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Must Know Info for Moms About Air Conditioning

Tara — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 11:55:46 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to talk with some people from a local area air conditioning company about information that could really be useful to those of us in the Valley of the Sun as we begin our triple digits temperature days ahead. As moms, we are expected to know everything anyway, so I thought I would help out my fellow Mom peeps by including the information I received.

With the spring weather treating us so well this year, most of us have not had to rely on our A/C systems yet. What most do not realize is that 60% of utility bills usually consist of the cost of your A/C running and that if your bill jumps up over 25% in cost, there is a good chance that something isn’t working correctly.

Here is what to look for at the beginning of this summer season to see if you may need a repair on your A/C unit to prevent you and your family from being out of cool air during the hot months.

1. If the lights in your home dim or change when you turn the A/C on.

2. If there are whistling noises (common with A/C units that are outside).

3. If you haven’t had a tune up in over a year.

4. If it’s humid or feels different inside your home.

5. If it takes a while for the A/C to kick in.

Here are some tips on saving money when the A/C bills begin to rise due to the summer heat:

• If the A/C is making noises, the air filter may need to be changed due to air restriction.

• Make sure not to turn your A/C on and off when leaving your home. This requires the system to use more energy to try to cool down not only the air, but all of your items that have also heated up while the A/C was off. Items can reach over 100 degrees when sitting in a home with the AC turned off. Ideally, you should keep you’re A/C at 74 degrees while you are home and 84 when you leave.

• An A/C filter should be changed every 30 days (standard) or 90 days (pleated).

• Having proper insulation and ventilation in your attic is also a great way to save on energy.

o Heat flows naturally from a warm place to a cooler space. In the winter, heated air will try to flow to an unheated garage, basement or attic. Conversely, in warm months, heat will try to flow from the outdoors into the cool interior of the home. The majority of this heat transfer in homes takes place in the attic.

o It’s the role of insulation to prevent this unwanted circulation throughout your home. Combined with proper ventilation and a radiant barrier, proper insulation helps your home maintain a comfortable, uniform temperature throughout the year with significantly less use of heating and cooling systems. As a bonus, insulation can also act as a sound absorber, to help make your home quieter.

“It’s important that people regularly have a professional come and check their A/C units to make sure that everything is working properly,” said David Dami, Goettl general sales manager. “A problem that could be easy to fix initially but is put off for too long can become a very expensive and time consuming problem.”

My conversation was with a representative from Goettl Air Conditioning. If you want to learn more about Goettl Air Conditioning please check out their website at http://www.goettl.com.

I hope you find this information helpful and if you have any tips you can offer our moms and families on keeping cool this summer – please leave a comment!

All I want is Wisdom on My Son’s Front Teeth

Tara — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:02:25 +0000

I have many thoughts these days I would like to share but none more pressing like that of my son’s two loose front teeth. My son is proudly 5 ½ as he will tell any stranger passing by and I had not given one thought to my boy losing any of his teeth until he recently went to his pediatric dentist appointment. The hygienist exclaimed how he had two loose teeth.

Not My Son - But Soon

I am not sure who was more stunned at the news of loose teeth, me or my son. So of course, that is ALL he can think about. I checked the teeth she said were loose and by my definition they were not loose. I mean, when I think loose I think you can wiggle with it your tongue loose. At any rate, I then ended up having a conversation my mom about his tooth at which point she says, “So, have you or (my husband) decided who will be pulling the teeth?” Horror struck me as I had never thought of that either.

Then my in-laws asked, “Well, have you decided how MUCH the Tooth Fairy will leave for his teeth yet?” (sigh) NO, I had not thought of that either. It seems to me that we just had a nice period of time where I was no longer worried about getting those suckers IN. My baby’s first 3 years it seems all he did was teeth. Now I have to go through a whole new process of getting them out. I really don’t know if I can handle it if it goes ANYTHING like when the teeth came in.

I think when children have it as rough as my child did getting teeth in, it should be mandatory for the child AND the mom to get drugs to help with the pain; the child’s pain from the teething and the mom’s pain from hearing about how bad it is. I truly think terrorists could not hold any secrets if only exposed to a child who is constantly teething and angry, sad, weeping, irritable,wants to be held but then seems to be too touchy to be held, hungry yet can’t eat and the loose poops.

