Archive for August, 2008
Aug
28
Posted by
besttech
NEW YORK (AP) — It was an unusually honest ad for a live-in nanny, beginning with the sentence, “My kids are a pain.”
Maybe that’s why it took on a life of its own, making the rounds of parenting blogs and e-mail inboxes and meriting an article in Thursday’s New York Times.
Rebecca Land Soodak, a 40-year-old painter and mother of four on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, posted the ad on Craigslist on Aug. 19.
Some excerpts from the 1,000-word listing: “I can be a tad difficult to work for. I’m loud, pushy and while I used to think we paid well, I am no longer sure.”
And this: “If you cannot multitask, or communicate without being passive aggressive, don’t...
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Aug
28
Posted by
Julie Wallace
It’s official: I truly am the person most ill-equipped to be a parent.
It’s not that I don’t love and adore my daughter with all my heart. It’s just I sometimes do things that make me realize that my daughter is growing up into a cool person in spite of having me as a mother, not because of it.
Case in point: She had her first day of all-day kindergarten on Monday. It was an orientation day, so Daddy and I spent the morning there and then left. Since Daddy was on vacation, he picked her up after school. She didn’t have class on Tuesday — that was the second orientation day for the rest of her class — so her first true day of school was Wednesday.
I am tapped with dropping her off and picking up up afterward and running her...
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Aug
28
Posted by
besttech
Alyson Ward McClatchy Newspapers
Have you priced a gallon of milk lately? Seriously, it’s neck-and-neck with a gallon of gas. With grocery prices going up, we’ve all started wincing at the checkout counter. And spending more than ever.
Well, actually — don’t let this make you feel like a sucker, but Ruth Garrett isn’t.
The Saginaw, Texas, mother of five clipped coupons for years, saving 35 cents here, 50 cents there. But a few years ago, when she realized her family was spending $200 a week on groceries, Garrett decided to get serious about coupons. Now she’s a pro. And thanks to her crazy coupon skills, she can bring home groceries, personal-care products and...
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Aug
27
Posted by
besttech
Rebecca Young McClatchy Newspapers
Children regard counting as play, not the beginnings of math. Too bad that attitude goes away long before algebra.
Play or not, it’s a good idea to keep those counting skills honed during the summer. Little ones should be ready for preschool or kindergarten just like older siblings need to stay sharp for big-kid school.
It would be tough for a 5-year-old to compute the number of terrific counting books out there. You can have as much fun browsing the bookstore shelves as authors and illustrators seem to have had creating these “concept books.”
As a start, here are two recent titles, plus a storybook about a rabbit...
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Aug
27
Posted by
besttech
Aisha Sultan St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The cartoonishly grand mural was my personal piece de resistance in decorating my daughter’s bedroom. The towering, purple castle with a brunette version of Tinkerbell fluttering outside is set against billowing blue clouds.
I’ve never stopped congratulating myself for discovering the local art student willing to paint it over a weekend for a third of what a professional would have charged.
My daughter fell in love with it when she was 3 years old. If we ever talked about moving, she would burst into tears at the thought of leaving that mural.
In a few weeks, she starts kindergarten. And lately she’s started...
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Aug
27
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
On Saturday, Sept. 13 the Avon Lake Childhood PTA will hold a Kids Closet Resale at the Avon Lake High School on Route 83 from 8 a.m. to noon. For more information, call 440-930-0057. Tons of booths of gently used baby and children’s items for sale....
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Aug
27
Posted by
besttech
Cara Fox DEEP SOUTH MOMS BLOG
For the first time in years, I got hit on by a super-hot guy (my husband grabbing my butt as I walk up the stairs ahead of him just doesn’t count anymore). Hottie and I have been frequenting the same hot spots for several months now and today he finally spoke to me. His pickup line?
“So. Looks like you have a brand-new baby there. How old is he?”
Yes, the baby formula sales rep finally noticed me. My OB and pediatrician’s offices are right across the hall from each other. I have two children who insist on rough-housing and are prone to injuring themselves/each other AND I just had a baby. This means that I have visited the doctor’s...
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Aug
26
Posted by
besttech
By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer
CHICAGO (AP) — A new TV commercial shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria and one little boy’s haunting lament: “I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer.”
It’s a startling revelation in an ad that vilifies one of America’s most beloved, if maligned, foods, while stoking fears about a dreaded disease.
But the boy doesn’t have cancer. Neither do two other kids in the ad who claim to be afflicted.
The commercial’s pro-vegetarian sponsors say it’s a dramatization that highlights research linking processed meats, including hot dogs, with higher odds of getting colon...
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Aug
26
Posted by
besttech
By Samantha Critchell AP Fashion Writer
If Michelle Obama moves into the White House, she might bring a new style with her.
It was noteworthy that for her keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night she steered clear of a suit — traditional first lady garb. Instead she chose a body-conscious, ocean-blue dress with either beading or a brooch at the center of the open neckline.
Her only other noticeable accessory was a pair of diamond stud earrings.
She didn’t overload on jewelry like Nancy Reagan or go too plain like Pat Nixon, observed W magazine fashion market director Treena Lombardo. She struck the right balance.
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Aug
26
Posted by
besttech
Elyria Continuous Improvement
Lorain Academic Watch
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Amherst Excellent with Distinction
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Avon Excellent with Distinction
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Clearview Continuous Improvement
Columbia Excellent
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