We are a family with several musicians.  My husband took violin lessons starting at age eight and then taught himself to play guitar in college.  He actually makes money entertaining playing the guitar and singing, he’s that good.  Our son took lessons (and was in school band for eight years) and plays just about any type of percussion instrument but mainly steel drums now.  He did play the marimba in high school (very well, I might add, to the extent that playing his UIL solo at a college try-out earned him a several thousand dollar scholarship).

If someone was interested in taking lessons but didn’t have much time or wanted to learn at their own pace, there are beginner guitar lessons available online.  Violin lessons would need to be in person, though, because how one holds the instrument is very important as well as technique.  I’ve seen online drum lessons but not online marimba lessons.  Before anyone considers music lessons for themselves or their child, though, they need to remember that the desire to play and the commitment it takes are very important aspects of learning to play an instrument.

A lot of people are wanting to buy xbox games.   What’s so cool about them?  Well, Xbox is developed by Microsoft and uses a camera to track the player’s motion through the Kinect Peripheral.  It has high definition and better graphics than the Wii, can play DVDs, and you can watch Netflix on it.  It recently underwent a price drop, and Dell recently offered free Xbox consoles to students buying laptops.  That’s pretty cool!  (Thanks to our college-age son for supplying me with the info!)

From McDonalds’ website:  Chicken McNuggets

INGREDIENTS:  “White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning [autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid], sodium phosphates, natural flavor (botanical source). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dextrose, corn starch.
Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.”

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I didn’t know Chicken McNuggets foamed!  Hmmm…I think I’ve lost my appetite!
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One of the things I hate is having a toilet overflow and having the plumbing problems that go along with it.  Through the years, we have had that happen on varying occasions.  In fact, most people have had that problem at some time or another.

A few years ago, a friend told me of an experience with their daughter who was two or three at the time.  The little girl came into the living room and told them, “Pss pss go swimming!”  They didn’t understand what she meant so she repeated it, and then they followed her into the restroom.  She went over to the toilet and pointed to it.  Much to their dismay, for some reason she decided that the hairspray needed to go swimming and that she could flush it down the toilet.  Well, you can guess the outcome of that story and how a plumber was needed to fix the plumbing in the “swimming pool.”

We have had overflows three or more times when company was visiting.  It involved things like one person trying to flush two or three paper towels at once, another child flushing a fourth of a box of Charmin Wipes down the toilet and stopping it up big time, and another person flushing too much toilet paper at once.  You don’t have much control when company is visiting except to hide the wipes!  Then it’s time to look through the list of plumbers and call one ASAP!

*Note: I am participating in a blogger campaign by Bucks2Blog and was compensated monetarily. However, the views and opinions are my own.

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How would you like to win one of these adorable T-Shirts for your child? PopFunk is providing a WordWorld T-Shirt, shipping included, to the winner of this giveaway.

Our daughter and s-i-l first introduced us to WordWorld when it was the only show that our grandson would watch when he was around a year old. Forget the other educational shows for babies and toddlers, WordWorld was the one that captured his attention. After watching it, I could see why. As an educator, I immediately fell in love with the characters on WordWorld and the impact I knew they must be having on young children learning their alphabet letters, sounds, and actually learning to sound out words and read.

So with that said, let me get on with the giveaway:
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HOW TO WIN IT:
PopFunk is providing one WordWorld T-Shirt for giveaway. This contest is open to all U.S. residents. Entries will be accepted until midnight CST Monday, April 25, 2011. Please leave a separate comment for each entry:

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Follow “Mr. P,” PopFunk, on Facebook &/or Twitter. (Each one counts as a separate entry.  Remember to leave a separate comment for each.)
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BONUS ENTRIES: Must complete mandatory entry first!  Leave a comment if you already follow or subscribe.

