Mom Knows Everything

Mothers are so busy taking care of everyone else that some times they forget to take care of themselves. Today's tip is "Mommy Time". Basically Mommy Time is any time that you can sneak in a few minutes during the day for just you. This can be anything from as big as getting a professional massage on one of those luxurious massage tables, to simply taking 5 minutes out of the day to have a quiet cup of coffee by yourself. My favorite "Mommy Time" is getting hubby to watch the kids while I take a relaxing bubble bath.

After all that we mommy's do, we deserve a little "Mommy Time".

It's important to spend quality time with your child. When you have more than one child it can be hard to spend that one-on-one time with each child. I've noticed that it's easy to spend quality time with my five year old son, but spending quality time with my sixteen year old daughter is sometimes harder. This is because at sixteen she has her own life. She has friends she hangs out with and things to do and places to go. Even though teenagers are almost adults and will sooner than later leave home and make their own life, it is still very important to spend quality time with them. This can be as simple as going to lunch with them, watching a movie with them, or even simply sitting down and talking to them.

I recently had a mother/daughter night with my sixteen year old. We rented a bunch of movies she wanted to watch and got a LOT of junk food. Sure I might need to get some apidexin & detoxufree72 combo after all that junk food, but spending the evening just spending time with my daughter was wonderful. We watched the movies, talked, laughed, and really had a great time together.

No matter the age of your child you should always spend some one-on-one time with them. Even though they may not be little forever, they will always be your baby.

Let's face it, it's a fact of life that we all get older. As we get older our children get older, and also our parents get older. Because of the all the wonderful things our parents did, and still do for us, you want your parents to enjoy their seniors years. As they get older taking care of a home can sometimes be too big a burden for them. Keeping a house up is a full time and sometimes daunting job. A great option for seniors to look into is pennsylvania retirement communities.

The Garden Spot Village is a wonderful retirement community that offers a variety of senior living arrangements from large apartments to beautiful carriage homes. It is situated on 104 acres of beautiful country that allows the residents to not only enjoy the country, but also has easy access to major cities. The Garden Spot Village offers many amenities including pool, hot tub, chapel, beautiful gardens, spa, a store, a bank, and much more. It's like it's own little community for it's residents that has just about everything they could need.

The Garden Spot Village also offers great care services for seniors with physical disabilities and things like Alzheimer’s. They have skilled and caring staff medical and aid staff to take care of the seniors and offer support to the relatives of the seniors. With health care available on site you know your loved on is not only getting the best care, they are also enjoying themselves in a friendly environment with people their own age.

After all the years our parent took care of us we want to make sure that they are taken care of and The Garden Spot Village does just that and more.

It's getting close to that time of year again. I'm talking about back to school. I have already started purchasing my children's school supplies. With my youngest starting school this year it means that I have more than ever to buy. So far I've purchased pencils, pens, notebooks, binders, loose leaf, and pencil cases. You know what I wish I could really purchase though, school lockers. No I don't want them for the kids at school, I want them for at home.

Since I come from a very large family, 4 boy and 4 girls, I have lots of nieces and nephews that come and visit almost daily. Sometimes there are eight kids here playing. You know what that means, there are coats and shoes all over the place. I would love to have a place set up in the playroom where each child has their own locker where they can keep their stuff while they are visiting. That way there isn't any searching for coats and shoes when it's time for them to go home.

I actually found a place that has lockers for sale called MoreLockers.com. The sell a wide range of lockers including standard lockers, vented lockers, stadium lockers and much more. If you are looking to purchase some lockers, or looking for a way to organize then lockers might be the answer for you and you should check out www.morelockers.com.


This post was brought to you by your friends at www.morelockers.com.

There are three things woman are pretty much guaranteed to like; chocolate, diamonds, and ice cream. I have a great and easy recipe for homemade ice cream made with Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk that you don't need an ice cream maker for.

Ingredients

1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tbsps. vanilla extract
2 cups whipped heavy cream ( the real stuff, not the non-dairy whipped topping)

Directions

Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in large bowl. Fold in heavy cream. Pour into 9 x 5-inch loaf pan or other 2 quart container. Cover. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.

