Moms

How To Share Your Love Story With Grandkids

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Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to share love with your grandchildren. And, what better way to do this than to tell them about your love story. Grandchildren typically think of their grandparents as they are now, and not thinking that they were once young. When you tell them about your own love story, you help them to see you as a young person. Instead of them seeing the lady with wrinkles or health problems, they will learn of your vibrant, youthful self. When we want to leave a legacy of life with our grandchildren, we want to teach them about all of our life. There are many fun and inexpensive ways to tell your love story. Valentine’s Day is a wonderful day to keep grandchildren at your home while the parents are out on a date. You could prepare a fun meal to serve them. It would be fun to mix up some sugar cookie dough and let them help make delicious and fun Valentine’s Day cookies. You might want to prepare the cookies beforehand, and serve them after your meal. You could decorate them with the child’s name or picture/design that demonstrates something about the child. Children love a home made treat, especially if it’s personalized. You could also create a custom card for each child. Make a card that is sentimental or just silly. You can find tons of ideas for making cards on Pinterest or just googling the word Valentines card. Creating a mini scrapbook is an easy way to share your story with them. This gives them a keepsake from you that they’ll always remember. These printable Scrapbook Pages are made for you to add pictures and words to express your love. You can make the cover any way that you like. One good idea is to make copies of some of your pictures to attach to the scrapbook. Do you have pictures of your dating or engagement? A wedding picture is always appropriate. You can write down the story of your courtship in a way that the grandkids can understand. However you decide to share your love story, I’m sure that the grandchildren will love it. Telling stories to kids and grandkids is the best way to teach them lessons that they’ll never forget. @2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Canada’s Best National Parks

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mountains and lake

Canada’s Best National Parks  Canada is home to four dozen national parks and reserves, which protect important geographical features, land, and marine habitats, and sites of cultural significance. With so many spectacular offerings, without unlimited time to spend, it can be hard to decide which ones to visit.  Each park offers something unique but most are densely forested with mountainous landscapes, numerous lakes, and rivers. Nearly half border an ocean or one of the Great Lakes and almost all can be explored by kayaking, hiking, and biking in the warmer months, with winter bringing opportunities for snowshoeing or backcountry skiing. To experience the best of the best, consider visiting one or more of these. Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador Located along the west coast of the easternmost province in Canada, Gros Morne may be the most spectacular national park you’ve never heard of. Covering nearly 700 miles, including beaches, freshwater fjords, waterfalls, dense forest, and the Long Range Mountains, it’s a nature lover’s dream. There are miles and miles of scenic trail to hike and an abundance of wildlife to spot, with around 7,500 moose, one of the world’s highest densities of the animals, along with  black bears, caribou, and arctic hare. Other than hiking and backpacking, the Western Brook Pond tour is one of the most popular attractions. A two-hour boat trip will bring you through the vast, billion-year-old cliffs dotted with magnificent waterfalls that plunge into the park’s largest lake. Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia Visit this Atlantic Canada national park and you’ll be immersed in stunning beauty. Cape Breton is home to one of the world’s most breathtaking drives, the 185-mile Cabot Trail which winds alongside ocean cliffs through soaring green mountains and forested river canyons. There are endless trails if you want to get out and explore, including treks with ocean views for spotting wildlife like dolphins, seals, bald eagles, and puffins. Minke and finback whales arrive in May, followed by humpbacks in June – the animals stick around to feast throughout the summer season, and into early fall. Banff National Park, Alberta Banff is one of Canada’s most-visited national parks, and it’s also its oldest as the first to open in 1885. Nestled in a valley that’s enveloped by dramatic mountains, jewel-hued lakes, rugged canyons, and hot springs, if you’re fortunate enough to buy one of the Banff houses for sale, you’ll truly be living in paradise. Ride the Banff Gondola for a bird’s-eye view over the clandscape, including magnificent Lake Louise, and enjoy everything from hiking, climbing, zip-lining, and biking to caving, fishing, and whitewater rafting on the Kicking Horse River. Pacific Rim National Park, British Columbia Located on Vancouver Island in Canada’s westernmost province, Pacific National Park is made up of three units, the Broken Group Islands, West Coast Trail, and Long Beach, each offering a distinct experience of its own for visitors. Long Beach, a 10-mile strip of undeveloped coastline, sits against a backdrop of a rainforest with mountains beyond, popular for beachcombing, surfing, and wildlife watching. Gray whales, humpbacks and orcas all pass by the southwestern coast of the island. Further inland, keep an eye out for bears, wolves, and cougars. The West Coast Trail is a historic 47-mile route featuring beaches, waterfalls, and sandstone cliffs, while the Broken Group Islands are ideal for sea kayaking and wilderness camping.

