Shut Up and Eat | amotherworld

Motherhood

#NotGoingToBlogHer Twitter Party 2010

August 7, 2010

by Maria Lianos

On Thursday night, I (amotherworld) hosted a #NotGoingToBlogHer party on Twitter for those of us who could not attend BlogHer 2010 in New York City. The response was overwhelming! So overwhelming in fact that we trended in Canada!

The questions received so many responses! The most replies to the question was 75, which didn’t include all the comments and RTs! Originally planned to last an hour between 9pm and 10pm, the party went on for 2 hours!

The mutual vote was… “What happens at #NotGoingToBlogHer STAYS at #NotGoingToBlogHer!!!”

Many interesting (and I mean, shocking!) responses… it was truly AMAZING to see so many women come together and let loose!

Thanks to TweetChat, I was able to sort of keep up but not enough to give prizes that night. Winners were announced throughout the day on Friday, August 6th. Bonus prize winners were announced on Saturday, August 8th.

Here are the questions and winners for the various prizes:

Q1: What is something people don’t know about you?

Prize: Digital CDs or apps for kids courtesy of @Kiboomu Kiboomu.com

Winners: @miacupcake @ElaineOrrMorgan and @SomewhatCrunchy

Q2: Which 3 celebrities would you most like to have sex with?

Prize: “Libations of Life: a girl’s guide to life one cocktail at a time” written by Dee Brun aka @CocktailDeeva

Winner: @moeturner

Q3: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Prize: Mabel’s Labels offered an Ultimate Back-to-School Combo!

Winner: @amy_boughner

Q4: What is the worst piece of advice you have ever received?

Prize: $50 credit to use on www.clippo.ca thanks to @Clippopotamus

Winner: @nugglemama

Q5: One thing you would change about yourself?

Prize: A pair of dichroic glass earrings with sterling silver posts courtesy of @AnnBac9 and Teenzillas

Winner: @smilenwaven

Q6: One thing you love about yourself?

Prize: A package of 30 4″x6″ Photo Cards (perfect for the holidays) and a set of 140 return address labels courtesy of Grace Announcements @graceannounce

GraceAnnouncecards — Grace Announcements

Winner: @ottawamom

BONUS PRIZES

Prize 1: Starbucks gift – Winner: @kellidaisy

Prize 2: Avon products – Winner: @pattysullivan

Prize 3: Copy of Kathy Buckworth’s “Shut Up and Eat: a Tale of Chicken, Children and Chardonnay”

Winner: @InfoSara

THANK YOU for participating in my first Twitter party! and

THANK YOU to Grace Announcements, Mabel’s Labels, Clippopotamus, Dee Brun, Kiboomu, Kathy Buckworth and Teenzillas for the fabulous prizes!

House & Home

Shut Up and Eat Already!

May 19, 2010

by Maria Lianos

Shut Up and Eat! Tales of Chicken, Children and Chardonnay is Kathy Buckworth’s latest book, in stores now.

It’s a hilarious take one of my least enjoyable duties – feeding my picky kids. Having to prepare three meals a day plus snacks can cause any mom to lose her marbles.

The witty Buckworth, who also has written other parenting humour books such as The Secret Life of Supermom, offers some great tips and even easy recipes for moms who don’t want to add “chef” to their already lengthy and unbearable list of responsibilities.

Effortlessly and humourously, Buckworth tackles mealtime and the dreadful snack-time, as well as the lovely task of “feeding the in-laws and outlaws”.

Before you even get to feed the brood, you need to shop for groceries with your rowdy kids in tow. Leave it to the husband you say?

“The main thing women need to recognize about grocery shopping is that it plays into some ancient, anthropological instincts. Women, as we all know, were society’s gatherers; men were the hunters. I am always impressed by how men have managed to transition these skills into “hunting” at the liquor store or the aforementioned Home Depot, but have entirely skipped over the grocery store. This has left it up to us – the gatherers – to fill the void. While they get to hunt for vodka and screwdrivers, we get to gather zucchini and 12-grain bread.”

Easy recipes, that any culinary novice can do blind-folded, round off this light-hearted, funny book.

I laughed out loud while reading and even gasped once. The Lasagna recipe on page 82 calls for a jar of premade tomato sauce which would likely cause my Italian husband to suffer a panic attack. He’d kill me if I didn’t share my quick and easy tomato sauce recipe 😉

So as Ms. Buckworth would say, Shut Up and Eat!, I would say, “Kali Oreksi! Mangiamo!”

Enter to win one of three prize packs which include Shut Up and Eat! and The Blackberry Diaries!

Contest ends June 4, 2010. One entry per person.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Books & Music

Feeding Your Family: Moms and Dads and Food Oh My

April 6, 2010

This is an excerpt from Shut Up and Eat! Tales of Chicken, Children and Chardonnay written by Kathy Buckworth

We need to face facts. The family meal is fraught with disaster and a prescription pre-written to fail, almost every time.

You (the earnest Mom), hate making it day after day after day, and they (the annoying children) hate eating it. Mostly because you made it with your own hands, in your own kitchen, with disdainfully fresh and nutritious grocery store ingredients.

Come on Mom! Everyone knows food goes through an amazing taste transformation once it’s been passed through a drive-thru window. In fact I’m thinking of installing one on the side of my house so the kids can grab their breakfast sandwiches as they ride by on their bikes.

To make it really authentic, I’m thinking of charging them and getting the order wrong half the time. Hopefully I won’t get the pre-requisite zits and “uptalk” pattern of speech. And I’m nixing the hair net, okay?

I honestly don’t understand (or care, frankly) why they don’t love my cooking, or at least like it. But the whys don’t really matter. The indisputable fact is that whether they (or we) like it or not, moms are “supposed“to get three meals down the adorable, little throats of our offspring by the end of each day.

I’m pretty sure that rule is in every parenting book ever written. Whether we’re serving these meals at home, or bundling them up and sending them out to schools and camps, the food is “supposed” to be healthy and lovingly prepared.

After 17 years of trying to achieve this balance, my advice is this: Go for one or the other. Either it’s healthy or you loved making it. (If it’s neither, it’s take out.)

If you knock yourself out making that perfectly nutritious meal each and every time, I have to tell you, the love will surely be missing. If you’re able to snatch a Lunchable out of the fridge, throw in an apple and a Wagon Wheel cookie, and send them on their way in five seconds or less, you’re going to feel the love.

Maybe not for the kids, but for the packaged-goods company who just helped you out. It’s all good from where I’m standing, baby.

Excerpted from “Shut Up and Eat! Tales of Chicken, Children, and Chardonnay, Kathy Buckworth, Key Porter Books, March 2010, now available at bookstores everywhere. Visit www.kathybuckworth.com and follow Kathy on twitter at www.twitter.com/kathybuckworth.