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Cincinnati Fashion Week Logo Launch Party is almost here…..

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:55:08 +0100

Toot….toot…..she won’t toot her own horn, so I’ll do it for her!

Me & Bonnie
Mom's Cruise 2010

My readers know that I’m all about positive promotion. MasonMetu is a family-friendly website so who wants to wade through negativity and bad press? Not me! I like to highlight the “good press” and I wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of my dear friend, Bonnie Collins. Bonnie has been working diligently to come up with a new and improved logo for Cincinnati Fashion Week. Her creativity and passion for her work always amaze me. I think she’s one of the best, the primo, the cream of the crop, the top dog.…..in graphic design. This Saturday, Cincinnati Fashion Week is having an opening logo launch party and kick-off celebration and I’m excited to be attending and supporting Bonnie. Plus I can't wait to see the new logo!

BUT……as a stay-at-home Mom who is pushing 40 (ahhhh), I have to say that I am not the most fashion-forward and maybe I might be classified as “fashion-back” but I am heading to the Mynt Martini Bar on Saturday night to support my friend. Luckily, we’ll have some other suburbanites heading downtown to mix and mingle with the hip, the young and the fashionable. I guess after a few martinis, it really won’t matter what you’re wearing, right? lol.

So, if you’re not doing anything Saturday night, join us at Mynt. If you want to learn more about how Cincinnati Fashion Week came about, visit their website. The inspiration behind it all came from Nathan Hurst, an up and coming independent fashion designer (ok, I think I’m old enough to be his mother older sister). It’s amazing how he has orchestrated this ground swell of support and with the help of many local volunteers and fashionistas, Cincinnati Fashion Week is going to be a big success . The Cincinnati Fashion Week facebook page now has over 4000 fans and it keeps growing. Wow! He’s also partnered with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful which is a local non-profit whose mission is “educating and encouraging individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments.” As a Mom of two girls, this makes supporting Nathan, Bonnie and Cincinnati Fashion Week even better. Cincinnati Fashion Week takes place April 19 to 23, get your tickets now.

Cheers!

If you want to read more about Bonnie Collins Design, see my article on Associated Content. Yes, I love my friend! :)

Become a fan of Bonnie Collins Design on Facebook.

Uh-oh, fashion may be catching up to my girl……

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:10:40 +0100

This weekend my first grader asked me, “Mommy, why don’t I ever get to wear jeans?" I told her that she could wear jeans if she wanted to. I didn’t elaborate on the past jean fiascos where my daughter would get into hysterical fits if I even tried to put a pair of jeans on her. She always had to do the “squat test” which entailed doing squats, leg lunges and other flexibility moves and if the jeans didn’t move well with her, well, they were out of there. We’ve had many cute jeans go unworn over the years and I finally stopped buying them. Her wardrobe mostly consists of leggings, leggings, and more leggings but even the leggings have to pass her “wearability test”.

So, with her newfound love of jeans, my car somehow diverted to Kohl’s and I headed to the girls’ clothing section. I always beeline for the clearance racks and luckily there were a few pairs of cute jeans there. But then I was left with a dilemma, do I buy a 6 or 6X…..should I buy just one pair or a few. I ended up buying one pair of the cutest jeans that had some adorable butterflies and flowers on the sides plus they came with a hip purple belt and purple is her new favorite color (I think the switchover from pink to purple occurs in first grade). Since my girl is in the Butterfly class at school I thought the butterfly jeans would be right up her ally. Bingo! I was right. She was so proud to wear her new jeans today, but the sad thing for me is that she looked totally grown up. There she was tucking in her shirt, fixing her belt and asking me when she can get more jeans. She’s never really been one to care about what she wears but then another milestone hit when she asked to wear a dress (with tights!) to school tomorrow. Needless to say, one fashion breakthrough is all I can handle for now.

Is there a CAD support group out there?