I say all this with much love for my child and I know a lot of women who don’t know what I am talking about. I am sure a lot of people reading will say, “Why didn’t she give her child Tylenol or Ibuprofen for the pain.” Well, you see it seemed almost daily for close to three years my child had a varying degree of discomfort from teething. I went to doctors, asked friends, asked seasoned moms, read books and when all else failed even asked my therapist. I tried it all and it all helps, if only for brief heavenly moments at a time. I would feel badly for giving my child so much medicine and I would try natural and holistic remedies only to try something different when that stopped working for whatever reason.

So my point to all of this is – I have to lose these precious teeth now!! I REALLY hope losing teeth is a much better adventure than getting them to come in is. There were no films dedicated to teething when I was experiencing that fun. There is a new movie coming out called the Tooth Fairy with (as I will continue to call him) The Rock. I am not sure yet if it is appropriate for my son to see it but it sure has come at a good time if he does. Now I find a video online where someone has a new take on the whole pulling the tooth idea. I am not sure that we will be trying it but it sure is a good idea. (NOTE: I watched it with the sound off) The little girl in the video seems ok with the result so at least if I am desperate I know what I can try.

If any of you have any advice for this time in mine and my son’s life I will gladly receive it. If you have a list of things I should NOT do, I will gladly listen. If you can send good thoughts and prayers my way – I will appreciate it. I am now going to go see if the teeth will wiggle any more and ask my husband when he plans to pull the tooth. ;)

Happy Stressful Days Ahead

Tara — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:37:31 +0000

The theme this month all throughout the MomsZone.org site as well as throughout my mom friends is the craziness this time of year brings. It seems to me this year more people are acknowledging it than ever before. Isn’t that the first step to getting help?

No doubt as a mom every day has a certain amount of stress. No matter the age of the children, you worry and fret over their schedule and if they have what they need both physically and emotionally. Then, the holidays come along and it doesn’t matter what your religion or holiday traditions are, they all involve stress.

I don’t handle stress particularly well. I admit it. Here I will admit it, not at home in front of my husband but you are all my friends. Here’s the thing. I don’t see where it benefits me or the person I am shopping for to go from shop to shop or website to website fretting over what to get someone and how much to spend and the message it sends and how to wrap it or get it to them when they will get it and most likely be disappointed, want to return it or re-gift it. Seems like a lot of wasted time on both parts.

In the past I have depended on gift cards to lighten my load and conscience and thought that at least a gift card to someplace I know the person shops or dines would show my thoughtfulness while keeping me from losing my mind over the wrapping issue. By the way, the only wrapping I ever do is rap and that isn’t good either.

Now I am told that those gift cards have fees and that they too are considered inconsiderate and a last minute gift. Well, I say we all blame the recession on all things holiday related and just go back to giving our hearts and well meaning cards to each other. Save money, save time and save guilt. I really don’t NEED anything and what I want I probably won’t share with anyone because it is too expensive for anyone to get me. I would LOVE to get a card that said what a great friend I am or what a great mom or wife I am. Really, when do we as moms or wives ever get acknowledged and appreciated?

I am trying to simplify my life and by taking whatever measure I can to de-stress the holidays I will. Sharon Silver suggested at the Moms Night Out event at Changing Hands Bookstore this month that planning ahead and getting things done early will help with stress because you’re not trying to get it all done in a short time frame. This also helps our children who seem to need even more of our undivided attention at this time of year when they ask if we will play with them. You’re much more likely to take a few minutes to play with them when they ask if you aren’t beating a deadline. I will try that as well.

I wish that when people said, “Remember the reason for the season.” They meant it and didn’t run around all frantic. I hope that as you read this if you have a great way to de-stress the holidays you will share them in the comments. I will give the person with the best suggestion a prize in January.

Getting Over My First Weeks of Kindergarten

Tara — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:31:26 +0000

My son started kindergarten this year. I hesitated as he is a young 5 going in to the class. We had been told just after he was born that because of his birth date and the fact he was a boy that we may need to consider waiting until he was 6 to have him begin kindergarten.

I struggled for what seemed like months to decide what was best for him. Academically I felt he was ready for kindergarten but socially I wasn’t sure. Would he be able to sit still and quiet to listen to the teacher? Would he be able to keep up with a lot of 6 year olds in his class? I wasn’t sure. I asked his pre- k teacher and after much discussion it was her opinion he would be ready for the challenges of kindergarten.

