Monday, December 31, 2007

NEW YEAR DO YEAR

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. I really think that if you want to do something, you should just do it and make a commitment to that goal no matter what time of the year it is. However, in the spirit of New Year's and in honor of the TOMGIRLZ, I decided to make a DO LIST so you can see what you can expect from TOMGIRLZ MOMZ in 2008. Who knows, maybe just the act of listing it all here for you to read will help to make all these goals come to fruition.

1. Start (and complete) a book for Tomgirlz Momz. This book is in the planning stage. It will serve as a guide to Momz to parent their grade school children so that they won't have to "re-program" as adults as we all apparently need today. Are we so messed up that we need all those self-help, motivational, relationship guiding books out there? Apparently so. Books from authors like Napoleon Hill, Jack Canfield, Robert Kiyosaki, etc. are big money earners for a reason. I have to admit that I too am part of the reason...I love their books!! However, I decided that it is easier to "program" properly as a child then to have to "re-program" as an adult. Hopefully my book will help save our kids from a lot of that trouble in the future.

2. Write 2 new books for the TOMGIRLZ series. I have begun work on the 6th chapter book. In it I introduce a new character named Abigail. Unfortunately, many of her peers call her "flabby Abby". Mackey and her friends take Abby under their wings and through this book of humor and kindness, they learn about exercise and nutrition and save one child from being a childhood obesity statistic.

3. I will also continue offering my Tomgirlz Momz families a means of additional income to support extra activities for our children and the benefits of safe, pure products for everyone in the house. ARBONNE is the company I have chosen for this purpose and they have proven to be a good choice. Throughout the year I will continue to educate about ARBONNE products and ingredients, and offer special values to all of you.

Well, that should keep me busy this year! What about you? If you have any goals for this "Do Year", please share! I'd love to hear what you have planned for your families...Together, let's make this a great 2008!!!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

BAKING IS A GREAT MOTHER-DAUGHTER ACTIVITY


With the kids out of school, we are all looking for some fun activities to do with our kids. My daughter and I have been keeping busy, but one of the best times we have had was baking our own mush cup cookies. The TOMGRILZ characters created mush cup cookies in the book "A,B,SEA!" and we decided to bake them ourselves.

My daughter had fun measuring all the ingredients. She did spill some sugar on the floor like Andee did in the book, but when she tried to imitate Andee throwing eggs at Mackey (apparently she decided I was Mackey and she was Andee)...I drew the line!

It was great fun recreating a scene from a book we read together and we had even more fun eating our mush cup cookies! They tasted great!!

Monday, December 24, 2007

IS MINERAL OIL SAFE FOR OUR CHILDREN?

There is a lot of buzz about mineral oil, whether it is natural or not, and its safety. Here are some interesting things I have found concerning the definition of mineral oil. I have also included a link to a safety data material sheet for mineral oil. I have chosen to eliminate mineral oil containing products for my family...you can do some research and decide for yourself.

You can cut and paste this link into your browser for a Wikipedia definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_oil

Another online definition:
Petroleum by-product that coats the skin like plastic, clogging the pores. Interferes with skin's ability to eliminate toxins, promoting acne and other disorders. Slows down skin function and cell development, resulting in premature aging. Used in many products (baby oil is 100% mineral oil) Any mineral oil derivative can be contaminated with cancer causing PAH's (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons). Manufacturers use petrolatum because it is unbelievably cheap.
* Mineral oil
* Liquidum paraffinum (also known as posh mineral oil!)
* Paraffin oil
* Paraffin wax
* Petrolatum

Material Safety Data Sheet
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/M7700.htm

Sunday, December 23, 2007

ARBONNE for TOMGIRLZ MOMZ

The Tomgirlz chapter book series help up teach our children those values that we value, but what about the finances we need to keep our kids in valuable activities? I know my daughter is into gymnastics and dance. These are great activities that help her with fitness, teach her about competition, and build her self esteem. Activities outside of school are valuable and important.....however, they can be EXPENSIVE!

To address this issue, I've decided to feature ARBONNE as a part of Tomgirlz Momz. Arbonne is a company that offers value to our families on several levels.
1. Products are chemical free...no dyes, no animal by-products. There are many products from
Arbonne for our children (and us momz!) that are pure, safe, and beneficial.

2. More time... some of us work long and hard hours to benefit our families, but we would much rather be spending more of that time with our children. Arbonne has a solution.

3. Income to help with those activities...you will love the products from Arbonne and want to recommend them to your family and friends just like you do with any great products you love. However, when you recommend Arbonne products, Arbonne sends you a check for their gratitude! Some people earn enough to pay for some extra activities, some people earn enough to give up their full time jobs and spend more time at home!

