For all of your holiday needs, an Energizer Battery giveaway

No matter what ends up on my kids’ wish lists this year, mine always has the same item at the top: lots of batteries. Trust me, there no greater eggnog buzzkill than having to hijack a couple of AA’s from the remote control to get a new toy to work on Christmas morning.

Whether you need some for a photo of the extended family gathered at the dinner table, or to charge up the video camera for your kids star turn in the Christmas play, batteries are something every Momma should stockpile beforehand to get us through the holidays.

Energizer wants to help us out. The company says it will give two Whoa, Momma! readers a charger and set of their new EnergizerR 2450mAh Rechargeable batteries. These batteries can be charged up to 500 times. The new battery will continue to last up to four times longer than EnergizerR MaxR batteries in digital cameras, but now holds more of a charge at six months than the previous Energizer Rechargeable AA. That should keep you going and going and going through the entire holiday season.

(Sure, you may find that bunny really annoying, but the company is giving stuff away to help Mommas so we're willing to cut them some slack.)

All you have to do is email us at GoMomma@TampaBay.com by midnight on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 to be entered into our random drawing for the charger and batteries. 

Please include your name, address and phone number in the email and put Energizer in the subject line (don't worry, we won't post that personal info on the site -- we just need it for verification). We will notify the winners only. If you have already won a Whoa, Momma! drawing in the past three months, you will not be eligible for this contest. We just want to spread around the holiday cheer -- while we have the energy.

-- Tracey Henry, the Suburban Diva

Layaway now available at Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us

If you need any indication that the economy isn't quite where folks might think it should be right now, you need to just take a look at stores that are offering layaway now. Last year, Sears reintroduced layaway just in time for Christmas. Other chains, like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory also decided last year to reinstate the pay-on-time option. Just last week, Kmart decided to introduce online layaway to its customers. Now, Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores announced today the "Big Gift" Layaway program and it's -- drumroll please -- just in time for the holidays.

We'd love to think this is all altruistic on the parts of these retailers. But consumer confidence is still not as high as it has been in the past and that means people won't spend as much. Now the good news is when they say the big gift, they mean it. The list of items that can be put on layaway include bikes, televisions and outdoor play equipment, such as metal gym sets, wood gyms sets and trampolines for big kids and car seats, play yards and infant/toddler furniture for the little ones. Still, you won't find game systems -- even the reduced price Wii -- on the list.

Here's the nitty gritty on how this will work, according to media release from the R Us folks: "Placing a product on layaway at any Toys"R"Us or Babies"R"Us store requires a deposit of 20 percent of the total purchase, including all applicable taxes, and a $10 service charge. Payments may be made at the store at any time in the form of cash, check, credit card, debit card or gift card. Merchandise will be made available within 7-10 days of final payment, so items must be paid for in full by Dec. 6 to ensure that the gift is available for pickup before Christmas. A fee will apply to canceled layaway orders."

So, now Mommas, it's up to you to decide what to do for the holidays.

-- Sherry Robinson

Mom loses job when boss says she cared about her kids too much

That headline seems inappropriate in this day and age doesn't it? But a friend in my neighborhood says that is exactly what happened to her recently. The mom -- who did not want to be named as she searches for a new job -- says that she was dismissed from her teaching post because her supervisors at the private school thought she cared more about her own children than the kids in school.

She says that no one had ever mention to her that she had failed in her role as a teacher. Just that her kids -- not the kids at school -- seemed to be her first priority.

That's a Whoa, Momma! moment if ever we heard one. Of course you're going to care about your own kids more than you do about any other kids. They are your kids.

My friend already felt like she had given so much of herself and missed out on so many moments with her children. But it wasn't enough.

Where does that leave mommas in the never-ending quest to balance the juggle between work and home? If you devote yourself to your job, do you miss out on too much at home? Do your kids act up more when you're getting home late and still checking your Blackberry during bath time?

On the flip side: If you give too much attention to your kids' late morning school events or early evening Little League, do you lose trust at work and fall behind?

~ Karen McAllister, tampabay.com mom

[Jupiterimages]

Is summer camp a dream or a bust for your kid?

We've already been getting some great responses to our questionnaire on rating summer camps. Some of  you have been commenting on the previous post I wrote asking for your opinions on the places your kids are spending their time this summer. But we would love for you to take a few moments to fill out the questionnaire. We will collect the information and share it with all our readers. Thanks, as always, for your help.

