P&K Insider

OK, all you nay-sayers. I just hung up with Walt Disney World dining services and guess who will be dining with Cinderella? ??

Me & the fam.

Even the friendly Disney rep couldn’t believe my luck. Moments before I called, a space opened up at Cinderella’s Royal Table and I nabbed it (with credit card in hand). Cinderella is no cheap date ($142 for four) but my husband and I decided it would be our ONE true dining indulgence. Other dining plans will include lots of popcorn - available for sale in the theme parks. I’ll plan to bring water and other snacks to munch on while we’re in the park and we’ll be cooking in our kitchenette too. Let’s just say the 24-hour Walmart down the street from our resort will see a lot of the Kempskie family.

After this initial Cinderella success, I was feeling rather confident and decisive. The time had come to bite the bullet and buy some theme park tickets. Sounds easy, right? It is. Of course, it took me months to finally do it because other Disney goers were freaking me out about the gazillion options - go to one park per day, go to more than one per day, go twice to one and then to another.

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Two months and counting until our Disney trip and as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve done little to prepare. This is about to end. If a Disney trip is in your future (even in the distant future), please join me on the journey. I’m going to get help for all of us!

Allow me to officially introduce Jodi Grundig of Natick. Her credentials? She is one of 16 new parents  selected to sit on the interactive online forum at Walt Disney World Moms Panel (thousands applied!) offering free trip planning advice. Every week, Jodi has agreed to respond to my most pressing questions, which I’ll post here.  Here we go…

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I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

Good news: We’re taking our kids to Disney for the first time ever.

Bad news: We’re taking our kids to Disney for the first time ever.

The trip is quickly approaching and according to most parents, I am doomed. I have not booked one (important) thing. I did book our flight and our hotel. That doesn’t count.

I was at a birthday party a few weeks ago, when one mom was telling me that she visits Disney every year with her family. I thought she’d be a great person to get some tips from. When I told her our departure date (two months, give or take) she looked away, sat down, put her face in her hands and I believe, took a moment to gain her composure.

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Here is a great event P&K is sponsoring next week!

Class is now in session! Mom Corps University is an educational workshop series for women focusing on the current issues affecting both your career and your family. The first Boston event will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 21 from 9 to noon at the Boston Public Library. Get tips on job searching, identifying your best assets and more.

“Your Career and Coaching”

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Boston Public Library
Central Branch, 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116

“Your Career and Job Search”
Allison O’Kelly, CEO, Mom Corps offers proven strategies and techniques on finding the right employment options for you that will enable you to GENERATE INCOME and strike the right balance in your work and family life.

“Learn How Coaching is KEY to a Successful Job Search and Career”
A team of local area expert Life and Career coaches will introduce you to the practice of coaching and outline the most common barriers that people face when trying to make a change in their professional and personal lives and how coaching can help them address and overcome these challenges.

Experience coaching “live” in a small group session! Let our expert coaches reignite your career!

You’ll learn:
How to identify your best assets
How to easily overcome roadblocks
How to network successfully
And more!

Agenda
9:00 - 9:45 Allison O’Kelly, CEO, Mom Corps
9:45 - 10:30 Coaching Panel
10:30 - 10:45 Break up into smaller groups
10:45 - 11:45 Group Coaching with Expert Coaches
11:45 - 12:00 Networking Coffee

Linda Waters - Back to Business LLC, Career and Business Coach
Linda Platt - Executive Coach and Learning Consultant
Anne Sugar - Coaching/Consultant - Maximizing Breakthrough Performance
Cissie Klavens - KlavensAndCompany, Executive/Career Coach
Pam Jensen - HR Consultant/Career Coach

Don’t miss this opportunity to receive personalized, hands-on coaching to help tailor your career track or back-to-work plan!

Sign up before January 15th and SAVE $10! Regularly priced tickets - $45 - Click here to register!

Please feel free to tell your friends and co-workers!

In the January issue of Parents and Kids, we published Top 10 Things to know about Martin Luther King, Jr. Take a read - I never realized how connected he was to the Boston community. Other organizations must have though - there are tons of events to celebrate the day. Here is a quick list as well as a video of what fun can be had at ArtBeat the Creativity Store in Arlington and Franklin.