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:11:50 +0100

Could this be you? CAD strikes again!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the loyal MasonMetu readers. I’ve been a bit behind in my blogging since I have developed CAD (Computer Attachment Disorder). I am looking for a CAD support group somewhere/anywhere…… I know it’s bad when I’m writing a blog post as I’m watching one of my all-time favorite shows, Lost. It’s not doing me much good to constantly have to rewind the DVR so I can focus on what I missed. I’m actually letting the commercials run so I can have more time to type (sort of defeats the purpose of the DVR, right?). I even try to reduce my computer time by unplugging it and telling myself that as soon as the battery runs down, then I will log off – this has been a losing battle. Someway, somehow the power cord seems to miraculously find its way home.

Lately, MasonMetu has really started to take off which is great news but that means I also am devoting more time to keeping up with it. I also write articles for Associated Content and I’m a contributor to Family Friendly Cincinnati and oh, now I’ve taken on the task of being the webmaster (love that title) for Made With Love Organic Bakery (it's my Aunt Celeste's bakery and they’re located in New Jersey but can ship their yummy organic goodies to you. The site was designed by the multi-talented CAD sufferer, Bonnie Collins of Bonnie Collins Design). I’ve also gotten more into Facebook and I now have a Facebook page for MasonMetu which means I am on Facebook a lot more than I should. In fact, tonight I really went off the deep end and started a “I Post to Facebook Every Day….Why?” group (so far we only have 4 members – lol). Why? I have no idea – just another place to write down my silly meaningless thoughts and hopefully hear some of yours.

Now, back to CAD – I seriously have an affliction. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I want to do is log onto the computer, check my emails, google analytics, facebook, make MasonMetu updates and more. I haven’t broken down and picked up one of those newfangled I-Phones or Blackberries yet but I’m sure that is on the horizon (I need some willpower, please). I’m sure my husband is tired of looking at the back of my computer screen when he talks to me. I try to keep my CAD under control when my girls are with me – so most of my CAD occurs later at night but since we’ve had some snow days recently, the CAD has slowly taken me over. Luckily, my girls were happy to play in the snow with the neighbors, watch some Scooby Doo, color, and happily tolerably play together.

The Power of a Shoebox........

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:08:15 +0100

Wow, I never knew that a shoebox could keep my kids playing and engaged for so long. At our recent Brownie meeting, the girls had to make a little home for their stuffed animal. All the girls at the meeting seemed to really enjoy the activity but my girls took it to a new level when we got home. They expanded their shoeboxes into mobile apartments – one room for sleeping, another for eating, etc. My youngest crammed as many animals as she could into hers. The only problem occurred when we had to transfer all the attached boxes to a new location for bedtime. “Shoebox homes” aren’t the most stable when they are taped together by a five & six year old, so we had some malfunctions which, in turn, caused some drama (nothing new in the Goecke house). Girls, have no fear, the shoebox repair woman is on call 24/7 and she was able to salvage the homes. For the past few days, the ever expanding shoebox collection has been in constant motion. “We’re going upstairs to play, Mommy can you help us?” “We’re ready to come downstairs, we need our animal homes.” I guess you can tack on “Shoebox Mover” to my expanding resume. So, for a cheap do-it-yourself activity/craft pull out those shoeboxes and get creative……..unfortunately this “Shoebox Mover/Repair Woman” is not able to take any new clients at this time.

Dumpster Diving Goecke Style…….

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:33:52 +0100

I’ve written before how my kids have a very very difficult time parting with any of their toys and stuffed animals but my youngest has taken it to a new level. If she puts any trash in the trashcan and sees that I’ve thrown away a picture or a school paper, then she reaches in and pulls out the item and rushes over to me asking, “Mommy, why did you throw this away?” “The guilt”….”the shame”….I feel terrible. I try to explain that we don’t need to keep every single item that we get home from school and that sometimes we have to throw some things away but she doesn’t seem to buy that explanation. She looks at me like I’m crazy then takes the castaway item, smooths out the creases and says that she likes it and will use it. Once again, I’m feeling “the guilt”…..”the shame”.

My girls love to draw pictures and color which is fantastic and I continue to encourage their artistic expression, but we definitely have an overabundance of their wonderful artwork. Can you imagine keeping every page they’ve ever colored from a coloring book or every single piece of school work? Me either. I save many of them but we can’t keep them all. So, now I’ll have to secretly purge these items. The problem is that my girls have great memories and S will ask me, “did you see my kitty picture with the pink heart?” If we can’t find the requested item then I have one distraught five year-old to console. Do you know what makes her feel better? Drawing or coloring another picture, the cycle continues.

