If your kids have been sick as much as mine have been lately, today’s freebie could come in very handy—it’s a free website service and free mobile app (for iPhone, Blackberry and Android), called ZocDoc (www.zocdoc.com) that allow you to book doctor appointments online, at your convenience 24/7, without ever having to call and deal with the frustrations of being put on hold.

Here’s how it works:

-Search for nearby doctors who accept your insurance

-View doctors’ photos, qualifications, verified patient reviews and ratings, and available appointment times

 

<< MORE >>

I watched with interest all the hoopla last week about the little girl on the ABC-TV show "Modern Family", who was depicted as cursing on last week's episode (or is it "cussing"?). See, "using swear words" had already been a "hot topic" around our house this month. In the wake of the episode, which was entitled "Little Bo Bleep", I found lots of online psycho-babble by professors and other experts chiming in about how swearing is, among other things, a natural part of early language development, cathartic, and helps people tolerate pain. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think most people already know that. And we also know something else the experts were saying, that, just like in the Modern Family episode, little kids use swear words without really knowing what they mean, and get a kick out of adults' reactions when they use them, and so they'll say them again. "Modern Family" was just art imitating real life. (Does that mean the Parents Television Council, the group who first caused a stink about the show, is not made up of real parents? Sometimes I wonder...) But what I really wanted to know amidst last week's jaw flapping was how real parents deal with swearing by children and teens.<< MORE >>

Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to know on what to warn/teach your kids about using Facebook and the Internet...have you heard that kids/teens/20-somethings share their passwords with each other, for everything from email accounts, Facebook and other services? According to a recent New York Times article, it's a widespread practice among young Internet users, even among young couples who are dating. Apparently, it's a sign of trust-- i.e. "if I'm your only love, prove it with an all-access pass to your Internet accounts."  Gee, nothing says "love" quite like mistrusting someone, huh? And I guess nothing says "I'm a stupid risk taker" quite like that either, since of course breakups can be messy, and BFF's can become BFN's (Best Friends Never) faster than Justin Bieber can swoosh his hair. Who wants to risk being kicked off a sports ... << MORE >>

While I generally have an "I don't worry about what people think about me" attitude, it's funny that when you have kids, you do care about how they "show" in public, in part because you feel like their actions are a reflection of your parenting skills. You wince when they're young and throw tantrums in Target, pick their nose while walking down the aisle during a wedding ceremony or point a finger at a stranger in a parade and yell out something brutally honest ("That man is HUGE!!"). And you rejoice when they remember to say "Thank you" to Grandma, sing a song perfectly at a recital or run to greet you in front of school with a big hug. I hope I never forget the time when Emmie and I were sitting in a bookstore coffee shop-- I was looking through a stack of cookbooks and she was engrossed in one of her Rick Riordan novels, when all of a sudden she looked at me and my books and said, "I am so glad I have a Mom that cooks, and plans out all of our meals, because a lot of people don't do that very much anymore." Yes, I about fell off my chair at that sign of appreciation, and yes, the elderly couple walking past our table right at that moment almost dropped their lattes in astonishment, then offered some words of praise to both Emmie and me. It was a proud moment and I think it made that elderly couple happy, too...<< MORE >>

Though Uncool Mom is often called a "parenting blog" or "mom blog", one topic it doesn't focus on much is cooking. But I do a lot of cooking, so I've been thinking that once in awhile I should share a recipe worth sharing, which in my opinion equals something that's a.) EXTREMELY easy and b.) really good. Easier than even Cooking for Dummies or one of those "3-ingredient cookbooks", easy enough for a kid to make, easy for an adult to make by memory...and so good, the most finicky kid should like it, yet it can still impress company. Because something like that doesn't come along too often, you can be assured I'm not going to turn this blog into Recipe Central. Just know that when I do take the time to post a recipe, it's a keeper.<< MORE >>

Time for a few updates, for all of you Uncool Mom readers who are dying to know the answers to such burning questions as: Did my now-17-year-old ever get her driver's license? Did she ever get a job? How is the exchange student doing now that she's gone back to France? What was the outcome of the CBS DFW Most Valuable Blogger contest? Read on to find out the answers, and other things I promised to "keep you posted" about in 2011:

The Diet-- In August, I posted about spending the summer doing the Atkins Diet with Allison and how we were both having success with it. She stuck with it until about a month after school started (it's a really hard diet for a carb-loving teenager to do, especially when everyone around them is eating chips and pizza). I'm still at it, ... << MORE >>

I cried a bunch yesterday. When the doctor finally came in to see us after two hours of waiting at Primacare (a walk-in clinic) and saw the tears rolling down my cheeks, he probably thought I was worried about Emmie (she has bronchitis)... or that I was fed up with having to wait so long with a bunch of sick people ON THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. But Primacare was showing The Rookie on their in-clinic movie system-- why wouldn't everyone cry at that?

