C. Lynn Williams's Blog, page 16
November 20, 2019
Modern Moms Embrace The Holidays
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas soon after. How are you feeling? Is the stress building up?
[image error]
I am so excited 
Modern Moms Embrace The Holidays
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas soon after. How are you feeling? Is the stress building up?
[image error]
I am so excited
Modern Moms Embrace The Holidays
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas soon after. How are you feeling? Is the stress building up?
[image error]
I am so excited
Modern Moms Embrace The Holidays
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas soon after. How are you feeling? Is the stress building up?
[image error]
I am so excited
Modern Moms Embrace The Holidays
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas soon after. How are you feeling? Is the stress building up?
[image error]
I am so excited
Modern Moms Embrace The Holidays
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas soon after. How are you feeling? Is the stress building up?
[image error]
I am so excited
October 23, 2019
8 Tips for Saving Money When Shopping for Halloween at Walmart
By guest blogger – Kristin Louis
The spooky season is upon us, and with it comes shopping and prep work. If you’re tight on money, it can be a bit intimidating to think of all the stuff you need to buy, especially with Christmas just a couple of months down the line. That’s why we have collected the best tips to save cash while shopping for Halloween at your favorite stores like Walmart.
Look
for Rakuten Cash Back Opportunities
The single best thing you can do to save money
while shopping at big-box retailers is to keep an eye out for coupons and promo
codes. Rakuten is a great place to look, with hundreds of great deals at stores
like Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Macy’s. So, before you start shopping, check out
Rakuten to see what cash back opportunities are available.
Set a
Budget
Before you start shopping, it helps to decide
how much money you are willing to spend on Halloween. Bear in mind the costs of
upcoming holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as how much you
usually spend. The good news is that Halloween doesn’t tend to be a
particularly expensive holiday: the average American spends $86.79 a year on the holiday.
Buy
Cheaper Pumpkins
If going to a pumpkin patch every year is part
of your family tradition, you can skip this one. However, if all you want is a
pumpkin you can carve with your family, chances are it will be a lot cheaper if
you head to the grocery store or to a big-box store. A large pumpkin from a
pumpkin patch can cost as much as $14 to $20, while Walmart sells them for as
little as $5.
Get
Crafty with Your Decorations
Why spend loads of money on mass-produced
plastic decorations when you can achieve great results with some basic craft
supplies and some creativity? Redbook has a great collection of craft projects that are
perfect for working on as a family. Try the adorable paper bats or flower pot spider with young
kids, or get teens involved in making some bloody-looking candles.
DIY Your Costume
Homemade costumes aren’t just cheaper than
their store-bought counterparts; they are also a lot more fun and creative. You
can find loads of great homemade costume ideas online, from the super
basic to more advanced and original projects like a disco ball or a cactus.
Have a
Costume Swap Party
Another option if you want to save money on
costumes is to organize a costume swap with friends or, if you have kids, with
other parents. Green Child Magazine recommends setting up a costume swap in your local community and
giving it enough time for everyone to get organized. The first Saturday of
October is ideal, but any time around the start of the month also works.
Shop
Around for the Best Candy Deals
Don’t start panic-buying candy the second it comes onto the shelves.
Most major stores have great bulk deals during the month of October, so it pays
to be strategic. According to Good Housekeeping, some of the best places to buy candy this year are Target,
Walmart, and Party City. Where possible, combine sales with those online
coupons to get an extra good deal.
Makeup,
Not Masks
Scary Halloween masks can be expensive, but
that’s not the only downside. As an adult, they are inconvenient and get in the
way of drinking or eating, and for a child, they can be unsafe. Instead of
buying a mask, learn how to do some cool Halloween makeup with tutorials. Bonus
points if you can do it with regular makeup items you can pick up at the
drugstore.
Halloween doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, the more creative you get with your costumes, decorations, and activities, the more fun you are going to have. Start planning your shopping now so you can focus on putting together the perfect Halloween for your friends and family. Then, once November rolls around, don’t forget to look out for those deals on candy!
