Kids Influence

My husband isn't a regular smoker but he used to smoke cigars a couple times a month. He did this regularly for several years. He even belonged to a cigar-club that sent him different cigars. One of his favorites was a Padron cigar.

He hasn't smoked them in a few years. A few years ago, our kids gave him a really hard time about smoking. They made him feel so guilty that he gave it up right then and there.

The kids were very proud of themselves. They still are. They like to tell the story all the time.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody celebrating it today. We have a big dinner planned for our children and ourselves together for today's holiday. We don't have any family coming into town and no plans to leave town though the thought of hitting the southern states for a vacation and some warmer weather is a nice dream.

I am not a fan of winter and I know it is just around the corner. A nice vacation to Hawaii with summer clothes and women's sunglasses sounds good about this time of year though not affordable. Maybe one year my kids would prefer a vacation instead of toys for Christmas? Not likely anytime soon! Maybe when they're all teenagers, a family vacation instead of holiday gifts would be a great change (plus get some time in together as a family before they all leave the nest). I have YEARS to worry about that though!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Enjoy your time with family and friends.

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Kids on a Bungee Cord

A nearby mall has this fun activity for kids to do. They strap the kids into a safety harness. The safety harness is attached on each side to long bungee-like cords which are attached up high over a trampoline. The kids can jump on the trampoline and these bungee cords lift them up high. Even my four-year-old did it and she had a blast. I thought for sure she'd be scared but no her.

I won't have a trampoline because of all the injuries caused by them but this was a fun way for them to use a trampoline and go MUCH higher than the backyard trampoline. There was one girl jumping really high and then doing flips in the air on it!

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Woo hoo! Found a good Thyroid doctor!

I'm not sure if you know this but I also write a health blog and thyroid blog. If you follow one of them, you know that it's been really hard finding a good doctor who accepts our insurance who believes in looking at natural dessicated thyroid medications over synthetic medications. Most mainstream doctors refuse to even consider anything but what the big pharmaceutical companies tell them to prescribe. It's been really frustrating.

I think I've finally found a good one though. He's about an hour away but the drive is fine (especially if my husband does all the driving) if I can finally get a decent doctor who doesn't want to over medicate and remove organs that don't need to be removed.

I live in an area where the economy is somewhat suppressed but not as bad as many places so we're lucky to have good insurance still. If you're looking for insurance for your family, you should check out Blue Cross North Carolina. I'm just so glad to feel like I may have found a decent doctor who can help manage my thyroid with me. I've been doing it myself since April (since I fired my endocrinologist and family doctor) and I've been doing pretty well with it but a doctor's support would be nice too.

If you have thyroid problems and want to see my blog, comment here and I'll give you the link.

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Piddle Puddles from Toy Poodle

Having two puppies in the house at the same time can be fun and sweet but I'm finding that having two piddle puddles at the same time isn't much fun. I'm glad we don't have carpeting in our house right now!

Isn't she just the cutest? I was always a "big dog" person (huskies, shepards) and thought little dogs were frou frou, frilly, girly dogs but this little toy poodle just melted my heart. At least she makes just little toy puddles too! That's sure a lot easier to clean up than big dog messes!

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Huffing, Danger in the Home to our Kids

If you have kids that are a bit older - upper elementary through high school - have you talked to them about the dangers of huffing yet? Kids take things they find around the home and get high from it. It's important to learn what they use, how they use it, to lock this stuff up, and have a good talk with your children about the dangers. See the video here.

I wrote about it here.

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Engagement Rings as Family Heirlooms

Oh my gosh! I have never seen a hand engraved engagement ring before but I just saw some online when I was doing a search for engagement rings orange county. These are the kind of rings that become definitely become family heirlooms! I thought the price would be beyond affordable but they're not. It's about the average price paid I think.

I love the idea of passing my wedding set down to a daughter to wear. The problem is how do you do that when you have more than one? I have several nice pieces so I can divvy it all up somehow but the wedding set is the most important one. I don't want my kids to think it is playing favorites.

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Good Deals: Is high speed satellite internet better?

We are going to change our television programming to try to save some money with the way the economy is right now. Hopefully it'll mean companies are more ready and willing to deal a little on the prices. While I'm looking around, I'm wondering if high speed satellite internet is better than what we have now.