Help for Haiti

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:26:11 +0100

Usually I love writing my blogs and delving into some of the funny things happening in our family but with the recent earthquakes in Haiti, I wanted to do a post on some organizations that are helping with the relief efforts in Haiti. This week I posted an article about the Solar Liberty Foundation on Associated Content. This non-profit was started by a friend of mine from grade school and focuses on renewable energy. They are trying to raise $100,000 so they can provide 1000 solar cookers to the people in Port-au-Prince. The solar cookers allow families to sanitize their water (clean drinking water) as well as having a means to cook meals. You can see more info at http://www.solarliberty.org.

Locally, the Mason City Schools have launched a drive to gather supplies for the relief effort. they are working with As Matthew 25 Ministries, a local non-profit organization who is providing international humanitarian disaster relief to the people of Haiti. It is being spearheaded by a local parent, Laura Pfeil. If you are able to assist in collecting or delivering any of the items listed below, please email Laura at david@standingwave.com.

Adult Diapers
Antibacterial Wipes
Antibiotic Ointment
Baby Food
Baby Wipes
Band Aids
Bandages
Basic First Aid Kits
Bottled Water
Canned and Nonperishable Food
Cleaning Products
Diapers
Feminine Hygiene Products
First Aid Supplies
Formula
Gauze
Medical Tape
Pain Reliever
Personal Care Products
Rubber Gloves
Shampoo
Soap

Deerfield Township is also working to help in the relief efforts. You can help the earthquake victims in Haiti here in our community. Deerfield Township, Deerfield Township Fire Rescue Department and Deerfield Firefighters Local 4286 will be collecting donations for the disaster relief in Haiti. The collection points will be each of the four firehouses. Deerfield Fire Stations are located at:

Station #56 – 8375 Snider Road – 513-398-0169
Station #57 – 3380 Townsley Drive – 513-683-1130
Station #58 – 2095 Kings Mills Road –-513-339-0558
Station #59 – at Fleckenstein Park, 3834 Mason-Montgomery Road – 513-594-7631

Donations will be delivered to Matthew 25: Ministries located in Blue Ash for shipment to Haiti. The following items are being collected through Deerfield Township:

•    Nonperishable food and bottled water
•    Personal care products
•    Cleaning products
•    First Aid Supplies

Cash donations should be made directly to the Red Cross or Matthew: 25 Industries.

About Matthew 25 Ministries
Matthew 25 Ministries is located at 11060 Kenwood Rd., Cincinnati. OH 45242 in the Blue Ash area. M25M is also looking for volunteers to come to their warehouse in Blue Ash to pack supplies to be sent to Haiti. Please view their website at www.m25m.org to learn more, or to contribute a monetary donation.

Thank you for your help.

"It's Not As Easy As It Seems"... (is it ever?)

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:48:07 +0100

I knew there was a reason I stored away that blue box of baking fun. My daughter got an Easy Bake Oven last year for Christmas along with some fancy cupcake decorator (another box that is still in hiding). This afternoon she really wanted to bake some cookies and being the fantastic baking Mom that I am, I did not have any ingredients for cookies in the house (a.k.a pre-made slice-n-bake cookie dough). Not thinking clearly I said, “Why don’t we get out your Easy Bake Oven?” Both girls were so excited. Then I thought, oh no, we haven’t used the mixes since last Christmas are they still going to be good? I looked for an expiration date on the packages but couldn’t find one (probably not the best sign) so we decided to risk it and bake.

Before we could bake the one serving cookie and cake, we had to preheat our oven for 15 minutes. As I’m doing this I’m reminded of the mistake I made last year as we attempted to bake a brownie. If you push out the baking dish and you think the item needs more time to cook, do not and I repeat do not try to push the baking dish back in. We ended up scraping off some of the uncooked brownie mix on the top of the oven and I could not get this completely cleaned off so as we start to heat up the oven, I’m assaulted with that burnt oven smell from yesteryear.

