Top 10 Children’s Books of 2009

Posted by on December 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

One of the best activities grandparents can do with their grandchildren is to read children’s books to them. Of course, as children get older and are able to read books on their own, Grandma and Grandpa can still help teach the importance of reading by having some of the best children’s books of all time available for kids to read.

The New York Times has released a list of what it believes to be the top ten children’s books of 2009, and there are a couple kids books listed here that even I had never heard of, but will definitely take a close look at adding some of these children’s books to our library.

Here is the top 10 children’s books list from the NY Times:
Read more »

Categories: Activities, Books, Family, Gifts, Grandchildren, Grandparenting, Holidays, Parenting, Shopping - Tags: , ,

Getting Out Of Debt On Your Own – Personal Finance Blogs to Help Get Out of Debt

Posted by on December 14, 2009 · 1 Comment

Getting Out Of DebtGrandpa and I have been working hard on getting out of debt, or more specifically, getting out of credit card debt, on our own. Like many other Americans who are dealing with debt from credit cards and/or loans etc, working hard to reduce or eliminate debt from credit cards became our New Year’s Resolution after Christmas last year.

Of course, there is such a thing as good debt, such as paying for a mortgage that creates home equity – which after a period of time allows homeowners to sell their house at a nice profit if the housing market is right for homeowners to sell their home. Right now, the housing market sucks due to the economy, so there’s no way we’d be able to sell our house even if we wanted to, at least not for the kind of money we’d want and need to get for it.

Anyway, in order to help us meet our goals of getting out of debt completely, we made the tough decision to really tighten our financial “belt” so to speak and focus our time and energies on paying off all credit cards and loans as quickly as possible. One debt-inducing expense each year has been the amount of money that is often spent buying Christmas presents for everyone on our xmas list. We are generous gift givers, to a fault.
Read more »

Categories: Activities, Adult Children, Books, Discipline, Family, Gifts, Grandchildren, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandparenting, Health, Holidays, Parenting, Relationships, Shopping - Tags: , , , , , ,

It’s The Thought That Counts Means What Exactly?

Posted by on November 15, 2009 · 8 Comments

It's The Thought That CountsI’ve heard the phrase “it’s the thought that counts” in regards to gift giving for so many years, you might think I actually buy into what that rather famous quote means. But I’m not sure I really believe that it’s the thought that counts rather than the price tag and quantity of gifts given at Christmastime or Birthdays or any other special occasion or holiday.

Call me Scrooge, but Christmas this year is going to be unlike previous Christmases because Grandpa and I have had it up to here with ungrateful, unappreciative, selfish-minded people who seem to think we have SANTA stamped on our foreheads.

Maybe there was a time, many years ago, when buying a gift for someone was based solely on well thought out searches for a gift based on what the person likes and enjoys without much thought about the price tag. That is the kind of Christmas shopping I always enjoyed, putting a lot of thought into whatever gift I chose for someone on our gift list, but just the mere thought of buying Christmas presents this year makes me wonder What the hell for?
Read more »

Categories: Adult Children, Family, Gifts, Grandchildren, Holidays, Parenting, Relationships, Shopping - Tags: , , , , , ,

Gooseberry Patch Christmas Books, Cookbooks, Calendar, Gifts and Recipes

Posted by on October 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Gooseberry Patch ChristmasChristmas will be here before you know it, and if you like Gooseberry Patch Christmas cookbooks loaded with great country recipes as much as I do, you will love the new Gooseberry Patch cookbook. As a mother and grandma, cooking is not just a necessity but is also one of many fun activities or hobbies to be enjoyed. When I discovered the Gooseberry Patch company a few years ago, I was immediately hooked on the delicious recipes found in all the cookbooks I could find to buy.

Needless to say, I’ve been starting my own collection of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks that I will have a great time experimenting with when the kids and grandkids come over. Since I’m an avid reader of books of all kinds, especially cookbooks with great recipes and stories, I was thrilled to receive my very first cookbook by Gooseberry Patch.

I have so many recipe cards filling recipe boxes in what I jokingly refer to as “Grandma’s Kitchen”, I really need to take the time to use the organizer I bought from Gooseberry Patch, and then choose a couple of my best recipes to send to Gooseberry Patch for possible inclusion in their next cookbook.
Read more »

Categories: Activities, Books, Family, Gifts, Grandchildren, Grandparenting, Holidays, Recipes, Reviews, Shopping, Video - Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Kids of Working Moms are Fat and Unhealthy Kids British Study Says

Posted by on October 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Encourage Healthy EatingUh oh.., a newly released British study says kids of working moms are fat and unhealthy, laying the fault right on the shoulders of working mothers. Watch out moms, the Guilt Trip inducing Fat Police are on their way! Hey working moms, do you think mothers that work full or part-time make their kids fat? Are kids fat because of working moms? Will the Mommy Wars ever end?

