I should be in bed, but I am collecting paperwork, printing out tickets, and printing business cards. Technically my husband printed them, which is just as well since me + printers = paper jam.

The minivan is packed for the 5 of us to go on a beach trip tomorrow. I have packed two sets of clothes for myself: beach clothes and more formal/dressy clothes for BlogHer. My suitcase is buried under beach chairs, 2 boogie boards, sand toys, and the ever-present and oh-so-necessary cube of Diet Pepsi.

On Wednesday I will head from the beach to BlogHer. I’ll probably breath a sigh of relief that I made it from the beach to the train station to New York Penn to the hotel to the bed. Once in bed I will probably sleep.

I’ll also be sad to leave the family on vacation. This is not supposed to be the week we travel. Our plans went awry. We made the best of it. To the beach we will go.

I packed all my clothes in one very large suitcase. I plan to leave the beach clothes with my family while I take a slightly lighter, yet still large suitcase on the train. I’m bringing my laptop bag and one other suitcase. As long as I can lift everything on and off the train I should be fine.

I have several large recycled fabric shopping bags for any extra items I need to haul home.

I know that my family will have a fun time without me. I’m not a beach person at all. I wear a swim suit, a long-sleeved rash guard, and hide under beach umbrellas while at the beach. Honestly, I should just buy a burqa.

My kids frolic in the waves while I cower in the shade. Oh and, did I mention that I am not a swimming in the sea type of person either. I’m kind of a kill joy on the beach…I guess.

While my family is swimming, I will be taking a train to BlogHer. I’m close enough that taking a plane would add hours to my journey due to transfers and connections. So, the train will get me to NYC!

Once in BlogHer I have a fun, very fun set of actvities, events, and sessions to attend. Will I get to all of them? I hope so. Am I planning to maximize my time at BlogHer? You bet. Will I sleep during my stay? Probably, as I am paying for the hotel room. I need to maximize my time in the hotel room, too.

Are you planning to go to BlogHer? Leave a comment and let’s try to meet! I’m a first timer. Looking forward to getting out of BlogHer as much as I can!

He’s doing laundry. Cooking. Getting it done. And, he’s the designated driver of the carpool to camp, no less!

I am hooked to the computer working. I should be outside in nature…my husband found the above baby deer one morning this summer. It seems as though there are not enough hours in the day right now to get it done. To get everything done. To get anything done. At this point I would settle for crossing a few items of my to do list each day. Many days I sit and move from one project to the next with nothing to show for myself.

Today I tackled a mini crisis that I should have tackled a month ago. I’m just letting everything pile up.

Winners need to be chosen. Packages need to be shipped. Products have to be reviewed. Posts need to be written. And BlogHer!

BlogHer is two weeks from today. Yikes! I need to get my regular work done so that I can go to BlogHer to enjoy the fun and festivities.

Anyone else totally stressed right now??

I write at:

Musings from Me
Savvy Source DC
Oyster Locals DC
The DC Ladies
TypeAMom Preteens
Baltimore Examiner

I moderate:

Momster.com — four groups on tweens and teens

DC CityMommy

MomSpark

I manage an #opensky Store, too.

As sleep deprived as I will be for BlogHer, you can bet that I will experience everything about BlogHer that I can. I’ll need to eat a little, drink a lot, and sleep a little to remain charged for BlogHer.

Have I mentioned our family mantra? I should say “mantras.” We have two:

1. Seize the Day

2. Play/Party/Shop/Vacation til You Drop

When I first got married, my husband was on board with Mantra #1 but not so much on Mantra #2. You see Mantra #2 is my family’s mantra.

As a kid I lived in England, America, England, America, England, Italy, and finally America. My parents never knew if we would stay in a country for 6 months, 1 year, or forever, so we Seized the Day AND Vacationed Til We Dropped. In one year we visited Williamsburg, Philadelphia, Florida, Skyline Drive/Luray Caverns, and Washington, D.C.

