Hey Blog World:
I have had something on my mind for a long time.
Can you help me?
You can leave your comments,
or just take my POLL
---------------------------------------------------------->
Do you care about the chemicals that you clean your house with?
Do you think it matters/makes a difference?
Do you think the way you eat or take care of your body helps control disease and other things we can't control?
I care. I have a son with Autism, and I think this stuff makes a difference.
I have been working on it for some time. I was just wondering if you think about it too.
If so, what are YOU doing to make your house a better/safer/more healthy place?
Thanks.
Showing posts with label Burning Questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burning Questions. Show all posts
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Burning Questions- Day 3
Anyone having fun yet? I know the people who have entered my giveaway for the Trifle Bowl are! I will be choosing a winner on THURSDAY! So, just a few more days left to enter!
I have had a few more "burning questions" trickle in, and one had to do with my post from the other day about Jaxon, my child with Autism. This one came from my friend Jessica. (I have a LOT of Jessica's in my life) She reads my blog regularly, but only comments on Facebook. She more had an inquiry about WHAT to teach your children if they are in a situation where they have to interact with someone who is different.
Well, Jessica. FABULOUS inquiry. To be honest, I am not going to pretend that I am the be all/end all on the subject, but I know what I try to teach my own kids. Believe me, it is sometimes even hard for Abby to be nice to Jaxon.. So, I feel like I totally understand both sides of the situation for the most part.
I think the main thing is: be a good example, and answer children's questions honestly, but kindly. Let's say we are in the situation and Jaxon is at the park and he decides to get aggressive with your kid. OBVIOUSLY that is NOT OKAY! And I am NOT asking for a FREE PASS, because Jaxon still needs to learn that it is NOT OKAY to be that way with other kids.
First, hear me out, and try to understand the situation from Jaxon's perspective. Jaxon may have gotten aggressive because he is being, chased, taunted, excluded, or feels trapped. Once he got trapped in a slide and instead of saying, "Hey! Let me out!" He just started to attack kids until he got out. Other people were upset and rightfully so, I made Jaxon apologize, of course, but then explained that he was trapped in the slide and wanted to get out. Instead of going straight to using words, he gets aggressive, pushing and shoving in attempts to GET OUT.
You can tell your child, it was NOT OKAY for Jaxon to push, or hurt you. But, Jaxon doesn't always know that he is supposed to use his words to get help. Or, Jaxon doesn't always know what the right choice is. Or, Jaxon sometimes doesn't know how to control his body when he gets mad.
I hope that those kinds of explanations don't EXCUSE the behavior, but rather, EXPLAIN the situation and then the child is more apt to dealing with the situation the next time they might be there with Jaxon. They may even defend him, or say, 'HEY! LET HIM OUT!' Or offer whatever kind of help he might need.
He is QUIRKY, there is no doubt. Sometimes he even acts like a cartoon character, which makes kids laugh, or try to get him to do it again. Sometimes he can just get too wound up. Maybe an explanation to your child would be. EVERYONE is different. Jaxon is different too! He likes to express himself in different ways, and it may not always be LIKE YOU.
I think in general, this is a healthy way to describe someone else. They are different, and they are not LIKE YOU. This doesn't make them, BAD, or NOT FUN, or NOT YOUR FRIEND, it means they aren't YOU. But, we can still be nice to everyone and treat them nicely, even if they don't act like you, or, don't do the same things that you do. If they don't make the right choices it is because they are LEARNING, and maybe haven't learned it as well as YOU. This would be a good opportunity to focus on YOUR child's strengths and abilities and foster the ability to be of help to kids who don't do it as well as them! Say, "Hey! Next time, why don't you tell Jaxon that he needs to be nice to his friends! And ask him if he wants to play a different game that might make him more happy! He wants to have fun, but maybe next time you can show him that being nice is MORE fun." Communication is key.
That seemed like a long drawn out post, and may be over-simplified, but I hope it helps. The best thing to do as a parent might be to think, "How would I want MY child with special needs to be treated?" You might not have a child with special needs, but I am SURE you could understand how devastating it would be if you did, and how you would try every day to help that child out.
I have had a few more "burning questions" trickle in, and one had to do with my post from the other day about Jaxon, my child with Autism. This one came from my friend Jessica. (I have a LOT of Jessica's in my life) She reads my blog regularly, but only comments on Facebook. She more had an inquiry about WHAT to teach your children if they are in a situation where they have to interact with someone who is different.