We prepared my son all summer long for the first day of kindergarten and yet, I was the one who was most nervous and worried. They began class with parents helping with a project. It was a Kissing Hand based on the book. The students made one for themselves and one for the parents. As it turns out, I really needed that kissing hand!

The Kissing Hand

My son’s first week was rife with every worry I had imagined being played out daily. He didn’t eat one day, he got hit one day, he was lost one day when I went to pick him up, he was made fun of by his peers one day and yada yada yada. You get the picture. Yet, my son, the young five year old managed to get through all of the problems and WANT to go back to school. In fact, he has been thriving! Being he is a nervous type, I was on the lookout for his teeth grinding, nail biting, nightmares and other general signs of tension from the rigors of school life. He had none of those. I on the other hand had all of that and then some.

I was beginning to be awakened to an idea when one day we decided to try swim lessons again with a friend of ours. I began the lesson determined I would stay on the sideline and watch. After a few moments of my son acting up, I was getting very uncomfortable about being out there. I decided to try going inside where I wouldn’t be a distraction. Sure enough, he had a great lesson. Every lesson after that, I stayed away and he had a great class.

I believe that as hard as it has been for me recently to witness how mature and capable he really is, it is just as important that I step out of the way and allow it to happen. If I were making the decisions I would have never guessed he would be doing so well in class. I would have held him back needlessly.

I know I am not the only mom who has had these feelings and I would like to say to those who will be looking for direction next year with their children, give your children the chance to prove themselves. Volunteering in school, if you can, helps a lot as well. I have felt so much better now that I volunteer because I see for myself what a big boy he really is and that he doesn’t need me so much. On that note, I am going to go find my Kissing Hand and laminate it

The Comedy in Parenthood

Tara — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:16:19 +0000

It isn’t cheap entertainment but raising a child is definitely entertaining. My son is about to celebrate his fifth birthday and it seems he is more fun every day. The things he says and the interpretive dance moves he creates leave me in stitches most days.

Don’t get me wrong. He can still be handful and we still have our difficult days but there seems to be a real fun atmosphere at times that I have to admit, prior to about 9 months ago I didn’t think I would see. It seemed I was forever disciplining and correcting and trying to remember to say, “Let’s try this instead”, when what I wanted to say was, “Cut that mess out!”. All the times I had to stay strong and not give in when I really just wanted to give in has now shown me that it was worth it.

Sometimes the comedy is in what our children bring right to our face. There has never been a truer mirror than a child. Have an annoying habit? Your child will exhibit it ten times worse than how annoying you are. Think you’re funny? Your child will tell you exactly what they think of your humor.

My son has begun karate class. A class of about 9 children aged between 4 and 6 is true entertainment. I am so impressed with the teacher and how she is able to get them to focus and follow direction. Still, we are talking about 4, 5 and 6 years olds. In the middle of stretch time children just begin telling the class what seems important to them. “Sensei, yeah, um..(long pause)..I uh, tooted in class today.” “Yeah, I almost fro’d up.”

The relay races are fun too as each child has their own interpretation of the rules. My own son who takes directions very literally did not see the problem with running WITH the other team mate while performing the baton race.

I had an appointment one day that left me with a bit of time before I needed to pick up my son. I thought I would sneek a peek in his class to see how he was doing. I didn’t realize they would be having snack and he would be right by window. Busted! So I went with it. That was the best time I have ever spent. A group of preschoolers sitting around the table eating their snack discussing what is better, peanut butter and crackers, cheese and crackers or just plain crackers. It was a really good discussion. Good points made by all sides. No Jerry Springer heated arguments over whose favorite snack was not the best. I was not only impressed but taken away at how cute it is to listen to how they view what makes a great snack.

Everything about parenthood is not funny. Most days aren’t fun. The days that are treat them as preciously as the fleeting time we have with our children because one day they will leave and the fun will be over.

My Zing Zang Zoom of a Time!

Tara — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:41:11 +0000

Wow! I cannot wait for you to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus! Family entertainment doesn’t come any better than this!