After a year or two, my husband adopted both mantras as his own. If we are going to do something we go all out. Vacationing in Disney World? You can bet that our family will arrive at the park when it opens and be the last ones to leave. We keep the kids going with frequent refuelling stops…recharging their batteries so to speak. Just like the Energizer Smart Charger.

BlogHer will be no exception.

While at BlogHer — my first BlogHer — I will arrive on Wednesday and leave on Sunday. The conference may officially be two days, but I am going for 5 days including travel days. I’m stretching my budget to accommodate the extra days. In this economic climate it’s a struggle for many people, myself included to go on vacation. While my family spends a few days at the beach, I will be spending my part of the family vacation in New York at BlogHer. We can’t afford two separate vacations this year.

You can bet that I will be like the Energizer Bunny if chosen to be the Energizer Smart ChargHER I will wear my Energizer t-shirt with pride. I’ll hand out the USB drives. I’m a person with a mission when it comes to meeting people. If Energizer charges me to hand out the USB drives, I will hand out and engage each person I meet with reasons to purchase Energizer products. If chosen as the Energizer Smart ChargHER I will accept the charge.

For the last two summers I have made it my mission to photograph EVERY swimmer on my children’s swim team. Do you know how hard it is to find and take each child’s photograph in a season that spans 6 short weeks, where kids are on vacation or at camp, or sick? But, I did it. Last year I photographed 230 kids with their moms and dads. This year I am taking over 200 individual photos of each swimmer. I charged myself with a mission. I completed the mission. I’m an Energizer Smart ChargHER at home and online!!

The $2000 will help me pay for my hotel. I’m sharing a room with the fabulous @MorethanMommy. My train — I’m traveling by train as it is the cheaper option. Flying is too expensive. My conference ticket? I have one, but I wasn’t able to buy it when the tickets were first available. I did not have enough cash in my Paypal account. When I had enough money in Paypal? You guessed it the conference passes were sold out. I bought a pass, but did not get the early bird rate. I’m kicking myself for not buying the pass earlier. Oh well, at least I have a conference pass, right?

This post was written as part of the entry for the Energizer Smart ChargHER contest. I was not give a product for review. The opinions expressed are my own.

I started this post a few months ago. I wrote part of it then deleted it. I didn’t know what direction I wanted to go with the post.

I have shared the statement with many moms and dads of teens: Teen is the new terrible twos. Am I right?

Teens and toddlers are pouty.

Teens and toddlers want to get their own way.

Teens and toddlers will do anything to get their own way.

Teens and toddlers can be upset easily when someone raises their voice or looks at them.

Teens and toddlers need to change outfits multiple times per day.

Teens and toddlers do not put away their toys.

Teens are too old for timeout and wouldn’t sit in timeout anyway. Ditto for toddlers.

Teens and toddlers either eat dinner like food is going out of style or will only eat orange food or a bagel with creamed cheese or Twizzlers.

Teens and toddlers don’t listen when called for dinner. Teens are connected to ipods. Toddlers are connected to toys.

Teens and toddlers can be sweet and then not so much.

Teens and toddlers want hugs, but not right now.

What is your teen like? Your toddler? Any similarities to how your teens and toddlers act?

I don’t just post about teens and tweens here on this blog. I post over at Momster.com. Momster is the place for moms of tweens and teens. I go to Momster to hear about what is to come for my teen — driving, dating, and not drinking. I go to Momster to share my knowledge about tweens and early teens with moms who have children who are young teens. I love helping a Momster mom out! I’m a Momster mom, are you?

My blog title gives an overview of what I write about — Musings from Me on Kids, Preteens, and Teens. I have a Kid (7), a Preteen (11), and a Teen (14). I muse about our lives: school, sports, family game and movie night, travel, and eating dinner as a family.

I blog about causes I am passionate about. As the mom of a kid, a preteen, and a teen who spend time online to varying degrees, online safety, cyber bullying, and cell phone safety are topics that interest me.

Since I started blogging when my older two were 11 and 9, I have had to be cautious about what I write about. I have no humorous stories of pee, poop, or barf to write about. The toddler years are a blogging goldmine for most bloggers! My daughters read my blog, so I would not them to read anything that would (a) embarrass them and, most importantly, (b) identify them.

