That hard to buy for person solution

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of CAA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Well it's that time of year when we are all trying to find the perfect gifts for all those people on our lists. What do you get for that hard to buy for person that seems to have everything. An interesting option that really shows you car would be a CAA gift membership. Think about it a CAA membership is something everyone should have but a lot of people put off, it is a gift people would really apprecitate. Knowing you are protected on the road with roadside assistnace 24/7 for all 365. You can pick up a CAA Gift Membership for as low as $64 +GST and you'll also recieve a free CAA radio flashlight with your membership. Now when it comes to a CAA membership it's not just about roadside assistance you also get great discounts on things like Hotels, Restaurants, automotive parts, flowers and many more savings. The membership can easily pay for itself with the discounts that you will earn. It's always better to have protection and find you never need to use it than finding yourself not having protection and really needing it. So when you find yourself coming down to crunch time and you can't find that perfect gift, let it find you with the CAA Gift Membership.

Dreaming of a Warm Vacation

Now that I am working again I will be able to start saving up for that romantic trip that I have been wanting to take with my hubby. We have been waiting for our honeymoon for over 7 years and I would really like to save up and take us away somewhere warm and tropical so we can lay on the beach and frolic in the warm water, LOL. To start I began looking at Caribbean all inclusive family vacation to try and find a location that would suit our needs and fit the budget too. We are looking for some fantastic beaches with white sand and we were able to find some great options from Karisma Hotels, they offer a variety of settings and have all inclusive packages that can really help us stay on budget. They offer great dining experiences, along with superb service and spectacular accomadations to meet any demands you might have. If your looking for services everything you can imagine is available, wedding services, scuba experiences, fitness classes and many more mind blowing experiences await us as we plan for the trip of a lifetime.

A Christmas Compromise

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NESCAFE. All opinions are 100% mine.

Once and a while something really new and interesting comes onto the market that makes people take notice and really feel the need to add it to their home. My husband is a coffee junkie and occassionally in the summer on a hot day I will sample and Iced Cappuccino. We have been looking for ways to cut back on our spending and every little bit helps. Hubby generally picks up a specialty coffee from the local coffee shop on his way to work every morning at $2-$3 a shot it adds up over the course of the week. We have flirted with the idea of getting a coffee machine for the house but he still wants to be able to have his special drinks. We recently found the NESCAFE Dolce Gusto machine it makes 15 different beverages both hot and cold that can rival anything a coffee shop puts in a cup. I have selected the Candy Apple Red for him for this Christmas. I even found a contest that is open until December 20th that is rewarding Gusto Machines as prizes. The Gusto comes in 3 beautiful colors which include Candy Apple Red, Creamy White and Sophisticated Black. With a little luck I will be celebrating a big win right before Christmas but I will have to pick one up just in case I don't win to be sure to have one ready for Christmas morning.

My kids are destroying the house

Well not the whole house and not all the kids, it's just the 2 younger boys, they have discovered this horrible habit of picking the paint off the walls. It all started with their bedrooms and picking paint while laying in bed but I discovered today that it has moved onto my bathroom with big chuncks of paint now taken off the wall. I am looking on any advise or cause that anyone can think off.,..please help

Accounting and Financial Planning

In any successful business you need to have good planning and the most important part of any business is the financial end of things. Many business people have failed because of their financial planning but it doesn't have to be that way if you are not a financial expert you should invest in a good Las Vegas CPA. A Certified Professional Accountant can help you set up your finances, budgeting, business planning and cash flow. By having this assistance it will allow you to focus on your business first, ideally growing at the rate you would hope for. You can trust your CPA to help you with your tax requirements and many aspects of your business, you don't have to do it all alone so allow yourself to turn to a team like those at Kondleer, Chavez and Koch CPA and Business Consultants to help you.

Exhaution has set in

It finally hit me tonight, I knew it was coming I am finally out of energy and found myself falling asleep on the couch early in the night. I woke up but feel so run down I think I am going to finish this post nad had off to bed really help.

OMG Christmas in less then 3 months

I feel so far behind, normally we would have our Christmas list all ready and about 3/4's picked up. We have barely started getting any gifts yet, our list hasn't even been scribbled out let alone a clear plan. I am just wondering if everyone else is in this situation or not, I would love to hear about some of your plans on how to get ready and organized as we seem to be all out this year.

Creating a Spa Experience

You don't have to go to the spa to have a great Spa Experience, you can create your very own spa right in your own home with some help from Spa Shop Direct, they have all the latest and best spa accessories all at one great shop. You can select from the most luxourious towels, beautiful candles, and warm cozy blankets.

You can also find a great assortment of spa uniforms if you need to have comfortable uniforms for all day use they have a blend of bamboo fabric beauty uniforms. The uniforms come in a variety of styles and colors to match any desire.

You can create your very own spa or create a renewed vision for your spa business and save money and time with Spa Shop Direct. With same day shipping on all orders placed before 3pm you can count on recieving your order quickly. They can match whatever you need, salon uniforms towels or any accessorie to meet your need.

How do you kill a big tree stump?

We had this giant Apple tree in our back yard and we were thinking about taking it down as it simply dropped sooooooo many apples it made the yard useless. It would start dropping apples in June and would drop them until the end of October. The apples never matured enough to use so it was a real waste. Last week the trunk split and cracked so it made the choice easy it had to come down. We got it down fine but now we have this huge stump... how do we get rid of it, any suggestions?

