• family - Health - infertility

    Infertility Impacts Everyone: Katrina #ohip4ivf #onpoli

    May 28, 2013 - By 

    Meet Cameron. Grandma has dubbed him “the whole family’s baby.” He’s a sweet little guy, almost 18 months old. He made his Mom and Dad parents. He made Grandma a grandmother again. But his journey here was hard fought. Mom Katrina struggled through many medical, financial, physical and emotional hurdles to conceive Cameron. She was diagnosed with endometriosis and she had a few unsuccessful IVF (in vitro fertilization) attempts. She had miscarriages and she tried various alternative and natural therapies designed to boost fertility and alleviate the pain of endometriosis. Eventually, after thousands of dollars spent and a tremendous emotional toll…

  • family

    Rubbermaid Closet Helper Max Add On Review

    May 27, 2013 - By 

    I dream of organized closets. And organized kitchens, And basements and garages. Well, you get the idea. I actually might need a bit of help there. (Insert evil laughter from Margarita here) So, when Rubbermaid offered to send me a Rubbermaid Closet Helper Max Add On system for my closets I was pretty excited. I thought I could use it in somebody’s closet here at the Schuck Home. But sadly, I was wrong. Our closets have hardware installed that is permanent. Anyways I went hunting for a friend who could make full use of this little beauty. Rubbermaid is, after…

  • family - Health - infertility - Parenting

    Two: A Family Documentary for 2013 #creatingfamilies

    May 24, 2013 - By 

    “I think what gay means is two people of the same gender who love each other. At least that’s my understanding of it.”  – Roman and Nyro. I rarely review films, or documentaries here, but I received an interesting invitation this week to the International Premiere of the Annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival. I couldn’t go in person, but I am more than a bit in love with the concept of this documentary Two: The Story of Roman and Nyro.I needed to share because I know my readers would want to see this beautiful story of family. In the…

  • family

    What You Miss Most When A Loved One Dies

    May 23, 2013 - By 

    After a loved one dies the things you miss surprise you. Small sucker punches all day long to the heart. They creep in the week after the funeral and you think I had no idea I would miss that.          Sensory Things After a Loved One Dies Of course you miss her smell, and it is visceral, the way you seek it, find it lingering on her shirt, a blouse, a blanket, even on a pair of sunglasses. That was my Mom. That was how she smelled and I never really noticed it until right this second.…

  • family - special needs

    Medicare Part D Costs #Walgreens Prescription Savings #ad

    May 20, 2013 - By 

    (This is one of two sponsored posts for Walgreens. Thanks to Walgreens for trusting thriftymommastips to tell the story of caregiving and Medicare Part D. I was compensated. My opinion is all my own.)   Nobody wants to be on medication. And yet, here’s the rub. Pretty much every person I have ever met or cared for, within my family and extended family, has needed the help of a prescription to fix, or maintain health. Sometimes medicine is vital to your health. Sometimes it is crucial that you become your own advocate. Health care is one of those domains where…

  • family

    Shake It Up – I Heart Dance Review

    May 16, 2013 - By 

    A couple of trips ago, with my kids in tow we stopped in Orlando and ended up with one of those fabulous TV station deals in the motel where we stayed. You know the kind? All Disney Family channel, pretty much all the time. My kids were in heaven. That’s when they discovered Shake it Up. I didn’t mind the show even in the slightest because the two main characters are quirky and just different enough to make me want to watch with my kids. One of the characters struggles with a learning disability. She has a mother who is…

  • family

    Breathing Through Grief

    May 14, 2013 - By 

    These were the trees outside my Mom’s retirement home one short year ago. Today, they are starting to bloom again, but she will never see them and that shatters my heart. Same for the tulips and the flowers and the robins in my yard. I am not sleeping well, or doing anything else well right now. For those of you who don’t know, my Mom passed away suddenly May 5th. Her funeral is already a bit of a blur.  As for me, my chest hurts, my appetite is gone. I haven’t taken a true breath in almost two weeks. I move…

  • family

    For Grandma – on #MothersDay

    May 11, 2013 - By 

    Yesterday my daughter asked me if we could keep the messages on the phone from Grandma so we can hear her voice. And I cried. Not knowing it would be the last time we might hear her, I erased them all last week. On Sunday my mother, their last living Grandmother, passed away unexpectedly.  I will miss a million things about her this weekend. My first Mother’s Day without my Mom. Today we buried my Mom, listened to tributes from her sister-in-law and brothers. And my brother and I both found strength to say a few words about a great…

  • family

    But I Am Not Done with You Yet

    May 5, 2013 - By 

    In the end, you think about the many times she danced through the living room holding the cat, with those tiny cat antlers it used to hate. The times she dressed at the vanity in her room draping jewelry on and your eight-year-old eyes thought it was magic. You dreamed she was beautiful and then wished years away so you could grow fast forward. You asked her to twirl. She did and spun you around. She held your hand and said I love you and then she gave you a kiss before heading off to the dance with a friend.…