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• Sunday Night is Family Night

  I remember Sunday evenings as a kid... Listening as my parents moved around in the kitchen assembling a meal of some kind while we kids cozied up and watched "Wonderful World of Disney." Sunday nights were a time of relaxing family togetherness, before the weekly busyness overtook us and left us frazzled, cranky, and all tired out by Friday evening. Read More... Posted Sep 30 2007, 07:04 PM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: busy families, family activities, rituals, sunday nights, cozy sunday

• You Could Do So Much If You Didn't Have Kids

  I realize now that before I had a kid, I didn't even know what "busy" was. And every once in a while, when I'm making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with one hand, and trying to type a blog post with the other, I wonder how much I could accomplish if I was child-free. Like this guy, who built a miniature replica of Himeji Castle in eighteen years. Think about it: in the same theoretical time frame that it takes for a child to go from being pushed out of the comfy womb to being pushed out of the parental home and into the wide world, he built a perfect giant miniature (oxymoron) in his garden. If I had eighteen free years, what could I get done? Of course, I'm not saying I regret having a kid, best thing that ever happened to me, blah blah blah. But shoot, with all that time I could have done so many things, starting with regular bathing and ending with a Nobel for something cool and peace-y. But the truth is I'm probably kidding myself: most of my relentless efficiency and terrifying multi-tasking today was born out of necessity. Cuz kids will make you good at doing lots of stuff in a teeny window of time. I could probably do a replica castle too, though you might have to ignore the peanut butter smears on it.  Posted Jul 02 2007, 11:29 AM by Kelly Mills with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: working moms, peanut butter, busy families

• Solar Powered Purse

  This is the story of my life: I'm out somewhere and I absolutely have to make a phone call to let my sister know I'm running forty minutes late because she's waiting for me and I look down at my phone and realize I haven't charged it in weeks and it starts beeping angrily at me to let me know it feels really neglected in the power department and as I dial I can picture my sister's irate face and then the damn phone up and dies. My life on a slightly better day: I finally make it to the track for a run and I go to turn on my iPod and it coughs and splutters because I haven't charged it either, pretty much not since I got it. In other words, my electronic accessories get the shaft, and so they feel no guilt in letting me down at crucial moments. That's why this might just be the answer to my prayers. A tote bag that charges stuff using solar panels. Plus you could actually fit things in it, an essential feature for moms, who have to lug around spare band-aids and little bags of wipes and the teddy bear you said you weren't going to carry for them and a few cheese wands. My only request is that I want this thing in all black. And perhaps there ought to be a man-bag version for the, well, men.   Posted Jun 25 2007, 09:03 AM by Kelly Mills with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: cell phones, busy families, diaper bags, iPods

• Cozi Central: Virtual Assistant for Families

  Cozi Central is a free organizing software for busy families, the kind that busy luddites often skip in favor of sticky notes, white boards, and old fashioned paper calendars.  The software can be downloaded or used as a web interface and has menus, shopping lists, and scheduling features that could probably keep pace with even the most complicated matrix of school, sports, and carpooling arrangements. Akin to Blackberries and Trios, but without the annoying email buzzing feature, the Cozi Central program brings all the elements of family organizing into one place, yet allows multiple "authors" to enter data (even kids are allowed).  At my house the approach to organizing is to yell out "Honey -- is TODAY the doctor's appointment?" and send mad emails back and forth from work "Don't forget the lasagna noodles." "Did you pick up the prescription?" Our family could clearly benefit from Cozi Central.  If only we weren't so busy.   Posted Feb 19 2007, 06:44 PM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: organizing systems, Cozi Central, Blackberries, Parenting Magazine, busy families, Trios