I imagine if I were to have a last meal, my very last meal on earth, I wouldn’t choose.

I would start off with an antipasto platter strewn with marinated olives, sun-dried tomatoes, parmigiano reggiano, spicy pickled vegetables, grilled eggplant, prosciutto, and salami.  
 

I've been a hockey mom for about five years now. First with my older son who then moved over to speed skating and now with my younger son. Between their two schedules, I'm at a rink a minimum of five times a week. Through the years I've learned a thing or two about how to be an efficient, organized hockey mom and how to stay warm and well fed while doing it.

Here are ten rational rules for the rink to help you make it through hockey season.

I just looked at my calendar for the next two months and am now completely stressed out because we are booked solid. This isn't even extra stuff. This is every day school/activities/me trying to have a life stuff and I only have TWO KIDS with each only participating in one activity. I didn't even sign them up for swimming because I'm trying to keep it low key. But now there is us being out five days a week for kids' activities, a weekend away at a skating meet, a weekend away at a conference, writing deadlines, work and meetings.

If this doesn't make you cry, you've got a harder heart than Simon Cowell—he sheds a tear around the 8:15 second mark.

Grab a tissue and get ready to be inspired by this girl who sings one of the most moving auditions you will ever see.

My kids find apples appealing but since Son No. 2 is currently missing a few front teeth, it make eating them whole difficult. Only, if you send sliced apples to school they become brown and yucky. I had tried the lemon juice trick in the past but the boys didn't like the taste so I came up with this technique to send apple slices to school without having them brown.

Step One:  Go out and buy yourself one of these apple slicer/corer thingys. I got mine at IKEA but I’m pretty sure you can get them at any kitchen supply place.

You know when you go into a store in the middle of summer and they've already got their Halloween stuff out and you get super annoyed because it's summer and, for heaven's sakes, why can't they just let us enjoy one season at a time?

I'm about to annoy you.

My boys love SpongeBob Squarepants. For years, it's been one of the shows they can watch together without fighting/whining/complaining because they both enjoy it. Without fail, I will hear them giggling uncontrollably at some point during the show. Usually at Patrick.

Rebecca Eckler wrote a post on Mommyish about how she's going away on vacation for six days and leaving her 10-week-old baby behind. When I last checked, there were 210 comments, some defending her, most berating her.

People are up in arms! She's leaving! Her baby! OMG and WTF. THIS POOR BABY.

Blurgh.

I'm not even going to state an opinion on the article because, really? Who cares?

WHO CARES??

I have two amazing boys. They are bright, funny, caring, unique, creative...and so many other positive adjectives that I could bore you to death for hours with descriptions.

They are also the ultimate score keepers.  

“Why do I have to do it? I did it last time.”
“How come you bought something for him and not me?”
“You went to more of his practices than mine.”
“Why does he get a new backpack?”

People fall into two categories—those who can keep a secret and those who can’t.

The first category—those who can—can also be divided into two categories. Those who can keep a secret at all costs and those who can be bribed. There is also the third, smaller group of those who can keep a secret so long as they tell just one other person.

We leave our children with teachers for a large portion of the day but more goes on in the classroom than you know—sensitive issues crop up in classrooms all the time. I found one teacher who was willing to spill the beans on what some teachers really want you to know, as long as he or she remained anonymous.

Keep Your Kids Clean

Once upon a time there was a mom whose favourite present in the whole world was a gift card to a book store. Birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day, her eyes would light up with excitement when she opened the credit-card-sized-card. She would spend hours at the book store perusing the shelves trying to decide which stories she would bring home.

I love to tie dye t-shirts with my kids but the truth is, it's quite messy so when I StumbledUpon Sharpie tie dye t-shirts, I was quite excited. The only problem in all of the tutorials I came across you would wrap a portion of the t-shirt around a plastic cup, make a design, wrap another portion around a cup, make a design, and so on.

Vanilla Ice Cream Ingredients: Cream, Modified Milk Ingredients, Sugar, Glucose, Mono and Diglycerides, Locust Bean Gum, Cellulose Gum, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Natural and Artificial Flavour

Those are the ingredients listed in a container of vanilla ice cream in my freezer right now. Sounds yummy, doesn't it? Pass me some more of those diglycerides please!

Last week we were away on our yearly vacation to Delawana Inn. Every night there's a family show and on one particular night, it was a magic show which included an escape from a straightjacket. Son No. 1 has been interested in magic and performing his own shows for years so it came as no surprise when he asked us where he could buy a straightjacket for himself.

I thought it would be easy choosing just one person for the Dove Celebrate Mom Contest, but I am in the lucky position, or in this case, difficult position, to be surrounded by women who are amazing mothers and role models.  

I'm supposed to be working right now but I can't stop thinking of yesterday.

Paul, the boys and I met up with my sister-in-law and niece and went to Canada's Wonderland for the day. 

I made the purposeful decision to leave my phone at home. There was no email checking, sending quick texts or taking pictures to tweet out to show everyone what a wonderful day I was having. It was our family having fun for us. It was me being focused and paying attention to my kids. 

And they noticed.

I feel big changes afoot.

With one son who plays hockey, one son who speed skates plus my own newfound love of speed skating, I’m at an arena a minimum of five times a week. Minimum because those five times are the mandatory ‘you need to show up for a practice or game’ times. I am a huge advocate of families being active together. For us, skating is the perfect opportunity for our family to have fun at a sport we all enjoy, so on top of those five times, we go to a public skate at least once a week.

I love hearing about the reasons why someone started blogging. What was her inspiration? Why does he continue to blog? Is there something you want to get out of it? Do you have a goal? There is no right or wrong answer and the answers themselves are always as unique and individual as the person who's sharing and yet sometimes there is also a commonality.

So tell me, why do you blog?

No matter how hard I try, I can’t pick a good watermelon. I’ve knocked more melons than a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon and still end up with light pink, tasteless mush.

So after cutting into yet another dud watermelon this morning only to find more rind than red, I decided to research how to choose the perfect watermelon.

You Will Never Sleep Again 
I know it hurts you to read it. It hurt me to write it. I don't enjoy taking away your hope. You may not even believe me but you need to trust me on this—I wouldn't lie to you. Not like all those mothers who lied to me.

You WILL sleep through the night again because eventually, all children do. But it will never be on a consistent basis.