Hey Mommy, Mommy let’s goto Mickey Dees!
April 20, 2011 By 1 Comment
Miss Lori wants to wean her children off of her brain
April 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
When I was pregnant with each of my children I suffered intense morning sickness. So much so that it put me in the hospital with dehydration. What I came to understand is that my body was practically allergic to the hormone production necessary for gestation. But once the placenta took over the hormone production, which usually happened during the fifth month of pregnancy-after that transition of responsibility took place inside of my body, I felt remarkably better, clearer, more energized, and of course hungry. It was a rough road, but it was worth it. Because at the end of each journey there was a beautiful baby for me to love and care for.
Now let’s fast forward a decade. My children are 8, 10 and 13. They have extremely busy lives, academically and socially. There are so many pieces to their lives, and mine. I am now 40 years old. That age when the World is telling me that my body is starting to bulk up, and my mind is starting to slow down. 
Well, judging from the fit of my pants that bulk thing is dead on. Also, considering I called the dog my daughter’s name last night, the brain part must be right too. But wait a minute, 40 isn’t old. I don’t care what the experts say. My brain functions pretty darn well. I am an expert multi-tasker. I accomplish more in one day than most people do in a whole week! I run my own company. I run my household. I manage three children. I perform over 75 live shows a year. I blog and vlog at least 4 times a week. I teach, I counsel, I consult. I create. My brain is working. It is working hard… too hard! Here is what I think. It’s not my age that is depleting my memory. No. What is depleting the natural resource of my brain function is my three children. 
You heard me right. My brain isn’t just doing the thinking for me, it is doing the thinking for them as well. You know what I am talking about. “Mom where are my socks.” “Mom I thought you were going to RSVP me for that bar mitzvah?” “Mom when is my soccer game?” “Mom didn’t you bring my uniform?” “Mom. Mom. MOM!” 
And all of that extra thinking is running me down! It’s no coincidence that more of the people living past 100 don’t have children. (Ok. I don’t know that for sure, but it seems to be true when I watch Willard Scott’s Smuckers bithday’s on the Today Show.)
Just like pregnancy, it’s time for the “placenta” to take over and do the work for itself. In other words, once my children take over and do their own thinking I will feel better, clearer, more energized and hungry. Well, hopefully not hungry as I can’t blame the kids for the bulk. (Although I could make a case for it, but that’s a whole different post.)
So, stop letting the World tell you that getting older means your brain is getting slower. Just wean those children off of your brain! Make them feed themselves with the knowledge of their everyday functioning lives. And then, then you can bask in the glow of the free space of your own memory. Maybe even take on a hobby like Suduko. Best of all you will live long enough to watch your children grow up, become parents, and suffer their own memory loss at the hands of their kids, Sweet revenge worth waiting for.
ML
* Level 0: Some or all of the ideas mentioned in this post are a product of lack of sleep and should not be quoted as fact, or relied upon for any other purpose than comic relief.
Miss Lori can be found Musing from her Minivan at MissLori.TV , Wearetherealdeal.com , YoungChicagonista , ChicagoMomsBlog , and ChicagoMoms.com. You can also see her Activating to Be Great at Miss Lori’s CAMPUS on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Miss Lori wants you to win a car in the OnStar Push On Sweepstakes
March 23, 2011 By 2 Comments
Would you like to win a car? “Uh, yeah Miss Lori, who wouldn’t!” Great then I have got some important information for you. OnStar wants to put you behind the wheel of a Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, or GMC car. Well, not just you, 10 you’s! [Read more...]
Miss Lori offers 3 tips to make the Superbowl fun for kids too!
February 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Many adults are excited to watch the Superbowl this weekend, just like I am. However, the big game isn’t such a big deal for little one’s. So how do football fan parents coexist with play doh fan kids? I suggest three things: [Read more...]
Miss Lori believes her ultimate family vacation can only be found at sea.
October 11, 2010 By 3 Comments
Sponsored By
Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.
