Category: Education

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Back To School

Right now we are being over loaded with commercials about Back To School. All the supplies are on sale in an effort to make sure all of the little kiddies will have everything they need to wear and use while in school for the 2014-2015 school year.

It is hard to believe that in just a few short years we will be watching our daughter climb up the stairs that lead into the big yellow school bus. That bus will be taking her to school and away from our 24/7 watch. It will be exciting but scary for all of us, not something that I’m looking forward to at all.

school supply and school bus
Time For The School Buses
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Locked up

The technology behind the invention of lockers has increased greatly over the years. Lockers come in various shapes, sizes and textures. They can be seem in multiple venues and places where people feel the need to lock up their stuff.

People in the United States I think take their privacy very seriously. Using a locker is one way that an individual can ensure their property will still be available when they want it. As I mentioned before, lockers come in multiple forms. The one type of locker that I rarely hear much about are wood lockers.  I am not even sure who would purchase these types. My guess would be country clubs. The type of locker that always comes to mind when thinking about them are school lockers.

Schools have several uses for lockers. Inside a school, lockers can be found in hallways, break rooms and gymnasiums.  Growing up I always disliked the gym lockers the most. They were always too small and smelled. I think that these particular lockers never got cleaned. They were always disgusting! I wonder if there are lockers for sale that would eliminate stinky gym shoes?

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Women in the movies

Tonight’s evening news revealed a surprising study with regards to women in the movies. The study overall showed that women still  have very few speaking parts compared to men. Men account for 67% of speaking parts according to this study. Women have very little leading roles.

The study accounts this data to the majority of film directors still being of the male gender. Naturally, these men lean more toward hiring male actors than female actors. I am kind of appalled but at the same time not fully surprised. It is very sad also that women who purchase more movie tickets in a year then men, according to the same study, view these movies and basically are subjected to their own equality.

That study also found that women are pealing off their clothes 1/3 more than their male counterparts. Again, it is women who are viewing these movies more than men. Something is wrong with this picture. Maybe in another 100 years women will finally have the upper hand or should I say lead?

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The New Marriage

Today I heard some interesting statistics on the world news.  The news anchor was discussing the recent views of love and marriage for the ages of 18-29.  These views have changed drastically over the last decade.  Apparently, the mindset of this group of people in today’s society is that of raising children over getting married.

The news anchor reports that in 2010, 52% of people ages 18-29 think that being a successful parent over getting married while only 30% of this group believes that having a successful marriage is more important. This does not surprise me.  People in this age group are more concerned with getting their careers started before getting married.  Unfortunately, for some they become involved in a relationship that creates a child before they get married.  I think that this has a lot to do with these statistics.  I think that in the future we we consider to see these trends as the economy declines.  People will look to alternative methods of entertainment, not always for the better.

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Store Brand TV Dinners

Tonight I tried one of the store brand television dinners.  It was absolutely terrible!  Originally, the only reason it was purchased  was because I grabbed it out of the frozen section by accident.  The box I meant to grab and the  box I did grabbed looked a lot alike.  Usually, I would have caught my error as I was checking out but this time they slipped right by me.

I was thoroughly disappointed and will never make that mistake again!  The worst part of the dinners was the meat in the meal.  It was definitely not genuine meat and was very fatty and chewy.  In other words gross!  The name brand dinners may not be real meat but at least they taste like it and have the consistency of genuine meat.  Next time I will look more carefully at what I grab because it was a terrible experience!

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The Job Market

The job market here in the US is finally beginning to revive. The unemployment rate is slowly dropping, but still has a way to go yet. More and more people are looking at who is doing the most hiring. With this in mind, many are going back to school to further degrees, to make the most out of their education.

The medical field is hiring at the fastest rate, more then any other field. From medical billing, Nurses Aides, LPN’s to RN’s, there is a constant demand for more personnel. Over the next few years even more personnel are going to be needed as our population grows. Everyone gets sick from time to time, and managed heath care demands that people have regular check ups to keep people healthy. This helps keep costs down by helping to keep people out of hospitals.

Many of these degrees can be obtained through an online nursing degree program. This makes it easier to work and go to school, while taking care of your home life as well. If you are already an LPN or a paramedic, you can easily move up to the next degree in a relatively short amount of time.

