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Stuck in traffic

Katie — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:39:08 +0000

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Your Toddlers Milestones in a Checklist

Katie — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:22:50 +0000

Ever wonder if your toddler is developing on time, or worry if there is something wrong. I’m posting a toddler checklist that will help you to understand what your toddler is learning. As well as what the time frame is that he or she should be learning it in. If your little one is behind in one or two things don’t worry every child is different, but if your little one is behind in most areas or you notice a pattern with a certain area of development that they seem to be behind in. Then you will probably want to talk to your pediatrician about it. Now before you dive into the checklist, you might want to understand the fields. Fine Motor Skills is the use of small muscles like the fingers for picking things up or feeding oneself. Gross Motor Skills is the use of large muscles like your arms, or legs for climbing, running, or crawling. Language Development falls into two categories; expression which is the ability to speak language, and comprehension which is the ability to understand language. Last is Social/Intellectual Skills which is how your toddler adapts and figures out the world around himself/herself. Now as promissed here is the checklist. (click more below)

7 to 12 months

Bangs objects together – Fine Motor Skills
Walks holing onto furniture – Gross Motor Skills
Plays pat a cake or “high fives – Social Development Skills

9 to 14 months

Pinching grasp (two fingers) – Fine Motor Skills
Sands alone briefly - Gross Motor Skills
Stands alone - Gross Motor Skills
Says mama and dada and means it – Language/Expression Skills
Can shake head to say “no” - Social Development Skills
Plays ball with someone - Social Development Skills

10 to 15 months

Drinks from a cup - Fine Motor Skills
Puts block in cup - Fine Motor Skills
Scribbles - Fine Motor Skills
Walks alone - Gross Motor Skills
Indicates wants by pointing or grunts - Language/Expression Skills
Says three words besides mama/dada - Language/Expression Skills

12 to 24 months

Follows simple directions - Language/Comprehension Skills
Finds a hidden item that toddler watched move - Social Development Skills

13 to 20 months

Uses spoon or fork correctly - Fine Motor Skills
makes tower of two blocks - Fine Motor Skills
Runs - Gross Motor Skills
Says six words besides mama/dada - Language/Expression Skills

16 to 24 months

Makes tower of four blocks – Fine Motor Skills
Kicks Ball - Gross Motor Skills
Follows two part instructions - Language/Comprehension Skills
Points to pictures when named - Language/Comprehension Skills
knows six body parts - Language/Comprehension Skills

19 to 2.75 years old

Makes tower of six cubes - Fine Motor Skills
Throws ball overhand - Gross Motor Skills
Jumps - Gross Motor Skills
Speaks two word sentences - Language/Expression Skills
Brushes teeth with help - Social Development Skills
Washes and dries hands - Social Development Skills

2 years to 3 years old

Makes a tower of eight blocks - Fine Motor Skills
Wiggles thumb - Fine Motor Skills
Balances on each foot for a brief second - Gross Motor Skills
Speech half understandable to strangers – Language/Speech Skills
Plays next to another child - Social Development Skills
Puts on a t-shirt - Social Development Skills
Names a friend - Social Development Skills
Recognizes a color - Social Development Skills

3 years to 4 years old

Can copy a circle drawing - Fine Motor Skills
Can draw a person with three body parts - Fine Motor Skills
Can copy a cross drawing - Fine Motor Skills
Walk up stairs alternating feet - Gross Motor Skills
Rides tricycle - Gross Motor Skills
Hops - Gross Motor Skills
Balances on each foot for a few seconds - Gross Motor Skills
Understands in, on, under - Language/Comprehension Skills
Recognizes some letters of alphabet - Language/Comprehension Skills
Speaks three to four word sentences - Language/Expression Skills
Has vocabulary of 500-1000 words - Language/Expression Skills
Uses I, we, and you correctly - Language/Expression Skills
Can say name, age, sex - Language/Expression Skills
Speaks four to five word sentences - Language/Expression Skills
Speech all understandable to strangers - Language/Speech Skills
Normal dysfluency (stuttering) - Language/Speech Skills
Understands taking turns - Social Development Skills
Gets dressed without help - Social Development Skills
Counts one block - Social Development Skills
Can tell which line is longer - Social Development Skills
Recognizes four colors - Social Development Skills
Prepares cereal - Social Development Skills
Plays with another child - Social Development Skills

