MTA Begins Pilot Program to Help Pregnant Commuters

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has launched a pilot program designed to encourage customers to offer pregnant, disabled, and senior riders a seat. The program is modeled after a program that has been used in London. It will be the first program of its kind in the United States. MTA already provides disabled customers with “priority seating” on busses and trains. While riders are required to relinquish seats in those areas under federal regulations and MTA rules of conduct, new courtesy buttons can help riders better identify which customers need seats. The campaign also encourages customers, as a matter of … Continue reading

When Your Child Doesn’t Want to go to Preschool

Your child has been happily attending preschool for a while now. He or she always comes home with a smile and a story about something fun that happened that day. Now, suddenly, your child has started to resist going to preschool. What happened? Here is a quick checklist for parents who are baffled by their child’s declaration of “I don’t want to go to preschool!” Keep in mind that it is totally normal for a child to decided that he or she no longer wants to attend preschool. There are days when you don’t particularly want to go to work, … Continue reading

Do NOT Reply All

Dear parents of school-age children, It’s not necessary to “reply all” to every single email sent from your child’s teacher… especially if your kid is in the same class as ours. Sincerely, Parents for the Prevention of Reply All Abuse Look, I’m all for open communication, especially when it involves parents and educators, and despite my glaring absence on Facebook, I really do appreciate the advantages associated with digital messaging.  However, when it comes to emails and the “reply all” function, I’m a real hater. I’m not a huge fan of checking emails to begin with, so when I see … Continue reading

Does it Make Sense to Charge Smokers More?

Health insurance companies tend to charge a higher premium for people who smoke. Employers may impose a higher premium on workers who are smokers than they do for workers who are non-smokers. Does this make sense? This is a question many are asking right now. It is a rather controversial concept. Should people who smoke, or people who are obese, pay more for their health insurance premium than people who are healthier? Is it fair to impose a higher rate on a group of people who are less healthy than the others? Does the penalty really influence people to change … Continue reading

Sebelius Announces Countdown to Affordable Insurance

Kathleen Sebelius has written a very interesting post on HealthCare.Gov today. It is titled “Countdown to Affordable Health Insurance”. It gives exciting details about the upcoming health insurance exchanges, and how to access them. Some of you might be able to get help with the cost of coverage right now! Kathleen Sebelius is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. You have probably heard her name mentioned quite a lot in regards to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (which is also called Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare”). Right now, you can go to HealthCare.Gov to read her post … Continue reading

Homeschool Blog Focus: Brighton Park

  Brighton Park is a 2012 Circle of Moms Top 25 Homeschool blog, a Siemens Top 50 Farm Blog, and was recently featured in the Jan/Dec 2013 issue of Hobby Farm Home Magazine. Meet Katie Katie is the face behind Brighton Park.   Katie is a pediatric speech language pathologist.  Her homeschool curriculum is a hybrid of Catholic/Waldorf, or as her kids call it “Crafty Catholic”. She is a mom of five beautiful children, including twins with special needs. In addition, she is a yoga teacher, crafter, gardener, decorator, and backyard chicken keeper.  She loves inspired homeschooling and artful homemaking. You … Continue reading

Don’t Sabotage Your Efforts

Have you been struggling with keeping your New Year’s resolutions?  There could be things you are doing or not doing that will sabotage all of your efforts, not only in the way of losing motivation but getting injured. Let’s consider some of the ways this can happen.  One way is by jumping too quickly into a fitness routine that your body isn’t ready for. I can’t help but chuckle as my husband and I discussed his ability (or should I say inability) to handle an insanity workout.  We were watching an infomercial and both of us agreed that the movements … Continue reading

Tips for Beginners

It’s a New Year.  Are you ready to embrace a new you?  It starts with getting off your duff, no matter how tired you are from staying up last night or how stuffed your belly feels from all the goodies you ate. There is always a good reason to not start.  But there are even better reasons for why you should. There is something about immediately starting off the New Year right…taking those first steps (no matter how small) toward your goal of becoming a fitter person.  So even if that means you take a 10 minute walk, something is … Continue reading

Here’s to New Beginnings!

As 2012 is coming to a close, I have had some time to reflect on the happenings of the year. It has been a year of many ups and downs. I’ve gained eternal friends, loved and lost, struggled and triumphed, and learned more about myself than I ever imagined possible. I am not the same woman I was at the beginning of the year. I have gained so much strength throughout the continuing trials of divorce. I have grown into a better woman and a better mother. While this may not have been a perfect year, it was certainly one … Continue reading

Do You Need Inspiration for a Family History Adventure?

If you are looking for a fun genealogy read online, check out the Ancestry.com blog. Mixed in amongst their other blog posts (which are also good), there are posts from a family of seven who are traveling the United States in search of family history information. The Great, Great, Great Grand Adventure began back in July, when the Brown family decided that they would spend some time together as a family, traveling the United States and learning about their family history. At the time that the monumental decision to make the trip was made, the Browns did not know that … Continue reading