It was the second time I've seen it. But I think I cried not only because it's a great, true story about second chances, it's also a really well-made movie, and well-made movies are hard to come by-- great soundtrack (tunes by Steve Earle, Willlie Nelson, John Hiatt, and Ryan Adams, among others); great acting (Dennis Quaid in the lead role of Jimmy Morris); ... << MORE >>

Okay, okay, I know…who am I to criticize holiday cards when I haven’t sent any out in… hmmm…a couple years? But I’ve been wanting to say something about them for a long time. No, not about how good friends I haven’t seen in ages expect me to read the long letters they’ve composed but don’t even bother to personalize it by signing their name at the bottom, let alone write me one or two lines. And no, not about how some families spend tons of money and time on getting that perfect holiday card portrait taken by a professional photographer when sadly most of those gorgeous cards just end up in the trash…but my biggest beef with holiday cards is with the use of the apostrophe. Or, I should say, misuse. I know most adults have long forgotten many punctuation and grammar rules they learned in school, but I think most remember ...

<< MORE >>

Just in time for the busy holiday season: free food from Taco Cabana! The folks at Taco Cabana have given me three "be our guest" passes to give away (worth $5.99 off any purchase, alcohol excluded) so I'll send them to the first three people who write to me (patricia@uncoolmom.com) before Thursday, 12/22/11.

If you win one, I highly encourage you to use it toward the purchase of one of TC's "Group Meals", especially if you've got a busy family (and are being pulled in 2000 different directions this season!).  For around $20 (the meals start at $17.99), you can feed 3-4 people with entree selections like a tray of eight beef, chicken or cheese enchiladas; a dozen chicken flautas; a pound of brisket; or a pound of beef, chicken or mixed fajitas. All come with rice, beans and tortillas.Our family just ate the mixed fajita ... << MORE >>

I did something last night I've never done before-- I helped two teenagers study for semester final exams, at the same time. See, this is the first time for Emmie to have an exam week like this, and we discovered yesterday that today, she and her sister both have finals in similar subjects-- for Emmie, Texas History, and for Allison, U.S. History. So last night, I asked them if they needed anyone to quiz them on definitions or dates or anything. "We can sit in a circle and I can fire off questions to each of you, and when it's not your turn, you can figure out if you know the answer, too, or just listen." Surprisingly, they were enthusiastic about this, and so we sat in the living room, dogs and all. To my left, I'd fire off questions about early Texas Indian culture to Emmie ...

<< MORE >>

Today's giveaway is a $25 gift certificate to the Hodgson Mill online store (http://www.hodgsonmillstore.com/). If you're into whole wheat and flaxseed like me (remember Emmie's nickname for me-- "Nutrish Patrish"?) or if you're always on the lookout for gluten-free products, you probably are already familiar with Hodgson Mill and know how great this giveaway is, and how you can get a lot of Hodgson Mill products for $25. And if you've never tried them, it's definitely worth putting your name in this drawing to see what they're all about.

I've raised my kids on whole wheat bread, pancakes, and sometimes, pasta, and taught them to throw in a handful of ground flaxseed when they make chocolate chip muffins from a Betty Crocker boxed mix to "up" the nutrition. It's just ...

<< MORE >>

If you're familiar with The Duggars of Arkansas, the family with "19 kids and counting", you may have looked at them like they're crazy. I know I have. Packing up the family for a road trip must not be too easy, y' know? And cooking for that many must take all day. But...I bet their holidays are a blast...

For some reason this holiday season, I'm feeling "big family envy" more than ever. Maybe it's because it's the first year my mom, who is 87 and lives 13 hours away, is choosing not to spend Christmas with us or any of her children. ("I'm 87 years old," she said, "and I don't want to travel in winter weather, and I don't want to worry about anyone else traveling to see me.")  Maybe I'm missing Cleo, our French exchange student who lived with us from August 2010 to June 2011. Last Christmas was extra special with her here. Or ... << MORE >>

Sometimes it takes awhile to get inspired to write a post and sometimes a topic just keeps bugging me until I do something about it. One that has been knocking on my door a lot lately is the topic of doing the right thing when you view an injustice or crime or something just plain wrong, especially when it involves a child. Do you stop it from happening? Do you call police? If it involves bad parenting, do you say something to the parent? If you catch the child doing wrong out of sight of the parent, do you let the parent know later? What do we teach our children about "doing the right thing" and how do we act ourselves?

Of course, the highly publicized Penn State/Jerry Sandusky case brings up some of those questions. After assistant football coach Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky allegedly committing child sexual ...