There are lots of variations you can use for this ice cream simply by cutting back the vanilla by 1 tablespoon and adding 2 cups of your favorite mashed fruit such as bananas.

I'll be posting more wonderful recipes from Eagle Brand in the near future so be sure to check back!

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty.


I know this isn't a very pretty picture, but there is a funny story behind it. My 6 year old niece noticed this spider, which is only about the size of a quarter (I zoomed in on the photo), under the eves of my house. She then turned to me and asked me when I was going to "give the spider away?". This made me laugh because who in the world would want a free spider? Seriously, it's not like it's a HDTV I would be giving away, but a spider. So if anyone you know wants a free spider they are more than welcome to come get it off my eves.

As mothers we all know how important it is to save money. One of the easiest ways to save money is to use coupons. I always go online to my favorite coupon sites to check out the latest coupons available. I recently got a great deal on toilet paper. It was on sale for $3 off and I had a coupon for a $1 off which means that instead of paying $7 for a 16 pack, I only paid $3 for it.

Using coupons for the grocery store isn't the only way you can save money, you can also look online for coupons for a wide variety of things such as flowers coupons. Flowers can be very expensive, but sending flowers to a loved one is a great way to make them feel special and buy using a coupon for them you can save yourself a lot of money.

Now that school is just around the corner it's about that time we start thinking about purchasing both school supplies and new school clothes for our children. Using clothes coupons is a great way to save money while getting your children ready for a new school year.


This post was brought to you by your friends at www.shopbycoupons.com.

My sons favorite sandwich is an open faced jam sandwich. He could eat them constantly, but since jam has preservatives in it I don't like him eating them all the time. I was telling this to my friend and she had some frozen raspberries in her freezer and offered them to me to make some homemade jam for my son. I found this quick and easy recipe for homemade jam without preservatives and my son loves it.

Raspberry Jam

4 cups frozen raspberries
4 cups white sugar

Place frozen raspberries and sugar in a pot and boil for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Whisk for 5 minutes after boiling to make sure the jam is smooth. Cool and then place in jars.

This recipe makes about two bottles of jam, depending upon size of jar. Since there is no preservatives in this recipe keep jam in refrigerator.

Congratulations to Carrie from A Mommy In Mayhem for being the winner of my JumpStart Get Moving Family Fitness Wii game contest.

Fitting your child for new shoes can often be not a pleasant experience. Kids don't like to sit still and they certainly do not like to try on shoe after shoe after shoe. I found this great video from Start-rite that can make trying to find your child's shoe size extremely easy and without all the hassle of getting to try on different sizes of shoes.



After I watched the video I was so pleasantly surprised at how simple it is to find the correct size of shoes your child needs thanks to startriteshoes.com. Basically all you need is your computer, a printer, and a digital camera. These three things every home has. Simply by printing off the grid and taking pictures of your child feet on the grid and uploading them to the "Click'n' Fit" Fitting section of www.startriteshoes.com you can easily find the correct size for your child.

This is especially great when it comes to ordering your child's shoes online. I've often wanted to buy shoes for my children online. There are so many different kinds of shoes you can purchase online compared to what they have in stock locally, but since I was worried about the correct size I never have purchased shoes for them online. Now thanks to this video I will be able to get my children's shoes online without having to worry about is it the correct size.

Mothers take care of their children, their husband, their homes, and just about everyone else before themselves. It is important for us mothers to take some time to take care of ourselves. A great way to take care of ourselves and improve our health is by eating right. This isn't always a possibility though with soccer practice, ballet recitals, and a long list of other things we have to do on a daily basis. When you can't eat right taking taking supplements is an easy way to make sure your body gets the vitamins and minerals it needs.

Besides taking daily vitamins a great supplement that you should take is whey protein. Whey protein helps to maintain a healthy immune system and also helps with your digestive health. It is also great for those who exercise and work out regularly.

When it comes to supplements what you need depends upon you and your lifestyle, but since we all can eat properly all the time supplements, including vitamins and whey protein, are a great way to protect and improve your health by giving your body what it is lacking in your diet.

