I received a HP netbook for Christmas.  As a gadget gal, of course a netbook was on my wishlist.  The size/portability was so appealing but I was a bit skeptical about how much of a performance trade-off there would be.  But for the last few months, I have found that my HP netbook offers many features that makes it a great mother's helper.  

First, the size is perfect.  It is so small that it fits nicely on our narrow kitchen bar.  I can quickly reference our online family calendar, look up recipes I have saved in Evernote, read online news, answer emails, etc. all without leaving the heart of the home. Second, the battery life is amazing.  If you are an experienced laptop user, you know too well that battery life shortens quickly over time.   Well, I have been pleasantly surprised that this is not the case with this netbook.  As it is so small, I often tote it to a local coffee shop that offers free wi-fi without worrying about having to park myself close to an electrical outlet.

More about the specs of my HP mini 110-1125:

• 1GB RAM (expandable to 2 GB - do it yourself for less than 50 bucks)
• 160 GB Hard Drive
• Built in webcam
• 3 USB ports
• Up to 8 hour battery life (yes, in real life use)
• Decent size key board
• Runs on Windows 7 starter edition
• Built-in wireless network

Now, I will say that this netbook is not powerful enough to function as my main computer.  However, as most of my computing is done online, I use heavy program suites like Microsoft Office less and less; making my 'netbook' a perfect companion.  Here are some tips that I suggest to make the most out of using a netbook:

• Expand RAM (memory) to maximum capacity
• Use Windows 7 over XP or Vista
• Use Google Chrome as your web browser: Although a longtime advocate of Firefox, I have found Chrome much so much faster to use on the netbook.
• De-crap your netbook with these instructions. 
• For more ideas on how to maximize your netbook read this article.

As far as moving to 'online computing', here are some indispensable apps: 

• Google docs or Zoho Writer instead of MS Word
• Gmail instead of MS Outlook
• Evernote for online & desktop file storage (my digital filing cabinet)
• Springpad as my family organizer and project binder

Of course, like most Americans I went to the web to learn more about this topic.  The Mayo Clinic website is a good place to begin gathering information.  The first three words that come to mind describing what I have learned..."What the hell!" (Actually this is the PG version of the first words that came to mind).  Now, I did understand the relationship between dietary sodium and conditions like high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.  But that knowledge resided somewhere in the periphery as I never gave it much consideration when making our family food choices.  Honestly, given my professional background, I am quite embarrassed about how little I really knew about the role sodium plays in the American diet.  

Starting with just the basics...It is recommended that adults ingest between 1,500 - 2,300 mg of sodium per day.  Sounds reasonable. However, to my astonishment I learned that it is estimated that the average person consumes between 7,000 and 10,000 mg per day! Borrowing a line from a rent-a-car commercial, I thought to myself,  "You can't be serious!" There was no way this outrageous statement applied to our eating habits.  I marched straight for the pantry looking for evidence to prove that we, in fact, do not eat like typical Americans. Given that we don't eat products obviously laden with sodium like canned vegetables or soup, or boxed products like mac 'n' cheese, we couldn't possibly consume this much sodium.  But, my head hung in shame, when I discovered how much sodium was in many of the basic cooking ingredients I used each day.  I was dismayed when I discovered that 1 slice of whole grain bread can have as much as 200 mg of sodium!  Yes, we were 'typical' and the vast majority of our dietary sodium came from processed food.

So let me just say, my original premise that our existing eating habits put us very close to a 'low sodium' diet has been shattered.  And now I see my ideas about eating a 'raw' or 'clean' diet are nothing but romantic delusions.  This is going to be a lot of hard work that will have major implications on my shopping and cooking habits.    

It must be a sign of getting older but I seem to find myself spending more time reflecting on years past than on eagerly anticipating the upcoming year.  Something about the number 2010 makes me reflect over the last couple of decades in five year increments:

• 5 years ago (2005): I trained for and completed my first (and only) marathon.
• 10 years ago (2000): I welcomed my second child and moved in the KC area
• 15 years ago (1995): I completed my dissertation and moved to NC
• 20 years ago (1990): I moved from the Midwest to Miami to start grad school
• 25 years ago (1985): Welcomed adulthood and began planning for the adventure that would quickly take up 25 years.

Now, I have been busy getting back into career mode.  No job at this point, but spending a lot of time researching, networking, and refining what I want to do when I grow up (or at least in the next year). 

But the next few weeks, I am going to enjoy taking time off from 'constant homework badgering' (my oldest is in junior high...need I say more?).  The extracurricular activities also slow down, and thus so does my time as a taxi cab driver.

I'm not much of a 'crafty' mom, but I am looking forward to a few fun projects with the kids...1) making a gingerbread house (using an all inclusive kit, of course), and 2) turning my six and nine year olds' great story telling imagination into their first books using Tikatok.  I have been wanting to try this out for awhile and now will have the time to help my guys give it a whirl.  This service provides story prompts for creative minds but with the flexibility to tell their own stories as well as plenty of space for custom illustrations that can be uploaded.  Books can be professionally published at a reasonable cost as well as downloaded into PDF ebooks for a small fee.  If the test drive goes well, I am thinking about having the kids collaborate on book to give their Papa for his 70th birthday.  What grandparent wouldn't love that?!