Before choosing Arbonne as a company to feature on Tomgirlz Momz, I decided I should try it out myself first. For the past 4 months I have been using the products for myself, my husband and my children. The products truly are wonderful (I will write about some of those successes later), and the checks they send are real.

If you have had your own experiences with Arbonne, please share with us! If you would like to begin experiencing Arbonne, you can contact me for more information through www.TOMGIRLZ.com

Friday, November 16, 2007

Miami Book Fair

What an incredible weekend! It was worth all the effort over the summer getting two new books ready. The weather in Miami was perfect and the response from the kids visiting my booth was overwhelming. Children who already purchased the last three books were eager to start reading the two new additions to the TOMGIRLZ series and many kids being introduced to the series for the first time jumped in and bought all five books!

In the spirit of the Tomgirlz, these books are great fun to read for the kids, but still full of positive life messages that parents will appreciate. TALENT TROUBLES is all about competition. It teaches that children can be competitive and determined and still not put others down. In fact, these girls are open to learning from each other! I use this book also as an opportunity to teach salsa dancing to children as Salsa and Ballroom dancing are a great personal passion of mine.

In A, B, SEA! the girls demonstrate the principles of friendship while establishing their entrepreneurial skills. They even create a brand new kind of cookie that they call Mush Cup cookies. Since these cookies were created by fictitious characters, I decided I had to bake them for myself and see how they were. They were so delicious that my daughter and her friends all begged for more! I went ahead and trademarked the term Mush Cup. One day we will see (in real life) a TOMGIRLZ COOKIE COMPANY!

Wishing all of you all the best and great thanks to everyone who helped make the Miami Book Fair such a huge success for me.
Dana

Thursday, July 26, 2007

THIS MOM DOESN'T LOVE GYMNASTICS, BUT LOVES A DAUGHTER'S DREAM

After a two week break to visit my parents in upstate New York, my daughter couldn't wait to get back to her gymnastics. Her dance classes won't start up again until August so right now there is nothing on her mind buy gymnastics, gymnastics, gymnastics!

I keep her in the gymnastics becuase she is so in love with it, but I have to admit, I don't really encourage it. No, I'm not one of those moms pushing her into training, fighting with coaches, and telling her she'll be in the Olympics one day. However, I also refuse to tell her that she WON'T be in the Olympics one day. She's the one who talks about Olympic dreams and I believe in dreams. I believe they should be followed, allowed to grow or be changed with time as necessary, but never, ever broken.

So what is my problem if this is her dream and she is enthusiastically following it? Well, I know that with a sport like gymnastics, the longer you are in it, the more likely the chances for injury. Sometimes big injuries. I am sure to see broken arms, broken legs, trips to the hospital... as a mother I want to keep my daughter safe. Just the thought of seeing her fall in a competition or practice and getting hurt drives me crazy.

Here's what keeps me sane. Broken bones will surely heal, but a broken spirit never will. As long as my daughter has her spirit she can accomplish anything. I want to see her fly!

Monday, July 9, 2007

MOTHER-DAUGHTER TIME TOGETHER...Six Flags Great Escape at Lake George, NY. We got to the amusement park around 1 PM. The skies looked like a threat of rain, but it never happened. Therefore, the park wasn't too busy and lines for rides were reasonable.

Of course, my daughter with her TOMGIRLZ spirit loves rides! I don't. Anything that goes up and down, round and round, or fast leaves me with my heart in my throat. So how did we spend the day together? We actually had a wonderful time. The joy for me is watching her have fun. She went on the Comet Roller Coaster at least 10 times. The first time she was a little nervous going by herself. There was a really nice teenage girl about to go on and she offered to ride with my daughter. My daughter was thrilled. She made a new friend and from then on didn't care if she rode alone or not.

I went on the Raging River ride with her. That is a pretty easy going ride where you are seated in a tube and get squirted with water as you go around. I thought I would be smart and pulled a jacket over my head so I wouldn't get to wet. Unfortunately, the jacket was denim. It got soaked and stayed with for the rest of the day!

The bumper cars were fun...that's a ride that stays on the ground and was more my speed. Then the kicker. She got me to go on a ride called the Pirate Ship. It is like a giant swing that pushes you up in the air to the point that you feel like you are going to flip over. I was miserable and couldn't wait for the ride to be over. In fact, after riding the SHIP I couldn't even watch my daughter ride it without me. The bar doesn't strap you in and she's such a skinny little thing that I was freaking out that she could slip through. She didn't agree. I had to watch her ride that ship about 4 more times!

Aside from the rides, we enjoyed the dive show very much. Since my daughter is a gymnast, she really appreciated the diving skills and there was an acrobat that did some amazing stunts. Of course, when everyone in the audience went "Ooohhh" and "Ahhhh..." my daughter said, "That's easy!"

