• parenting

    Dove Unstoppable Moms For Unstoppable Girls Contest

    May 30, 2013 - By 

        This post is part of YummyMummyClub.ca‘s support of the Dove® Unstoppable Moms for Unstoppable Girls Contest. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. This post reflects my personal opinion about the information provided by the sponsors. Go to www.UnstoppableMoms.ca to enter by sharing how you inspire girls to reach their full potential.   I had a weird relationship with body image as a tween and teen. When I was 12, I started getting sick and eventually at 14 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Crohn’s is a digestive disorder thought to be an autoimmune disorder too. I lost…

  • 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…

  • Health - infertility - parenting - Parenting

    Two – Interview with Curtis Shaw #creatingfamilies

    May 27, 2013 - By 

    Desmond Child, the legendary songwriter, with sons Roman and Nyro and Curtis Shaw Child. Together with surrogate Angela, the Shaw, have produced a magnificent documentary Two. My review of Two: The Story of Roman and Nyro, the documentary ran here on the weekend. Click through to read it if you are interested. This is thriftymommastips.com interview with Curtis Shaw.  1. I love the trailer and the full documentary for Two: The Story of Roman and Nyro and just want to say the message is beautiful and will appeal to many of my readers at thriftymommastips.com. I wonder if you can simply explain…

  • 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.…

  • FASD - parenting - special needs

    Sari Therapy Riding #wordlesswednesday #ldnont

    May 22, 2013 - By 

    A girl and her horses. She loves them all and could not live without Sari therapy riding. In 2010, I went to a workshop in Alberta that stressed how mental health and disability, and brain injury such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, was not currently done well through traditional therapy and cognitive behavioural approaches. I already intuitively new that but it was nice to have confirmation of it from the experts. I learned at that conference that many people were having success with animal assisted therapies and therapy riding too. So I started looking into it when I got back…

  • parenting

    Dear Mom Camp Series – Muskoka Woods May

    May 21, 2013 - By 

    Dear Mom:  Now I know we’ve covered most of this already and I know you’ve got some of my camps booked. And the end of school is coming fast now, in fact so fast I can almost start my countdown. But Mom, I really have to show you something cool. Remember Muskoka Woods? Well, it was one year ago when we got the awesome weekend to visit and try the big swing. I loved that place. The food was good, the counsellors Tippy and Brillo were amazing. But wait, here’s the cool part. I was playing on my iphone tonight…

  • 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…