lettuce.

The Verdict?

5/5 loved ‘em!

The post cooking reality report:

I will make this again.  It was quick (if you already had the rice cooked like I did) and easy and tasted good.  Everyone ate it.

The portion size was good if the tortillas are large.

We made it through the day! The lunch and dinner recipes were easy enough that we didn’t feel like we were in the kitchen all day.  Using left over rice and the left over banana pops for a snack made it go smoothly (after the breakfast thing…).

See you tomorrow…

Day 1

Day 2

Oprah & Chef Cora’s 7-day Menu Challenge: Day 2

Whew.  We felt pretty good making it through day one of the Chef Cat Cora 21 meal menu as seen on Oprah.

And then we realized that day two would mean three homemade meals.

Three homemade meals.

I think I can…I think I can…I think I can.

Let’s make breakfast!

We decided to try:

Egg Whites, Turkey Bacon and Low Fat Cheddar Tortilla Wraps

This was also one of the recipes that Chef Cora demonstrated on the Oprah show in the home of an ordinary family.  Bianca tackled this breakfast and when I saw it I was surprised because I could have sworn that on the TV show it looked yellow – like the whole egg was used.  I checked the website and they mention use of only egg whites…

And I just have to ask WHY?

First of all, separating the 6 yolks from the 6 whites seemed cruel…they seemed so happy together.

Then disposing of the 6 yolks since none of the recipes in the 21 meal menu uses them seems very wasteful.

And third, by only using the egg whites the total recipe size seemed small.

And fourth, I LIKE the taste of the yolks.

And fifth, the yolks contain a bunch of nutrients that the whites do not.

And finally, none of my family members have high cholesterol or have special dietary needs and let’s be frank…eating a few egg yolks is MUCH better for them then what they might have been eating on any other given morning for breakfast.

Sorry, I got a little caught up in my pro-yolk agenda.

The Verdict?

3/5 liked the breakfast tortillas.

1/5 refused to try the breakfast tortillas.

1/5 threw a giant tantrum and cried all over the breakfast tortillas.

The post cooking reality check report:

I will make a modified version of this recipe in the future.  It took a reasonable amount of time to prepare.  I will use the WHOLE egg and add something to make them less bland.  I ended up dipping my portion in salsa which was good.  I think chopped jalapenos or a fresh pico de gallo mixed in with the eggs would be really yummy.  The amount of cheese used was so minimal I didn’t taste it, but I hate to suggest adding more cheese after making such a big deal about the eggs…but more would taste better.

The portion size was VERY SMALL.  I think that if only the whites are used then at least 3 more eggs need to be added for four full servings.  Maybe I just eat a lot, but I had 2/4 portions (as described by the recipe) and needed a snack by 10 am.  I suspect if the whole egg is used then the portion size will be about right.

Whew! Breakfast is over and we have a few hours before lunch.

What should we do?

Let’s go back to the grocery store!

For lunch we made:

Veggie Stuffed Twice Baked Potato Boats

Right after breakfast we popped the potatoes in the oven and set the oven for an hour.  Since our potatoes were small we decided to make 5.  When I checked on the oven an hour and 1/2 later the potatoes were still a little firm to the touch so I reset the oven for another 30 minutes.

Bianca assembled the recipe:

And the children ATE this recipe.

Hallelujah!

The Verdict?

5/5 LOVED the Veggie Stuffed Twice Baked Potato Boats

The post cooking reality check:

I will definitely, without question make this recipe again.  It is full of vegetables and everyone ate them!  It is a pretty easy recipe that doesn’t take much time if you use the timer on your oven for baking the potatoes.

The portion size was good.  We ended up with quite a bit of the stuffing left over because our potatoes were so small.  The stuffing is yummy so I don’t think it will be in the fridge long…

SNACKS!  SNACKS!  WE NEED SNACKS!

The 21 meal menu did not include snacks and we are attempting to limit what we eat (within reason) to what is on the menu.  Well, the boys are not THRILLED with this plan so we took a closer look at some of the recipes to see if we could use them for snacks instead of meals.  We decided that the small portion size of the Frozen Yogurt Banana Pops (each portion is 1/2 a banana) would be difficult to pass off as a FULL breakfast so we are using it as a snack instead.

Let’s make them now!

Frozen Yogurt Banana Pops

Actually, we made them earlier since they need to freeze for at least a few hours.

The Verdict?

