Today I had planned on giving you all a preview of a fabulous new feature you will see here on Tuesdays. However, yesterday’s weather took an interesting turn. Here in Georgia, many isolated tornadoes touched down, including one in my town. We were very lucky here, though some neighborhoods received a bit more damage. Amazingly, no deaths have been reported at this time.

Then, last night I received an email from Missy of Wonder, Friend who is a Texas blogger. As many of you know, Texas has been on fire and the state has been burning and smoking for days. A group of Texas bloggers are working hard to raise support. Below is a snippet from her post sharing ways you can help- in addition, link up your support post to the linky, where Texas bloggers link up for fire relief efforts.

• Many of the bloggers who are participating in this link-up will also be out to support the LiveMom.com Austin Family Brunch on Sunday, September 11. This brunch will now be a benefit & donation drive for our Central Texas neighbors who have lost their homes. I’ll be there, and invite you to come out & join us!
• American Red Cross of Central Texas is accepting donations and volunteers. This site also links to additional wildfire resources.
• Catholic Charities of Central Texas is taking donations on Tuesday, September 6. Visit the site for details.
• Hill Country Bible Church is accepting donations all week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Visit the website for more details. HCBC also needs volunteers to help with donation intake/distribution. If you are interested in volunteering at a shelter, this site has information about that, as well.
• Call the Hays County Volunteer Coordinator if you’d like to make donations or volunteer your time: 512.393.7302
• All of the local news outlets have links to ways to help. Some of those outlets: FOX, News Radio KLBJ, KEYE, KVUE, KXAN, Your News Now.
• The readers of Free Fun in Austin are providing information on the Facebook page.
• Chili’s Round Rock is donating a percentage of sales all day on September 6.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, fires. Such amazingly powerful phenomenons that we have no control over. We may not be able to prevent them or even stop them, but we can still try to help- any way we can. Please check out their linkup!

I have been in numerous states in the past week, and I have a few more to go- but first, a stop in Asheville, North Carolina for the exciting Type A Parent Conference! I’m looking to forward to meeting those of you who will be attending. More exciting news will follow a week after Type A when we finally close on our new house and I’m officially back in Georgia- which is also the time you will see me resume my regular blogging around here!
I hope you are having an amazing week so far and if you’re going to be at Type A (or you’re on Twitter at all!) grab me at my new handle, @PorchSwingMom!

Bear with me y’all, I’m tweaking a few things from my transfer move! Just Another Mom of 2 has now become My Front Porch Swing. I will have a more detailed post up on Monday- until then, pardon my mess while I tweak things around a bit!

With Easter approaching, it was time to think of a spring-themed snack for my son’s school again this year.When he asked me to make lollipops again, I was confused- I had not made lollipops for his school before. He said, you know, like last year. Which brought me to remembering this post I wrote for the Deep South Moms blog last year…

We all have goals in life. Some people want to be a doctor, others strive to reach political aspirations. Some people want to travel the world and others wish to stay close to home. Yes, we all have goals in life, paths to take and dreams to achieve. Which is why I never expected my day to come to scouring the tri-city area for the fixings for cake pops.

You see, my son was having a party in his preschool class. As always seems to be the case, I miss the secret sign up session where all the easy ones are taken (when is it my turn to get the napkins?) and of course, someone always signs up for the cookies. I make excellent cookies. But it has been the rule of preschool, across two states mind you, that someone else always signs up for the cookies- and inevitably buys them instead of making them. But I digress. So, in the spirit of achieving snack utopia, we set out to make these cake pops. Sounds simple enough, right? But the day had just begun..

Getting a preschooler and a toddler (who cannot quite toddle) out the door is no small task at any point, but there always seems to be the extra hurdle with a goal in mind. A dirty diaper while bucking my daughter in her car seat, my son making dancing up and down in that way you know he had to go potty right now, a missing stuffed animal my daughter “has” to have before we can leave. So five twenty minutes after we walk out the door, we head to the first craft store. A craft store that online advertises they have all of these things that we need. Lollipop sticks? No problem. Large heart shaped-sprinkles? Not so much. Edible ink pens? In the words of the store clerk herself, “I never heard of those”. Sigh. Back to the car, bundled back in and to a second store to find much the same response. Sigh again. Fifteen miles, a half hour, and a Gerber graduate lunch for my daughter in the parking lot, we find the answer to all our prayers- Michael’s- the Art’s and Crafts Store (incidentally, the manager did not seem enthused by my idea to open a franchise closer to me. You can’t blame a girl for trying!). We gather our supplies, check out with a friendly wave, and head to the parking lot.

Where there are seven a hundred birds surrounding my car.  Have I mentioned my deep fear of birds? Some person had thrown their fast food out of their car and now I was trapped from entering my vehicle. My fearless four year old stepped in to save the day and chased them away, while tugging on my arm because he knows he must hold a hand in the parking lot. Ignoring the group of teenagers sitting on a curb laughing at my dangerous situation (why were they not in school?) we load into the car once again. We journey the thirty-five minutes back towards home with a stop at the grocery store. As we walk in a woman promptly walks up to us while getting a cart, ripped off one of the anti-bacterial wipes, and asks me if I’m going to wipe down the cart before putting my daughter in it.