Let the baking fun begin. First we had to find some small plastic bowls to dump the mixes in, and then we added a small amount of water to the mixes. We stirred them up and poured the mixes into the tiny baking pans. Now, since the oven can only hold one baking tin at a time, I had to listen to the “I want to go first” banter. Luckily, the girls worked it out (the threat of “I’m going to throw it all away if you don’t figure it out” may have been the catalyst). So, after 15 minutes of pre-heating, 5 minutes of prep work, and 20 combined minutes of baking time we had our baking creations. Of course our end product never turns out like the pictures on the packages so there’s always some post-baking disappointment.

Even though this Mom is not the biggest fan of the Easy Bake Oven, my girls still are. They had fun making their baked goods and they were putting dibs on what they were going to make next. They would’ve kept on baking but I was all baked out so we’re putting the Easy Bake away for another day; hopefully, this hiatus won’t last as long. As for the cupcake decorator, that one is probably going to stay boxed up for good. Isn’t that why ready-made frosting was invented?

I Don't Want to Wake Up Early......

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:20:39 +0100

Chris up early with K, S & Bailey!

There’s something about the end of the holidays that sort of get you down. There’s all this excitement leading up to Christmas – the holiday music, festive parties, decorations, good cheer, and yummy food. Some of us start our shopping early while others wait. The anticipation of giving our gifts is sometimes the best part (even if Santa gets the credit).

Not only do I have some of the post holiday blues but I also have to get myself readjusted to waking up early. It gets a bit depressing taking down all those decorations, lights and ornaments and getting your house back to “normal”. You know it’s bad when hearing another rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” or “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” starts to get under your skin. The joy is gone and the cold weather has arrived. I mean the transition from holiday hoopla to the January doldrums wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t going to be so cold, cold, cold.

Now, it’s the last day before school for the kids and work for my husband (he took this last week off and it’s been great having him home). I know that I’ve got to get out of “holiday break” mode. I think I’m going to have a harder transition than my first grader. She’s always been an early riser and being on break was no exception so getting up for her will be no problem. But for me……ahhhhhhh……I’ve gotten accustomed to sleeping in since my dear husband has stepped up to the plate and has let me sleep in every day over break. Now, that is some guy! What a keeper! Poor Chris, I’m usually giving him a hard time in the blogs that I write but not this time. He really deserves some kudos. He not only got up with the kids every morning, but he never complains about taking our dog out first thing in the morning. He takes her for walks and plays with her while I maintain the “no eye contact” position. If I make eye contact then it’s all downhill and she’ll want ME to go outside and play with her. Sorry Bailey, that’s just not going to happen.

But, now that I’m on a “my husband is awesome” roll, I might as well let you know about some of the other great things he does (all this positive gushing doesn’t happen too often so I better get it down on paper so 1) I can remind myself what a great guy I’ve got, and 2) so Chris will see that I actually do write nice things about him). So here’s my top 10 list of why my husband is great:

Let’s me sleep in & takes the dog out (obvious from above).
Plays hide-n-seek with the girls every night when he gets home from work.
If I cook (yes somewhat a rarity), he always cleans up the kitchen after we’re finished and even if it’s not the best “Cooking with Kristin” experience he always says it’s good and always puts the dishes away without me asking him too..
Vacuums the entire house without me asking him too.
Let’s me keep my van in the garage while he parks in the driveway (even on those chilly willy days when he has to get up extra early to defrost his car before going to work).
Has a great sense of humor and still makes me laugh and is an all around nice guy!
Participates in the bedtime grind (“time for bed, go potty, brush your teeth, and story time”).
Let’s me watch my shows on the better television and never complains if he gets booted to the basement.
Never complains if I want to do a Girls Night Out or if I need to have a break (Mommy cruise time is coming soon – yippee yea).
Doesn't get annoyed with my Twilight/vampire obsession (even got me the Vampire Diaries series).

I guess I shouldn’t let the end of the holidays get me down too much. I’m blessed with a wonderful loving husband, healthy children, and an upcoming Mommy only cruise (well deserved, of course). Happy days will be here again! Thanks Chris! I love you, always! (Now he’ll just be embarrassed – lol – poor guy, can’t catch a break).

