We had a lot of fun today. Went to the school playground after dinner and all just played.

And discovered that my husband and I still have that spark.

OK, so the spark was static electricity. You combine dry air with the usual plastic playground equipment, and you can give some pretty good shocks after going down the slide. We had a lot of fun either tapping the person at the bottom of the slide or kissing each time.

Got some pretty good shocks that way, which is of course what started the spark jokes.

With the holidays approaching, I’m feeling more and more of that old conflict - work vs. family time. Sometimes it’s really hard to decide to take some time off.

This weekend, I chose the time off and it was fun. A few hours at Sea World, a few hours figuring out outdoor Christmas decorations. All in all, it was a fun day.

But as the obligations and events pile up, it gets hard to not wish for more work time. How do you balance family and holiday and work time when you work at home?

This is harder for people who work at home than for people who work outside the home, because our work is often not as well understood.

Sometimes the answer is to just take the time off. Time for family, including extended family, is important. One of the benefits of working at home is that you can do that when you want to.

But you can’t overdo it. Going so far as to neglect your home business isn’t a good plan. Finding a balance that works for the holiday season is important.

A lot of this depends on the kind of work you do at home. If you get a lot of holiday business or your workload otherwise increases during the holidays, you’re going to have to keep to a stricter schedule than you would if your workload decreases during the holidays.

Family time isn’t necessarily relaxing, nor are the holidays. But even when it’s draining, there’s something about taking time to enjoy the holidays with the people you care about that really helps in the long run.

Technorati Tags: family time, holidays, kids, children, working at home, wahm, sahm

In some ways, our kids do not have a classic children’s video selection. Sure, there are the standard Disney movies. My daughter is just as much in love with the Disney Princesses as most girls her age. But we don’t have videos from their favorite shows. Instead, we have some that I think are a lot better.

A current favorite of my daughter’s is Faerie Tale Theatre. You’ll recognize a lot of the actors on this show - Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve, Susan Sarandon, Liza Minnelli and of course Shelley Duvall, who created the show.

She also loves watching The Muppet Show. We have season one on DVD. The way she reacts to The Muppet Show tells me a lot about what’s wrong with a lot of children’s television these days. They focus so much on counting as educational that children never get to laugh when they watch them. Ariel always laughs at the Muppets. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re heading out to a cousin’s birthday party today. It’s for a one year old girl, and shopping for her present the other day got me thinking about kids and birthday presents.

First of all, it can be hard shopping for someone else’s kid, especially when you know it’s the second child and they already have tons of toys. I’m no fan of clutter, despite its constant presence in my life, and I don’t expect other parents to like it any better.

We finally chose a stuffed animal as a gift (don’t worry, a one year old can’t read this blog, and I don’t believe her parents do either, even if they had time today). Kept in the trunk of my car so that my kids wouldn’t see it, especially my son. You know how fast a 20 month old can fall in love with a stuffed animal!

It’s so hard for young children to understand about birthday presents. All they see is a toy they’d like to play with but can’t have for some unknown reason. Giving a toy to another child is pretty foreign to young children.

Now I need to figure out if one of my gift bags is big enough for this thing. Otherwise I have to risk bringing it into the house to wrap it.

Technorati Tags: kids, children, family, birthday presents

It’s almost enough to make me wish I had a bathroom scale, seeing how much candy the kids brought home last night. Enough that Ariel couldn’t lift it all by herself. My husband, who was the one to take them out, took a pillowcase along so that when the trick or treat buckets got full they wouldn’t have to turn back.

We have a bunch of excess candy because we didn’t get that many kids down our street. Fortunately, my husband figures he can take most of it to work to give to customers. Sounds like a great way to get it out of the house. With the stuff the kids brought home we have more than enough.

I let Ariel take one piece to school, although I think her teacher won’t let her have it at snack time. She has her regular healthy snacks too and I warned her that she does not get to bring candy any other day. I don’t want this to be a habit, after all.

But at least the holiday is done and over with now. We’ll be heading out to the Halloween store later to check out the discounts, as some of the costumes could make great dressup clothes for a Christmas present.

I’m stil hoping for more entrants into my Halloween costume contest on the forum. Yes, I’m going to keep mentioning it until submissions are done.

Technorati Tags: halloween, costume contest, halloween candy