I was so taken aback I almost did not respond. Instead, I said no, pushed the cart halfway down an aisle, and put down my seat cover on this germ-infested cart I was now convinced would make us all ill. After a brief stop for my son to laugh at the lobsters (we’re still working on compassion there) we are finally out of the store and head back home. It is now 4 p.m. and everyone is exhausted. But, we got our decorations, our edible ink pens, and our extra large sprinkles. Never mind we hadn’t started making them yet.  Except..

We forgot the cake mix.

Here’s an image of the finished product:

For the record, I bought the snack this year.

The night was inauspicious enough. The sky was clear, the air crisp, the atmosphere nothing more intense than normal. She took in a deep breath and realized the world was not going to end. Here it was, an event she could scarcely believe did not involve her. She had been a part of these events, with these same people, since she could remember. But now, after events that would defy logic until her wisdom grew and until she truly grasped how young political games started to be played, it seemed an anti-climactic event.

Her uniform still hung in her closet, perfectly pressed. Her CD player still cycled through “hey mickey” and various techno dance combinations. Her body still involuntarily stiffened when she stood up straight, moved in fluid motion on the dance floor, still flinched at the tone of her coach- her former coach- in angry recrimination.

But she was free. Free not of her own accord but because of political games she hadn’t realized she was playing, but free nonetheless. She barely acknowledged those still in the game in the midst of the focus she had on not caring.

She did nothing wrong. She behaved with dignity and respect. She disparaged no one. She was the epitomy of good grace and natural behavior.

She had a date in an hour.

Buoyed by the anticipation, she eagerly agreed when her good friend was ready to go. To describe their relationship would be to describe one of sisters; there are no such descriptions to appropriately apply but to say that their connection was unflappable. Tired of the antics at the event around them, they decided to leave a bit early. Of the three of them, a friend was concerned about the liquid on the ground.

A few blocks later, we pulled over. The car was overheating. I had no idea what this meant, but knew it was not positive. As responsible, non-drinking teenagers (really. I promise) we called in the abnormality. With a great sigh and respect for those involved, her parents suggested she bring home the vehicle for a switch. After all, there was a date involved.

Her nail was uneven. Why this bothered her, as she was never great with doing her nails to begin with, is still a mystery. But, she had a date and a nail file in her bag, so filing she began. Strapped into the vehicle with smooth cuticles and a cute boy in a booth in mind, she never considered what could have happened.

Until they were wrapped around a telephone pole. Stunned, she calmly dialed her friend’s dad and stepmom to disclose what had happened. She ensured everyone was out of the vehicle, including herself who climbed out the driver’s side instead of her own passenger’s. She called family, friends and everyone in between. It never occurred to her that she needed to support her right arm. She never considered the effort it was taking to move or function because her only goal was getting things done. Police took relative statements, emt’s recommended further examination, and all she wanted to do was to go home. What could happen?

The answer would shatter her world. It would shape her high school experiences, her college entanglements, her lifelong engagements. Those few minutes went beyond her experience of shock, her horrific fear of what might be, and quickly settled into a reality. A reality she would not only never escape, but one in which she would face motherhood. It challenged to take away what made her unique.

And that couldn’t happen. But in a matter of seconds, her world shattered, right along with full feeling in her right arm. She knew how to act, how to maintain composure, how to get home. She new how to be calm, in control, and completely composed.

What she could not anticipate was what the pain, work, and disillusionment that was yet to come. Because in the time it took to start filing a nail, the time it took for that friend to be committed to what she was driving, in the time it took three girls to look forward to their next destination.. it was all lost. Her feeling was gone. She had no use for her right arm. She had lost her dear friend.

And it was all snatched away without a word from her. It just.. was.

Linked up to Shell’s Pour Your Heart Out. Because she encourages writers to just put it out there.

I know my blogging has been a bit sporadic, but I have been so busy lately with some great projects! As many of you know, I work with the fabulous company, AboutOne.  Today is an exciting day for the company, as our CEO and founder Joanne Lang officially launched the product at DEMO conference (http://www.demo.com).

I originally came across AboutOne when their PR agent contacted me about a review. What I wasn’t expecting was to come across such a fabulous product with such a promising future. I am so excited to see where AboutOne will go! If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend clicking over- AboutOne is all about making managing family life easier. As often as we move, it appealed to me right away and the new features that are continually rolling out just keep getting better!

Home Dashboard

I wanted to share the launch with all of you, so please click through some of these links- the first is our Press Release and the others include coverage from The New York Times & USA Today. It’s an exciting time to work with online management!

Our DEMO launch Press Release

USA Today

The New York Times