Is life overwhelming sometimes? Ever feel the need for a refuge? Want one small space to call your own? If that sounds like you, sister, you might need a ‘she-shed’, a detached one-room bungalow with the sole purpose of providing comfort, privacy and serenity. Start planning, and before you know it, you’ll be gently closing your door on the rest of the world.
The school year is drawing to a close and summer will be here in a minute, with it the buzz of schoolkids ready to burst from the confines of their routine and be free. Never fear: a successful summer transition is within your reach. The change from classroom to summer setting need not be jarring—for you or your child (or your teen). Doing a bit of prep before summer’s arrival will ease you all into this change and set you up for a summer of grand memories and structured good times.
There was a time when Ella sang, “Summertime and the livin’ is easy,” and I believed her. Growing up in the 80’s summer was always about watching movies at the outdoor movie theatre, playing outside late into the night, and of course popsicles, lots and lots of them. And then I became a mom and my priorities shifted. To be honest summer didn’t change for me in the first few years of motherhood. I was working full-time, and if there was vacation, Yay! Otherwise there was always day care! And then I had my second little pumpkin, we moved to Toronto and I decided to work from home. That’s when reality hit me like a ton of bricks: moms hate summer.
Diala’s Kitchen is one of my favourite new food blog obsessions and after getting gluttonous on the (terrible, curse on whoever invented this) “Eat What You Want Day” with a bowl of popcorn to carry me through from breakfast to lunch, an inhaled curry pad thai for dinner, and half a huge bag of dark choc almonds to follow—let’s just say that I woke up this morning hungover, overcome with guilt, and looking to redeem myself.
Diala to the rescue with a dish that’s fresh, healthy, totally yummy, and makes me feel like I might not have to wear a T-shirt over my swimsuit during baby swimming lessons this summer.
I love a morning that runs smoothly, without having to apologize to the school administrator for being late or absent! Some days, organizing breakfast, lunches and ensuring homework gets put properly in the backpack can be stressful. This is even more the case if there are sniffles, coughs, and the constant requests to stay home from school due to illness. Colds and flu put a monkey wrench into the lives of every family. The good news is that there is an easy way to reduce the disruption! In a new clinical study, children age 4 – 12 years old who took Echinaforce Junior reported 33% fewer cold and flus. Sign me up!
Breast Cancer. The unthinkable has happened. You want to scream, cry and prey that the doctor was wrong. But before the shock, sadness and anger has even a chance to register, your mind has already gone somewhere else: what are you going to tell your children? Let’s face it, we don’t want to hurt or upset our loved ones. Breaking the news about a breast cancer diagnosis may be more difficult than actually hearing the news from your doctor. You may feel concerned about upsetting your family and friends and worried about how they will react. Even worse, you may be afraid that you won’t be able to answer their questions.
This post is sponsored by Mattel, but all opinions are my own.
Every year on the first day of school we ask our son what he wants to be when he grows up. His answer varies from year to year as he grows and as his imagination and vision of what could be possible expands. Whatever he decides to be, as his mom I hope he grows up to make the world a better place.
With Halloween fast approaching, you may have trick-or-treating on the brain. I know my kids do! We love this time of year. But if a nasty fall cold, upset stomach or ragweed allergy has you stuck inside, the time to treat may be now.
Many of us like to think we’re pretty tough (especially if we’ve lived through a couple Canadian winters!), but knowing when to treat minor ailments and symptoms at home is an important part of self-care. If you’re not sure if it’s time to reach for the medicine cabinet, read on! It’s important to know what the experts have to say about how to know when you need to get treatment.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by First Alert. But you really should read it because the safety information could be life-changing and I really believe in helping keep families safe.
How many times have you burned toast only to have your smoke alarm scream for fresh air? And what about those dinner parties when every burner is going and you use an umbrella to bash at the button to silence the alarm whilst guests are en route and dinner becomes overdone? Maybe that’s just me. But you know what is also me? The person, in those situations, who just takes the smoke alarm off the ceiling and pops out the batteries. And then forgets to replace them and put it back up.
This post is sponsored by Bayer. To make sure these products are right for you, always read and follow the label.
It’s April and New Year’s Resolution days are long behind us. The good news is you don’t have to wait for a new year to start some healthy habits. You can start any time! Try adding some healthy habits to your daily life that could improve your health – and you can start today. It’s as easy as doing one or two things differently every day to build healthy habits to take better care of yourself.