• Blog about this giveaway and link it back here (3 extra entries)
• Click the Facebook “Share” button below this post to share it on your FB wall (2 extra entries)

• Follow me on Twitter (1 extra entry) (leave a comment if you already follow me)

• Click the “Tweet” button below this post to share it on your Twitter feed  (1 entry per day)
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• “Like” Healthy Home Blog on Facebook (1 extra entry)

* PopFunk supplied one of their T-Shirts for a giveaway. However, I was not compensated monetarily for this article. This is my honest opinion.

One of the teachers where I teach just recently completed her master’s degree.  Congratulations, Melissa!  We celebrated at our monthly pot luck, and another teacher made these adorable cupcakes that were so delicious!  Great job, Holly!

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The graduation cap is made by placing a Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cup upside down in the middle of the cupcake and then placing a chocolate square (high quality chocolate like Ghirardelli – yum!) on top. I think she used a little bit of icing to “glue” the chocolate on top of the Reese’s.  Then make the tassel with a small candy like M&M’s Minis and use the tube gel icing to complete it.  So cute!  Great for any age of graduate from kindergarten to college!
(PS Thanks Alan!)

* Also: Cute Graduation Cake

Sports Drinks for Kids: A Do or a Don’t?

Guest Post Written by Joy Paley who also writes for online accounting classes as well as other education sites found here

Sports drinks have been getting a ton of bad press lately. Google the subject, and you’ll find a myriad of newspaper articles and blog posts “exposing” sports drinks for what they are—water with sugar and a little artificial coloring. But it’s no surprise that sports drinks have sugar in them; that’s something that’s never been hidden. The real question is, will that extra sugar be bad for your kid? Well, as most things, it depends.

Dental Health: One mark against sports drinks like Gatorade is that they can be bad for your teeth, if you drink them often enough. They all are relatively acidic, which can lead to enamel degradation. Juice and soda are acidic too, though, so it’s not like sports drinks are special in that regard.

Performance: The literature review of the effectiveness of sports drinks on preventing dehydration and increasing performance is mixed. In most respects, water and sports drinks perform equally well. After working out however, kids who have had the sports drink have been shown to have a higher body weight—meaning they lost less fluids during their workout. This is one potential benefit of choosing a sports drink over water.

Calories: Sports drinks are generally full of high-fructose corn syrup, providing many sugary calories to whoever drinks them. For example, 20 ounces of Gatorade Performance has 122 calories! That’s less than 20 ounces of soda, but it’s still nothing to sneeze at.

And, many studies have correlated a higher intake of sugary beverages, like soda and sports drinks, to higher body mass index and worse diet in children. It makes sense right? If a kid is drinking soda all the time, they’re consuming more calories, and drinking less of the beverages that are actually beneficial, like milk or 100% juice; greater intake of those beverages correlated to an adequate intake of calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, and magnesium.

In Moderation: If you look at all the scientific studies I mentioned above, you might want to make a knee jerk reaction and pull that sports drink right out of your kid’s hands. Those studies aren’t about your specific child or family, however, and it’s important to realize how your particular situation could come into play here.

If you live in a house where kids rarely have soda or other sugary drinks, letting them have a Gatorade at sports practice isn’t going to make them obese. If your kid is already guzzling soda at home, then adding a sports drink isn’t going to help—but sports drinks are only one thing that should be on your list of dietary worries.

What you do want to avoid is having your kid think that sports drinks are somehow “healthy,” when the truth is that they’re not. And, you don’t want a situation where your kid drinks sports drinks in place of water, because they think the sports drink will somehow make them feel better. However, as long as the drinks are had in moderation, like being consumed only at a specific activity like sports practice, they aren’t going to make your kid unhealthy.

Other Possible Beverages: I would caution parents to avoid replacing regularly sugared sports drinks with lower-calorie artificially sweetened ones. The trouble with these? In studies, greater intake of diet soda has been linked to higher BMI. Why? People rationalize that they are consuming less calories, so they “make up” for it by eating more.

Instead, try creating your own fruit-infused water. Cut up strawberries, cucumbers, and apple slices, and let them sit overnight in a pitcher of water. The result is delicious and low-calorie. Or, pick up a low-sugar 100% fruit juice from the store.