The food was a bit on the expensive side. $3.20 for a sip of soda?! That's worse than the movie theater! But all in all we had a wonderful time. We didn't leave the park until 9:30 that night and she slept the whole way home. It was a great mother-daughter day.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Gymnastics for Young Girls

My 9 year old daughter has been in gymnastics since she was one year old. We started her because she literally climbed the walls even at that young age. My husband and I felt it would be a good outlet for her to use up some energy and save the walls. Anyway, she did take to gymnastics, but it still didn't save the walls!

Now she is on the team (level 4 USAG). She is practicing with the team about 10 hours per week, dancing another 6 hours, and then coming home and tumbling into the night! She just never stops. She absolutely loves the sport.

I see great benefits from gymnastics. No other sport offers so much... Strength and power, grace and flexibility, balance and coordination, plus a great deal of confidence. I was very happy that she got so involved, but now I'm just worried about all the stress on those young bones. I recently heard of another girl on the team suffering from an injury to her growth plates. Plus she fractured her arm...she is only 7 years old!

Anyone else know more about the pros and cons of gymnastics for young girls?

Monday, July 2, 2007

Ballroom Salsa Performance


One of the best experiences (and at times worst) was choreographing my own kids for a salsa routine that they performed at a local ballroom. Here I am with my daughter after the performace. She did an awesome job with my son! Salsa is a great dance to start kids with and get them into ballroom. I have several children taking lessons from me and they are all fabulous! Dancing is good for the soul and great for the body... Let's all keep on dancing!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Tomgirlz Are Everywhere!

Today my daughter and I went shopping. The difference between shopping today, though, and every other day is that usually every other day we are shopping for my daughter (and even if we aren't, it seems to turn out that way!). Today we went shopping for TOMGIRLZ. (To find them, that is). Every time we saw a young girl we would watch her actions and try to find the Tomgirl in her. Then we would match her up with one of the characters from the Tomgirlz books... there are an amazing amount of Sammys out there! Second most popular was Mackey followed pretty closely by Keekee and then the twins G.O. and Jacyn. We gave each girl a bookmark with a picture of the character she reminded us of. Hopefully the girls will enjoy the bookmarks and get into some cool summer reading. l

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Precious Beauty Turns Beast...every morning!

It has practically become a daily morning routine. Every morning my darling daughter runs into my room with her arms outstretched and a huge smile. "Good morning! I love you!" she bubbles with enthusiasm. Still sleeping or not, I can't resist. I have to wake up and take all the hugs and smiles she wants to give. Afterall, I deserve them, don't I? So it's a beautiful morning and we're all in a great mood. We plan a fun day and I'm looking forward to spending lots of mother daughter time together... And then it's snap. Beauty is gone and in her place is this nasty beast. "I don't want to do that", "I can't make my own breakfast" (although she's done it about a million and one times before!), "No, no, no! Now, now, now!" I'll tell you what's now, now I can't wait to send her to camp!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Little Labels Can Have A Large Impact On Our Young Girls

We all know that name calling really hurts. The days of "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me" is gone. We all know better.

But what about those innocent seeming little labels? I hear girls constantly referring to themselves or their peers as "tomboy" or "girlie girl". Those are the big ones. The thing is, everytime I hear a girl use one of these words, it seems to have such a negative connotation.
What are your thoughts? Please share your comments!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The TOMGIRLZ MOMZ Mission

I've been writing for elementary aged girls for a couple of years now, but it was brought to my attention that the mothers of these girls could sure use a resource for themselves too. There are tons of parenting magazines out there (I know, I used to have my nose buried in them!). Those magazines are loaded with stuff, stuff, stuff for babies! Thank goodness, I really needed that help when my daughter was a baby. But now she is 9 years old and those parenting issues offer very little help for this age range. I decided I would start a magazine for the mothers of girls ages 5-12. After the baby and toddler stage, but before the teen period (I'm so not ready for that yet!). The magazine would be full of advice for moms on all the issues that our girls are faced with (and there sure are a lot of them!) and would also focus on the mother-daughter relationship.
That sounded great and I've read numerous books on starting a magazine. I really think I can do it too, but one major problem...MONEY! I don't have any. Well, certainly not the amount that it takes to start a magazine...not yet. Luckily, somewhere along the line I learned about blogging. I'm so glad I did, too. For me the most important thing about starting the magazine is the editorial content it offers. Sharing ideas with other mothers of elementary aged and 'tween' girls; discussing the tough times as well as all the fun (and funny) stuff.
That's my purpose for starting this blog. Let's talk about our girls. The trouble they find and the trouble that finds them and all the things we do to build our mother-daughter relationships. That mother daughter relationship is an important one and this is the time when we can influence our daughters the most. We can shape them into strong, competitive, successful women who support their peers and communities (and families!) at the same time.
To all the Tomgirlz Momz out there, I look forward to sharing and caring and building a relationship with you too!