Happy New Year!

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:45:20 +0100

Happy New Year! This is sort of a conundrum for me. Is it really a Happy New Year? We used to spend New Years with the same two couples give or take some add ons. We had this tradition for over 15 years (I think) and it was great knowing that we didn’t have to worry about making New Year’s plans since we always knew who we’d be spending it with. We’ve had some crazy wild times (Indy) as well as some more low key times (pregnancy involvement) but we always made time for each other.

Now, those days are gone and are becoming distant memories. It was easy when we were young, carefree and kid free. We could pick up and go without a care in the world. Now, we all have children, responsibility, and logistically we aren’t as close as we used to be. One couple lives in Columbus and the other will be moving to Charlotte at the end of January. Friendships evolve and change but as the end of 2009 approaches, I want those friends to know that I will always love them and will fondly remember our New Years of yonder (glad you can’t see the lump in my throat right now). We’ve weathered good times and bad times, sickness and health and we’ve always remained steadfast in our friendship.

Even though we’ve all welcomed new friends to our folds, it is my friendship with them that has carried me through the ups and downs of life. But even with change on the horizon, I do know that our friendships will remain strong and true. We will still make the time to see each other so even though our New Years days may be over, I know that we have another 20 plus years of new adventures to embark upon. One day, I hope we’ll rekindle our New Years tradition - hopefully it’ll include a warm sandy beach with a margarita in one hand and a bottle of sun tan lotion in the other. I’ll miss you guys this year (gulp, lump in throat still there).

Love & miss you,
Gov

Pictures with Santa.....Questions about Santa....

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:15:01 +0100

Visiting Santa at Macy's - Downtown Cincinnati

Be careful with those Santa pictures. We’ve been going to lots of really fun holiday events lately and many of them have had the jolly man in the red suit there. But, I just realized that I need to be very careful with the pictures I take. My oldest, K, has always been a perceptive child and she’s started to wonder how come Santa is always at the places we visit. She hasn’t yet commented that Santa looks slightly different at each place we see him, but I think if she’d see a side by side comparison she might question that. Lucky for them, I’m a year behind on my photo albums so we won’t have this year’s Christmas pictures on display for another 12 months plus. Tonight my girls wondered how Santa can eat all the cookies the kids leave out for him. My response, he can only take a small bite from each cookie since there are so many kids who leave him cookies. Both girls thought this was logical so S (almost 5) decided that we should only leave Santa one cookie since he really didn’t need to have two. That way she could enjoy the other cookie herself. Then S wondered how Santa gets into houses that don’t have chimneys. I relied on my standard, “he’s magical” response and she let it slide. Whew! K always questions how Santa can get presents to all the kids in the world, and I go back to “he’s magical”. I’m sure many of you have your own Santa Q&A’s to deal with – I’m surprised someone hasn’t published a “how to” book on all the Santa questions or maybe it’s out there and I haven’t really needed to look further into it since the “he’s magical” response can cover a lot of ground.

If you get stuck on a Santa question, try out the Ho Ho Ho Hotline. Through Dec. 24 you can call (513) 932-9928 and your child may get to speak with Santa, Mrs. Claus or one of the elves. The hotline is sponsored by Lebanon Country Manor and was developed by Kindred Healthcare, Inc. All the volunteers have been trained on Santa questions so this might give you a great way to have some of those difficult Santa questions answered. Of course, the "he's magical" response may also do the trick. lol.

Lately, I’ve been able to use the “I’m going to call Santa’s elves” or “I’m going to write Santa a letter” if my girls start to act up. This ploy usually gets them calmed down or stops their bickering. But, after Dec. 25th, all bets are off. The Santa angle isn’t going to have quite the same effect as it does now. It has been quite the handy tool in my Mommy kit.

Their excitement for Christmas really is a joy to see and I hope they continue to believe for at least another few years. Seeing their faces light up on Christmas morning makes all the last minute shopping, marathon wrapping, and packing on a few extra pounds over the holidays all worth it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!