Well, Jessica. FABULOUS inquiry. To be honest, I am not going to pretend that I am the be all/end all on the subject, but I know what I try to teach my own kids. Believe me, it is sometimes even hard for Abby to be nice to Jaxon.. So, I feel like I totally understand both sides of the situation for the most part.
I think the main thing is: be a good example, and answer children's questions honestly, but kindly. Let's say we are in the situation and Jaxon is at the park and he decides to get aggressive with your kid. OBVIOUSLY that is NOT OKAY! And I am NOT asking for a FREE PASS, because Jaxon still needs to learn that it is NOT OKAY to be that way with other kids.
First, hear me out, and try to understand the situation from Jaxon's perspective. Jaxon may have gotten aggressive because he is being, chased, taunted, excluded, or feels trapped. Once he got trapped in a slide and instead of saying, "Hey! Let me out!" He just started to attack kids until he got out. Other people were upset and rightfully so, I made Jaxon apologize, of course, but then explained that he was trapped in the slide and wanted to get out. Instead of going straight to using words, he gets aggressive, pushing and shoving in attempts to GET OUT.
You can tell your child, it was NOT OKAY for Jaxon to push, or hurt you. But, Jaxon doesn't always know that he is supposed to use his words to get help. Or, Jaxon doesn't always know what the right choice is. Or, Jaxon sometimes doesn't know how to control his body when he gets mad.
I hope that those kinds of explanations don't EXCUSE the behavior, but rather, EXPLAIN the situation and then the child is more apt to dealing with the situation the next time they might be there with Jaxon. They may even defend him, or say, 'HEY! LET HIM OUT!' Or offer whatever kind of help he might need.
He is QUIRKY, there is no doubt. Sometimes he even acts like a cartoon character, which makes kids laugh, or try to get him to do it again. Sometimes he can just get too wound up. Maybe an explanation to your child would be. EVERYONE is different. Jaxon is different too! He likes to express himself in different ways, and it may not always be LIKE YOU.
I think in general, this is a healthy way to describe someone else. They are different, and they are not LIKE YOU. This doesn't make them, BAD, or NOT FUN, or NOT YOUR FRIEND, it means they aren't YOU. But, we can still be nice to everyone and treat them nicely, even if they don't act like you, or, don't do the same things that you do. If they don't make the right choices it is because they are LEARNING, and maybe haven't learned it as well as YOU. This would be a good opportunity to focus on YOUR child's strengths and abilities and foster the ability to be of help to kids who don't do it as well as them! Say, "Hey! Next time, why don't you tell Jaxon that he needs to be nice to his friends! And ask him if he wants to play a different game that might make him more happy! He wants to have fun, but maybe next time you can show him that being nice is MORE fun." Communication is key.
That seemed like a long drawn out post, and may be over-simplified, but I hope it helps. The best thing to do as a parent might be to think, "How would I want MY child with special needs to be treated?" You might not have a child with special needs, but I am SURE you could understand how devastating it would be if you did, and how you would try every day to help that child out.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Burning Questions- DAY 2
Jessica asked my second "Burning Question" ---What are the top three things I have done to meet our budget requirements?
Well, the list is/was lengthy. Do I really have to keep it to three? Since it is my birthday, I am gonna say NO! :)
THE FIRST THING: I started doing was COUPONING! There was definitely a learning curve when it comes to couponing. First, I thought I had to pay for a service to tell me how to get the best deal out of my coupons. THEN I found www.grocerysmarts.com a wonderful FREE site that does pretty much the same thing. The information I found most helpful as to WHY you should coupon and HOW to coupon came from the short tutorial on www.couponmom.com. It didn't take long to read and it really made sense! AND was a compelling argument as to why you should coupon whether you need to or NOT.
I could go on and on about couponing, but, those are the biggest things about it.
Now, when I started couponing I felt pressure to run out and get EVERY SINGLE DEAL! But then I realized that I was probably not saving a whole lotta money. I had MORE for my money, but I definitely was not saving money. However, my pantry had never had more food storage. So, look at is this way: for the amount of money you are spending now, you could TOTALLY build your own food storage by couponing with the same amount of money you are spending now.
