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© Copyright 2006-2010 blackbeltmama dot com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
January 9, 2008
About Black Belt Mama
“Most karate moms just do the commute; this one is working towards her black belt.”
I am a 30-something forever 29 year old stay at home mother. I stay at home with my two daughters: “Big I” who is seven years old. . .
. . . and “Lil C” who is three years old.
I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English Writing, Creative Nonfiction. I met my husband my sophomore year, fell in love with him when he let me borrow his laundry detergent, and married him shortly after graduation.
Then. . .
Now. . . (Notice one of us is getting all salt-n-pepa-ish; the other is not. He’s living with three girls so that probably explains it.)
I worked for a small literary journal as an Assistant Editor, then at Clinique cosmetics (because the pay was better), and then at a graphic design firm as an “Administrative and Marketing Assistant” which is just a fancy name for copy girl, xerox pro, or otherwise just plain old lackey. I was supposed to be a writer, but somehow got the desk where I answered all the phones, filed all the folders, and mostly just retrieved muffins and coffee creamer. I did, however, write a corporate identity manual and an insurance brochure. Zzzzz, Zzzzz. I did learn lots of things while working there though, but mostly how to swallow my pride.
When I got sick of that (a very short time later), I went to Duquesne University where I earned my M.S.Ed. in 11 months, and accumulated so much student loan debt that it’s just plain ridiculous considering I taught high school English for not even two years and then decided my true calling was diapers and picky eaters.
I went on maternity leave, had my first daughter in 2001, and never looked back.
We sold our house; and my husband switched careers so that I would be able to stay home with my baby girl. By home, I literally mean home, as in we moved in with my parents for a year. Then, we moved to NJ. Then we moved back to my hometown.
In October 2005, I gave birth to our second daughter after a long wait to get her on her way. I wanted everything to be natural, and planned a birth center birth. Then I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and everything got turned upside down. I did have a midwife deliver her; and that was truly awesome.
I now work from home (in my spare time) as a part time logistics recruiter and as an adjunct instructor at a local university. My husband sometimes works from home too. Because of this, our neighbors probably think that:
A. We are independently wealthy.
B. Pajamas are the new ‘business casual.’
C. Our house will be foreclosed on momentarily.
None of these are true. Well, except for B., maybe.
I’ve learned that no matter how many legitimate part time/work from home jobs you have, your Dad will probably still tell people you’re “unemployed.” I’ve learned to live with it.
I am trying to raise my girls to be smart, strong women. I am a 1st kyu brown belt in both Okinawan Kenpo and Kobudo. Did I mention it’s a family affair? (I didn’t just mean “strong” in the figurative sense.) Big I started karate when she was three and is now (and will be for quite some time) a 7th kyu. Lil C will probably know how to snap kick before she’s potty trained (she already knows how to kiai better than I do). And I was a little late on the draw, starting when I was 29 (Yeah, I realize the math doesn’t make sense with the whole “forever 29” statement in the beginning, but just work with me here).
I’ve realized that it’s never too late to learn something new. You just have to be willing to face the fact that the 14 year old you take class with who has been there since she was three is 100% capable of kicking your butt.
I started writing my original blog “Black Belt Mama” in 2006 to document my journey in the martial arts. I had no idea how many detours my journey would take. I was looking forward to testing for Shodan in February of 2008, but then I tore my ACL while sparring in October 2007. I had ACL reconstruction surgery in December 2007, and have been using my fabulous sense of humor to get me through surgery, recovery, and many frustrating days of pain-med-induced constipation physical therapy.
I love: reading a good book, playing fantasy football (damn you LaDainian Tomlinson), going on vacations, writing, and nailing a new kata.
I can’t stand: litter butts, irresponsible dog owners, people with no reading comprehension skills, folding laundry, liars, and bad table manners.
My writing credits include articles/reviews published in the following publications: “Pittsburgh Tribune Review,” “Transport Topics,” “Bridges” (NCTE Publication), “English Leadership Quarterly,” and in the book “At Issue: Date Rape.” My original blog has been syndicated by my hometown newspaper’s website, and through BlogBurst on “The Houston Chronicle,” “The Chicago Sun Times,” “Austin-American Statesman,” USAToday.com, Reuters.com, “The Sacramento Bee,” and multiple IBS news service websites. “The BBM Review” is starting to get picked up too as of late. Not that you should care about this, mentioning it just makes me feel more important.
I think that about covers it.
If you have something nice to say, please leave me a comment, write me an email, or link to my sites with reckless abandon. If not, no one is forcing you to read this, so get lost.
No, seriously.
Email Black Belt Mama.
