The Working Mom by Kay Luna

Babycakes (2 years old) is starting to “get it” when it comes to the whole Easter egg/Easter basket thing, so I think Easter is going to be a lot of fun with her this time around!

We put up Easter decorations together at our house Saturday, just before pelting rain and then a crazy snow storm hit.  Ugh. Nothing like looking at window clings of spring flowers and butterflies, as huge clumps of snow swirl around outside.

Well, then, we were cooped up in the house because of the weather. No kids’ birthday party for my niece, like we had planned. Bummer. So, instead, I decided to introduce her to the lesson that those Easter egg decorations are pictures of boiled eggs … painted up to look pretty. Huh?! I know. It was a teachable moment, folks.

I boiled some eggs for her. And then, when they cooled, I showed her how to make them “hatch” by carefully cracking the shell. I explained that we NEVER eat egg shells. And then, we ate the “white and yellow,” as she calls it now. We enjoyed the heck out of the experience, just Babycakes and me.

Next up: Easter-egg decorating. We’ll have to get out the old Easter egg dye on one of these weekends coming up before the holiday.

So, after the egg-stravaganza, we still had more daylight to burn … still inside the house, as the snow swirled. What else was there to do, other than teach her about blanket forts?! We had a blast, hiding under the blankets thrown over furniture in her bedroom, just like “Little Bill” does in one of her new favorite books.

So, how did you spend the (hopefully) last big snow storm before spring is sprung?

Oh, here’s a story for you. Anyone out there with teenaged kids will shudder — I know I did.

Check out this story and photos. This couple’s 18-year-old son decided it would be funny to paint a 60-foot-long drawing of a … umm, part of the male anatomy … on top of their home’s roof, to try to catch the attention of Google Earth. OMG!

Well, a year later, it caught the attention of people flying above in a helicopter. They took pictures and someone alerted the homeowners, who had no idea.

The only thing saving the teenager from his parents’ wrath is that he is out of the country right now. Ugh!!! What a brat.

OK, but, I did laugh when I read this … as long as it’s not on MY roof, right?! ha! Gawd.

A lot of people in the Quad-Cities are feeling the impact of the recession, and we totally empathize. We are feeling it in our families, too.

What’s your situation?

Have you dealt with layoffs, or worry about the hammer dropping on your job next? Have you moved in with friends or family (or taken in others) to stay afloat? Taken other precautions to cushion your family?

If you’re willing to share your story, we would love to hear from you. The Quad-City Times is looking for people to talk to for a continuing series of stories about how these difficult financial times are affecting local people, just like you.

Interested? Want more info about what we’re looking for? Know someone else who might be willing to talk? Please contact Jan Touney at jtouney@qctimes.com.

And, as many of you know, I’m writing a new weekly column for the paper (and our qctimes.com Web site) called “Savvy Saver,” which features tips from local people about what they’re doing to save money. If any of you have any cost-cutting ideas to share with us in that column, PLEASE don’t hesitate to let me know: kluna@qctimes.com.

It feels good to help each other out, so thank you, everyone, for sharing your ideas.

So, how well do you get along with your ex? Good enough to move in with him/her again … along with your NEW spouse?

Check out this CNN story about newlyweds in their 20s, who suddenly found themselves drowning in debt because of the recession. The woman’s ex-husband saw this, and offered to let them move into his house with him.

Now, this untraditional trio are parenting the daughters the ex- and the woman had together in their marriage. They all get along, and the men even pal around together in their spare time.

The 7- and 6-year-old girls were a little confused at first, though, telling kids at school that, “Mommy has two husbands.” teehee.

What do you think about this? Could you go this far to create peace and harmony — and financial stability — for your family?

This is an update about my interview last Friday with one of the New Kids on the Block … SCREAM!!!!!!!

I thought I was going to get to interview Jordan Knight, one of the cute ones from the band who I had a crush on when I was a kid. I was so excited! Jordan Knight!

And then, when it was time for the interview, the publicist calls and says, “OK, please hold and I’ll connect you with Danny Wood.”

Who? Oh, gosh. That’s not Jordan.

Danny was fine to talk to. He did yawn once during the interview (haha). But later, I checked their concert schedule, and he’d been up late the night before at a concert and had another one a few hours after our interview Friday.

And he is 39 years old.

Heck, I’m 34 and I went to sleep at 8:30 p.m. last night, so I’ve gotta cut the man some slack.