5/5 are WILD about Frozen Yogurt Banana Pops

The post cooking reality report:

The family freezer will always have these available for snacks.  The only complaint we had was that they were messy to make.  The yogurt seemed to stick to the bananas, but the granola didn’t stick to the yogurt.  BUT who cares…they taste great.

The portion size of these are great for a snack.  This would be WAY too small for a breakfast for me.  Maybe as a side to a whole bowl of oatmeal?  I am beginning to get a complex about how hungry I am in the morning.

All right people, we are nearing the end of the day.  Let’s make dinner!

Greek Cinnamon Stewed Chicken

Every one on Oprah was licking their fingers over this recipe.  I just had to taste it for myself.

Crap…the chicken factor.

Cluck.  Cluck.

Chicken, Schmicken.

After 4 recipes we are KITCHEN WARRIORS!

The chickens don’t have a chance…

The recipe was pretty easy to follow, but the liquid reduced too quickly and Bianca added more water.  There was a side of Orzo suggested with this recipe.

The Verdict?

5/5 liked the chicken.

2/5 liked the Orzo which is really surprising since the Orzo was very neutral in flavor.

The post cooking reality report:

I will probably make this again.  It is a bit labor intensive, but would be easier the second time around.  Since the Orzo was not a hit at my house next time I will substitute mashed potatoes.

The portion size was good – even generous. We have tons of Orzo left over and several pieces of chicken that can be used in other recipes later this week.

Overall this was a good food day.  We are spending a majority of our day in the kitchen, but for the most part making food that the kids will eat.

Tomorrow is another day…

Read about Day 1

The next day: Day 3

Advice Reality Check

When I was pregnant with my first child I read 7 books on pregnancy and 5 books on early parenting.  During the first year of his life I subscribed to two different parenting magazines and continued devouring books on the subject…

Wear your baby.

Don’t wear your baby.

Start solids at 3 months.

Don’t you dare start solids at 3 months.

Let him cry it out.

Don’t EVER let a baby cry.

As my child grew so did the amount of available advice…

Potty train by age 2.

Don’t potty train until he is ready.

Potty train in one day.

Big potties, little potties, porta-potties….ARGHHHHHH!

Teach your child to read.

Don’t push academics.

Meanwhile I was bombarded with advice from other areas of life…

Paint your kitchen cabinets.

Remove wallpaper yourself.

Cook this way.

No this way.

Use this product.

Use that product.

This craft is easy and will keep your children occupied.

These homemade Christmas Cards are an absolute must for any self-respecting mother of three.

Drinking this juice will make you younger.

Making this homemade face mask will change your life.

TV personalities, Magazine Editors, Internet Experts, Book Writers, Movie Makers all seem to know exactly how I SHOULD be doing it.  But don’t most of them have a staff of people helping?

Help!

Help!

Heeeeeeeeeeelp!

I need an advice reality check.

I am NO expert.

We are No experts.

Which is why what we are planning will be SO MUCH FUN!

We are starting an advice reality check section here at burbmom.net.  We are going to choose a piece of advice and then follow that advice and then report to you what REALLY happened.

You can get involved too.

You can suggest advice that you have always wondered about by leaving a comment below or emailing it to holly@burbmom.net or you can volunteer to join us in trying out advice.

Our first reality check series starts TODAY – We are taking on the 21 meal plan for a family of four by Chef Cat Cora as seen on Oprah last week.  She claims I will be able to easily feed my family 21 homemade meals for less than $150.

We’ll just see about that…

They Put Everything into Their Mouth!

When consulting with new parents, we explain that it is their baby’s job to put everything into their mouths. A baby’s mouth has more nerve endings than any other part of their body, so if they want to find out what something tastes or feels like, it goes in their mouth. Parents do not want their baby putting anything into their mouths that is not given to them by a loving caregiver.

March 15-21 is National Poison Prevention Week and the goal is to inform parents on how to prevent unintentional poisonings.

With some common sense precautions you can avoid the unintentional poisoning of your child:

1. Store household products safely

• Store these items out of reach of children
• Install childproof latches on cabinet doors and drawers. Lock all of them below the counter tops, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. In addition to the poisoning hazard, Mom’s make-up drawer is one of the most expensive drawers in the house, so this may save you some expense from damaged products as well.

