Top 5 Ways for an ADD Adult to Have a Happy Holiday
February 21, 2008
Holidays have the potential to send an adult with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) into overload. Too many details to plan, kids to manage, and family to cope with can turn a good day into a stressful one. The following suggestion can help adults manage ADD during the holidays.
1. Know Your Own ADD and Plan Ahead to Deal with It
You know yourself better than anyone, so ask yourself “How does my ADD affect me on the holidays?” Make a list of all the things that tend to stress you out on the holidays, and make a plan to deal with them.
Do you tend to say impulsive things that you later regret? Plan to take a deep breath before answering questions, so that you can think about your words before you speak them.
Do hyper kids overwhelm? Plan to excuse yourself and take a brief walk when the kids are so noisy that you can’t think straight.
Does a family member really make you mad when s/he starts nagging or becomes critical? Plan a simple response that won’t fuel the fire, like “I’m sorry you feel that way. I’d rather talk about a great book I’m reading right now.”
Chiang Mai Guesthouses - What To Expect
February 20, 2008
No visit to Thailand is complete without visiting the city of Chiang Mai. Located in the north of the country, Chiang Mai is considered the capital city of traditional Lanna Thai culture. With easy access to mountain tribes and excellent hiking and trekking, it’s a destination many backpackers head for each year. And for accommodation, not only is staying at a guesthouse the epitome of the Chiang Mai experience, it is also very cheap.
There are a few things to keep in mind about guesthouses in Chiang Mai though. First, there are so many of them that there is currently more rooms than there is demand. This means the prices are really low. There are plenty of comfortable guesthouses available in the $5-$10 (200-400 baht) per night range. Your price per day even at the most comfortable of guesthouses will be reduced even further if you pay for a week or a month.
You’ll do better to compare prices and reserve your guesthouse room online or by phone ahead of time, or go look for a guesthouse on your own when you arrive. If you end up in Chiang Mai at the airport or bus terminal from Bangkok, many locals will come up and offer to bring you to a guesthouse. These folks get a share of every new customer they bring to the guesthouse, and you usually end up paying the price if you take them up on their offer to help you.
Great Gifts Under $5
February 19, 2008
Gift giving is at its absolute finest during the Christmas season. Putting smiles on children’s faces, making an elderly person feel appreciated, rewarding a hardworking employee - the reasons for gift giving at Christmas are endless. Christmas is the most popular time for gift giving, and it is no secret that Christmas is also the favorite time for marriage proposals.
However, getting ready for Christmas can be a nightmare when you tally up all the planning and shopping that must be condensed into the 3 or 4 short weeks leading up to the holiday break. Selecting menus, writing out gift lists, decorating the tree, hanging the outside lights, and so on?
Getting things done around the house always seems to fall into place but buying the gifts always plays havoc with your schedule. Staying within your budget usually places even more restrictions on your time, finding gifts that impress and yet don’t cost an arm and a leg.
You want to give something but the occasion says it shouldn’t be too much. Or the whole family is getting together for Christmas and that means 45 presents. You want to give something to every one in your class. Or your budget will soon reach the red ink stage.
Five Inexpensive Ways to Help Your Children Invest in Holiday Memories
February 19, 2008
Christmas memories are never dependent on the amount of money spent or the popularity of the toy. Memories are made up of amount of heart invested and given. This year, let your children invest their time and hearts in making Christmas memories for your family.
1. Buy white or red place mats and let your children create their own artwork with fabric crayons. A placemat can be made for each guest at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Your children will feel an important part of the festivities.
2. Make paper angels and have your children write short messages to each family member stating the things about that person for which they are thankful. Your children will have an opportunity to think beyond the commercialism of the day to appreciate the blessings they already have.
3. Start a cookie exchange among the neighborhood children. Your children can make a dozen cookies for each family in the neighborhood and deliver them wrapped in a colored tin. They can then sit back and weight to see the kind of cookie surprises come to their door!
Seven Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Vacations
February 18, 2008
This may seem like a very strange title for an article. After all, a vacation is supposed to be? a vacation. The title seems to imply that we should strive to make our vacation, somehow strategic or productive. In a way, that is what I am suggesting, but maybe not in the anal-retentive way you might have first guessed.
I write this during a week of my vacation, because I have a weekly writing quota so I don’t disappoint my loyal newsletter readers. I could have run a repeat article, or I could have written the article before I left, but since I had already decided to write something about vacations, and because I do like to write, I decided it might be best to write about vacations while on vacation.
