I know that I’m not the only one that feels this way. Founder of VeryMeri, Meri Cherry felt the same way.

Meri Cherry, an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles, California, was tired of seeing her students come to school in t-shirts that said “I’m a spoiled brat” and other negative phrases.

When I read Meri Cherry’s about me page I just wanted to high-five her!  YES! No more spoiled brat shirts! I also believe that we owe it to our daughters to work extra hard in supporting and encouraging their dreams, not negative stereo types.  Being a brat is not cute or funny.  Why would I want her shirt to say that?

While my daughter is definitely a girly girl, she also loves getting dirty and doing “boy” things. She should have clothing that represents this.  VeryMeri is helping me let Ellie be Ellie.  Girly, sporty and strong.

Here’s my favorite part about VeryMeri, all of the clothing is designed for kids, by kids.  All of the messages are about peace, love, and confidence.  Every message I try to teach my daughter…daily!

Of course I want to teach Zach these things too, but he’s 11 months.  He’ll have to wait a few more years.

VeryMeri clothing sizes start at about 3 years old and run up to adult sizes for some of the designs.  All the clothing is made in Los Angeles and 3% of the net sales of this item will go to designers chosen charity.  So who are the designers?  Our kids!  Your child can enter the design challenges here.

You can also buy VeryMeri at Nordstoms or here

Thank you Meri!  Thank you for proving that girls really can change the world!

For example, I love this…

But I already have this…

Basically all I need are the baskets. So I simply take a picture with my iPhone and with a little PicMonkey.com magic did this…

The I saved it to my phone, tuck my little clothing measuring tape in my purse and BAM! I’ll be ready the next time I find a set of baskets I like.

There are also a TON of phone apps out there so you can do this directly on your phone.

The last time I sat down to write a post like this it was on Oct. 13 2010.  One year after my Grandpa had passed away. Uncle Bob was my Grandpa’s younger brother. He was the last of the siblings.  The close of a chapter, but not the end of the book.

His kids are longer kids.  Except Danny you’ll always be a little kid in my memory! Sorry!!!  They now all have kids of their own.  What I can’t figure out is how did we get this old?  Wasn’t it just yesterday that everyone was down at the cottage?

I do believe this may be the only photo ever taken of Uncle Bob without a hat on.  He was that kind of guy.  Let’s be honest, pretty much the only thing Uncle Bob and I had in common was our last name and our love of the Steelers. Then again what more do you need?  Though you may not always agree with family, sometimes they need to just be loved and appreciated for who they are. Today is a day for us to appreciate and love.  Today I will mourn for Aunt Marilyn, his sons David, Scott, and Dan, and his grandchildren.

I will also mourn selfishly for myself as well.  I will mourn the passing of time. Time that we don’t appreciate enough as it passes. I will mourn for those summer days and nights that once were.  I will fondly remember the stories told, no matter how exaggerated I know now that they were. I will also mourn the time I missed when we moved away. BUT I will smile quietly as I hear my Grandpa and Uncle Bob call my  name “Teesa Me Me” in my mind.

Uncle Bob, please give my Grandpa a huge hug from all of us.  Tell him I miss him.  Tell him Ellie still talks about him all the time.

If you’re looking for an organization to donate too, please don’t forget to look at The American Cancer Society.

One of the items I was super excited about was the Munchkin Squeezy Spoon.  You see I was completely certain I was going to do the Mom thing right this time.  I was even going to home cook all of Zach’s baby food. This spoon was going to be my gift from the heavens. Ok, you can stop laughing now.  You know me and you know that’s whole making home made baby food thing is just some dream I had while I was on my pregnancy high.

So here’s the spoon in action…

Pro’s

• Great for homemade baby food on the go.
• Fairly easy to clean
• Easy to throw into diaper bag for on the go feeding.

Con’s

• Still as messy as a regular bowl and spoon
• Baby can’t feed himself (I know, I’m lazy )

The Spoon retails for about $6.99 and it’s not so expensive that you can’t try it yourself.   If you do, I’d love to know how it worked.

