Tips to Relieve Holiday Stress for Work-At-Home Moms

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Giving gifts to our family and friends is the core of the holiday season but is one of the biggest stressors for work at home moms. We are already stretched for precious time and we know the difficulty of balancing clients with family. It’s a constant juggling game between the two and when we add all the holiday preparations to our overflowing lists, all the fun is often sucked right out of the holiday season.

Now is the time to make a plan of action and get organized with all that needs to happen before the holidays are upon us. Here are some practical tips for easing into the holidays from one WAHM to another:

Take control of your finances early, before your holiday shopping begins, and develop a realistic budget to follow. If you can avoid using credit cards and only pay cash for gifts, you will breathe easier in January when the credit card bill arrives. Paying cash helps you stay on budget and will prevent you from making any rash decisions or buying outlandish gifts.

Prior to driving to the mall, make a list of your gift ideas for each person so you won’t be left wandering aimlessly from store to store, hoping for some divine inspiration. With the outrageous cost of gasoline, bundle your shopping trips to stores that are near each other. Your time is worth money to your clients and should be viewed as valuable by you, too.

Take advantage of your lunch break to shop online. Ordering online is a godsend when you need to ship items out of state. Paying for the online company to ship a gift is far less costly and time consuming than packing it up yourself and waiting with half the town in line at the post office.
Be focused and use any breaks in your work schedule to your advantage. Write out a few holiday cards or wrap a few presents in between client calls. Both tasks become more manageable when broken down into smaller time frames.

When you sit down to write your gift list with a nice cup of tea, decide if you will buy gifts just for family members or if you will also include your children’s teachers, bus drivers, garbage haulers, postal workers, religious education teachers, sports coaches…you get the drift. The list could get very long and break your budget if you don’t plan well.
A great gift idea for these “extra” people in your life is something homemade. If you are a big holiday baker, simply buy a few pretty tins and bake a few extra batches of your favorite cookies or breads. For those of you who do not bake, look for some recipes for making “Gifts in a Jar”. You can buy large or small mason jars at craft stores and you simply layer the dry ingredients of your favorite cookie recipe, close the lid, tie with pretty ribbon, and you have a lovely gift. Don’t forget to attach a copy of the recipe to the jar!

Organizing your holiday card list early will eliminate many headaches and hand cramps later on. Pare down your list, order your cards early, order your stamps online or with your postal carrier, and put all the addresses on computer labels. You can easily find labels with holiday designs and you can add a fun font for a customized look. Many card companies also offer to have your cards stamped with your family or business name, thus saving even more time.

Can you delegate any of the holiday prep to your older children or spouse? Your computer wizard teenager might be willing to input your holiday card list so you can print out address labels. Maybe an older child would be willing to babysit for the day so you can shop for gifts in peace. If you are preparing a holiday dinner, ask other relatives or friends to bring a dish. Older elementary school kids can help read recipes and layer the items in your gift jars.

Rather than build up your holiday as a Martha Stewart-recreation, complete with handmade gift wrap, make your holiday plans realistic to suit the needs of your family and your schedule. Focus instead on the peace, love and joy in your life and take time to count your many blessings.

Article By: Aurelia Williams

Aurelia Williams is a Certified Life Coach that specializes in helping women achieve balance and less stress in their busy lives. Get a free consultation here.

Adolescent Embarrassing Moments

I think all kids feel embarrassed by their parents when they reach adolescence. That's just a normal thing. I remember feeling that way about my parents too.

I also remember experiencing those feelings while attending various school functions with Mom and Dad in the evenings. I considered my parents as "not cool."
That's still fresh in my mind to this day!

Our son was embarrassed by us for sure. Every time we'd go out to eat somewhere, he actually would want to stay at home. We had a time with him, let me tell you!

But, why is that? Why do teenage kids feel this way about their parents? It could be that parents are looked upon by their teenage children as "old school", or corny. And like I said above, "not cool!" Or maybe it's some of the rules that parents have. Too strict maybe? A teenager's independence could also be the culprit.

I remember a time when I could not ride my bike in the street. I of course thought my parents were the meanest people on earth. I also felt embarrassed in front of my friends at the time because they were allowed to and I wasn't.

Ahh, I remember this very well..

A couple of my friends and I went to see a movie. I actually don't remember what movie it was, but I know it was funny. And guess what? My parents went and seen the same movie on the same night. The reason I remember the movie was funny is because I remember my Dad laughing. When my Dad laughs, he laughs extremely loud, it's just his nature. Well that night, I felt like crawling under one of the seats. LOL! Totally embarrassed. Sorry Dad. ;)

Just sitting here and traveling down memory lane and thought I'd share. =)

And parents, don't be alarmed if you are going through this with your teenager, this is only an opinion from your growing child's perspective. Yes, they will grow out of it, I promise.