Christmas planning

What is every young mans and dream, I think everyone of them goes through a stage in life that all they thing of is War Games and Camo Gear. For Christmas this year we are focusing on items the kids will acutally use. It is so frustrating watching items we bought never being use. Our oldest son is looking into airsoft rifle and accessories. I recently came accross a great website that will allow you to shop for different accessories they will want. Trinity will be home with us this week . I think next year she will start to get more demanding but for this years she is easy. I gave Jay the website and he has been going on everyday or two trying to find the best protests.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

We have been enjoying all the 3D movies that have been released lately and next week will give us another opportunity to take in a 3D movie. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs comes out on the 18th and it looks like it will be very funny from the previews that are available. The kids love to enjoy a yummy popcorn with a little dill pickle salt. I just heard there will be a new Shrek in the spring in 3d so that will be very exciting for everyone.

medical plan

When it comes to health care I would want to support anything that makes it easier for people to get through their treatments and be able to return to a normal lifestyle as soon as possible. This drug has been used exclusively to keep mobility and such on tap. We typically don't agree with using drugs but perhaps we need to consider there is a 2nd alternative to help people deal with the pain and suffering they have to put up with everyday. It has become very common to see Medical Marijuana used to eleviate paitients results. It is still important to allow you medical professional determin what the best coursce of action would be before self medicating.

Drive I want to take a break

We went to do some visiting last weekend and we had a great time, on the way there the dogs were getting a bit bored so they joined us in the front seat of the van. Breigh spent all her time sniffing at the air units, she must have been tracking here way home in case we get seperated. They were hilarious for a while until they wanted to go cuddle up with the kids

Back off Buddy

We are having a great time having 2 dogs, we weren't sure whether it was a good idea or not but thought it would be good for Breigh to have a companion. At first they didn't get along too well but they grew on each other after a while. They still occasionally have their moments like this one where they don't want to be near each other but most of the time they are trying to figure out how to both crawl into the tiny dog bed that we have.

Warm vacation destination

We are in the final stages of planning our first major family vacation and we are looking forward to spending the adventure together next summer. Once this trip is done we are going to plan a trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We missed out on our honey moon and want to make up for it by heading somewhere tropical. We have been looking at the line of Karisma Hotels along the Riviera Maya. The Hotels offers a choice of 5 different resort options all featuring beautiful white sand and warm days. The different vacation options allow us to enjoy an all inclusive option so we can enjoy our vacation and not worrying about meals and other things. It will be so exciting to get away just the two of us so we can enjoy some quality time together as husband and wife.

The ugly truth

My husband and I went out to a movie together the other night and I have to admit it is the first time we went to an grown up movie together since we first got together 10 years ago. It was nice to get out without the kids for a change and spend some time together as a couple. We will have to try and do this more often, perhaps once a month at least.

BTS in style

It's almost time to start back to school shopping for the kids, it's always fun to take each of the kids out to find them their supplies, sneakers and new clothes. This year my baby is heading off to school which means another one to get ready. When you add it all up we will be shopping for 12 pairs of sneakers to get them back to school. They need to have a pair of outdoor, indoor and gym sneakers each. It will be fun getting them ready and then I'll have the empty nest.

Monaco Gold Coin Experts

With the busy lifestyle we all live it can be tough to find time to watch our investments as much as we should. To help build and protect your coin investment, it can be very helpful to have a trained coin dealer available to help you with your investment choices. The experts at Monaco are available to help you with your investment choices. Monaco stands behind it's recommendations and while you are talking to their representatives you can ask them for a free trial subscription to "The Rare Coin Insider" to give you valuable information. Your representative can also keep you up to date with all the latest breaking news and rare coin opportunities as they are released.

The countdown is on

It is less than 2 weeks before my getaway to NY with my daughter. We have been planning this trip with her Dance Troupe since last September and while it once seemed so far away it is now coming up quickly. We have everything organized and ready to go except packing some clothes. We had a girl shopping trip the other day and had some funny events, the afternoon was her time and the evening was my shopping time. While I had a room full of clothes in the changing room I got kicked out of the store as it was closing. OOOPs, luckily they were nice enough to hold them for me till the next day. We than went to another store that was open later and while I was in the changing room trying on Bra's the power went out in the store and we had to leave again with no shopping done. I managed to get everything the next day so all was well.

Stay tuned: Here he comes

We are heading home to get our new puppy, we have picked out the name and he will be "Riley". Breigh wasn't so sure about him when we went to see him a couple of weeks ago so we are hoping she will warm up to him over the weekend. I will post new pictures as soon as I get them loaded up to the computer.

Medical Supplies Online

Shopping online has become viable for almost any category of merchandise. It is an extreamly useful tool for people to use that are time starved or those that are unable to travel out of the home to do their shopping. A great site that I recently found is called allegromedical.com, this site offers a broad assortment of products from diabetic to medical supplies. If you are searching for products like a wheelchair cushion you can find the best assortment online to satisfy your needs. By visiting Allegromedical.com you can sign up for the Free Allegro eCatalog so you can take advantage of limited time specialties

My Heart is melting

Here is our new little puppy that we visited for the weekend, he will be coming home with us in a few weeks and we are eagerly anticipating his arrival. I love this picture of him, he is so tiny and so cute all at the same time. Breigh was a little put out by him at first but by the end of the weekend she was warming up to him pretty good.

Happy 'B' Day Birdie

The kids aunt came down to visit us this weekend and as it was here birthday we went out to a special dinner at "Jungle Jim's" restaurant. We had a great meal filled with some tasty food and great laughs. It was fun to get together with her on a special B day.

Continuing Education

I always wanted to continue my education after high school but with the demands of motherhood I found it very difficult to commit to a university program. I recently found an online university program designed to help people with time contraints or legistic problems obtain the degree they desire. Capella University has been the leading provider of online degree
programs since 1993 and is currently serving over 20,000 students achieve their dreams on a daily basis. Their programs reach all over the World with students from all 50 states and over 45 other countries. You can achieve the education you have always wanted take a few moments to checkout what Capella has to offer for you.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Water Fun

It was hot Friday adn the kids thought it would be a good idea to get out the hose out and soak each other down. The dog wan't too impressed about water and spent most of the afternoon hiding in the bush. They decided to get Grandpa a new hose to replace his that was leaking terribly

Happy Canada Day!