Frugal Family Fun Blog is having a great contest where one lucky winner will win a SUPER FUN Summer Prize Pack a wide range of products your kids will not only love, but will also keep them super happy busy this summer. To check out and enter this contest simply click the link in this post. Good luck to all those enter!

Getting married is a magical time is a persons life, but as life goes it can sometimes be unexpected. Things can happen that cause this magical time to be canceled or postponed. Because life is unexpected and it doesn't halt just because you are getting married wedding insurance is a great way to protect all that money you invested into your wedding.

Let's face it weddings are expensive and what happens if something happens that your wedding has to be postponed or canceled? That's where wedding insurance comes in. Basically wedding insurance is like any other type of insurance, but it is for your wedding. There are many different types of wedding insurance packages that you can purchase, but basically what they do is protect the money you invested into your wedding in case of many various reasons such as death of a wedding party member, your cater went bankrupt, or the venue closed down.

You can find out more about wedding insurance, the cost and exactly what it covers by going to www.my-weddinginsurance.co.uk.

Your home says a lot about you and who you are. Because of this you want your home to not only reflex your style, but also what it says about you as a person. Your furniture plays a key role in this. Take your dining room furniture for example, depending upon your style and the style of your home you may want your dining room furniture to say different things. If you want your dining room to reflect a formal atmosphere then you want more of a classic dining room furniture set, but if you want a more cozy atmosphere then you might want something a little more casual.

Now just because most people don't see your bedroom doesn't mean you should neglect your bedroom furniture. Your bedroom is a very important room in your home and because of this your bedroom furniture is also very important. You want your bedroom to be your haven. It should not only compliment your style, but also help to create a peaceful atmosphere.

Your home is basically who you are and you want your furniture, whether it be your dining room furniture or your bedroom furniture to express who you are.

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty.


Ever since the kids saw the movie Princess And The Frog every time they see two frogs together in the pond they think it's Prince Naveen and Tiana. They even try to catch them. I'm actually surprised how quick the frogs are getting away from the kids, because those kids are fast and they don't give up easily. I wish I had the energy those kids have, but since I don't I'll just stick to my fat burners.

All us mothers know who precious sleep is. Mothers often tend not to get enough sleep due to sick children, worrying about our children, and stress. The fact that we don't get enough sleep is an important reason that when we are able to get some sleep that you have a good mattress.

Why bother even going to bed if your mattress makes it impossible for you to sleep. Spending the night tossing and turning on a hard and lumpy mattress is worse then getting no sleep at all.

One of the most popular and best mattress out there is a memory foam mattress. Memory foam mattresses contours to the body so that you are as snug as a bug. They also have other great aspects that include providing good circulation and they are dust mite resistant.

Getting a good nights rest is very important to everyone, but even more important to us moms as we take care of not only ourselves, but also our precious children.

Have you ever heard of Venetian Masks? Venetian masks have a long and wondrous history and today are still used in Mardi Gras, masquerade balls, and as collectibles.

I found this great website called www.1001VenetianMasks.com that has an amazing collection of Venetian masks in a wide range of categories. All masks are made by Master Artisans and are 100% authentic, not factory made by a machine. They also guarantee that the masks will arrive to you in perfect condition or they will send you a replacement mask ASAP.

If you are going to a Mardi Gras, a masked ball, or simply looking to increase your collection of Venetian masks then www.1001VenetianMasks.com is a great place to find exactly what you want.



This post was brought to you by your friends at www.1001VenetianMasks.com. Click here for my disclosure policy.

We recently received a new Wii game, much to the delight of my video game fanatics, called Vacation Isle Beach Party.
The thing I love best about video games like this is that they are an active video game meaning you don't just sit there staring at the screen, you get up and move. It is not only fun for the kids, but me and my husband really enjoyed playing it as well. Vacation Isle Beach Party is a fun way for the family to play together.

Vacation Isle Beach Party starts off where you create your own character, and then the real fun begins! You can choose from a variety of different activities to play that includes water skiing, wake boarding, hula dancing, jet skiing, and much more. Vacation Isle Beach Party is Wii Balance Board compatible, but you can still play it without one. We don't have one and still enjoyed the game immensely.