4 years to 5 years old

Can copy a square drawing - Fine Motor Skills
Can draw a person with six body parts - Fine Motor Skills
Writes name - Fine Motor Skills
Skips - Gross Motor Skills
Counts five blocks - Social Development Skills
Counts to ten - Social Development Skills

6 years to 7 years old

Rides bike without training wheels - Gross Motor Skills

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8 sheet crosscut shredder with pull out basket

Katie — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:38:08 +0000

I would have to give this shredder 2 out of 5 stars. It was a nice enough shredder. It did what I needed it too. It shreds 8 sheets at a time as well as cards. I thought it would handle my needs which was basically just shredding mail, that I didn’t want anyone getting a hold of. I don’t shred that often so I thought a cheap shredder would work for me. Apparently I was wrong. Although I bought it about 2 years ago, I have only used it probably 20-30 times. It easily gets fills up and gets jammed. Then it just stopped turning on. I’m not sure why. Maybe I just got one that broke down and was a fluke. . . I don’t know. I wouldn’t suggest this product unless you are tight on cash and even then there are cheaper ones. If you are still thinking about buying it though, please use our link that I posted. We get a small percentage from them and we use that money to keep up this website. Thank you

BUY NOW: Aurora AS890C 8-Sheet Cross-Cut Paper/Credit Card Shredder with Basket

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Confused

Katie — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:05:17 +0000

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Want To Stay Safe On The Web? Stop Looking For Free Stuff

James — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:54:43 +0000

This is a great article that highlights a topic I’ve brought up many times. If it is free, the company that is putting it out is still making something from it. There is nothing completely free on the internet. Some companies just want simple, non-descriptive usage and statistics from you… but many want something much more serious. This more serious intrusion into your computer is where malware and spyware come in, so if you are looking for free stuff, especially if you don’t know the product or its reputation, it is likely you are going to infect your PC with something. Avoid products out there that are free for something “cool” or kind of pointless but “neat”. These are almost always packed with spyware. Also, avoid products that aren’t trying to sell you something but offer a great very useful thing. Ask yourself, if they aren’t asking me for any money then how are they running this crazy nice website? Usually a website that is offering a great product for free will post a link for donations or have a slightly less appealing website. If this isn’t the case, be very careful. There are exceptions to the rule, but usually those companies want statistics from you… these often aren’t intrusive, but they are making something from you. Always avoid toolbars, because these are almost always bad. Like I said, there are always exceptions though… but their names are very well known or they are begging for donations. Just to name a couple… Spybot: Search and Destroy and Microsoft Security Essentials… I’ll highlight these in future articles, but everyone should have these installed… especially if you are trying to use McAfee or Norton (Symantec) and think your system is protected… uninstall and stop paying for that crap and go get Security Essentials (for free) from Microsoft. I’ll talk more about this product later… but I highly suggest it. Anyway, that is just my two cents… Click more for the article.

The advent of the Internet has gradually made a lot of things free, as in beer or otherwise. And people love free stuff, so unsurprisingly many turn to search sites to scour the Web for free music, movies, software and other digital media.

Which in turn significantly increases the risk of landing on websites filled with malicious links, code, ads and video viewing tools, security software maker McAfee now reports.

In said report, company researchers outlined several threats, including the threat of looking for “free” software, MP3s and streaming videos. The research found that adding the word “free” to a search for music ringtones, for example, resulted in a 300 percent increase in the riskiness of sites returned by major search engines in English.

The word “free” in other languages yielded similar results.

McAfee also reports that it has found thousands of malicious websites associated with fan clubs or comments made on social media sites, such as YouTube and Twitter.

Malicious advertising or “malvertising,” where an ad is used to distribute malware or exploit the user’s browser, is a common means of infection and not limited to unknown websites, McAfee warns. The company says that it identified “malvertising” on perezhilton.com earlier this Summer, and lots of other legitimate websites have shared that pain in the past (us included).

In short: a lot of free content is available on the Web, but that doesn’t mean it always comes without cost. Browse vigilantly. And please stop searching for pictures of Cameron Diaz.

But don’t forget to click our ads regardless – I’m told they’re perfectly safe.

via Want To Stay Safe On The Web? Stop Looking For Free Stuff | TechCrunch.