A Few Halloween Recipes For The Kids

Just a few Halloween recipes for the kids...I hope you enjoy. :)

From: Family Fun Magazine

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Yellow and red food coloring
Pretzel nuggets (stems)

Directions

Heat the oven to 350º and line a 12-cup muffin tin with bake cups. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Set the mixture aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, stir together the oil and sugar. Whisk in the eggs and stir in the vanilla extract.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently stir the mixture until well combined. Explain to your child that she should stir only until she can no longer see any pockets or streaks of flour.

Stir the pumpkin into the batter until it is thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of one cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes sit in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, make the Cream Cheese Frosting. In a medium-size mixing bowl, beat together the confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, butter, and lemon juice until smooth. Add about 12 drops of yellow food coloring and 4 drops of red food coloring and beat until the frosting turns orange.

For authentic-looking pumpkins, pipe on the frosting to resemble a pumpkin's ridges. Fill a sealable plastic bag with frosting, snip a small hole in the corner, and pipe curved lines over each cupcake. (An easier option is simply to frost each cupcake orange and draw ridges from top to bottom with a butter knife.) Use pretzel nuggets for the pumpkin stems and cut flattened green gumdrops into leaves. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Halloween Mud Pie

Ingredients

16 Oreo cookies or chocolate graham crackers
4 tbsp. butter, melted
1 pint ice cream
to 10 gummy worms
1 cup fudge sauce
Whipped cream, optional

Directions

Put cookies in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Empty into a bowl and stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into a 9 inch pie plate to form a shell and freeze for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, soften the ice cream slightly. Drop in a few gummy worms (that's the Halloween part) and spoon into the pie shell. Top with a thick layer of fudge sauce and freeze for at least 1 hour before serving with optional whipped cream. Makes 8 servings

Pumpkin Ice-cream Pie

Ingredients

CRUST

1 1/2 cups crushed cinnamon-sugar graham crackers (about 12 whole graham crackers)
4 tablespoons melted butter

FILLING

1 quart vanilla ice cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin
Assorted dried fruit

Directions

Heat the oven to 350º. In a 9-inch pie plate, mix the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Have your child crumble the mixture with her fingers until the butter is evenly distributed. Then she should press it around the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Bake for 5 minutes and cool completely.

Meanwhile, let the ice cream sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Scoop it into a large mixing bowl. Break apart the ice cream with a spoon, then add the sugar, spices, and pumpkin. Mash until the pumpkin and spices are evenly distributed through the ice cream.

Spoon (or pour) the pumpkin ice cream into the cooled crust. Cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for several hours or overnight.

Before serving, decorate the pie with an assortment of dried fruit to create a colorful jack-o'-lantern face. We cut figs, dried papaya, and dates into triangles for the eyes and nose and into squares for the teeth. Let the pie sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 8



Enjoy! ;)

Positive Praise Refresher Course

The last thing your child wants to hear is "You got how many wrong?!" or "You didn't spell those three words correctly!" Those sentences would insult the intelligence of the smartest 10 year old, especially in that tone of voice. ;)

You need to use positive reinforcement to encourage children to study hard, believe in themselves, and do their homework. Your child sincerely needs your words of encouragement and approval.

Too often parents fall into the trap of paying too much attention to what their kids do wrong, rather than what they do correctly. In some cases exceptionally well.

Let's look at a particular example here...

You attended the reading of your child's geography essay. Sharon made lots of spelling mistakes on the paper itself, but presented it beautifully with perfect penmanship, spoke clearly and confidently, and also got it completed in record time. She also knew her geography, it was an exceptionally good essay.

What needs to be addressed here? Well of course all the good points. Remember, Sharon needs to hear encouraging words. ;)

While good spelling skills can always be improved and also certainly should be encouraged, I think that confidence, actually comprehending the studied material and knowing it well, and good penmanship will get a child farther than a few correctly-spelled words.

As a parent, how would you handle the situation? How would you subtly encourage good spelling skills?

To End The Summer Season...

Hi there,

Well it's officially fall now and this last week has proven it. It's been very much on the cool side...enough that I wanted to turn our furnace on. :o So yes, fall has definitely arrived here.

I thought I'd share a recipe to say goodbye to summer. This yummy dish was what I had for lunch today. I think the kiddos would really take a liking to it. :D

Fat Free Strawberry Yogurt Fruit Salad

Ingredients

1 container fat free strawberry flavored activia yogurt
5 med strawberries
1 small banana
8 seedless grapes

Directions

Wash and cut up the fruit in small bite-sized pieces. Put fruit in small mixing bowl. Add the container of yogurt and mix together with spoon.



Enjoy! =)