It was still pretty cool to talk to one of the New Kids! And I find myself spontaneously wanting to break into the “Hangin’ Tough” song and dance (oh, oh, oh, OH, oh …. Hangin’ Tough!) whenever I think about seeing them in concert on April 2 at the i wireless. I can’t wait.

You can read my story about the New Kids interview Thurday in our Go&Do section or online at www.qctimes.com/goanddo. Check it out!

Yeah, I love my job.

I’m 15 minutes away from getting to interview one of my hearthrobs from my young teen years: One of the New Kids on the Block band members.

SHRIEK! GIGGLE! SCREAM!

I know, I’m a dork!

But I’m excited because the first concert I ever went to was to see Tiffany (the shopping mall singing queen back then) and New Kids back at the Adler in downtown Davenport in the late 1980s.

I vividly remember that night — and to be honest, I was more excited about seeing Tiffany. Sorry, New Kids. But seeing the boy band was a thrill. My friend and I got so excited that we jumped onto the backs of some random older, tall guys in front of us so we could see better.

And any women who were boy-crazy teenagers in the 80s and early 90s know that The New Kids have reunited. The band’s concert tour is making a stop in Moline on April 2 at the i wireless. Hence, the interview today.

I don’t know which New Kid … who are actually “old kids” now, in their 30s (like ME. Waaaah! Listen to my cry) … I’ll get to talk to yet. I’ll know in now 10 minutes and counting.

OMG. I love my job.

Any question ideas? Hurry and let me know if you have some burning curiosity that must be answered about the New Kids today.

This is for faithful blog-reader skimom and any others who might have heard warnings that they should stay away from a certain big-box retail store in the Quad-Cities tonight.

An e-mail is going around that, at first look, seems credible about “possible gang initiation” that could lead to the shootings of three women at this store chain, specifically in Moline and Davenport.

But the Moline Police Department just put out a press release, saying this e-mail is “FALSE and UNFOUNDED.” The e-mail’s author tries to make it seem local and true, stating that the info came from a Moline police officer, and was  passed on from the author’s “cousin that works at the Andalusia grade school,” according to the press release from police. But it’s a fake.

They even looked it up online on snopes.com, and found that similar false rumors have been sent since at least 2005.

So, feel free to go shopping tonight, ladies.

All those extra ads tucked inside the newspaper on Sundays — do you pour through them and clip out coupons you think you can use?

I do, but often, they end up at the bottom of my purse and I forget about them. I need to get better at that.

How do you organize your coupons? Do you wait and use them when the store also is having a big sale on the items you want, to double up on the savings?

And do any places around here do double-coupon days?

Let me know if you have any expertise in this area. I hope to write about this soon in my Savvy Saver column, which appears online under “columnists” on qctimes.com and also in the paper on our Solutions page every Monday.

Please share your money-saving knowledge! Thanks.

I try to empathize, but I just can’t.

I. just. cannot. wrap my mind around why someone, who already had six kids at home, would do IVF for octuplets. Yes, Nadya Suleman.

This video on radaronline.com – where she is apparently video-blogging now and then — shows her bringing home two of the infants from the hospital. What a hot mess.

Oh, how my daughter loves Dora the Explorer on Nickelodeon. In fact, she’s now constantly asking me, “Do you see Swiper?” If you have preschool-aged kids, you know what I’m talking about.

So, as a continuation of our “what message is the media sending our young girls about sex?” discussion, what do you think of the new tween-aged Dora?

I admit, I was one of the many moms who e-mailed the company, asking them to PLEASE not change the innocence of Dora by making her into a Bratz-doll type. I want Dora to continue to be smart and adventurous and knowledgeable about nature and the environment — because those are qualities I’d like my daughter to admire … NOT the sexualization of Dora that I feared might happen.

So, I’m a little relieved that the company is responding with assurances that the show about an older-version of Dora — meant to pull in audiences of girls in the 10- to 11-year-old range, it sounds like — will continue to be interested in all of those things.

And the drawing of the revamped Dora doesn’t seem as awful as I imagined. I think they could have made her a little less skinny, a little more “real looking.” They could have kept her hair in a no-nonsense bob, like she has on the younger kids’ show, instead of the long, flowing dark hair she has in the new version. But … it could be worse. I was imagining a short skirt, lots of curves, her belly showing (eeeeuuuuuu, yuck).

What do you think? Or does it even matter to you?