Fact Sheet -

RELEASE DATE: June 2010

PUBLISHER: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

DEVELOPER: FarSight Studios

ESRB RATING: E for Everyone

GENRE: Party Game

PLATFORMS: Wii

PLAYERS: 1-4

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:

In Vacation Isle: Beach Party, up to four players can compete in eight unique vacation-style games, ranging from wakeboarding to surfing and even fire dancing. Players take on these exciting sports challenges and other activities using the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuck, with an option to use the Wii Balance Board accessory for a more engaging experience.

Developed by FarSight Studios, creator of the highly successful Game Party series, Vacation Isle: Beach Party keeps the party going by letting families and friends compete in exciting land or sea-based activities. Along the way, players collect hundreds of Sand Dollars that can be used to purchase a wide variety of sports accessories and beach gear from the Surf Shack to uniquely personalize their Vacation Isle avatar.

Vacation Isle: Beach Party delivers fun player customization; a wide variety of difficulty settings and a multitude of course options. Catering to the young or the young-at-heart, and families looking for a fresh new game to play together on game night, Vacation Isle: Beach Party is the perfect destination for everyone from the casual to the most competitive beachgoers right in the comfort of their home.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Full Body Motion: Jump, shake and spin your way to victory using just the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuck, or add in the Wii Balance Board to get your entire body in motion. Either option allows players to fully experience all the vacation fun.

• Customizable Avatars: Create your own vacation persona using the game’s customizable avatar feature. With a variety of unique character profiles, you can select and accessorize a character that truly fits your vacation style.

• Exciting Island Events: Choose from eight exotic games: Slalom Skiing, Wake Boarding, Surfing, Stand Up Paddling, Ski Jump, Stunt Park and Hula and Fire Dancing. Each game is filled with obstacles, fun challenges and awesome awards.

• Accessible Fun: Adjustable difficulty settings help balance the fun for players of all skill levels. Even the tiniest beachgoers can join in the fun with the game’s easy pick up and play features.

• Enchanting Environments: Set on a fictional island, the unique and lush sceneries will surely set the mood for family vacation fun.

My overall review of Vacation Isle Beach Party is that it is a fun game with a lot of different things you can do in it and the price is amazing! You can purchase this game for about $20 online at Wal-Mart and Amazon. You can also check your local retail and video store for availability.


The product in this review was given to me free of charge for testing and review. My review and opinions are not influenced by this or any source, they are my honest opinion of the product. No other form of compensation has been given. I am not responsible for the statements made by the sponsoring companies or it's affiliates. Click here for my disclosure policy.

A great way to spruce up the look of your home in the summer is to use window flower boxes. Not only do they spruce up the look of your home, they are also a way you can enjoy your favorite flowers all summer long. A great way to use window boxes is to coordinate them with the style of your house. You can match the color and or style of them to your home or simply match the color of the flowers you put in them with your home.

I have a friend who makes great use of her window boxes all year long. During the Spring and Summer she puts flowers in them. During the Christmas she puts greening and Christmas decorations in them. During the Fall she puts colored leaves and small pumpkins in them. She constantly gets compliments about how pretty and creative her window boxes are.

Just because you don't have a large yard doesn't mean you can't have flowers and just because you have flowers in your yard doesn't mean you have to stop there. By using window plant boxes beneath your windows and on your deck railings you can improve the look of your home and enjoy the beauty of flowers.


This post was brought to you by your friends at www.windowboxplanters.com.

Summertime means one thing, barbecue time! My family loves barbecue as you can tell in this picture of a side of ribs we recently barbecued.


One thing I love about barbecuing is the fact that it means cooking outdoors instead of inside. The kitchen gets so hot when you cook inside during the summer so I prefer to do a lot of barbecuing. Barbecuing also means less pots and pans to wash which is another good thing to us moms.

We recently got some Bob Evans Wildfire Barbecue Sauce to try and since my family considers themselves barbecue connoisseurs they were excited to try it out. The whole family loved it, which kinda surprised me a little because my daughter likes the sweet barbecue sauce and my husband prefers the spicy barbecue sauce. The Bob Evans Wildfire Barbecue Sauce is a perfect mix of sweet and spicy and now I don't have to buy two different kinds of barbecue sauce, one for my daughter and one for my husband, all I have to do is use Bob Evans Wildfire Barbecue Sauce.

