Attack of The Stay At Home Dad! – Christopher Powers Rocks!
Christopher Powers is a Stay At Home Dad living in Georgia with this beautiful wife, Alana, three kids and one on the way. He blogs at A Man in a Woman's World. Being a SAHD comes with it's set of issues. One of the things Christopher struggles with is making play dates with other parents. One of my favorite lines I've read from his blog is "I have more in common with your wife than you. Don't be intimidated." And it's true. Here's what Christopher has to say about being a SAHD:Since a young age I had always been interested in being a parent that stays at home. There was just something rewarding about taking care of the needs of a family to me. As I got older and the dream jobs of a young child seemed to become either not as interesting or impossible the idea of a being a stay at home parent stuck. I graduated high school, got a full time job and bought a condo but the thought of being a stay at home parent still lingered about in my mind. It was just an idea I couldn't shake. It wasn't always in my mind but [...]
Send Me to BlogHer- I’m Going to Do This!
A little while ago, I wrote a post called I'm Not a Blog Rock Star. I talked about the fact that I'm a real person who copes with social anxiety.Even though I share a lot about my life online, I'm afraid to go to parties and be in large groups.There's a big conference coming up for bloggers in July. It's called BlogHer. It happens every year, and can never afford to go because I've been a SAHM for five years and (even though I'm also freelancer and substitute teacher) I don't make very much money at all.I started a grassroots campaign to send myself to BlogHer.If you enjoy reading what I write, if I make you laugh, if you love me, please donate to send me to BlogHer. There are awesome prizes for every level of donation. If you have any suggestions for additional incentives for donating please comment below.Without further ado, here's the campaign link. My goal is to raise $650 to attend BlogHer. With your help I can take this blog to the next level.Send Sarah Fader to BlogHer
Anytime You Want I’ll Babysit For You…Psyche!
I was talking with my friend, Jon. He and his fiance Becky (like me) have two small children."Listen, anytime you and Becky need a babysitter let me know! I would love to watch them." I told him. And I meant it. Of course I would have to bring my own kids with me or his kids would have to come to my house, but still I meant what I said.On the other hand, I've encountered a curious situation regarding babysitters.I cannot tell you how many times friends have said this statement to me:"Anytime you need a babysitter, let me know!"Yet, when the occasion does arrive, and I actually do need a babysitter, the same people who were enthusiastic about watching my kids, mysteriously have other plans.Now don't get me wrong, I know my friends have their own lives to live, and they're doing awesome things. But please do us all a favor, don't say shit you don't mean. If you say "I'd love to babysit your kids, anytime!" Mean it, or don't say it at all.A lot of times what people really mean when they say "I'll babysit anytime you need me" is "your kids are really cute. I wouldn't [...]
Fear
There's a monster in a cave. It has blue skin, fangs and blood dripping from its mouth. It's salivating, hungry for more.I'm terrified to enter the cave. I left my purse in there. I know I need to get my bag, but I don't want the angry blue monster to see me.My heart is pounding. I tiptoe softly towards the cave using all lowercase letters on my feet. I enter the cave's opening. There it sits, the blue monster in the darkness. I realize as I come closer that the blood wasn't blood at all. There was ketchup dripping from its mouth. And the blue skin was just painted on.The "monster" is sitting in the cave with bright eyes. It is just as scared as I am. As I come closer, I realize that it's not even a monster at all. It's a little boy.The boy begins to cry. I notice my purse next to him. I unzip it and hand him a tissue. He blows his nose.I hug him tight. "I'm sorry." I say. "I don't know why I was afraid. Can we be friends?"He nods. I take his hand. He stands up and together we walk out of [...]
Teaching Preschool Day 1
Today was my trial day teaching two-year olds. I was nervous about getting to the school on time, so I pretended that I had to be there 30 minutes earlier than I was really supposed to get there.Wow. Today was intense. Two year-olds are snuggly but they are also high energy and extremely physical. They also cry a lot.It's interesting, because I also have a two and 1/2 year-old daughter at home. I realized a lot about Samara after spending a day with 12 two year-olds. I appreciated her more.At two and 1/2 Samara is learning language at a rapid pace. The kids I spent today with were still pre-verbal for the most part, but the words they did know they were excited to share!What I love the most about two year-olds is how emotionally raw they are. If they're sad, they cry. If they're angry, they scream, if they're happy they laugh. And they display all those emotions intensely.I can't wait to learn more from this group.
