Protecting Kids From the Internet

Do you ever wish you could “un-see” something? Maybe you’ve driven by a violent car accident and glanced over, catching a horrid vision that you now can’t get rid of. Sometimes you see it in your sleep, sometimes when you are awake. It has affected you.

We protect our kids from violent and racy movies when they are young for a reason: we know those visions will stick with them and sometimes even give them nightmares. (who wants to be up in the middle of the night soothing a freaked-out kid?!) So why do we think that letting our kids have unlimited access to the Internet, via personal computer, laptop, iPad, tablet or phones, is a good idea?

You might know that my husband finally agreed to let us get Internet access in our home. Of course, we are worried about things our kids might see when they are on normal sights like YouTube or when they do a Google image search of something as innocent as, say, “cats.” My laptop is the only computer with Internet access, and it has my own password on it. My kids have to ask to use it, and I try to only agree when I will be around them to check in.

But, having 5 kids and homeschooling, I often get busy and am taken to other parts of the house (to wipe butts or take my hourly bubble bath … ha!). I want to know that my young kids are not seeing violent images or naked ladies in precarious positions while I step away.

That’s where eHomeShield comes in. It’s a new Internet monitoring product that I personally know is HALF the cost of some other software out there. It analyzes content, blocks potentially naughty sites and is only a few bucks a month. (but of course if you deem something blocked as fine, you just type in your own little password and BAM, you are good to go, for that site anyway). And for you non-techies like me, it’s easy to set up AND it covers all devices with Internet in your home.

Check them out here at their helpful website for even more great reasons to get this product for your own home. They are now raising money in a campaign on a Crowdfunding site called Indiegogo, and they would appreciate your support there to help get their product out and to get the word out about what they offer.

Saving My Family Money ... or Not (Be Mindful!)

Okay, so I have a ton of giveaways coming up Wednesday, so this will be the last post written all about moi for a couple of days before you have to get busy entering giveaways for awesome stuff like a $300 American Girl Doll gift card, a $115 Hyland's starter kit, a Gotz Doll and a SURFACE PRO computer! These all hit on May 1, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!

So for today enjoy the non-musical stylings of some stuff I save bank on (and what I used to spend when I was not saving money):

I used to spend $4 for a box of 5 packages of 2-point Weight Watchers chocolate drizzled crisps. I found these at Aldi ... 6 packages in a box for also 2 points and only $2.

At gymnastics they have a Naughty Vending Machine. Sometimes when I am being lazy and think I am rich, I will give each kid a dollar to buy something like these below. Actually, EXACTLY these. So I would spend $5 for 5 of these. At Aldi, I spent $1.19 for a box of 6.

Sometimes my quick breakfast is an Aldi Fit and Active protein meal bar. The chocolate peanut butter ones taste like a Whatchamacalit bar! They go for about 66 cents a bar, which is not cheap, but if you pair it with a piece of fruit it makes for a decent breakfast.

What do you save money on? I don't save money enough. Sometimes I'll pay $9 for 6 corn dogs at Sonic when I could have Joel run into the store and pick up like 4 TIMES that for the same price! And then I wonder why we don't have any money despite my husband's decent salary! I have to really think before I spend!

My 6th Child ...

Okay, so in the summer of 2011 I posted about Toshiba, my 6th child. (Jeez, you guys always think I'm knocked up when I post about my dog or my computer!)

I would like to update you on Toshiba's formative years:

1. Unfortunately, I did not put the lock on the brakes of her stroller and she rolled in a lake at a park in Lenexa, Kansas in October of 2012. She was taken to the computer doctor, my husband, and was fixed pretty quickly. WHEW!
2. A short time later, though, her brother Joel was getting frustrated with her Internet connection speed and took a fist to her keyboard area, damaging her hard drive. She was in a coma for many months.
3. Just about a month ago, her hard drive was replaced  by my husband the GENIUS, and she is working very well. She helps me make money doing proofreading and writing jobs at Fiverr.com as writerkerrie, write articles, send inspirational emails to friends and screw around on Facebook.
4. We like to make sure she is unplugged from the wall a few hours a day so she won't be too dependent on electricity.
5. Two little paper Pikachus, made by her brothers, guard her screen.
6. She is a hard working laptop and I am grateful for her!
7. If you want to know more, just wait for the family Christmas letter, where I will go into pages of detail about her latest exploits!

Mompetition (and Examples)

Don't you love mompetition [competition between moms]? I've never really been competitive; maybe it's the Only Child thing. I just don't really care what other people are doing and don't have the desire to one-up them.

You know when you're dealing with one of these. They ask you a lot of questions about your life. Not normal questions in a normal manner, but lots of POKING questions, trying to find your weak spots, where can they be BETTER than you?

Here are some examples of mompetition:

"My kid is only 12 and is almost an Eagle Scout." [for those of you non-Scouters, an Eagle Scout rank is HARD to get, takes a while, involves a major service project and is usually earned by an 18th birthday.]

"Yeah, we homeschool using XYZ curriculum, which costs $2,000 per year per kid, and we homeschool for about 8 hours a day. We're on track for Harvard." [WTH? Just put the kids in private school for the same price and go run a small country or something, lady!]

"In the last school fundraiser, we my kid sold $10,000 of wrapping paper and $5,000 of cookies to the diabetic lady down the road ALONE. All together we sold half a mil and SAVED this damn school."

"Yeah, I think we're just going to learn 3 foreign languages this year."

"Wow, you really need a gray hair touch-up! When I get wrinkles like yours I am SO going for Botox. And are your boobs SUPPOSED to hang like that? I'm getting a reconstruction when I can save up." [yes, mompetition is also mom-to-mom combat, not just pitting kids against kids]

"Shoot, I have to go. It's time for 2-year-old Mitzy to go to her gymnastics competition, 5-year-old MooMoo to go to National Cheer Competition and 7-year-old Mark to go to his National LEGO Robotics competition." [it's not all the activities here that bother me; it's the ages of the kids! start 'em early!]

Folks, I'm just happy being me. Maybe that's because I'm almost 42 and I've lived long enough to know what's important and realize it has nothing to do with how much stuff my kid sells, whether or not my kid gets into Yale, how much I weigh, how few wrinkles I have or what I do for work or fun.

Library Collection Agencies and My Multiple Library Credit Cards

I have a problem. I need to attend BLA meetings. That would be the non-existent Book-Lovers Anonymous meetings. I have library cards for myself and my children. When one gets a fine, I just switch to another card. Library cards are like book and DVD credit cards in my world. My husband says when a child is born to me, I get it a Social Security Card and a library card.

The morning of Callie's First Communion I went to pick up Joel at a campout. While I was gone, a COLLECTION AGENCY called and explained to my husband how I have some crazy fines on one of my library credit cards. [When did this turn into a confessional blog? Oh, yeah, when it first started.]

Notice the variety of books in my picture. Some are for article research. Some are for OCD research for one of my sons. I have homeschooling books and writing books. And a book that I think I would love but am afraid I won't get to while I have kids in the house because I have the attention span of a gnat currently: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. I think it will rock. I also think it's a hard one to read with kids yelling all around you, and my precious Quiet Time is reserved for writing for dinero.

Other fines are from me being a Pushover Mommy and letting my kids check out too many DVDs which we will never watch. Then they get lost. Then the dog eats them. Then Library Guido comes to my door. Currently we have a REALLY high fine, another one with fines and then there is the third card I cling to with my life.

I'm eyeing my daughters, who are 5 and 8. I think they each need a library card.

I obviously have a problem.