Utopian Neighborhood...If He Builds It Will They Come?

The other night, as I was writing a few blog posts for both of my blogs, I had the television on in the background.  I vaguely remember hearing a commercial  that interested me so I listened for a contact and remembered the web address.  Later that night I went to the address and was amazed at what I found.

This man, Mitch Leigh, purchased a large piece of land in New Jersey and he is in the process of creating his own person Utopian neighborhood.  Well, not really a neighborhood, he calls it a dream village.  He was born and raised in Brooklyn, did a stint in the army, went to Yale and he's also a Tony award winning composer for Man of La Mancha and directed and produced The King and I (Yul Brynner).  The village is mainly for those people who enjoy the arts and sports.  The end of the commercial (which can be seen on his website) states, "if you're not a nice person, don't call me."  Pretty much sums it up, right?

The village includes different types of living spaces; apartments, townhomes, etc.  It also includes shops, sports facilities and an experimental theater.  Not to mention hundreds of acres in New Jersey that will remain natural and untouched.  Heaven, right?

The one thing I didn't notice on the website was if family would be welcomed.  It doesn't really come out and say yes or no, but in the drawings I saw couples and singles....no families with children.  Hmmm.

This got me thinking if I would be happy in a place like this.  If it were just me I probably would.  I'm not sure my husband would enjoy it though.  One would think since he plays saxophone and runs a big band he would enjoy it, but I'm not so sure.

Would you live in this type of place?  Do you see it becoming populated?  If you are from the east coast, the location of this dream village is near Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.

Easy Bake Oven … Torture For Mom

Easy Bake Oven (Photo credit: Shelli Akers)

Don’t get me wrong.  I love cooking.  I may not be the best cook in the world (much to the disappointment of my Italian husband,) but I enjoy it.  My five year old, Joey, begged Santa for weeks that she wanted an Easy Bake Oven.  So, Santa brought one to her on Christmas morning. 

After making our first batch of blobs cookies, I called my mother up and had a little chat with her.  It went something like me starting to complain about what a pain in the a$$ it was, as a mom, to actually cook anything.  Needless to say, my mother interrupted my rant with, “paybacks are a bitch, huh?”  Yup.  We have that type of relationship now.  She laughs at all of my struggles with Joey, because apparently I was as strong willed as she is.  Anyway….

Cooking, in general, can be fun when the girls help out.  Well, it could be fun if they didn’t try competing with each other over who is doing what and when.  But, trying to cook cookies that are supposed to be about the size of a dime is insane.  I remember being excited having my oven and I’m sure Joey feels that way, but as a mom…..isn’t it easier to cook life size item instead of Barbie sized items?  I’m seriously dreading making those cupcakes the size of marbles and then having to decorate them!  Ugh!

Imaginary Boyfriends

Okay, so, I never claim to be one of those mothers that know everything.  Seriously, I’m the mother of three and I still feel like a rookie.  I’ve heard about children having imaginary friends, but I’ve never actually met a child that had one.  So far, none of my girls have an imaginary friends.  No, my middle child, Gianna now has an imaginary boyfriend….

Yup.  Boyfriend.  My husband has already resigned himself to live in a household full of estrogen.  Being that I turned 40 this year, we are finished with the whole ‘trying for a boy’ thing.  He figured he had at least a few years before he had to deal with boyfriends.  Nope, he doesn’t.  Marco is here.

Gianna picks up any phone so that she can talk to Marco.  Marco got a big bike from Santa this year.  He has blue hair and blue eyes.  She is always on the phone with him setting up a date.  And, she absolutely cannot go on a date with him unless she has a pretty dress on.

Daddy tells her all the time that she is too little to have a boyfriend and that he is going to sew his mouth shut so that he cannot talk to her any more.  Gianna just puts her hand on her hip and tells daddy that she will just unsew his mouth so that he can talk on their date.

Did I mention she is three years old?  Still working on the potty training thing.  Her speech is not perfect, but improving.  They say having an imaginary friend is a sign of creativity and intelligence.  Between her father and I we cannot figure out how she comes up with some of the things she says regarding Marco.  Ah, well.  At least he is imaginary, right?

My Reading Obsession Take Three

Ever since I could read I was a fascinated with books.  I read ahead of my grade level, so much so I had to be put in a special class in elementary school.  By the time I was 11 I was reading my older step-sister's books (she is 10 years older than me!)  Needless to say, Jackie Collins isn't exactly tween material but I loved it.  Probably about the time when boys, parties, and high school hit I took a break from my reading obsession.

When I was about 19 I had a job at the mall and on my breaks I would stroll on over to the family owned book store in the mall -they really did have a FAMILY owned book store, I promise!  I'd pick up the latest of my then sci-fi daily book obsession.  Yes, I'd read a book a day during the slow hours at work and after my social hours afterwards.  Around this point, I started running out of space to put the books.

From the time I was about 21 to recently I would read a book here and there, but not in any obsessive way. I bought myself a Nook when they first came out and I became addicted all over again.  Read as much as I want and not take up any physical space - yes please!

I'm addicted again.  I now read my books on my iPad.  I have to read something before bed or I can't sleep.  I love being lost in a different world because as a mom of three, that is my only escape from reality.  My current genre of reading obsession is paranormal romance, specifically those centered around shifters.  I mean, seriously, you can't get much more alpha male than a werewolf, right?

