We have been invited to an Oscar party and we need to bring dessert. I am a huge fan of the Oscars and so is my eldest son. And my youngest son is a huge fan of cupcakes, so we blended our passions and made Oscar-best-picture-nominee-themed cupcakes to celebrate the evening.

And the nominees are…

Avatar (See the unobtainium? No, because we couldn’t OBTAIN any.)

The Blind Side District 9 (I haven’t seen it but they tell me the aliens eat cat food.)

An Education The Hurt Locker Inglorious Basterds Precious (Made by my neighbor Caroline, previously uncredited. Oops!)

A Serious Man (I haven’t seen this movie but the eyeglasses are on the poster. Work with me, here.)

Up In The Air (This guy even looks like George Clooney, right?)

Up (Of course this is my favorite cupcake.)

Notice they’re all on the Red Carpet? We’re exceedingly proud of ourselves.

I’ve got a post up at LA Moms about having “The Sex Talk” with my kids…

The Corner Bakery Cafe is giving away a FREE Panini to the first 15,000 Facebook fans who show the Panini some respect. Personally, I didn’t realize the panini needed any more respect, given the fact that it is known for being a delicious sandwich product, but clearly I missed something. The panini needs, nay, it deserves your respect! And if you’re one of the first 15,000 to fill out the form with your name and address, they’ll mail you a coupon for a free panini of your very own.

After you respect the panini, come back here because the Corner Bakery Cafe has given me a $25 gift card to give away to one of my readers. That could buy a few more paninis, or salads, or dare I say it, desserts. To win this gift card, simply leave a comment telling me which of the Corner Bakery Cafe paninis you would be inclined to respect the most. (You can choose from their panini menu, linked here.)

My contest will run from March 3rd until Thursday, March 11th at 12 noon Pacific time. One entry per person. Winner chosen at random. Include your email address for winning notification — and I’ll need to mail you the gift card, so only those with US postal addresses are eligible to win.

{FULL DISCLOSURE} {The Corner Bakery Cafe has given me a $25 gift card to pass on to one of my readers and they let me know about the free panini contest to broadcast as well, but I have not been compensated for this post.}

We have most of our money in a credit union. I like the idea of it and they have great customer service. But for convenience, I had my little checking account and the kids’ savings accounts at a local bank. It was once a Washington Mutual, and I liked them because they had free checking and I could walk there.

But last year it changed into Chase. They stopped paying interest on my kids’ savings accounts. They charge you $4 to check your balance at the ATM, even though they don’t disclose that up front.

And now they have started charging for my formerly free checking account. Oh — and if you feel like depositing a lot of cash? They’ll charge you for that, too.

I guess I’ll just be moving all my money over into the credit union. Buh Bye Chase!

The other day I received a Facebook friend request from a name I did not recognize. Not unusual, for friends of friends do ask sometimes, so I did what I always do: I clicked on the person’s photo to see her profile and if we had any mutual friends.

Lo and behold, I recognized the face in the photo and it turns out the request had come from a child in my son’s class. My son’s 5th grade class. From an 11-year-old. An 11-year-old girl using a fake name on Facebook.

Perhaps this is not giving you pause, but it clearly gave me pause. And then I declined the request.

My pause was not about whether I should accept the request; it was about how this had happened, whether her mother knew it had happened, and how to have the conversations with the girl’s mother and with my kids.

I polled some other moms in the class and it turns out the girl had sent requests to several of us, including to the teacher, and we had all said no. One mom said she didn’t want an 11-year-old classmate of her daughter’s knowing her FB business, and that’s a valid.

The requesting child’s mother, when I questioned her about it all, didn’t seem the least bit worried or upset about it. Wasn’t raising any red flags for her.

Really? An 11-year-old using a fake name? On Facebook? Which has a policy limiting accounts to those 13 and older only (which, by the way seems a little young to me personally, but hey, it’s not my site). That flag is pretty crimson, IMO.

Lessons to be learned from this? I guess it’s about keeping open communication lines with my kids and with other moms in our community. And never say yes to a friend request without clicking on the profile. And that you never know what’s coming next in the 21st Century.

*For those of you old enough, and female enough, to remember Glamour magazine in the 70’s and 80’s, you may recall their Sticky Situation of the Month. It was my favorite feature of the magazine.