Have you been able to negotiation costs on things like Internet and television services? It seems to me that everything should be negotiable if companies want to gain customers.

I wonder what else is negotiable that we don't know about? Grocery deals? Boy, wouldn't that be nice! It seems to me that the utility companies wouldn't deal because we're limited on who we can switch our service to so they have us right where they want us...just like gas prices. Are retail stores willing to negotiate? I just bought four winter coats for my kids. I sure would have liked to have a break on those prices. Would one store give you a cost break to get you to buy from them over another store?

Where are the best deals?

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Ack! Entrecard ad just wrong!

Ack! Did you see the Entrecard ad to the left today? The woman is looking to get undressed in the picture. That's not what I would have picked for this blog.

I am seriously considering removing all the entrecard ads from my blogs. I stopped paying much attention to them when they switched their advertising method but never removed them. However, now I have thousands of credits (probably about 15,000 or thereabouts) with them from when I did participate. Are they worth anything to anybody? Who knows.

Edited to add: Whew! Glad the ad changed. They should really have higher standards on what pictures they accept on their advertising.

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Behind in Thanksgiving Plans

Boy will I be happy when Friday hits, but that also means it is that much closer to Thanksgiving. I haven't even started figuring out what we're eating yet. I've been busy with work and grounding kids that it's not been a priority.

My husband mentioned today about going shopping on Black Friday. Is he nuts? I went out ONCE on Black Friday and I was so disgusted at every store I went to by people's behavior that I walked out of every store empty-handed and finally went home. He has no idea. I think he means for ME to go out shopping but I think he should go. It was his idea after all! My preference is checking out the Black Friday ads for online shopping. It's my favorite kind of shopping!

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Christmas Gift Ideas for Men: Mens Jewelry

I think most women appreciate nice jewelry as gifts. For the first decade of our marriage, it is what my husband bought for all holidays and special occasions (and he has great taste too). Wouldn't it be nice to step out with your guy with him wearing a nice piece of mens jewelry too?

I have always loved when my husband wore a piece of jewelry. I think it's sexy and if the guy knows what YOU think about it, perhaps having Santa leave him a little something under the tree would be nice too. After all, if your guy is like mine, he's probably given you so much already.

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Send out baby shower invitations during hunting season!

What is the best day to throw a baby shower at this time of year? I say the best day is football game day or during hunting season. With football and hunting season well under way, now is the perfect time to get all the girls together for a shower (party, get together, just to have fun) for all those hunting and football widows out there. Of course, there are women who enjoy both too.

For me personally, I'd prefer to send out the baby shower invitations while the boys were away hunting or watching football to get some good girl time in. Unless it is during the big game - Ohio State University vs. University of Michigan this weekend. Even though I'm not a big fan of football, that is one game I always keep an eye on.

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Couture Jewelry for Christmas

Here is a really good idea as a Christmas gift for her: Put Couture Jewelry in her stocking. Many women love getting jewelry as gifts. I'm one of them. Just bring on the sparklies!

Whatever you do, do NOT buy her appliances unless she specifically asked for something in particular. Buying a microwave or a vacuum cleaner will not go over well. Buy her something from your heart!

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Live Chat on Your Web Site

I've noticed that a lot of blogs offer message boards or a live chat on their web sites. I am wondering if that would be something useful on one of my other blogs. Would it bring more traffic perhaps by forming personal relationships with people who regularly visit my blog? That blog sees a few thousand visitors a month but perhaps the bounce rate would be lower if there was more of a one-on-one with the readers.

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Party Favors for 13th Birthday

My oldest is going to be turning 13 years old in two months. How fast they grow. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that she was just a toddler running around outside and falling down in her pretty, matching outfit. She got up and was not happy about her dirty hands so my sister showed her how to wipe her dirty hands down the front of her pretty clothes and then keep on playing.

Now she is almost a teenager with all the teen attitude to go with it. She wants to have a party for her 13th birthday and I would imagine it is going to be another vampire party. Her 12th birthday was all about Twilight. I'll bet she's going to want a New Moon party this year with party favors and all. Last year, I had to create everything myself because they hadn't merchandised Twilight into the party supply area. Hopefully, they've learned from that mistake and will capitalize on the popularity of the saga this year so I don't have to make everything myself.

