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POSH pedicure lounge review
One of thriftymommas favourite local indulgences is POSH pedicure lounge at 101Wellington Street, my main reason to travel to downtown London. It is the girliest, prettiest pedicure lounge one could ever envision. A place my daughter would like to remodel our house to resemble. Thankfully she doesn’t control the credit cards. Hot pink and leopard spotted decor are beyond feminine. Pedicures run $37 for adults and $35 for teens. Mother daughter manicures and pedicures are a fun way to be pampered together. Children under 12 get pedicures for $23.50. Posh does adorable girly birthday parties for your pop princess or teen diva. The party includes six girls for $250 and invitations. Each partygoer receives a…
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14 Things You Must Have on a Family Road Trip
Heading out on another family road trip which means I have some packing to do. Since we started this great foray into family travel my husband and I – well mostly I – have learned a few things about the tricky business of travelling with tots in tow. My first tip for travelling with children is planning, planning and then planning some more. When we flew to Disney last year it was my daughter, Ainsley’s first flight. She was four and, for those of you who don’t know, she has sensory processing disorder, which means life is often too loud, too bright, too fast and etc.. you get the idea.…
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My response to: Am 630 Edmonton CHED – re: FASD
In a post issued today by Bob Layton, an Edmonton radio talk show host there was a mention of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Actual terms used were “fetal alcohol babies” and “mentally deficient souls.” This came to thriftymommastips’ attention by way of FASLINK, an Internet listserv that helps connect and support adoptive and biological parents to children with diagnosed and suspected FASD. Naturally given the closeness of this topic to my heart, the fact that my five-year-old has FASD and many of the children of the people in our adoptive parent’s support group are struggling to raise kids with this brain injury, I had to respond. This is my comment to…
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Child, Youth, Infant, Toddler? At What Point is a Child a Youth?
Is a child a youth or is my youth no longer a child? Sometimes, I think it’s a bit like the chicken and egg question. At what point is a child a youth? I received in the mail the other day confirmation of my daughter Payton’s enrollment in a workshop we’re doing in the United States this coming month. It had details of her conference itinerary and some other basic stuff outlining all the fun things she’ll be doing while Mommy speaks and does a writing workshop at a conference. How Did This Happen? But the thing that jumped out at me was this: for the first time ever my child,…
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East Park Golf and Waterpark
Thriftymommastips decided to take her family for a holiday weekend adventure at a nearby waterpark in London, known as East Park, 1275 Hamilton Road. While the weather Saturday was lovely and the waterslides excellent the adventure was not inexpensive, so be forewarned. East Park offers many different packages and many different activities but for the holiday weekend a special family of four for $50 deal was advertised in the newspaper. The deal caught my eye and we figured we’d give the waterslides a whirl. Now it should be noted that we had no complaints and spent all day at the park thoroughly enjoying the slides, the children’s water park area…
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Ribs, Staycations and Princesses
Looking for something fun and cheap to do with the family this weekend in and about London, Ontario then look no further than Ribfest in Victoria Park. Ainsley and I overheard Grace FM mentioning that Ribfest started yesterday and so we made it our mission to go check it out for thriftymommastips. It was the first time ever that I’ve made it downtown for the festival and despite the hideous search for parking and annoying construction on nearby roads, we were pleasantly surprised by the event. Between the delicious food, the fun amusement park rides, the face-painting and princesses we enjoyed the music and the atmosphere on a lovely summer afternoon in London. Stop…
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Somebody Else’s Daughter book review
This book, Somebody Else’s Daughter, by Elizabeth Brundage, caught my eye at the London public library several months ago but I was too busy to read it then, so when I spied it again at Chapters on sale and in paperback I was one happy camper. Now thriftymomma is a busy gal and is super selective these days about what she reads so I applied my three tests of whether a book is worthy of my time and this one won them all. Test one: is the title snappy? This title caught my eye for its obvious adoption reference. Test two: does the blurb on the back peak my interest and flesh out…
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Orphan Movie – Time to Change the Script
Orphan movie hits theatres today from Warner Brothers. I’ve been asked to comment half a dozen times this week in print media and on TV regarding adoptive parents concerns. Basically, the movie shows a negative portrayal of older child adoption. The latest media is in today’s (Friday July 24th) Globe and Mail in the life section, so go buy the paper now or look up on line. A channel also interviewed me in my role as cofounder of the Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families. The Orphan movie protest began a couple of months ago over negative language used in the previews. In the original promotions a little girl named Esther, who…
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Rainy day Family Fun on the Bruce Peninsula #travel
What to do when you are at the cottage and the rain starts? Well why not visit the Bruce County Museum? There’s plenty to do and see for kids of all ages. Plus the exhibits are always a hit. Here’s one more reason to visit the Bruce Peninsula. I have spent all my summers from the time I was a tot heading to the beach with my family, often winding up at a rental cottage hanging out and enjoying the summer months near Southampton. But only last year at the ripe old age of 40 with my children in tow did I finally visit the Bruce County Museum and Cultural…
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Backyard Science Experiment Photos
Summer 411 is in full swing here, and I have to say this is one of the best ideas I’ve had yet. At the beginning of the summer I looked up a number of fun backyard science experiments my daughters and I could do and it’s been a real highlight for us. Most of the experiments are quite cheap and several are worth repeating. The last week of school I settled on about 12 experiments and took my five-year-old grocery shopping for all the ingredients. She proudly told random strangers, “We’re doing science experiments” which was a good thing as my cart was full of some pretty weird stuff. I’ve…