<< MORE >>

Whenever I used to be on the verge of making a decision that Andy didn't think was a good idea, to try to remind me of a past bad "I told you so" decision, he would say two words-- "Bill Hicks". That was in reference to a time when I played a comedy album (on cassette) of that late profane comedian for my parents, who were visiting from out of town. "I wouldn't do that," he warned. "It's pretty blue." I insisted on playing it anyway, telling him I'd play side one only, that the stuff he was thinking about was on side two."I think you're wrong," he warned again.He was right. It was more than blue, and my face was more than red to be listening to it in my parents' presence. But now I finally have two simple words that ... << MORE >>

I’ll never forget it. I was in first grade, and it was the last day of school. My teacher, Mrs. Cook, was wrapping things up for the day and passing out things for us to take home, like art projects, old papers, etc. “I’m going to pass out the attendance cards for you to take home to your parents,” she announced. “Some of you have no tardies, and some of you have a few. SOMEbody in here has been late in arriving to class TWENTY-ONE times! Can you believe it?” We all dropped our jaws. We couldn’t imagine who that was. After the white, 3 x 5 cards were distributed, I looked at mine. In the blank next to the word "Tardies" was a penciled “21”.<< MORE >>

Remember the worldwide video project in which my family participated on 10-10-10? It's called One Day On Earth, and thousands of people all over the world shot video footage of themselves, or their surroundings, or their kids, or whatever, all on that one day.  The edited result is going to be shown at theatres in February 2012. I shot footage while our family was on vacation in Florida-- don't know if our contribution is going to be included (although the project's editors did contact me and had me mail them all my raw footage since I had problems uploading all of it to their website) but it was still fun to be a part-- mind-blowing might be a better description, if you think about people capturing so many things happening at the same time, miles apart. (To get an early glimpse at the 10-10-10 documentary, click on this link to watch the trailer: http://www.onedayonearth.org/page/motion-picture-trailer. )

Amazingly, there is still room (and time) to be included in the final product.  Today (11-11-11) the folks at One Day On Earth are asking anyone and everyone to pick up a video camera and record life as it's happening around them until midnight.  To get ideas of what to capture, there are categories listed at www.onedayonearth.org-- I know that pregnancy, childbirth, and children are some of the "hot topics".  Just shoot video, head to onedayonearth.org, and follow the directions for uploading your images.  (Deadline for submissions is 12-11-11.) Remember-- even though there are National Geographic-worthy images submitted to this project, such as the amazing, painted participant in a Kosovo wedding ceremony or the flock of pink flamingoes, "everyday" stuff is good to be included, too, from non-professional photographers.  And even though it's probably not possible for the editors to include everyone's footage in the final product, everyone who participates is still given a page at their website from which their video can be seen, and included on a worldwide map, a "geo-tagged video archive" that pinpoints every place from which video was submitted, the name of the person who submitted it, and what their video is all about. 

Never before has a project like this been undertaken-- how exciting to be a part!  And, what a great educational opportunity for kids.  I can't wait to take mine to see the film next year, so they can see that we truly do live in an amazing global community.

Announced the other day by Emmie, the day before her 13th birthday: "Today is my last official day of being a kid...that's kind of sad." I could have said something sage about how "13 is just a number" or "everyone should honor their 'inner child' no matter how old they get", but I didn't...I didn't want to minimize the wiseness of her observation, because it's true in a way. Plus, the whole concept of a "last official day of being a kid" intrigued me... I thought back to what I might have been doing on mine...was I dreading another awkward day of 7th grade? (Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I pulled up a '74 calendar. The day before my 13th birthday was a weekday, a Friday.)  Was I lugging my snare drum case down the long flight of stairs to the jr. high band hall, trying not ... << MORE >>

Hi all-- sorry I haven't posted in a week, but I had a birthday and took a "vacation from my desk" instead. It almost felt like a "real" vacation, because a set of luxury sheets arrived on my doorstep from my friends at Mattress Giant. They asked me to try them out and let you know what I thought, because they're also giving a sheet set to one of my lucky readers!!

So here's the scoop: The sheets are called Giant Comfort. They're 100% polyester but feel like a high thread count cotton-- definitely like linens from a really good hotel. They're lightweight, soft, silky-- deserving of their subtitle, "Premium Linen". The fitted sheet has really deep pockets so, for example, if you get "Queen" size, they should fit a regular or high top Queen. Retail value for the 4-piece set is $39.99. One winner will receive a set (one flat, one fitted, and two pillow ...

<< MORE >>

It only happens once or twice a year: free shipping on anything in my Spreadshirt shop!   Just click on the words "The Uncool Shop" on the right sidebar of this blog to see all the cool Uncool Mom T-shirts (the basic is only $8.90), tanks, laptop cases, book bags...even an umbrella and an Uncool Dad shirt. Then if you decide to order anything, the shipping is free on any purchase this Saturday, Oct. 29 and Sunday, Oct. 30, by typing in the code WITCHINGHOUR at checkout. I'm going to try to add sweatshirts to the mix and some new tees, so if you don't see anything you like, keep checking back to see if it's been updated. And, I'm always open to suggestions on wording and style for the shirts, so let me know if there's something you'd like to see ... << MORE >>

Just the other day, when Emmie was balking at cleaning her bedroom, I reminded her how lucky she is that she has her own room, a space she can call her own. We talked about how not all kids have their own rooms, and how parents definitely don't (unless maybe if they have a home office with LOCKING doors...I wish, I wish...). The average parent usually has to share everything, with either their spouse or the rest of the family-- their bed, their bedroom, living spaces...even a "master bathroom" can have kids marching in and out at all hours of the night. And when they get to work, well, the average parent who works outside the home still doesn't have their own room/office. And of those that do, only a small number have one with a door. That shuts and ... << MORE >>