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Malicious Script Hidden in Graphic

James — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:30:53 +0000

The Microsoft Malware Protection Center has identified a clever new malware obfuscation technique which they have observed circulating on variant nearby and click it for a larger version) contains instructions to the user to open it in Paint and save it with a .HTA extension.

This makes it a HTML application, a browser-based program that can be run from the command line. Dump the file out, as they did in the Microsoft article linked to above, and you’ll see that there’s JavaScript at the end of it. The HTA parser bypasses all the graphic data at the beginning and runs the script at the end. This particular script repackages itself and reposts it to 4chan, defeating the CAPTCHA.

The important point to take away from this is that HTA files are programs, just like EXEs and can do dangerous things.

Microsoft detects the threat as Trojan:JS/Chafpin.gen!A.

via Malicious Script Hidden in Graphic.

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Free Summarizer, an online automatic tool to summarize any text or article

James — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:59:17 +0000

This is brilliant! Very helpful if you need to send a short summary of something very long, with little time to read it over. Man, this is going to same me a whole lot of time… serious.

Free Summarizer: http://freesummarizer.com/
Summarize any text online in just a few seconds.

via Free Summarizer, an online automatic tool to summarize any text or article.

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In praise of Stay-at-home Moms

Katie — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:54:17 +0000

This book is great. It really built me up when I started staying home with my children. Even with all the work I did cleaning the home, taking care of the kids needs, and tending to daily life. . . I still felt under appreciated, useless, worthless, not respected, and crappy when someone says “oohh so you dont work” or “so what is your income?”. None of this came from my husband by the way. My husband completely supported me. In fact he came up with the idea. It still really sucked not being reconized for the hard work I do. I’m a stay at home mother by choice. I want to teach my children, cook my husbands dinner when he gets home, clean the house, take my children to school; the doctors; and after school programs. I just didn’t like the effect it was doing to me mentally. Dr Laura Schlessinger is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She had her own radio show for many years and has written many useful books to encourage a healthy, happy marriage. Her book was touching and encouraging. I suggest it to any woman thinking about being a stay at home mom or any woman who is feeling under appreciated or worthless; whether its the world against you or your own husband. This book will help. If your thinking about getting it. Please go through our link here. They give us a small percentage for the referral. That is how we pay to keep up this site. Thank you.

BUY NOW: In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms

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Ninjas Do Not Fight Fair

James — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:45:27 +0000

Ninjas Do Not Fight Fair

Ninjas are cunning foes. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people. Foolish Canadians learned this valuable lesson after challenging one ninja and being ambushed by scores of the deadly assassins.

If you see a ninja on the street, walk away. Because either they’ll slice you up into little bits, or it’ll be an improv group and they’ll make sure all your friends know you’re afraid of fake swords wielded by actors. Which is actually worse than being killed by a ninja. (Improve Toronto via reddit)

via Ninjas Do Not Fight Fair.

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Applebee’s Changes Policy After Toddler Accidentally Served Alcohol

James — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:58:13 +0000

I guess it would be a good idea to smell my kid’s juice before I give it to them. This is seriously crazy and scary stuff. Remember, you can’t trust everything that is handed to your kids… even from a trusted brand or restaurant.

Applebees Changes Policy After Toddler Accidentally Served AlcoholPublished April 12, 2011 | FoxNews.com Print Email ShareThe Applebee’s restaurant chain is changing the way it serves juice after a 15-month-old boy was accidentally served alcohol at a Michigan location.The restaurants now will use single-serve containers to pour juice for children, the Detroit Free Press reported Tuesday.Taylor Dill-Reese, the boy’s mother, said she ordered her son a kid’s meal on Friday afternoon and asked for apple juice. She said her son started acting strangely after drinking from his sippy cup. When she tasted the drink, it turns out it was margarita mix, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.Michigan police say the drink was mislabeled as apple juice. Applebee’s will retrain its employees to emphasize the use of separate containers for alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, the Detroit Free Press reports.The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was examined by doctors. The family later learned the boy’s alcohol level was 0.10 percent – over the legal limit for an adult driver. He has since been released from the hospital.”Nobody at the table ordered alcoholic drinks,” Dill-Reese told MyFoxDetroit.com. “So he definitely shouldnt have received one.”

via Applebees Changes Policy After Toddler Accidentally Served Alcohol | Fox News.

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