Happy Halloween!
October 10, 2019
Have a Son – Be Prepared to Be Swept Off Your Feet
My grandson is 7 months old and his personality is coming out more
and more. I’m always happy to hear about his latest discovery and activity.
While my daughter and son-in-law believe in Baby A sleeping in his own bed,
lately he has been sleeping in theirs.
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My daughter says she woke up one morning and Baby A had his arm
around her neck, like a boyfriend and
she was amused. Her hubby wasn’t…
Here’s
what I know:
Moms are the first “girl” that their son knows…
He quickly learns that she takes care of him a lot, especially if she is
breastfeeding him.
She plays with him and he loves it, so he gives
her attention and unconditional love.
Unconditional
love is intoxicating like a delicious bottle of wine…
You can’t get enough of it.
As baby boys get older, they bring their “favorite girl” (Mom) flowers
(dandelions), gifts (worms or rocks) and anything else that will make her
smile. Mom of course loves the gifts and the attention, and now the sweeping off your feet is taking place.
There is nothing like a son. Depending on his home environment, he
will always be concerned about “Mom”. It’s a wonderful relationship to have as
long as we remember that our sons will grow up, fall in love and leave home.
Let him and welcome the person that he chooses.
He will always be your son and you will always be his mother.
Interested in learning more about your family’s dynamics?
Contact me – Ms. Parent Guru to receive information about my inspiring parenting programs for Aging Parents, Mothers and Daughters, Mothers and their Sons, Fathers and Daughters or Fathers and their Sons.
Click Here to become a part of my parenting community.
C. Lynn Williams,
#MsParentguru
Family Dynamics
Strategist, Author & Speaker
September 26, 2019
Lessons Learned Don’t Have to Be Seen As Mistakes
Last week, I was giving
myself a good talking to because I kept finding mistakes with a project I was
working on. Once I realized the negative self-talk that was happening in my
head, I stopped and talked to myself. Now
before you think I’m crazy, think for minute about how you self-correct.
You do self-correct, right?
So, let’s get back
to the mistakes… No one likes to make them; however, they are part of what
makes us human, and often we learn more from mistakes than we do from anything
else.
I reminded myself
that I was learning something new (about the topic and myself) and what was
important was the lessons that I was
learning. There was nothing wrong with making mistakes. What the
Universe was also showing me, was that I consider myself a lifelong learner. How
can you be a true learner, without making mistakes.
Here’s what I was saying to myself: I was so ready to beat
myself up and throw in the towel! What was wrong with me? Why was I making so many
mistakes?
I thought about these
negative messages and wondered if my peers (that are women) talk the same way
to themselves? And, do my peers that are men talk to themselves the way we
women do when they make mistakes?
I also had to tell
myself that I learned more that day from that series of mistakes than I learned
when I do things in what I consider an organized way.
The other question that I thought about on that day, is how many of us, self-correct the negative thoughts we have before we talk to our children and/or the people that work for us?
Lessons learned
don’t have to be seen as mistakes…
They are just lessons learned…
Click
Here to become a part of my parenting community.
C.
Lynn Williams, #MsParentguru
Family
Dynamics Strategist, Author & Speaker
August 30, 2019
The Voices Heard Before Suicide
Suicide is a profound tragedy…
My daughter was a young girl when my brother committed suicide. I was devastated. He had been suffering with a chronic illness and told us he was praying to die, while we prayed for him to live.
He had talked about dying years before that because he was so unhappy. Suicide is seldom unplanned, and victims leave clues.
It is up to us to pay attention to those clues and intervene. That’s easy to say, and harder to do. There are lots of external influences that will make it challenging to notice the clues.
These days children are dealing with life issues that they don’t want to talk about. Bullying. Sexual abuse. Peer pressure. Parental expectations. Excelling in school. These issues are further exacerbated by the separatism that technology provides. Many of these issues young people face without appropriate coping skills. When an unpleasant event occurs they feel that life can’t go on and so they attempt suicide or they are successful. 