Since then, I have decided I save more money if I don't shop! Going to the gym has helped that predicament because now, I go to the gym, I come home, take a shower, it is lunch and then nap time and I don't even have time to go shop. I do. But it is less often now. Going to the gym I guess would be an expenditure, but Pampered Chef has covered that.
THE SECOND THING: I did was try to cut back bills or combine bills. I combined our cell phone and home phone bills, (probably saved $20). I cut back our cable, Internet and several other bills as well including re-analyzing insurance, which is a pain, but it did save us quite a bit of money. I think by the time I had analyzed all of our bills I saved us about $200. Not bad for a few minor adjustments. I also started doing some "secret shopping" which really deserves a post of it's own. But I find that a major money suck is "date night". However, date night is currently saving our marriage and our lives because the stress that is upon us is so severe that if we don't take the time to go out together we both really start to lose it. REALLY. So, we ask for gift cards for our birthdays and holidays so that we don't have to spend lots out of pocket, and buy the discounted movie tickets at Costco. When I started doing secret shopping we got to eat meals at places that we didn't need a gift card for. The snafu is: You have to buy your dinner, and they don't pay you for 30 days, or sometimes LONGER! If you do it every month, it starts to even out, but if you REALLY don't have it in your budget, it won't work. We can sneak it in and float till we get the money back. Consequently, we have had some GREAT dinners out of it! (Nice restaurants).
And the THIRD THING is: wait, I can't really think of a third thing. Really, between those TWO things: Couponing and re-evaluating bills I bet you could save about $500/month right off the top. Don't believe me? Give it a try. If you have additional questions about it, be sure to leave them here so I can answer them. Does anyone else have great budget saving ideas? If so, I want to hear them, and so does everyone else?
Just out of curiosity, what do YOU do Jessica?
Well, the list is/was lengthy. Do I really have to keep it to three? Since it is my birthday, I am gonna say NO! :)
THE FIRST THING: I started doing was COUPONING! There was definitely a learning curve when it comes to couponing. First, I thought I had to pay for a service to tell me how to get the best deal out of my coupons. THEN I found www.grocerysmarts.com a wonderful FREE site that does pretty much the same thing. The information I found most helpful as to WHY you should coupon and HOW to coupon came from the short tutorial on www.couponmom.com. It didn't take long to read and it really made sense! AND was a compelling argument as to why you should coupon whether you need to or NOT.
I could go on and on about couponing, but, those are the biggest things about it.
Now, when I started couponing I felt pressure to run out and get EVERY SINGLE DEAL! But then I realized that I was probably not saving a whole lotta money. I had MORE for my money, but I definitely was not saving money. However, my pantry had never had more food storage. So, look at is this way: for the amount of money you are spending now, you could TOTALLY build your own food storage by couponing with the same amount of money you are spending now.
Since then, I have decided I save more money if I don't shop! Going to the gym has helped that predicament because now, I go to the gym, I come home, take a shower, it is lunch and then nap time and I don't even have time to go shop. I do. But it is less often now. Going to the gym I guess would be an expenditure, but Pampered Chef has covered that.
THE SECOND THING: I did was try to cut back bills or combine bills. I combined our cell phone and home phone bills, (probably saved $20). I cut back our cable, Internet and several other bills as well including re-analyzing insurance, which is a pain, but it did save us quite a bit of money. I think by the time I had analyzed all of our bills I saved us about $200. Not bad for a few minor adjustments. I also started doing some "secret shopping" which really deserves a post of it's own. But I find that a major money suck is "date night". However, date night is currently saving our marriage and our lives because the stress that is upon us is so severe that if we don't take the time to go out together we both really start to lose it. REALLY. So, we ask for gift cards for our birthdays and holidays so that we don't have to spend lots out of pocket, and buy the discounted movie tickets at Costco. When I started doing secret shopping we got to eat meals at places that we didn't need a gift card for. The snafu is: You have to buy your dinner, and they don't pay you for 30 days, or sometimes LONGER! If you do it every month, it starts to even out, but if you REALLY don't have it in your budget, it won't work. We can sneak it in and float till we get the money back. Consequently, we have had some GREAT dinners out of it! (Nice restaurants).