Also, one of my absolute FAVORITE baby/toddler items are these Munchkin Food Feeders.  I can not rave about them enough!  They are perfect for fruit and with summer coming they great to put ice in for the toddlers to suck on them. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

There I said.  I haven’t mentioned it on the site before. I didn’t want any of you to think I was using it as an excuse for my type-o’s, misspells, bad punctuation and those mysteriously missing words.  Though I have to deal with dyslexia daily, I don’t want to use it as an excuse for any of my errors.  I still hold out hope that one day I’ll actually get control this crazy affliction.

There’s a few different theory’s about how many types of dyslexia exist.  Some say 3, others 2 and some say there’s even up to 8 different types.  The reality is that there are no 2 cases that are the same.

Dyslexia effects everyone differently.  With me sometimes the letters in my words get mixed up, but often its whole sentences that jumble up.  The easiest way to explain it is to have you picture that feeling you get when you stare at a word too long and you start to question if that really the way the word is spelt.  For me I don’t have to stare at a word for that to happen.  Even as I type this sentence I’m thinking about the word “mentioned” that I typed out in the second paragraph.  Spell check is telling me it’s right, I’m completely sure I spelt it right, but every time I glance up at it I’m convinced that there is something wrong with it.

Like I said, it’s not just words that become jumbled, whole sentences can basically look like they were blown apart.  I can reread a sentence over and over see all the words there, but then an hour later realize that a word is missing.  Editing an article is a whole different ball game.  It’s 2 complete extremes.  Either it read exactly like I believe I typed it out. Meaning I see words that I meant to type, but they aren’t really there. Then there’s the other extreme where everything looks wrong even if it is right. Let’s discuss frustrating!  I do have several friends who have my log on information so they can jump on and fix something I missed.

Just like anything in your brain if you lack an ability your brain will compensate in other area. So just like blind person might hear better, there are things that I excel at.  I have a very good sense of direction and I’m normally a pretty good judge of character.  If only I would listen to myself more often.

While I’ve learned to deal with dyslexia in my day to day life, I have a huge fear that I have passed it onto my children.   Actually, it terrifies me that one of my kids could have to deal with this.

Many with dyslexia don’t realize that they have problem until their adults.  Here are a few warning signs, but just because you have a few or even all doesn’t mean your Dyslexic!  I encourage all of you to do your own research!!!

Common Signs for Adult Dyslexia

1. Can quickly become annoyed or distracted by noises

2. Misuses or mispronounces words with out realizing it

3. Difficulty remembering people names

4. Easily frustrated or annoyed

5. Low self-esteem

6. Stays with in personal work and social comfort zones

7. Doesn’t enjoy reading out loud

8. Possibly has  difficulty getting thoughts out

9. Difficulty remembering verbal cues

10. Enjoys video games

11. Reading comprehension varies depending on subject

12. Words out of context can look wrong

13. Becomes bored or even tired quickly while reading

14. Tends to rely on others when it comes to written communication

15. Writes with all capital letters or mixes capital and lower case letters with in words

16. Uncertain when it comes spelling and punctuation when writing

17. Tends to write below their verbal understanding level

18. Tends to have a good sense of direction

19. Has difficulty focusing and staying on task, but enjoys multi-tasking.

20. Needs has to re-read sentences in order to comprehend.

In 2009 FAMOSA redesign and relaunch the Pinypon brand of mix and match dolls.  With homes, cars, boats, apartments, a mall and even a hotel there is some much to encourage “pretend” play.   These mix and match dolls insure that they’ll  never get bored with any of the dolls.

Ellie’s (6 year old) Review -

Parent’s Review -

Pro’s – I love to listen in when Ellie plays with her Pinypon dolls.  It actually gives me an inside look to how she talks to her friends.  I think it’s great that she can mix and match the dolls to look the way she wants them to look.

Con’s –  Parts are tiny and get can get lost easily if not kept in one place. This is ideal with a 10 month old in the house.

Pinypon can be purchased at Target, Amazon and Toys R Us.

Ok, Monica, let’s start with the frivolous! You have looked amazing on TV!  So share your secrets with us.  Who’s doing your hair and makeup.  Do you have a favorite product that you won’t on screen without?

Monica -I would love to say that appearing on TV is the epitome of luxury but it is not!  I very very very seldom ever have a make-up artist.  In fact, I only have a make-up artist when I am on Fox National-the network has a budget for that.  So, it is me doing my makeup and hair everyday.  Somedays I get lucky and can sneak in a trip to The Dry Bar – LOVE that place!  As for make-up I have a combination of this and that from MAC, Revlon, and Smashbox.  I will not go on TV without Smashbox HD makeup-it is a MUST, along with its primer.  Although I often feel weird in public with my shellac’d on make-up, I feel much better with other TV ladies because they are wearing the same thing.

