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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Mothers at Museums

17 Museums will be free on Mother's Day, May 10th, around the city.

KORET MUSEUM DAYS 2009:
BAY AREA MUSEUMS OFFER FREE MOTHER'S DAY ADMISSION
IN HONOR OF KORET FOUNDATION'S 30TH ANNIVERSARY

San Francisco, CA - Celebrate Koret's 30th anniversary with a Mother's Day trip to the museum on Sunday, May 10, 2009. Seventeen Koret-supported Bay Area museums are offering free admission, encouraging visitors to enjoy the Bay Area's world-class amenities.
The Mother's Day event marks the second time that Koret has hosted Koret Museum Days, offering free admission on Mother's Day to Bay Area museum-goers. In 2004, a similar event in celebration of the foundation's 25th anniversary drew 55,000 visitors to 13 participating museums, inspiring a trend in corporate philanthropy-supported free weekend admission.
Museums participating in Koret Museum Days 2009 include:

Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito

Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco

M.H. de Young Museum

Exploratorium, San Francisco

Legion of Honor, San Francisco

Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley

Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley

Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco

Oakland Museum of California

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

San Francisco Zoo

San Jose Museum of Art

IMAX movie at the Tech Innovation Museum in San Jose
Zeum, San Francisco

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Two Tuesday Tips

Each Tuesday I will list two of my favorite tips or tricks that I either already do, read online or have heard from another parent. Here's this weeks:

1. With the departure of plastic bags from the world and the arrival of reusable shopping bags, I find myself scrambling for somewhere to throw dirty diapers and kitty litter. I came across this tip online for additional sources of bags : bread or hamburger buns (just shake out the crumbs), grocery store fresh produce bags, newspaper bags, toilet paper and paper towel plastic packaging and wipes plastic wrapping.

2. If your child is a budding artist and loves to paint, you know what a mess it can be. A good way to keep paint colors separate and reusable after the little creators run off to the next thing is to use a 7 day pill container for the paint. That way the colors stay separated and you can just close and reuse.

If you have any tips you'd like me to feature, send them my way! kerrylien@gmail.com

Also check out my tips at Examiner.com

Monday, April 27, 2009

Slick site spotting- Lunchbox

After posting about my need to organize, a commenter introduced me to her site about everything "lunch". Since I'm entering this stage of making lunches for Maddox, the site is a great resource. Check it out and let me know if you know of any other good resources.

Click it!Lunchbox

Friday, April 24, 2009

Organize, Schedule, Balance

After vacation I'm sure most of you do what most of us do. We analyze our lives and make decisions on how to make them better. A lot like New Year resolutions if you will. After returning this week, Sacha and I claimed a few of the following:

1. We need to work out more
2. We want to move closer to family
3. We want another baby - one day
4. We need to organize our lives with schedules.
5. We want to travel more - next stop, Italy.


As you can see some are doable, some aren't, for the moment. This week I'm going to conquer #4 on the list. Inspired but Sacha's sister, Natascha, we decided to create schedules and charts for our little threesome. Now Natascha has a complex system for each of her three children. Lists of duties, chores, school functions, after-school activities. It was probably the first thing I noticed when I walked into her Sydney home. I was frozen into bewilderment at the site of the lists cascading down the cupboard doors, but as I read through them, it all made sense. It brought me back to a few Supernanny episodes where Jo posts charts and rules for the families she is visiting and the children seem to follow them seamlessly. (Believe me, it's all TV magic)

Sacha and I also decided we waste a lot of time sitting around watching TV when we could be going to the gym, picking up the house, etc. Not to say I won't be watching Lost and AI, but we could be a lot more efficient with our time. Another cog in the wheel is the looming start date to make lunches for Maddox starting this June. If I want to actually throw more then a slice of bread and a banana in a lunchbox, I'll need to step up my routine.

So, now I'm looking to you for help. If you have any foolproof schedules, charts, planners, minute by minute details of your life, that you'd like to share, I'd love to see them. Until then I'll be making up little lists and working on the bigger plan.

To be continued...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I'm back!

I'm currently fighting jet-lag threefold. A jet-lagged husband, child and myself. Getting back to the swing of things after a wonderful trip abroad is really tough.

The first night was relatively easy. I fell asleep at 8 and slept through pretty much until 7:30am. There was a momentary yowl from Maddox's room, but after a quick sooth he went right back down. Last night was a little tougher. He woke at 10 exclaiming "breakfast?!". Little did he know that some people were still working on dinner in the world. I'm curious to how tonight will go. I'm sitting with a glass of Pinot, ready to catch up on Lost. Wish me luck.

A full trip recap to come!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Whining Mothers on Oprah

Not sure if anyone seen today's Oprah, but it was all about Mothers and Motherhood. I don't usually watch Oprah, but I knew this was the topic since Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com fame was a guest and my husband's company runs her advertising, so I tuned in. And it also just so happened that I was home on a Monday at 4pm with my husband since we're waiting to leave for our flight.

From the first segment I was completely turned off. The mothers they profiled started whining about how hard it is and how motherhood is so tough and overwhelming. I immediately knew this was going to be an hour of boo-hooing. And it was.

I know motherhood can be hard. Of course it can. But is it really that tough? I know I have a pretty mellow child. So maybe I'm not experiencing the hardships other mothers face. But suck it up. And these women who say they don't shower or that they give pizza to their children for breakfast? I don't get it. Put your child in an exersaucer and take a shower. Even toast and jam is better than pizza.

Another thing both Sacha and I noticed...they never once mentioned the fathers during the show. Where are the dads? These women kept mentioning how alone they are, but I believe most of them are married. I know I wouldn't be able to do it without Sacha's help. We take turns, we each give each other some down time away from the child. Is it that most of these women don't have contributing husbands?

I'm just venting, but if it's hard for you, just try to find ways to make it easier and have a glass of Zinfandel. And don't whine about it on Oprah.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

A Down Under we will go!


In just over 24 hours we will be heading to Sydney. Finally. We booked these tickets back in the Fall and I think I've been counting the days since. Then with Maddox's Pneumonia last week I thought the trip may be off. But he's back to 100% toddler mode and we are packing, checking off the lists, doing laundry, cleaning house...

My posts my be a bit scarce over the next couple weeks and I plan to relax, enjoy and be with family.

G'day!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

I'm an Examiner!

You can now read my posts on the San Francisco Examiner's website. I'll be writing articles about parenting in San Francisco and raising a child in the big city.

Check it out: http://www.examiner.com/x-6538-SF-Parenting-Examiner