Keep Your Sanity - Have a Girls' Night Out!

Sometimes we get so busy that it's easy to pass up on opportunities to get together with friends, new or old. It's a shame because friends are the people that can actually help you remain sane in the trenches of motherhood! The time spent away from your family, daily tasks, and to-do lists is worth it if it helps you to reconnect with who you are and where you came from.

Being with friends that you've known before you became a wife or mother, and before you had all the responsibilities you have now, can be refreshing. It reminds you that yes, you are a person and not just a caregiver, chef, housekeeper and chauffeur. Friends can also offer support and valuable ideas to help you manage your hectic family life. You might find that you're not the only person feeling overwhelmed or inadequate in your role as "mother". Finding support through your friends can be comforting, reassuring and help you get through the crazy times that are inevitable in a family with children.

This past weekend I got together with my sorority sisters from college; many of whom I hadn't seen in 15 years. Getting together with them helped me to remember how great it is to reconnect with old friends and the value of staying in touch. If you haven't gotten together with your friends in awhile, take the time to put together a girls' night out or even a weekend get away to help you refuel and recharge. You'll find that you'll be a better mom, spouse, and person if you have the opportunity to reconnect with your friends for fun and support. Getting together with friends is an important part of trying to maintain a sense of balance in your busy life. Make time for it, and you'll be glad you did!

Easy Steps to Organize Your Kitchen

Having your kitchen uncluttered and organized significantly affects how your family operates since most people spend much of their time and energy here. Not only does your family spend a lot of time in the kitchen but guests also tend to congregate in the kitchen during social events. It's the heart of your home and should be analyzed to operate efficiently, and offer a warm and pleasant place for your family and friends to be together.

To reorganize your kitchen, or any room in your home, you must first take a step back and look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. Look critically at everything in that area to see what can be improved upon from what you can get rid of, to how you have everything laid out. Follow these simple steps to help organize your kitchen so it can be uncluttered, organized, and as efficient as possible.

• What do you really need on your counter top? You need to limit whatever you have on your counter to the items you use the most. You need lots of counter space to cook up all those meals for your family and don't want to be constantly working around things that you don't need or use. If you only use your toaster once a week, then keep it in a cabinet and not on your counter. But, if you use it 4-5 times a week then it is worthy of the counter space. Once you remove the items that are taking up unnecessary space, look at what you now have to work with and put what you DO use a lot out for easy accessibility.


• Create work stations! Next, think about your kitchen in terms of work stations. Place items that you use together, in close proximity. If you have a breadbox on the counter, keep it by the toaster since the two are commonly used together. You can also keep them both by the silverware drawer since you always need a butter knife for spreading. Store the cutting boards near your carving knives. Store your coffee mugs, coffee and filters together, in the cabinet above your coffee pot. Place your drinking glasses by the refrigerator, etc. See where this is headed? These might seem like simple things, but every extra step you make adds up at the end of the day. Setting up your kitchen in work stations will help make your life a little bit easier by making it more efficient.


• Have a designated spot for everything in your kitchen! It's SO helpful for you and your family to always know where to put and retrieve things whether it's a saucepan in the cabinet or the jelly in the fridge. If everyone knows where everything belongs, you save on time and frustration because no one is searching for anything. This also makes it easier for your family to help out because they know where to put everything if they're unloading the dishwasher. They'll also know where to find things if they're helping you cook. You'll find that your family will become more independent because they can easily find what they need to make a snack, etc. This eliminates the child, and husband for that matter, from standing in front of an open fridge for 20 minutes looking for what they need. The pantry should be set up the same way with like items together and always in the same spot. I love to utilize wicker baskets for this purpose. The baskets not only help keep like items together, but also gives your pantry a more orderly appearance. Using this system for food will help reduce the amount you waste by having it lost in the back of the fridge or pantry, only to have it expire and get thrown out. It also makes grocery shopping much easier because you can easily assess what you have and don't have.

These are just three of the steps I recommend in my book Managing Life With Kids to help make your kitchen run more smoothly. Implement these ideas and you'll find working in your kitchen to be easier and more enjoyable. For more tips on how to improve your kitchen's layout, check out the other tips from my book in Chapter 1 - Regaining Order in Your Home.

BPA - Is Your Family Exposed to This Hidden Danger?

If you haven't heard about the latest findings on the chemical BPA, make sure you read this! BPA (bisphenol A) is a chemical that's found in plastic baby bottles, food and beverage cans, and many other products. Studies have recently found evidence to lead researchers to believe that the chemical poses dangerous health risks.


Risks of BPA:

* breast and prostate cancers

* autism

* ADHD

* child obesity

* decrease in sperm count

* earlier sexual development in females

* increase in abnormal penis size

BPA acts like the sex hormone estrogen and causes problems that may not be realized until later in life. The research is still going on and as you would expect, manufacturers claim that the levels of BPA in their products are safe. As a concerned parent, however, it's probably safest to educate yourself on the dangerous of BPA and avoid it as much as possible until the real verdict is out.

Where is BPA found?

* Canned food is the main source. Chicken soup, infant formula and ravioli have the highest contamination levels. Most other soups and pastas also rank at the top of the chart. Sodas had the lowest levels of BPA of the canned products. Also important to note is that one in three cans of infant formula had 200 times what the government considers safe levels of exposure. Now that's scarey!

*Plastic baby bottles and "sippy" cups often contain BPA. These should be avoided if they're old, scratched or have a cloudy, cracked appearance. The older they are and the more wear they have, the higher the risk of the chemical leaching into the drink it contains.

*Plastic bottles with the recycling #7 are usually high in BPA.

How to Protect Your Family:

1. Use powdered formula instead of canned whenever possible.

2. Avoid #7 plastics - #1, 2, and 4 are the safest.

3. Use glass bottles or the ones that are made with polypropylene and polyethylene.



Even thought the verdict still isn't in about exactly how dangerous BPA is, it's best to protect yourself and your family by being educated about the related risks and reduce your exposure to this harmful chemical. As always, education is your best defense!

Easy, Delicious, and Diet-Friendly Recipe!

This delicious recipe takes minimal effort, looks like you slaved over the stove for hours and is easy on the waistline. It's also healthy and low-calorie. What's not to love about that?



Sauteed Shrimp with Peppers

(Preparation Time: 15 minutes. Cooking Time: 6 minutes.)



1 large sweet red pepper, cut into thin strips

1 large green pepper, cut into thin strips

1/2 cup sliced green onions

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (if desired)

1 large can of sliced water chestnuts

4 Tbsp apricot preserves

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

1/8 tsp hot sauce

* Spray a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add red and green peppers, onion, and garlic; cook for 3-4 minutes, or till tender.

* Add shrimp and water chestnuts. Cook for 3-4 minutes or till shrimp turn pink. Do NOT overcook shrimp. Remove from heat.

* Stir in apricot preserves, soy sauce, and hot sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve over rice, pasta or orzo.

Serves 4

Nutritional information per serving: 227 calories, 20 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 3 g fat.

(For the healthiest and diet-friendly options, serve over brown rice or whole wheat pasta instead of white. If you're really cutting back on calories, this recipe is also delicious on its own without adding extra calories and carbs of the rice or pasta.)