Search Results for: blog when bad things happen again and again

Living with Engineers: It’s All in the Timing

Another engineer’s wife and I were having a discussion about household chores yesterday.  We were bemoaning the fact that if we want our husbands to do something for us, we either need to tell them right away, or it won’t happen at all. The engineer’s mind is a constant one-way track of processing information.  It’s what makes them so brilliant and efficient: they zero in on a task, giving it their complete focus until it’s done.  I’m almost always thinking about other things while I’m working on something, which is why it can take me longer to achieve something with … Continue reading →

How to Talk to Your Kids about the Economic Crisis

“How can I talk to my kids about the economic crisis?” It is a common question that most parents face today. As prices on consumable goods rise, from food and gas to the cable bill, and families feel themselves pinched, even the youngest children are starting to notice that things around them are changing. Neighbors and friends may be moving away, favorite stores and restaurants may be closing, and everyone seems to have to sacrifice something they enjoy just to get through this time. Parents should see this time in our history as a teaching moment, but the lessons should … Continue reading →

Here’s to New Beginnings!

As 2012 is coming to a close, I have had some time to reflect on the happenings of the year. It has been a year of many ups and downs. I’ve gained eternal friends, loved and lost, struggled and triumphed, and learned more about myself than I ever imagined possible. I am not the same woman I was at the beginning of the year. I have gained so much strength throughout the continuing trials of divorce. I have grown into a better woman and a better mother. While this may not have been a perfect year, it was certainly one … Continue reading →

Two Secrets to a Guest-Ready Home

I don’t have the cleanest home in the world, and not every area is neat and organized.  But it is almost always guest-ready.  So if I get a phone call that someone is dropping by, I usually don’t have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off to straighten things up. So what’s my secret?  I have a couple. Let me share the first one.  It is that I don’t make messes and I don’t allow for them. If there is a struggle you or someone in the home is having, when it comes to messes, then … Continue reading →

They Are Who They Are

Most parents would probably say that they truly want their kids to find their own identity. We want them to be who they were meant to be. But when they become teenagers and they start to go a direction we never envisioned or we don’t like, suddenly we try to mold our children into what we think they should be. And I’m not just talking about teens that go the “wrong direction.” It could be things such as the way they view the world (especially if it’s different than we taught them) or their style (makeup, hair and clothing). We … Continue reading →

Toddler Road Trip Wrap Up

Last night we returned to our home after a nine day vacation with my parents. Four out of those nine days were spent on the road, driving for many hours. This post is for any parent who is wondering whether it is a good idea to take such a long trip with a toddler (or, as in our case, a toddler and a baby). I am not sure if there was a specific reason that our trip went relatively smoothly, but it did. There were certainly moments where things got pretty intense, but we worked through them. When I stopped … Continue reading →

A Caution to Single Parents

Today in class we read a book called The Spider and the Fly based on a poem by Mary Howitt and beautifully illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi. The poetry portrays a cunning spider who is deviously trying to persuade a dear fly into his home. At first the fly refuses saying she knows what happens to those who give in to the spider’s persuasions. The next day when the fly comes by the spider lures her in with his flattery words and she never returns. As I sat in class thinking about this tragic tale I likened it to us as … Continue reading →

Comparing Candidates, and Medicaid in Two States

In this Week in Review of the Insurance blog, you will find a brief description of all of the different blogs that went up in the past week. This time around, there is information about the Medicaid programs in two states and part of my series that compares what each of the candidates for the 2012 Presidential Election plan to do with various types of health insurance coverage. Alabama Has a Plan First Program The Medicaid program in Alabama includes a Family Planning program called Plan First. It covers family planning services, only, for women who are between the ages … Continue reading →

Baby’s Fears

Every baby has a fear. Sometimes it is the vacuum, the dog, or the blender. My baby actually doesn’t seem to mind the blender all that much, and he loves the food chopper. Weird. But, there are a few things that he is afraid of from time to time. While I don’t enjoy my child’s fear, it is sometimes cute to see what he is afraid of. One of the things that I have learned that he is afraid of is the car wash. In fact, I remember my oldest being scared of that, too as a baby. Now, she … Continue reading →

Sleeping Beauty: A Strange Fairy Tale

Charles Perrault’s “La Belle au bois dormant” (literal translation “the Beauty sleeping in the wood”) is a bizarre little tale. Some people might find Walt Disney’s adaptation of the story as soporific as the curse upon Aurora, but at least it has narrative consistency. So many of the things that happen in Perrault’s story leave (modern) readers scratching their heads, and that’s on top of the hefty dose of terrible messages for women, something that didn’t come as a surprise after I read the 17th century Frenchman’s take on Cinderella. Up until the point of the teenage princess’ pricking of … Continue reading →