Surviving the School Year

We are already starting to see the Back To School ads coming out, WOW July and we are already thinking about back to school already.  Amazing how the summer just flies by.  Sticking to the theme of back to school I have composed a few Back To School survival tips for families.

1. Create a budget for supplies and stick to it! Or even better create a budget for your child and let your child do their Back To School shopping.  This helps them appreciate how a budget works and lets them pick out what they would like.  Some schools mandate certain supplies be bought, if this is your case then shop for deals.  There  are a ton of deals out there through many websites that can help you save money on your Back-To-School budget.

2. Be Patient! Going back to school can sometimes be stressful for children, especially those that are moving into a new school. Little ones will have questions and will want to show how proud they are of the work they have done.

3. Don't hesitate to ask for help! There are many websites out there now a days that can assist parents and students with home work questions. I know some of the math now a days is not something I remember looking at, it makes you want to pull out your hair trying to help them.. again back to have patience and ask for help when needed.

4. Get to know your children's teachers! This is very very important. If the teacher has an email system to keep parents up to date on school activities make sure your email is up to date and current.

5. There is nothing wrong with taking a family vacation during the middle of the school year! This allows for both parents and children to get a much needed release from the stressful-ness that some school years bring!

6. Have fun and enjoy yourself! Support your children in all their activities and encourage them to do their best. Even if their best is a C, it is still none the less their best!

Disclosure: This post was created as an entry into a Contest for a Master Lock Back-To-School Prize pack as part of being a member of the Mom Bloggers Club.

More information on Master Lock can been seen at www.facebook.com/masterlock

Transformers Galore Giveaway by Time To Play Link Up

Today I thought I'd let you know about Time To Play.  They are a blog that offers reviews of all kinds of toys and have even classified them into categories so you can find them easily. Not only do they review toys, but they do giveaways!! Who doesn't love giveaways.  Wednesdays are their big twitter giveaways and Fridays are their TV show with giveaways, but last and not least is their weekly giveaways... This week it is Geek Week Transformers Galore Giveaway which can be seen at

http://timetoplaymag.com/playforum/2011/07/geek-weeks-giveaway-transformers-galore/

You simply enter your information and follow the steps in the rules and mark off what you did! My type of giveaway if you ask me.  Everyone who has a child that loves Transformers should go enter this giveaways and if you do GOOD LUCK!

Thursdays Thoughts

Today I am rather blah! Still, I've been having a bad week... actually it's been a bad month. July has never been the best month for me and that is still ringing true for 2011. Today I learned that a friend of mine has a sick dog. Her dog has thyroid Cancer and the vet hasn't given him much time to live. Hearing this brings back memories, memories of my Pudge whom I lost last year in March. I had raised Pudge, I watched him be born. He was so fat when he was born he looked like a sausage with 4 legs, so I called him Pudge. At 3 days old he knew his name already, so the name stuck. When Pudge was 3 I had lost his Mother. She had been diagnosed with Lymphocycoma Cancer. I learned a hard lesson, not to open up a dog that is sick. We had opted for a biopsy of her one lymph node and by opening her up it made her go faster. The night she died she still had the staples in her leg from doing the biopsy. She literally was catatonic and I had decided that it was time. She couldn't walk or move, this was a 70lb dog that now had to be carried out to the car. As I came back into the house to get her she got up, she actually got up and she walked out of the back door onto the porch and just looked around. Then she walked down the two stairs and gently got into the backseat of the car. This was a dog that couldn't walk or move all day long, the cancer had gotten into her spinal cord she was now almost paralyzed. But she got up and walked out the door and into the car.  Just as I had turned around to go back into the house and get my purse I heard a big deep breath... and then she was gone. Just like that in a split second she was gone.

Twitter Parties & New Calendar

Hello Everyone!! Just a quick post to let everyone know the situation.  Tweeparties.com as of July 1st, due to lack of resources, is NO longer updating their twitter party calendar. So on that note and a huge brainstorm I have added a Calendar to my blog page, which can be seen under Twitter Parties Tab on my home page.

Along with this calendar I have recruited some help and set preferences so some people can add, manage, change, and delete party info. I am also trying to work on a calendar that will allow one click link to take you to party page info, but for the mean time you will have to cut and paste website addresses to get onto RSVP or/and party info pages (I apologize for this, but out of my control right now)

The Move - Literally Calm to Chaotic

**warning this post may contain explicit language**

Where to begin, I suppose at the beginning.  A month ago we rented a PODS (Portable On Demand Storage) and had it placed on the front lawn.  This gave me a month to go through the basement and decide what was going into this POD and why it should.  All of the outdoor Christmas and Halloween decorations went into it, along with every single Christmas decoration/tree/wrapping paper in the house.  I also put winter clothes, a fire pit still in the box, outdoor summer decorations, patio chairs and umbrella, the one dog crate, along with misc other boxes that weren't going to get used or missed if they were in the PODS for a few months.  Originally thinking was the PODS would only be needed for a few months until we got the close date on the short sale house.  Again, original thinking this was...