Vacations are important to our mental, physical and emotional health. They provide us a chance to relax, change our perspective and reconnect with parts of ourselves that we might misplace during the daily routine. Some people travel great distances, others stay closer to home. Some like to relax on the beach and others choose more active, scheduled vacations. This article isn’t about those choices ? you know what type of vacation works best for you. Rather, this article is meant to help you enjoy and benefit more from the vacation, regardless of where you go, or what you do.
Home Made Gifts, The Best Way To Teach Your Kids The Value Of The Holiday
February 17, 2008
To a large extent the holidays have come to be more about materialism than the original values of peace, harmony, and faith. Advertisers hit us from all sides with messages of greed and pettiness. Every media outlet is rife with the idea, "buy this, or they wont love you."
In such an age, it is important to remind the children about the true meaning of the season. This can be done, to some extent, by helping them to build their own gifts to give to others, and teaching them what the true value of a gift is. This has several major benefits.
1. In building the gift you will be spending time with the child doing something constructive.
2. It will teach them the value of money. The item they buy would have to be made just like the item they make themselves. Money doesn’t just appear it has to be earned, and then traded. So money is trading work, for work.
3. It will engage their imaginations and creativity.
4. The gift they create will be much more meaningful, and you should let them know that.
Corporate Holiday Gift Ideas Start With a Possibilities List
February 16, 2008
Plan ahead this year for your corporate clients and associates holiday gifts.
Now is the time to prepare for this year’s corporate holiday gift ideas. The holiday season is fast approaching and you need to get your plan in order now. A possibilities list is your rough draft of gift ideas for clients and associates on your gift list. You need a separate possibilities list for each person on your list.
Your local business associates and clients are the first phase of planning, and are usually the easiest to work on. You tend to see and associate with local clients more frequently than those out of state or country. If you kept good notes in your contact file, your selection will be easier.
A box of favorite cigars, a tin of imported beluga caviar or a select bottle of spirits given personally at a holiday party and can be easily planned ahead of time. Knowing your clients background, likes, dislikes, etc. can go a long way in purchasing a gift they know was shopped specifically for them.
Costa Rica has been Called the Hawaii of Central America
February 15, 2008
Considering a romantic or family Costa Rica vacation? You’re choosing one of the best tourist destinations in the world. Costa Rica has been called the Hawaii of Central America. A Costa Rica vacation is full of beauty, lush foliage, many wildlife surprises, incredible lakes, rivers, and waterfalls.
Activities on a Costa Rica vacation include bird and butterfly watching, surfing, deep sea fishing, scuba diving, tree top (canopy) tours, four wheeling, snorkeling, shopping, hiking, river rafting, horse back riding and casinos. On a Costa Rica vacation you’ll find pristine beaches, tropical jungles, clear blue skies, high mountain rain forest, and tropical sun. That’s why Costa Rica was aptly named ‘rich coast’ by Christopher Columbus in 1502.
Nature is Costa Rica’s green card. Wildlife diversity and exceptional landscapes merge in a long list of untouched lands and protected areas that will get you involved in as many Costa Rica expedition activities and adventure sports as you can imagine.
Virtual Assistants… Even Santa Needs One!
February 14, 2008
Trying to fit all the planning and preparing and celebrating of the holiday season into an already busy schedule can bring a lot of stress to a time of year that’s supposed to be full of peace. These days, even Santa needs help making his list and checking it twice!
Fortunately, help is available. Virtual Assistants, or VA’s, offer a wide range of services designed to save you time and lighten your workload, which is more important than ever at this busy time of year. Here are a few ways a VA can help make your Christmas merry:
You can even give a gift certificate for VA services to someone you know - you’ll both save time!
Of course, Virtual Assistants can be an asset to your business any time of year!
Cheap Christmas Gift Ideas
February 14, 2008
Now that the biggest shopping season of the year is in full swing it might be a good time to create a holiday budget. I’m sure there are lots of names on your list, but hopefully you can find gifts that won’t put a big dent in your pocketbook. I’ve come up with a few good ideas that might help.
Make your Own. Everybody loves a homemade gift. It means that you really put some time and thought into it. You can make your own bath salts, bubble bath, brownie mixes and more! Choose an inexpensive jar, add a ribbon and you’ve got a really cool gift that didn’t cost a fortune. You can find the recipes to these homemade gifts here: Pioneerthinking.com And I’ve got some homemade stocking stuffer ideas here: money-saving-tips.blogspot.com
It’s probably too late to start this idea for this holiday season but you can plan ahead for the next. After Christmas is one of the best times to buy gifts. Almost everything is marked down-sometimes as much as 50%. So create a list for next year and hit the shops after Christmas!
