Summer Water Play for Kids

June 14, 2013

photo: TheKennedyAdventures.com

Though it has been hard to imagine in New England, the warm weather will be back and the kids will be home looking for something to do.

Whether you are away on vacation or enjoying a frugal STAYCATION, when it is HOT there is nothing better than WATER FUN to get the kids outside and cool things down a bit. My friend Dianna over at The Kennedy Adventures just did a series – 5 Days of Water Play – and I cannot wait to give them a try… check them out:

I absolutely HATE pinatas at parties, but I am definitely going to give the Waterballoon Pinatas a try this summer.

What other creative WATER FUN ideas do you have?

Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”: NEW Black Friday Anthem

Comments

May 22, 2013

Black-Friday-Daft-Punk

I love listening to the radio… and singing at the top of my lungs in the car! You know we all do it. Since I have older children now, as well as little ones, I sometimes forget about LISTENING CLOSELY to lyrics. My 4 year old asked permission once to say an “adult word” and then belted out “I’m sexy and I know it!”.

OK, OK – parenting fail and let the stone throwing begin.

Believe me – I lived through many years of Laurie Berkner and the Wiggles with my older 2 children. Let’s just thank GOD Barney was out of style during my children’s years. He seemed to pop back in between children so I did not have to be tortured.

So now let’s just say this old dancing queen was not on the ball as I was jammin’ along to Daft Punk’s new song Get Lucky from the album Random Access Memories – Daft Punk in the car. It is a really catchy tune…

We’re up all night ’til the sun
We’re up all night to get some
We’re up all night for good fun
We’re up all night to get lucky

As I was daydreaming while singing, lamenting the fact that I am SOOO OLD that I do not remember the last time I was up all night other than with a sick screaming child, I was like OMG – what am I saying!

OH and if you CAN remember when you were really up all night for good fun – I.DO.NOT.WANT.TO.KNOW… but YOU GO… WORK IT!

BUT of course my quick thinking was able to turn things around.

Daft Punk is talking about Black Friday of course…

or waiting in line overnight for playoff tickets. Pick whichever will work for you.

We’re up all night ’til the sun (because we need to be first in line)
We’re up all night to get some (good deals or great seats of course)
We’re up all night for good fun (camping in front of a store in November is fun, right?)
We’re up all night to get lucky

So ROCK ON because I DON’T CARE… I LOVE IT!

(oh and I would not recommend that one with kids in the car either!)

What songs have you been rockin’ out to when you realized you had kid’s in the car?

photo credit: CINewsNow.com

4 Comments

Filed Under: Other Stuff, Saving My Mind

Staycation 2013 – Boston & Frugal Fun in Massachusetts

Comments

May 21, 2013

Staycation 2013 Boston: Frugal Fun in Massachusetts

NOT IN MASSACHUSETTS, have no fear, check out these Staycation Ideas across the U.S.

Memorial Day approaches, HIGH gas prices remain and we are all looking for frugal summer fun. More and more people will be sticking close to home for STAYCATIONS, but this by no means you are settling. When is the last time you just took a look around you? There are so many resources and fun things to do that we overlook daily.

A staycation does not need to be a “what we did because we could not afford to go away”. It can be an adventure and you should plan it with as much excitement and vigor as you do a vacation. Whether you are taking a full week off or using your days as a series of long weekends, it is important that you “pretend” you are actually away and on vacation.

UNPLUG – though this is tough with today’s technology, if you were on a cruise in the Bahamas, would you be checking email and texting all day? I say NO, so do not when on your staycation. The purpose of a vacation is to regroup, re-energize and spend quality time with the ones you love.
PLAN ACTIVITIES – Once you pick your staycation dates, plan the week with activities as you would a real vacation. Even if you choose to have a down day and just relax, do not fill it with chores – you are on vacation.
BE CREATIVE – Think outside the box. Camping in the backyard could be just as fun as going away. Vacation is a mind-set and if you set your mind into having a fun, fulfilling week, you will. Take pictures just as you would on a traditional vacation. Eat ice cream, sleep in, stay up late and any other things you typically do on vacation.