According to the study involving 12,500 5-year-old kids by Britain’s Institute of Child Health, researchers found that children of working moms are less active, spend too much time on the computer or watching television and are more likely to eat unhealthy foods, compared to children of stay-at-home moms.

The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Child Health, concluded that kids of working mothers are more likely to drink sodas and snack on “crisps and sweets” between meals, and less likely to snack on healthy food choices like fruits and vegetables than kids of stay-at-home moms. Ouch.
Read more »

Categories: Activities, Discipline, Family, Grandchildren, Health, Parenting - Tags: ,

Grandma Nana – Nicknames for Grandma and Grandpa

Posted by on October 13, 2009 · 4 Comments

Grandma NanaGrandma is my chosen nickname, even though I considered a variety of grandma and grandpa nicknames including “nana” when I found out I was going to become a grandparent for the very first time.

For a little while I struggled coming up with a nickname for myself because, to be honest, I truly felt I was too young to be a grandma. There’s a joke about being too young to become a grandparent, but I don’t remember how it goes anymore. Something like, “don’t call me grandma”, I think. Maybe my memory is starting to go, I don’t know.

Nana is a nice nickname I guess, but it just didn’t fit with my personality. It comes across to me as an old fashioned nickname and I’m not old fashioned one bit. Some nicknames for grandparents that I’ve seen just sound ridiculous to me. Nicknames like Busha, MomMom, PopPop, Oma and Opa, Meme and Pepe just don’t fit.
Read more »

Categories: Family, Grandchildren, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandparenting, Humor - Tags: , , , ,

Celebrate Grandparents Day – How to Celebrate National Grandparents Day

Posted by on October 5, 2009 · 2 Comments

Celebrate Grandparents DayDid you celebrate Grandparents Day this year? This year, 2009, marked the 30th anniversary of National Grandparents Day on Sunday, September 13th. According to a recent poll, millions of Americans and Canadians are said to have celebrated Grandparents Day and it made me wonder if the holiday celebrating grandparents is getting the attention it deserves.

Do you celebrate Grandparents Day? What things did you do to celebrate and honor your grandparents or great-grandparents on or near Grandparents Day? Did you visit your grandparents, send them a card, play games, take part in any activities or buy your grandparents a gift at all? It’s common for preschool and elementary schools in the U.S. to participate in making arts and crafts for grandparents, sing songs for and about grandparents, and some grandparents visit their grandchild’s school on the holiday.

Another poll about Grandparents Day showed that many adults have never heard of Grandparents day, don’t know anything about its origin and history, and don’t even know when Grandparents Day is observed. So, when is Grandparents Day and why do we celebrate National Grandparents Day in the first place?
Read more »

Categories: Activities, Adult Children, Books, Custody, Family, Genealogy, Gifts, Grandchildren, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandparenting, Holidays, Parenting, Poems, Shopping - Tags: , , ,

Research Your Family Tree, History and Family Genealogy Records

Posted by on October 4, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Research Your Family TreeIf you don’t know how to research your family tree in order to find genealogy records of your ancestors, or if you want to create your own family genealogy history for your children and grandchildren, there are many ways of finding the ancestry information you are seeking.

Have you ever wondered, What does your family name mean?, or what your family crest looks like? I did and that is just two reasons why genealogy research became a hobby of mine. Thanks to the internet, researching the roots of your family tree has become a lot easier. There are many online resources available to help create your family tree as I have been doing for a few years now, and I now know what my family name means and what my family’s crest looks like.

My family has never been very open and vocal about our family history, and getting the silent treatment anytime I’ve tried to ask questions about my own grandparents or most recent “ancestors” has always bothered me.

I was somewhat nervous as I began tracing my family tree through census records, obituaries, genealogy websites and databases, vital records, cemeteries and death records, because I wondered if I would find some deep dark secret the family wanted kept secret.
Read more »

Categories: Adult Children, Family, Genealogy, Grandchildren, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandparenting, Technology - Tags: , , , ,

« Previous Page
Next Page »