By Sizzle from Sizzle Says

Pick a Picnic

One of my favorite things to do with my sweetheart is picnicking. There are so many variations that you could picnic your way through the summer without a repeat! I like to head over to the local Farmer’s Market to pick up some locally grown fruit, delicious cheeses and bread, then pack in some wine and head to the park. But you could make a picnic anywhere- even in bed!

Take a walk

I know this sounds like a “duh” kind of idea but seriously, grab your mate’s hand and take a stroll. Maybe venture to a part of your neighborhood you’ve never walked through. Take in the trees, the houses, and let the conversation flow. Or tackle a hike- from up top a mountain you can gain tremendous perspective.

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By Kami Lewis Levin

Ladies, we were flat out lied to.  Period.  All those teachers, parents, adult role models, and TV characters who constantly reiterated to us girls that we can do anything we put our minds to were effing liars.  They didn’t find it necessary to share the fine print with us.  They didn’t consider disclosing the gravity of the situation to us.  Just like nobody told us that giving birth hurts like hell, nobody told us that choosing to be a working mom is a one-way ticket to our very own three-ring circus.  Except the clowns are our children.  And sometimes our husbands.  And we are the tightrope walkers, fire-eaters, hoop-jumpers, trapeze artists, and lion tamers.  And, on occasion, the lions.  I am woman.  Hear me roar, damn it.

After my second kid was born and operating under the mistaken assumption that I could give both my family and my job 110% of my energy (I was never very good at math), I spent the better part of the past year experiencing my own very special brand of culture shock.  The kind where you just have to go to bed by 8.  The kind where getting dressed to impress is simply not an option (you know, the whole drool, snot, poop, spit-up factor).  The kind where a date with your husband involves a drug-addict like dependency on Netflix.  The kind where your personal identity decides to go on hiatus, leaving a confused, spent, and in my case, fat, out of shape and depressed, shell of a person behind.

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By Lindsay of Suburban Turmoil

It may have looked easy on The Brady Bunch, but the truth is that successfully blending a family is hard work. I’ve been a stepmother now for nearly eight years and a mother for four, and have learned a few things along the way that might help you out, whether you’ve already blended your family or you’re thinking about doing so.

1. If you don’t love, really love your boyfriend’s kids, DON’T MARRY HIM.

This is my biggest piece of advice to friends who are dating divorced dads. If I hadn’t loved my girls when I married my husband and felt like I was called to be their stepmother, I can’t imagine how our marriage would have survived. If you know in your heart of hearts that you can’t love his children, you don’t have to tell anyone, but please move on. The children will sense your feelings, and they don’t deserve that. They’ve been through enough already.

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By Jess from Du Wax Loolu

While planning my wedding, I learned a few things that I never read in an advice column. So I thought I’d share those tidbits with you.

1. Take it one thing at a time.

Prioritize your to-do list. At the top, put crucial stuff like the site, whose availability will affect your wedding date. At the bottom, put things that nobody will miss, like programs and menu cards. Then start doing things on your list, one after another.

2. Pick DIY projects that can be done in advance.
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By Danny of Dad Gone Mad

(The content in this post may not be for the faint at heart.  Read at your own risk.)

I suppose we should start with the obvious: I’m a sexy bitch.

I know this to be true because there’s this smokin’ hot blonde (a MILF if there ever was one) who likes to have sex with me up to three times per month – sometimes even on days when I haven’t done anything heroic like fold the laundry or empty the dishwasher or floss. It’s a simple formula really: if you’re married and you have sex for no good reason, you’re a sexy bitch. This stands in stark contrast to the typical nature of things, which my ugly friends tell me is that married people don’t have sex unless they’re attempting to procreate or engaging in their annual, strictly missionary “maintenance sex,” initiated just to see if they remember how to do it.

I was contacted a few weeks ago by a representative of Work It, Mom (“We like dads, too!” she said) (she didn’t specifically mention sexy bitch dads, but that was pretty much a given) and asked if I’d be interested in contributing a piece explaining, “How to have a sex life when you have kids.”

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I like to think of myself as a bit of a movie buff and hate it when I meet someone who has a more encyclopedic knowledge of films (and who has memorized more movie lines, too). And, since we don’t get out that much, movies have become a treat, when we can just hit the couch and be fine with a night in - whereas in our child-less days, this would have been frowned upon.

So in that light, heregoes with the first edition of “What to Watch” for the parent set - my subjective picks for the week.
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