I think most of you know about Bob Evans restaurant and products, but for those of you who don't know about them you can find more information by going to Bob Evans website where they have everything from their restaurant menu list, restaurant locations, product list, recipes, gift cards, ordering online, and information about the company and their farms. Bob Evans also has a Bob Evans Facebook page were you can become a fan of and get some great coupons to use. Currently they have a coupon you can download and print for a free kids meal when you purchase a Bob-B-Q meal.

The next time you barbecue why not try some Bob Evans Wildfire Barbecue Sauce, my family loved it! Bob Evans Wildfire Barbecue Sauce is available at all Bob Evans Restaurants and many local grocery stores.


The product in this review was given to me free of charge for testing and review. My review and opinions are not influenced by this or any source, they are my honest opinion of the product. No other form of compensation has been given. I am not responsible for the statements made by the sponsoring companies or it's affiliates. Click here for my disclosure policy.

Being a mother during summer vacation means trying to find things to keep your kids busy. A great way to do that is taking them out to the park, the beach, and the zoo, but don't forget about taking your children to concerts and plays. Finding tickets to these events can sometimes be a hassle though. I do have a solution for you that will make getting IZOD CENTER TICKETS and to many other places much easier.

The website ACheapSeat.com is a great way to get the tickets you want whether it be JONES BEACH THEATRE TICKETS, or even if you are planning ahead for the holidays Radio City Christmas Spectacular Tickets. All you have to do is go to the website and select which city you want and a list of events come up. You then select your event and purchase your ticket online through the website. It's a stress free way to get the tickets to the events you want to see.


This post was brought to you by your friends at www.acheapseat.com.

Remember the good ole days of VCR tapes when the only thing you had to worry about was the VCR eating the tape. Now with DVD's it's scratches that you have to worry about and it seems that they get scratched so easily, especially the kids DVD's because they aren't as careful handling them as adults are. Unfortunately you can't get NC short term health insurance on DVD's so you have to constantly replace the DVD's.

My husband brought home Scratch Be Gone to see if we can try and save some of the DVD's and I was amazed to find out that it worked great! It's kinda like a grease pencil. You simply color over the scratches with the Scratch Be Gone pencil and gently wipe it clean. It works great on DVD's and I have even used it on video game discs as well. It is definitely worth the couple of dollars it costs to buy one.

Keeping our children safe is a parents main priority. This involves a lot of things, but the one main thing we can do to keep our children safe is making sure they are properly secured in a vehicle. In Canada it is law in all the provinces and territories that children under the age of 8 must be secured in a car seat or booster seat according to their age and weight.

One of the biggest mistakes parents make is taking their children out of a booster seat too early. The law requires children to be in a booster seat until one of the following criteria is met:

• child turns eight years old
• child weighs 36 kg (80 lb.)
• child is 145 cm (4 feet-9 inches) tall

Keeping our children safe is something we all parents try to do. We don't let them talk to strangers. We teach them to look both ways when they cross the road. We even buy life insurance so that if anything happens to us the children will be taken care of. Since we do all these things and many more to keep them safe don't endanger their lives by taking them out of a booster seat too early.

For more information about children car seat and booster seat safety go to www.tc.gc.ca.

Have you ever heard of a reverse mortgage? I have, but I was never quite sure what one was, or what the difference between a reverse mortgage and a regular mortgage was. I decide to do a little research about the subject and I was surprised to find out exactly what it was and how easily to understand the difference between the two was.

Basically, a reverse mortgage, often referred to as a HECM, is a way to borrow money against your home, but it is totally different from a regular mortgage. A regular mortgage means you borrow money against your home and every month you have a mortgage payment to make. Your payments all depends upon the amount of money your borrow, the value of your home, the interest rate, and the length of time you require the mortgage for. In comparison how reverse mortgages work are totally different then a regular mortgage. In a reverse mortgage you still borrow money against your home, but you do not have a monthly payment to make. Sounds good right, but you still have to repay this reverse mortgage. You simply do not have to pay it off until you either sell your house, you no longer use it as your primary residence for a period of 12 months, or you pass away and your estate is responsible for paying off the reverse mortgage. Your estate simply has to sell your home and use the proceeds to pay off the reverse mortgage.

