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"Check back each week for tips and advice from a star we love.     With her hilarious, tell-it-like-it-is novels Notes from the Underbelly and Tales from the Crib, Risa Green has become a spokesperson for moms who know that raising kids is rewarding, but not always rosy. Her outlook struck such a chord with women that Notes from the Underbelly was recently turned into a series on ABC. How did you start writing about pregnancy and being a mom? Honestly, when I was on maternity leave with my daughter, I just hated being pregnant. I was the first one of my friends to be pregnant, and I just was so unprepared. One day I started writing, and it just kind of poured out of me. It was like a collection of essays, and the suggestion was made that I rewrite it as a novel. My outlook has always been that nobody can be perfect. You don&amp;#039;t have to love it all, all the time\u2014and it&amp;#039;s OK to say that. Most people appreciate my candor. The general response has been, &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m so glad to know I&amp;#039;m not the only one who feels this way.&amp;quot; What&amp;#039;s your favorite way to have fun with your kids (Harper, 5, and Davis, 2 1/2)? I like to engage with them and let them direct me. We do coloring parties together, where the three of us will color different things and my daughter will tell us what to color, or we&amp;#039;ll play whatever game they want to play\u2014yesterday we were doing the limbo! What&amp;#039;s the last book you read that you&amp;#039;ve really enjoyed? I just finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics. [Read our review of the book here.] You don&amp;#039;t always come upon popular fiction that is really smart, tells a great story, has great characters, makes you want to turn every page to find out what happens, and still makes you laugh! It had all of that, and it was like a delicious treat for me.  What&amp;#039;s your last minute, go-to meal?  I&amp;#039;m not much of a cook, so Annie&amp;#039;s Organic Macaroni and Cheese is like the best thing that&amp;#039;s ever happened to me. Out of the box, little bit of milk, and, &amp;quot;There you go guys, dinner&amp;#039;s ready!&amp;quot; [laughs] What&amp;#039;s your favorite drugstore beauty product? Oil of Olay Deeply Regenerating Serum. I don&amp;#039;t know if it works, but it makes me feel better. What&amp;#039;s the last thing you do before you go to sleep at night? I usually fall asleep watching television. Lately, we&amp;#039;ve been watching Entourage. I love that show!-Jennifer Conrad For more opinions on being a mom, check out our survey Motherhood in 2007. Plus, visit Risa&amp;#039;s blog. What do you think of Risa&amp;#039;s perspective on motherhood? What are the best and most challenging things about being a mom? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a41166/risa-green-6717/>