And the THIRD THING is: wait, I can't really think of a third thing. Really, between those TWO things: Couponing and re-evaluating bills I bet you could save about $500/month right off the top. Don't believe me? Give it a try. If you have additional questions about it, be sure to leave them here so I can answer them. Does anyone else have great budget saving ideas? If so, I want to hear them, and so does everyone else?
Just out of curiosity, what do YOU do Jessica?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Burning Questions Week- Day 1
WOW! Your burning questions were so overwhelming! NOT. Either you think you already know all of my opinions, or you are boring. JUST KIDDING!
A little while ago I invited readers to ask their "burning questions". I always have one or two for the blogs I read. Especially if I have never met that person before. But, I did get a few, and maybe throughout this week, I will get a few more. But let's go back to the original post.
We will start with Leah's question. (Hi Leah! Love you!)
"My question...what are your thoughts about cosmetic procedures?! Botox? Face lifts?"
Here you have it Leah. I think that this has a very fine line. I have enough stretch marks and sags on this body to definitely NEED an intervention, that is FOR SURE! I recently got my Varicose Veins done in an outpatient procedure. (I totally have pix of the procedure, but never posted them) Remember the picture of them? This is where I wish I had photoshop, because I would draw a lovely circle around that big bruise like thing and say, "NOW GONE" and then I would draw little arrows to the tiny purple veins and say, "STILL THERE" and then I would draw little lines to the small incisions (oh wait, that would require a new pic) anyway, for all intents and purposes, I am EXTREMELY happy with the procedure (totally covered by insurance). NOW, all I have are those (stillnotverypretty) little lines and I am looking into getting them removed as well. (NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE- But possibly covered by PAMPERED CHEF) Anywho. . .
As far as touching the face, I would ask BURT REYNOLDS,
Little more sketchy on that end. I will do facials, facial peels MAYBE fillers (but the side effects and possible bad results scare me to death-- not totally convinced yet, but Courtney Cox looks pretty darn amazing for her age)
However, UNDER by clothes you better believe I am planning on a full tummy tuck and lift (You know where). I am doing my best right now to make it totally worth my time and money (Down 15 lbs!) But, I am not there yet. Once I get there, you better believe I will start saving my pennies. But don't tell me how much it is, I don't want to be discouraged.
What do YOU think about plastic surgery Leah? You definitely are the LAST person on my list who would need it, but, I am curious as to what YOU would do?
PS- Don't forget my GIVEAWAY ENTER BY MY BIRTHDAY on THURSDAY!
A little while ago I invited readers to ask their "burning questions". I always have one or two for the blogs I read. Especially if I have never met that person before. But, I did get a few, and maybe throughout this week, I will get a few more. But let's go back to the original post.
We will start with Leah's question. (Hi Leah! Love you!)
"My question...what are your thoughts about cosmetic procedures?! Botox? Face lifts?"
Here you have it Leah. I think that this has a very fine line. I have enough stretch marks and sags on this body to definitely NEED an intervention, that is FOR SURE! I recently got my Varicose Veins done in an outpatient procedure. (I totally have pix of the procedure, but never posted them) Remember the picture of them? This is where I wish I had photoshop, because I would draw a lovely circle around that big bruise like thing and say, "NOW GONE" and then I would draw little arrows to the tiny purple veins and say, "STILL THERE" and then I would draw little lines to the small incisions (oh wait, that would require a new pic) anyway, for all intents and purposes, I am EXTREMELY happy with the procedure (totally covered by insurance). NOW, all I have are those (stillnotverypretty) little lines and I am looking into getting them removed as well. (NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE- But possibly covered by PAMPERED CHEF) Anywho. . .
As far as touching the face, I would ask BURT REYNOLDS,
Little more sketchy on that end. I will do facials, facial peels MAYBE fillers (but the side effects and possible bad results scare me to death-- not totally convinced yet, but Courtney Cox looks pretty darn amazing for her age)
However, UNDER by clothes you better believe I am planning on a full tummy tuck and lift (You know where). I am doing my best right now to make it totally worth my time and money (Down 15 lbs!) But, I am not there yet. Once I get there, you better believe I will start saving my pennies. But don't tell me how much it is, I don't want to be discouraged.
What do YOU think about plastic surgery Leah? You definitely are the LAST person on my list who would need it, but, I am curious as to what YOU would do?
PS- Don't forget my GIVEAWAY ENTER BY MY BIRTHDAY on THURSDAY!
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