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Consequences for Bad Behavior

In addition to having the flu last week, while recovering I also had to ground three out of four of my kids. I've obviously grounded them before but never to this extent. I took everything away from them and am making them earn it back. By everything, I mean, texting, computer, videos, television, sleepovers, and whatever else is a privilege and not a necessity. Last week was a difficult week which isn't unusual for many families but I've never had my kids act THIS bratty at once. I think part of it is my daughter is almost a teenager and when she takes "that tone" with me, it's like nails on a chalkboard and I get irritated right off.

I am so not looking forward to the teenage years. My stepkids are teenagers but they're long distance so it's not a day to day thing. I can see all that the ex is letting my husband's son get away with and it amazes me that a highly intelligent boy is allowed to almost fail in school rather than give consequences. It's not like we can do much about it. It's her way or no way. I could send her family relationship books. I'm sure she'd appreciate that. Not.

My husband thinks the teenage years will be easy for our son but not so easy for our three girls (for us and our son). He said he was going to take our son out of the house once a month to get him away from all the hormones. He thinks he's funny. I'd like to get away from all these hormones too! I can't run away from them though since mine follow me.

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Miley Cyrus Dead Rumors

What is it with people wanting to spread rumors like this about Miley Cyrus being dead? It would be horrible enough if this was a true story for not only her family but all her young fans and their parents who would have to explain death to their young, upset child. What a morbid rumor to spread.

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College Football vs Bridesmaid Gifts

It's been a busy Sunday today. I've taken my daughter to her riding lesson and my son had a friend over for a school project. I have to go pick him up in a few minutes from his friend's house again. I'm supposed to be looking for bridesmaid gifts but I got caught up looking at the college football rankings instead.

Next weekend is the big game between Michigan and Ohio State. It's a huge deal being from Michigan but a Buckeyes fan. Boy I bet that doesn't make me too popular with some hometown people this time of year. I wanted to see how both teams were ranked to see if OSU was going to smear Michigan again next weekend. Fingers crossed for a good game!

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Forget to plant my bulbs! Need grow lights!!

I didn't get my spring bulbs in the ground that I bought from a school fundraiser. Yikes! Being in the north, I think it's too late now. I hope I can plant them next year. I have 50 of them!

If I had room for them and some grow lights, I'd plant some of them now and get them ready to go dormant for winter or maybe push them to bloom earlier. I've read you can do that with some plants, but since I do not have a green thumb, I'd probably kill all the bulbs.

I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that I can plant them next year. There is probably something I'm supposed to do with them this winter, other than leave them sitting on my kitchen counter. I better find out.

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Mens Sunglasses: Great Gifts for Him

If you're searching for good Christmas gift ideas for a husband or teenage son, I know there is one thing my husband is never without: Men's Sunglasses. When I met him, he had several pair of expensive sunglasses but the amount of sunglasses he owns has gone down with the addition of each child. That doesn't stop him from wanting though; he always stops to look at them every time we pass a display.

They obviously have to be functional but they have to look good too. They do look good on him! When all of our kids are grown, he can go back to having several pair instead of just the one. He can be the old, gray guy with cool sunglasses!

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Get Computer Services or Toss It Out the Window?

If it's not one thing, it's another. Yesterday, my computer went through those automatic updates that Windows does if you let it. I made the mistake of putting it on automatic. Well, I automatically had my computer messed up for hours yesterday because of it! I kept getting error messages, my computer kept freezing, and my monitor was missing the whole right half. Makes it a little difficult to work when I can't see a quarter of my screen.

I got most of it fixed, but there is still one error message left when I turn my computer on. It's something about a catalyst control and the ATI adapter. Huh? That's a foreign language to me. I googled online for help and what Windows offered, didn't help at all. If this keeps up, I may have to call a professional to fix it like orange county computer services. For now, I'm just putting up with it. As long as I don't have to reboot today, it won't irritate me anymore (until tomorrow morning comes and I turn on my computer).

My computer is only a couple months old so I better not toss it out the window...yet.

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Work at Home or Kids Franchise?

I've been working from home for about two years now. I've tried a couple of different things during that time but decided that blogging was the way to go. My schedule is my own (which makes it great with four kids).