My ultimate family vacation? Oh my, that’s a tough call. Having just returned from the picturesque Miami, where all I could think about was how much my kids would have loved to swim in the ocean, I suppose I could say that; a vacation to the ocean. Awesome, yes. But ultimate? Not so much. For me an ultimate vacation, assuming I don’t have to worry about costs, needs to do three things:
- It needs to entertain each of my 3 children individually
- It needs to be active
- It needs to be set up in a way that I can actually enjoy/participate in the fun on my own, as well as with my kids, not just be the sherpa.
Now my kids are 7, 9 & 12; girls on the bottom, boy on the top. They have a variety of interests when it comes to entertainment. And because of their varied ages and height differences, (my 12 year old is 6ft tall already), they have different physical needs and limitations for activities. And of course, they are loathe to spend time with each other on purpose.
While sitting in the Fort Lauderdale airport struggling to come up with an idea for this post I happen to overhear a man talking about a cruise. A cruise? Hmmmm. I inch a little closer, eavesdropping on his conversation. He starts talking about a sprinkler park, comedy shows, ice capades… Ice Capades! Ok, now I simply have to know more. So, I dismiss all pretense of eavesdropping and ask him blatant questions. Where did he go? What was it like? What activities did he participate in? Not only did I get insightful answers. I got to see pictures. (How fortuitous is that?) Turns out my new friend and his family went on a cruise to St Thomas, Puerto Rico and a private island in Haiti. Apparently all three places had gorgeous beaches and shopping, but the private island had zip lines in the hills. ZIP LINES, WOW!
Immediately I fired up my computer and checked out some of the cruise lines out there, and what I found was remarkable. As you would expect I found cruises going all over the World, exploring sights that would not just be pleasurable, but enlightening. Places like the Bahamas, Bermuda, Mexico, Alaska, even the Panama Canal! However, the biggest bonus happens on the ship itself. I found children’s clubs separated by age, such as 6-8 year olds, 9-11 year olds and 12-14 year olds. And for those groups there are specialized activities such as spin art, volcano creation, dodgeball, karaokee, and pool parties to name a few. And this is in addition to sprinkle parks, wave pools, basketball courts, miniature golf and more on deck. While the kids are engaged, adults have play time or relaxing time of their own. However, this isn’t just limited to daytime, there are plans in place for kids to be occupied in the evening hours too. making it possible for adults to attend evening shows, dance in a nightclub, or just have a quiet dinner.
Wait a minute! Let me get this straight. There are on board cruise kid clubs separated for 7, 9 and 12 year olds, with supervised, and engaging artistic, musical and physical activities. These clubs allows for an adult, (say me), to have some personal time to re-energize before rejoining the kids for family fun?! That is the ultimate. My ULTIMATE FAMILY Vacation.I want to take my kids on a cruise to a new World across the sea. A wild adventure which will have us dancing in sprinklers and on nightclub floors, swimming in wave pools and on white sandy beaches. Eating in ornate restaurants and in shore cafes. I want to make a memory with my children that will bring us closer by attending to our individual needs. Sign me up today!
Now, I just have to get over my lifelong fear of cruise ships. Minor technicality, right? 
Don’t forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.
SMILE On!
ML
Level 6: Miss Lori was compensated for posting about the event mentioned in this post.
Miss Lori can be found Musing from her Minivan at MissLori.TV , Wearetherealdeal.com , YoungChicagonista , ChicagoMomsBlog , and ChicagoMoms.com. You can also see her Activating to Be Great at Miss Lori’s CAMPUS on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Miss Lori says the trick to her 40 year old brain is all in the list
September 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Adapting to my 40 year old mind has taken some doing, but I think I am getting the hang of it. I have been 40 for just a little over 4 months now, and for the most part it has felt pretty good. It certainly helped that I ushered it in well with friends and exercise. Plus I spent the entire Summer becoming Better all while Activating Summer all year long through my Summer concert tour. Now real life has set in with the kids going back to school, and life is in full range of motion. Well, life is, but my brain occasionally needs some jumper cables. [Read more...]