Some of my favorite books and authors (all genres):

• Piers Anthony
• Mists of Avalon
• Laurann Dohner
• Pamela Palmer
• Kallypso Masters
• Cherise Sinclair
• Richelle Mead

I'm thinking of branching out to other genres again, but afraid I'll get bored.  There is a genre challenge going on over at A Daydreamer's Thoughts.  I haven't committed yet, but I may.  What are you reading?

Organizing Your Pinterest Boards

If you're anything like me, you are on Pinterest a few times an hour a day.  I've been an avid Pinterest user since you had to wait for an invitation -and they were very hard to come by.  In the beginning, I went a little bit crazy pinning things and didn't really keep things organized.  Luckily, you can edit your pins and boards to make it a bit more organized.

Why Organize Your Boards?

It's the beginning of the year and we are all looking to get fit and be more organized in our life.  Why not our pins?  Keeping your boards and pins organized will not only keep things easier to find for yourself, if you own a blog or business, it will make gaining followers easier.  Trust me, who would want to follow a board called "Stuff"?

Moving A Pin From One Board To Another

1. Go to the board with the pin you want to move.
2. Place your cursor over the pin and you will see "Repin", "Edit", "Comment".  Click on "Edit"
3. From this screen you can edit the description, link, and board.
4. If you want to move it, use the drop down arrow to either select the appropriate board or create one that makes more sense.
5. When you are finished editing/moving the pin, click the save button.

I can't stress how important keeping your boards organized is.  I love some of the people I follow, but I don't really want to follow all of their boards.  Let's face it, I'm not a girly-girl and hate when my Pinterest feed is filled up with makeup and nail polish pins.  I can unfollow those particular boards but still follow the boards that interest me.  If their boards aren't organized, I may unfollow all of their boards out of frustration.

Goodbye 2012....Hello 2013

Yeah, it's been quite a while, huh?  I'm still alive.  Still struggling at being a stay at home mom and still struggling with the whole blogging for sanity thing.  I've joined the January 2013 Ultimate Blog Challenge which will (I hope) help me with getting my personal blog up and running again.  I still post reviews of iOS apps over at TechTools4Mom on a fairly regular basis, but I think I need this for my brain dumps.

My 2012 year in review

2012 has been a challenging year.  Wait, did I just say challenging?  Damn, I feel like I'm working again with that word.  Everything is a 'challenge' or an 'opportunity'.  Okay...off track.  This is what happened in our family this year.

• We welcomed our third (and final) child into the world...Baby Mac (Mackenzie)
• I turned 40 -- YIKES!
• My husband changed jobs
• A dear family member was diagnosed with CLL and in a matter of a week went from hiking in the Poconos to being in the hospital with little to no energy.
• Another marriage in my family has been dissolved.
• TechTools4Mom has picked up a lot of readers and traffic.
• I have become an avid reader again.

I know I'm being somewhat vague in some of these, but for privacy sake, I don't want to announce certain things.  Some of them aren't necessarily my story to tell, but they do affect me in a very personal way.  I am not going to go into detail about my goals for 2013, mainly because when I did it last year I kind of fell on my face!  I just want my family to be happy and healthy in all ways.  Just those two little things will require me to work on a few things in order for that to happen.

First Day Of School

My five year old, Joey, started kindergarten today.  She was super excited and couldn't sit still for the few hours before her afternoon class started.  When I dropped her off at school, she rolled her eyes when I asked for a kiss (no crying there!)  My almost three year old, Gianna, is the one that threw a fit because she wanted to stay with her big sister!  I'm happy to say, I did not cry.  I have to be honest, I probably could have, but lugging a 15 lb almost 5 month old and dealing with a tantrum from Gianna, I didn't really have the opportunity to think about it too much.

Gianna and I had a few hours to ourselves while the baby took a nap.  She enjoyed the time with me.  I got nothing done around the house, but it's okay.  It will be there tomorrow!  I put together her first day of school picture above -blurred part is the school she attends.  Very happy with it and her answers made me laugh.  We had kindergarten homework on the first day (seriously, WTH?)  The two older ones have been fighting since Joey came home.  Life is back to normal until tomorrow!

Mother Of A Kindergartner!

On September 4th, I will be the the mother of a real live kindergartner.  I've been through so much with my oldest but I couldn't be more proud of her.  Being born a preemie, she had issues in the beginning but has grown into a very polite (when out) little five year old girl.  She still has a few behavior issues, but I think most of it is boredom.

We had out orientation yesterday, in which they expected my fat butt to fit into a tiny chair -ha!  Anyway, Joey ran off to listen to the principle read a book to the kids while we heard from her teacher.  They will be doing everyday math and reading street curriculum.  Now, I know I'm fairly new to this whole parent of a school kid thing, but I've heard of everyday math from friends.  And how much they H.A.T.E it.  Researching on the web I'm fairly iffy about it myself.  I'm worried, but will hold off on my opinion until later.

Although Joey is not one of those five year olds who can read a book or even match letters to sounds (some, not all) she is a whiz at math concepts, so I hope the everyday math program doesn't mess her up with this.  The girl understand math concepts it freaks me out a bit.  But, being the daughter of two techno geeks, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Our summer hasn't been fun filled.  We've been busy with play dates and visiting friends and family, but since my husband switched jobs in the spring, he doesn't get vacation time until October.  My father came to visit for a few days from New Mexico which was nice.  We've had a lot happen over the past month or so, some good some not so good.  I'll get into more of that in later posts.  Let's just say, it sucks as a family ages.  I know I'll be able to deal with things because I won't have a choice, but it still sucks.

I've neglected this page, and really need to post, even though I'm sure I've lost a ton of readers.  It is my outlet and I'll be needing it more and more in the future.