And They Opened a Hardware Store in Cleveland – Dad!
My dad is awesome. He's a Libra like me and he has an infectious laugh. Whenever he laughs, I laugh. He's an actor, and when I was in fifth grade he started an acting class for me and my friends.He's never been an animal person, but the first dog he ever bonded with was my childhood dog, a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix. Her name was Villa. My dad and I are so similar that when we argue it's hilarious to watch. We say things like "No, you listen to me!" And the other person isn't listening at all. We're both Libras so we're sensitive. I remember the time that my brother and I were flying to California from New York, and our plane was delayed for nine hours. What American Airlines didn't know back in 1989 was that Jeff Fader is from the Bronx. Once he found out that the engine was being changed on our plane, his Bronx roots came out. 30 minutes later my entire family had free plane tickets to Orlando. When my dad told me bedtime stories they would always end the same way, "and then they opened a hardware store in Cleveland." He also had a [...]
Citi Bike – I Climbed a Mountain
Yesterday I was riding the 1 train home from Soho. At Canal Street the train came to an abrupt halt. I sat in the train car for several minutes waiting for the inaudible announcer's voice to come on attempting to explain why we were staying put. No such announcement came. I made an executive decision to exit the the train and find an alternate route home.Upon exiting the train, I found myself on the corner of Canal Street and 6th Avenue. I literally turned myself around in a complete circle, confused as to what to do next. Then I spotted a row of bikes that looked like this: Citi bikes! I felt a surge of excitement ignite within me. All at once I pulled out my debit card, swiped it and I had a numeric code that promised to give me access to a bike. The only problem was I couldn't get the code to work! Luckily, a man walked by who was returning his bike. He assisted me in getting a replacement code and I was able to unlock my prize: a bike!I had a bike in my hands. It cost me $9.95 and I was ready to rock [...]
Is My Kid Old Enough To Take The Bus/How The Fuck Are We Going To Get to School?
Next year Ari starts Kindergarten. He got into an awesome school, but it's in the middle of nowhere. In the suburbs children ride these to get to school: In New York City, parents get their kids to school in all kinds of different ways. Some walk, some take the train, others take the city bus, some drive, and then there are the kids who actually take a yellow school bus to school, just like the kids in the suburbs.Since Ari is only five, I'm not sure if he's ready to take the big yellow school bus. It could be daunting for a little kid to sit on a bus with a bunch of older kids. I remember my mom telling me that's how my brother learned his first curse words, riding the school bus.Since we live in hippy-dippy Park Slope, there are a lot of parents who bike their children to school. So that could be an option for us. However, since I have two kids, I don't know how that will work out with bike seats.I've seen some formidable bike seats that I would love to purchase. Like this one, for instance: How dope is that? I want someone [...]
I Give a Shit- This May Be The Coolest Tee-Shirt EVER!
Heather over at Spunky Real Deals is giving away a tee-shirt from The Naked Hippie that I absolutely must have. The shirt reads "I Give a Shit." Check it out: I want to win this so badly! If I don't win it. I'm totally buying it. You can enter here.
The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride – My First Novel – Win it!
I started writing when I was a child. I remember at an early age, loading my mother's electric typewriter with paper and typing out story after story. These were stories about princesses losing hats, impossible children, adventures of animals, and whatever else happened to float into my brain at the moment.One day, my mom bought a Macintosh Plus computer. That day, my life changed. I went from spending my afternoons on the typewriter to having quality time with the computer.Somewhere along the way, I began to write a story. That story evolved into a bigger story and finally it became a novel. I began writing it around seven years-old. I'd work on it here and there between school obligations. I took a break somewhere around the age of ten and then came back to it at age 16. Then I took yet another break and finally, at age 27, I decided to finish it, let my friend Brian edit it, and self-publish it.That book was The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride. The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride is about two sisters that live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan who overhear gangsters plotting to murder a millionaire, Alan Norman [...]
