MOMania

By past50mom

January 5, 2007 08:06 AM | Link to this

New Year’s resolutions have always been an individual thing at our house. But I guess a good family resolution would be to spend more family time together, to schedule a game night, movie night or pizza night.

By Stacey

January 5, 2007 09:45 AM | Link to this

We don’t really bother with resolutions (per se) in my household anymore. When we did, for the week or two it lasted, it was a family thing. They would always involve dieting & exercise and as soon as one fell of the wagon, everyone would.

By Jen

January 5, 2007 10:14 AM | Link to this

We have yet to make a family resolution. I think I will ask my husband if he wants to.

My resolutions are not the typical weight loss/more exercise ones, though I have about 70 lbs to lose (sometimes I wonder what happened to me).

I resolve to:

(1) Go to bed before midnight so I don’t feel exhausted all day (I get up at 5:30am). (2) Stay off the computer except for my fiction writing club homework (I tend to waste HOURS reading AJC and CNN!). (3) To complete my story this year! (4) When I come up with an idea to do something (creative, outdoors, social, work-oriented, anything) I will just do it and not sit there and think about doing it until it’s too late to do it.

I sort of figure (1) will help with the exercise and weight loss. The main reason I don’t exercise is fatigue. And I’m fatigued because I live on an average of 4 hours of sleep a night.

I figure all that will make me a better family member.

But the idea of a family resolution is a good idea….

By past50mom

January 5, 2007 10:22 AM | Link to this

Jen, I am curious, what story are you writing?

By des

January 5, 2007 10:29 AM | Link to this

I resolve to continue improving my outlook. Worked last year, I won a team spirit award. I nearly fainted. So did everybody else.

By Jen

January 5, 2007 10:30 AM | Link to this

Oh…I like to write dark violent pulpy stuff…nothing for kids…and definitely not chick lit. Something that comic book geeks would like.

Don’t get me wrong. I like chick lit, like Rachel Gibson. Read it all the time, especially while taking a hot bubble bath with a bottle of wine. But I also read James Lee Burke, Lee Child, Harlen Coben, and Robert Ludlum (not the posthumous stuff).

Thanks for asking. We should start a blog on what we like to read…

I’d be interested in knowing what moms read. I bet the stereotype is that we only read romances and chick lit…or Oprah’s book club selections….

:)

By past50mom

January 5, 2007 10:54 AM | Link to this

Jen, Thanks, are you published yet? I read everything! Newspapers online to start my day, legal stuff for work, nature magazines and books as I started out as an ichthyologist, then for info and pleasure, a lot of nonfiction; natural disasters, sea voyages, history, politics medicine, ex. The Great Influenza, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and the Pirate Coast. Right now I am re-reading M. Scott Peck’s People of the Lie and Jung’s Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. Also reading Christmas books my daughters gave me, The Good Good Pig, and Tales of a Female Nomad. I like Nevada Barr and JD Robb, read all of theirs. I also read mystery and true crime, short story collections, poetry, and daily spirtual reflections from Sacred Space (an online Irish Jesuit site). So many books and so little time!

By Jen

January 5, 2007 11:04 AM | Link to this

Oh no…I am way amateur. I can’t finish a story…which is why it’s a resolution. I procrastinate. Also, I think my writing is awful, just full of cliches and not enough cleverness. It’s more just fulfill my daydream fantasies.

Yes…my staring-off-into-space-daydreams involve fistfights and jumping off buildings….sometimes there’s a kiss in there…but that just distracts me from watching my anti-hero beat the crap out of people…

My problem is I use reading to procrastinate everything I do…personal and work.

For a kids book that’s just awesome you should look up “Who Needs Donuts” by Mark Alan Stamaty. That is such a cool book, for both parents and kids. Kind of like a Shrekesque aura.

By past50mom

January 5, 2007 11:40 AM | Link to this

Jen, You said you are in a writer’s class? Is it helpful? Experienced writers or amateurs? I have been thinking of taking a creative writing class or joining one of those writers groups. Are you a SAHM?

