Rexanne's Web Review - Issue#26

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Got soooo much email about my nasty smoking habit. ;-) Your concern for my welfare is touching, my dearest readers. Thank you for caring! Yep, I smoke. Sad, stinky and true. But I will never deny my weaknesses. As Tom Hanks said recently: The only way you can truly control how you're seen is by being honest all the time. Amen, Tom. And so my little naughties will surface in this newsletter from time to time. Try not to hold them against me, please? ;-)

A big thank you to Harrison's Halloween for sponsoring our newsletter. Their costumes are absolutely the cutest! Please visit their site and tell them you found them through Rexanne's Web Review!

Ann sent this in reference to last week's Parenting Topic of the Week on gifted children:

"Back in the recesses of my memory, I recall some learned professor named Renzuli. He was the resident expert on gifted learning/teaching at one of those ivy league schools. His definition of giftedness included ambition. In his teachings, true giftedness was accompanied by dedication and hard work. I'm sure he's passe these days ... experts come and experts go. Nonetheless, he had some pertinent messages. I'm sure ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) lists references to him."

Thank you for bringing Dr. Renzuli to our attention, Ann. He is indeed still active in the field of gifted education. Here is a link to his web site for The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented: NRC G/T

"I am an ex-smoker. I puffed on the things for 37 1/2 years. Finally quit a little over 6 1/2 years ago ... cold turkey. IT CAN BE DONE! Until I actually did it, I wouldn't have believed I could. At the price of cigarettes today, I shudder to think of trying to afford them on my retirement pay. I just pray my fairly good health will continue. YOU CAN DO IT TOO!"

"I know the addiction is AWFUL. I had to be in a hospital for 3 weeks to quit and I still wanted one when I got home. I just couldn't do something on purpose to kill myself after I had escaped death. But, I am SO GLAD I quit. You are tough ... you can get through it. TRY!"

Cyndi asked me to post this page in honor of her sister-in-law, Dottie, who is battling the last stages of ovarian cancer: Dottie's Run

A big reminder to guard our health, get annual check ups and yes ... stop smoking. :-(

"Rexanne, your miracle of a website is perfectly balanced and so wonderfully concocted, I can hardly believe it! You are exactly who I want to be when I grow up. (I am 76 now, so when is that going to be?) I have gone from link to link, loving each one. If I were a young parent, I would count myself lucky indeed to have this guide through all the pitfalls of child rearing. I am certainly going to recommend this site to all my younger acquaintances and they are going to be so grateful that I turned them on to you that they will all send me chocolates!"

Wilma, your email was so sweet and truly made my day. Thank you! I hope you get many boxes of chocolates! :-)

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Quote of the Week: If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life. - James A. Michener

This Week's Web Review is Sponsored By: 101 Road Trip Word Games

Planning a road trip this summer? You need this e-book! Download instantly and be on the road in minutes with 101 great, entertaining word games everyone will love. Makes an ordinary family road trip extraordinarily fun and even educational! No pens, pencils, or paper required...the car games are verbal! This is great to have on hand for bopping around town with the kids, too. Keeps them occupied and interested. Print the car word games every month and store them in the glove box

No more "Are we there yet?!" ;-)

Grandparents can be the best form of super glue, holding our families together, bringing us home for holidays, celebrations and family dinners. If ours has become the family home, a grandparent's visit adds a measure of warmth and love to the festivities. They are the wise, the gentle and the brave. Our children admire and trust them for the grown ups they are, not the parents they once were. If we are lucky enough to have our own grandparents still living, we feel comfort from their presence as surely as we feel comfort from our parent's company. Yes, there are the exceptions ... but I think most grandparents are treasures to adore and cherish.

Grandparents are usually the ones to pass on family traditions, stories and lore ... the link to our heritage. Children are fascinated by stories of their ancestors and tales of their parent's childhood. Grandparents can bring a tremendous amount of stability to their grandchildren with these stories, their loving deeds and kindness.

