• family

    Eco Shopping is Good for You and The Environment

    Eco shopping has become very popular these days, and that’s a good thing. With climate change and resource usage being real wolves outside our doors, it’s important that we do whatever we can to help reduce our impact on the planet. Most of us already recycle. A lot of us upcycle, finding new uses for used items or turning them into crafts. There’s so much more we can do, though, and it’s easy. Take shopping for example. Eco shopping may sound like a trendy term, but it really just means being more efficient and making small changes that impact both…

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    How to Make Money Now – Best Affiliate Programs

    Blogging can be a lot of fun. What other job out there offers the freedom to set your own schedule, be flexible and work as much or as little as you want?  Sounds pretty awesome, right?  If you are a blogger, then you probably know this already. Being a blogger may sound as though you spend your days writing about anything and everything that you want, while waiting for people to read what you’ve published….but, it’s so much more than that.  Blogging is a job. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into every blog post. Successful…

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    Straight Up Advice to My Teenage Daughters

    Recently, we’ve have had a string of wicked hot summer days. High humidity and all that goes with it. Doesn’t bother me a bit. My favourite seasons are summer and winter for the outdoor sports and the travel opportunities. I live for shorts weather and I hate sacrificing comfort for trends. Bring on the heat and the lighter clothing too. In summer months I’d be happy to wear a swimsuit and occasionally a coverup and work by the pool all season. But I settle for shorts and nice T-shirts. This season as the temperatures soared I have started noticing a…

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    How to Choose the Best Products for Curly Hair

    Curly hair is beautiful. I didn’t always think so. When I was a child I had super curly, often frizzy hair. It took me years to understand how to take care of my curls and honestly it took me a while to figure out that it was one of my favourite physical features. Thank goodness for hair products. As a child I was stuck with frizzy unmanageable hair. We never had conditioner in the house because my Mom didn’t have curly hair and had no idea mine needed conditioner. In fact moisturizing products and curl tamers are my mainstay now…

  • parenting

    11 Survival Tips For Raising Teenage Daughters

    Raising teenage daughters is not a walk in the park. Your sweet little girl, that adorable baby you used to dress up in cute pink dresses, who insisted on reading Robert Munsch bedtime stories all snuggled up in her toddler bed for years, is now a teenager. Oh yeah, it happened fast too, didn’t it? Overnight, she’s a surly teenager with attitude, and you wonder how your relationship will survive this. Relax, the good news is you’ll both be fine…eventually. There are just some things that you need to remember. Chief among those is DO not take it personally. You…

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    Back to School Shopping Doesn’t Need to Be Scary

    I have partnered with YMC and Staples and have received compensation for this post. All opinions are my own. The closer my kids get to college or university the scarier life gets for me as a parent. My oldest starts Grade 12 this year and my youngest is heading to Grade 9. Both kids are in high school. Which gets me thinking about the costs involved in attending college or university. Lately I lay awake at night or I break out in a cold sweat randomly throughout the day thinking HOW will we ever afford college or university? Have we saved…

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    The Proof is in the Laundry – Birthday Cake Fail

    This post has been sponsored by OxiClean and I received compensation.  The proof is in the pudding. Or in this case the birthday cake plus laundry stain remover. Let me back it up a second. This story starts with a birthday party and ends with laundry. Doesn’t every real-life story eventually end with laundry and stains? Travel ends in memories and laundry. School ends in smarter children and laundry. Play equals laundry. Work also equals laundry. See what I mean? Everything ends in laundry. But I digress. June and July here are party months. Birthday party months that is. From…

  • Parenting

    How Do I Answer Hard Adoption Questions?

    This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase via one of the links I receive a small commission.  Mom, did I grow in your tummy? Why didn’t my parents want me? What was wrong with me? How come nobody gave them money or helped them? These are all hard adoption questions I have been asked over the years as an adoptive parent. And I have answered them all, sometimes precisely and sometimes in very young vocabulary for a five year old or even younger. Talking to your child about adoption doesn’t have to be scary. The scariest part…

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    How to Create a Stunning Photo Gallery Wall Now

    This post has been sponsored by BestCanvas.ca.  A photo gallery wall is a great way to help commemorate the most important times and memories a family has. Whether it’s a collage of several different events or a themed wall, this kind of photo setup helps keep memories alive and showcased for visitors and family members, alike. Over the past two years we have been building and adding to our photo gallery wall in our family room. Piece by piece it is shaping up to be something I am happy with. Today, I’m ready to share it with you. I thought…

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    80 Tools to Help You Succeed at the Hardest Job Ever

    Raising kids is awesome and being a parent is a gift. Children can make you laugh with their hilariousness. They can make you melt with their cuteness. They can inspire you with their kindness. But raising kids is also really REALLY hard. Haven’t you often wished you had a parenting bible or toolkit? I know you have all joked about wishing that kids came with a manual. Friends and parenting resources are VITAL. Between temper tantrums, the constant noise and mess, teaching them all the life skills they’ll need as adults, and continually wondering whether we’re screwing it all up……