Friday, Jan. 16

South Area Solomon Schechter School, One Commerce Way, Norwood at 8:30 a.m. Original program created by teacher Lisa Grossmann to communicate events of the late 1950’s through to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. Grade 3 students perform.

Monday, Jan. 19

Children of the World Dolls. Artbeat Creativity Store. 9 Summer Street. Franklin. Arlington. Children come in all colors, and so do our cotton dolls. Create a person or animal complete with clothing from Africa, Asia, Indonesia, Australia, or the Americas ($15 for materials )

Children’s Museum of Easton, 9 Sullivan Avenue, North Easton. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Join us on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and celebrate YOU! We’ll do activities that showcase each individual’s uniqueness and how, when we come together, the whole is even more amazing. Bring a pair of new or “gently used” mittens or gloves that we’ll donate to area needy families. Students from Bridgewater State College will join us from 10 am till 2 pm to lend a hand as part of their own community service project.

Boston Cares. Somerville Boys & Girls Club, 181 Washington Street, Somerville. 1 to 4 p.m.

Bring the whole family to spend the afternoon at Somerville Boys & Girls Club to make up to 10 different items to be donated to 10 agencies. Move from station to station make items such as cat beds for the MSPCA, indoor recess booklets for Boston Public School students, toothcare kits for the homeless, soft-felt books for kids, fleece blankets for babies and more!

Also, check Connect & Serve, our state’s listing for volunteer opportunities for other MLK Day projects in other parts of MA.

Melamine Found in More U.S. Infant Formula

Tests by the Food and Drug Administration now show minute levels of melamine, an industrial chemical, in four out of 89 cases of infant formula manufactured in the U.S., according to the Associated Press. Although this doubles previously reported results, the FDA regulators say babies are not at risk because the levels are extremely minute. Infant formula tested included Good Start, Similac and Enfamil, all manufactured and sold in the U.S. Officials believe the minute traces were probably left over from the manufacturing process. Melamine at much higher levels was found to have contaminated milk products around the world and has been implicated in the sickening of nearly 300,000 babies in China and killing at least six infants there. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28544768/

Children’s Hospital Boston ranked as the top pediatric hospital in the country

Children’s Hospital Boston has been ranked as the top pediatric hospital in the country for cardiac and orthopedic care in Parents magazine’s Best Children’s Hospitals survey, released earlier today. Children’s was rated second overall among the more than 100 pediatric hospitals surveyed, and was among the top five for cancer care and pulmonary medicine.

Some good, some bad

C-section risks

Babies do better after a scheduled Caesarean section if they’re born no sooner than seven days before their due date, a new large study of U.S. births shows. Those delivered earlier had more complications, including breathing problems, even though they were full term, the researchers reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. Even just a few days made a difference, they said.

That pretty much sums up my lack of will power. Seven days into the New Year and I’m close to abandoning the whole “I’m-going-to-eat-better-get healthier” gig. How can I possibly resist Duncan Hines smooth chocolate frosting from a tub? If it weren’t for having children, this stuff wouldn’t even make it into my house.

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I returned from my holiday vacation to discover that my entire email account no longer existed. Four years of building my outlook contacts - gone. Contest entry submissions - gone. Ideas for 2009 folder - gone. A nasty virus invaded me and nearly 300 of my colleagues leaving us without this vital communications product for nearly a week. People walked around the office like zombies - shell shocked. We’re a newspaper company. The lead story on most of the Web sites that function from our company was all about the email debacle. Proudly every one of our products made deadline. Now that’s impressive.

Today, email accounts were restored but I had the better part of the morning without it. I picked up the antiquated device on my desk. The phone. I dialed it. Had pleasant conversations with freelancers, PR contacts and got to know longtime email friend a little better.
I have email again but it’s a new account. For nearly one hour, I had one message in my inbox. It looked clean and manageable, almost organized. Hour 2, emails began pouring in. The Sent box now proudly holds nearly 50 emails in only one working day.

Maybe this was a much needed break anyway….