-- Sherry Robinson

New guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy

 

Get to a healthy weight before you conceive, says the Institute of Medicine in the first national recommendations on pregnancy weight since 1990.

Among the new recommendations:
* A normal-weight woman, as measured by BMI or body mass index, should gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy. A normal BMI, a measure of weight for height, is between 18.5 and 24.9.
* An overweight woman — BMI 25 to 29.9 — should gain 15 to 25 pounds during pregnancy.
* For the first time, the guidelines set a standard for obese women — BMI of 30 or higher: 11 to 20 pounds.
* An underweight woman — BMI less than 18.5 — should gain 28 to 40 pounds.

What if a mom-to-be has gained too much? On average, overweight and obese women already are gaining five more pounds than the upper limit. But pregnancy is not a time to lose weight, stressed guidelines co-author Dr. Anna Maria Siega-Riz of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

"It's not, 'Hey you gained enough, now you need to stop,'" Siega-Riz said. "Let's take stock of where you're at and start gaining correctly."

Indeed, underweight and normal-weight mothers should put on a pound a week for proper fetal growth in the second and third trimesters, the guidelines say. The overweight and obese need about half a pound a week. The guidelines say women expecting twins can gain more: 37 to 54 pounds for a normal-weight woman, 31 to 50 pounds for the overweight, 25 to 42 pounds for the obese. There's not enough information to set recommendations for triplets or more.

The institute stressed that the guidelines are aimed at U.S. women, not for parts of the world with different nutritional and obstetric needs.

-- Dory Knight Ingram, Times Momma-to-be

[Associated Press; photo from Jupiterimages]

Hey Mommas: Stamps up 2-cents to 44 cents starting Monday

Mommas, we are usually the ones who pay the bills, send out the party invitations and write the thank you notes. And although more and more those things are done online, we still need a good old-fashioned stamp every now and again. So here's a little info for you: First-class stamps will go up  2 cents to 44 cents on Monday.

If you stocked up on Forever stamps before the last price increase or before Monday, you're okay. Those are forever and you won't have to pay extra. But when you buy any first-class stamps now at your local post office, you'll pay a couple pennies more.

Oh well, one more thing in our lives that costs more.

-- Sherry Robinson

Feeling scammed by Scholastic? Not alone

A group of educators, health care professionals and parents has launched an e-mail protest campaign against Scholastic Corp., saying it's exploiting access to students by marketing toys, jewelry and character-driven packages in those fliers that come home every month.

The Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood says about one-third of the items in the orders in elementary and middle schools are either not books or are books packaged with other things, like makeup or toys. Some examples from recent fliers include an M&M’s Kart Racing Wii video game, an American Idol event planner, the SpongeBob SquarePants Monopoly computer game, lip gloss rings, Nintendo’s Baby Pals video game, Hannah Montana posters and the Spy Master Voice Disguiser.

Scholastic brought in almost $337 million last year from the book club, which it started in 1948.

It's funny. I've been disappointed by this very thing each month when my daughter squeals with delight over the book orders. "Can't we please get a book," she says, then goes page by page pointing out all the things she wants. Books mostly, but sometimes makeup, or a toy PDA, or something else that doesn't meet my standard for usefulness.

The thing is, these fliers have the best deals on books. I've scored "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" for nearly half the cost at a bookstore. And there's always something featured for $1 or even $2. Well worth it for my 8-year-old voracious reader.

Still, I would be thankful to lose all the products tied to the latest movie they're marketing at my girls. And I certainly don't need another outlet for Wii games. I'm with the campaign. Clean it up, Scholastic.

-- Amy Hollyfield

Make plans now if you want happy campers this summer

I hate to be a nag. (Wait, that's not true. I nag all the time. So I really don't mind being a nag, I just hate to be thought of as one.) Whatevs. My point is, I hate to be a nag, but now is a good time to think about summer camps if you want to secure a spot in some of the better ones.

As that classic art house Bill Murray film, Meatballs, implores us, Are ready for the summer?

Not a year goes by in our newsroom when some editor who doesn't have children asks about three weeks before school lets out if we should do a story on summer camps. I then proceed to laugh in his face and tell him what every Momma knows: The time for planning summer camps was months ago. If you don't have your plans nailed down by April, you are out of luck, Chuck.