How To Get Green And Free Home Products

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soap

Are you a frugal person who also loves to buy green products? I’m a frugal grandmom with tons of allergies and I love to get green and natural products. These help prevent rashes, headaches, and sinus problems. We also recycle everything that we can in our community. Because I shop online so often, we always have lots of cardboard to recycle. But, the company where I purchase my home and cleaning supplies helps me to recycle, too. I’ve joined the Grove Collaborative for the last four months and I love it! I’m able to enjoy the best products available and they come straight to my door. I joined on a trial basis (60-day free trial period), because you never know if things will be a good fit for you. In my first order I received $35 in free cleaning products and some freebies, too! I love everything that I’ve received. I’m a VIP, and that means that I get free shipping on all of my shipments. There is a once a year charge of $19. This not only gets me free shipping, but also free products based on what I purchase. The Grove team will fill out the order for you, but you can edit the cart and put your favorites in there. I usually don’t buy too many things in my order, but have had so much fun trying a new item each month. I’m totally in love with all the Mrs. Meyer’s scents, because they are made naturally. The essential oil scents are mild and don’t give me a headache or rash. Two of my favorite household items are Dishwashing packs from Seventh Generation and the Grove Washer packs for my laundry. There are also wonderful recyclable concentrates for cleaning. These cut back on packing, orders, and they’re recyclable. Grove will send you a postage-paid bag to ship back your tubes and concentrate bags. You can also get your Grove products for FREE! All you need to do is to refer others and you’ll get $10 for each referral. This will get you lots of free Grove items. If you have a blog or social media business, you can also become an affiliate and make money referring people to Grove. Why not try it out for yourself. If you want to get started with Grove, you can pick one of these Bundles for your free gift sets that come with your first order of $20+. • Grove Sustainable Swaps Bundle:Featuring Grove eco-friendly lifestyle products• Grove Laundry Bundle:Featuring Grove’s eco-friendly laundry system• Grove Home Bundle:Featuring Mrs. Meyer’s top sellers• Grove Rooted Beauty Bundle:Featuring Grove’s luxurious, plant-based skincare line• Grove Baby Bundle:Featuring Babyganics and Burt’s Bees Hope you love the Grove Collaborative as much as I do!

3 Alternatives To Dining Out

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3 Alternatives

One of the first things we did when we began our frugal lifestyle was to severely limit our time dining out. We love dining out for many reasons: don’t have to cook or clean up, we’re tired, or we want to celebrate. But, to save money, we looked for alternatives to dining out. After a hard day of work, my husband was the one who always wanted to eat out. He enjoyed the specialness of going out and having a good time of conversation and a great meal. When we started adding up this huge budget-buster we found how large the bill was. We knew it was a definite problem and was destroying out budget. To find alternatives to dining out, I read many articles that gave great advice. It wasn’t always easy, but the tips were all based on planning. The little bit of time spent planning meals and emergency meals was well worth it and our budget showed the proof. Meal Planning Meal planning sounds so tedious, but it works. Working through your freezer and pantry, plan meals around what you have. Then keep a running list of what you need to complete the meals. Make sure to include breakfast, lunches, and snacks. When you have plenty of available food, there won’t be as much temptation to go through the drive-through. Pick up snacks that will keep well for a while. When our children were home, I liked to keep the small packs of peanut-butter crackers in our car. We were always running around to sports practice, games, and ballet. Having snacks and bottles of water stored in the car was a real budget hack! Many times, eating out happens because it’s a special occasion. I feel like that is sometimes unavoidable. Nevertheless, when I planned ahead and prepared a special meal at home, we were all happy and satisfied. Cooking the favorite meal of the birthday-child was just as much fun as going out and spending too much money. Replicate your favorite dishes If you’re serious about having a particular dish from your favorite restaurant you should check out recipes that are copies of famous restaurant fare. CopyKat is a fun website that has lots of recipes that are good copies of some of the most delicious dishes out there. Tablespoon has some delicious copy-cat recipes, as well as tons of quick and easy recipes. One of my favorite things to utilize is the crock pot or instant pot. I’ve always used crock pots to create hearty meals with almost no work. The Instant Pot is a new kitchen tool for me and it’s super to help you create good, hearty meals very fast! Emergency Meals The most important alternative for my family is having emergency meals. These are the regular options that I keep on hand for those nights…..you know what I mean. Whether there has been a late practice or you have a headache, emergency meals are needed. It really helps to keep 2 or 3 meal options handy. Pick things that you know your family likes and that are fast. We like to keep a frozen pizza in the freezer. Another easy option for us is to keep plenty of spaghetti and jars of pasta sauce. Many times when my children were younger we had this and I made some quick drop cheese biscuits to make the meal special. Emergency meals don’t have to be as balanced or healthy as your regular planned meals. Pizza at home is still not as bad as getting bags of cheeseburgers and fries. Plus, you’ll save lots of money by eating at home. When you plan your meals, it’s a great idea to plan one fun meal every week. This will help you to not feel deprived because you’re not dining out. Grab a few carnations for the dining-room table or light some candles and eat by candlelight. Have a themed night: Italian, Mexican, or French cuisine might be a wonderful way to try a new recipe. Think about the things that make you enjoy a meal out and try to replicate that at home…..just do it cheaper. Use what you have and make mealtimes special for you and your family. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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