Not that I can’t make decisions for myself, just why waste time wading through all the options out there? Someone, somewhere has already tried everything, and posted online about it.

After gorging myself on novel after novel during the holidays last year—most of them recommended by The Internet—I finally burned myself out. I hadn’t picked up my Nook in months.

Last week, my internet friends changed all that.

Early in the week, I started seeing mentions of the book 50 Shades of Grey on Facebook. Just a few comments at first, sprinkled here and there in my News Feed. But by the end of the week, chatter about the book had reached fever pitch in my social network. I had to find out what all the fuss was about.

So on Saturday, I downloaded the book and started reading it, nestled into my spot on the chaise section of our sofa, my two youngest daughters on the floor next to me, playing Barbie Monopoly.

By page 60 (and 75) (and 85) , I realized I must not have paid enough attention to exactly what everyone was saying about the book, because what I read would have me putting it away until the girls were safely and soundly asleep in their beds later that night.

I had assumed 50 Shades of Grey was another young-adult fiction selection turned grown-adult obsession, à la Harry Potter or the Twilight series.

Expecting ABC Family, I got HBO After Hours. Times a thousand.

This is what has Facebook abuzz? I wondered. Page after page of graphic, hot, rough, steamy, bubbly, naked, sexy sex? I blushed a little at the thought. (But kept reading.)

Recent sales figures are proof positive that the book is definitely hot in more ways than one. By the week ending March 3, it had rocketed to No. 1 on the New York Times e-book fiction best-seller list and No. 3 on Amazon’s best-seller list.

But 50 Shades is not without its critics.

Frank Santo of the NY Daily News wrote,

I can’t believe anyone would argue otherwise, 50 Shades of Grey is pornography, plain and simple. [It is] not a good book in the same sense that a monster truck is not a good car: in both cases the art is in the deviation, and the audience’s collective roar in response.

(Another columnist suggested that a much better option for steamy fiction is Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.)

So, why the viral popularity of a book that’s been simplified as “Mommy Porn”? I think Brittany Gibbons, the Barefoot Foodie, perfectly sums up the book’s appeal:

50 Shades of Grey gave me what Twilight and Hunger Games didn’t. Hot sex. Not vague or obtuse vampire honeymoon sex. The dirty kind of sex real people have.

I’m about halfway through 50 Shades and I doubt I’ll be able to resist reading Book Two (50 Shades Darker) and Book Three (50 Shades Freed). (Oh, did I forget to mention it’s a TRILOGY? Of course it is.)

And when I’m done, I might still make time for The Fountainhead.

What do you think about this so-called “Mommy Porn” genre of fiction? Is it a new twist on modern erotica, or just the usual romance novel, re-labeled to amp-up its image?

Will you be reading?

(source) (source) (Some of the above are affiliate links.)

Your bosses have figured out that, in your free time, you might possibly be engaging in activities that call your character into question.

Not that you couldn’t have been table dancing and body-shotting at Club Nitro every Saturday night since you turned 21. The difference is now you might be sharing evidence of all those crazy nights with your entire Facebook community. And your employer wants to know about it.

News is spreading that not only are many employers now routinely requesting access to their employees’ Facebook accounts, some are taking it one step further.

Imagine this. You are sitting nervously across from an HR manager, interviewing for your dream job. You manage to sound confident and knowledgeable while answering her questions and she seems to think you are a great fit for the job.

As the interview wraps up, you are certain a job offer is coming, but instead, the HR manager asks if she may view your Facebook profile. When you respond that “Sure, but you won’t be able to see much because of my privacy settings,” she replies by asking if you are willing to log in to your account while she observes.

How would you respond?

This scenario isn’t just hypothetical.

Last week, the Associated Press reported that a new trend in human resources and hiring is asking for access to applicants’ social media accounts at the point of hire—even during interviews—and that, in an effort to protect users’ privacy, Facebook is responding to the practice:

Some private and public agencies around the country [are] asking job seekers for their social media credentials. The practice has alarmed privacy advocates, but its legality remains murky.

Facebook warned employers not to ask job applicants for their passwords, presumably so they could view applicant profiles on the site. The company threatened legal action against applications that violated its longstanding policy against sharing passwords.

And while the legality of this action may be questionable, whether or not there are already specific laws in place to protect job seekers from discrimination based on things learned from a Facebook wall (or Twitter stream) remains to be seen.

