A Penny For Your Thoughts

Bug Me Not

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Toddlers and young children are awful creatures. They throw nasty tantrums, they think like an alien, behave like an alien and sometimes, we mummies feel as if we can scream at them and ask them to stop bugging us. Unfortunately for us mummies, we can’t just scream at the toddlers cuz they don’t exactly speak the same language as us.

They’ll still bug us whether we tell them off or not and telling them off will only make things worst. The only thing we can do to make them give us some space and well deserved break every now and then is to keep them occupied.

Below is a guest post by Ms. Sharen Pearson on how to keep your toddlers occupied. Read on. It might be one of the way surviving your toddlers.

STOP BUGGING ME

Buggy Fun for Summer

By Sharen Pearson

Much to the dismay of their mothers, toddlers hold a relentless fascination for bugs. They follow, squish, catch and even eat them! Perhaps the novelty lies in the never-ending variety of creepy crawlers or that bugs are smaller than these little ones. Here are some simple buggy activities that will enchant your children this summer.

Bug Catcher

Save the net from your fresh produce. Lace a chenille wire around the top to support the sides. The net makes a tiny bug catcher for your child. Always help identify any bugs that might be dangerous. Catch, observe and release.

Butterfly or Dragonfly

Attach colored tissue paper wings to a toilet tissue or paper towel tube for wings. Slip a hair band over the tube and place on toddler’s wrist to flap and fly. For more advanced work, drop food color onto a wet coffee filter. Allow to dry and use for wings. Two filters for dragonfly and one for butterfly.

Big Bug

Fashion antennae with chenille wire and attach to your child’s head with clips. Gather a sheet of tissue paper at the center. Duct tape to the back of the shirt for butterfly wings. Fly away little butterfly!

Tot Cocoon

Give your toddler the end piece of a roll of toilet tissue. Have him gently spin to wrap the paper around and around forming a cocoon. If the paper breaks, just tuck the loose end in and begin again. Continue as your child is comfortable (most won’t let you cover the face). Count 1, 2, 3 and have your butterfly “hatch out” and fly away.

Lady Bug

Make a tiny ladybug from the cup of an egg carton. Cut the section. Paint red and add black dots. Tape twisted bits of paper on for antennae. For a counting activity: make five bugs and draw 1 spot, 2 spots etc. on the five bugs. Count the spots and the bugs.

Caterpillar

Cut a six-section length from an egg carton. Your toddler can glue cotton balls on each section for “fuzz.” Draw a face on one end of the section and add chenille or paper antennae. Punch a hole in the front and tie a string on to “walk your bug.” For more advanced work, paint each section of the caterpillar yellow or even a rainbow.

Bug Collage

Draw (or print from a website) several bugs on paper. Make a simple paste of flour and water. Your tot can glue on dry rice, macaroni, bits of colored paper and/or cake sprinkles to decorate the bugs.

Bugs in a tub

Pour 6 cups of dry rice into a large flat container. Add toy plastic bugs (or your ladybugs), measuring cups, recycled plastic containers, paper tubes and play as in a sand box. To protect the floor and give your activity a boundary, place the tub in the center of a sheet or shower curtain. Your child will play for hours.

About Guest Author:

Sharen Pearson’s Goof & Giggle classes and materials continue to provide a quality Mom/Tot interaction. Widely popular, Goof & Giggle’s child-focused play plans are offered in various Arizona communities. She’s also created a variety of Goof Juice DVDs and filmed episodes of Baby D.I.Y. and written workbooks for BabyFirstTV. Arizona Midday (NBC) tapes monthly segments with Sharen to provide their audience with a variety of original and creative “easy to do” activities for babies and preschoolers. Sharen’s creativity reaches a combined audience over 200 million viewers worldwide. Goof & Giggle classes and products encourage green living, repurposing materials from around the house into affordable objects for play and learning. Learn more at: https://sharenpearson.com/

Disclaimer: I am hosting this Blog Tour on the behalf of Kathy Carlton Willis Communications. I was not compensated in any ways for hosting this.

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Book review

Starting a Micro Business and Books Giveaway

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With unemployment rates high, the teen population is finding it harder and harder to find work. Adults are competing for the same minimum wage jobs. But there’s an alternative—starting a micro business. What is a micro business? It is a very small, one-person business that you can start easily and quickly with what you already know or own. No money needed, low risk and no debt! Students can spend as much time running a micro business as they wish and can even close it down during busy times. The best advantage for teens to own a micro business is that it not only brings in extra cash (often more than imagined), but students end up learning a great deal about business, money and themselves. It may lead to an entrepreneurial life or at the very least, prepare students for higher learning opportunities.

I’ve read the book, Starting a Micro Business by Carol Topp, and I found that it’s full with innovative ideas and very helpful for teens who wants to earn more money but do not exactly know how.

