Tag Archives: holidays

thoughts

Holiday Ends – Stuff n’ Things

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Quick and Easy Back to School Shopping Tips

Here are the most common tips and tricks to make your back to school shopping an on-budget breeze.

1. Remember priorities

It’s easy to get caught up in everything your child could want or need for school. Remember that your priority as a parent is to buy what is on their school list and to send them to school in clothing and shoes that fit, everything else is a bonus.

It is not worth it to go into credit card debt for locker mirrors, the trendiest, brand-name shoes, or school supplies your kids simply don’t need. Before you go out and shop, set a spending goal that will cover the priorities and whatever bonus spending you can afford.

Don’t forget to include sports fees, doctor costs for physicals or immunizations, classroom parties, or any other items associated with school. I fully suggest checking out these cougar paper deals.

2. Compare online

Compare prices online before you leave your house. Wal-mart and Target fight over back to school dollars as well as many office supply stores. If you need pricey items like that scientific calculator, check Ebay, Craigslist, and Amazon too.

3. Print out coupons

If you know you will be going to Old Navy for clothes and Target for pencils, do a quick search online for store coupons. Retailmenot.com is a great place to look for online shopping while Savings.com is good for in-store shopping and sales information.

4. Group shop

All the kids in my neighborhood go to the same elementary. If you know other parents of children in the same grade, perhaps suggest splitting the list and sharing the load.

If might seem too much to comparison shop 40 items for your two children, but if you can get a group together, perhaps each parent can handle finding the best deal on only five items.

5. Keep your receipts

Perhaps you bought the wrong type of school paper, or those shoes start pinching your son’s feet. Make sure you can make an easy, no argument return by keeping your receipts.

6. Consider other stores

The Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, and Five Below might not come to mind when you are thinking of school supplies, but competition in these low-priced stores is fierce. These stores are also typically located next to a Target or Walmart.

Stop in here first and see what they have before going to other locations. If you find something cheaper elsewhere, you will be right next door and will have your receipt.

The Dollar Store and others are also a good place to buy very inexpensive little birthday presents needed for class parties and other invites throughout the year.

7. Stock-up

If you find an amazing deal on something your children need throughout the year, stock-up! Maybe there is a great deal on granola bar packs at the Dollar Store, or watercolors that your daughter loves.

Stock-up for a months worth of snacks or hours of painting time (and an easy birthday party gift) while you are out. Just remember your budget and stock up if only a truly great deal.

achievements, thoughts

Shake Your Bunny Maker is Slightly Creepy

Surround your Kids with Healthy Options at Home

Kids eat what is available and what they see adults eating. Surround your kids with healthy options at home and demonstrate good nutrition to encourage a lifetime of healthy eating. Healthy eating habits formed during childhood lead to a healthy life.-

Kids need different amounts of foods at different ages, genders and activity levels. Proper nutrition is key.

Parents can teach their children good eating habits by being positive role models in their own choices and by explaining to their children the importance of a balanced diet and how to choose healthy options from each food group. Learn about your child’s nutrition requirements.

Mother Involving her Daughter in Food Choices

Improve Your Family’s Nutrition Habits

Involve your Kids in Food Choices

  • Include your kids when planning the weekly family menu.
  • Look at your school’s website together to see what is being served, and decide if you will make breakfast and lunch at home or buy it at school.
  • Shop for groceries together. Make a list before you go to the store and only buy foods on the list. Once in the store, let your kids help you find items on the list. Read food labels out loud and talk about the choices you are making.
  • Invite your child to cook with you. They are more likely to try new foods if they’ve helped to prepare them.
  • Hold family tastings. Buy different brands of a healthy food (whole grain pasta, for example) and let family members decide what they like best. Check these best diet pills.

