Archives for February 2014

Trumpets Playshop Summer 2014

February 7, 2014 by

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Schedule’s out and they’re now open for enrollment!  My little girl greatly enjoyed last year’s summer workshop.  It was also such a delight to watch her perform on stage during their recital at RCBC Theater.  (I just realized I never published the post about her recital…ooops!).  If you have kids who love the performing arts, the Trumpets Playshop Children’s Theater would be a great summer program for them.

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The schedule for the Podium Branch is shown below. For schedules in other venues, kindly visit the Trumpets Playshop & Musicademy Facebook page.

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Visit Trumpets at the 5th Level of Shangri-La Mall to enroll your kids.  For inquiries call or text: 631-7252 / 6362842 / 091758641777. 

Filed Under: Busy Bees, Kids At Work Tagged With: , , ,

You Can Consider Multiple Options for Financing LASIK surgery

February 7, 2014 by

If you wear prescription glasses or contact lenses, you may want to consider these two options LASIK or SMILE eye surgery, to correct your eyesight. LASIK surgery can surgically correct your vision by using a specialized laser to reshape your cornea. LASIK surgery is specifically designed to meet your individual needs, whether you are farsighted or nearsighted. A consultation with your eye doctor will allow you to determine if you are a good candidate for LASIK surgery. In addition, this will give you a chance to discuss options for financing LASIK surgery. If you are interested in taking up the other option though (SMILE eye surgery), then you can check out these facts about SMILE eye surgery, you might prefer having this type of surgery as it is less invasive.

Matters of Sight

Your vision can go wrong in a variety of ways. You may have difficulty focusing on things that are far away. This type of vision is called nearsightedness, and it makes it difficult to function in a classroom or to drive safely. If you have difficulty focusing on things that are up close, you are probably farsighted. This can make it difficult to read small print items such as books or restaurant menus. In addition to these vision issues, you may experience vision problems that are directly related to aging. When you are young, your eye’s natural lens is flexible and can easily change shape when you need to focus your vision. As you age, however, your lenses become less flexible and more rigid. This may result in the need for reading glasses or bifocal lenses. Many of these vision issues can be successfully remedied with a vision correction surgery.

Financial Implications

When you are considering the cost of LASIK surgery, it is important to factor in the amount of money you are already spending on prescription glasses and contact lenses. Once you pay for the procedure, you will no longer need to periodically replace your glasses or order a new supply of contacts. In addition, after your LASIK procedure you will not have to worry about carrying your glasses around or dealing with contact solution. If you are not sure how you will be able to afford your procedure, you can discuss options for financing LASIK surgery with your eye doctor. Your doctor’s office may offer a payment plan, or you may be able to use a flexible spending account if your employer provides one. Either way, it is worth exploring your options for better vision in the future.

Filed Under: for DAD & MOM, Mom's Corner, Mommy Talk

Why Everyone Should See a Therapist

February 7, 2014 by

Getting stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, and going through hard things is a normal part of life that everyone will experience at one time or another. No one is exempt from experiencing hardships in life and emotions are bound to surface when things get rough. Even the toughest and seemingly emotionless people will eventually have to let out some of their frustrations and concerns. The safest way to do this is by seeing a therapist in Raleigh. Some people have put a weird stigma on therapists and believe that only those with serious emotional problems would benefit from a therapist visit. This is not true, however, because anyone would benefit from talking about their problems and things that they are going through.

Everyone needs a safe place to let go of their emotions and talk about the things that are bothering them. It is unhealthy to keep all of worries and concerns locked inside. Once you are filled with all of these emotions, they will come loose and could really mess things up for you. Whether it is feeling so stressed that you end up yelling at your children, talking back to your spouse, or unexpectedly quitting at work, even though what you are feeling has nothing to do with any of these people. You have to release your emotions periodically in order to stay balanced and happy. However, some people can find it difficult to release these emotions and would rather try and destress themselves instead of preferring to speak to anyone else, especially a therapist. My friend experienced something similar not so long ago and was told by a mutual friend of ours to consider looking at these high voltage extracts to see if this would help her feel better. It seemed to work but I think I would rather try speaking with someone before trying other things. Whatever works for you is what you should do.

Having a therapist gives you someone who will listen with an unbiased and detached opinion. If your stress is coming from your spouse’s new work schedule or with your best friend who has just had a baby, it would be inappropriate to talk to them about many of the things you are feeling. When you are able to safely talk about things that you are feeling with a therapist in Raleigh, you will probably begin to see that some of the problem may be with you and some of the things that you have been doing. As you talk about your emotions and feelings, you are better able to see the big picture and see ways that you can fix things or just make the situation better by letting go of your worries.

