Choosing the best child care for one’s children is an important aspect of being a parent. There are some good child care facilities and some that aren’t so good. A good babysitter should have training in babysitter safety. The American Red Cross offers an American Red Cross Babysitter Class that would be excellent for those in child care.

When our kids were little and growing up, we never had to leave them at a babysitter. I’m thankful that my parents were able to help keep each of our children when they were little.  Our grandchildren go to an excellent preschool that has well-trained and loving staff members. They have cameras in the classrooms but not because they’ve ever had any problems. The cameras reassure parents that their children have the best of care. As you can see, it’s important for parents to research and do their homework. Then they can choose the best child care available for their children.

I had a nice surprise this week! Family Dollar sent a package to me, and this is what I found inside the box:

When I opened the gifts, I found two children’s gifts. There were boxing gloves for a boy and this adorable baby doll for a girl. Both gifts are only $5 at Family Dollar. If you’re needing some last minute inexpensive gifts for kids, then check out Family Dollar. Last time I was there, they had a good selection of children’s toys for $5 and $10.

I was excited when a large box arrived on my doorstep, and when I opened it…this is what I found!  I knew that Family Dollar was sending me something, but I had no idea it would be this big!

Inside this beautifully wrapped package were all sorts of goodies. There were things for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!


In my gift basket for “Halloween Happiness,” there were Spooky Lollipop Rings and Halloween Suckers plus a Halloween pumpkin. (Family Dollar has good prices on their candy for trick or treaters! Note the Lollipop Rings are just $2.) For Thanksgiving, there were several things: an apron (a bib apron with two large pockets AND with DuPont Teflon fabric protector to protect from stains), two holiday dessert recipes from the Family Dollar Holiday Recipe and Coupon Booklet, and a fall leaves bowl.

By the way, you might want to get the Family Dollar Holiday Recipe and Coupon Booklet to help with your entertaining needs and your budget.

The “Christmas Corner” included a Family Dollar Christmas Toy Book which has 24 pages of value packed Christmas toys, affordable for every family.  Our daughter (Christi from Frugal Novice) was visiting when I opened my Family Dollar “Fall Entertaining Toolkit” basket of goodies.  When she saw the toys they sent me, which are in the Family Dollar Toy Book, she was impressed and said that she would definitely be going to Family Dollar to purchase some toys for gifts.

They have $5 toys for kids of every age, and they feature popular name brands like Hot Wheels, Disney, and Bakugan.  In fact, they sent me a Bakugan toy.  I have to admit that I had no idea what that was, but our daughter was very familiar with Bakugan toys.  When I gave it to our grandson (Christi & Brian’s three year old), he was fascinated with it.  In the picture, you can see our grandson, dressed in his red pajamas, playing very intently with his new toy. He liked it so much that he slept with it that night, and even went to sleep with it clutched in his little hand.  It was definitely a hit!

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Family Dollar has everything from kids’ favorites like full-function Radio Control Kid Cruisers to $5 board games to Kidget clothing for newborns-toddlers to hot-priced electronics.  They have play huts for $10 such as the Disney’s Tinker Bell and Disney’s Princess.  They have something for everyone!  What is really impressive is their great selection of $5 toys and gifts.  Also available are wrapping paper and seasonal home decor accents at great prices. No wonder they’re one of the fastest-growing discount chains in the United States and also a Fortune 500 company.

If you visit Family Dollar.com, you can enter the Family Dollar Holiday Dream Dash Contest for a chance to win a 90 seconds holiday shopping spree in one of their stores.  You can enter now through November 19, 2020.  Be sure to go back and vote the week of November 22nd.

Note:  Family Dollar offers a 10% discount on bulk toy purchases of $100 or more, perfect for the charitable gift-giver!

There’s something about books that’s appealing to so many people.  As an educator, I enjoying looking through children’s books and have a small collection from my years of teaching.   I especially look for children’s books with wonderful illustrations.  Being a visual learner myself, I think pictures can capture the imagination of a young child and help them to fully enjoy a story and want to look at books on their own.   And I can’t think of a better gift to give children than a book they will enjoy for a long time!

Our daughter, Christi, loves the children’s clothing & items annual resale event out where they live.  It’s held at a convention center and is a very popular event.  She has to price all of her things she wants to sell and enter them into the computer beforehand.  Then at the time of the event, every item has been tagged and can be scanned with a barcode scanner.  I don’t know if they use a Symbol LS2208 or what type of scanner they use, but I do know that it makes this huge event run much smoother.  Check-out time is greatly reduced, and each person selling items is more assured of getting the money they are due to get.

Now you can choose your favorite WordWorld friend on a T-shirt.  These are licensed Tees, and you can choose between Dog (I think Dog is so cute!), Pig, Duck, Frog, Bug, Bee, Elephant, Shark, Tiger, Kangaroo, Turtle, Fish, Monkey, and others.  Sizes include adult, junior, and youth sizes.

Since there is a bed bug epidemic in the US now, what can we do to help prevent bed bugs from entering our homes?  These bugs can be anywhere including nice hotels, dorm rooms, apartments, and other places where there is a frequent turnover of people.  They can be on new clothes, new sheets, new towels, etc, because these items are often made in countries where bed bugs are a problem.

Here are some good tips from various sources on how to prevent bed bugs from being an uninvited guest:

• Check out the  BED BUG REGISTRY before staying in a hotel.
• Keep suitcases off the floor in hotels.
• Wash all clothes as soon as you return home from a trip.
  
• Vacuum luggage as soon as you return home from a trip.

• Do not purchase clothes and hang them in your closet! Always wash new clothes or send to the cleaners first.  (It doesn’t matter how much the item cost!)
  
• Always wash new sheets and new towels which most of us do anyway.  But also wash new curtains or any new fabric where these bugs could be hiding.
• Cover your mattresses with a plastic mattress cover.
• (Maybe put stuffed animals in the dryer for 20 minutes?)
  

Here are a few sources for more information:

eHow

Good Housekeeping.com

WebMD

Wikihow

If you’ve never checked out the 200+ stores at CSN Stores then you might want to check them out and see just what all they have to offer.  They have everything from dining sets to toys & baby items to pet care items to all sorts of kitchen items and much more.

Being a preferred blogger with CSN, I was given the opportunity to review an item during the summer.  I chose a computer desk which we really like.  We received it just a few days after ordering it and were surprised at how quickly it arrived.

CSN has given me the opportunity to review another item, and I’m thrilled!  It’s hard to decide what to choose since they have so much!  I plan to look through different CSN Stores, and then I’ll let you know what I decide. Like I mentioned, they have 200+ stores so I’ll have plenty of items to choose from!

Word World has new episodes starting Monday, October 4th.  These will have more advanced skills.  And they have upgraded the WordWorld “Build a Word” iPhone app and also have three new WordWorld mobile applications for Samsung’s bada platform.    Be sure and check out Toys R Us and Target for WordWorld products .