My 3 tips to getting dinner ready in a flash

Samsung is doing a wonderful thing - offering a refrigerator for your 3 tips to getting dinner ready in a flash. If you have kids you know that they can go from "No, I'm not hungry" to "I need dinner NOW!" in a flash. Well, at least in my household. I am the mother of two boys with hollow legs. So here is what I can offer anyone needing an idea.

1) Have a plan. I find that I'm always better equipped to get dinner ready if I'm not fumbling around having to come up with an idea for dinner. We get together each week as a family and everyone gets to choose one meal for the week. They can't say no to something they picked to eat right? It also helps me to make an accurate list and have everything I need for a week of meals.

2) Double team them. Make dinner as a family. I can't be the only lucky one who's husband helps in the kitchen. He grills, I make the sides. He chops I saute. Even get the kids involved and get them to do some of the prep or setting dishes it can't hurt.

3) ALWAYS HAVE A BACK-UP PLAN. I have two very active boys and sometimes accidents happens. Football practice runs late, the washing machine overflows, the cat gets caught in the soccer net or you have a flat tire on the way home. (Knock on wood.) I always have one or two emergency meals available. Whether it be hot dogs or frozen pizza, it always helps to have something handy to deal with life's curve balls.

Good luck! Hope you get your husband to chop the onions next time.

Where is the heart of my home?

Samsung Appliances has asked Twittermoms, to answer a simple question. Where is the heart of your home?

Well, simple it is not. The heart of my home starts at the front door and ends at the back. Each part my home signifies the four chambers of the heart. The four of us live in a small home. Less than 15oo square feet.

The first chamber - the formal areas. How can I not say that the living room where my husband surprised me for my 40th birthday isn't a part of that heart. The dining room where all our family meals take place isn't part of that heart. We laugh, we argue, we do our homework. We live.

The second chamber - kitchen and den. We truly LIVE her. The island where the kids stare at the cooling cookies or help me knead the dough for the homemade bread they so wanted and then refused to eat. The den where the family watches movies - and is the only place big enough to sort the laundry on laundry day.

The third chamber would be the kids room. They play and have fun and have all their stuff inside. Where goodnight kisses are applied liberally. Where hugs are in abundance and where clutter is just routine.

The fourth and last chamber is the master suite. I say suite, but its really just our bedroom. Love abounds in this room. Between husband and wife, parents & children. Its the place I snuggle up with the kids when daddy works late. Its the place where daddy snuggles with the kids when Mom is cooking/cleaning or just needs "a moment" to get caught up. Its where the sick little one sleeps with Mommy when the asthma kicks in so I can keep my eye on him.

My house is where I live with my most precious possessions: My husband and my two boys. My house is where my heart resides - every corner of it.