It’s been a fun year for sure. I feel so very lucky to have two amazing guys in my life.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I did something amazing in a past life to deserve them. I know that 2010 has more great things in store for us and have made some resolutions to be sure of it.

Traditionally, New Years resolutions are about making a commitment to do something different in our lives and leave the past behind us. Typically, we make them and then break them. This probably describes most everyone’s track record with New Year’s Resolutions. Whether your resolution is to lose weight, exercise more, get organized or take more time for yourself, resolutions are all about setting a personal goal. Here are my goals for 2010, not to be forgotten mid year.

• Fight the guilt of not being a working Mom and find a way to contribute financially with out leaving my post as Jason’s oh so fun side kick.
• Date my husband more. Even if it means having a romantic evening at home, we need to treat ourselves more often.
• Get my butt into a gym. Slowly and steadily adapt an exercise plan that can become part of my lifestyle instead of quickly burning out on my sorry attempts to do so. People say that exercise gives you more energy, with a running sleep deficit its hard to notice.
• Play hard, be happy and laugh Often. Jason is a full proof guarantee to have a good day. Times still get tough, especially with recent financial strains of our student loans coming into payment and laughter really is the best medicine as so many people say. It makes you feel better and helps you be less stressed.
• Doll myself up on for that trip to the park or zoo. I find it hard to do but know that its possible, I’ve seen those Mom’s. (I just wonder what the toddler thought of Mom’s time in the bathroom?) Show some love to my hair and try to fix it in someway besides a ponytail once a week. Most day’s I feel lucky to blow dry my kinky curly bangs and throw my hair up into a ball and go directly into ball kicking- juice filling mode.
• Increase my environmental awareness. I’ve reduced my carbon footprint with cloth diapers but thats about the extent of it. I need to get online and find out where or how to recycle (no need to throw stones).

I’ve taken a long break from blogging, I had a hard time dealing with Isis’ loss and sort of forced out two posts after my tribute to Isis post. I was visiting her post any chance I could during the day and now its only every so often. I didnt want to have it leave the main page. I fixed that by giving it its own category.

Brian took Jason and I to the pet store to check out their kittens and we came home with TWO cats! Maxine “Max” is the 3 month old kitten and Sissy is the black teenager (8 months). We considered renaming Sissy, but she took time adjusting to our crazy house and responded to her name so we kept it. Jason loves them both and is very sweet with them. He carries Max all around very gently and Max just sort of goes limp. The two were fast friends. Sissy isnt as easy to capture on film, she is either sleeping in the den part of her cat tree or running around full speed ahead. It feels good to have cats in the house again.

This past week at my Guardian Ad Litem Training, we discussed child development and our role as Guardians in helping to determine if milestones have been missed. One of the more surprising set backs that a child in and out of the welfare system encounters is gender inequality. Gender inequities and gender biases, whether subtle or obvious are causing girls and boys to be raised in separate societies. The early designation of pink for little girls and blue for little boys begins the social process that teaches girls to be passive, dependent, and submissive and boys to be active, independent and dominant. Boys and girls are often given separate expectations, and widely diverging treatment based on gender.

Gender roles limit creativity and fail to prepare children for their future or allow them to fulfill their true potential. These stereotypes have predetermined that girls are pretty (insert body image problems), nice and enjoy cooking and cleaning. Boys are not supposed to be emotional, and enjoy mudslinging outside and sports. The truth is that all children are innocent and are trying to comprehend their role in society while they are still trying to establish a role with their parents and friends. Parents that interfere with that development by not allowing their son to imitate mommy nursing with his teddy bear, or clank around the house in his mommy’s heels are doing more harm than good. Working toward gender equality will enable boys and girls to embrace who they are and be themselves, instead of being bound by rigid gender roles.

Pictured above is Jason learning how to do a push up and below is him learning to walk in heels…all in the same busy day.

The first blog I ever read, three years ago, was Dooce.com. She talked about poop, boobs, her dog, and her daughter. She defines Dooced as: to lose one’s job because of one’s website. I love reading her writing and checking in on her family and their new adventures. But what I really love is that both her and her husband stay home with their children and work on their blog and support the lifestyle that they were accustomed to.

I wanted to blog when Jason was born, the development is so amazing to watch and I wanted to document it for personal reasons. Brian bought me a domain and I never once wrote on it. I was pretty exhausted and was extremely critical of my writing. It wasn’t until my mothers recent visit that she was telling me how much fun her blog was, that we came up with Triple Martini Lunch.

The best part about the blog is that I’m turning my thoughts about getting involved in child advocacy efforts into a reality. I am midway through my Guardian Ad Litem, and found sponsorship to attend the Meeting the Needs of Young Children and Families Conference this month. In addition to focusing my child advocacy efforts while I’m at home with Jason and not in the work force, I am off of farmville.  I was tucking Jason in at night, straightening up the house and checking on my crops.  Farmville had me considering paying real money for a virtual house which ends up becoming a status symbol within their society. Now, at the end of the day, I sit down and write.

I was told by someone that I wasn’t going to get rich off of it. Last month I made enough on my google ads to get a manicure and pedicure. Since choosing to stay home with Jason my pedicures are few and far between. I will totally blog for pedicures. The industry is relatively new and there is a pretty large following. Unfortunately, we missed the 2009 Blog World Expo in Vegas, next year we’ll be there.

