Chaton's World: A Working Mom's Quest for Balance in Stilettos©

Recently, an Alabama reporter who is also a blogger was terminated purportedly because her employer disagreed with her blog post . In that post, she mentioned a variety of things related to her job, including how she has been on the air without wearing a bra and how nobody ever noticed. In her interview on the Today Show this morning, she said that she thought her post was "snarky and clever" and never imagined that she would get fired for it. And yet, that is what happened. What actually happened, is that she was told to take it down, which she did. However, she thought better of it and re-posted it. The re-posting led to her termination . As a working mom who's a blogger the story really resonated with me. It implicates things that every blogger confronts. How much sharing is oversharing? Can/should an employer be able to censor a blogger's posts? Did her blog post itself compromise her ability to do he job effectively?   Should Bloggers Be Fired for

Family The Today Show did a series called, “Top Tips My Parents Taught Me”. Apparently Savannah Guthrie ’s mother taught her how to make a bed with crisp hospital corners. I’m kind of jealous. The older I get the more I appreciate a well-made bed. Unfortunately, Andre could care less about that and making the bed is a constant point of conflict for us. If we apply the last person up makes the bed rule, he’d be making it 99% of the time since I have become an early riser . And he has protested... Anyway, that’s a topic for another post. Instead in this post I am going to list, in no particular order, tips that my parents have taught me about life.

I was watching the Today Show this morning and I learned something.  Apparently today is National Fried Chicken Day. To think that "they" (whoever "they" are) had the wisdom to create a holiday to honor my favorite childhood food. I can tell my life's story through my experiences with fried chicken. As a kid, I liked Kentucky Fried Chicken and Church's Chicken . When I went to LA in 2001, I had to try Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles .  I really enjoyed my fried chicken.  However, I haven't had it since I was pregnant and craved it constantly.  My tastes have changed. I am more of a sushi girl.  Don't judge me... Also, I realized that eating fried chicken regular isn't good for my waistline.  That being said, sometimes I think about my mom's fried chicken and it makes me smile. When my sister and I were little, we would have picnics in Highland Park in Rochester, New York .  She used to make fried chicken and  potato salad and ba

Lately, we have been inundated with articles about the environment and the benefits of eating organic. Between the articles, Earth Day , impromptu proclamations by Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio , and the Today Show discussing the benefits of organic fruit and local grown vegetables we cannot avoid the issues. Up until this past weekend, I thought that I had the rules down. Recycling, good. Disposing of plastic bottles in the trash, bad. Taking 10 second cold showers, good. Indulging in a 1 hour Jacuzzi bath, bad. But, taking a Jacuzzi bath with 20 of my closest friends, good. Using 1 ply toilet paper with the consistency of sand paper, good. Wiping my most intimate parts with extra fluffy, triple ply Charmin, bad. OK, you get the idea. I thought that I understood the environmental thing and I was ready to take up the battle and march in my allegiance to our fearless leader, Mother Earth. However, after reading the New York Times this weekend, I realize that I am sa