What will you be doing to celebrate Canada Day this year? It appears that it will be rainy in our area this year so we will have to find some different ideas to keep us busy. Perhaps we will take in a movie at the theatre and have a meal out at one of the kids favorite restaurants. The fire works celebration will be cancelled because of the weather so we won't be missing those.

Planning Vacations

I have always feel like my husband and I missed out by taking our honeymoon as a family vacation instead of romantic adventure. We certainly enjoyed our time together with family and we are at a stage in life that we are taking time to vacation. We are planning a couple of vacations over the next couple of years, one will be a family adventure but one will also be that special vacation for just me and my husband. When looking for vacation options we discovered the Karisma line of hotels that offers vacation destinations for both Adult and Family Plans. The hotels are located on the gorgoes Riviera Maya in Mexico and provide a full range of eminities that you would expect.

Flying High

The kids pulled kites out of the basement before we went away and took them to Grandma/Grandpa's house to fly. They were lucky there was a little bit of wind so they could get them up in the air. They had a blast flying these for almost and hour, the kites met an untimely death by doggy so I had to toss them out in the end.

...And here he is

The main point of our journey home was to see the new batch of beagle puppies and to select our new pup. We picked out a beautiful male and named him "Riley", he is all black down his back and his legs and tail are all white. We will have to wait a few more weeks before he is ready to leave mother but it was nice to get to meet him and spend some time with him.

Baby Shower Excitement

If you are searching for the perfect gift for an upcoming babyshower you should take the time to look online at the great assortment of personalized baby gifts from the awesome website babynest.com. They pride themselves on offering the best assortment of baby gifts available in a user friendly environment. As you browse the site you can decide what catagory to search through. If you are on a budget you can search by price range, if you are looking for gifts specifically for a boy or a girl you can search that way to save yourself time. To save you even more you can sign up for specials and get a coupon for 10% off.

Don't be leaving me behind

I was packing the other night and had all the kids suitcases opened up on the floor for Matt to finish packing up the last few things. He walked in Breigh curled up in one of the suitcases almost as to say "Don't leave me behind please." Now of course we would never dream of leaving our baby girl behind, especially as we were on our way to meet her new brothers and sisters and pick out a new puppy for the house. Stay Tuned<

Making a pit stop

We were on our way home this weekend and about 1/2 way through our drive 2 1/2 hours into the trip our dog decided to go a bit crazy. She became very restless and started moving between the front and back of the van. She would come to the front and sniff at the air vents then move back to the kids. We decided to pull over and give her a pit stop but this didn't do anything for her, as soon as we got back on the road she started again. We finally figured it out, there was a bag of her treats laying on the floor opened and the AC was pulling the smell up from the floor and through the air vents. It was very subtle that we didn't notice the smell but it sure didn't get by her.

Having some fun

Your never to old to have a little fun, while visiting this past weekend we took the kids to the park to burn off a little energy. Jay was a little hesitant on going with us, he is 13 now after all, the park is for kids. After a couple of minutes there hanging with the Adults he couldn't help himself and he was off onto the swings and climbing around with all the other kids and even joined in on a game of tag around the park before we left.

Christmas Shopping Early

I have been trying to get ready for Christmas early this year and have been doing a lot of shopping online to save time with my busy schedule. With my job at the call centre I have been working a lot and we are allowed to surf the Internet which allows me to do shopping. I recently discovered an online jewelery store that offers all kinds of assortment, colors and styles at really affordable prices. I am looking to purchase costume jewelry rings and ear rings for my Mother and my Mother in Law. They are hard to buy for, but they both enjoy accessorizing their outfits. I am excited to be able to get my shopping done early and right now the site is offering free shipping on my order because it is over $85. I can't wait to see the "Wow" in their eyes when they open the beautiful gifts that I choose.

Getting ready for the show

Sunday Afternoon was a great time with Blake as he got to do his first dance show, he was very upset last year when the kids did their dance show and he wasn't allowed to. He had his awesome red shirt on to match his girls, he had a great time and one of the most touching moments was when he came out and passed a flower to each of the girls. I loved seeing him on stage trying his hardest to keep all the girls together, it was a lot of fun.

One Happy Shopper

My parents were up for a visit over the weekend for the kids dance shows and while we were taking a break from the action we popped into the local Walmart to pick up a few things. When we entered there was a bunch of patio sets and of course Dad being Dad already started fooling around with the shoppers. He sat down and pretended to drink for a cup and read from a flyer that was on the table. He tried to place and order for food with a staff member walking by and managed to get some laughs from the other customers that were passing by.

And the winner is

My son had his award night at his school last night and the event was by special invitation only so when he got the invitation you knew it would be good. His first award was the award for having Honors for the year, the second award was for high mark in Phys. Ed and finally the capper was this beautiful plaque which was awarded for the student with the highest average overall for each class. He was pretty excited to get this award and we were very excited to see him have such a strong year after he struggled in Grade 6. Hopefully this is just a sign of things to come and we will be able to get us invited to many more award nights.

Shaking up some fun!

With working every night until 1am I have been finding it a bit more challenging to keep things running around the house. Hubby has done a great job with picking up the slack but he has to work on developing his cooking options for the kids. We have been looking for products to save us time, money and effort. We recently found a new type of product from Dr. Oetker. They have created a line of "Shaker" products that the kids love. The Shaker product is basically a mix that comes in a container, you just have to add milk or water depending on what type you have and shake it up in the container it comes in. Once you have shaken it up you pour it into your pan and bake it up. There are great flavors of muffins that everyone in the family loves, our favorites are the blueberry and chocolate chip. They are easy to make and hubby can make them in just a few minutes in the morning and have hot, delicious muffins ready for the kids to eat. For another breakfast alternative there is the pancake shaker mix, just turn on the griddle and shake up the mix, what a great time saver in the morning. The kids love fresh hot pancakes in the morning, normally they would have to wait until the weekend for one of us to have the time to make them but with the "shaker" it's easy to have these in just a couple of minutes. Now by far I would have to say the favorite "shaker" product is the cupcake mixes, there is chocolate and vanilla flavors and just to go "crazy" once in a while we will mix two containers together for super marble cupcakes. A container of frosting is always ready to go in the fridge for those special treat times we decide to shake up some cupcakes. Right now there is a contest you can enter everyday for a $1200 Visa for your next family fun trip or you could win a secondary prize of 1 of 10 Dr. Oetker Shaker fun packs.