Year of the Staycation 2013: Exploring Boston and Massachusetts

I am lucky enough to live in Massachusetts where over 12 million tourist pay lots of money each year to visit. So why is it that we feel we have to travel for vacation? There is so much to do in this state in addition to all of the obvious Boston and historical attractions. It is really easy to forget what is around you when you live here. As you begin to plan, be sure to check out BostonCentral as well as some great daily deals on local attractions through Groupon, Eversave, LivingSocial, and Amazon Local so keep an eye out for those as well.

Below are some fun activities and resources in Boston and Massachusetts to help you plan a wonderful staycation:

[Read more...]

5 Comments

Filed Under: Family-Fun, Other Stuff, Saving My Mind, Tell Me How

Happy New Year 2013 – What’s Your Style?

Comments

December 31, 2012

As I sit here in disbelief that it is already 2013 I must reflect on the past year – as we all do. There was good, there was bad, there was love, there was learning and there are as always many areas for improvement. BUT I HATE RESOLUTIONS!

I will be making some changes to take better care of myself in the New Year since I usually put myself last and it frankly is taking a toll. I will share more of my goals and journey later, but I refer back to a New Year’s post I wrote 2 years ago which still rings true now:

Self-Esteem: What’s your Style?

It is a new year which means you know what… those dreaded resolutions – (do you hear me screaming???) No seriously – that blood curdling scream where you go in a closet and block your own ears and scream as loud as you possible can. You ought to try it sometime – for real… not just your cartoon self doing it in your head (I would so draw a picture if I had any talent at all).

I am screaming because in my mind it is another set up for failure. Another time I can setUNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS for myself and FAIL, FAIL, FAIL. We never aim low with resolutions… it is always I will lose 50 lbs (not 5 -10), have the best blog, have the perfect budget, be the perfect parent, the perfect spouse, the perfect housekeeper, the perfect everything. OK – I have perfect child syndrome, but we will talk about that later.

My theory as to why resolutions fail is two-fold:

They are UNREALISTIC goals – I mean really, think about it.
They are usually for someone else, not YOU

We set such lofty goals because we are NUTS and for many more reasons we will touch upon later in the series – including feeling self-worth, a feeling of success and more. At the same time women are also trying to meet everyone’s needs…

Facebook: Get NOTIFICATIONS of Maven of Savin posts

Comments

November 11, 2012

There has been positive progress in the never ending battle with facebook showing what YOU want in your newsfeed. Finally we have the ability to choose to get NOTIFICATIONS of new posts from the pages you “LIKE”. Here is how:

Hover over the on the page you want and click on “Get Notifications”. I am assuming you already have “Show in News Feed” checked, but you may as well check that one too.

You can do that for as many pages as you wish, but do not forget Maven of Savin. Then whenever there is a new post, you will get a NOTIFICATION on your FB page which you can see by clicking in the globe at the top.

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day 2012

Comments

October 15, 2012

TODAY October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

If you have lost or know anyone who has, join the Wave of Light with the simultaneous lighting of candles in memory of these babies lost to miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss at 7:00pm in your local time zone tonight. When you do and leave them lit for 1 hour it will result in a continuous chain of light spanning the globe for a 24 hour period.

What a wonderful way to remember our little ones who touched our lives if only for a brief time. Whether you carried them for many weeks or only had the joy of the positive pregnancy test for a few days, it is still a loss.

Above you see my candles that will be lit. Someday I will share my story but for now I would like to share a wonderful story about Spirit Babies (Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife By Peggy Vincent pgs. 125-127) that helped me with my losses and will hopefully help you or someone you know.