Even though I have our summer plans pretty much mapped out, I like to throw in a fun camp or two to give the kids a week of learning disguised as fun. But too often the really fun camps don't need to advertise, so I'm not even aware of them until they've long since filled up the spots and have started a long waiting list.

One of our hopes with the Whoa, Momma! blog and the Go Momma Web site has been to use it as a way for us harried parents to clue each other in. So if anyone has some recommendations, I'm all ears. And this spring, our sister publication Go Momma magazine is publishing a 2009 Summer Camp and Activity Guide. Look for it at these locations by the end of this month.

In the meantime, Times staff writer Leonora LaPeter Anton wrote last year about how she packs her daughter's summers with interesting and affordable experiences. Leonora is legendary for her ability to piece together a fabulous summer for her daughter like a quilt full of sports, animals, camping and music. And she does it while working full time, which isn't easy, what with after-care costs or camps that end in early afternoon. In my next life, I want to come back as Leonora's kid.

Among the routes to consider:

Perhaps you choose the less complicated and more economical route of a summer-long program at a city recreation center, St. Petersburg College's College for Kids or the YMCA.

Most camps cost an average of $120 a week but some run more than $200 a week, and the city-sponsored camps are typically the least expensive.

Read Leonora's article for a good guide. She starts thinking about where to send her daughter in March because she found that even in early April, it's too late for some of the better ones.

So your job now, my dear Mommas,  is reconnaissance. Start asking other moms what they have loved or hated in past summers and get your name in early to the good ones. And tell us what you think about summer camps you've gone to in the past and why your kids will (or will not) be going back.

-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne

[Photo: Meatballs (1979) HBO Studios]

Update: Publix pulls ice cream topped with nuts from Georgia plant

Update: Publix Supermarket announced today that it is recalling Round Top Sundae Cones, an ice cream treat that is topped with chopped nuts from the Blakley, Ga., factory that has been linked to the nationwide Salmonella outbreak.

According to Publix, the affected ice cream comes in packages with eight four-ounce cones and labeled with a UPC code of 41415 26643. Customers who have purchased these cones can return them to the store for a full refund. For information, call toll free 1-800-242-1227.

With new revelations coming out about the peanut processing plant being linked to the Salmonella poisoning of more than 500 people, the recall of products using peanut butter and peanut paste from the plant continues to grow.

According to the New York Times, the Peanut Corporation of America, whose Blakely, Ga., plant is the source of the contamination and has been linked to eight deaths, expanded its recall from all products made since July to all those made since Jan. 1, 2007. Hopefully, you don't still have any of that on your shelves but if you do, throw it out.

This extended recall, according to the American Peanut Council, follows Food and Drug Administration findings that showed that PCA "knowingly released a product with potential salmonella contamination into the food supply." You can read the report here.

Although the outbreak seems to be all around us, Florida is still one of only seven states that has not had a reported case of illness. Still, it's a good thing not to eat any of the products that have been recalled at this time. And check out the list of products that are NOT on the recall list so you know what has been deemed safe.

We'll keep you posted on this developing story.

-- Sherry Robinson

Peanut butter goes on the offensive

As the list of products being recalled because of the possibility of an outbreak of salmonella continues to grow, the peanut industry has decided that it needs to go on the offensive and tell you what IS NOT affected.

In today's St. Petersburg Times, Jif peanut butter placed an ad with the headline, "You can trust Jif". The ad goes on to say that any peanut butter products from the Smucker Co., which includes Jif, Smucker's Natural, Smucker's Uncrustables, Adams or Laura Scudder's, are safe from the outbreak. And just to get you hooked, they added a 35-cent coupon to buy a jar. I guess they want to make sure that choosy mothers still choose Jif.

Peter Pan, which was hit hard back in 2007 by its own contamination scare, has added a message to its Web site that says in part, "ConAgra Foods, the maker of Peter Pan Peanut Butter, has confirmed that none of the ingredients used to make Peter Pan Peanut Butter come from Peanut Corporation of America, the company linked to the government’s current salmonella investigation."

In fact, now the Food and Drug Administration is working with the American Peanut Council to put together a list of products that are not caught up in the recall.

After all the calls I have received on this issue, this list will put lots of minds at ease. Still, it will be even better when the FDA can figure out how it happened. Sure, it's not the Chinese milk scandal (two men have been sentenced to death in that case) but with six deaths and nearly 500 people ill in 43 states and Canada, something needs to be done to make sure it doesn't happen again.

-- Sherry Robinson

[photos.com]