Subscriber Jan sent a beautiful email a few months back that I've saved for this issue. The thoughts she shared are wonderful. Here's what she had to say about our older family members:

"If you or anyone you know has an elderly parent, the greatest gift in the world is the gift of time. My dad is 86 and last year I was wondering what on earth do you give someone who needs nothing! His birthday is Jan. 31, so I gave him a card with the promise of a Tuesday night date for every week in February. It turned out to be such a winner, he actually asked me to repeat it this year. I picked him up each Tuesday, and we would go to a restaurant of his choice (he's a pretty cheap date!). We would have dinner and I would actually LISTEN to what he had to say. He loved bringing up the ol' memories and I learned so much about his youth, high school days, military days ... sooo many things I learned and chuckled about with him. It was actually a gift to myself. I can't think of one elderly person who wouldn't love the chance to be with their child for an evening of I Remember When."

Thank you Jan! Your email is a tender reminder to make time for our older family members.

Grandparent's Day is being celebrated on September 10 this year in the U.S. It is still a rather obscure Hallmark holiday but one I think is worth celebrating and adding to the calendar. You could make September 10 the beginning of a lovely yearlong tradition. Offer the gift of a weekly/bi-monthly/monthly night with the family whether you go out to your favorite restaurant (or theirs) or have a casual dinner at home. The gift of our company is probably the greatest present we could offer. Bring the kids, make it a family night out!

There are many wonderful web sites for and about grandparents. Here a few good ones I've found:

Link #1 is the official Grandparent's Day web site. This site explains the origins and history of this holiday: Grandparent's Day

Link #2 is a wonderful online magazine for Grandparents. If you aren't yet a grandparent, this would be a nice link to pass on to your parents or grandparents: Grandparents Online

About a month back, our newsletter topic of the week was on step parents. In that newsletter, I made a comment about how horrible it is for grandparents when they are cut off from their grandchildren after the break up of a marriage. Link #3 is one grandmother's expression of gratitude to her former daughter-in-law for allowing her to remain part of her grandson's life: Grandma's Gratitude

There is a growing subculture in our society of grandparents raising grandchildren. The sacrifices these grandparents make are ten times greater than the sacrifice parents make for their children. These grandparents have already raised their own children and are now in a position to have to care for a new generation of young ones. I think they should be applauded for their fortitude and the great love they are showing by caring for a needy child. Link # 4 is to a site devoted to grandparents raising grandchildren: Off our Rockers

And finally, a page of poetry written by grandchildren for their grandparents: Poems

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Rexanne Mancini is the mother of two daughters, Justice and Liberty. She is a novelist, freelance writer and maintains an extensive yet informal parenting and family web site, Rexanne.com – http://www.rexanne.com -Visit her site for good advice, award-winning Internet holiday pages and some humor to help you cope. Subscribe to her free newsletter, Rexanne’s Web Review, for a monthly dose of Rexanne: http://www.rexanne.com/rwr-archives.html

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This article is available for reprint at no charge providing the resource box with the writer's information is included and remains intact.

Have an opinion about this topic or a story to share? Please send it: My Opinion

Granny never had it as good as we do ... microwave ovens, instant broth, canned everything, fast food ... but oh, was their food the best or what?

Granny's Kitchen pays tribute to one woman's extraordinary grandmother and her awesome recipes, but this site is also so much more, offering many other recipes sent in by readers, fast and easy recipes, kitchen hints and tips, free stuff, various free newsletters, chat, etc. A definite bookmark site, you will spend hours exploring Granny's Kitchen!

And ... ta da ... Martha is on a roll ... another new page, this time paying tribute to fall and recipes celebrating the new season. Her latest mega-page is chock full of some of her best finds yet, including a few More than Fivers that will leave you drooling. Don't miss the latest amusement from Queen Can-ivore ... interviews with online celebrities at the bottom of the page, with more on the way. See what these fun personalities eat, cook and think about the state of food and cooking today. (It's pretty wild! Look for my interview coming soon ... ;-)): Fall Catch All

9-year-old Samantha has complied a huge collection of kid's coloring pages to print, all categorized by theme. She has done a wonderful job of organizing these pages for the little ones, with characters such as Arthur, Scooby Doo, Peanuts and more. There are special Disney, Dr. Suess and Rugrats categories plus some other kid-favorite movie character pages.