My experience began with the 1 hour All Access pre-show. It is truly ALL ACCESS. You and your family can roam the very floor that the performers will be and check out costumes that you can try on and take your pictures in. You can walk over to see the Clown College or see several performers giving a mini show to everyone. Our favorite part was the clown lady with the wings who handed out clown noses and took pictures with all of the children! A close second to our favorite part was when they brought a couple of the elephants out where we were so close to them we could almost touch them!

We quickly made it back to our seats so we could see the show begin and the music, lights, live band and colors were so wonderful everyone, including the teenagers sitting beside us, was grooving and on the edge of our seats! There really aren’t enough words to describe everything as there was so much to see. I want to go see it again so that I can make sure I didn’t miss anything and so I can figure out how they defied gravity (two clowns stood UPSIDE DOWN while doing their routine) and the magic tricks that just can’t be explained.

The animals were so fun to watch. The horses are regal and the zebras were fun to watch. The dogs were just too funny and too cute! The elephants are just amazing. The tigers were impressive to watch. My son enjoyed them the best. I think it may be he can identify with them as they seemed to have the same attitude as he does when I ask him to do something. While each tiger did amazing tricks, each one seemed to have a bit of an attitude about it. The latin trainer made mention that they were like his wife, they didn’t listen

The beauty will astound you, the music will move you and the constant amazing feats of magic and human mastery of defying gravity will keep you on the edge of your seats! There has not been any other entertainment I have taken my family to that has been as entertaining or provided the good clean fun this has.

Your family will make memories that will last a lifetime. Be sure to get there early!

My Figidaire Experience

Tara — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:10:51 +0000

I am happy to announce that coming soon I will be reporting to you my experience with a new Dishwasher from Frigidaire and if it truly offers what it claims it can.

As you may know, this month Frigidaire rolls out a brilliant new collection with more than 250 kitchen and laundry appliances. They designed these high-performance products with easy-to-use, time-saving features to give Moms more free time away from the kitchen and laundry room.

Frigidaire recently conducted a survey to get a window into moms’ lives. The Frigidaire Motherload Index revealed that Moms log more overtime than most Americans. That is little news to us moms! The index found that moms spend most of their waking lives – 200 hours each month, in fact – doing the activities we least enjoy rather than the things we love. Again, I think all us moms can yell a big Amen to that! Yet the majority of us say we “rarely” or “never” feel caught up on our household tasks. Frigidaire kept all of this in mind when designing their new appliances. With new features such as a six-minute PowerPlus™ preheat time on their ovens, a Quick Clean dishwashing cycle that cuts the time it takes in half to clean our dishes, the Fits-More™ Dryer that allows us to dry the whole family’s clothes at once, and TimeWise™ technology to make the dryer and washing cycle equal, we can have enough time to watch our favorite shows—or even better—get a manicure!

What I love most is the guarantee that comes with these appliances. Frigidaire has so much confidence in the efficiency of these products that they are offering a “More Me-Time” Guarantee: Moms will reduce the amount of time they typically spend on housework by at least 8 hours a month using a combination of three or more select Frigidaire appliances or they can return the appliances to their place of purchase within 30 days and get their money back! Frigidaire also wants to know what you would do if you had an extra hour of blissful “me-time”. Starting today, moms can go to http://www.frigidaire.com/ to report the five things they would do with an extra hour each day. All participants will be entered for a chance to win an entire suite of NEW Frigidaire appliances. Plus, check out other prizes you can win – like a gorgeous new Frigidaire Affinity washer/dryer.

I will only be testing the new dishwasher out but I am so excited that I may need to start saving up for the whole collection! 8 hours or more a month! I could blog more!

Frigidaire Collection Kitchen

Elmo’s Green Thumb

Tara — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:42:17 +0000

I was asked to cover the Sesame Street Live’s Elmo’s Green Thumb performance now showing at the Dodge theater at last night’s opening night show. Having a 4 year old, they didn’t have to break my arm to get to go. Actually, having grown up on Sesame Street I wanted to catch up with my old friends Elmo, Bert and Ernie.

The whole Sesame Street gang was there last night. The first thing I noticed as soon as we sat down was that the stage was SO BEAUTIFULLY set! The colors blew me away. Bright colors without it being overwhelming or distracting. I had been to the Dodge Theater but it had been quite some time. The way the seats are set up for this show there really isn’t a bad seat to be had.

