Finding Cheap Books for Kids

We all know that reading to children is important. The earlier you start reading to them and the more consistent you are when it comes to reading, the more your kids will enjoy reading as they get older. My boys are all in elementary school now. We started reading to them long before they started school. Now that they are in school, they are required to read for 20 minutes each day. This is part of their reading program. The only problem with this is finding new material. I have three boys, each needing a book to read each day. Often times we will all read together but there are times when they want to read their own book.

Books have gotten rather expensive. It used to be easy to find cheap books for 99 cents. Recent trips to WalMart prove that cheap books are no longer readily available. Books start around three dollars and most are a bit more expensive. If you have more than one child to buy for you will probably not consider this a cheap option for books. There are other options for finding cheap books and other reading material.

One option is the library. This is probably the best option available since membership is free and there is a very large selection. Borrowing books for free is probably the cheapest option available.

The internet is another cheap option. There are several sites that offer children’s books online. Some can be printed out and some are interactive. Many of these sites are free. The only cost to you would be your internet connection that you are already paying for.

Yard sales are another great place to look for cheap books. You can often find books at yard sales for much cheaper than you can find them anywhere else.

The last option, and my favorite, is thrift stores. In my town we have the Goodwill and the Disabled Veteran’s Store. Both offer a pretty good selection of books for cheap. The goodwill charges 99 cents and D.A.V. charges 25-50 cents per book. The kids love getting books from the thrift stores because they can pick whatever they want without price being a concern for me and their dad. They can also get several books each trip.

For tips on how to make reading time more enjoyable you can check out my article at:

http://www.gomestic.com/Family/Five-Tips-to-Make-Reading-Time-Enjoyable.252587

Mylot.com

Have you ever been to the site mylot.com? It is a site that compensates you (very slightly) for participating on their website. Participation is fairly simple. People post discussions and you simply respond. Or you can start your own discussions and see if other people respond.

I signed up on the site a few weeks ago. It is free to sign up. After signing up you can set up your profile with a picture, your interests, your website, or pretty much anything you feel like putting on your profile. It is good to at least put your favorite interests on your profile so you can be notified of discussions that fit your interest. That way you don’t even have to go searching for discussions that you’d want to read.

You can find discussions on just about anything. The guidelines are fairly simple. The only real issues I’ve seen people have so far are that you can’t post “adult” content and they don’t want you discussing your pay. You are not allowed to post discussions about how much money you have made on mylot. They also do not want for you to discuss sites that offer competition. Other than that, just about anything is up for discussion.

I have gotten a little stuck to that site. I like respond to discussions and check back to see what other people respond. I’ll post my own discussions and check in to see what other people have to say about it. I have a few friends on the site who always post interesting or humorous posts.

If you haven’t been to the site, I recommend checking it out. Don’t expect to make tons of money. As I said, the compensation is not much. The minimum payout is $10 and you’ll be spending a lot of time on the site if you expect to reach it anytime soon but it is a fun site to participate in. If nothing else it will give you the opportunity to write on just about any topic.

Itunes Won’t Transfer

I recently got a free MP3 player from work. I am not sure what brand it is and being free, who cares what brand it is. So, I tried to load some music on it. I was able to get my tracks from Windows Media player to load but I couldn’t get anything from Itunes to transfer. I figured I must be missing something so I looked around on the net to see if I was missing a step when I was trying to put my playlist on my MP3 player.

As it turns out, I am missing something, an IPOD. Itunes protects their music so that it can’t be transferred to just any old MP3 player without a hassle. An IPOD will easily take music from Itunes but it is a bit more complicated if you don’t have an IPOD. Seems I will either have to burn a bunch of cds and put the music into Windows Media Player or I can use a virtual cd burner and do it that way.

It just irritates me that I have been using Itunes for years and have bought quite a bit of music that I can’t put onto my MP3 player. I know they just want everybody to run out and purchase an IPOD. I am more inclined to just stop using Itunes and use a service that will allow me to easily transfer tracks onto any device I please. That only seems fair.

Palin for Vice President?

The first time I typed Palin into google, I couldn’t believe all of the accusations toward her in Alaska. Since then most of these accusations have blown up and become public knowledge. The troopergate investigation has revealed a bit but has not been made completely public.

Many people dismiss the troopergate investigation and any allegations against Palin. Supporters of Palin will believe nothing negative about the lady. They seem to believe that everyone is out to get her and that everything being said about her is lies.

Whether or not any of it is true, it has all been public knowledge (though not as widespread) since before McCain decided Palin would be his running mate. It makes me wonder what he was thinking in making this decision.

No Child Left Behind

My son is in the third grade this year. This is the first year he has to take the standardized tests that go along with the No Child Left Behind Act. I am wondering where this is going to leave him.