Spring Cleaning: A Time For a Teenager to Make Money

Guest post by Carol Topp
Here are some ideas for a micro business a teenager can start this spring:
  • House cleaning: Offer to tackle large jobs like washing windows, moving furniture, etc. Many people are grateful for a young, strong teenager to help them with heavy lifting. What is easy for you might be very difficult for them, especially if they are an older person.
  • Routine house cleaning: Some customers need regular house cleaning and may hire you on a weekly or monthly basis. Don’t wait for them to ask: offer to come weekly or twice a month and see what they say.
  • Attic cleaning: Offer to help people do a job that they put off, such as cleaning an attic.
  • Garage cleaning: A big job that can earn you big bucks!
  • Yard cleanup: Offer to trim bushes, pull weeds, plant flowers and spread mulch to spruce up a yard.
  • Car and van cleaning: People spend a lot of time in their automobiles and their cars and vans need frequent cleaning. Melissa gladly paid to get her van cleaned inside and out every week because her four children could really make a mess in it. You can make some cash by offering to clean a van inside and out.
  • Organize. Organize a house, playroom or garage. Charge the customer for any bins, tubs and labels that you purchase for them and then add on the value of your time. Take before and after photos to use on your advertising fliers.
  • Declutter: Do you love HGTV shows on organization? You might be able to find someone to hire you to declutter their house like you see on TV.
  • Garage sales: Advertise, organize and run a garage sale for your neighbors. Get several neighbors to participate together and really earn the bucks!
  • eBay sales: Offer to sell your neighbors’ stuff on eBay and take a cut for yourself. Combine the decluttering, garage sale and eBay tasks into a full package to help your customers profit from their excess stuff.
Carol Topp, CPA advises teenage business owners though her Micro Business for Teens book series. Carol’s day job is accountant to business owners, and she enjoys teaching teenagers to succeed beyond their dreams. Students appreciate how she shares what they need to know in clear and helpful lessons. Her website is MicroBusinessForTeens.com

For a chance to go into the draw to win a complete set of Carol Topp’s Micro Business for Teens series please leave a comment with a way to contact you by Thursday 21. Giveaways is International and winner will be notified via email.
GRAND PRIZE!
The Complete Set of Carol Topp’s Micro Business for Teens Series
(Winner will receive the four books shown below)
Starting a Micro Business
ISBN: 978-0-09829245-0-1
Retail price: $9.95
Running a Micro Business
ISBN: 978-0-09829245-1-8
Retail price: $9.95
Money and Taxes in a Micro Business
ISBN: 978-0-09829245-3-2
Retail price: $9.95
The Micro Business for Teens Workbook
ISBN: 978-0-09829245-2-5
Retail price: $14.95
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I received an ARC of this book from Kathy Carlton Willis Communications. I was not compensated in any ways for hosting this book tour.

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Book review

Blind Sight

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Publisher:
Tyndale
ISBN-10: 1601454384
ISBN-13: 978-1601454386
Retail: $17.95

364 pages

I’m a Procrastination Queen. You see, I’ve received this book from Kathy Carlton- Willis Communication earlier this month, and I’ve been putting off reading the book entitled Blind Sight by James H. Pence because I’ve been too busy doing something else…. you know… my yearly NaNoWrimo challenge.

Anyway, I wouldn’t want to waste anymore time, so without further ado, allow me to review ‘Blind Sight’ by James H. Pierce.

Blind Sight is a very intriguing and fast-paced story, and I don’t know why I’ve put off reading it for so long. It’s about a about mind-control cults. Sounds scary and intimidating,eh? Well yes, it is a rather dark fiction.

James H. Pierce brings you the story of Thomas Kent, a man who lost his will to continue living and move on after loosing his family.

Thomas was disillusioned by the tragic loss of his family in an auto accident and he wants nothing more than just die. Without his family, life is just meaningless. He had lost the purpose to live until one day, he received a mysterious message and a voice from the past stir him to fight for his life and the lives of a family he doesn’t know.

Thomas found himself reluctantly drawn into the murderous plot of a dangerous cult that threatens to steal America’s future. And as Thomas attempts to expose the cult, Thomas finds himself facing the past he had buried, and his anger towards God who had taken everything dear to him.

Blind Sight is a very good book. I find it very intriguing and I couldn’t let it down. And unlike many other Christian fiction, Blind Sight is not slow-paced, and made you ponder on a lot of things: Mainly the purpose of life, God’s plan and allowing yourself to let go when it’s necessary.

Blind Sight address the grief of a man who had lost everything that matters to him, and also shows the reader that God always have the best plan for you, even if you think otherwise. All you need to do is let Him into your life, and He will show you the way.

Generally, Blind Sight is a very good book to read on a rainy night, and I highly recommend this to those who felt as if God has abandoned them and for those who prefers fast-paced novels.

I received this book free from Kathy Carlton Willis Communications. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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