• family

    Before You Ask Bloggers to Write For Free #blogging

    April 12, 2013 - By 

    A collage of a few of the brands I work with, or provide social media strategy for, as a business at thriftymommastips.com (Every week my email in box fills up with perplexing public relations pitches and blogger outreach programs. Many of these go unanswered. Then today I also received a telephone call – follow up from a local London company – that asked if I need more information about an email in order to post a tiny discount code for my readers free. I am compelled to share a letter I recently sent to a contact about the business of…

  • Health - parenting

    Bra Shopping is a Metaphor for My Life

    April 11, 2013 - By 

    The Bra is a metaphor for my life.  I took my Mom to get her perm today. Phone bonging all the way with emails coming in fast and furious, tweets and Facebook updates, last minute travel things to care for and the threat of freezing rain. Two hours it takes for a perm to set from start to finish and well with my iphone in hand, hint of bad weather – which makes my mother extremely nervous – and numerous gift cards burning a hole in my wallet I thought I might as well stay and shop at Masonville Mall…

  • family - FASD - Parenting - special needs

    My #WordlessWednesday and a Linky #specialneeds

    April 10, 2013 - By 

    I am posting this because it is Wordless Wednesday and it’s past the time in Ontario where we should be doing this right. Supporting children with a disability is not a suggestion or an extra-curricular, or an add on for systems. It is the job. Period. Full stop. If you have cancer and you go to doctor, do they say to you sorry my friend we don’t do that. And yet consistently in Ontario where we receive this diagnosis we have no follow up, no support or help. Very often we do not even have schools that support our children’s…

  • family travel - Giveaways - Health - parenting - special needs

    The Ultimate Blog Party #UBP13

    April 8, 2013 - By 

    This is the second year I have taken part in this great event hosted by 5MinutesforMom.com. It’s a fun annual event and a great way to get to meet a few new bloggers, expand your circle and build some connections. So what’s involved, you ask? Well over $20,000 in prizes and a massive group of bloggers who write about various topics: from review bloggers to niche bloggers that focus on special needs. There are Dad bloggers and Mom bloggers and even some parents in waiting bloggers. So, for those taking part in the party who are new to this blog…

  • Health - Parenting - special needs

    If This Child Were Blind #specialneeds

    April 4, 2013 - By 

    Photo from Today’s Parent, this was an article I wrote for them that was published in 2008. This is Ainsley. Some of you know her well. Others have never met her and that’s okay. You just need to know she has multiple disabilities, aka special needs. That’s the sad fact of prenatal alcohol and poly-substance exposure. It hurts your brain, in fact it can often cause brain damage when you are in utero. (before you are born). I have seen children with FASD, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, whose brains are essentially mapped with holes in places where another child would…

  • family

    Disney Summer Fun – Planes Trailer

    April 2, 2013 - By 

     This one is sure to be hot! Planes, by the creators of Cars, released this summer – in August to be exact. I can’t wait – especially fun because I know my nephew would go nuts for this adorable animated movie. Love the concept of talking planes, trains or automobiles. I can’t wait to see what they have in store next.

  • family

    The Memory Clinic and Dementia Care in The Future

    April 1, 2013 - By 

    The Yummy Mummy Club’s Erica Ehm and Dr. Tiffany Chow A couple of months ago I was invited to The Yummy Mummy Club event for The Memory Clinic. The Memory Clinic by Doctor Tiffany Chow, published by Penguin Books, was of particular interest to me because of the health care journey we have been on with my mother. Chow is one of the esteemed women of Baycrest, a world-renowned retirement home facility in Toronto that specializes in compassionate care for those struggling with dementia. I was thrilled to visit the facility and fairly wowed by the book, as well as…

  • parenting

    Five Things I Know About Adoption – Adoption Facts

    March 28, 2013 - By 

    Without a doubt adoptive parenting is the hardest thing you will ever do. But it can also be the most rewarding. For us, adoption was the only way we were going to become a family. It is the greatest gift we ever received and we are always grateful. However, adoptive parenting is not the same as traditional parenting. From the start this journey is harder. You will go through all sorts of grief and loss just to get here often. And then it will be intrusive. It will be hard and also very worth it. But you might question that…