Filed Under: Mom's Corner, Mommy Talk

Lower Your Bills in 2014

February 6, 2014 by

It’s never too late to set new goals. Given that we’re past January, some people have already lost the eagerness that inspired many of their New Years’ resolutions and they’re back to the daily grind. But even if your goals were too lofty at first, lowering your expectations and still striving towards your goals is better than giving up on them completely. One goal every frugal person and family should have in 2014 is to lower bills from last year:

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Heating

Unless you’re living in California or Florida at the moment, you’re probably heating your home quite often to avoid the chill of the “polar vortex” sweeping across most of the country. Unfortunately, this comfort comes at a hefty price, especially when the kids were on winter break (and thus, home more often and needing a warm place to hang out). However, there are still ways to restrain your heating bills this year, such as lowering your thermostat by 6-10 degrees when nobody is home or you’re all asleep under warm comforters and blankets. There are different ways to get home heating maintenance and repair advice if you are looking for a way to save on your bills. Lowering the temperature of the water heater can also help you save some money each month without causing too noticeable a difference during shower time.

Another method is to replace your windows and doors with more efficient alternatives, such as those offered by Redditch Doors and Windows.

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Water

Speaking of showers, lowering your water bill is another great goal for 2014. You can start by asking family members to shower less (e.g., ten minutes instead of fifteen or five times per week instead of every day). For more extreme frugality, some families go as far as not flushing toilets that only have urine in them, but if the thought disgusts you, then perhaps installing low-flow toilets might be a better alternative. Although this requires an initial investment, it can lead to significant water savings, not only in 2014 but for many years to come.

Additionally, you could choose to switch your old water heater to a tankless water heater, in the hopes of saving energy. You may find that this could make a big difference when it comes to saving money. Looking into sites like waterheaterreviewssite.com might help make the decision of picking a water heater a lot easier if this is something you are considering.

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Grocery Bills

As more and more families experiment with organic meat and produce, monthly grocery bill averages are on the rise. There are relatively few disadvantages to buying organic food, but if cost is one of the most important factors when it comes to buying food, you may want to scale back and buy conventionally-grown food instead of organic. Other ways to save on your monthly grocery bill include: buy more items in bulk, join store loyalty programs for exclusive member savings, find coupons and coupon codes, buy more generic products instead of name-brand, and perhaps try growing some of your own produce.

Cable

Why pay $50-70+ per month on basic cable when you could watch many of your favorite TV shows online thanks to subscription services like Netflix and Hulu? With these services, you could pay as little as $7.99 per month and get rid of your cable service altogether. Best of all, many televisions now allow you to watch streamed episodes right on your TV, so you don’t have to resort to watching shows on your desktop or laptop if you get rid of cable. If you do the math, this equates to about $96 per year(which costs less than a month’s worth of cable with premium channels).

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Cell Phone

If you have a smartphone there’s plenty of ways to reduce your bills. The biggest of all is to not fall into the common trend of upgrading your phone every 1-2 years. A phone can last up to 5 years if you treat it right and if you try to repair it using part from a supplier like eTech then it can potentially live longer. Once you’ve paid off your phone on your current contract and refuse to upgrade that’s a good few double-digits wiped off your monthly bills, which would have continued if you took your provider up on the offer to upgrade to a newer phone.

If you’re paying extra for long-distance calling or international text fees, then stop and download simple apps that will let you do these things for free. Skype is one of the best calling apps out there, with free internet video calls and very low per-minute prices on phone-to-phone calls that might even beat out your current cell service provider’s rates. For free texting between smartphones, download Viber or What’sApp, which let you send text messages to people around the world as long as there’s an internet connection. For domestic cell phone usage, use wifi on your phone whenever possible to lower your data costs and ask your provider about rollover minutes if they’re not already offered because in 2014, consumers have more choices than ever and paying for minutes you don’t use is a thing of the past.

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All images are courtesy of Stuart Miles of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Filed Under: Handy Tips, Home Improvement, House Matters

I Like Reading Not Math

February 6, 2014 by

A couple of days ago, the little ones’ preschool teacher informed me that the little ones are not very keen on doing their Math worksheets.  Jakei in particular was often adamantly refusing to answer his templates.  This wasn’t the first time he has gone home with a sad face on his hand for not working on his numbers.  Jade, on the other hand, would answer her worksheets but would do so with a frown on her face.

I love Math! It has always been my favorite subject in school! Why do my kids have an aversion to it?!

I like reading not Math was the nonchalant reply of the little boy when I asked him why he wouldn’t work on his Math template.  Both kids are advance readers and do enjoy reading books everyday.  Since they were babies, not a day passes by without a single book being read.  You can say that the love for reading has been ingrained in their lives. I can’t say the same for Math though.  But I’m hoping it’s not too late for them to love Math as well.

To encourage Jakei to be more diligent with his Math exercises, I told him that race car drivers should be very good in Math.  Aside from being a race car driver, he also dreams of being Batman when he grows up. So I stressed also that both Batman and Ironman are Math geniuses.   As for Ate Jade, I explained that she was an excellent reader because she had plenty of practice reading.  For her to be good in Math, all she needed to do was practice regularly also.  If we do Math drills everyday, she’d be adding and subtracting as fast as she could read.

Because of this, we’ve added “playtime” with Math flashcards to our daily routine.  Why flashcards?  It’s more fun!  The kids see it more as playing than learning.  Even Jakei gets excited when I bring out the flashcards.  I do hope this daily flashcards play would pay off in the long run.

Meanwhile, here’s a video of Ate Jade helping Jakei with his Math. Enjoy watching!

Filed Under: Busy Bees, Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL, Resources Tagged With: , ,
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