My boy the teenager

It is an event 13 years in the making, my oldest boy has turned 13 today and boy is he excited to be called a teenager. There is still some little boy left in him though, I recently took up crochet and made a blanket for my daughter, he thought it was cool and asked for an blankie of his own. With only a week to go before his birthday I busted my but and got it finished last night at midnight. He was pretty excited to see it this morning because he didn't even know that I started it. We took him out to lunch this afternoon and we will be off to the movies later tonight.

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The Manta Coaster

Coming soon is the latest attraction from SeaWorld "The Manta", Be one of the first to ride the new attraction. Interested in finding out more about the Manta check out the website at http://www.ridemanta.com to get your own "Front-of-the-line pass to Manta at SeaWorld Orlando.

Getting some ZZZ's

With working late into the nights I have found it difficult to get a good nights sleep. Getting home after 1am everynight and still needing to get up in the mornings for my youngest son, that doesn't go to school is difficult. Luckily my husbands gets the kids up in the morning and gets them off to school in the morning. I find it hard to get wound down in the evening after work so I am looking for something to relax me but I don't want to get into any sort of strong sleep aid because I don't want to be groogy in the mornings and I don't want to build a dependancy. With a little reserch I found the natural supplement called Kava, Kava. It is made from the kava root and is known for it's relaxation qualities and is used now as a sleep aid throughout North America. Thankfully a restful night sleep isn't far away.

I think it will be a boys night

The boys have been waiting for months for the release of the new Xmen: Wolverine movie. I think we will let the boys go to this one on their own, it's a bit too much action for us girls, perhaps we will go to Hannah or 17 Again instead while the boys do their movie. We will be sure to make a good night of it either way.

Moon sand

Have you ever bought moon sand for your kids, now let me say first it can be a bit messy if you don't keep an eye on them. It does clean up pretty good so that is a good thing. Now the best quality this has over the old fashion play doh is that it doesn't dry out, no matter how long it stays out. The kids have a great time molding and playing with the different colors that are available. They kids are looking for the ice cream factory, we saw it once and I should have got it but I didn't and we haven't seen it since, I know I'm a bad Mom.

Searching for Education

I have been considering upgrading my education for the last few years but it always seemed impossible to balance, work, the kids and school so I always put off school. There are now options for me with online college courses that allow me to get the education that I want while still making the commitments I have to the kids. Capella University is a fully accredited university currently serving over 24,000 students, many of which are pursuing masters or PhD degreees. Curently offering more than 100 graduate and under graduate courses and is serving people from all 50 states and over 45 countries. When you are looking for options to get the education you are looking for while still maintaining your current life Capella gives an option.

“This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.”

She's at it again

I woke up this morning and was expecting a quite day, unfortunetly the dog managed to sneek into the living room over night and chew the covering of the kids "Cars" chairs. This was a great little folding table and chair set that they used for snacks and crafts. It was the perfect size for the kids and now I will have to get the material to recover the chairs.Grrr dog you are pushing my last nerve.

Kids!

Does anyone have any tips on how to get kids to stop bickering, our kids seem to bicker from morning to night. I would even guess they probably bicker with each other in their dreams. It's difficult because the kids are all different ages and are all very strong willed. It would be great to be able to go through just one day without the arguing, name calling and fighting.

Making smart choices

My husband is planning on the freedom 50 plan, he wants to be able to retire when he gets to 50 years old. We are both working now which makes it a little easier to find money for investing with. The stock market has been very challanging lately with things going up and down like a yo-yo. We needed to look for options that will get us a decent return on our investment. We recently discovered an internet-based provider of tools that will help give us the information we need to make smart investments. The patented option screener technology will help you find, compare and analyze stock options, to come up with the best investment options for your needs.

The dog is on a quest

Our dog has gone on a quest this week, she is desperatly trying to find out how many things she can destroy this week. She has been chewing everything she can find, the remote for the TV found and untimely death early in the week. By mid week she had managed to eat my youngest son's green airplane, Diego's Helicoptor and a couple of socks. Now by the weekend she has demolished one of my slippers, the kids plastic fruit and a stuffed football. Outside she managed to dig up a bone from I don't know where and some branches from trees that we cut down... Err, My little princess.

The new open window

After the trees were cut down today I found a disturbing image, the window behind the dining room is completely rotton and falling apart. We will have to replace this window for sure this summer and will start shopping around for a new one after we get the front door fiasco fixed. I really love the open look of this corner now though, I have always hated that tree/bush as it was full of thorns and we were always getting caught on them.

Planning the big day.

It's funny how the marriage process works for most couples, us girls wait around for our man to make the romantic proposal. Then the work turns to us for the planning of the big event. Luckily now a days it is becoming more politically correct for men to help with the wedding planning too. It's an exciting time in any women's life to work with her friends and family to plan the perfect wedding. It can take a lot of work to get everything just right, if you don't want to hire a wedding planner to do all the work for you it's important to find locations that can do as many parts as possible to save time working with different companies. A website I found while helping a friend plan her wedding was a magnificant help. They were able to connect us with a lot of the things we needed for her nuptuals. They had tools that allowed her to plan things out from her budget planning. They had a gorgouse selection of wedding gowns that were absolutely spectacular. We were able to get all the accessories that were needed for the ring bearer, bridesmaids and groomsment. When it came to the reception there was a fantastic assortment of unique wedding favors, personalized items like napkins and Hershey kisses and even the topper for the cake. This type of one stop shop was a huge time saver when it came to planning her big day.