So think twice before you upload all those pictures of yourself in that Naughty Nurse Nancy Halloween costume. Because, while you may want to show the world that you have the bod to pull off that look, someone with the power to make or break your career may be one of the people asking to take a look.

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What do you think?
Will this trend affect what you share via social media?
Leave a comment and weigh in on the issue.

The problem? You’ve also likely annoyed (at least) a couple dozen of your Pinterest followers in the process.

Every social network has a learning curve, especially in the beginning, and Pinterest—while undeniably spectacular—is no exception. It’s easy to get caught up in the thrill of filling boards with tons of stellar finds, but don’t forget about the social aspect of the site in the process. Because while you are feverishly pinning away image after image of leather, suede, mock crock, 4-inch, 6-inch, 10-inch(!) closed or open-toed red beauties, you are also filling followers’ streams with the same.

And, let’s face it, people go to Pinterest for the diverse visual stimulation. Not to scroll through pages of your sibling-rivalry issues.

What to do instead?

As an alternative to pinning everything you find, how about creating a browser bookmark to keep track of the URLs until that payday purchase? (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer—heck, even your iPhone—all have nifty website bookmarking features.) Then, pin just a few of your fave choices for fellow pinners to enjoy. But, please, be kind and space those puppies out a bit.

Bonus tip: when browsing Pinterest, if you find yourself tempted to over-Repin similar items, use Like instead. Think of your Like cache as a temporary storage bin for potential future pins. Use Like to your heart’s content, then revisit your Likes page every few days (hours) and promote selected Likes to Repins. A few at a time.

Your followers will thank you.

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Be sure to friend me on Pinterest and follow my Blogging & Social Media board for more great tips from all over the web.

Two shades of brown. Circular-ish in shape, but certainly asymmetrical. Slightly raised in one area.

I remember Googling pictures of moles, comparing the looks of basal-cell and squamous-cell carcinomas, and melanomas to my own brown blob. I saw a couple that could have been its twin. The look-alikes were classic melanomas.

I researched further, finding an article about the ABCDEs of melanoma. I made a mental checklist. Asymmetrical? Check. Border irregularity? Check. Color variation? Check. Elevation? Check.

The only descriptor that didn’t fit was the D — Diameter. Because my mole was smaller than a pencil eraser. Slightly.

Brushing aside all the signs that pointed to something more ominous, I allowed one unchecked box to convince me that my mole was simply that, a mole. Not some scary tumor the name for which ended in -oma. No way.

Months passed during which I only occasionally thought about the mole. Usually, I would be sitting on the chaise section of our living room sofa, and I would cross my left leg over my right leg at the knee, catching a glimpse of it. Of my smaller-than-a-pencil-eraser-probably-totally-nothing “age spot.”

In late May, I read and commented on a post by writer Megan Jordan of Velveteen Mind. In the post, Megan told the story of her then-recent diagnosis of melanoma. In my comment, I said,

Well crap, Megan. So terribly sorry this is on your plate right now. I’m thinking of you and sending loads of positive thoughts your way.

And yeah, I’ll make the appointment I’ve been putting off to check that weird freckle on my calf. First thing in the morning. Thanks.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I added “find a dermatologist and make appointment” to my lengthy to-do list. At the bottom. Naturally. And another two months passed.

On my 40th birthday, July 9th, my family gathered at our home to celebrate. Near the end of the evening, I was chatting with my sister-in-law, who is a P.A. (Physician’s Assistant), and the thought crossed my mind that I should show her the spot and see if she thought it was something.

And I didn’t.

You know how people say sometimes God — or the universe, or fate, or destiny, or intuition or whatever or whomever you believe in — whispers things to you and then, if you don’t respond, SCREAMS things at you? Consider the following:

On July 24th, I was drying off after a shower and stopped to really study that mole of mine. I thought, You know Jenny, deep down, you are worried that it is something. You know it is something. You should really find a dermatologist and make an appointment right now. Really. Now.

But instead of listening to my gut, I took a couple of pictures of the area with my iPhone, intent on posting them to Facebook or Twitter and asking everyone else for opinions on the matter. Then I changed my mind and deleted the pictures. And did nothing. Again.

Until . . .

The very next day, a friend of mine (not to mention one of the smartest, funniest women I know), Melanie Nelson of Blogging Basics 101 posted this on her Facebook wall:

Can anyone in Tulsa recommend a good dermatologist? Preferably in south Tulsa, but it’s important enough that I’ll go past 61st if I HAVE to. Anyone?