So what's the difference between a home equity loan vs hecm loan? Basically a home equity loan is a second mortgage where there is monthly payment is required. Both a home equity loan and a reverse mortgage uses the equity in your home as collateral against the loan and fees, insurance, and interest rates are applied to the loans.

So what are the PRO'S and CON'S of a reverse mortgage?

CON'S -

• Only available to those aged 62 and older.
• Very expensive loan including fees and insurance.
• If you decide to sell and move you must repay the reserve mortgage then.

PRO's -

• Seniors can enjoy their old age with the money.
• No monthly payments.
• Reverse mortgage money is tax free.

So is a reverse mortgage right for you? Well, that all depends upon you. You need to balance out all the PRO's and CON's and do some research. All I can say is that a reverse mortgage is a great way for seniors to enjoy their old age without having to worry about money and I hope my simplified explanation about reverse mortgages helped you to understand them a little better.

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty.


I found this lunar moth last week at the local community pool. We were there for a birthday party and this guy was just sitting on the deck of the pool. It was freaking the kids out so I gently picked him up and put him outside the pool area on the grass. The kids had a great time at the pool. I didn't go in though, I need a few more diet pills before I get into a swimsuit in public. My teen aged daughter did go in though and she watched the kids in the pool for me. I don't think it was much of a hardship for her as she loves swimming, but needless I thought it was sweet of her to volunteer to do it for me.

Having a vehicle means freedom, but it also means that there is upkeep. Doesn't it always seem that just as soon as you replace one part on your car something else needs replaced shortly thereafter. I just replaced the struts on my car and now I found out I need to replace the rotors and brake pads.

There is a place that can help you out with your car repair questions, RepairPal.com. They can answer all the questions you have about cars, whether it be about replacing a head gasket or simply looking for an honest review about Ford Explorer trucks.

I honestly didn't know what brake rotors were, but thanks to this website it explained what they were and what they do. This is a great website to check out if you have any questions about your car. They also can help you find a reputable repair shop whether you are looking for a Los Angeles auto repair shop or even one in Hawaii. Just because you are a woman doesn't mean you shouldn't have knowledge about your car and RepairPal.com can help answer those questions you have.


This post was brought to you by your friends at repairpal.com.

We did a lot of fishing on our vacation and this is one of my favorite photographs I took. It shows a pretty sky and my two beautiful children playing together. I think it is so wonderful when my teen aged daughter spends time with her little brother. The two of them went for a walk along the shore line while their father fished. I like this spot because not only is it good fishing for hubby and lots of places to explore for the kids, it has great cell phone reception so I was able to go online, check my email and I can even google hair loss treatment for women there if I wanted to.

I live where it snows a lot. On more than one occasion I've had to replace my mailbox because it was it hit the snowplow. Last winter was one of those years it was hit by the snowplow and my husband fixed it up enough to make due. He didn't replace it right away because we were worried about it getting hit again because it was still winter. Now that summer is here I think it's time to replace the banged up mail box with a new one and I've found the prefect website where they have a wide selection of beautiful high quality mail boxes to choose from.

Maliboxixchange.com not only carries a wide variety of Residential Mailboxes that go on a post at the end of your drive, and a variety of wall mount mailboxes, but they also carry a large selection of curbside decor products. Not only can you find a new mail box that is perfect for your home, you can also find some great curbside decor that will spruce up the outside look of your house as well.



Brought to you by your friends at www.mailboxixchange.com.

Today is the last day of my vacation. It went by so quickly! Doesn't it always seem to do that. New posts will resume tomorrow and I have some product reviews to tell you about. So be sure to check back and read all about these great products I have discovered.

Since it's the last day of my vacation I'm going to go outside and soak up some sun. Don't worry I have the best wrinkle cream so I'm not worried about the effects of the sun.