Childproofing your backyard is as important as childproofing inside your home, as my nephews are so aptly demonstrating to my in-laws lately.  They’ve been waking up early in the morning and sneaking out of the house without anyone hearing them, doing things like letting the dogs out and getting into the cars.

One thing you might want to do is ensure that your kids can’t get outside without you, at least until they are big enough to know better than to do certain things.  For example, my parents’ house has a sliding glass door with a slide lock up at the top that sticks a pin in the frame and keeps the door from opening, even if the handle lock is forced; that kind of thing can help you to keep your kids from going outside unattended, at least until they are tall enough to reach!

You should also do certain things to childproof your backyard.  For instance, hot tub covers are important to keep small children from unwittingly falling into the hot tub.  Even a small 2 person  hot tub is plenty big enough for a child to drown in.  Heck, even an adult could drown in a hot tub if they fell in and hit their head, so you can never be too careful about keeping the cover on when it’s not in use!

Although there is obviously less you can do to childproof outside, the point is to at least keep the obvious catastrophes from happening.  Of course, your child should also be supervised outside, but even supervision can’t prevent some accidents!

Technorati Tags: 2 person hot tub, childproofing, hot tubs for sale

I’m pretty liberal, especially when it comes to women’s rights, and one of the things I hate to see most of all is when the value of a woman’s years spent as a homemaker are overlooked in a divorce.

It’s unfortunate that our society, historically and even currently in many places, sees a man’s earnings as his own, even when the biggest reason he is able to work as much as he needs to earn that money and develop his career, is because his wife has supported him behind the scenes — raising the kids, keeping house, etc.

Even if you didn’t stay home and raise the kids, even if you worked, most of the time the mother is automatically expected to be the one to sacrifice her career for the good of the children.  Think about it: If the kids were sick, who stayed home with them?  Who did the school call first if one of the kids had to be sent home?  Usually it is the mother who consistently does these things, sacrificing her opportunity for promotions and additional work, so that her husband can devote himself to his career.

Because “women’s work” is often not recognized in divorce court, homemakers can get the short end of the stick when filing for divorce.  That’s why it is so important to have a good divorce lawyer in Phoenix – someone who is really looking out for YOUR interests.  Divorce for women in Scottsdale doesn’t have to be a terrible and disappointing experience!

Technorati Tags: childcare, divorce for women in Scottsdale, divorce lawyer in Phoenix, homemaker

I tend to be impulsive.  Hair color, jobs, apartments, they all change for me on a dime.  When I recently woke up one morning and decided to go back to school, I was amazed at how quickly things happened.  I found a program I loved, applied and within a week I was accepted.  Classes started in a few days and I was living about 6 hours away from the school. 

With the help of the school’s administration department, I found an apartment.  Now I just needed to figure out how to move my stuff.  I was having a hard time finding boxes and was starting to panic when a friend suggested I go to a local self service storage facility. 

I thought at first she was suggesting I put all of my stuff in storage, but apparently sometimes companies that rent out self storage units also sell moving supplies.  Fortunately the one nearby did, and I was able to stock up everything I needed to pack, including boxes and packing tape.  

Once I had the supplies it didn’t take me long to pack at all.  I piled everything in the back of my car and headed on my latest adventure.

Technorati Tags: moving supplies, self service storage

Did you know it’s actually illegal to pose as a lawyer when you’re not, or give legal advice when you’re not really qualified to?

Not too long ago, my husband had an incident happen at work that reminded me of this.  One of the employees he manages, who is diabetic, had a hypoglycemic episode — that is, her blood sugar crashed.  Since her sister worked for the company, they notified her, but they also called the paramedics because the woman was almost non-responsive.

Well, her sister showed up and stuck around while the paramedics got her blood sugar back up.  Then they wanted to take her to the hospital, but she didn’t want to go.  So her sister got all self-important and said, “I’m her lawyer and she doesn’t have to go if she doesn’t want to.”

The paramedics finally gave in, but it was actually a complete lie — she had studied law but had never completed her  degree nor passed the bar exam, so she was not a lawyer at all.  It was dangerous to claim she was a lawyer when she was not, because if the paramedics had called her bluff she could have been in serious trouble with the law for falsely representing herself.

This is something to remember before sending a fake letter posing as a lawyer in order to threaten someone with legal action or anything else.  You could get into serious trouble for doing so.  It is much better to get a real criminal defense attorney in Clearwater than to try to B.S. your way out of a situation.  A good St. Petersburg criminal lawyer is easy to find and can help get you out of trouble, whereas trying to pretend you’re a lawyer when you’re not would just make a bigger mess of things.

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Recently I interviewed the director of a cat rescue for an article in a local publication, about how the economy is affecting local charities.  (Recently, a national article ran on the same topic — how having less money to go around is impacting donations to non-profits.)  They reported that their monetary donations have definitely gone down, but that conversely (or perversely, perhaps), the number of cats being abandoned is going up.

If you want to help out a local rescue but can’t take another animal or afford a substantial monetary donations, consider donating any of these, which are often on rescues’ wish lists:

• Your time.  Rescues are almost always in need of volunteers.  You may be asked to do necessary chores like feed animals and clean litter boxes, but most likely you’ll be walking dogs and playing with the cats using fun interactive cat toys.
• Second-hand items.  If you have cat and dog dishes you no longer need, brushes and toys that are still in good used condition, and other items that you no longer need, consider donating them.  Even leftover dry food when you switch brands would probably be much appreciated.
• Bulk cat toys and dog toys.  If you have some money but not a whole lot, consider buying cat toys and dog toys in bulk to give to a shelter.  They don’t have to be anything fancy or expensive — most likely plain ol’ ball cat toys will do.  The critters will no doubt appreciate having something fun to do!
• Your home.  If you can’t take on the permanent burden of another pet, but you have some room in your home for a little while at least, consider fostering an animal for a while.  This enables the shelter to open up another spot and rescue another animal in need.

With the economy the way it is, money is tight for many people, but particularly for animal shelters and the owners who can no longer afford to care for their critters.  Please do everything you can to prevent animal suffering during these tough times!

Technorati Tags: animal shelters, ball cat toys, bulk cat toys, cat rescue, interactive cat toys, monetary donations, non-profits