He has struggled a bit in school. For the most part he has done well but he has problems with reading comprehension. This has affected other subjects because he doesn’t always understand the instructions on tests. At home we help him understand the instructions on homework, but he is on his own with the tests and other assignments in school.

I have read that if a child has a lot of problems on the standardized tests he will pretty much be on his own and suffer the consequences. Teachers are more likely to focus their attention on children who have more of a chance to pass the test. Especially since school funding and the future of the school is dependent on annual progress on the number of students who do pass the test.

Parent teacher conferences are coming up. So, I will soon have the opportunity to talk to his teacher and see if they have taken any practice tests yet. I just hope that if he doesn’t do well he does not get discouraged.

Halloween is for Kids

Here it is October and Halloween is just around the corner. The kid’s school has sent home their typical newsletter for October. NO HALLOWEEN COSTUMES CAN BE WORN TO SCHOOL. They will have their little fall fest but no mention of Halloween. Any child that wears a Halloween costume will be sent home.

The kids miss out on so much that we had as kids. Halloween has become taboo. Too many people think that kids that dress up for Halloween are going to wear their little Power Rangers costume and commit some kind of mass homicide inspired from something they saw on tv.

They aren’t allowed to play tag at school. They may actually have to touch each other! We just can’t allow that to happen. Heaven forbid that  little boy may give a little girl a peck on the cheek. You’ll be getting a phone call to come get your kid from school. They’ll probably be suspended for sexual harassment and the other child’s parents may even call the police.

At what point did kids become the most governed group of citizens in our society? Remember the days when you could get away with anything short of murder. Somehow you managed to grow up and become a contributing part of society.

Family Values

Interesting campaign we have here. I for one, won’t judge a candidate solely on the skeletons in their family’s coat room, regardless of which house they keep them in. However, I do find the stories of their family lives interesting.

Obama - His father, from Kenya, left Obama and his mother when Obama was a young child. His mother remarried when he was six and moved him to Indonesia. Obama went to school in Indonesia for four years before he was sent back to the states where his grandmother raised him into adulthood. He has several half-siblings. Included is a younger brother living in Africa who reportedly lives on less than a dollar a month. Though, I have read articles claiming Obama’s brother is not as destitute as has been reported.

McCain - Total of seven children, three of which are adopted. Married twice. McCain has a history of infidelity. McCain continues to have close relationships with all of his children. Two of his sons are currently in the military. He has one son in Iraq.

Biden – His wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident. His two young sons were seriously injured in the same accident. Biden chose to continue in the senate. Everynight he took the train home to his boys.

Palin – May have had an affair with a former business partner (possibly leading to his divorce). Has a pregnant teenage daughter. Palin is the mother of five children including a baby with downs syndrome. She reportedly tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from being a state trooper when he was in the middle of a divorce with Palin’s sister. After two terms of being the mayor of a small town in Alaska, Palin’s mother-in-law ran for Mayor. Palin publicly supported her mother-in-law’s opponent who then won the election.

The Appearance of Impropriety

This phrase has rubbed me the wrong way since I was old enough to create the appearance of impropriety. It started when I was in the Army. Being a female soldier, everything I did with my male counterparts and superiors was scrutinized, as was everything they did with me. I quickly learned that appearance was more important than fact in the eyes of most people and that I was expected to act accordingly. This idea did not settle well with me. I am a free thinking American female. I am perfectly capable of telling the difference between right and wrong and more than willing to take responsibility for my own actions. I live by my own code of ethics and place very little weight on the judgments of others.

After leaving the Army, I began enjoying the freedoms that come with no longer having to live under the law of the Code of Military Justice and the higer so-called moral standards. I say “so-called” not to imply that soldiers are not of a high moral standard but rather that merely avoiding the appearance of impropriety says nothing about your character and can in itself create moral dilemas.

It did not take long for me to see that this appearance of impropriety is as much a part of civilian life as it is for the military. Though, the consequences of being in an apparently compromising situation are usually more of a personal nature and unless you are a politician or judge you can choose to live by your own set of values rather than the opinions and perceptions of others.

The decision to place your own values above the perceptions of others can bring with it many unforseen consequences. As a manager or leader of people, it is easy to lose the trust and respect of those you must motivate to the cause. The discerning eyes of Americans can be easily turned away when they see something they feel is inappropriate. We do not live in a society where we are expected to blindly follow our leaders with undying loyalty. Quite to the contrary, we are expected to question our leaders. It is our duty as Americans to scrutinize political canidates in order to cast our vote for the best man (or woman) to lead our cherished democracy.

This attitude and way of life has naturally spilled over into every aspect of our lives. From the manager of your local McDonald’s on up to the president we expect our leaders to live up to a higher moral standard. However, appearance is not everything. There are times when things look much different than they actually are. Someone looking from afar may have a far different understanding of the events than what actually took place.