New Balls

The boys each got a new basketball to celebrate Spring with, I totally love each one of them. Jay got a Nite Brite Ball which glows in the dark, it is really cool and the neighborhood guys love to come over at dusk and play some hoops. Kohl's ball is so colorfull, with Blue, Red, Black and Grey. It has very unique coloring and lines and he really loves it. Kohl's ball is also Junior sized so he is able to get a hold of it easier and make his shot's.

Working it out

Now that I am working night shifts and my husband working days we are finding it harder to find time to get out and do the shopping we normally would do. We have turned to online shopping to try and save ourselves time and still be able to work together on what we buy. By shopping online either one of us can save items into our shopping cart and leave word for the other to look at the items. It can be a huge time saver to have a one stop shop site. For all our medical supply needs like daily living needs, exercise equipment, diabetic supplies for my FIL and some stop snoring aids for hubby who has been driving me crazy lately with the snoring. That has to stop one way or another....love you dear.

Living well with RA

Being diagnosed with Rhematoid Arthritis can certainly be a very scary experience, you find yourself with all sorts of questions. How will this effect me, what are the long term reprecussions of this diseasce etc. The best tool on combating and making a plan to make the most of this is through gathering as much knowledge as you can on the subject. Rheumatoid Arthritis basically is a disease that causes chronic inflamation of the joints and can certainly be very debilitating. When the disease is active it can cause me to be very tired and fatigued. Another symptom I suffer from is a lack of appetite at times (consider a good thing on the weight loss end), but it is usually accompanied with stiffness and significant joint pain. When suffering through this it can be very taxing emotionally as it basically takes the wind out of your sail and makes you feel very much trapped in a broken body. There is a lot of literature around these days, focusing on trying to live well with RA and tips on how to make the most of your treatment and your life while battling RA. The most common treatment I know of for RA is the drug called Celebrex, it has some benefits as it can be taken with low dose aspirin to help in the anti-inflamatory where other treatments can not. Celebrex can be dosed in different amounts depending on the severity and is determined by your doctor. For me when I am hearing or watching for different advertising I like to hear the positive that can be had out of treatments. I also appreciate seeing the advertisements being as informative as possible giving the side effects etc. Now if it was me that was creating an advertisement for living well with RA, my commercial would be about just that people with RA living their life as normal as possible everyday.

Bedtime Stories

We are planning on keeping Easter pretty simple for the kids this year, one of the things we are doing is getting them a new movie to watch. The kids love movie night, curling up at the end of a long day and getting out the popcorn and dill salt. For Easter we picked up a copy of the movie Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler. We went to see this at the theatre as a family and all the kids enjoyed the show. It will be nice to sit back and get all the laughs again one more time.

Home Depot Sucks

We have been trying to get a new front door on our house for almost a month. We went to our local Home Depot becuase we had a gift card to use and asked about the door and how we could get it installed by them. This was our first mistake they gave us a phone number and told us we had to make all the arrangements ourselves. We made the call and the guy came out to the house to give us the estimate to have the install done. When it came back a week later they said they couldn't make the arrangements and we would have to go back to the store to discuss it with them. We went back to the store, it's a half hour away by the way and they said they entered it wrong and would have to re-enter our information. Another week went by and we get a call and than an email from the installer, guess what the quote was, keep in mind the door is only $3oo, you'll never believe this one, $1600 to simply come to the house, remove the door and insert the new one. A job that would take a few hours is going to cost $1300. This forced another trip back into the Depot where we ended up talking to another rep. He couldn't believe the quote either and was sending it off to be reviewed. Here we go again, after waiting for 3 weeks, we are waiting again, I guess if we wait long enough we should be able to get it installed by Next Winter.

The tooth fiasco

The other day my young guy, Kohl came with an issue, he had a wiggly tooth that was bothering him. We had been waiting for this one to fall out for a while. The new tooth decided to grow up behind it so it wasn't really loosening up the old one. I left this with Hubby to deal with, he can be the expert in grouse stuff. My daughter and I went out to dance class and the boys went at it. It wasn't too long and I got the call that the tooth was out. Kohl was excited that he helped pull it out by pulling on dad's arm while he pulled. He said he was laughing and crying at the same time and he was very proud of himself. The tooth fairy arrived and left him $2 under his pillow which he snuck off to school with and bought some treats for recess.

Jewelery You'll Love

When looking to go shopping online for Jewelery I decided to do some research to find the best online retailer. What I found was the holsted jewelery company. They have been serving customers for over 35 years and pride themselves on offering unique products to their customers. They really want their customers to have true "wow" moments when they open up their new jewelery and want you to love your product. If you are not truly excited and love your new product you can return your purchase for a full refund with no questions asked. There offerings are unique and sold exclusively through holsted, you won't find their products at any store at any time. Take a look for yourself, you'll find something you will fall in love with.

The Easter Bunny

Only a week to go before the Easter Bunny arrives, what will he bring to drop off at your house? I think he is planning on keeping it light here at our house. There will be the traditional Easter egg hunt in the morning. That will be followed by a couple of small things, like some chocolate treats and some small toys to play with. It's always a fun day and this year we will take the kids to a movie to start a new tradition.

Girls Night

Tommorrow night I will be having a girls night for my daughter, we were away for her birthday so she needed to have some friends over for a get together. We are expecting a dozen little girls ready to have some fun. What would you do if you had a dozen 8-10 year old ladies to entertain. We have some crafts lined up as well as some wii and lot's of music and munchie foods. It should be a great time that were all looking forward to it.

