Search Results for: blog can they ever be expected to walk through the house

Disney Buys Lucasfilm, Now Owns Star Wars

This is probably the hugest and craziest Disney news story I’ve ever heard, and possibly ever will, I can’t think of anything bigger: this week, Walt Disney Company announced that it is buying Lucasfilm for about $4 billion dollars. That’s right: Disney will own Star Wars. The news is entirely shocking. In the past year George Lucas has announced his intention to retire from film making, or at least big-budget film making, instead focusing on smaller projects. But no one expected him to sell his company (Lucas is the sole owner), and certainly not to Disney. When one thinks about … Continue reading →

Cleaning in 30 Minutes or Less Series

I have decided to share some of my tips on how I keep my house clean, by spending just 30 minutes a day on it. Now of course, some of what I do may not work in your home. For instance, if you don’t have pets, that type of cleaning won’t apply. But hopefully what you learn from my schedule is that you really can keep a neat, orderly home and not spend a lot of time on it. Each day of the week I have certain tasks and chores that I do. Because I like to keep my weekends … Continue reading →

Adventures by Disney: New Destinations for 2012

Earlier this year I wrapped up my look at the travel offerings of Adventures by Disney, the Mouse House’s vacation planning and tour organization. Now for 2012 AbD has added several new trip options to their list, most new tours of previously visited sites and one venturing to a new realm for the first time. The completely new destination now offered by AbD is Greece. The majority of the Greek trip focuses on the ancient country’s rich history: take a guided tour of the Pananthinaiko Olympic Stadium in Athens and hear stories while exploring the Acropolis. Travel to the oracle … Continue reading →

Why Colonial Divorce Records Are Hard to Locate

Genealogy research can be as frustrating as it can be exhilarating. There are a lot of different websites that will help you find the birth record, or death record of your ancestors. However, trying to find the record that shows that your ancestors became divorced is another matter entirely. Part of the problem with finding divorce records is because in years past divorce was seen as a scandalous event, and so, it might be covered up. Another problem comes from how the original records of divorce were recorded. In the past couple of decades or so, divorce has ceased to … Continue reading →

Vacation Gadgets for Your Pet

With the summer travel season now upon us, many of us face questions about what to do with our pets when we go on vacation. Those of us who decide to bring our pets along on our trips, though glad to have our furry friends with us, then face further complications of keeping our pets situated and happy with the limited resources we have away from home. At the recent Global Pet Expo in Orlando, pet-minded inventors introduced a number of new gadgets designed to make vacationing easier for all members of the family, both two-and-four-legged. MSNBC reports the highlights. … Continue reading →

Showing Love of Life

How much do you take your marriage and your life for granted? Is it obvious from your attitudes that you are happy in your marriage and that you love life? This was brought home to Mick and I last night as we went to a concert by the Watoto Children’s Choir. For the first time in ten days Mick was able to stand up and walk a little and so we went to the free concert. The Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda consists of children made orphans through Aids. As they told their stories in between singing and dancing, you … Continue reading →

Dogs and Cats Living Together: Not What We Expected

Before my dogs met my roommates’ cats, we had lots of talks about how we thought it would go. We discussed the best ways to introduce them, what to do if things went wrong, and our dreams of animal harmony. I thought Lally, my boxer/shar-pei mix, would be the problem child. When we’re out walking, she can be quite a cat chaser. If she saw cats inside the apartment, I figured she’d be trying to run them down. (I’m not sure what she’d do with a cat if she ever caught one, but that doesn’t stop her from trying.) My … Continue reading →

Little Girl on the Edge – Childhood Bipolar Disorder

Motherhood, for me, has been a journey with unexpected turns and frightening pitfalls. Little did I know when Cassidy first appeared on my doorstep the great challenges I would face being her stepmother. On that day, she looked up at me with a cherubic face, pink cheeks, and a welcoming smile. “Hello, my name is Cassidy,” she said brightly. “It’s very nice to meet you.” I didn’t know what childhood bipolar disorder looked like, but if I could have imagined it, this gorgeous little girl would not be its personification. Cassidy moved into my home at the age of six, … Continue reading →

Remember, Childhood Passes

There is no denying that parenthood can be a frustrated, exhausting time. There are those days when we just can’t muster the excitement or the patience to face another childhood crisis. I often have friends and others who share with me their exasperation over certain ages and stages and confess that they just don’t know how they are going to get through another day, week, sickness, birthday party, etc. All I can figure to tell them is that from my perspective here at the end of nearly two decades of parenting is that childhood passes, everything is temporary, and even … Continue reading →

Can They Ever Be Expected to Walk Through the House?

What parent doesn’t know the constant sound of his or her own voice admonishing children to “walk!” through the house? Running, jumping, skipping, crashing, banging, breaking–we worry and fuss that our children will learn to crawl and walk on schedule, but we don’t realize that once they start, we will be telling them to calm down and walk for the next seventeen or eighteen years! Even though my older teenagers can be sloths and slugs in many areas of their lives now, they still seem to bound up and down the stairs and tend to raise each other for the … Continue reading →