She’s a big girl now in her swing….
Category: Real Life
$1 Airline Tickets for Active Duty Military
Hurry! Ends tomorrow!
From a DefenseLink Press Article
WASHINGTON, May 5, 2009 – In honor of National Military Appreciation Month, JetBlue is offering active duty military personnel $1 fares for domestic, nonstop flights, for a limited time, departing from the two JetBlue cities nearest to the nation’s capital: Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., and Richmond International Airport in Richmond, Va.
The airline also will donate $15,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization that honors and empowers wounded warriors.
To take advantage of the offer, service members must book between today and May 7, or while seats last, for travel between May 8 and May 31 from Dulles or Richmond to any JetBlue destination in the continental United States served nonstop from those airports. Proof of eligibility is required. The fare is available to active-duty service members only; retirees, reservists and military families are not eligible for this offer.
Upon check-in, military travelers must present a valid Department of Defense common access card and official documentation at the JetBlue service counter verifying authorized leave from duty to show proof of active status. Travel booked with this offer is not eligible for online flight check-in or at an airport kiosk. Failure to present these documents will void the reservation, officials said.
To book the $1 fare, call 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583) and select Option 4.
A big bloggy WOOT to JetBlue for supporting our troops!
A HUGE thanks to my friend Nancy for alerting me (and you) to this deal.
Please tweet, stumble, DIGG this post to help spread the word. 🙂
Cora and Kit
Cora and Kit
May 2, 2009
One Month Old
The picture is a bit deceiving as the outfit is a tad too long for her, but she is getting bigger!
Cora waving hello :).
Live in Our Skinz
The winner is:
Here are your random numbers:
11
Timestamp: 2009-05-10 23:42:27 UTC
Michelle wrote: Wonderful post. Very important information. Lost my bff to skin cancer on 2/14/07 Miss her dearly as she was only 46. Much to young to be gone. If I win would love the Flutter – S – Butterflies YSS-FLU one in a size 4 for my grand daughter. Her mom loves pink and I love Butterflies. A win win situation. Great site.
I am not in the habit of bossing people around, okay who am I kidding, my entire family reads this blog and they know I love to boss people around. But, I try not to boss my readers around… until today.
Protect your children this summer!
May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, since I grew up in Florida and spent most of my life in the water I am very aware of the dangers of skin cancer. While I have not personally been affected by skin cancer, Rhonda Sparks has, she lost her 32 year old husband to the disease several years ago. After her husband died she turned a tragedy into something positive and started UV Skinz, a company that sells swim shirts, shorts, hats and accessories.
For the past several years my kids have worn swim shirts whenever they are in the water and even when they are out of the water! In my opinion swim shirts are an excellent alternative to sun screen, you never have to reapply and you never miss a spot, not to mention you don’t have to keep buying more and more sunscreen. Did you know that one in five Americans develop skin cancer every year? You can prevent this from happening to your children by protecting them with a swim shirt.
Now, here is why you should buy your shirts from UV Skinz. Over the years I have purchased swim shirts from many different companies, Old Navy, Target, Lands End, LL Bean, local Surf Shops and not a single shirt held up as well as the ones I have from UV Skinz. Last summer one of my boys had a UV Skinz shirt and the other had one from Old Navy. This year when I pulled out their shirts from the summer clothes box the Old Navy shirt was worn thin and would not give my son any protection this year. The UV Skinz shirt looked almost brand new.
Here is a picture of my son last year in his shirt.
This year in the same shirt.
As you can see the shirt hasn’t faded even though I washed (and line dried) it many times last year. My daughter loves her shirt and today I am ordering shirts for the rest of the family.
There is a reason I waited until May to order my other shirts, other than the fact that I live in Maryland and it is currently 55 degrees and rainy. In hopes of spreading the word and helping to prevent skin cancer, UV Skinz is giving away a free baby skinz with every order during the month of May. It is Rhonda’s hope that customers will then donate the baby shirt to someone in need and pay it forward. UV Skinz are free of harsh sunscreen chemicals that can irritate baby’s sensitive skin, the shirts also carry a UPF50+ rating, blocking more than 98% of the sun’s harmful UVA and UVB rays.