By Jen

January 5, 2007 11:58 AM | Link to this

I belong to an online writers club. Anyone can join, experienced, professional, newbies.

I find it extremely helpful in some ways and not at all helpful in other ways. I get really great critiques there but not discipline.

I think I might join a workshop or take a class to help with the discipline.

I’m not a SAHM. I am a type of scientist.

You should check out the writers club, www.critiquecircle.com

By Tina

January 5, 2007 12:45 PM | Link to this

I am not a resolutionist, so I don’t think it applies in our household. Our lifestyle is geared towards healthy eating and exercise, and we hope that our children will see our better than average habits and adopt them for themselves as they grow into independence. We walk regularly with the children in the evening, year ‘round. We eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I don’t see much discipline (application of knowledge) in resolution making, perhaps because I don’t see many people making their resolutions a permanent part of their lifestyle.

I would love to know what others are reading. I seem to have plenty of magazines for the treadmill, but need tutoring on what’s out there that’s good in book form. The last good book I read was The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld.

By Kat

January 5, 2007 04:48 PM | Link to this

In recent years, I have managed to keep exactly ONE resolution. I am the world’s worst about writing down people’s phone numbers on scraps of paper. No, I didn’t make a lofty resolution to write everything properly in an address book! My resolution was to always write the person’s name on the same scrap with their phone number. Before, I would always find the scrap later on and not be able to remember whose number it was…I would be afraid to throw it away for fear it would turn out to be important, but too embarassed to call and find out whose number it was. So that’s it, I just write the name on the scrap. Not as noble as losing weight or doing something to better the world, but far more achievable!

Seriously, I would love to have a reading blog. Believe it or not, I am a professional reader. I am on two book award committees, and I spend my work day reading and writing book reviews, as well as some proofreading and consulting on the side. The worst book I’ve read lately was Never Let Me Go, which got rave reviews but I just hated it and thought it was a dismal story. The best one I’ve read lately was The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett, which is a teen fantasy/adventure, but it’s just hilarious. I’ve just started Reading Lolita in Tehran, and while it isn’t something I would normally read (it was a Christmas gift), it is very absorbing and beautifully written. I also read a lot of lowbrow popular fiction. I could go on all day, but I’ll spare you all for now!

By past50mom

January 5, 2007 06:22 PM | Link to this

Kat, how does one get a position as a Professional Reader?

By Jen

January 5, 2007 06:27 PM | Link to this

Yeah! Theresa, next week lets have a blog on what us moms read! And what we have our kids read.

I would love to have a blog where I could get people to help me finish writing my story. Where I get on every day and give a synopsis of what I wrote the night before and everyone tells me what they think, or put up synopses of their own. And if I DIDN’T write anything the night before for no good reason then everyone could upbraid me for it.

Maybe then I’ll finish the dang thing!

By Jen

January 5, 2007 06:30 PM | Link to this

That’s a good question from PFM. I wouldn’t mind trading my science career to be a professional reader and reviewer.

By Tina

January 5, 2007 07:10 PM | Link to this

@Kat:

I wish my mother in law would take your new approach. Her organizational skills need some help, especially since it’s my husband who has to go down to Florida several times each year to figure out/deal with/clean up her mess!

By Katie

January 8, 2007 06:07 AM | Link to this

Why do people wait for January 1st to make a resolution? Why can’t they be made any time during the year? It seems to me it sets people up to fail when they only make resolutions on Jan 1st. People should make an attempt to be better people every day—not just once a year.

By Kat

January 8, 2007 10:44 AM | Link to this

Past50, I can’t say too much or it will be obvious that I’m messing around on an AJC blog when I should be working! LOL. Long story short, it involves library work as well as outside consulting work. Plus, it took me ten years of working my way through other related jobs while simultaneously working my way through a master’s degree program before I was in a position to read all day! It’s a great job, but I’ll probably be blind before I’m 50! :)