All inclusive vacation package

Oh it is so time for us to get off on a family vacation, we have been so busy the last year and a half since we moved. Between getting the house renovated, getting the kids settled into school and activities. With me returning to the work force it has added to the fun of scheduling things. We haven't taken the kids on a get away family vacation ever and they are starting to get to the age that we feel they would really enjoy a trip. We all love the beach so much that we want to get to a resort with a beach and a lot of fun activities. We discovered the Karisma line of hotels, these resorts offer an all inclusive experience so all you have to worry about is having fun. They pride themselves on providing the best service there on your demand to make the experience the best it can be. We are planning on taking our trip next spring to give us time to save up a bit of money so we can really enjoy ourselves.

Vacation Time

It's time to go on a vacation. It has been 3 long months since we have been home for a visit with family. We are heading out tommorrow for 5 days of fun, visiting and catching up. We will be taking the kids to movies, local amusement park, dinners and of course a couple of birthday parties. It will be a bit of a challange with the dog as we will be taking her with us, luckily she is starting to feel a bit better from her surgery last week.

A new Bedroom

We have spent the last year renovating our home, we focused a lot of energy on taking an unfinished area of the house and turning it into our new master bedroom. My husband and I have done all the work on our own which makes it that much more exciting. We are now finishing up the final details of our bedroom with just a little molding left to go we are planning on finishing by next week. One of the big changes we will be making is purchasing a new bed, we have spent much of our shopping time checking out different designs of beds. We have checked out everything from metal frame to boxed frame but have really settled lately on a Contemporary bed. We really liked the modern design and lines of these beds and can't wait to get ours in place in our room and get it finished up by Spring.

Wonderful Memories

I can remember my wedding day just like it was yesterday what a wonderful day. My hubby and I pledged ourselves to each other forever and it was one of the most memorable days of our lives. Our ceremony took place in a garden and it was a beautiful day, the sun was shinning and there was only a slight wind. I can remember the beautiful wedding flowers and the scents they were releasing. Our reception also had lot's of flowers and it was one of the biggest organization parts to our wedding. I was helping my friend plan her wedding and we found there are actual places that you can order your flowers online and have them shipped direct from the flower growers farm. This saves you money as you are buying direct and allows you to get the freshest possible flowers possible by cutting down shipping time by having direct.

The Uniform

My son arrived home tonight with his new basket ball teams uniform jacket. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this jacket, and it looks great too. The boys did some fundraising in order to make up enough funds to get their new jackets and they arrived just in time for their basketball tournament this weekend, let's go get em boys.

Mom to be

Pregnancy is one of the most exciting times of a woman's life, it can also be one of the most emotional. There is so many changes going on throughout our bodies as we go through the stages of pregnacy. Hormones drive us crazy, we can get very emotional about almost anything from our hair, our ever changing body to even being prepared to the new life we are welcoming into our lives. Being more conscious of what we are putting on and in our bodies is very common for mom's to be. There is a fantastic line of beauty products created by Beaute de Maman which allows women to use certified safe beauty products during and after their pregnancy. The line of face & body creams, stretch mark creams and facial scrubs have all been studied and tested to be allergy safe and only contain natural and herbal ingredients. One of the best products for the expecting mother to be is the gift pack that contains stretch mark cream, nipple gel and facial scrub. This great pack includes free shipping to the mother to be's home. By checking out their site today you can also sign up for a very informative news letter for mom's to be authored by Dr. Michele Brown. Take some time to check out the great offers and order now.

Yuck!

I had a terrible couple of days, the other night I started feeling terrible while I was at work. I made it through the night and on my way out I knew I was in trouble, trying to act tough infront of my co-workers I rushed to my truck. Luckily there was a bag in the truck cause I got sick as soon as I got in the door. I have spend the last couple of days feeling terrible and yes, missing work. I am hoping to be able to get back to normal after another good night of sleep. Wish me luck.

How are we supposed to know what's safe

In the world we live in it is becoming increasingly scary to do anything. So often we hear about food contamination, drug reactions and many more things that seem safe when they start but turn out to not be so good for you after a while. Recently the FDA announced that the Drug once thought to be very useful in the treatment of Psoriasis, Raptiva may also be linked to a rare but often deadly brain infection called PML. This powerful drug has currently been linked to two deaths related to the treatment of Psoriasis. Not only has this link been made but Raptiva has also been linked to meningitis, anemia and other life threatening diseases. If you or a loved one has taken Raptiva and suffered from Raptiva PML you may have specific legal rights to compensation from the manufacturer of Raptiva. Raptiva was original approved by the FDA in 2003 for the treatment of Psoriasis which causes the development of thick red patches of skin on the surface of the skin. Psoriasis is associated with Diabetis, heart disease, and obesity. PML is a viral disease of the brain that is linked to many diseases. If you are interested in finding out more information about the Raptiva Side Effects feel free to click on the attached link. If you feel that you have suffered from taking this drug Raptiva in good faith find out what your rights are at http://www.youhaverights.com/dangerous-drugs/raptiva to see what you should do to get the compensation you deserve.

My darling puppy

With a day from heck, of course it had to continue on the home front too. It was a very hectic day with Dance in the morning for the boys, I had to get Trin's new glasses ordered in between classes and than after lunch at 1 Trin had to go to the mall to sell calendars as a fund raiser while by oldest had to be a basketball tournament. Hubby got off work early to help out with the calendars and get over to the last bball game. He got home and found chewed up pencils and a mop bucket overturned on the floor which the dog pulled the dirty water all over the place, what a mess for him to deal with after a long day. Anyway I now have to work late (till 1am ZZZZZZ) so I'm sure I'll be super exhausted when I get home, Sorry Hubby!