Although I’ve spent twenty seven years in Florida and Alligators are everywhere, I’m still adjusting to living with them in our neighborhood. We live next to a large piece of conservation (also known as Florida swamp) and for many months I would walk Jason and Leah around a nearby lake. The lake has a lot of traffic and the neighbors I encounter have no fear of the teenage gator pictured above. He usually comes out on an early morning walk or a walk around dusk.  When I see him in the middle of the lake, I usually just get Jason back in the stroller.

I spoke with the man who cares for the lake (on his john boat) and asked if there was cause for concern.  He told me that the teenager wouldn’t bother us (but couldn’t give it to me in writing) and that he removed NINE adult gators from the lake last year.  This should be reassuring, but the conservation we live on is about 12 miles long and a few miles wide…I know that there are more in there.

The nearby park that we go to also rests on nearby lakes (Land O’Lakes is just what it sounds like), it also has a sign that read “please do not molest the alligators”. Seeing the sign made me realize that I did not want to take on an alligator, of any size. It made me rethink my morning walk… I’m going to consider it a loss for team lake walk and one for team alligator and take my gator bait off of the path. It was a nice wide open space that I could let the dog run on and we will miss it, hopefully she will let me make up for it with ball time.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission estimates that 1.25 million wild alligators live in Florida. Each year they remove approximately 7,000 nuisance alligators (usually they are just unwanted).

Whenever I do hamburgers or chicken sandwiches or sloppy joes, I pick up a bag of French Fries or Onion Rings. This past Sunday, while grocery shopping, Publix was nice enough to place a recipe for Dinner Stlye Onion Rings next to the sweet onions.  The ingredients were as follows:

• 3 cups vegetable oil
• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs lightly beaten

This is stuff I have…and if I didn’t and needed to pick it up, I would actually use it again.  I picked up an onion (maybe costs 75 cents? I didn’t pay attention-much better than the $3 bag of frozen fries) Not to mention it kept Jason busy in the kitchen. I must also say that when we do burgers and fries, I balance it off with some fruit.  Tonight we did watermelon…which Jason is getting better at saying. Jason was saying good so many times when we sat down I started reiterating it back to him so he knew I was listening.  Once I said “good?” he said “yes” and continued eating it up. Here is the rest of the recipe (looks like Try-Foods International gave it to Publix)

1. In a deep skillet or fryer heat oil until a deep-fry thermometer registers 360°.  Slice onion into rounds 1/4 inch thick. Seperate rounds into rings and set aside. I faked it because I didn’t have the thermometer, but a low-med heat will allow the batter to slowly cook and reach an even golden color without burning.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a small bowl whisk together milk and eggs.  Whisk milk mixture into flour mixture, continue to whisk until smooth.
3. Working in batches, dip onion ring in batter, allowing excess to drip off, then dip into hot oil.  Fry 2-3 min or until golden brown, turning occasionally. Place on paper towels to drain, and season with salt and pepper.

Cash-strapped consumers are starting to see the benefit in the DVD rental kiosks that are popping up everywhere, and $1 new releases are hard to beat.  What makes there kiosks special, aside from low price, is location. Most of them are inside Wal-Mart and Winn-Dixie and Publix stores, where people need to shop anyway. Why not pick up a movie while your there…brilliant right? Except after a recent trip to Publix, where I was given a free one night rental promotion code, I brought home a movie to share with my husband. I returned the movie four days late (having made two trips back to that same Publix since the movie had been watched) and paid a $4 late fee.

I think Netflix are the brilliant ones really. They have partnered with electronics manufacturers who have created Netflix ready devices that connect your TV to the Internet.  Completely eliminating the need to leave the comfort of your home and late fees all together.

Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. have all told Redbox it can’t have their new releases until a month after the DVD release date. The reason, the studios said, is their new releases are more valuable than $1.  I can see why anyone who is involved with selling movies would be concerned, a New DVD will sell for about $25. Video-on-demand services price them at about $5. Multi-day rentals of new titles cost $4.99 at Blockbuster. This new $1 option throws off the entire price structure.

I’m still not convinced and think NetFlix is the way to go, but this is clearly a strong consumer trend, and the movie companies need to find a way to minimize the negative impact and maximize the positive ones.  If renting movies is affordable, people are going to watch more movies overall than before.

A publicly elected Florida State university trustee suggested this week that Bowden, 79, step down following this season, even though he has one year remaining on his contract. The call for change was followed by a statement released by university president T.K. Wetherell supporting Bowden and reiterating that a decision on his future will be made at the conclusion of the season.

As if tonight’s game didn’t already have enough pressure, Florida State University’s board of trustees have been so generous as to provide a distraction for the team. Even if you agree that the criticism was just, it should have been communicated in private between T.K. and the university board of trustees.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist issued a press release today saying “As a loyal “Nole (Crist graduated from FSU in 1978), I wast to wish Florida State the best of luck in Tallahassee tonight, I wish all the best for coach Bobby Bowden-one of the greatest coaches of all time. God Bless you Coach!”