JAK CHAT

Mama's Got Gas! Sure, after a fill up to the tune of $66. It's trendy to be "green" and frugal, yet for me, I feel like I've been forced.  Not kicking and screaming, though, because of the increasing costs of daily consumable items (fuel, food, etc), change in household income, I've had to make major lifestyle changes. I never used to be that aware of what gas station had the cheapest price of gas, but these days, I challenge myself to find the lowest per gallon price. It's reported that right now in our area, gas prices range from $3.70 to $3.95, up $1 from last year at this time.  (Here's a random, yet related question: What's the deal with the 9/10ths of a cent?)  Read more... For the past couple of months, I've been frequenting and filling up at a newer station called Solo.  I've seen only one other one in town.  Interestingly, they typically charge between 10 & 15 cents less than the gas station kiddie corner from it.  Well, it doe

Banned, again!                    I walked in the door yesterday, and as usual, noticed something new added to the pile of whatever on the kitchen peninsula counter top.  Along comes the next new phase in the silicone rubber jewelry phenomenon, and this time, it has nothing to do with "boobies". (For those of you who are newer to JAK Happenings than last summer, you can read "Wrist vs. Risque" here: http://jakchat.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/wrist-vs-risque/ ) What sat on my counter was the most clever marketing campaign item I've seen come along since the "Livestrong" bracelets: Read more A little red thumb ring, embossed as pictured... [caption id="attachment_170" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="NO TXTING - TXT L8R"] [/caption] According to my now licensed, textaholic, 16 year old daughter, some kid was passing those little gems out at school.  Fashionable?  Well, this mom seems to think so.   I wore it l

You're Grounded!                      I hate disciplining my children.  Unfortunately, we as parents, cannot get away from it.  And the worse thing is, you've got one method that seems to work in modifying or correcting one kid's behavior, that doesn't work for the other. Truly, I believe that there are some kids that are just downright sassy.  It's woven into the fabric of their being. That no matter if you've been consistent in setting the ground rules, redirecting them, time-outs, groundings, and withdrawing privileges and/or possessions, that they resort back to their misbehaving during the disciplining or soon thereafter. Read more... We are all created similarly, yet it's visibly obvious we all have differences: different skin tones, body shapes, hair color, etc.  So, of course, our personalities and behaviors are going to differ as well.   Even within our own family: one kid strongly takes on some of my side of the family's physical traits, while

Mom's the Focus                           I am just going to keep "mum" (well, I'll keep it really short) this week as we focus on the upcoming day of celebrating mom. Over the course of the last few weeks, Just Add Kids has received quite a few entries for our 2nd annual kids coloring contest in celebration of Mother's Day.  Please take this time to check out the portrait gallery here: Color Mom Beautiful If you're featured here, and you are on Facebook , please "tag" yourself.  Better yet, use the portrait as your profile pic.  At least for Mother's Day! Have a beautiful day moms and families! [caption id="attachment_156" align="alignleft" width="144" caption="JAK loves MOMS"] [/caption]