Yeah, I realize I’m a little late with this, but I’m one of those people that finds nothing wrong with wishing a “Happy New Year” to someone on January 29th. Hey, what do you want from me? I still have my Christmas tree up! Plus, since we already have several days under our 2011 belts, the pressure of perfection is already off! Anyway, the other day on the radio, our Ladies Room Topic was, “What New Year’s resolution would you make for other women?” I actually thought a lot about it throughout the day and came up with my 5 Top New Year’s Resolutions for Women. By the way, I’m working on all of them too!

1. Stop beating yourself up – I am SO guilty of this, and my hope is that we, as women, will learn to appreciate ourselves for who we are and shut off the voices in our heads. You know that voice well. The really loud one that blocks out any compliments you get and says, “you’re so stupid,” “why can’t you be like so-and-so,” “you’re never going to be good enough.” Sound familiar? The next time you hear that voice, tell that bitch to shut the hell up!

Huckleberry Finn is a “trending topic” on Twitter today because of the latest controversy surrounding the book by Mark Twain. A Twain scholar is working with a publisher in Alabama to release a new version of the book that would replace the word “nigger” with “slave.” I’m going to use the actual word here once just to show that even though I despise the word, I live in a free country where if I want to use the word, I can. I consider myself a lover of books, and am ashamed to say I’ve never read Huckleberry Finn, but I’ve always been aware of use of the word. What I didn’t know was that it is used 219 times in the book. WOW!

I understand where the guy is coming from. He wants to make it so that the use of the word doesn’t keep people from reading the book. I get it. It’s an offensive word. I wouldn’t want someone coming up to me and calling me the n-word to my face. But I also think that in this context, the word should stay. I do not believe in censorship. I think that people have a right to their opinions and use of words. I may not agree with what you have to say or how you say it, but I would hate to live in a country where I’m not allowed to express myself the way that I wanted to.

I know that this is probably not happening in many public schools today, but I think that this would be a great opportunity for teachers to have a discussion with teens about the word, and about censorship. We need to start turning these things into learning opportunities to get kids thinking. If not they’re going to be relying on their learning experiences from people like Snooki! No offense Snooks! I use her simply because she is now an author and she was the first person who popped into my head.

I would love to hear what you think about this issue! Do you think the book should be changed or kept the way it was written? Why? Let me know by leaving a comment!

Christmas has come and gone, and while most people are planning on taking down their trees in a few days, I plan on keeping mine up until at least the second week in January. Part of it is that I’m just lazy, and taking down a tree is not as fun as putting one up. But the bigger part is that one of the cheap joys in life is sitting in front of a lit tree and soaking in the memories that this time of year brings.

For me, those memories have become bittersweet after my sister died last year. The greatest memories that I think most of us have of this time of year are directly related to our childhood, and those memories always include our siblings. I miss my sister more than words can say, and it’s especially hard at Christmas when the only thing I want for Santa to bring my niece is her mother. Since I know that even Santa and his miraculous powers can’t bring my sister back, it’s become extremely important for me to make memories for not only my niece, but for all the children in my family. I don’t have children myself, so being able to do special things for the kids in my family brings me a joy that is unspeakable. That said, I thought I would share a few things to help you make memories of your own with the children in your life.

Sleepovers – What is more fun than that? I currently have five teenagers in my house who have been here for a couple days. They will be replaced later today by three 8-year-olds who will stay over. I still remember sleepovers from my childhood, and I often hear the kids talk about the fun times they have when they stayed over at Auntie’s house!

Arts & Crafts – A week before Christmas I had the kids in my family over to make gingerbread houses and ornaments. It’s become an annual tradition and the great thing is that those ornaments will be around when those kids have gone off to college. The ornament below is one that I made when I was about 9 or 10 in Girl Scouts and it’s the most treasured thing on my tree.

Snow – If you are lucky enough to have snow outside your window, what cheaper, more fun thing is there to do than play in the show. Kid always remember making snowmen, snow angels, and having snowball fights! Plus, knowing that there’s hot chocolate waiting inside once your face has pretty much frozen solid is a bonus. So stop worrying about getting snow in the house and get out there and have some fun!

Video Games – I love that there are so many family-friendly games out there now. As I write this, the kids are in the other room playing Just Dance 2. Get in the action and you’ll burn some calories as well. After dancing to “It’s Raining Men” I had to sit down and catch my breath!

Read – I know this isn’t always the most popular option for kids or busy adults, but I know that I still remember my parents reading to me as a child. Believe me, the books you read to your children today will become the ones they remember fondly as adults.

As you can see, there is nothing ground-breaking here. It’s all simple stuff that I think we just need a little reminder to do. I believe there is nothing more important as adults that we can do for children than to make memories for them.

Just my humble opinion…Pebbles

What do you do to make memories with your children, or the children in your life? What are the special memories that you have from your childhood? I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know and share with everyone else!