It’s hard enough to get going some mornings, but even if you have only one child to check up on, and even if your mornings are a piece of cake, there’s still homework, projects, extra curricular activities, household chores, and bedtime to deal with. Ideally, you want your kids to eventually take responsibility for these things themselves, but until then, how do you stay on top of it all? Especially given that you need to get yourself ready and out the door, often at the same time?
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West Indian Girl singer Mariqueen Maandig is giving up her gig to marry Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, her bandmates declared in August. WWE announcer Lilian Garcia announced her retirement Monday after 10 years with the WWE Divas, trading the wrestling ring for a wedding ring. And over at the StarTribune.com, a reader tells columnist Carolyn Hax to put marriage before career because “it really wasn’t worth all the sacrifices.”

Which made me wonder: If you couldn’t have both — and if finances weren’t an issue — which one would you choose?

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I love to cook. When I was in college, after a stressful day of juggling jobs and school I’d come home and cook, the same way other kids would go out and drink. My roommates used to say they could tell what type of day I’d had just by looking at what was on the stove at 1 a.m. (which is when I got home from work, and settled in to study).

I still love to cook, but now that I’m juggling jobs and a family I have less time — not to mention way less energy — than I had when I was in college. And right now, with the economy still tight and my budget even tighter, cooking at home isn’t just therapy, it’s necessary.
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The other night, I was sitting in my family room, TV on, my husband at his desk in the corner, tapping away on his laptop. I settled down on the couch, reached for my own computer, and realized… I didn’t have any work to do.

Here’s the sad part: I didn’t really know what to do with myself. Watch TV? I mean actually, really, pay attention to what’s on the screen at the other end of the room? Read a book that I’m not reviewing? Write an extra blog post or two?
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I picked my youngest kids up from preschool the other day and decided to stop by the local farmers’ market on the way home. My kids love the farmers’ market — it’s bright and noisy and colorful, and they always get some treat to munch on while I search for the perfect tomatoes.

My daughter loves it for another reason: She seems to know everyone there.

We run into a few of her classmates, of course. But she also knows their parents, their siblings, and their pets — and greets each and every one of them by name.
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Before you weigh in (or opt out) of the current debate about health care, you should first read the HR3200 bill for yourself. (Don’t feel like sifting through all 1,018 pages of it? A group of voice actors, including Work It, Mom! member Mandy Nelson of Dandysound, have recorded it as an audio book. Check it out.)

Once you’ve done that, you need to sift through the rhetoric, from President Obama’s speech to Congress yesterday to Sarah Palin’s Wall Street Journal piece and everything in between. (The American Nurses Association has put together a great fact sheet that can help.)

And, if you’re like me, you’ll probably need to find ways to save money on medication while you’re waiting to see how healthcare reform affects you.
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I went in to work crazy-early yesterday, so that I could leave crazy-early and meet up with an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in far too long. A coworker stopped by my desk as I was packing up, and so I explained what was going on.

She gasped. “You’re… actually doing something FOR YOURSELF?”

I immediately felt a little guilty. And sheepish. Until I looked her in the eye and saw that she was actually cheering me on.
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