Snack Healthy

  • Healthy snack ideas include:
    • Fruits (sliced or cubed, applesauce or dried fruit without added sugar)
    • Vegetables and dips (try carrots and ranch dressing, celery sticks and peanut butter, snap peas with hummus)
    • Whole grains (pitas, tortillas, rice cakes, popcorn, granola)
    • Low-fat dairy foods (yogurt)
    • Nuts and trail mix
  • Give your child a variety of healthy options, so there is no wrong choice.

Reduce Sugar

  • Offer water, low-fat milk or 100% fruit juice instead of juice drinks, sports drinks or soda.
  • Do not give sweets or candy as a reward. Try nonfood rewards or family activities instead.

Watch Your Own Habits

  • Never skip meals, especially breakfast.
  • Avoid fast-food restaurants by planning meals and snacks in advance, before leaving home.
  • Eat only when you are hungry. Teach (and show) healthy alternatives to eating when bored, frustrated, anxious or sad. (Exercise, reading and working on a project are good options.)
  • Enjoy family meals together whenever possible.
screenshots

And Piggy Makes Three

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With Tawyn’s acquisition of Mr. Wiggles yesterday, she now possesses all three of the “old-world” Children’s Week minipets– Speedy being her first and Whiskers being her second. Because Childrens’ Week was the first ever in-game holiday I experienced (seriously, I was about level… 16?), this means I’ve officially headed into my third year of playing World of Warcraft.

wow_turtleonmybed

For those of you who have been playing a lot longer than I have, that’s probably nothing, but for me it’s sort of a “wow… crazy” moment, that I have now played for two full years and am headed into my third. Two years ago I was on my last week of university courses ever and I opted to install the demo version of the game knowing I could now safely play it without having to worry about being distracted from homework and various super-important projects. I rolled up Tawyn, the teal-haired hunter, who was supposed to be a tauren except that the person who got me into the game was Alliance so I had to follow suit. Two years later she is (perhaps astonishingly?) still very much my main, and I’ve made some of my current best friends in-game and become some sort of blogger. Weird, huh?

Happy birthday, Tawyn! And thanks to all my readers for letting my share my WoW experiences with you guys. <3

fun, movies

This Is What I'm Doing With My Film Degree

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Before you ask…

– The song is called “Bucket!” and I wrote it. A 100%-Pike creation I made in 2003 when screwing around with a program that was then called FruityLoops. The original movie of this that I made used the songs “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash and “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers but YouTube threw copyright notices in my face and disabled the music, so in protest I am using an original song that I’ve been sitting on for years, waiting for a good time to use it. I think it works well.

– Yes I know there’s easier methods to get this achievement. Not nearly so fun though!

– See the big shadows on the ground starting at 3:38? There are supposed to be buildings there. And people wonder why I eat flame walls… *mutters*

guides, how-tos

The Quickest Noblegarden Guide Ever

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1. Go to a level 5-ish “starter town”: Goldshire, Dolanaar, Razor Hill, Brill, etc.

2. Find eggs that are hidden around the town. On some low-pop servers people are running around grabbing eggs as they find them, on others people are camping egg spawn points which means you’ll probably have to also.

3. Open the eggs as you get them, inside you’ll get a lot of chocolate which you can use as currency and occasionally also some toys and items.

4. Visit the Noblegarden quartermaster (there is one in every aforementioned starter-town), any of the items you need for the achievement if you want it, and/or did not get inside eggs, are available to buy for chocolate.

5. ???

6. Profit!

—

I’ve written before about how I’m not really big into the holiday achievements partially because they are stressful (and thus, in my mind, counter to the point of having a holiday) and partially because I’ve already done them all before. However, with the new Noblegarden, I hadn’t done it before, so I went out and spent several hours yesterday collecting eggs. Not for the achievement and title, though I am definitely scooping up a few of the fun ones along the way… but because I can add more toys to my collection. My motto: one can never have too many toys and horror collectibles for one’s backpack.

Oh, and my toons look superfriggin’-cute with bunny ears.

[Insert screenshot here that I’d post if the realms weren’t down. Feel free to pretend it’s the greatest screenshot you’ve ever seen.]