By Stacey Gliniewicz It’s Spring! Do you notice a certain sense of change, excitement, freshness, and color! I love this time of year as everything comes alive again with a certain sense of ‘newness’. Not only is it time to knock out that spring cleaning list, it’s time to put away the linens of cozy winter fabric and color and bring out the crisp, lightweight, and light or bright read more

By Sara Parker Our sweet but slightly stinky basset hound/border collie mix sheds a lot. So in an effort to keep our bed stink- and fur-free, I shut the door to our master bedroom every day before leaving the house. Otherwise, Abby will climb up on our bed when we’re not around and roll all over it. My efforts proved fruitless the other week, however, when I accidentally shut the read more

Courtesy of Cy-Fair Hospital Diaper rash ointment, pain medicines, and perfume probably do not come to mind as serious health hazards, but they are among the most common poisons ingested by children. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unintentional poisoning causes more than 700,000 emergency department visits annually,” says Allison Arthur, M.D., a pediatrician read more

By Shara Lawrence Weiss Long ago, people fished for the primary purpose of obtaining food. Even then, however, kids were learning valuable lessons through fishing: Self reliance Patience An appreciation for nature and wildlife A respect for the cycle of life / food chain The excitement of a catch! We recently took our children fishing while on a short read more

By Angela Bickford Originally guest posted on The Work at Home Woman I hear this all the time. In fact, I said this at one point. As a writer, I said I wasn’t in sales. As an editor, I said I never had to sell. As a teacher, I never imagined I ever sold anything. Even as a business owner, I still don’t think of myself as a saleswoman. But I am… And so are you. In fact, read more

It's that time of year again - March Madness; The Masters; Baseball Season; NBA Playoffs; NFL Draft; NCAA Spring Football Practices - the time when numerous girlfriends and wives become sports widows. They are lost in the midst of late night games and TV mistresses. True, some guys aren't crazy about sports and some girls love them, but for the sake of this week's He Said/She Said, let's read more

By Stacey Gliniewicz I love my children, all five of them, I really do. We just wrapped up day two of spring break and I find myself wishing I were laying on a beach somewhere in the warm sun and sand, with some sort of tropical fruit smoothie adorned with an umbrella. Fortunately, we have managed together, as a team, to keep the house picked up and minimize kitchen grazing. I’m quite read more

By Diana Saufley It has long been recognized for pickling foods and healing. Scientifically it is acetic acid derived from ethanol fermentation. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? But it is quite the miracle worker around the house. For our purposes, we are talking about plain white distilled vinegar. Due to the acid nature of vinegar it easily cleans mineral deposits. Having such hard water read more

By Kristan Doerfler Every March 17, I am consistently entertained by the revelers of St. Patrick's Day. I still remember one St. Patrick's Day several years ago, walking out of my office and seeing a gentleman who did not appear to be Irish wearing a button that said "Kiss me, I'm Irish." I don't want to sound like I'm racially stereotyping... the Irish heritage just appeared to be quite a read more

Courtesy of Cy-Fair Hospital It’s important to make sure your child eats healthy snacks as part of a nutritious diet. Encouraging your child to make the right choices can be a challenge, but the key is to make snacks fun and readily available. Fruits and raw vegetables have a reputation for being expensive, but they’re ideal snacks for kids because they are both healthy and easy to read more

By Shara Lawrence Weiss Teachers, parents, anyone who spends time with children - this post is for you! Check out these 10 educational resources you can find online: Centers and Circles Time - Craft ideas, theme-related tips, educational insights, and more. ABC Creative Learning - High quality learning toys that educate and encourage creativity. ABC Teach - Free and paid read more

By Angela Bickford Originally guest posted on Market Mommy Running a business isn’t easy. Whether you’re running it while holding a full-time job, raising kids, or both, maintaining a business has its ups and downs. How do you start? Where do you get the money from? Will you have a partner? These are all questions we ask ourselves when we decide to be our own boss. Here’s the story of read more

Very often in our house the conversation around dinner time goes something like this… “What do you feel like for dinner?” “I don’t know - nothing really sounds good to me, do you have any ideas?” “Not really, I’m not really craving anything either.” The roles here are interchangeable as neither one of us gets cravings the other one would be happy with when it comes to food. Now when it comes read more

By Stacey Gliniewicz Have you ever taken a step back and really evaluated the personalities of your children or child? Have you ever wondered how they truly see the world and interpret all that comes at them, regardless of the age? Often times, our household is chaotic in the mornings before school, and then again, after school until bed time. At any given time in our chaos, I have at read more

By Stacey Gliniewicz Owning a home can become overwhelming, especially when home repairs become costly. We are nearly settled into spring, a time when we think about cleaning out our closets, completing the deep spring clean, and planting flowers. What about those items that we don’t check often, but should? It can be overwhelming remembering what to check and when. Below is a list of read more