Tag Archives: money

Summer in Review #2: Mother Daughter NYC Weekend: The Classic East Festival! A Trifecta of Summer Highlights: Part 2 of 3

Goodbye, Lazy Days

 

Hmm… she kinda does look like me. My ‘teacher look,’ immortalized in clipart. chrystalizabeth / Pixabay

This week marks week three of the 2017-2018 school year. So much for my proclamation that I would have all three of my Summer in Review posts up my first week back to work.

Yeah, right. I can’t even get three posts up in one week during summer break! Props for me for thinking that I could, however.

So, how’s ‘back to work’ going?

Pretty decently thus far! But I will miss summer 2017, as it was truly a wonderful time. Continue reading →

Christmukkah 2016: Last-Minute Holiday Gift Ideas, Toddler/Tween Edition Making our older baby and baby adolescent smile since Holiday 2006!

 

Christmukkah cheer.

Another holiday season is upon us! When you celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah like we do in my home, there is double the pressure to find the best gifts for the (lack of) money we have. Quadruple, if you multiply two holidays by two kids. And this year, both holidays fall at the exact same time. This phenomenon has definite pros, but also significant cons.

Pros: I have a bit more time to bargain hunt than when Hanukkah falls at the start of the month. That year when Hanukkah merged with Thanksgiving? Yeah, that was stressful.

Cons: That’s, like, a ton of stuff to seek out, purchase, and wrap by a certain date and time. Oh, and Mike and I are hosting Christmas dinner this year too, because apparently, we enjoy chaos. Pile it on, yo!

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I[/embedyt]
OK, it’s not at the level of pressure described in this song, but holiday time is still filled with pressure when you are a parent. Plus, its a Freddie Mercury-David Bowie duet, for Pete’s sake. That’s reason enough to throw this video into a post. Continue reading →

Performance Review #2: Hanna and the Moonlit Dress at the 14th Street Y, NYC I'm Guest Reviewing For Be Your Best Mom Again!

Today’s review of the Theater at the 14th Street Y’s Hanna and the Moonlit Dress was again sponsored by the great Milena Barrett of Be Your Best Mom Dot Com. Big thanks to Ms. Barrett for such an enjoyable opportunity!

Last Saturday, December 3, the whole family and I jumped in the car and headed out to NYC to see Hanna and the Moonlit Dress, an interactive musical for children based on the Israeli children’s book Hanna’s Sabbath Dress by Itzhak Schweiger-Dmi’el. The show took place at the Theater at the 14th Street Y near Union Square, NYC. Please enjoy reading our before-and-after the show story below, then follow the link to the Be Your Best Mom site for the rest! Continue reading →

Performance Review #1: Chotto Desh at the New Victory Theater, NYC I'm Guest Reviewing on Be Your Best Mom This Week!

Welcome to my first performance review post! Today’s review was sponsored by the great Milena Barrett of Be Your Best Mom Dot Com. Big thanks to Ms. Barrett for such an enjoyable opportunity! Last Saturday, November 5, S10 and I headed out to NYC to see Chotto Desh, a family-friendly dance performance by the Akram Khan Company. Hopefully this is just the first experience like this of many! The story begins here….. (start reading below, then follow the link to the Be Your Best Mom site for the rest!) Continue reading →

Vacation Destination Review #1: Mystic, CT: Aquarium Day! An Exhausting, Educational Saturday at the Mystic Aquarium!

Can You Say Good Morning, Even On No Sleep?

S2 thinks that sleep is for suckers, apparently. Haha

S2 thinks that sleep is for suckers, apparently.

Morning, day 2 of our mid-October mini family getaway started…. early. Though with Saturday our only full day here, we wanted to take advantage and try to see as much as possible. Even on just 2.5 hours of sleep (me) and zero-ish hours of sleep (Mike), we were Mystic Aquarium-bound. The Aquarium was the one attraction in the area we’d all been looking forward to visiting for months, and no lack of sleep was going to stop us from going!

Even though I technically had more sleep than my husband did, Mike still woke up and took the girls to breakfast so I could shower and get ready for the day in peace. I appreciated that a lot. There was a little diner nearby that they went to eat at, in walking distance. After the three of them dined out, Mike brought me back a breakfast plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns to have as well. My husband is a good, good man. Continue reading →

Vacation Destination Review #1: Mystic, CT: Part 1 Friday Travel, Arrival, No Rest For The Weary

I know I said before that I’m done introducing new segments on this blog, but I lied. Why? After our family trip last weekend to Mystic, CT, I took time to figure out a way to blog about it without sounding like a fourth grader writing about “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Instead of a bunch of pictures with a list of everything we did, I came to the conclusion that writing a destination review (of the area as a whole, rather than specific attractions or hotels) would be the best way to approach the subject matter. This way, perhaps you folks can use some of the travel tips and info I share here when planning your own family vacation! See? I want my writing to serve YOU. Sharing is caring!

This will be a 2-part post, BTW. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Week in Review July 24-July 30: The Exhaustion Chronicles My First Blog Post! Holla!

What. A(n). Exhausting. Week!

Autumn days are only a month away. But I must ask, where is my summer “vacation”?

Busy, chaotic, and tiring.
What are….three words that describe my last week, Alex?

Though the final week of July felt like it could possibly kill Mike and/or me, now that it has ended, it’s comforting to know that our schedule of demands has eased up quite a bit, at least for the time being. As a result, we as parents are taking full advantage of our increase in free time by simply not.going.anywhere. this week, unless we are actively forced. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta hermit.  It also feels good to have spent a large portion of today in a seated position, I ain’t even gonna lie.

This first post is my blog debut of the Week in Review segment. Here, I plan to discuss the 3 best parts of my previous week, as well as the 3 worst.
Happy reading, y’all! Continue reading →