There are many reasons to go back to school. The first and foremost reason is money. Everyone wants to make more money, to have a better lifestyle. Getting a college degree increases your money and it increases your chance at finding a job. Educated workers will have more job opportunities then those with only a high school education. In fact, they already do.

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Prevention and Protection

Moms are the beginning and the end when it comes to keeping our homes running smoothly. Not only do we take care of balancing the checkbooks, paying the bills, cleaning the house, and raising the kids, we also have to see that our home and family are protected. Protection comes in many different forms, from safety to pest control.

When you buy a new home, you have the obligatory inspection done. They test for everything from water damage, roof leaks and termites. When the report comes back, you decide if you really want the house or not. Ours came back clean but in order to keep it that way, it needed regular maintenance. I saw to it that we are continually protected from infestation by Terminix pest control.  I don’t want my dream home damaged by little bugs.

There are a few things that you can do for some extra prevention:

  • Make sure the soil slopes away from the house
  • Keep plants at least three feet from the house
  • Use plastic sheeting under the house to cover the dirt.
  • Point sprinklers away from the house

You should never have any standing water around the base of the home, as termites need water for survival. Get rid of any dead or dying trees and don’t pile up firewood against the house. You shouldn’t have those anywhere near it in fact. Make sure the base of the house shows about six inches of the concrete foundation all the way around it. Don’t use a lot of mulch around the house, as it breeds termites.

Depending on your area and the regular weather you have there, you might want to make sure there are no large trees too close to the house either. They can be knocked over by storms and you don’t want them to fall on the house. I know that they shade the house and help keep electricity bills down, but in areas with high straight line winds, those trees can be dangerous to your home and your family. Keep the trees well trimmed as well. This way you won’t have to worry about dead branches falling from them.

When you buy a home with a pool and you have small children, you should invest in a safety pool fence. Some of them are removable for those pool parties and such, but they are definitely worth the expense to keep your children safe. In addition to the safety fence, you can put latches or locks at the top of the doors to your home to keep the children from wandering outside. Kids have a tendency to do that the moment you turn your back or use the restroom.

Make sure you have the safety plugs for all of your outlets as well. We all know that children love to stick things into small holes and spaces. We buy them lots of toys teach them to do just that and need to make sure they can’t do it in the wrong space. This goes along with cabinet locks to keep children out of chemicals and such as well. You would be surprised to learn how many children are able to get that Pine-sol bottle open and drink it.

Protecting your home and your family is not very difficult or even expensive if you take simple precautions. Most of it is common sense and easily done on your own without the help of professionals. If you do need a professional to help you, just do your research and you will be fine. I hope this helps you ladies. I know that a lot of it helped me when we first bought our home.

 

 

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Bring Me an Eggroll

I’m the first to admit that I’m not a big fan of Asian food. I think part of it may be that where I grew up there was no Asian food. I never had anything remotely Asian until I got into college, and that was the cheap take out food that you eat by ordering combination #1 or combo #2. The only food I was willing to try was sweet and sour pork. That was OK, but the best part of the meal was the eggroll. Don’t ask me why, but I like eggrolls.

So tonight we went to an upscale Asian restaurant and I didn’t know what anything on the menu would taste like. They did not have a sweet and sour pork, but they did have eggrolls. So I ordered a chicken dish with a funny name and the eggrolls – the eggrolls were awesome. The best I’ve ever had!

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A little worried

The childrens schools have apparently gone on lockdown. There were some threatening emails sent to one of the school board employees and so the schools in two counties are now on lockdown. So they tell us anyway. I know that it would be pointless to attempt to go to either school and I am trying to make myself stay home and wait, but it is difficult.

The world has become such a dark and dangerous place now a days and it is really a sad commentary that you have to worry if your children will be safe when you send them to school each day. There is a great deal to be said about our local law enforcement though, as they are on it and have sent out multiple units to each school. Now to try and keep myself at home and out of their way so they can do their jobs.

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Charity drive

We are doing a charity drive for the school. It will include a small carnival/fair with some small rides, various local vendors and an animal show as well. Everyone is so excited since this is the first year we are doing this. Usually we have a bake sale, but the profits had dwindled so much that it was pointless to continue. The suggestion for the fair came from the children themselves, so they are inordinately proud of this achievement. The fact that they get to help as well has them over the top. Make sure you come out this weekend and have some fun with us.