That's a little awkward.

Is it just me, or do these rolls look a little bit like boobs?

Ta-ta-ta-tah!

Transcript from last night:

Lauren: Mama! I have to go poopie! (Runs to bathroom holding her fanny with one hand.)

2Job mama: Okay, let's go! Do you want me to come with you?

Lauren: No! Go away, mama! Close the door! (gives me a signal like she's one of The Supremes and plunks down on the potty.)

A minute or so passes....I go back to the kitchen. Lauren comes running out, her skirt tucked into her Dora underpants.

Lauren: Mama, mama, come on!

2JobMama: Okay, here I come...

We get to the bathroom door....

Lauren: Wait mama!

2JobMama: Okay

Lauren: Close your eyes!

2JobMama: Okay, they're closed.

She leads me into the bathroom.

Lauren: Close your eyes! Say "ta-ta-ta-tah!"

2JobMama: Ta-ta-ta-tah

Lauren: Open!

She lifts the lid of her potty.

Lauren: Ta-ta-ta-taaahhhh!!

I love green! Maybe.

It all started with these great cleaning cloths I found. I've been trying to cut down on my use of paper towels, because at the height of my paper towelishness I was going through a roll a week. Maybe even a roll and an eighth. I mean, what's not to love about paper towels? They're absorbent, you can use them wet or dry, they're right there on the counter and - this is the real key - you can just throw them away. This throwing away thing is a huge benefit when you have to pull things out of dog's butts. 

But I felt bad about all the waste. And I started thinking that maybe I didn't need three whole paper towels to kill a spider the size of a pencil eraser. 

I haven't actually tried these new cloths yet, but I'm embarking on (yes, I know) another experiment. Can I live without paper towels? 

It's one small step in a quest to live a greener life. I'll let you know how it goes.

My secret weapons.

Behind every successful working mom are a few secret weapons. Her go-to sources, tips and tricks that keep the home/work/family operation moving, while keeping major operational disasters to a minimum. My own personal system definitely has some kinks. And some days I travel or don't feel like doing much more than vegging on the couch after the kids go to bed, so things temporarily get a little off keel. But there's nothing I love more than a system for doing things, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with y'all.

My#1 secret weapon is FlyLady. She inspires me to have a good attitude, keep things simple and not get overwhelmed by trying to do all and be all. She sells the most excellent calendar I have ever owned. Also, a subscription is completely FREE.

Another of my favorite secrets is the Six O'Clock Scramble. I get great recipes that are fast and easy to make. You can search by ingredients, create your own recipe box and also print out a grocery list based on the recipes you choose. The woman behind it all, Aviva Goldfarb, will actually answer email personally (which I know from my own experience), and she has a nice little blog attached to the site now, too. This one isn't free but it's pretty darn inexpensive and a great value for the money.

The newest addition to my personal weapons cache is the House Fairy. The House Fairy helps kids keep their rooms neat. Really. You can watch a couple of videos on the site before you subscribe (at an incredibly low price). The first time I showed the videos to the girls they could not get up to their rooms fast enough to do what the House Fairy said. (She is Santa's sister, by the way.)

When I need to get a grip on life, to step back and have some perspective, or just be completely enthralled by the human experience I check out PostSecret. This is a Web site started by a guy who asked people to send in their secrets – anonymously – on a postcard. It's turned into a series of books, a MySpace community, and one of the most moving things online, in my opinion. The secrets that are sent in are moving, funny, sometimes disturbing and always compelling. It makes you realize that we are more alike than we think and that it's okay to think and feel the things we do. I wonder what his mailman thinks?

If you have any great secret weapons to share please do. As the song goes, "I get by with a little help from my friends."

I promise none of these people have paid me to promote their businesses in any way. These are just a few sites I've discovered over the years that I come back to time and again.

Gratitude and grossitude.

The first 24 hours of my experiment have been remarkable. First off, I got two completely unexpected and wonderful letters from good friends telling me that they were glad I'm in their life. Thanks to both of you - you never know if you've made an impact in someone's life and it's overwhelmingly nice to hear that you have.

Secondly, saying thank you has made me feel good. I know... that's not exactly a revelation, especially if you like Oprah and self-help books. But it has. And I've realized that one of the most important people to say thank you to is my husband. Like any relationship, it's easy to notice the little things that annoy you and not always so easy to focus on the little things that make your life easier. Taking the time to actually mention the good little things makes the others kind of disappear.

And now for a little grossitude.

