Picture-Perfect Mother’s Day

What are you asking for this Mother’s Day? A clean basement? Not if your husband’s idea of “cleaning” is tossing out all of your stuff. An expensive vacuum? Not if you have to use it more to justify the price. Breakfast in bed? Not if it means doing damage control in the kitchen until dinner. What about a peaceful day surrounded by the people whose existence affords you membership in the sweetest sorority on earth? This Mother’s Day consider cuddling up with your kiddos and enjoying a quiet moment with these picture-perfect holiday reads: The Berenstain Bears: We Love Our … Continue reading

Cute Handmade Mother’s Day Gifts (Inexpensive, Too!)

Handmade gifts, especially when they mark milestones in your child’s life can be lovely. You’ll find yourself years from now looking at them and remembering back to earlier times. I have a small collection of these gifts, and they always make me smile. For example, there is the wax cast of my first-born’s hand when he was only two. We were at a festival, and the vendor didn’t want to cast anyone under the age of four because children that age tend not to hold still. We insisted and said we would take it, no matter how it came out. … Continue reading

100 Days

Today is the 100th day of school for my child.  To mark the occasion she and her classmates were asked to bring in 100 of their favorite items. Yes, the assignment that parents from coast-to-coast dread each year. It’s even more dreadful when your kid reminds you that she needs said items two hours before they’re due. So, you run around like a nutcase looking for 100 what to cram into a Ziploc bag? Cheerios, LEGOs, coffee beans… blood, sweat, tears? When all is said and done, hopefully you remember to snap a photo of your kid holding up his … Continue reading

Holiday Parties and Christmas Bonuses

At this time of year, home – based professionals may be getting all nostalgic about two things that they remember from working outside of the home. Holiday parties and Christmas bonuses are things that used to be commonplace for many professionals who were employed outside of the home. In recent years bonuses and gifts have become a more modest, but many people do still get a little something from their employer. Most places of employment have some form of holiday party, too. Now that you work from home, are holiday bonuses and parties a thing of the past? They don’t … Continue reading

Capture the Holiday Magic

It took nearly six years for me to capture a photo of my daughter with Santa. I can’t remember a time when my daughter wasn’t deathly afraid of the holly, jolly, chubby guy.  She’s not a fan of skinny men with facial hair either, but I digress. My daughter’s exceptional fear of Mr. Claus made it impossible for me to snap a picture of the two of them together, so when it finally happened, I crafted a double page scrapbook layout commemorating the event. Two pages for a single trip to see a mall Santa may seem like overkill to … Continue reading

Save Money on Holiday Cookies

This thanksgiving was a really rushed one. We had a crisis in the family and would up having to put together a last minute Thanksgiving meal. One thing that went very quickly were the fancy cookies that I purchased. Everyone loves cookies, whether purchased or homemade. They really are a holiday staple. Here are some tips on how we can all save on the cost of cookies. Store Bought Cookies Shop at a warehouse store. Warehouse grocery stores, such as Costco, BJs or Sam’s Club often offer holiday cookies at discounted prices. You can find all sorts of cookies, from … Continue reading

He Trusts Me Too Much

My son and I put up our Christmas tree yesterday. Yes, I know it is not even Thanksgiving yet, but I was in need of some Christmas spirit a little early this year. Logan didn’t seem to mind too much. As we were putting ornaments on the tree I happened upon an angel with a quote from Mother Teresa. It said, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle, I just wish He didn’t trust me so much!” I seem to remember my mother giving this ornament to me the year after my divorce. There have been … Continue reading

National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

Guess what today is? It is National “Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.” And the timing couldn’t be more perfect, with Thanksgiving right around the corner. If you are hosting the Thanksgiving meal, you want to make sure everything is spotless. And you definitely want to make room for the food, so why not take advantage of this National event? Personally, I will be saving this job for the weekend. If you can do it today, go for it. But remember, this isn’t just about taking out the stuff that’s growing mold (oh, I hope that isn’t happening in your fridge—talk … Continue reading

Is Your Business Ready For Holiday Shoppers?

Today I began to wonder whether I had missed Thanksgiving. I went grocery shopping at my local grocery store after returning from a vacation, and everything is ready for Christmas. There are Christmas decorations on the store windows, Christmas displays on the shelves, and Christmas music too. I remember a time when stores used to decorate for Thanksgiving, but I saw no sign of that today. In fact, the only things that hinted that it is nearly Thanksgiving were the great prices on frozen turkeys and the end cap displays filled with stuffing mixes, canned pumpkin, and other Thanksgiving must … Continue reading

A Not So Funny Thing Happened Today

As difficult as being a stay at home mom to a toddler and an infant can be, I would not trade it for any other set of circumstances in the world. On days where things are not going so well, it is easy to day dream about what my life might be like if I were working and the boys were at day care. Today, something happened that made it absolutely clear to me that home with my boys is really where my heart is. We were in the car, going home from the grocery store. Dylan was munching on … Continue reading