I do not write about the specifics of my girls’ lives: their school, names of their sports teams, classes, teachers, grades, friends’ names, etc. I also can’t write about the details of their lives. Their lives are not my story to tell.

I do incorporate anecdotes about my children and husband in to review posts. I have found that I can tell a story about our family’s experience that is rich in detail but does not compromise the safety and privacy of my children.

How did I start blogging anyway?

I started two blogs in January 08. I was required to respond to graphic design elements, artistic style, and ads for a graphic design and writing graduate class on one of the blogs. While I was commenting on graphic design elements for the class, I started a second blog as a family journal. I added entries now and again.

In September 08, I started writing blogposts again. After 12 years at home, 6 as a WAHM and 6 as a SAHM, I was faced with the “what do I do now?” question. I did not want to go back to editing and managing the production cycle for health care publications. But, what would I do?

Blogging! The blog gave me a chance to flex my writing skills. I found that I enjoyed posting every day on my blog, and commenting on other blogs. I noticed that other blogs had buttons for networks, writing sites, Facebook, and twitter.

Social Media 101

Clicking on the twitter button was breathtaking. I don’t mean to sound overly melodramatic, but after floundering a little in my quiet house the “noise” from twitter was a welcome break. I had found my people. People to talk to each day. Bye bye quiet. Hello new world!

From twitter I learned everything about social media.

I learned about giveaways. Posting your most succinct and to-the-point message in 140 characters or less. Twitter is the best place for a beginning writer with a tendency not to get to the point to figure out what to write. I clicked on links: some were good and some deadends. I learned to find the golden nuggets while sifting through the spam.

Getting serious about blogging

Midway through 09, my blog acquired its own domain name and a snazzy new WordPress theme. My blogging journey continues on…

I know that I need to ensure that my kids behave. I use whatever means I have at my disposal. When the kids were little, taking a special toy away or not letting my child have dessert was enough to get the children back to acting correctly. But, my children are older and their special toys are cell phones and computer use. The kids know that I can take away the phone whenever I need to.

Some parents who are frightened to discipline their children would never take away their child’s phone. I worry about kids who have permissive parents. Sadly these are the same parents who will buy alcohol for a teen party to “keep the teens at their house and off the roads.” Shudder.

At the Cox Teen Summit on Internet and Cellphone Safety, @KeyInfluencer, the moderator, shared that in his house their are two kind of cellphones. I attended the summit a week or so ago. James Andres told the teens, moms, and dads in the audience, and special guest John Walsh that in his house the “cell phone with the bells and whistles” is for kids who behave and get good grades. The “cell phone that only makes voice calls” is the phone his kids get if their behavior is not what it should be. LOVE THIS IDEA!!!

Our kids’ cell phones were purchased as a way for the kids to contact my husband and I. If the kids use the phones to chat or text friends that is a bonus. The kids know that we are in charge of the phones.

Are you in control of your child’s cell phone or are they?

It was Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. There were no supermarkets. No big box stores. No large shopping malls. For large items she would take the bus in to Manchester. For everything else she shopped at the corner shops.

The shopkeepers knew her. She knew them. If she needed a new book, one of the shopkeepers would order it for her. If she wanted a particular cut of meat the storekeeper would save the cut for her. The shopkeepers saved chocolate bars for me — “the English-born America-residing granddaughter come to visit.” The shopkeepers needed my grandmother and she needed them. A win-win retail situation.

I was thrilled to learn that I could open my own corner shop…virtually. OpenSky is a store where I only sell products that I have touched, worked with, squeezed, and reviewed on my blog. That’s it. If I haven’t worked with the product how will I know if you will like it or not.

My selection is small but growing. Here’s what I am selling:

• Soft, safe building blocks…limitless possibilities for designing the perfect structure for little kids.
• Scrapbooking supplies for capturing your memories from Disney!
• Wall stickers in the shape of a train. Win!
• and more

Come check my OpenSky store out. Would love it if you could pass on my link to your friends.