The Bottom Line: If your kid eats a healthy diet and avoids most sugary beverages, letting them have a Gatorade at their practice or game isn’t going to hurt. Just don’t let sugary sports-drinks replace water in regular day to day activities.

Table Time: Why Eating With Family Matters

Guest Post By: Joy Paley also known for her musing on sites like sonogram technician programs and christian counseling degree

It’s certainly not getting easier to sit around the table with your family and a wholesome dinner. If you’re a working mom, you probably drive straight from work to pick your kids up from practice or another after-school activity. Grabbing a few burgers on the way home or eating sandwiches in front of the TV can be an inviting option when you’ve such had a long day. And, it’s hard to make kids themselves sit still for 30 minutes to share a little time around the dinner table. There are benefits to making the effort to have a family meal, however. Even if you can’t do it every night, consider making it a 2 or 3 times a week tradition.

Being Here Now: Sitting down to eat is a form of thoughtful meditation. It’s a time to relax and reflect on the day, in a conscious manner. Try it sometime—eating while standing in front of the fridge or while watching TV just isn’t the same. Sitting around a table lets everyone in your family have a little chill out time from work, from homework, from cell phones and other technology. It’s a type of relaxation that we don’t get enough of these days.

Create Stability: For kids, stability is created by events they can anticipate, that happen again and again. Making family dinner a usual occurrence in your household is one easy way to provide this stability, and to give your kids a sense of control in their lives. Several scientific studies have found a significant positive correlation between a family’s eating habits and the amount of conflict they experience. Families with healthy, stable eating habits had less turbulent relationships than those who ate junk in front of the TV.

My own family, while growing up, was not without problems. My older brother decided to drop out of high school and fought with my dad constantly. Through it all, we still had family dinner (although my brother didn’t always attend). As a younger kid, this stability helped me understand that we were going to get through the difficult period, and that things were going to be okay.

Make Time to Talk: Especially as your kids move into their teen years, actually talking to them about anything of note can become difficult. They clam up, and respond to any questions with a head nod or a mumbling “uh huh.” Eating around a table naturally encourages talking; it’s a low-stress environment for sharing and communicating with one another. It’s is a great opportunity to sneak meaningful discussions into your time with your preteen or teen, without them even noticing.

Eat Better: With nearly ¾ of the U.S. population overweight or obese, many people are doing all they can to stay healthy. Eating meals around a table is a simple step you can take for you and your family, to ensure that everyone eats better. Why? The more conscious you are of eating, the likelier you are to only eat the amount of food you actually need. Unlike eating in front of the TV, you won’t be shoveling food into your mouth without even noticing it.

And, meals served around a table are likelier themselves to be healthier. When is the last time you served a butter-laden bowl of instant mac and cheese for a family meal around the table? You’re more likely to put together a balanced dinner when it’s served in a bit more formal setting. So what’s the bottom line about family dinners? They help you relax, reconnect, eat, and feel better. They take a little more energy, but will certainly pay off over time for you and your family.

Since there’s wintry weather in many areas of the country, I thought this would be a fun recipe for kids who are at home due to school closings.  Like S’mores?  Here are more variations I found in a Walmart ad one time:

• Basic S’mores – Put square of a Hershey’s Chocolate Bar (or other chocolate) on top of a graham cracker.  Top with marshmallows.  Put in microwave for 10 seconds or so, until marshmallow doubles in size. Top with another graham cracker.  (or put in regular oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees)
• Peanut Butter Chocolate S’mores – Fix basic S’mores.  Spread peanut butter on the graham crackers that go on top, then place on top of S’mores.
• Strawberry S’mores – Heat marshmallows on graham crackers.  Spread strawberry preserves on the top graham crackers and then place on top of S’mores.
• Chocolate Chip Cookie S’mores – Substitute chocolate chip cookies for graham crackers and then fix like basic S’mores.
• Rolled-Up S’mores – Place marshmallow on a skewer and heat it.  Next, roll the marshmallow in melted chocolate.  Finally, roll it in dessert sprinkles or peanuts to suit your taste.