Day 3 Winners Circle for Miss Lori’s #Blogbaskets Blogher Giveaways with 1800Baskets
August 7, 2010 By 12 Comments
Goooooood Morning! My goodness it was a long day yesterday. I never even got a chance to get over to my own site and join the #Blogbaskets conversation. No worries though because there were a dozen people who were brainstorming creative ideas for new 1800Baskets Gift Baskets. There were three women in particcular who were conversing away, exchanging ideas and building on each other’s thoughts, Robin, Petula and Sarina. And since they all THREE did such a great job, I’m going to call all THREE of them WINNERS of the Day 3 #Blogbaskets giveaway! CONGRATS!!!
Would you like to know what you have won? Step right this way! [Read more...]
Day 3 of Miss Lori’s #Blogbaskets giveaways at Blogher with 1800Baskets
August 6, 2010 By 146 Comments
Morning Everyone. Ar you here just to see me? Nooooo! You’re here because you want some more 1800Baskets gift Baskets aren’t you? Well, of course you are. And I don’t blame you. So enough with the small talk let’s get to the rules for today’s giveaway. We had such an amazing conversation on my facebook fanpage yesterday I wanted to have a similar one here for all the WORLD to see. (LOL!). So the contest is about conversation. We’re going to talk creatively about giftbaskets. I want to hear your ideas about what kind of fantastical, (now I know I made that one up!), gift baskets you would love to see available and what AWESOME names you would have for them. And I don’t just want you to post your ideas. I want you to feed off of other peoples ideas as well, comment, add to, improve, whatever! Let’s brainstorm together. Then at the end of this day, 10pm ET, today Friday August 6, we’ll see who has contributed the most to the conversation and they will win. Clear and simple. What will they win? Cue the curtain… [Read more...]
End of Day 2 The Winner’s Circle: Miss Lori’s Blogher giveaways with 1800Baskets
August 5, 2010 By 2 Comments
First things first we have a winner from yesterday’s giveaway. Drum roll please……Congratulations to Tiffany Sparks. You have won the Margarita Party Time Gift Basket from 1800baskets. Now you can get your #Blogher or #NoGoBlogher party started right! Hooray!
Day one of my five days of #BlogBaskets Giveaways done. Now for day two’s wrap up.
Today we amped it up a bit over on facebook. fans participate in an indepth discussion about baskets. Really listening to each other and contributing great content. I said the winner would be the person who contributed the most times to the conversation organically. But I lied. I’m instead picking the top two people. And they are not only winning baskets for themselves but one to give away to their favorite person! We are spreading love and conversations! So drum roll please… The winners of the facebook chat off are
Dee Pearlstein and Shannon Schulte!
Congratulations. Now you can join Tiffany for some #Blogher and #NoGoBlogher partying! What did you win? Oh yeah, I guess you would like to know that wouldn’t you.
5 days of Blogher giveaways from Miss Lori and 1800Baskets
August 4, 2010 By 150 Comments
Okay who wants to have some fun? Who wants to win some prizes? Who’s ready to do both?! Well that’s just what 1800Baskets and I are teaming up to do for you. Click here to take survey
I leave at 6am Thursday to begin my whirlwind of a weekend in New York City, known more popularly as Blogher. Although for me it’s more like Blogblurr because there are so many things that I will be doing from Thursday to Saturday that it will be hard to keep my head attached to my body! But I promise to stay in tact though because I have work to do …for you. I am going to be your virtual fun master, made all the more special with wonderful gift baskets provided by the virtuouso of joy, 1800Baskets. How much joy you say? Well, they have given me 21 magnificent baskets to give to you! Yes you! And the best part is it doesn’t matter if you are going to Blogher or not, you can take part in the fun! No one need turn into a Green Eyed Monster here because everyone is invited to the party! But this isn’t your typical party. Noooooo! Because this party will last for FIVE DAYS! (Well, it’s not a typical party for me, but maybe you live a more raucous life. Just sayin’). I am going to do a variety of things through that time to amp up the fun and keep you involved. You won’t want to miss it. So how do we get started? Simple.. [Read more...]
