Are You Really Giving Your Kids Everything?

The other day, I brought my three kids to a birthday party that took place at one of those family fun centers. There were all sorts of adventures, such as a huge climbing/ball pit, a small laser maze, a rock climbing wall and plenty of games that the kids could play for tickets. In order to play the ticket games, kids had to swipe a card on which money was added. As part of the party, each guest got a card that was worth $3. Each game cost anywhere from $.50 to $2.00 to play. This meant less than the … Continue reading

Don’t Pay For Convenience

As chaotic as most parents’ lives are, it’s no wonder products such as bagged salad, pre-cut cantaloupe and rotisserie chicken are in high demand. Unfortunately, convenience often comes with a hefty price tag.  Think about how much you spend on items that make your life easier.  Even if you purchase four cheap bags of salad each week for an entire year, you’re looking at paying at least a few hundreds dollars.  You could save money by purchasing a head of lettuce, whole carrots and some celery, and then chopping them up yourself, but how do you put a price tag … Continue reading

Parenting When You Just Don’t Feel Well

I got very little sleep last night, and the sleep that I did get was less than restful. My little Logan had a rough night. He was restless and woke up in tears. I’m still not sure exactly what was bothering him, but he clearly wasn’t feeling very well. I tended to him throughout the night, but his restlessness in turn became my restlessness which made for a bit of a long night in the Mommy department. I woke up exhausted with the beginnings of a migraine and knew that it was going to be a very long day. I … Continue reading

Homecoming, Halloween, Toy Catalogs, and More!

This Special Needs Week in Review blog just so happens to fall on the very last day of September. A wide variety of subjects hit the blog this week. There are blogs about homecoming rumors, Halloween activities for kids with special needs, a new drug, a new toy guide, and some concern about “clustering”. Arbaclofen May Help Symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome Arbaclofen, (also called STX209), has been approved to treat one of the symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome. It helps with social withdrawal. There is potential that this drug might also help people who have an autism spectrum disorder … Continue reading

Apply to be a Disney Mom (or Disney Dad)

What’s the ultimate goal of many Disney fanatics? See all the films and television shows? Visit all the parks? Work for the company, at one of the parks or even in the movie division? I know for many, it’s the latter. A lucky few are qualified to really work in making magic: to be an animator, or an Imagineer. Many of us just don’t have the skill set to do much. What kind of job could knowing everything about the Disney parks get us? How about a seat on the Disney Moms Panel? You don’t actually get paid to be … Continue reading

Planning Special Moments

In the past two weeks I’ve looked at planning romantic moments for your spouse, making them feel special, and how to cope with missing your spouse even when he or she is more or less around. How do all of these things come together? In me trying to plan special things for my husband. Now that Jon has completed grad school I want to do something special for him. Parties he hast to host are too draining for him, so that’s out. I thought of the perfect idea: I’d bake him a cake. Not just any cake, but a black … Continue reading

Insurance Blog Week in Review – April 29 – May 5, 2012

Every week, the Insurance Blog Week in Review quickly goes over all of the blogs that were posted in the past seven days. There can be anywhere between twelve and fourteen different blogs that appear here weekly. What did you miss? This is an easy way to “ketchup” on everything. Ohio Requires Insurance Coverage for Exotic Animals Ohio now requires owners of exotic animals to purchase a certain amount of liability insurance coverage for each animal they own. They also have to prove that they are providing proper care for the animals, and that they have good fences. The Insurance … Continue reading

You Can Have It All

Why isn’t there a super hero single mother? Some days I feel like I must be super human to get it all done. Unfortunately I’m not super human and at the end of most days I’m just tired. Women in general seem to shoulder the lions share of child rearing and housekeeping, and have for a very long time. Things are getting better, more fathers are actively involved in raising their kids and more men are helping around the house. The majority still falls to the women, and when you are a single mother, there is no majority, it’s all … Continue reading

Mean Moms

It’s hard to believe that we are raising our kids in a era where mom’s can be meaner than the kids! You know the mom I’m talking about, the one who is always bragging about how much better her kid is at everything than anyone else. She’s super competitive and has to make sure that she and her child are always the center of attention. She can also be really pushy, rushing in to organize everything and then excluding your child when you don’t appreciate how much she does for everyone. Those bully moms will gossip about you on the … Continue reading

Diamonds Do Not Equal Love

When I first started at the Marriage Blog I mentioned my feelings on diamond commercials and promised to expound on them. Given that we see many such ads this time of year, it seems like an appropriate time to make my promised follow-up. I’m not a big jewelry person so diamonds never appealed to me. That wouldn’t really be a big deal, except that for my entire life I’ve been inundated by ads and assumptions telling me the opposite. “So what?” you might wonder. Well, the media can have a much more powerful effect, subtle though it might be, on … Continue reading