Many parents have their children wear t-shirts to protect them from the sun. Personally I think this is a bad idea. T-shirts are not made for swimming and do not protect as well as swim shirts from the harmful rays of the sun when they are wet. Also, I have seen many children struggling to swim in a weighted down water-logged t-shirt. Swim shirts do not absorb water and are made for swimming.
Finally investing is swim shirts is a frugal choice. Last year we did not go through tubes and tubes of sunscreen. We invested in swim shirts and one tube of sunblock for their faces. The UV Skinz are so well made that they are able to be worn year after year saving me money in the long run. But more important than saving money I am saving my children’s skin from the harmful effects of the sun and that is priceless.
UV Skinz is giving away your choice of swim shirt to one of my readers. Go to the UV Skinz site, look around and then leave me a comment letting me know what shirt you would like to win.
Would you help me and UV Skinz spread the word about Skin Cancer Awareness Month? If you have a twitter account you can twitter about this giveaway and use the hashtag #UVSkinz. You can also write a blog post about protecting your kids from the sun this summer and link back to this post. You can pass the word on to family and friends. You can also sign up for the UV Skinz monthly newsletter which will keep you informed regarding all things sunny. The sign up link is on the left sidebar of their homepage. For each thing you do leave me another comment and that will earn you another chance to win a swim shirt of your choice.
So let’s recap:
Sun = bad
Swim shirts = good
Rhonda and UV Skinz = super cool mom of three boys turning a tragedy into something positive
Giveaway = you can win your choice of a swim shirt from UV Skinz
Ways to enter = Leave a comment, tweet with the hash tag #UVSkinz, blog about it, tell your friends, sign up for the newsletter and don’t forget to leave a comment for each thing you can do to help promote Skin Cancer Awareness month and this giveaway.
Oh, I forgot to add, the contest ends Thursday May 7, 2009, Cora time!
I am not in any way affiliated with UV Skinz. I don’t make any money if you buy from them. I am promoting them because I believe in what Rhonda is doing and want to support her 100%.
A Day in the Life of The Happy Housewife ~ More Questions
Here are answers to a few more of your questions.
Is there a separate room for school?
Our house has a living room, dining room, and family room. Our living room has become our school room. We have a school table in the room, the computer, and all the school books. The school table is short so it isn’t comfortable for me to sit there for long periods of time. I usually sit at the dining room table because it is huge and we have comfy chairs. The kids who are working with me sit at the table, as well as the kids who need a little extra supervision.
When do you clean, sort through papers, file papers?
As I mentioned before we try to keep the house clean on a daily basis. I realize I sound like a broken record but has been the best tool for staying on top of household chores. We do our big cleaning on Saturday morning. I hate to file papers. I have a small desk in the kitchen and I keep all non school paperwork on the desk. Above the desk are cabinets that store my binders, which are my filing system. I usually wait until I cannot see the top of the desk and then file. It really doesn’t take me that long, and I am not sure why I procrastinate in this area of my life. The good thing is that since I try to do everything online (regarding bills) I don’t have a ton of papers to file. It usually takes about two months for my desk to get to critical condition.
From Courtney, Would you mind sharing more about the projects that you have scheduled everyday? What kinds of things do you do? Do you quit when your allotted time is up, or keep working? Do you break things up to finish over several days?
The projects I work on during the day are basically everything you see on my Tackle it Tuesday posts. They can be anything from cleaning out the fridge or pantry to making a purse. I have found that with a lot of people living in a small space the clutter builds up quickly. If the project is something that the kids are helping with I try to make it a 30 minute project. Usually, with so many helping hands, most projects can be tackled in that time. For projects that I am doing myself I usually set a time limit. If I don’t finish the entire project I will stop when my time is up and continue working on it the next day. Years ago I would plow through projects regardless of time. This usually meant that dinner would be late, or we would end up ordering pizza because I was consumed with my project. I found that most of my projects can be spread out over a few days and I am still able to get my regular “jobs” done.
