Are Your Kids Addicted to Webkinz???

Is it just me or have your kids gone over the deep end with the newest craze to hit the playground...Webkinz!!! I thought they were harmless enough, those furry creatures that you pick up in your local toy store. When we tried to get them the first time, they were totally sold out - I couldn't understand why, but I figured they'd eventually show up and we'd eventually buy them. And so, when we stopped by the store a week later, they were there, and we adopted four Webkinz (two for my daughter, two for my son) - my friend incidentally has 22, so four is pretty conservative if you think I'm being a bit overindulgent with my kids...but I digress.

We then had to fill out the adoption papers for the animals on the Webkinz website and then the kids started playing. And playing. And emailing their Webkinz friends. And playing games against their new friends. And decorating their Webkinz rooms, and earning Kidzcash and then, after my son spent all his cash on a TV, trampoline and toilet and wanted to buy a tub for his Webkinz cat, he ran out of cash. And he lost his mind.

He cried and cried and cried. And even as we tried to win more kidzcash for that damn tub, we'd have to play an entire year before he can afford it. I told him to try the Webkinz employment office but he didn't raise too much capital there either.

So now, we've got a room full of stuff, but no tub and every time he logs on all he wants is that damn tub. If anyone is reading this post and has a kid who owns a webkinz and wants to send my kid a tub as a gift (you know what I'm talking about), please reply and I'll send you back some online flowers.

Stay At Home Moms Have More Trouble Sleeping Than Working Moms

Now here's a debate I can participate in...a Tampa Bay news station just reporting some recent findings about women and sleep: "American women are not getting a good night's rest. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 60 percent say they only get the sleep they need a few nights a week or less. Even more say they frequently have sleep problems. The lack of sleep interferes with about 43 percent of women's ability to do normal activities during the day. The women polled say the lack of sleep affects virtually every aspect of their time-pressed lives, leaving them late for work, stressed out, too tired for sex and little time for their friends."

The crazy thing is the study says that stay at home moms face more problems with insomnia than working moms! I guess as a working mom, I'm so damn exhausted at the end of the day that I look forward to having a clandestine meeting with my pillow every night. For tips on how to fall asleep (uh, don't think about the million things you have to do the next day and pop an ambien in your mouth), Click Here .

Do you have trouble sleeping too? SOUND OFF and tell us your side of the story!

Great Blog Post in WSJ's The Juggle

Today's Wall Street Journal blog The Juggle has a great post today that gets working parents thinking...do working moms make better bosses? Well, I guess I am biased on that one - but I have to agree wholeheartedly that once you become a parent, you suddenly become more understanding of the demands many of us face at work and at home trying to be the best we can be in both sides of the fence. I have worked for many bosses over the years and have to say, that the ones with children were pretty mindful of the fact that while I may have to bolt out the door to relieve my babysitter, I can be found typing away on my BlackBerry making sure I never miss a deadline or shirk my responsibility in the office.

During the times that I had bosses without kids, I have found many of these women to be incredibly inconsiderate of my family commitments - one used to call me late in the evening until I told her that I don't take calls after 8pm.

I'm not saying that someone without kids can't be a great boss - plenty people are - but bosses who are parents are more understanding and supportive of those of us trying to manage our work and family life without short-changing anyone along the way.