But what about the boxes of pre-2003 photos I have?  Of the most important to me are the pictures of my first two children as infants.  I love having creating photo books, gifts, etc from my digital images and want the same flexibility (and piece of mind) of having them digitally archived.  I have been struggling with how best to go about it.  My options are to scan the photos and/or negatives myself or pay a service to do it for me.  Well, scanning myself would be way too time consuming and not produce great quality since I don't have a professional scanner.  In terms of services, most are rather expensive, especially if getting prints scanned.  But I found a partial solution.  Costco's photo department will scan negatives (not prints) and put them on CD for $2.99/per roll (approximately 40 images).  I tried it out with a sampling for about 300 negatives and I was pretty pleased.  Granted I don't have the negatives of  all my pre-2003 prints, but I have quite a few and I am taking them in today.  I figure this will give me a good start on bringing those photos into the modern age.

In reality, my 3+ year sabbatical from my professional life will be coming to an end sometime in the near future.  So in an effort to maximize this window of opportunity of having all the kids in school while remaining unemployed, I decided I better come up with a strategy.  And of course it involves making lists (my favorite past time).

1. Identifying My Goals:  Instead of my usual MO of writing down every last item I want to accomplish, I decided to start by taking a big step back and really think about my goals.  I decided to frame these in terms of what I want to do over the next few months and tried to specific while paring them down until they were truly achievable.  For example, instead 'get rid of giggle on underside of arms by doing pilates', I reframed this as 'try pilates by taking 4 classes at local recreation center'.  Instead of a general goal of 'read more', I identified 4 books I really want to read.
2. Creating a General To Do List:  This list compromises things that need to get done in the next few weeks.  I jot down things as they come up so not to forget them.
3. Creating Must Do Today List:  As everyone knows, real life seems to get in the way of our goals.  So I created a 'Must Do Today' list.  These items come from the General To Do list.  I try to keep must dos to just 3 or 4 items and to things that really MUST be done today.  If nothing absolutely must get done on a particular day, then nothing gets put on the list.

How I am trying to use these lists:

• Each morning I review my Goals.  I just want to keep these fresh in my mind and keep me from doing things just to feel 'busy' but that don't bring me closer to my goals.  I then decide how much time I can spend on my goals based on what is going on that day.  Each day, I allot no fewer than 15 minutes to my goals.
• Next, I review my General To Do list and determine if there is anything I MUST get done today. 
• Finally, I organize my time into 15-30 minute segments.  So whether it is completing routine household chores like tidying up the house, or working on my Must Do Today List, I work in short increments of time.  After my allotted time is up, I reevaluate to determine if I can move on to a 'goal oriented' task.  Again, this is my way of staying focused on what matters most to me and of preventing getting side tracked with things that 'would be nice to have done' but are not of high enough priority to be classified as one of my Goals.        

(Having trouble defining your goals, check out this post.  Also, here are a couple of posts from Zen Habits that I found helpful when thinking about making the most of my newly found free time (here and here).

P.S. I am still using and loving Google Tasks for all of my list making adventures.

I know lots of SAHMs look forward to the start of the school year.  Honestly for me, I loved being a student, but don't enjoy being the parent of students.  I feel like I turn into an ogre and am constantly nagging the older kids about homework.  

In an effort to minimize homework stress this year, here is site that I bookmarked with lots of links to helpful homework helper websites categorized by age from Common Sense Media. 

Happy Studying!

Now this purchase was not solely  related to my Blackberry.  I have an old iPod Nano I use for running which just fine for the purpose, but it doesn't play videos.  As we are going on a long trip with the kids, we were looking to replace a broken portable DVD player.  But, since the older two have iPods that play video, I only need something for the little guy to watch.  So, I thought it better to put the money toward something that does far more than play videos and has many of the capabilities that I am looking for.

Impressions so far...I LOVE it.  First, I did upgrade and buy the new Apple 3.0 operating system for $10.  All of my favorite desktop software and Google apps have iPod Touch versions (most for free) and it is Wi-Fi enabled.  So I am able to use it as a mini-computer that links into our wireless network at home as well as 'hot spots' when I am out and about.  First thing that hit me was that web pages display beautifully!  When at home, but not at my desktop, the Touch makes firing up the laptop obsolete.  I also have Pandora on it.  So, mounted on a portable dock, I can now stream my customized radio stations in any room of the house.  And on the go, but not in a Wi-Fi hot spot, I can still create notes (and search for ones) in Evernote.  Once I am back on a wireless network, my notes are synched effortlessly.  I use it like a PDA, but unlike my Blackberry, the displays of my calendar and to do lists are beautiful.  I watched a full length movie and it was great.

Would I love to have Internet connectivity anywhere I go (like I do with my Blackberry)?  Of course, but this little thing still can do so much (and I still haven't come close to utilizing all the potential) that I feel that it is a wise purchase.

One word about typing on the touch screen...a bit difficult to get used to and if I had chubby thumbs it might be a real drag.  So, the jury is still out on weather I could use the iPhone.  I would have to consider how much mobile emailing I need to do.  But with a year to practice on my Touch, I have time to decide!