The show began and aside from the music numbers being really too loud over the speakers, it was great fun throughout the show. The music numbers incorporated all genres of music. One number was curiously a lot like a High School Musical number. I was thinking it when my 4 year old turned to me and said, “Momma, this reminds me of High School Musical.” There was dancing and rapping and just plain fun music. What would a Sesame Street performance be without the theme song, “Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street” played at least once!

The high energy and music along with the whole Seasame Street gang explaining how Sunny, the sunflower plant that Elmo has grown (literally) to love, needs certain things to help him grow big and tall. They go through all of nature and how we can take better care of the environment. Teaching love along the way, I was impressed at the amount of information given while keeping it on a child’s attention span.

After a 15 minute intermission, the show picked back up and it was even more high energy, upbeat music and the only way that stage could have been prettier was with lights and they did that too. If you have been on the fence about whether or not to take your children to see the Sesame Street Live performance of Elmo’s Green Thumb, I can tell you every child that left last night was very happy and they were all talking about their favorite part of the show. For fun family entertainment at a reasonable price, you really can’t beat this show if you have young children.

Don’t forget to use the code: MOMZONE if you plan to order online tickets http://promo.livenation.com/green/or if you go to the box office to buy your tickets to receive $3 off each ticket purchased. Have fun!

Distraction

Tara — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:39:36 +0000

I read a report recently about a “famous” study performed in the late ’60s. The report was the conclusion based on an experiment with young children ages 3-5. The researchers would go into the room where the children were (one child at a time) and while placing 5 M&M’s in a plate, tell the children they CANNOT eat the M&M’s until they come back in the room. The reward given to the children who waited twelve minutes was 4 more M&M’s.

I cannot remember exactly how many children they performed this experiment with but I do recall them saying while most of the children could not wait, there were quite a few who did! The study’s purpose was to see what it was the children employed as techniques to help them not eat the forbidden treat.

The conclusion? Distraction. The children who could wait had been taught either by their parents or a caregiver the technique of distraction. I believe it said most of the children who could wait had been from larger families and therefore may have learned this as a result of having to wait on their siblings for various activities. I’m imagining using the bathroom being number one and possibly getting the food passed around being another.

I can truthfully say I would need much more than the promise of 4 M&M’s to keep me from eating the treats in front of me. If they performed this experiment during a certain time of the month, the researcher would be doing well to leave the bag of M&M’s and make no sudden moves before leaving me alone in the room with my chocolate.

I wanted to share this “report” with you for two reasons. My first reason being that I was shocked any living creature could actually resist the chocolatey goodness of M&M’s. The second being that distraction may be a tool we can give our children to use when they need it. I think I would encourage my child to negotiate for more M&M’s but if he could learn how to self-discipline himself in such a way, this could be a good thing. Right?

Welcome to My World!

Tara — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:31:27 +0000

Welcome to My World!

Hello Mom’s Zone readers! I am very happy to begin my blogging journey with you. My name is Tara and I will be bringing you a mix of observations of my life as a mom here in Phoenix as well as reviews of area events, products and services that will be of interest to other moms and families in the great state of Arizona.

You may be interested to know a bit about me. I was born and raised in Georgia where my very noticeable accent was honed. My husband and I moved to Phoenix several years before starting a family. I currently work for www.MomsZone.org and am proud to be a part of this company’s ties to the community. I now have a sweet 4 year old little boy who, although he has never had a Red Bull, most days acts as though he had. I have a cat and a dog and 2 fish. I have a very messy house and most days a happy household despite that fact.

I love Arizona and would not trade my life with anyone even if I do crab at times about the heat, my husband becoming slower than my grandfather on a daily basis and my son quickly getting smarter than me. I have no words of wisdom and I am not eloquent like our great blogger Sara ( http://momszone.org/blog_talk/). I am not an expert in any area like our bloggers Blythe ( http://momszone.org/baby_expert/), Michelle and Maria ( http://momszone.org/blog_mothers_moods/) or Laura ( http://momszone.org/blog_power/). What I do have is a keen sense of observation and what I have been told is a good sense of humor. Most everyone I know, at one time or another, has said I make them laugh. I would love to make you laugh as well.

I hope you will join me on my journey of the day to day.