Shopping online

My father has been struggling to get out of the house to get his diabetic and medical supplies so we began to search for a company that could help with that situation. We were able to find allegromedical whom has established themselves as the industry leader in medical supplies online. He thinks it has been a great find as he can order his diabetic and ensure and get it shipped to almost any address. He even set up an automatic delivery option that will keep his items coming on a specific schedule. Allegro medical also offers an Ecataloge that is full of extra specials and usefull infomration. There systems are easy to use and navigate and he even finds it very easy to place orders

A new DVD Player

I'm pretty excited, I think the kids are probably even more so. We have a van and have had it for about 3 years and the best feature was the DVD player in it. When I bought my new SUV it was a big let down to not be able to use a DVD Player. We decided to get a new overhead DVD player installed, we went out shopping today and got a great deal on a 10" Kenwood DVD player. We are going over tommorrow to get it installed while getting some groceries. There will be many happy movie moments and peacefull drives to enjoy.

New SUV Shopping

I've spent a lot of time in recent months shopping for vehicals I have looked at every vehical out there and I would be tempted to say that the best looking SUV vehical that I found in all my searching was the Mercedes GLK. The GLK offers great style and comfort with hand stitched leather heated seats, the drivers seat also offers 3 memory positions so you can program your seating preferances. The media features of this SUV is incredible with a mp3 compatible stereo system featureing 8 speakers. Featuring for your safety this vehical comes equiped with a blue-tooth hands free system and Sirus Satelite Radio for your entertainment. For your interior comfort the GLK features dual air controls allowing both sides of the vehical to be heated or cooled independantly and also features an air conditioned glove box to store things in to keep cool. If your interest is peaked check out the great new site devoted especially to the GLK and all it's features. Dream big with the downloadable wallpapers that you could ad to your computer so you can day dream about this fantastic vehicle. Take a few minutes and start your journed into the most stylish vehicles on the market today. There is a great selection of pictures and videos to bring you closer and connect to the GLK.

Shiny Investment

When looking for investment grade metals you need to turn to the experts like Monex that have almost 40 years of expertise in helping bring sellers and investors together. As old as time itself the trade of gold coins has always been a steady investment choice. They have the contacts to get the highest quality coin even rare coins can be located by using their service. They regularly publish a reference guide to coin and metals called the "The Rare Coin Insider" in which they are offer a free trial subscription to give you all sorts of inside market information. This industry of investment can be a risky business with lots of small dealers your best option is to use the industry leader to protect your investment's quality and value.

Movie Night

Tonight I got to spend the evening watching Madagascar 2 with the kids, it was quite an adventure and full of laughs through the whole show. To add to the fun we got a 2 pack movie that also had an adventure with just the crazy little pack of Penguins. The kids had a great time, eating popcorn and getting a good laugh, lots of fun.

The Olympic Dream

It is now officially less than 1 year away, the 2010 Olympic Games coming to you from Vancouver BC. It is an opportunity for all of us Canadians to show their pride in their country and a super opportunity for us as a Country to show the benefits in our Country. There are many companies working together with the Olympic Athletes to ensure we have the best group of athletes we have ever sent to a games. The exciting lead up to the Olympics for Canadians is the Torch Relay that will bring the thrill of the Olympic torch to communities and citizens all over the country. The cool people at Coke are offering the opportunity to it's customers to nominate themselves or people they know for positions in the Torch Relay. All you have to do is visit ICoke.ca and nominate yourself, once your nominated you can visit back every day and try out the trivia questions to get yourself more opportunities. In May of 2009 the 6790 entrants will be randomly selected to move onto the next round of selection in which the entrants write a story about what Olympic life means to them. The stories will be reviewed by members of the Coke Red Ribbon Panel and selected entrants will get the opportunity of a lifetime. These are memories that will last a life time so why not take the opportunity to be part of the excitement.

Kitchen Dilema

We were out to the cabinet maker workshop today trying to decide what to do with our kitchen. We are in such a debate, I really what to change the color our our kitchen cabinets and definetly the doors which are very ugly and have the hinges on the outside. I want to go with a lighter color stain and change over to the inside cabinet hinges. The folks at the cabinet maker thought it might be better to paint the existing cabintes and get new manufactured doors to replace the old. I'm not sure if it would be too much white to have everything painted white with white appliances, but it would be considerably cheaper to do it this way for sure. Hubby will take on building me a couple of new cabinets at this point, I know he really loves doing these projects for me. Normally he does a good job and he knows I really do appreciate the effort he is putting into it. I'm sure whatever we decide to do it will turn out in the end and look great.

The big NY trip

My daughter and I are going on a trip with her dance school to New York this summer and the excitement sure is building around our hose. We are working to help co-ordinate the agenda while we are there and have been looking for information on line to help us with activity planning. The village voice is a great resource on all there is to do and see in New York including music, movies, theater and also provides a fantastic review of New York Restaurants to help us pick all the best spots to hit on our nights out. By using the site we can find restaurants that are in our budget using the price range features and also using the features menu we can sort to find all the kid friendly restaurants to make sure we have a great atmosphere for the girls while we are away. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's the Mom's or the kids that are more excited but I know one thing for sure we are all going to have a great time.

dAYTONA FUN

Hubby and the kids are excited to be watching the Daytona 500 today, they have been waiting for months since the season ended to get going again. I am working tonight so I will have to miss the race but that's all right with me. I enjoy listening to the cars running around the track...it let's me nap.

An all new TV Experience

My dad loves his toys and especially loves having a place everyone likes to hang out. For Christmas he decided with some gentle persuasion from his Mom that he needed to change his old TV over to a new Flat Screen that he could mount onto his wall of his rec-room. Now when it comes to tvs my dad would be sure to do his research before he bought anything and he spent a lot of time checking out all the different features, sizes, sound and price to be sure he got the best digital tv he could for his money. It's a pretty exciting experience now to enter the "theatre" zone where we get to watch all the latest movies and of course this weekend coming is the first Nascar race of the year where I'm sure Dad will have his lcd tv cranked up loud with his surround sound. When you decide it's time to go shopping be sure to take the time to do a good price comparison as you will find there are a wide difference in prices from retailer to retailer and brand to brand, take the time and be sure you get the best value for your money.