From Rachel, Have you considered cleaning with vinegar and water instead of chemical-based cleaners?
Absolutely, this is something I hope to do once the baby is born. For those of you who are interested in making your own cleaners Rachel has some resources on her site.
From Sarah: What are your little girls wearing at the table to do their crafts?
My girls are wearing large plastic smocks. I purchased them at a yard sale years ago. They are great for keeping their clothes clean. Before I had those I used my husband’s old t-shirts, they worked well too.
From Larry, I maybe asking a question that is answered therein but I missed it. I read your “story” and it ends with you discovering you were pregnant. Are you or have you written the rest? I’d love to hear the rest of the story.
I have not written the rest of the story. This story is actually very hard for me to write because I am not proud of my behavior and have a hard time letting people see the yucky side of me. At the same time, I feel there are reasons for this story to be written. I try to write a “chapter” every two weeks.
I think I have answered all the questions. If I missed one please remind me, feel free to leave any other questions in the comment section.
Due Date
Today is your due date, and you are almost one month old. Hard to believe 4 weeks ago today I was admitted to the hospital and we would soon meet you. You are a blessing to our family and as the days go by it is hard to remember a time when you were not with us. We love you so much!
Ways to Encourage Our Children to Love Each Other
The following is a guest post from Tracy who blogs at Girls to Grow.
As a Mom, one of the things I desire to see in my children is a genuine love for one another. While there will always be moments of disagreement and times of strife, I hope that my daughters will always have a close and meaningful relationship.
Here is a list of five ways we can encourage our children to love each other.
1) Cultivate a spirit of family unity. There are a variety of ways to do this, the most basic of which is just spending time together. The more family members do together, the more memories they create and bonds they form. These times needn’t be fancy or expensive; something as simple as a family picnic or game night can provide lots of fun and togetherness.
2) Teach respect for each other’s person, possessions and privacy. We stress that there should never be hitting, pinching, pushing, etc and an appropriate punishment is determined if any of those occur (which they do from time to time). As to respecting other’s possessions, we instruct our children to always ask permission before using or borrowing each other’s things. If one of them damages the other’s item, it is the responsibility of the one who has done the damage to fix or replace it. Along these same lines, we ask that they always knock and receive approval to enter the other’s room if the door is closed.
3) Be quick to ask for and grant forgiveness. If one child has wronged another, he/she should be willing to admit their mistake and apologize. Do whatever is necessary to make the situation right. If you are the offended one, be ready to forgive. Don’t allow grudges or bitterness to grow.
4) Protect the family relationship. Never repeat stories of events that happen in the home that would be embarrassing to a brother or sister. Be protective of your siblings and their feelings. Above all, be thoughtful and considerate toward those in your family. We are often more gracious to friends, neighbors and acquaintances than we are to those we love and treasure the most.
5) Recognize and celebrate individual accomplishments. All of the family members should rejoice when one of them hits a home run, memorizes a difficult piano piece or gets an A on a test. I know some mothers who have a special plate that a child uses for dinner when they have achieved a certain goal; others may make a favorite meal or have a small award designated for honoring these occasions. On the flip side, it’s a great thing for our children to learn to empathize when a sibling has a difficult time. Help them think of ways to encourage each other when someone has had a bad day.
These are just a few ideas for helping our children learn to develop that special relationship they can have with each other. I’d love to hear ideas you may have for cultivating family ties and strengthening those bonds between brothers and sisters.
Tracey is a wife and mom of two girls who can be found blogging about all things related to families and parenting at Girls to Grow.
This post is linking to Works for me Wednesday.
Cora’s Quilt
Remember my friend who helped clean my room and make a baby sling? Well she totally outdid herself by showing up at my house on Saturday with a gift for Cora.
I’d link to her blog, but she doesn’t have one. She must be too busy helping people clean and making them gorgeous quilts to have time to blog.
She even quilted Cora’s name in the quilt.