I understand that you’re assigned a side (defense or prosecution) to argue by the network.   Is it hard to argue against what you personally believe?

Monica -Yes!  Most shows want both sides of a case to be represented which means they ask one attorney to argue for the plaintiff/prosecution and another for the defense.  Most often the prosecution’s side of a criminal case is the easiest side to argue and when I am “assigned” that side I say to myself “well at least I will not get any hate mail today!”  On the days I am assigned to argue the defense I expect to receive hate tweets and emails.  Although it shouldn’t , it still surprises me that people do not realize I am giving legal analysis and not my personal opinion.  With that being said, sometimes it is difficult to argue against what I personally believe; however, that is what I have been trained to do.

Which HLN personality have you really enjoyed meeting?

Monica – My favorite is Joey Jackson.  He is a wonderful person with a great personality and we hit it off immediately.  He is one of the most charming and polite individuals  I have met.  I look forward to a life long friendship with him and his family.  I have met so many others at HLN, Beth Karas, Jean Casarez, Ryan Smith, Vinnie Politan, Mike Galanos, Mike Brooks, and Susan Hendricks.  They are all genuinely nice people.  Vinnie’s energy is high and he cracks me up. They have all taught me so much and I admire them all.   There are others at HLN behind the scenes that are wonderful as well, I can’t possibly name them all but here are a few: Tim Mallon, Scot Tufts, John Fox, Tracey Jordan, Natisha Lance and EP extrodinaire Jen Bernstein!

I get so annoyed and defensive when I see someone say anything negative about you!!  How do you deal with the trolls? 

Monica -I laugh and move on.  That took some practice, and sometimes it is still difficult, but I cannot let them get me down.

If is the one thing that you’ve wanted to tell the public that you haven’t been able to?

Monica – NANCY GRACE IS NOT THE DEVIL! Seriously folks, her show is entertainment and the attorneys that appear on her show know that it is her show and that we are toast!  Also, just because I am a defense attorney (and former prosecutor) and have to argue a particular side does not mean that I believe that side, I have a job and that job is to help viewers understand that side. Honestly, I love helping people understand the issues and the law that is involved.

For more information or to get the insider information make sure you’re following Monica on Facebook and on Twitter.

Last Thursday the Stefanie from Ooph.com introduced me to The Leakey Collection and now I am in love!

Buy Bracelets=Educate Kids. Utilizing remnants of Zulugrass, Maasai artisans are designing one-of-a-kind bracelets to symbolize the bright futures of educated children. The Leakey Collection will donate 100% of their profits from the sales of these bracelets to pay for teachers’ salaries in rural Kenya. Each 26″ bracelet is wound 4 times and packaged on a specially designed color story card. Purchasing 5 bracelets pays for a teacher’s salary for 1 day.

The Impact:

After the first year of this program, the ratio of kids to teachers in rural Kenya went from 80:1 to 40:1.  Furthermore the funds have enabled Maasai families to send a second child to school. In every single case, that second child has been a girl.

Part of my daily routine in heading to Starbucks. My ritual to sip on a morning drink makes me happy and let’s be honest. If I’m happy, my kids are going to have a much easier morning. Right?

When I was invited to participate in the #SilkLatte campaign, I joined in because I wanted to help make my kids have an easier morning. Remember, if I’m happy my kids morning is going to go a little easier.

So last week on a particularly bad morning, I was barking and being ignored yet again. Then it hit me, I had a carton of Silk Lattes in the fridge! Praise the Oh so holy God of caffeine!

I quickly flew down the stairs, threw the fridge door open and it was like angels sang. Seriously, you guys think I’m being over dramatic. I can just tell! I’m serious, angels were singing! Ok, maybe it was my custom Justin Timberlake ring tone, but it still.

Glass, ice, and Silk Latte. Done! One sip and I knew this could easily become part of my morning routine. Maybe even my afternoon pick me up! Yummy!

Only 100 calories a serving it won’t do much damage to my diet either!

Can I buy you a Latte? Do you see the coupon below? Go ahead, it’s all yours!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.