January 4, 2008
Cranium Bloom Toys
Let’s be honest here. Playing long games with children can be equated to torture, depending on the age of your children and their mood. Interactive activities are great, but when they take two hours, any activity can get tiresome for both parent and child. My daughter has one game in particular that drives me insane. One needs a degree from Harvard to even begin to understand the proper way to play and it takes forever to complete the game. That is just one of the reasons why the Cranium Bloom toys are so fabulous.
We received the Cranium, "Let’s Play Count and Cook" game and it is fun, educational, and quick! The lid promises you’ll be finished in about 10 minutes, and that is absolutely true (of course it may take a bit longer if you have a two-year old who likes to trash the board occasionally like mine does). Players begin by placing the various ingredient tokens on the game boards. It doesn’t matter where they go, so this part is stress free for parent and child. Then, you choose a little chef and choose a recipe. There are recipes for spaghetti, cookies, macaroni & cheese, sandwiches, etc. Players roll the dice and move around the board, adding the proper ingredients and a surprise ingredient or two if you land on a star token.
My girls, ages 2 and 6, thought this was great fun. The best part is that if your children are feeling a little ornery, you choose a small recipe and if they’re settled in for the long haul, you can choose a longer recipe to complete. Interspersed with the recipes for the game are other learning activities. Complete will actual recipes for cookies and activities having to do with measuring, etc. the cookbook can keep a little one busy for quite some time.
The best part about the actual real recipe is that it details out which parts the adult should do, and which parts are kid friendly. If you’re a control freak like me, this will help you greatly to release some control in the kitchen and let your kids join in on some good cooking fun. Although the box says this game is for ages 3 and up, my 2-year old was able to follow along and play quite well. It was a quick and fun game that we certainly won’t mind playing again and again. The ingredient tokens also make great confetti for a final celebration when the game is over. Just ask my two-year old.
The Cranium Bloom "Let’s Play Count and Cook" game can be purchased online here or at Target, and retails for $12.99. If you have a budding little chef in the house, you won’t want to miss this game.
If you have a puzzle fan, the Cranium Bloom "Let’s go to the Zoo Seek and Find Puzzle" will surely be a hit. This puzzle is for ages 3 and up. My little one had a bit of trouble doing the puzzle part by herself. There are 24 pieces, but with help she enjoyed putting it together. My 6-year old also thought it was great fun. This is a puzzle that is truly for all ages.
Once the puzzle is together, it’s time for the real fun. The puzzle comes with two activity books, a beginner and an advanced book. My 2-year old enjoyed finding the zebra, lions, and objects that were certain colors. Once found, she was able to use the erasable marker to circle the items she had found. (O.k. maybe not circle, but rather just scribble over top, but you get the idea.)
When my little one was done with scribbling, my 6-year old took a turn using the advanced book. The advanced book asks kids to find items that start with certain letters. Parents can show them pictures to help them out or make it even more advanced by keeping the pictures a secret. My 6-year old thought the puzzle was a lot of fun too. There’s enough action happening on the puzzle to keep the attention of both a 2 and a 6-year old and that is saying something.
The puzzle retails for $9.99 and can also be found online here or at Target.
Both of these toys are unique in that they can be adapted to real life quite easily. Want to make cookies with the kids? Take the recipe part of the game with you to the store and let your children find the ingredients. Going to the zoo? Take the notebooks along with you and have your children find the real deal in the zoo.
For being fun, interactive, applicable to real life, and speedy, BBM gives the Cranium Bloom toys. . .
December 26, 2007
Ultimate Sauna Suit
I’m not a sweater. Of course, by that I mean I don’t sweat easily (also, I’m not a warm, woolen garment). But recently I tried out the Ultimate Sauna Suit (by Realsauna at Karate Depot) and it put me through my paces.
The Sauna Suit is an interesting development in workout technology. You’ve probably heard of this sort of training aid before, but what you usually see is a shiny spaceman outfit – 
http://www.karatedepot.com/ae-ss-12.html
The point of this getup is to capture all of the bodies evaporating water and enhance the dehydration process; the result being a quick loss in water weight. Furthermore, the suit locks in body heat, helping keep muscles warm for extended workouts or flexibility training.
I was skeptical of the Ultimate Sauna Suit at first because, like I said, it takes a real harsh workout to get me gushing. I doubted that an article of clothing could make it happen without doing a ton of exercise. Also, the suit looked like casual Adidas warmups, nothing particularly space-age – 
http://www.karatedepot.com/ae-ss-16.html
What I didn’t notice (until I put it on) was the strange inner lining. It’s like a soft plastic that reminded me of the material used for rain slicks, but less stiff. 