I am launching a new website, teaming up my Mar Vista Mom blog with the founders of Open Mar Vista/Open Neighborhoods, James Brennan and John Ayers, to create The OPEN Daily, a daily email Essential Guide to the Westside. Free subscription, free listings (and paid advertising as well), the OPEN Daily is designed to promote local businesses, offer updates from Westside schools, and keep you informed about community action items. We’ll also feature local bloggers and great deals and giveaways. Check it out: TheOPENDaily.com.

Click here to submit your free listings.

Oh, and if you’re on the Westside on Tuesday, February 23rd at 8:30am, stop by the Venice Grind, 12224 Venice Blvd. 90066, for a free cup of coffee on us! Yvonne’s Gluten-Free Goodies, too! Come on by!

I’ve got a post up at LA Moms Blog today about having to give my son his antibiotics.

Caroline Donahue came over Monday to overhaul my productivity and it was pretty intense. She was in my office (and my kitchen) for about 8 hours, and luckily for me, she’s a doll, or else I’m not sure I could have handled it. But there were no push-ups required and although it made me use muscles I hadn’t used in long time — figurative ones — it wasn’t actually a scary workout. Just an intense, paradigm-shifting one.

So I’m — dare I say it? I’m getting tons of work done and I’m feeling in control of my schedule today — and my email inbox has only 8 messages in it. And in another sign that Caroline’s had an effect on me: I am thinking that’s too many and I want to take care of them right now!!

But I won’t. I have a schedule to keep. I’m to check email only at certain points during the day (obvious, right? But not to me. Not before she made me promise to do it — and she went in and changed the settings so my computer won’t even load up new emails every 5 minutes, like it was doing before… So clever, she is.)

So what else is the Productivity Boot Camp all about? Well, some of it is common sense, like the email addiction remedy she prescribed, and some of it is the new (figurative) muscles I am learning to flex, like being honest about my to-do list (TOO long) and being realistic about my schedule (TOO many things planned at once — and NOT enough hours in the day to do them all). What she does that I couldn’t do all by myself, is push me a little bit (no push-ups, just no email), provide accountability for the 21 days after we’ve finished (she’s checking in on me every day and is available for refreshers if I need), and put it all in a framework I can visualize and work with.

Oh, and I have to apologize for spelling her name wrong last time — oops! D-o-n-a-h-u-e.

(Nate Berkus would never approve.) And it’s really just a reflection of the crazy amount of work I have to do right now. 3 blogs to generate content for, a new one to launch, 2 more I contribute to, taxes to prep, kids, husband and home life to manage — you get the picture. More than once in the past week I’ve told someone I feel like I’m treading water and getting buried by the paperwork. I need help! So I’ve hired Caroline Donohue, of Remabulous Coaching, to set me up with a new system to push through the mess and get way more productive. She calls it Productivity Boot Camp and while the name is a little frightening, it’s also thrilling at the same time. I want a smooth-running operation here, but if she starts yelling for me to drop and give her 20, well, let’s just say I hope there’s none of that. (I don’t think there will be…)

By the way, remabulous is a term she coined at the age of 6 which means remarkable and fabulous at the same time. I love that! She’s coming Monday and I’m counting the minutes. I have high hopes and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes…

And I got a doozy of one a few weeks ago at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach’s Pacific Waters Spa. I was there as a guest of the spa’s, along with a bunch of other mom bloggers, and I had a perfectly lovely afternoon. Check out the Whrrl story we all made:

The spa is spectacular — very plush all around. They offer all kinds of treatments of course, and I sampled a back massage and a facial. There’s a giant hot tub and a shower that resembles a room in my house, it’s so large, plus a sauna and steam room, and all the paint and tile and fixtures are all gorgeous. It’s really a wonderful spa where I can envision spending many, many hours. Not that I will be today, but a mom can dream, right?

Speaking of which, families can dream, too. The Hyatt caters to families and has a special “Romancing the Family” package just in time for a last-minute Valentine’s celebration. The 1-night package includes complimentary Camp Hyatt for up to 2 kids, 20% off dinner in the Californian restaurant, 20% off spa treatments, champagne for Mom and Dad, and milk and cookies for the kids — all for $295, which includes room, tax, resort fee and parking. (The package is offered through March 7th in case Valentine’s Day is just too soon to travel.)

And if you’re feeling like having a spa day of your own, become a fan of the Pacific Waters Spa on Facebook by March 15th, and they’ll give you 20% off your treatment! Just tell ‘em you read about it here.

The Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, 21500 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. (714) 698-1234.

{FULL DISCLOSURE} {I received free treatments at the spa in exchange for this post.}