Last night I let my dog in to eat his dinner and noticed that he had some...ahem.... poop hanging from his butt. Luckily I had some rubber gloves nearby from a wood staining project. Turns out, I think he ate a dryer sheet. You can probably put together the rest. Seriously, I almost puked.

The Gratitude Experiment

Earlier this week a coworker of my sister's suffered the worst possible loss I can imagine. He and his wife lost their 6 month old son to shaken baby syndrome at the hands of the babysitter.

As a parent you can't even allow your brain to begin to comprehend the loss of a child. You can't imagine anything worse. Yet, for this couple, it did get worse. They'd been on my mind a lot as events had unfolded prior to the baby's death, and time and time again I've thought how lucky I am to have happy, healthy children. To just have them here. With me. When my sister called to tell me that the baby had died and how, I cried. Then I went straight to my computer and sent an email to my daughters' baby sitter to thank her for the loving care she gave them for nearly 6 years.

Miss Penny moved to Oregon earlier this year. Her move was the right thing for her, but it was the loss of a family member for us. Finding childcare is hard enough. Finding childcare from a person who genuinely falls in love with your children, makes tater tot casserole for their birthday party, takes it upon herself to keep your baby's eczema from itching her like crazy, gives you endless advice that makes you feel like you actually know what you're doing, and still finds the time to sell Body Shop is nothing short of a miracle.

So I wrote Miss Penny a thank-you note, something I probably should have done long ago. A couple of hours later she called me and we mourned together the loss of that couple's baby. We got caught up on our childrens' lives, our jobs. We reconnected and, at least for me, it gave me something to smile about.

All of this got me to thinking about gratitude. What it really is and what it can do for us. Oprah is a big proponent of keeping a gratitude journal, a little notebook where we write down the things we are grateful and appreciative of. I've tried this and, frankly, felt a little silly. But I like the idea. I believe positive thinking is a powerful force and right now we could all use a little bit more of it. So I've decided to conduct what I'm calling The Gratitude Experiment.

Here's how it works:

1. Each day I am going to say thank you - sincerely! - to three people.

This could be the woman at Froehlich's who knows just how much butter I like on my bagel and takes time to put it on right after it comes out of the toaster, so it melts perfectly and I don't have to do it myself. It could be my husband, who stopped to get milk on the way home so that I didn't have to drag two kids into the grocery store and back out. The point is to thank someone for something that may be a small act of kindness (or a really large one), but makes a big difference for you. To look them in the eye and say, "Thank you so much. I really appreciate that."

2. Twice a month I am going to write to someone who has done something thank-worthy. They didn't necessarily have to do it for me, but that list is pretty long so I think I'll start there. Miss Penny was a big one. But there are many other people who have helped me in ways big and small. I know from experience that getting a thank- you note makes you feel good. But writing it also makes you feel good.

Here's what I want to find out:
1. What happens to your own psyche when you take time to say thank you?
2. What happens to your relationships?
3. How do people respond when they are thanked and why?
4. How can this attitude of gratitude be spread around my family, my town, the world?

And I want you to help me find these things out. I want you to join me in The Gratitude Experiment. It doesn't take a lot of time or money. Just a little effort that I suspect will reap very big rewards both intangibly and tangibly. You can send an e-mail, write a letter, make a phone call - whatever works for you.

I also want you to share what happens. Tell me (and everyone else) what people said back to you and how it made you feel to say thank you. Join me in a mission to populate the world with positive thinking. Resist feeling dorky and just do it. You'll be glad you did.

And thank you so much for reading. It makes me feel good to know that you're out there.

I love a fresh start!

Okay, I have been lax beyond belief in keeping up with my posts. I doubt all three of you are suffering without updates on my life, but now that a fresh school year is upon us I feel like it's time for a fresh start to blogging. It's a somewhat cathartic exercise to write. But given my innate slacker nature, hectic work schedule over the summer and my general tendency to procrastinate (is that the same or different than being a slacker?), I haven't gotten around to doing it. The funny thing is that there have been countless times I've thought to myself: "self, this would be great for the blog!" It's just getting around to writing it down that's been holding things up.

But a new school year is a new start. I always loved that first page of a new notebook. I'd imagine all the things I'd write in it and run my hand across the perfectly smooth page with anticipation. Part of the fun was never knowing exactly what you would write. And that's part of the fun here. I intended my blog to be about life as a working mom. But the truth is that my brain jumps around way too much to focus on just that topic, so you lucky few readers will be getting treated to more randomness than I originally intended. I hope you are also more entertained. Because that's what good writing does. It entertains and it allows us to see ourselves in someone else, and then we feel connected. Getting connected is good for the soul.

I'm aiming for once a week. Wish me luck!