Search Results for: topic tag Priority

Beware the Green Eyed Monster: How Jealousy Can Impact Your Blended Family

I tiptoed up to the topic, believing that most of us are pretty sensitive about it: “Sometimes step parents feel…I don’t want to call it jealousy, but…” at which point Kelly, eight years into her step mom experience, interrupted, “Oh, you can call it jealous! I was definitely jealous!—of a six year old, no less!” We were talking about what can often become a defining dynamic between children and step parents, and consequently, a divisive issue for a biological parent and their spouse. It’s not an emotion many of us are willing to cop to, especially if the trigger is … Continue reading →

Getting Serious About Heat Conservation

We’ve been practicing frugal living in our home actively for about eight years. Most of those years have involved a lot of lifestyle changes, from having three kids to moving to a larger home. While we have kept up with being conservative about our spending, we haven’t been able to make any dramatic changes above and beyond what we do on a daily basis. This fall, we have made it a priority to work on heat and energy conservation even more than we already do. This is an area that we can always improve. We’ve completed most of the necessary … Continue reading →

Money in Marriage

The concern for many today is ‘Money, money, money’ to quote the Abba song. Yes we saw Mamma Mia a few weeks back, can you tell? With the current economic situation the way it is a lot of people are worried about money, coping with day to day expenses and the prices of basic items rising all the time, banks looking shaky and the share market in a slump. As well as those struggling to support families, it also affects those with retirement funds and investments as they see what they thought was a retirement nest egg shrinking before their … Continue reading →

An Interview with Kim Jack Riley of Petside.com

Earlier this month I wrote about other things to take into consideration with deaf and disabled pets after someone got in touch with me on behalf of Petside.com about their deaf and disabled pets series. In the process of checking it out, I found some other useful research tools on their site (like the Pet Vet section and the Breed selector, which is sort of fun). Anyway, since this seems to be the month for interviews, I asked if anyone would care to answer some questions about Petside.com. I was referred to their Editorial Director, Kim Jack Riley, who graciously … Continue reading →

Avoiding Interruptions and Completing Discussions

I have been thinking and writing about communication lately–particularly as it relates to parenting and interacting with our children. One of the problems with having discussions and communicating effectively in the family setting can be all the interruptions! This can make it tough to come to resolutions, pay full attention to the problems and issues at hand, and actually complete important discussions with our children. Here are some tips for making communication a priority and NOT giving in to all those potential interruptions: While some interruptions can come from the environment or other people–such as the ringing telephone, a knock … Continue reading →