As you can see Cora loves her quilt almost as much as I do.
This post is linking to Talk about Tuesday.
Cora and Kit
Cora and Kit
April 25, 2009
23 days old
I think Cora really wants to beat Kit, look how she is stretching! 🙂
A few more pictures from our day.
And Baby Makes Three
This is Our Story, or the story of how I met my husband, got married a few weeks later, and eventually became The Happy Housewife. This story has a beginning, but no end… yet. I publish a chapter every few weeks, so if you don’t want to miss an installment subscribe to my blog.
As I sat on the airplane a feeling of relief swept over me. There was no sadness, not even regret, just relief to finally be free of my problems (or so I thought). My relief was short lived as shortly after everyone boarded the plane I heard my name being called over the intercom system. It was at this point in my life that I realized why innocent people run from the police. I knew I had done nothing wrong, but I didn’t want to come to the front of the plane. What could possibly be the problem? I was not going to get off that airplane, I was leaving and no one was going to stop me.
After about 30 seconds of contemplating not identifying myself, I realized I did not want to spend the night in jail in a foreign country (not sure why I thought I would end up in jail) and I made my way to the front of the plane. Once I reached the front they told me there was a problem and that I need to go to security. I could not believe this was happening. I was led off the plane and through the airport where eventually I ended up in a room with several security people and all my luggage. My luggage was not the nice black stuff with wheels and zippers either. It was old with clasps that made a clicking sound when they were shut, except the clasps didn’t work so well so we had duct taped my luggage together so it didn’t fall apart.
The duct tape had been cut off and my luggage was open and they were going through all my stuff. I felt like this was all a very, very bad dream, but it wasn’t, it was real and happening to me. Then a female security guard patted me up and down as I watched in horror as they tore apart my luggage. Finally after several minutes they decided I was not a threat I was told I could reboard the plane. My luggage however was in total disarray and I began to accept the fact that my stuff might not make it to Miami.
I arrived in Florida and quickly settled back into my old life, well except for the fact that I was married and pregnant. I spent my days hanging out at my parent’s house (I had no car) and my nights watching basketball on television with my dad and a few friends. Dh and I spoke occasionally on the phone, but I did write him a letter almost every day (remember life before email). I am not sure what those letters said, I think I just felt it was my duty to write them. The more time that passed the more we grew apart.
As time came for the baby to be born we made arrangements for dh to fly to the states. I decided it would be better for him to arrive after my due date just in case the baby decided to come late. Thank goodness I did that because my due date, June 20th, came and went. By June 21st I was miserable. By June 25th, I decided that I wasn’t ever going to have the baby. By July 1st I was desperate. I arrived at my appointment with plans to beg and plead for an induction. It was July in Florida and I was miserable!
Fortunately my doctor decided to check me to see if I was ready to be induced. I was 5cm so he sent me to the hospital to have the baby. When I arrived at the hospital there were no available beds and since I wasn’t in labor they wouldn’t admit me. The nurses encouraged me to go for a walk to help move things along and I would be admitted. I walked for 15 hours! From 9 am to midnight my mom and I walked the mall, the hospital, the parking lot and every place else we could think of. Every few hours we would return to the floor where they would send me away because I wasn’t in “active labor.” Finally at midnight after walking the entire day plus not eating my mom put her foot down. She told the nurses they either needed to admit me or send me home, but those were the only two options.
They admitted me.
By that time I was completely exhausted, my feet ached, and were covered in blisters from walking all day. They decided to break my water and surprise, surprise we had a baby 45 minutes later.
Our little girl was born 14 months after we got married. We were officially a family.
Dh arrived in the states when she was three days old and for three weeks we “played house.” I think the constant, feeding, pooping, and crying (me not the baby :), distracted us from the myriad of problems I had left down in Panama. For three weeks things seemed alright. Perhaps I had made a mistake in leaving, maybe things weren’t as bad as I thought. We were two adults, surely we could work out of differences.
Now that there was another person involved, things suddenly became a lot more complicated.