It's freezing

After a couple of warmer days, notice I say warmer as it was raining a lot, it has turned freezing cold again today. It all started last night when it turned cold after raining and everything turned to ice which made quite a mess on the roads. It apparently is going to start snowing over night tonight with a good storm coming for tonight and tomorrow morning. It's kind of nice because we are both off work tomorrow and will be able to enjoy a snow day home with the kids.

Thinking of the future

In a time when finances are tough I find myself at a crossroads where I think I should invest in my education so I can be more employable. I have a good job right now but if anything were to happen and my husband lose his job I would like to be able to support the family if need be. I have been thinking about finding a school mba program that will allow me to get my Master of Business Administration. To make things work I needed a flexible education program and was able to find an online program from Capella University. They offer a variety of degree programs and the great part is that it is all online so you can get your education from anywhere. They have been serving students in over 45 countries for the last 15 years.

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com

Babies at 60

I just heard on the news tonight about a woman that had a set of twin babies at 60 years of age. This was a medical miracle and I am awaiting the full story on this but it sounds as though she had the babies implanted. Is 60 too old to be having babies, that was the question posed at this point but really if you are a person that is full of love and in fair health why not allow them to have children.

Christmas Shopping Online

I found it was a difficult season shopping for Chrsitmas presents this year compared to previous years. I found going back to work made it very hard to find the time I am used to having to go out and shop the malls. I turned to Shopping Online which allows me to shop when it was convienient for me to do it. I was great to be able to shop when I got home after midnight.
For my kids it was a video game Christmas, my youngest got a Leapster, my next son got a vsmile motion, my daughter and oldest son got lot's of games for their systems. This year was a bit hard to shop for the Video Games they wanted. Every store I went to they were sold out of the games they wanted which made me turn to the online resources. The hardest title of all was Call of Duty which my oldest son wanted. With a little help from online shopping sites I was able to make this Christmas one of the best my families have had in years and they were all very excited with their gifts.

Take out Crisis

I have been trying to get back on track with my eating habits and we have re-introduced lot's of healthy foods back into the house, fruits, veggies, yogurts but I have certainly been struggling with take out cravings. It doesn't help that every fast food joint is sending out coupon booklets with lot's of great deals in it. Just yesterday I got offers from BK, MC'D's, KFC. It has been very difficult especially with working late into the evenings, when I come out I have to drive past all the fast food places on the way home and they call me as I go by. I am trying so hard to be strong and resist the urge but I have failed more than succeeded that last week.

Getting Active

Raising four children in today's society filled with video games, computers, TV and so many other sedimentary activities it is a difficult challenge to keep my kids active. Luckily I have been able to find ways to balance their lifestyles to be fairly active everyday at home and the schools have good systems in place to have the kids active in gym 3 days a week too. It's so very important to get our youth moving because as it is much easier for them to build an active lifestyle when they began young than trying to get active later in life. With the Olympic games coming up in Vancouver in 2010 there is a building movement to be more active. Initiatives like SOGO Active which is a project between Coca-Cola and participACTION designed to inspire the youth of our nation to get more active and healthy. ParticipACTION is the national voice of physical activity and sport participation in Canada and have years of expertise in developing programs to work with kids. The SOGO site is unique because it is allows Canadian Children to create and control their own physical activity plan. The basis of the SOGO initiative is to get established community organizations to provide support for the youth of our communities through access to facilities, equipment and guidance that youth need for their programs. By joining Sogo kids can have access to the entire site and by navigating and using the site they can get ideas that will work specific for their individual likes and personality. One of my favorites parts Sogo.com is the sections hi-lighting Olympic Athletes and their love of physical activity. By using examples of Olympic Athletes to inspire the children to get out and get active it shows kids that there are real people in their peer group that have gone onto much success in their chosen sport.

Packing up

I have been working on packing up my Christmas decorations for days, it sure takes me longer to pack things up than it does to put them out. I was pleasantly surprised at one thing, the dog never got into any of our decorations. I expected her to try and eat everything but really other than chewing up a Christmas blanket that my Mom gave to her anyway she didn't destroy anything. Hubby is off for the weekend so I think I will send him outside to take down the outside decorations.

The Bargain Hunter

I am what you might consider thrifty and I like to make the most of my budget. I'm all about saving money but still like to accessorise my wardrobe. I spend many hours shopping the malls for great accesories. Now that I'm working full time I don't have as much time to shop around so I have turned my time to shopping online to find all sorts of different things quickly. I found a great selection of Discount Jewelry from Holsted Jewelers. To my surprise what I found was a huge assortment of great quality pieces that any woman could use for any occasion. They have been in the business for over 30 years and have been delivering great products to millions of customers for years.

A New Year

Now that I am home from the Christmas/new year vacation it's time to get back on track with my weight. We went for groceries yesterday and have loaded the kitchen up with all sorts of good foods, fruits, veggies, yogurts and more good things to make up for all the bad stuff we've been eating the last few weeks. I am working on finding the motivation to get back on the treadmill and maybe even break out my new leg magic machine, wish me luck.

I've been away too long

I'm sorry to everyone on being away for so long, with work and Christmas it seems as though I have been away for months. With the new year now upon us I am trying to get everything back on track here on the homestead. I have been working the last couple of days on getting the Christmas decorations put away and cleaning out the junk and re-organizing the kids space. Somedays it feels as though I'm not making any headway but I know I am. It can be frustrating as I'm used to having more time than I do with work taking up a lot of time these days it has been more challangeing to get everything I want to done.