With the economy hitting the dirt, I am seeing several empty businesses in town. It has me thinking a little bit about what kind of business could be run successfully right now. A specialty shop carrying products you can't find anywhere else but the big city would be a fun business. Any kids franchise would be popular in this area since it is very kid-oriented and when people spend around here, it does tend to be on the kids before themselves.

Then I get to thinking about all the hours that I'd have to devote to an outside business and that my schedule would no longer be my own. I think while my kids are still young, I'll stick to being a work-at-home parent. I want to be home whenever my kids need me right now.

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Did you hear what the movie studios are trying to do now?

Like the movie studios don't make enough money as it is for themselves and their overpaid actors...now the movie studios are in talks with certain companies (like Netflix) to force them into withholding new movie releases for 30 days from their customers so it would force consumers to buy them instead.

I'll just cancel my Netflix and stop going to the movies altogether. I'll just say to heck with all of them. It's not that important to me to watch a two hour show with an overinflated budget to go along with the overinflated egos of the actors anyway.

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Learning to play guitar and nail care

Did I tell you that I am learning to play guitar? I am. I guess you're never too old to learn new tricks because this dog is learning and it's not as hard as I thought it would be! It's fun too. My husband is getting a really big kick out of and plays along with me and sings.

The one thing I had to give up was long fingernails on my left hand. That's not a big price to pay for being able to play along with my husband and kids for some family musical fun. I'm not opposed to making them look better with some help on my nail care in Huntington Beach. I'd get pampered and a vacation out of the deal.

My oldest daughter is taking what I learn during a guitar lesson and teaching herself as I practice. So now two of our girls are getting guitars from Santa this year. It's definitely a family thing! We're all going to have to learn how to take care of our nails and still be able to play with them because neither one of us want to use picks to play. Learning Classical Guitar has some tips on their web sites on how to play guitar with nails.

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Notebook Computers

Have you noticed the prices come down on a notebook computer lately? I noticed last week when we were at an electronics store. A pink one caught the eye of my four-year-old daughter so I stopped to see what she was raving about. They are becoming so affordable now.

When my stepdaughter graduates from high school, I'm hoping we'll be able to afford to get her a nice laptop computer as a present. It would be a graduation present she could take with her to college and get some good use out of.

They'd make great Christmas gifts for somebody on your list this season too!

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The Flu Hits Home

I don't think it was the H1N1, but it hasn't been fun around here. It started Saturday with my oldest vomiting. Then she was fine. I thought maybe she'd eaten something bad (we'd gone out to eat that day).

Monday morning comes and my son is vomiting at 5:00 a.m. I send him back to bed. I guess my daughter getting sick wasn't something she ate because she passed it to her brother. No school for him. Poor thing.

About two hours later, I'm worshipping the porcelain gods on my knees! Not fun.

My son spends the morning laying around and then he is better. He's up and doing things. Meanwhile, I am on the couch. Any time I move, bad cramps go through my abdomen. By the time the afternoon rolls around, the cramps are moving lower and I have chills. By bedtime, I am pretty miserable with chills (I could not get warm) and inhaling hurts my chest a lot. Since I have asthma, THAT worried me the most. I usually use my Advair inhaler once a day but at that point, I hit it again and then went to bed hoping I wasn't going to have to track down hubby at work or make a hospital visit. Going to the ER is a last resort to me (that attitude almost killed me once, waiting too long during an asthma attack) but I had every intention of getting over it and putting up with the people in lab coats to avoid almost dying this time.

Tuesday morning, my son is back in school. I'm still crampy if I move and my lungs are a little heavy but not like last night. The worst of it was last night. I hope anyway. I have too many things to do to be sick!

It's weird the way a bug goes through the house and affects family members differently. My kids bounced right back. It's taking me longer to even think about bouncing. Like I said, I don't believe it was H1N1 but it was definitely some type of bug.

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Neverending Sickness

Does it seem like illnesses are on a loop in your house? Cold on top of colds. I've had two respiratory infections already this Fall with the last one knocking me on my backside for a couple days. All of my kids have had colds already with my youngest seeming to have one continuous one since school started!

Last night, my oldest child vomited. Just once. No fever. No aches. She had cramps, got sick, and then was fine. Must've been something she ate? Today my stomach is so cramped, it is making me nauseous. This is my second bout with some type of stomach virus (or food irritant) this Fall too. What's the deal?

