By Momo Fali

It’s that time of year again; time for early mornings, homework schedules and blisters from new shoes.

My children are in the fifth and first grades and I work at their school, so I have seen a lot of back-to-school jitters from kids and parents alike. Here are my tips for a stress-free transition to your new routine.

* Have your child meet his teacher before school begins. Being familiar with the only adult in the room will help him feel at ease and less likely to pee his pants because he was afraid to ask to go to the bathroom. Trust me.

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By Kerrianne of Kerrianne.org

So, you’re going to a party! You’ve received an invitation, happily accepted, and are choosing just the right shoes to wear with just the right dress. Maybe it’s the type of party wherein you’re arriving with a gift for a little one, an expectant mother, or a bride-to-be.

What you might not remember in all the hustle and bustle of pre-party planning is that there is someone else to potentially gift in this equation.

Parties take planning, provisions, invitations. In short, they cost money, and time, and while your presence and shining personality is no doubt a great gift in and of itself, remembering your hostess (or host) with a thoughtful and material “thank you” is beyond classy, and lets your hostess (or host) know that you appreciate everything they’ve done to make the party a great one. (This is especially true if said party is being thrown for you.)

OK, OK, so now that we know hostess gifts are grand, what sorts of things should you be giving?

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By Chris from Rude Cactus

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not big on “Hallmark holidays.” You know, the ones that were dreamed up solely to sell greeting cards. But it’s hard for me to argue too strenuously because the subjects of the holidays the greeting card industry dreamed up are pretty great. I mean who can dispute the relative merits of mothers, grandfathers, secretaries, or trees? I’m an ass sometimes but not that big of an ass. And it’s not like they also came up with Insider Trader Day or Cracked-Out Prostitute Day (though, really, cracked-out hookers could use a card at the very least). And really, I can’t honestly say that I don’t like waking up on one particular day and being honored as a father. After all, it’s the most important job I have. But there’s the inevitable question that I always get from my wife but never know how to answer. What do you want for Father’s Day? Damn. I can’t escape that one.

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By Angella of Dutch Blitz

So! Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday. As if all of the cheesy ads on TV weren’t enough to remind you, I am here to add to the bombardment of commercialism.

I am kidding. Really. Before I was married, and for many years afterward, I gave the big middle finger to commercialized holidays such as Valentine’s Day and the others. I might be getting soft in my old age, but maybe in the midst of our crazy lives we need an official “holiday” to remind us to appreciate those around us.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I thought that I would share some of my favorite gifts that I have received in these past six-and-a-half years of being a Mom.

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Okay, I can’t feel my toes right now, which is slightly disconcerting. But I digress.

We’re here to provide you with top-of-the-line watching recommendations, and in this installment, for the kiddies, many of whom will be home for a long weekend starting tomorrow.

First off, our daughter, my wife, my wife’s friend and her daughter all LOVED Madagascar 2, so if it’s like minus 20 in your backyard, jump in the car and go see it already.

Second. I haven’t seen it, but I overheard a bunch of folks with slightly older kids (9,10) say that they LOVED Wall-E, so if you believe some people that I overheard, as well as a myriad of critics, I say, you’re probably safe with a lovable, animated robot.

Third is my favorite throwback pick (and largely because our daughter started wearing pull-ups with Jasmine on them): Aladdin. You absolutely cannot go wrong with anything involving Robin Williams. Best. Blue Genie. Ever. (Of course now that I see that it was made in 1992, I feel so damn old.)

Finally, if you’re looking for something new on the tele, I just got word from my peeps that Nickelodeon will have a new show based on those awesome Olivia books by Ian Falconer (my personal faves). Guess what it’s called? Oh. Yes. “Olivia.” Premieres on January 26, but if you click here, you can check out some online games to occupy your child’s time while he or she bides the time waiting for the first delightful episode.

Happy watching!

As the winter rolls on and the post-holiday TV season begins, some of the usual guys are back in action, like “Lost” and “Monk” and maybe a few others on their last legs.

I am here to save you from monotony and share with you a few highly entertaining shows that you may have missed or whose promos gave you the wrong impression (the obvious disclaimer of subjectivity still applies here).

Three you don’t want to miss:

1. House - one of the best-written shows on TV and one of the worst marketed; trust me, it’s so much better than Fox makes it out to be (but it is about a pain-killer-addict brilliant doctor).

2. Eleventh Hour - this is a new show that combines science and crime, and it’s sharp and fast-paced (and I just found out that there were like seventeen other shows and movies called “The Eleventh Hour” dating back to 1912 - who knew?).

3. Top Chef - there may be some of you out there who have not yet discovered this gem of a reality show; well, time to jump on the bandwagon. Nuff said.

Seen em? Like em? Let me know.

Okay, so you like to go to the movies, you don’t get out enough, and you certainly don’t have enough time to take in all of the Oscar favorites.

Well, I’m here to help - not by telling you what to go and see (because I haven’t seen them all either), but rather by giving you the breakdown on a few of the top films as I know of them and hopefully you can decide which one is worth your babysitting money.

Here goes:

*Milk - Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in 1970s San Fran (the obvious pick for best actor).

*Slumdog Millionaire - Orpaned Indian boy seeks to win the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." And so much more. (See it).
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OMG!

How many days does your little one have off over the next two weeks? (Ours is off from December 24 through the Monday after New Year’s, and not to mention the current snowstorm, which caused all local schools to be closed today. Awesome.)

So, what to do with all that time? Of course, we’ll go to the museums, read books, and do art projects, but this is the “what to watch” edition, no? And I’m here to tell you what to watch - the holiday classics:

*Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - the bonus here is that our daughter has been singing the song endlessly after having learned it at school. Always good times with old-school animation.

*How the Grinch Stole Christmas - if they’re not too little (and thus not scared by the very green title character), this should be a winner.

*Frosty the Snowman - we will be sure to reenact this one after the 12 inches of wonderful whiteness stops falling.

*It’s a Wonderful Life - for the older kids in the family, you must expose them to this, the ultimate classic holiday movie. Oh, the drama. (”Zuzus Petals!”)

Got any more to share?

With all of this TV Talk happening on WIM, I thought I’d chime in to give you a parent-approved suggestion for what your kids can watch and have you feel good about it - because they will be LEARNING.

The show is called “Wordgirl” and it’s on PBS: check this link for your local times.

Basically, you’ve got a preteen girl with a pet monkey (named Captain Huggyface - how cool is that?) who save the city from crime all the while helping your child build his or her vocabulary - each episode features two new words and each word is defined in the context of the show, so they can really understand what the words mean.

Not only is the show ridiculously addictive for kids, it’s got that added “adult” humor so you can enjoy it, too, while following along the adventures.

Definitely check this out and…Woooooooooooord up!

ps: the most fun is the funkadelic dancing that Captain Huggyface performs at the end of each episode - don’t turn it off until the very end.

Whether you love your job, like it OK, or can barely deal on an average day, learning to be more produtive during your workday is a good idea. Because if you love your job, you can get better at it, if you like it OK, you can accomplish more and maybe get promoted to a job you love, and if you can barely deal then getting things done quickly is a way to create more time to devote to non-work stuff (like, say, reading blogs.)

So here are some great tips to help you be more productive at work:

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