• Food - Health

    Healthy Living: Align Probiotic Review

    Probiotics have been in the news a lot this past two years so I have updated this post to include a bit more information. Align Probiotic is one of the options on the market that claims to support digestive health. This post is my personal experience with the product. My loyal readers here know that I have some health issues, mainly digestive, directly related to Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s Disease is an inflammatory bowel disorder that effects the digestive tract the entire way through. How to manage life with Crohn’s Disease is a whole other post. It flares at any time…

  • infertility - Parenting

    A Fertility Pop Quiz For Ontario #OHIP4IVF #onpoli

    Shutterstock Image I purchased. This is a throw down. That’s right. This post is a challenge to all my readers. I want to know what you know, or understand, about fertility and infertility. So pop quiz. I will put the correct answers at the end of this post. I totally trust you my loyal readers to be honest and grade yourselves. For those of you who live in Ontario, I am extremely interested to know your answers, so please leave me a comment stating whether or not you live in Ontario. Thanks! By way of background – In 2009, the…

  • family

    Join us For Saving Strategies with Linked Moms Chat

    Linked Moms Chat tomorrow night is all about money and simple strategies for saving money. Join us at 8 p.m. EST. Wednesday Jan. 23rd. Are you a penny pincher? Skilled negotiator? Coupon clipper? Price matcher? Moms are some of the best savers around. We know that, so we want to talk to you about your strategies for saving money. And we have a few little tips of our own. Pop by to learn how we save big money on major purchases like mortgages, cars, banking and daily budgets.  This is a chat you can’t afford to miss. Join Margarita http://www.twitter.com/downshiftingPRO…

  • family

    Cousins – #WordlessWednesday #linky

    This is my daughter holding her cousin four years ago. Taiga is four now. We are anticipating a new cousin within the next two weeks. My brother and his wife are expecting their third baby. This is a Wordless Wednesday post. Wordless Wednesday is a linky and a photo meme. Leave a link and we will visit you too.

  • beauty products

    Tria Beauty Series: Post 2 Adding a Routine

    This is the Tria Beauty Home Laser Hair Removal device. I wrote about Tria last week and will continue to do so to demonstrate the results the product provides. Tria Beauty is a handheld unit that gives the same results you can get in a dermatologist’s office in your own home. So last week I set the device up and was impressed with the safety features and this week I have been all about getting into a routine so that I use the laser every day and will be better equipped to see results six or seven or eight weeks…

  • Health - parenting

    The Kids Stay – Five Reasons My Kids Attend Political Events

    Last year 2012 New Year’s drop in with Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews (The one in which I am serious about kids and politics.) This week I read with great interest the columnists who challenged U.S. President Barack Obama for bringing kids to an event where he announced executive orders to tackle gun violence. Many columnists, like this one loudly argued that kids should not be used as “props” to further political agendas. Obama was flanked by several school aged children at the executive orders announcement. He was also criticized for releasing videos of children reading letters they sent to…

  • Health - infertility - parenting

    IVF Funding Ontario Could Have Made a Difference to This One Family’s Journey #OHIP4IVF #Onpoli

    With thanks to Kerri-Lyn Cuppage for her family photo. It is a given this time of year when temperatures dip and families begin the process of nesting through the winter, when holidays are pending and the year winds slowly to a close, that we all take stock of our blessings, our gifts, challenges and triumphs. For families whose children came to them either through adoption or in vitro fertilization, whose start was rooted in the sad realization of infertility, then compounded by medical issues and potential financial difficulties the blessings are magnified. But the challenges are not to be forgotten.…

  • Health - Parenting - parenting

    This is Who She Will Be #tweens

    I am always proud of my kids. Every day from the second they joined our home, their tiny hearts beating in sync with mine. I love them beyond measure, like many Moms the world over, and yet, sometimes parenting is dull. It is magical – ephemeral – a little unbelievable – and then it is exhausting. Draining. Bone weary hard work. The older they get, the further and faster they speed away from you. Daily. You can see it when they wake up and walk down to make their own cereal. And it is good and welcome and even a…

  • Food

    Cooking With Kids – Turkey Stuffing Pot Pie

    TURKEY stuffing pot pie is a recipe I’ve had my eyes on for weeks. Yesterday we decided to give it a try. At one point somebody sent a flyer around with the usual Dempster’s promotions in it and I found this recipe for Turkey Stuffing Pot Pie. I thought it looked so yummy that I had to make it. The ingredients and instructions are perfect for tweens who like to help cook and Payton was eager to help. We ended up with two versions. The Turkey Stuffing Pot Pie can be served in individual ramekins so everyone has their own…