Being tied down is always horrible. Especially is if costs a ton of money and you can’t get our of contracts. That’s why carrying an unlocked smartphone is a smart move. The new Huawei Honor 8 unlocked smartphone is now available in an exclusive Sapphire Blue colorway only at Best Buy (online and in store), and will be the perfect accessory to carry you into fall.
My daughter just started preschool and all I can think about is how fast time flies. As parents, I guess we don’t really see the time passing us by until the day we watch our babies walk…out the door for their first day of university.
“Wait..what do you mean you don’t need your blankie anymore?!”
But enough projecting, sometimes it’s all we can do to keep up with their learning pace, so when my three and a half year old started correcting me in our dialogue, I realized that it might be time to get her into preschool.
So much has changed in the school system since my time, and (as a writer and a self-proclaimed anglophile/English history fanatic) I was really sad to hear about the phasing out of cursive writing in schools. Handwriting is an art, perhaps, but it also serves a very basic and necessary function: communication. Once cursive is gone, it won’t be long before the almighty type will begin to chip away at all the options for putting pen to paper. But I will be here to set the example for my child—when she’s ready, she’ll learn it from me.
We’re in the home-stretch of summer and my kids are getting fidgety. I don’t want them constantly watching TV or allowing them to morph into screen zombies, and yet their creativity is waning. Sending them outside on bug hunts, creating forts and harvesting their gardens has come and gone. We all know how crucial toys, games and play are for a child’s development, but sometimes we all run out of ideas. Thankfully we found a way to power up the imagination!
The summer boredom had set in, and the kids were driving me batty. “Can we have screens? Mama, can you take us to X,Y, or Z? Can I do something dangerous?” And then the Vex arrived. Hexbugs have always been a hit in our house, and now the company has innovated for older kids (and parents!). Exclusively from HEXBUG comes the VEX Robotic Arm – a completely functional construction kit inspired by real industrial robot arms.
What’s worse than running out of printer ink when the kids remember homework due TOMORROW and it’s bedtime? Not much. Epson has come out with a new printer called the Ecotank, which comes with enough ink in the box to last 2 years and frees you from never-ending cartridge-buying, as the low-cost ink comes in bottles that you actually pour into the printer.
My father doesn’t like to sit still. He’s always outside: tinkering with his tractor, using a chainsaw, or flying in his small airplane. He got his pilot’s license the same year I was born and I grew up riding alongside him in his single engine airplane, peering out the window, yelling at the top of our lungs to communicate with each other.
Over the years, his love for flight hasn’t changed, but now I have to yell to speak to him even when we’re on the ground. The constant exposure to the deafening sound of the engine took its toll and, at 60 years old, he was forced to admit he needed hearing aids.
I’m basically haunted when it comes to mobile phones. I even wrote an article once about ‘The Curse of the Blackberry Pearl’ (please, GenY, don’t do the math here.) Point is: if something can go wrong with my phone, it will. Whether by drowning (ask my toddler why ‘mama’s phone needs a bath’), fire (resting it on a heater so the innards melted), innumerable technical malfunctions (I don’t think phones are meant to withstand the sheer number of photos I take and store), loss or theft (usually involving enough wine so that I have no clue which is which) or a number of other potential maladies, it’s a *thing* and my cell phones just don’t make it.
The first time I ever used Samsung Gear VR was reviewing new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. My mind was boggled!! I can’t imagine explaining to my Mom, who still uses a phone book, that I could film a 360 degree view of my home or a vacation and these goggles would allow her to experience what we are seeing as if she were there. Maybe I’ll fix the flashing lights on her VCR before I break the news…
Still riding the feels from a wonderful Mother’s day, I am full swing into getting ready for Father’s day! Gifting Moms is a piece of cake compared to the monumental task of finding or *gasp* making something with the kids that their dad will actually, a) recognize as an actual thing, and b) like enough to actually put into circulation. This is no small endeavour, and should never be taken lightly because, come on, ladies, a super fab father’s day gift raises the bar for next year’s Mother’s Day, amirite?
Affectionately known as Star Wars Day, May the Fourth has become the Christmas for inner geeks everywhere. My sons and I will be traveling to Disney World for the Social Media Moms Celebration and fellow travellers will witness us in a couple of stormtroopers and Rae costumes!