I nearly fell out of my chair when I read it. Why hadn’t I posted a similar query to my own Facebook wall nearly a year ago? Why had I waited and wondered and worried for so many months?

I watched Melanie’s wall as her friends made recommendations that day, and then I called and made an appointment.

On August 15th, Dr. Tracy Kuykendall examined my mole. She looked at it standing up. She knelt down and got a closer look. She ran her index finger lightly over its top. She pressed it flat. Then she said, “Let’s just shave it off and do a biopsy. I don’t think it’s melanoma, but let’s just do it. I’ve been surprised before.”

Click here to see a picture of the post-biopsy wound.

Two days later, my iPhone rang. “Hi Jenny, this is Dr. Kuykendall’s office. We got the results of your biopsy back and it is definitely melanoma.”

Surprise.

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• Did you know that by May 12th of the year you first begin homeschooling you will be so ready for the school year to end that you will start to incorporate into your curriculum things like jumping on the trampoline (counts as P.E.), games of Twister (reinforces the concept of left vs. right, also the colors green, blue, yellow, and red), and flower bed gardening (because nature = science).

• Did you know there are muscles in your thighs and butt that you only ever discover are there on the day after you spend seven hours in a flower bed squatted down ripping out viney ground cover and rogue Bermuda grass from the dirt?

• Did you know that if you find a baby robin hopping around your backyard after a fall from its nest, you can put on gardening gloves and chase the little bird, despite protests in the form of  loud squawks and repeated dive-bombings from the robin’s parents, until you (gently) capture the baby, and return it to its nest?

• Did you know that you were lied to as a child when your Dad told you that if you touched a baby bird then its parents would abandon it because they would smell the human scent on their baby?

• Did you know that birds have a very poor sense of smell?

• Did you know that bees and dogs can smell fear*?

Enjoy your day.

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(*Name that movie.)

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2.  A photo of the floorboard landing location of one Nokia 2300 (circa 2004) propelled by me, from the driver’s seat, at Jake and Jenna, who were seated in the 3rd row of our Expedition. (Because they WOULD NOT stop their constant bickering and arguing. For the record, I missed.)

3.  A photo of my lobster-red, hugely swollen feet in flip flops. (Because who remembers to sunscreen their feet for a visit to Santa Monica Beach on a windy, cloudy, barely-80-degrees-Fahrenheit day?)

4.  A photo of me in a wheelchair, being pushed around Disneyland by my Aunt Patty. (Because my feet were in so much pain (see number 3) that there was NO WAY I would have been able to walk around the park for twelve hours.)

5.  A close-up of my bangs after having them in a pink foam roller overnight. (Because I wanted to look especially fancy for our viewing of the sunrise at the Grand Canyon.

6.  A photo of my brother, flat on his back in the floor of an Arizona gift shop, wearing an Indian headdress.(Because there was a poorly visible two-inch step which he backed into. I can’t really explain the headdress.)

7.  A photo of my brother’s souvenir Ghirardelli white chocolate golf balls, floating waterlogged in our green Coleman ice chest. (Because who knew the ice would melt somewhere between San Francisco and Tulsa on the trip home?)

Thanks to Samsung for sponsoring my post today. Samsung is taking their compact, WiFi-enabled Samsung SH100 on a month-long road trip across America in the month of May! The mobile team is going to record all the amazing people they meet and the fascinating places they visit with the SH100, and the best photos and videos will be shared on the Samsung USA Facebook page.

Here’s a super fun video with details about the Samsung SH100 Coast-to-Coast Photo Post Campaign (running time: 57 seconds).

I was compensated for this opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. All opinions are my own.

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Solution :: Pinterest.

Pinterest describes itself as “a place to catalog the things you love.” I like to think of it as my personal online bulletin board. That I share with all my internet friends.

While the website has the potential to be yet another in a long line of major web timesucks (looking at you, Twitter and Facebook), it also has the ability to guide and inspire your personal style.

Case in point: I went shopping last week for some new spring wardrobe pieces. When I got to the store I used Pinterest, via the app on my iPhone, to view fashion-y things I had liked and pinned. Thus I had a little direction when clothes shopping (for once). The result? Two complete spring outfits that will not be headed back to the Target return desk. Let me assure you–this is a feat of monumental proportions.

