Nintendo DS Lite Game Review Brain Age 2

Brain Age 2, More Brain Training, has the same idea as the original, of course, striving to give you some brain stimulating mental exercises every day. So, instead of sitting around consuming all the Christmas leftovers, why not put you brain to work while having a little fun?

All the glitches from the original have been fixed...

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Surviving The Holidays With An Autistic Child

Tis’ the season…to be stressed out! The Christmas season is stressful for most people. There’s the shopping in over crowded stores and malls for that perfect gift, stressing about money or the mounting credit card bills. Maybe you have the stress of balancing, or arguing, over which families homes you are going to celebrate at or how you’re going to accommodate everyone in your home on Christmas Eve.

When you have a child with Autism, all these stressors are magnified tenfold. While Wal-Mart tends to already be a stressful place for a lot of Autistic children (high, open ceilings with tons of fluorescent bulbs), add in 20 times more people, even more noise and chaos, and the bell ringer from the Salvation Army that our children become so fascinated with that we can barely tear them away without a meltdown. Then we start worrying about how our child will handle going to someones home for a Christmas party where there will be so many people, and so many strange people. “How will my child react? How am I going to deal with questions, stares, etc when he has a meltdown? What will I do when he shows no interest for his gifts?” Just thinking about all those obstacles and past Christmas disasters can send me into a panic attack! How about you?

It really doesn’t have to be this stressful for us. As in everyday life with my Autistic children, I have learned to find ways of turning most everything we do into a learning experience/therapy for the boys...

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How To Set Up A Planted Aquarium

Okay, I admit it. I’m an aquarium addict. Our home now has three, fully planted fish tanks and I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my oldest sons’ new tank for his Bearded Dragon. Why? Because I want to turn his old tank into what my husband has made me promise to be my last fish tank. While he enjoys my tanks as much as I do, he is perplexed as to why I feel the need to keep setting up more. I just think he’s still salty over my replacing the bedroom television with a 10 Gallon Red Cherry Shrimp tank.

Many people keep aquariums and use fake, plastic plants and different fake ornaments, thinking that keeping live plants will be to hard or time consuming. Or, maybe they’ve bought plants from the pet store and stuck them down into their gravel, only to watch them wither and die. The truth is, if you set your tank up properly for plants, they will not only basically take care of themselves, they will also help in the upkeep of your aquarium...

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Strangers & The Stress They Create For Autistic Children

It’s 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon. I’ve ran several errands with two of my children. My tween daughter and I, with my Autistic 4 year old set out to Lowe’s, Wal-Mart and then Pet Smart. All were planned to be quick, efficient, and all without pushing my youngest sons comfort levels overboard. A total meltdown with him leads to me fighting a panic attack…there’s been a few shopping trips that have left us both sobbing for a few minutes after we were secured into our seatbelts. But we do the best we can do.

So, we’ve ran these other errands and he’s done so well. He was good in the store as I picked out the fish and plants I wanted and I was feeling so accomplished with our outing. We get to the counter and there is the woman who has worked there for many years and has just always been an unpleasant woman. I could really care less but she’s rude to my children and corrects them like a parent should…a total stranger, disciplining my children? I think not...

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Beauty Myth Revealed

Have you ever had a facial and afterwards, as your feeling a little euphoric from the incredibly relaxing experience and marveling in how fabulous your skin feels, ask about purchasing some products they use? Usually I just want the exfoliant or mask they used but they insist that you MUST buy the entire skincare line to receive the full benefits of that product. I’ve fallen for this twice and am to ashamed to admit how much I’ve spent.

See, I suffer from acne. I’ve battled it off and on throughout the years and I’ve tried everything. I used to be open to trying everything. Now, after all these years, I know the specific ingredients that work for my skin and keep acne at bay. And yes, I use three different brands of skincare to achieve my clear skin...

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Savvy Shabby Chic Decorating

What’s old is new again. Shabby Chic decorating is a trend that has greatly appealed to my artsy-fartsy soul. I have been able to turn my home into my canvas. Thankfully, with my husbands appreciative eye. Yes, I have received strange looks what I say things like, “I found the coolest antique windows that I’m going to use for our headboard.” But when I’ve drug my new found treasures into the house and put them in place, he often stands back and says, “Wow! That really is cool!”


Another thing I’ve also heard is, “You paid how much for that old, beat up (insert name of latest fabulous find of mine)?” It amazes my husband that I actually pay money for things that look old and used. But what amazes him more is when I say, “I paid $10 for that. And look, here’s one almost identical on Ebay for $75. Oh, plus $25 shipping.” Then I bat my eyes and say, “Aren’t you glad I’m savvy at spending your money?”


The fact is, decorating your home Shabby Chic can really be a fun adventure that both you and your husband can enjoy while not breaking the bank...

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A Bachelors Degree Unutilized

When I started working towards my Bachelors Degree in Social Services, I had dreams of saving children. A single mom of two, my children were my world and I suddenly understood that overwhelming fear that my own mother had experienced while raising me. The outside world is dangerous for children and I was bound and determined to do my part to make it a safer place for my children.

When you’re an aspiring Social Worker, your professors job is to get you to see the world thru others eyes. I’ve always been a compassionate person, so I didn’t think it would be hard for me. I seldom pass judgment on others because I know that I myself have done things in my life that some may find undesirable. I realize I am human, as everyone else is, and sometimes our choices aren’t right or right for everyone else. But in the case of a Social Worker, you are bound to encounter people that engage in actions that your mind just cannot fathom. For me, not only did I not want to fathom some of those issues, I could in no way “put myself in their world and see things thru their eyes...

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Mothers Intuition VS The Pediatrician

As a mother, you trust that your pediatrician “knows it all” when it comes to the health and development of your child. Those fancy degrees in those shiny gold frames adoring their office walls say your should. We rarely question them. If they disagree with a concern that we have, we chalk it up to the fact that we’re most likely over reacting. Sometimes our pediatrician even says, “Each child is an individual and we can’t compare their development to the development our friends’ children.” Fair enough. But what if our “Mothers Intuition” is telling us one thing and our pediatrician is saying another?

I knew early on that something was very different about Nicholas. Growing up with a mother who worked in a “special needs” preschool, I had been exposed to it all. Volunteering my summers at the preschool, I had learned first hand not only the blessing of these children, but also how overwhelming the care of them could be at times. So when I confronted Nicholas’ pediatrician with concerns about his tactile defensiveness, I wanted and welcomed his dismissal of my fear of Autism. I wanted a trained “professional” to tell me my baby was normal...

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