The lining took some getting used to at first because it felt unusual against my skin, and crinkled a little when I walked. But after about 5-10 minutes, I was completely adjusted.
I decided to begin my test workout with a little walk. I didn’t expect much, but figured it would help me warm up for more serious exercise afterward. To my surprise, by then end of about a mile, my legs and arms were quite slick.
After the walk I trained on the Johhny Sockitomee bag. I even put my hood up for awhile because a lot of heat escapes through the head. In minutes, maybe 10-15, I was a sweat machine. I won’t go into detailed elaboration, but believe me when I say I hadn’t sweat that much since my last karate test. My original intention was to do some weight lifting after training on the bag, but I decided to call it quits. I realized a little discretion and responsibility is needed when losing that much hydration that quickly.
The brass tax of the Sauna Suit is this – you wouldn’t wear it all the time for comfort, but it has a very nice design and delivers in functionality. Therefore –
Ikigai108 gives the Ultimate Sauna Suit…
December 19, 2007
SuTree.com
By now there’s a good chance the more web-savvy of you will have heard of "Web 2.0". It’s a bit of a buzzword really, but one of the main things that defines Web 2.0 is the fact that it’s the users who make the sites what they are, not the authors. Think of sites like youtube, flickr or wikipedia and you’ll start to see what I mean. These days content is king, and people are keen to learn and absorb information.
It’s with this in mind that Joseph Maaravi founded sutree.com, an online video sharing and learning resource. The principle of sutree is simple; if you want to learn, chances are there’s a video to teach you what you want to know. Or maybe you fancy yourself as something of an expert on a subject and want to share your knowledge? Both are welcome and encouraged. Think of it as a knowledge community, similar to instructables.com but with video rather than photographs.
Video tutorials are indexed and tagged and sorted into categories, so it’s simple to find what you’re looking for. A few clicks later and you can be watching your video either streamed directly from the site, or by linking to the original source – wherever on the web it might be. Videos are aggregated from many of the larger, more well-known sites as well as some smaller ones you might not be familiar with.
It’s an addictive site and one which it’s very easy to spend a lot of time on. You may go there looking for something in particular, but end up watching many more videos than you’d intended, and more often than not, on subjects you had no particular interest in before. I can testify to that first-hand, in the process of writing this review I’ve been sidetracked several times and ended up losing the odd half-hour here and there. I may have gone there looking for a bit of martial arts information, but ended up learning how to light a fire with a can of drink and a chocolate bar (seriously!).
With it being a community-based site, there are plenty of options for social interaction. Commenting and rating of existing content is simple, as is adding new content. In fact the more prolific contributers will find they can have videos automatically added via RSS feeds. There are widgets available for your own blogs and sites to find related videos for visitors, and there’s a unique option to ‘wrap’ links. In a festive example, supposing you know someone due to host a family dinner, but nervous at the prospect due to their abysmal skills in the kitchen. Just ‘wrap’ them up a bunch of links perhaps showing them how to cook the perfect turkey, how to do the same for the vegetables. Maybe they’ll be serving cocktails, let’s find an example of how to mix a Long Island Iced Tea. Heck, while we’re at it, why not show them how to make a table centerpiece while we’re at it. The wrapping option means you can send one neat bundle of links to videos with everything someone might need to know contained within.
With a little over 11,000 videos indexed at the time of writing, and with that number growing every day, there’s a good chance you’re going to find out what you want to know. Even if you don’t, a search soon shows you the members who have some expertise in that field, so a friendly message may have you pointed in the right direction. There are even online courses available to take. The only downside I found as a user was the redirection to external content providers sometimes felt a little disjointed. It’s a small quibble for something as valuable as sutree though, and as such comes highly recommended.
For its ease of use, wealth of collated knowledge and just being such a good idea, TSDAdam gives sutree.com a BBM Review rating of….
December 14, 2007
Baby Jamz Contest Winner Announcement
Before you hit play, please keep in mind a few things. First, it took Mr. BBM and I several hours to get this 10 second video done. Why? Vista sucks. That’s right. Here’s my review of Vista. Vista sucks. Because Vista sucks, I ripped half my hair out. I don’t usually look that horrible. The lighting is bad on purpose because the webcam adds 10 lbs and 4,000 wrinkles, and also pops blood vessels in the head from searching over and over again for "webcam video plays but no sound." That being said, I give you the winner of the Baby Jamz dance mat. . .
Thank you to all who entered the contest; and thanks to Child Play Communications for sponsoring the contest! Make sure you check back for future give-aways!
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