Building A Readership Beyond Your Blogging Community

The other day I had an in-depth email conversation with several of my online blogging pals about who’s reading our blogs. When looking at Google Analytics (and beyond), it’s clear that many bloggers are receiving visits from fellow bloggers. One of my buds reported that for her, it was as high as 85 percent of all visits to her site. She also noted that the bulk of her comments come from fellow bloggers. She feels that, to some extent, Read more

What I’m Really Thinking While Watching Kids' Cartoons

Caden officially outgrew watching cartoons about a year ago. Aless, on the other hand, has just reached the age of being totally intrigued by dancing sponges and doodling dogs. What does that mean for mom? Well, whether I like it or not, I'm subjected to watching hours of nausea inducing animated characters doing things that would cause us real people to get arrested. As you can tell, I'm not a big cartoon fan. Never have been. But I do Read more

The Crock Pot Crowd, A G+ Community

I've been an avid crock potter for more than 20 years and love sharing recipes, tips and stories with others who also enjoy this quick and easy cooking method. I often write here on the blog about what I've whipped up that day such as Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken Bake, Slow Cooker Wimpy Chili and Crock Pot Apple Pie Cake (to die for!). I've loved all the feedback I've received and enjoyed seeing the pictures of the creations you've Read more

Pitter-Patter Go Little Feet, She Is My Heart

Pitter-patter go little feet as she runs up behind me. Her arms wrapped tightly around my legs, the soft giggles begin. I reach back and gently grab her wrists, growling loudly like a bear. "GRRRRRRRR! I'll get you, Alessandra!" The giggles turn to laughter as I feel her collapse to the floor. Bent down, I softly kiss her forehead, taking in each smile and loving gaze from her eyes. She is my heart. Wild hair, big blue eyes, every step Read more

Welcome to MommiFried!

A blog about the adventures of a middle-aged mom suffering from Motherhood Unintentional Distraction Disorder, otherwise known as MUDD. MUDD is the inability to complete a thought or action without being distracted by 14 million other things related to motherhood: balancing work and home life, taking care of pets, changing poopy diapers, cooking, cleaning, shopping, changing poopy diapers...you see where this is going, right? If you're a mom, you've probably experienced two or three or 500,000 episodes of MUDD since Read more
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A Proud Parenting Moment

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Crystal in Cadenisms, Motherhood | 1 Comment

 

Wikipedia: Freedom From Fear is a painting by Norman Rockwell, which was published in the March 13, 1943 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post as part of the “Four Freedoms” series. 

Like many parents, I’ve tried to raise my kids to be responsible, non-racist, productive human beings. I’m by no means a perfect mother, far from it, but the one thing I have always asked of them is to be accepting and don’t judge. Sometimes you wonder if the things you say actually get through. When Caden brought home an essay entitled “Freedom of Fear” it was vindication and one of my proudest parenting moments. The paper and his words were proof that all my jabbering has been heard. Take a look. I’ve broken up the essay into two images with some overlap (sorry about that): Read more

The Things Tweens Say

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Crystal in Cadenisms, Motherhood | Leave a comment

While being an older mom has many advantages, there are also some drawbacks. The further away you get from your youth – the more distant you are to teen and young adult “lingo”. For instance, Caden walked into my bedroom yesterday to give me something I had dropped in the hallway. I thanked him, to which he replied, “No pra, bra.”

Whaaaaat? Read more

Things I Don’t Want My Daughter Growing Up Believing

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Crystal in Motherhood, Oh Aless! | 8 Comments

I always wanted to have a daughter. After having three boys and knowing instinctively each time that I was carrying XYers, I kind of gave up on the dream. I didn’t think being the mom of a little girl was in the cards for me.  And I accepted that reality. My boys were the greatest gifts, and I was a pro at raising the male population.

Things really do change in a heartbeat. Twelve years after having my last son, I became pregnant again. From the moment we first read the positive result on a home pregnancy test, I just knew. I knew she was coming.  Everything told me that inside I was carrying a little girl, an XXer.  She arrived in December 2011, Alessandra Rayne. Read more

Keep Your Parenting Advice To Yourself (please and thanks)

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Crystal in Motherhood | 1 Comment

I love how even at my age I am continually lectured about how I should and shouldn’t raise my daughter. How could I possibly let her drink from a sippy cup at only 7-months-old? Why we would ever consider co-sleeping with her? After all, this screws with a child’s independence, right? You know, I like to think of myself as a good mother. I have raised three wonderful boys. They have never been in serious trouble or made devastating choices. They are not racist or judgmental. They are good, well-adjusted kids. I raised them and helped shape who they are today. And I did a damn good job. Read more

Are you raising a clingmaster?

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Crystal in Motherhood, Oh Aless! | Leave a comment

Aless just turned 7 months, and I have to admit she is attached to me at the hip. It’s like having an overexcited growth with 16 arms hanging from the side of your body. Now this wouldn’t be a problem if she didn’t feel it necessary to get upset 8 out of 10 times when I try to put her down and walk away. The times I do put her down and she is content typically involve being on the floor or squarely in eyesight of her brother, Cade. She has an affinity for this kid. Read more

Where does time go when you’re a mom?

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Crystal in Motherhood | Leave a comment

As I’m sitting here writing this blog post, I realize the day has completely flown by. It seems just a few hours ago it was 5:15 am and Aless, our human rooster, was letting us know it was time to get up. Precisely 14 hours has passed since then, and I’m trying to remember where it all went. I suppose 80 percent of every minute is attributed to taking care of Aless – any infant for that matter – which is a huge chunk of time. In fact, there are 840 minutes in 14 hours. Less approximately two hours of nap time (it was not a sleepy day) Aless time accounted for 576 of those 840 minutes. WHOA! Read more

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