A Really Cool Cake -- and Blog

Just wanted to link over to my friend's blog, http://cellyssister.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=50.

Judy is a mom who may the funniest writer I know. I enjoy following her blog and hope you will as well. And why yes, that's Sophie and Simon in the photo, along with her own two daughters. We met through Families with Children from China, a fabulous umbrella group for families who have adopted from China -- like ours.

The Fifth Season: Back to School Season

Sure you all know about spring, summer, winter and fall. But there is actually a fifth season: The Back to School Season. It's the few weeks sandwiched in between the last day of camp and the first day of school. It's an awkward season, and an expensive one.

It's awkward because, at least in our case, our schools don't reopen until the Wednesday after Labor Day. Other schools go back weeks earlier, which limits the supply of playmates and cousins to visit. Time, these past few weeks, has moved slowly. "What can I do, Mom," has been the refrain at the Brenoff-Johnson household.

And it's expensive because school supplies are so pricey. Sure, I shop the deals (15-cent spiral notebooks at Staples were my best find) but nobody is giving away computers, which my just-entering middle school daughter needed. Ouch, it hurt to sign that credit card slip!

Back-to-school season is also the busiest time for After-School Days. Our phone rings off the hook with schools wanting to switch our class days, instructors who want to join our staff, parents wanting to know whether we could please move our cooking class from Tuesdays to Thursdays so their child can attend.

But it's all very exhilarating. And I, for one, can't wait to get back in the classroom!

And it's expensive

Kids eat free!

I just learned something wonderful! In the Los Angeles area, where After-School Days is based, kids eat free at the Islands restaurant chain on Tuesdays and at any of the Maria's Italian Kitchens http://www.mariasitaliankitchen.com/on Wednesdays. The best part of Maria's is that the kids' menu is real food, not that awful fried chicken nugget stuff that other places offer kids. My son loves the pasta with chicken and broccoli in olive oil and fresh garlic.

Aren't we all watching our spending these days? I love that these restaurants are trying to help families out. Sure, these discounts may be on the slower-business nights, but when you're eating out in the summertime with no homework to rush home to, what does it matter?

Readers, if you know of any other restaurants that provide families discounts, please drop me a line and I'll post them here.

Maria's will knock 15% off the total check for anyone with a KCRW fringe benefit card; my $50 donation to support L.A.'s public radio station has paid for itself several times over. Check out: www.kcrw.org

"From Where I Sit" now podcasted on iTunes

Just a quick note to say that Ann's KSAV.ORG radio show, which airs every day at 9:45 a.m. and 3:45 p.m., is available to download as a podcast from iTunes.com.

Here's the link: http://www.ksav.org/podcasts/ann.xml

Playing hooky as an educational tool

Let me preface this by saying: I am a good mother and a responsible adult.

I never pull my kids out of school to take a vacation off-season, when the rates are cheaper. They never watch TV on school nights, or play around on the computer for that matter. Hey, I'm the drink-your-milk and eat-your-vegetable enforcer.

And when it comes to setting an example, I'm the tops: I never take sick days, I pay bills on time, I arrive places when I'm supposed to -- even allowing for Los Angeles' traffic.

So today, I surprised my daughter Sophie by doing something completely out of character. I showed up and sprung her from her summer school prison an hour early.

What'd we do? Nothing big and fancy like a last-minute trip to Disneyland or Universal. No, all we did was go to lunch at Subway. We did splurge on our favorite sandwich: the turkey sub, hold the cheese and load her half up with pickles and mine with olives, please. Oh, we wild and crazy girls just thumbed our noses at our budget and those meatball subs on sale for $5.

We took our lunch outside, which just happened to be near where an animal rescue group was running a pet adoption fair. We are big fans of pet rescues; our two dogs both came from rescues, as did the two dogs before them.

And so we ate -- she with pickles and me with olives -- being serenaded by a chorus of puppies. Just some Mommy alone time on a beautiful summer day where we both took a break from our jobs and responsibilities and reminded one another of what's most important.

And Mr. Posey, if you are reading this (and I hope you are!), I won't be sending in a fake note about going to the orthodontist. I may be a hooky player, but a liar I'm not.

Ann's Radio Debut on KSAV.ORG

Today, a radio star was born! OK, maybe not a star, but it sure was a lot of fun hearing myself on KSAV.org Internet radio. It's a great station with loyal fans internationally, and I'm extremely flattered that they invited a print journo like me to do a weekly show.

"From Where I Sit" airs daily at 9:45 a.m. and is repeated at 3:45 p.m. Pacific time. I get five minutes to offer commentary on anything I like. (Vic, with his usual dour sense of humor, says this is like letting a kid play with a loaded gun. No, he doesn't mean it .....)

Anyway, my first few shows are about how people are coping with the recesssion -- and how sometimes, there is good to come out of something as awful as losing your job.

In my first show, I noted that in my own case, I realized how what's important to me are my people, not my things. I also learned just how creative and energizing it can be to be starting afresh. Complacency, after all, is the killer of creativity and some people told me how they "came alive" again when they were unteethered from the grind of their daily jobs. I understood exactly what they meant.

Our little company grows a bit each day as we pick up more classes, more locations, more word-of-mouth referrals for our programs. But starting a business in the midst of the worst economic downturn in history is hard. We do our best to find classes for every unemployed journalist and pink-slipped techer who contacts us, but of course we can't. There are, sadly, too many.

Vic and I and the kids want to thank all of you who have supported our efforts, offered a lending hand and most of all, trust us with those precious children of yours.

Now don't forget to catch my show! www.ksav.org.

Me and Alice and Setting Goals

When I first left my column-writing job for the Los Angeles Times in March, I met with a very smart and very successful (no, they aren't always synonymous) businessman friend who listened to all my ideas for new ways to earn a living and had this to say: Stick to what you know.

He compared me to Alice in Wonderland, who falls into the cracks and asks the wise creature "Which road should I take?" The wise creature asks her "Where do you want to go? and she replies, "I don't know." He tells her that if she doesn't know where she wants to go, it doesn't matter which road she takes.

"Ann," he said, "right now you are Alice."

He was right. If you are stretched too thin, nothing will get accomplished. It's important to set goals for yourself and figure out pathways to meet them. We set timetables and deadlines for this very purpose. We measure our progress with milestones to achieve this end. That's why we put up little stickers on our refrigerator door each time our son remembers to make his bed without being told or brings home 100% on his spelling test. It's also why Weight Watchers just gave me a star for losing another five pounds.

As for my businessman friend's advice that I stick to what I know, inadvertently, I listened to him on that as well. No, I'm no longer writing about celebrities for a daily newspaper. But I am sharing my knowledge about how to write with children in three states now. I am teaching them, through my instructors, why it's important to write and write well.

After-School Days is the most creative venture I've ever attempted. I love thinking up new ways to make the hour or so between school and homework/dinner fun, exciting and "the best hour of the day," as my daughter calls it. I love dreaming up new classes -- like our After-School Chefs -- and working on the recipes. (OK, I have a little help on that one from the former Food Editor of the New York Times.)

Mostly, I can't wait for the first anniversary of my lunch with my businessman friend so I can report my progress. Unfortunately, Dan, it will have to be at a Weight Watchers approved place. There's no turning back for me now!