This would be a great page to pass on to grandparents when the kids are visiting. ;-)

I think we've all tried a myriad of possibilities when it comes to organizing our children's toys, puzzles and games. This week's Tip or Trick will be an assortment of ideas for decluttering the kid's space.

Please send in your favorite tip or trick for keeping their toys and stuff organized for possible publication in next week's newsletter!

1) Cut the picture from a puzzle box. Place it and the puzzle pieces in a zipper baggie. Store all the puzzles together in a large Rubbermaid-type box.

2) When the boxes from board games become too ragged to be useful, place all small pieces in a zipper baggie. Tape this onto the game board along with any game instructions and contain it all in a large Rubbermaid-type storage box. You could get one or two huge storage boxes and keep all games together or store them individually.

3) Barbie madness? Oh ... I can relate! LOL! When your daughter gets a new Barbie, open the box carefully to keep it intact. When the kids are finished playing with it, have them put all the pieces, clothes and accessories back in the same box. (You can put all the small pieces in a zipper baggie). Stack the boxes along a wall or on a shelf for easy availability.

4) Baby wipe boxes work great for storing all those burger toys and small action figures.

5) Leftover Easter baskets make great and attractive catchall containers for kid's toys and treasures. Easy for the smaller ones to toss all their junk into an open, colorful basket, too. This also saves you the space it would take to store those virtually unreusable baskets.

6) Hang sports equipment from hooks on the wall in the kid's rooms. Looks great, the children will love the decor and it's easy to get them to put the stuff away after use.

Be sure to send in your best tip or trick to keep your kid's room tidy and organized (or any other tip or trick you would like to share): Tips

There are more than 500 absolutely free contests at Speedy Click! Playing games is obviously great fun, but how about a chance to cash in at the same time ... cool huh? Have fun, play contests and games for chances to win. This is one very cool site. You can even register for a chance to win $20,000, all free. It's really that simple, enter contests, have fun, win money and prizes.

Here's an information-laden site with everything you could ever hope to find out about your favorite TV shows from the early days. You'll find game show trivia of the 70s, morning shows from the 60s and lost kid shows that are sure to dredge up memories of your youth.

TV Party offers glimpses of bloopers and blunders from various shows and even a Mysteries and Scandals page with plenty of intrigue and information about the darker side of television. Lots of fun, nostalgia and trivia on these pages. Enjoy!

Crabbit Old Woman's life has ended in a nursing home. While the nurse is packing her meager possessions, she finds a poem written to the staff of the hospital by the apparently senile and mindless old lady.

Oh my ... no one could tell the story better than one who has lived it herself. This poem tears my heart out and brings tears to my eyes imagining this lovely woman lying in her lonely bed the last days of her life, remembering what that life was.

Please take the time to read this beautiful poem and reflect on what your life will be like if you should find yourself spending your final days in a sterile institution, cared for by personnel.

This is a good reminder to visit our family members who are confined to nursing and convalescent homes.

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No more "Are we there yet?!" ;-)

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The fine print: This newsletter is copyright - 2000 - in its entirety. Please pass it on, but also please leave it intact. :-) You are receiving this email because you sent a specific message asking to be placed on the mailing list for this newsletter. If you wish to be removed from this list, see the unsubscribe notice above. This is NOT SPAM, nor will you ever see a recipe featuring SPAM in this newsletter! ;-)

I have personally checked out the links provided here but they could possibly lead you to any number of bizarre and/or offensive sites. Surf at your own risk. The DIRECT links on this page are all family friendly unless stated otherwise. While this newsletter is family friendly, it is not necessarily intended to be read by children. Parents should always monitor their children while they are on the Internet.