There are situations when you must decide what action to take. Sometimes doing the right thing may create the appearance of wrong doing to others. How can you do what is moral and honorable without allowing the possible appearance of impropriety to overshadow?

Make Your Own Easter Basket with a Balloon

Easter kind of snuck up on me this year. Somehow I thought it was in April. The past few years I have bought easter baskets for the boys and filled them with candy and a few spring time toys. Sidewalk chalk and bubbles are their favorites.

I don’t much care for the premade baskets and it seems the price of just the basket has gone up a bit. This year I am going to make my own easter baskets. It is a cute variation on the typical easter basket that will be a bit different than any of the baskets you’ve probably seen.

All you need is a balloon (the larger the better), some pastel yarn, glue, and a pair of scissors. Follow these easy steps:

1. Blow up the balloon.

2. Wrap the yarn around the balloon. Using a piece of scotch tape to hold the end to the balloon as you begin wrapping works well.

3. After the balloon has been wrapped with yarn to the point the entire balloon is coated with layers of yarn, saturate the yarn with glue. Several types of glue can be used. Just be sure it is nothing toxic and that it dries clear. I used tacky glue but even elmer’s glue will work. Adding just a touch of warm water to the glue will make it a bit easier to coat the yarn.

4. Let it dry for about 24 hours until COMPLETELY dry.

5. Pop the balloon. If you have not allowed enough time for the yarn to dry completely it may collapse when the balloon is popped.

6. With the scissors, cut out the handle of the basket.

If you desire, you can wrap the handle with yarn or ribbon. I’d recommend wrapping the handle, especially if your child will be carrying the basket for an easter egg hunt.

You can then fill the basket with easter grass, some candy, and any little treats your child may enjoy.

Cheap Cell Phone with NO DEPOSIT

I have recently done a little shopping around for a cell phone. I work at night and while I am gone my husband spends a bit of time on the phone dealing with the owners of different sites that he moderates.

We currently have a trac phone. We got it several years ago because we rarely use the phone and a trac phone worked out to be cheaper than any of the other options out there.

Including the price of the phone and the cards bought to add minutes to the phone, our yearly cell phone spending was about $100. After that year we started buying double minute cards that were good for a year. So, for one year the face value of the cards would double. It really wasn’t a bad deal at the time. We didn’t use the phone much and were paying much less than we would have for a cell phone plan.

Recently my husband has increased his cell phone usage. When I am at work at night he is moderating different websites and often uses the phone to communicate with the owners of the sites. The frequency we were buying cards for the trac phone had increased significantly to the point that I thought it would be cheaper to go ahead and get a phone with a nights and weekends plan.

So, the search was on. I researched a lot of companies on the internet looking for the best deal. I had found quite a few but where we live the availability of a good cell phone company is almost nonexistent. I say almost only because maybe i missed something on my searches.

It seems cell phone service is more expensive where we live than the quotes I could come up with in different parts of the country. Then there is the deposit that most of the companies require. I have seen advertised where some cell phone companies have prepaid plans where you can pay in advance and still take part in the plans they offer with no deposit. However, this does not seem to be an option in my part of the country.

So, I tried searching for prepaid cell phones. The same type i’d been using for years, but looking for something with a plan. Trac fone offers various plans, but the price range for what i was looking for would’ve ran about the same i was already paying. They offer no sort of nights and weekends plan. At least not where I live.

I really didn’t think I’d find a prepaid phone with this type of plan. I figured I’d either have to suck up the costs of buying a couple of cards a month or give in and pay the deposit with one of the cell phone companies in town.

Much to my surprise and delight, I found what I was looking for. Virgin Mobile actually has nights and weekends plans at a pretty decent price. For about $35 a month we get 200 or 300 anytime minutes and 1000 nights and weekends starting at 7pm. I have seen advertised where many companies actually charge you to start your nights and weekends at 7pm. So, this really sounded like a good deal. A thousand minutes on a trac fone, even buying minutes in large quantities at the cheapest rates, would cost me about a hundred dollars.

So, we bought the phone. I expected it to be much like a trac fone. And, in many ways it is. But I was amazed at the features with this phone that trac fone does not offer. Real music ring tones and downloadable graphics. I have to say that I was pretty impressed. The phone we bought was a little light weight flip phone at a pretty decent price. I believe it was around $15. Not a bad deal at all compared to many I have seen advertised with prices this low only being available if you enter into a contract.

I was worried that we might get a lot of dropped calls, which was a problem in the past in the part of town that we live. But so far we have not had a single dropped call.

With all of the cell phone companies out there charging outrageous prices and requiring steep deposits, I think Virgin Mobile is a pretty good deal.