I do not like the summer months but boy would I like them back about right now just to get these germs away from us!

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High-Def Hotties

We bought a new HD television a few months ago. At the time we bought it, I had no idea you actually had to pay to add HD service to your television plan in order to reap the benefits the television offers. I thought it was just there - like the television signal you get when you have an antennae. Duh! Leave it to us to do something that ends up costing us more money in the long run. So we have this HD television that we haven't been using for the HD capabilities. Other priorities for our finances I guess.

I'm comparing different equipment and plans so that hubby can get his HD with his television viewing. So many options to choose from - bell tv and others. I'm sure my husband would like to see Kate Beckinsale in full high-def! I wouldn't mind seeing a certain Pirate in the same hi-def so we're even.

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Three Total Weight Milestones: One Met

I have broken up my weight loss into three milestones so that meeting each one is quicker which gives me encouragement to move onto and finish the next milestone. I'm managing my thyroid medication by symptoms and it's been working so much better.

I've lost some of the weight I've gained since getting thyroid disease. I'm right at the start of the second milestone (ten pounds to lose in this milestone) but I'm at a standstill. The weight isn't coming off again. I'm also losing more hair than I should be and am always cold. Rather than give in and find best weight loss pills, it's time to increase my thyroid medication a very little bit to help take care of these symptoms. As hypothyroid symptoms decrease, so will my need to increase medication.

Optimizing my hormone levels is what is working for me right now. I'm not ready to give that up yet!

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Big Bird is 40

Big Bird (and the rest of Sesame Street) is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Can you believe that big, yellow bird is 40 years old? Does that make you feel old too? It sure makes me feel old. They're only two years older than I am.

What do you get a 40-year-old for this birthday/anniversary? Perhaps a little eye wrinkle cream? Ha! If anybody gives me eye wrinkle cream for my 40th birthday, I'll smack 'em.

Happy Anniversary to Sesame Street!

We have a dog named after one of the show's characters - Cookie Monster. The puppy started out as just 'Cookie' but it quickly turned to 'Cookie Monster' after seeing what her personality was like.

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Still Looking for Madeleine McCann

Madeleine McCann disappeared two years ago at the age of four. She would now be six. They did an age progression to show what they think she'd look like now in the hopes that somebody would recognize her. It's really hard to look at her big, beautiful eyes in this video and realize she's just gone. My youngest is now four and I can't imagine the anguish of losing her and not knowing what happened. I don't understand how people can be so sick. Our society is full of disgusting excuses for human beings and it's scary.

My only concern is that it seems like they aged her too much in the picture. She looks more like she'd be 8-9 years old in the video instead of the six she'd be.

To see the full video because I know my columns are cutting off part of it, click here.

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It feels good to kick the sickness

I am finally on the back end of this respiratory infection I had. I don't think it was the flu, though I never did take my temperature. Between the head and chest pressure and the sore throat, it was a miserable past few days! My asthma doesn't do well when I get a cold and this was definitely not an exception. My chest felt very heavy for a couple days. I'm glad it's over!

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Kitchen Islands and Character

Yesterday I saw a GORGEOUS kitchen. It had exposed brick on one wall and a huge island in the middle with this great copper/brown colored finish. I love islands and wish our kitchen was big enough to have one too. What a great country kitchen. I didn't notice the sink but I can imagine how copper sinks would look great in this kitchen!

We just redid our kitchen a year ago. I tried to figure out how to get an island installed but there was just not enough room. If I'd had a separate dining room, I could have but we have an eat-in kitchen so space is very limited. My next house will have a big kitchen!

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Bang! Bang! Down the Expressway

So we are driving down the expressway the other day and something starts hitting the passenger door of my SUV. It's hitting so loudly that I'm afraid there is going to be paint damage and dings in my door. It turns out that the rubber mat that is supposed to be adhered to the running boards has come up, leaving half of it flapping in the wind! We ended up having to pull it off completely so we could get home without any damage. Now I am on the search for Mopar parts to replace the rubber mat without having to replace the running board.

They were too expensive to have installed. I can't believe the mat came up! It's been too long to get it covered under any type of warranty so it'll be our expense. There always seems to be some expense ready and waiting for us.

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