..every woman has a circle of babies that goes around and around above her head, and those are all the possible babies she could have in her whole life. Every month, one of those babies is first in line. If she gets pregnant, then that’s the baby that’s born. If she doesn’t get pregnant, the baby goes back into the circle and keeps going around with all the others. If she gets pregnant but something bad happens before the baby’s born…now listen, Mom, because here’s the really cool part. It goes back into the circle, but it becomes a Spirit Baby, and all the other babies give it cuts. Each month, it’s always first in line.

What I really took comfort in is that if I did not get pregnant again the story says that the baby circle will beam that Spirit Baby over to another woman’s circle and it will be first in line until it finally gets born. Read the full except HERE – pgs 125-127.

Tonight I will remember my Spirit Babies and all of yours as well.

thanks Sunday from AdventuresInExtremeParenthood & Jana’aThinkingPlace

1 Comment

Filed Under: Other Stuff, Saving My Mind

Christmas 2012: Strategies to Succeed

Comments

October 3, 2012

Twas 12 weeks before Christmas, credit card companies are reeling
Parents did not budget again and their debt will hit ceilings.
Will they pay crazy fees to buy gifts for their kin
Or be smart, use coupons, follow Maven of Savin’

This is an updated version of last years post that I hope was helpful to you in planning your Christmas shopping.

OK, so I am still not a poet, but I wanted to start the holiday season with some strategies to simplify Christmas and avoid paying WAY TOO MUCH during your holiday shopping this year.

The first thing I cannot stress enough is Don’t Buy Stuff you Cannot Afford. I know it seems obvious, but seriously – the holidays are about family, not about material goods. I will be posting lots of deals, but that does not mean you need to buy them all. A deal is not a deal if you cannot afford it. You may save $100 on an item, but if you are charging them to credit cards with high interest rates, you may end up paying more in the end. Do not use credit cards to finance your holidays – it is not worth it in the end.

Watch out for crazy shipping fees. I love FREE shipping and highly recommend Amazon Prime. You can get a FREE 30 day trial you can use for holiday shopping. Then it costs $79/year which you can SHARE with other family members (yes at different addresses) – totally worth it in my opinion.

Also, beware of Layaway as well – make sure you understand the terms and fees associated with it to determine if it is the right thing for you. Sometimes the fees end up being more than the interest on a credit card.

We have cut way back at our house in an effort to save money, but also teach out children the meaning of Christmas and the value of a gift. Christmas’s of the past had so many gifts, some remained untouched for months after Christmas morning. It was unnecessary and wasteful so we have moved to the “WANT, NEED, WEAR, READ” method and the kids really enjoy it.

I highly suggest you budget and keep a list handy of the gifts you need. Even if it is not specific, at least have the names handy so you can cross them off as you grab their gifts. Here are a few resources that may help:

Christmas Your Way ebook - Mandi has some awesome printable lists and tools to help you get organized for the holidays
Christmas Planning eBook - LifeAsMom has all sorts of Holiday planning tools

There are many tools out there, or create your own, just make sure you create some sort of PLAN.

In the coming weeks I will strive to bring you all the great deals on the must have holiday items – keep an eye out for this tree to mark if I think it is a good holiday gift idea, but please keep the following in mind:

Some deals are time sensitive and may not be available for long so make sure to check facebook and twitter for the most up to date information. Prices can change by the minute. Or download the Maven of Savin toolbar to see the latest Holiday deals right in your browser.
I am an affiliate for a lot of stores (you will see my disclosure policy linked on the posts), but I will only post deals that I think are good. I appreciate when you use my links as they support the up keep of this site, but please do not feel you need to.
If a deal is time sensitive and I do not know or have the time to research, I may post it but clearly state that I do not know if this is a great deal, so please use your own judgement. I am human and I cannot possible know everything about everything. So please let me know when you find a great deal or if what I posted is not a great deal – nicely please – LOL!

You will see the above button on my sidebar and you can click on it anytime to see all the latest Christmas deals. I will also begin to spy out the Black Friday Deals as we do every year.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have a plan and do not dig yourself in a financial hole this season. You can still have a fulfilling holiday without a bunch of meaningless STUFF.