2. Use products safely

• Buy products that are packaged in childproof containers, when appropriate.
• Re-close childproof packaging correctly.
• Be cautious with medicine
• Never refer to medicine as candy. A handful of children’s vitamins with iron are toxic to a small child.
• Do not take medicine in front of your children. Children emulate what their parents do, both good and bad.

3. Install Carbon monoxide detectors

• CO is a silent killer, it is an odorless, colorless gas emitted by fireplaces and gas appliances.
• The recommendation is to have one CO detector on each level of the home.

As a professional baby-proofer, I recommend that the Poison Control Center phone number, 1-800-222-1222, be posted by the home telephone, and programmed into each caregiver’s mobile phone. In the event that the child swallows a foreign substance, the last thing you want to do is find yourself scrambling for a phone number. Do not hesitate to call, the people are friendly, professional, and they do not make you feel stupid.

When my twins were born we kept syrup of ipecac in the home, which was recommended by American Academy of Pediatrics to induce vomiting in the event of poisoning. Since that time the AAP recommends disposing of any syrup of ipecac. There are several reasons behind the new recommendation. Most importantly, there has never been any evidence that vomiting helps children who eat or drink something poisonous. It was a practice based on intuition rather than science.

Now for the scary numbers: More than 1.2 million children under the age of 5 were victims of unintentional poisonings in 2004 according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. About 90,000 were treated in hospitals and sadly about 100 did not survive. About 90% of the poisonings occurred in the home usually between 4 and 11pm.

I can tell you from experience that it is not pleasant to go to Emergency Room with a sick child and it is especially unpleasant from 4 to 11pm.

They put everything in their mouth, some of it is dangerous. Take precautions now so you are not the one to say “I only left them for a second.”

————————————————-

About the Author: Jack Smith is the CEO of InfantHouse.com, a baby proofing company serving the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. He is the Daddy of boy/girl twins, affiliated with the International Association for Child Safety and contributing author of “Chaos 2 Calm: the moms-of-multiples’ guide to an organized family.”

How to make Burbmom.net your home page

Many of you come to the site daily, and others of you are just frequent visitors – either way we wanted to share with you how you can make burbmom.net your homepage in 5 easy steps.

Note: For simplicity sake, I am going to explain how to do this if you are browsing the net with Mozilla’s Firefox.  Internet Explorer or Safari might be slightly different.

1. First things first.  At the top of your internet browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) there should be a tab called “Tools.”

   

2. Click on the Tools tab and choose the last option, which reads: Options

   

3. The first box you see should say, “When Firefox starts: Show my Home Page.”
4. The second box is where you can specify what this homepage is.  In the box, type: http://www.burbmom.net/

   

5. Then, go to the bottom and click ok.

   

   Now you can just click on the house icon and…

   

   Voila! You are at your new homepage – Burbmom.net!

   

The free gift everyone needs

Time. The greatest currency of all.

Each day we have 1400 precious minutes of life. If you’re a mother, you know how quickly those minutes pass, like shooting stars in the night sky. We blink, and it’s over, and everything our mothers and grandmothers told us about how time flies is true.

No doubt, time is the greatest currency we can give our kids. And it’s so simple, and stress free. You don’t have to be wealthy, to give the currency of time. Time is free, and we all have it to give. But time is the currency most wasted.

Today, in our divided homes, moms are blogging, kids are on computer games, and dad is on text  or email. We’re all plugged into technology, myself included, and it’s easy for the hours to zip by before we’ve realized where they’ve gone.

Time is passing you by. Before you know it you wake up, and another birthday has arrived. The moms I admire the most are the ones who spend face time, on the floor, with the kids, while the laundry and dishes stack up. The moms who play cars without getting restless, or interrupting play time with a new idea. I am not one of those moms, but I try, try, try to be. I spend all day with my kids but more of it could be quality time, and not just time. Face time, on the floor, building a puzzle even though puzzles frustrate me.

The wonderful thing about time is that we all have it to give, and it’s free. The tragic thing about time, is that you never can know when it’s going to run out.

It reminds me of the two kids whose parents died within months of each other, from random diseases. One from cancer, another from diabetes. Who thinks that’s going to happen?

In my work as an author slash mom, I often pose the question; how many summers or winters do you have left? We think we’re entitled to the average life span of 70 something, but that’s really just a mirage, because we aren’t guaranteed anything. Carpe diem, sieze the day, the time is now.

if you had just thirty days to live, who would you spend it with?

You can read more about how Tammy spends her time at Escape Suburbia.

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