The 30s are the new 20s or Something
I had Ari when I was 28 years-old. I was the first one of my friends to have a baby. When I started to meet other mothers in the playground, I noticed something; they were 10 years older than me. In a funny way, I felt like a teen mom. I mean, I was in my late 20s, so I was clearly not a teenager. But yet, the parents that had kids my age were much older than I was. Then I started to take stock of my own friends. Some of my friends started to have babies, but there were plenty of my friends who went into their 30s still unmarried with no kids. I continued to feel weird and like an anomale. Were people in their 20s not having kids anymore? Then I thought, maybe it's a geographic region thing. Maybe people who grew up in New York City in the 80s are waiting to get married and have kids. Plenty of my friends are perfectly happy being single and/or in a committed relationship with no kids. They're living life pursuing their passions or trying to figure out what they're passionate about and do that. Here's another thing, [...]
The Road to Purple Couches
Until today, my couches were white and had stains on them. I got them off of craiglist for super cheap. One day, my friend Alex was over and she said, "you know, you could totally dye these couches."The idea sounded intriguing, so I asked her to tell me more."Well, we just buy some dye and do it! A lot of dye." She said with a laugh.Alex is an artist, so she had a vision.I told her I wanted purple couches.One day, my friend Zahir and I were hanging out in the Fader garden. Alex came over to drop off a cat toy for Egreck. Suddenly a plan hatched in my head. "Okay guys, next Sunday, we're dying the couches."The two of them laughed, but they realized that they were signed up this task.Alex went to a fabric store and bought a lot of dye.Today, here's what happened: Thank you team couch, Alex and Zahir for making these works of art!
I Eat a Brownie and Rocket Writes a Story – Tad Hills is The Man!
Yesterday I went to the gym, did 3.7 miles on the elliptical machine and swam. It was 90 degrees outside, so I was proud of myself for 1. making it over there and 2. pushing myself that hard. On the way home from the gym, I noticed a bakery I'd never seen before. The thought of chocolate anything was too much to pass up, so I entered the pastry shop and was immediately intoxicated by the smell of baked goods. There was so much to choose from!As I was pondering over whether I wanted a homemade whoopie pie, a s'more or a brownie, a man entered the shop holding a laptop. He made conversation with the barista (I can call him that because he was also serving coffee) and from their repartee I assumed this guy was the owner of the shop."Are you the owner?" I asked."No, but I come here often enough." He replied with a smile."Oh, what do you do?" I asked him.It turned out that this man was Tad Hills, a New York Times best selling children's book author and illustrator. Only in New York, I thought to myself, would I walk into a random pastry shop and [...]
Win a Sodastream Fountain Jet! My Mom Was Right.
I love seltzer! Seltzer loves me! Seltzer is the unofficial drink of New York City. I can recall spending countless afternoons at my best friend Mint's house in the early 1990's drinking Vintage seltzer. It was the best.Fast forward from 1992 to 2010. One glorious day, my mom announced to me that she'd made a purchase. "I bought a seltzer maker!" She said. The machine in question was the Sodastream. I was instantly in love. There was one problem."Only I am allowed to use the Sodastream." She warned me. "I will gladly make you seltzer, but I'm the only one allowed to touch it."Well, that certainly put a damper on things. You see, my mom was so in love with her Sodastream, that she was concerned about it getting damaged by myself or the kids. Fair enough, I thought.A little history; it turns out that a version of the Sodastream has been around since as early as 1903! There were seltzer lovers even back then.But back to my mom. I decided that if she loved the Sodastream that much, it must be awesome. So I wrote to Sodastream and asked if they'd like to collaborate on a review and giveaway. [...]
Cards Against Humanity – A Party Game For Horrible People – Win it!
I first played Cards Against Humanity at my friend Kodjo's house. Every week, we get together and play Magic The Gathering, but this time my friend Kevin brought over a new game. The game in question was: Cards Against Humanity. By the title alone, I knew I was going to love this game.Here's how the game works: A player chooses a black card that has a sentence with a blank to fill in.The players then choose the funniest word (or group of words) from the white cards they are holding to complete the sentence.Here's an example: The white cards are downright hilarious. Here are some other options you might have to complete the sentence: Believe it or not, I even convinced my parents to play Cards Against Humanity and guess what? They love it too!By the end of the evening that I first played Cards Against Humanity, I was hooked. I wrote to Jen (one of the creators) and asked if I could giveaway a copy of Cards on my blog. She said hell yeah! Well, actually, she said "sure, why not?" So here we go!Here's your chance to win a copy of the most politically incorrect and hilarious game [...]