She entered the gym, baby on hip, looking as unflustered as humanly possible. The rest of her crew trailed behind, five in all, the 11-year-old basketball player, the eldest.

I watched her coach my daughter’s fifth grade team, at times herding her kids back to the sidelines, but managing both motherhood and coaching simultaneously and with apparent ease. She never missed a beat, (or a jump shot) and made sure, as always, she told every girl, “good job, good job” numerous times.

I marveled from the sidelines as I always do when I see a “together” mom with multiple kids. How does that work, I wondered, the getting them clean and dressed and fed and out the door for anything? I never would have been that brave; never would have been able to pull it off — and there she is, coaching my daughter (and your daughters) showing them by example that Yes, You Can Do This, and that is what makes her an amazing mom.

Good job, Tammy. Good job.

Tune into the news on WCAV-TV, CBS 19 in Charlottesville today to catch this story, about how blogging can help nonprofits.

The St. Louis Bloggers are hosting a carnival. The theme: “What are you most thankful for this year?”

I’m most thankful (and here I tempt fate) for the lack of disasters. I’m thankful for no plane crashes, no sudden unexplained deaths, no terrifying new illnesses, no random or premeditated acts of violence and no natural disasters scooping away friends, loved ones and their worldly possessions.

I’m thankful (and still shocked) that Shawn Hornbeck was found alive and reunited with his family.

I’m grateful that we’ve made it another year in a place we love, with jobs that are good and rewarding, with kids that are good, thriving kids and that we have friends that we love. I’m thankful to my husband for making it possible for me to travel for work.

Here’s to another year of cheating death and avoiding disasters.

I went to the dentist on Wednesday. My X-Ray revealed some near-cavities between some of my molars. A near tragedy! As usual, the dentist asked if I’m flossing and of course I do so then she asked what kind of floss. Glide, I said and it turns out that flossing with Glide is as good as not flossing at all! “Glides ride over the bacteria,” she said.

Don’t throw away your Glide yet. It’s good for getting the super-strength floss they gave me out in the event that it gets stuck between my teeth. I swear, the new floss is so heavy duty, I’m thinking of sending some to Angela so she can knit a hammock out of it.

What kind of floss did they give me? I think it’s called VOH. It’s called POH (and that, friends, stands for Personal Oral Hygeine, a name that makes me giggle like a fifth-grader in puberty class.) They gave me a year’s supply and will keep giving me floss as long as I ask for it.

I’ve spent many a holiday season too exhausted to enjoy it. I’ve worked through the holidays, traveled, and two years ago, moved across the country about five minutes after Christmas, promising to be set up and be ready to work from home by January 2. (I did it; and every box was unpacked.)

I’m embarking on my 18th year of wading through the holidays as a working mom. Here are some tips I’ve learned from the mistakes I’ve made over the years.

1. Don’t try to do it all, or do it all yourself. Ask for help. Order out. Hire someone (to clean, to watch the kids) if you can or beg family to step in and give you an assist.When they were younger, my kids’ afterschool program hosted a parents’ night out evening which was a lifesaver.
2. Kids don’t really need everything on their wish list. It’s good to want things. It’s not good to get it all.
3. Buy online for out-of-town gift recipients. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — the internet has saved my sanity. Shopping in stores (with people and parking challenges) makes me nuts. Buying from places like Amazon allows me to direct ship, often for free, thus saving me time and money wrapping and toting gifts to UPS to be shipped all over the country. Amazon will wrap and include a note, too, for a nominal fee. It’s worth it.
4.  You can’t go to all the parties. Prioritize. Then send your regrets.
5. Trying to save money? Spend a day baking breads and making fudge. Neither costs much or takes much time — get your kids to help, too! People appreciate home made gifts and it’s great to have these items on hand when invited to a last-minute get together or when presented with an unexpected gift.
6. Stressed out over creating the holiday letter or getting cards in the mail? Bag it all and create a blog/write a post with your family news and a photo. You’ll save a bundle and it won’t take long at all. Don’t forget to e-mail the link to friends and family, then cross another task off your holiday list.

If you’re one of those moms who is done shopping, who has mailed the out-of-town gifts, who is luxuriously embroidering a new tree skirt and hand stamping 200 cards, who is wondering what all the fuss is about, well GOOD FOR YOU. But the rest of us don’t want to hear about it.

I’m not going to bore you with the long list of business books I’ve been absorbing over the last few months. What I do want to tell you is that I’ve been completely waylaid by The Other Boleyn Girl. My sister sent it to me for my birthday and I have not been able to put it down. I’ll warrant that at the beginning I thought, this is the closest to a romance novel as I’ve gotten since I filched my sister’s Danielle Steele novels when I was a kid. Actually, though, it’s historical fiction and therefore a world apart from the likes of the Fabio-enhanced novels my grandmother favored.

It’s a good thing I had much time this weekend for curling up in the papasan chair with my book; at 672 pages it’s a commitment for which you want to have time for continuous reading. Or, if you like, you can just wait for the movie (starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson).

A Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Our menu: smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cheesy potatoes (gotta make everyone happy, you know), dinner rolls, green beans, corn, canned cranberry sauce, from-scratch cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and chocolate town pie. Yum. Food for 20; just the four of us.

In C’ville news, we’ve added to growing stable of fabulous local celebrities with this guy. Maybe he’d like to come over for leftovers?

In a recent fit of self-awareness, I learned that I am a blog snob. A snog, if you will, (because blob is the other choice and that’s unflattering). My snoggishness comes out when I meet someone for the first time and the topic of blogging emerges. If said victim acquaintence wrinkles his or her nose and says, in the voice of someone who is smelling dirty feet, “No, I am not a blogger.” /hoity-toity accent, my snog radar goes on. If the person acquiesces, (and they usually do) confessing to having read a blog or blogs, then I know there’s hope, and let them off the hook.

But the person who is a blogger, who knows the names of Robert Scoble or Bob Lutz or heavens-to-Betsy, Dooce (and knows why that’s what we call Heather B. Armstrong) in casual conversation; the Charlottesville blogger who drops Waldo into chats, or Anoop; the St. Louis blogger who invokes Dana or Jeanette E. Spaghetti, for Pete’s sake, well we’re just going to be FRIENDS, that’s what.

1. Refrain from saying, a la the Rudolph movie, “I want to be a dentisth.” Some people don’t think lisps are funny, nor do they get the obscure 1960s movie reference. My kids, however, think this is hilarious.
2. Wear shoes that tie or that are guaranteed to stay on your feet. I once had a clog drop from my elevated foot, smashing the toe of an unsuspecting dental hygenist. Awkward.
3. Bring something to read. You know, unless People is your speed and you have lots of Hannah Montana and Britney Spears catching up to do.
4. Before you leave, take the legal limit of ibuprofen, even if you’re taking someone else for their appointment. Trust me. It works.
5. Try to find a really relatively hot female dentist. Your husband and teenaged son will be much more likely to keep their appointments.
6. Do not allow photographs at any time during your visit. I was recently informed that a large photo of my eight-year-old self having my teeth flossed hangs prominently in the offices of one Curtiss L. Floyd, DDS. (By the way, Doc, congratulations on 40 years of serving the community — you’re still my favorite dentist, ever!)

My best friend at work sent me flowers for my birthday. As a bonus, she waited until I was back from my work trip so I could enjoy them at home and now — we have a lovely centerpiece for Thanksgiving.

I wish you friends at work as wonderful as mine.