A few really good posts elsewhere about Pinterest:

• What’s all this hype about Pinterest? via Miss Vinyl Ahoy
• {Obsessed with} Pinterest! via The TomKat Studio
• Pinterest: your virtual inspiration board via The Working Closet

Some of my fave Pinners:

• Aimee Giese
• Melanie Nelson
• Amie Adams
• Little Alouette

So, now you’re wondering how to start your own boards on Pinterest, right? Especially since registration on Pinterest is by invitation only. Well you are in luck.
I have invites for you.

Just leave me a quick comment telling me how you hope Pinterest will inspire you, and I’ll shoot you an invitation. (Be sure and include your email address in the appropriate box on the comment form — your email address will not be published unless you include it in the actual body of the comment.)

You can also touch base with me via email, Twitter, or Facebook (see my sidebar and/or Contact page for links), and I’ll get a Pinterest invitation to you lickety-split. Which translates to “probably within 24 hours.”

Hey, once you’re all set up, be sure to follow my Pinterest boards so I can follow yours too.

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If you are as lucky as I have been in life, some day in the distant future you will be the mother of a little girl. She will be charming, cheery, and compassionate, as are you.

One day, she will turn nine years old, and, out of the blue, will seem suddenly compelled to start partaking of more grown-up, womanly activities.

You may notice her repeated applications of glitter lip gloss and pink nail polish. She may begin to ask questions about boys and bras. And, if you are the very luckiest of mothers, she may even start helping out with household chores without your prompting.

Please allow me to offer you a word of advice.

Sometime prior to the commencement of this pivotal time in your precious daughter’s life, be sure and educate her that Dawn dishwashing liquid is only for handwashing dishes in the sink, and is never (EVER) to be used in the actual dishwasher.

Failure to pass on this important tidbit of information will result in your required participation in the cleanup of gallons of bubbles which shall surely pour from the cracks and crevices around your dishwasher door onto your kitchen floor.

Ask me how I know.

xo,
Mommy

P.S.F.Y.I. Salt and olive oil are effective de-bubblers. WHO KNEW?? (Google did.) (And now you do.) (You can thank me in 25 years.)

(Flickr credit)

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My daughter, Emma, said this to me this afternoon and I about died laughing. Apparently, she heard it on one of those Disney shows. (Naturally.) It was a lot funnier when I thought she made it up herself. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s still pretty funny.

By the way, I revised the MAKE DILEMMA-NADE graphic in non-Crash Test Mommy colors, and uploaded it in high resolution for printability. It’s a bit smaller than 7″ x 5″.

Have a nice weekend!

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Google to the rescue.

With one quick search, I found tons of tutorials designed to fancify those shells to my heart’s desire. Here are my picks for the top four ways to decorate Easter eggs.

Easter Eggs How Tos

1. Sparkly Dot Easter Eggs by Kristen at Domestifluff

The only supplies you’ll need are eggs, adhesive dots, and microfine glitter. Eggs stay white. Easy as pie. Plus the kiddos LOVE to craft with glitter. WIN.

2. Doodle Easter Eggs by Alisa Burke

Remember all that doodling you used to do during Mrs. Summerlin’s Geometry class? You’ve got skillz, baby. Grab a Sharpie and let your imagination run wild on these puppies. Don’t forget to give the kids one to doodle on too.

3. Misfit Stripes Easter Eggs by Jen at Indie Fixx

Finally! One for you hard-core Easter egg dyeing fans. Get out your egg coloring kit, or just some plain food coloring, and a roll of electrical tape. It’s ON.

4. Fingerprint Ladybug Easter Eggs by Martha Stewart at Her Media Empire

The link above takes you to a web page for Martha Stewart’s new iPhone app, Egg Dyeing 101. The app is utterly adorbs, with hundreds of ideas and extras like templates, and it’s worth every penny of the 99 it will cost you. So, right, technically this one isn’t a tutorial. (HINT: I’m betting with some blue dye, a Sharpie, and a red ink pad, you could figure out what to do without the app. You’re smart like that.)

Hey — don’t forget — if you need help figuring out how to hard boil an egg, I have an app a tutorial for that. Also, if you’re shopping for your new Sunday best, check out this look I put together for your Easter fashion inspiration.

Hop-py Easter. Hope the bunny treats you well.

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