Rexanne's Web Review - Issue #63

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Rexanne's Web Review
Web Sites & Insights

Issue #63 - December 1, 2002

Brought to You By: Rexanne.com

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Welcome All Newcomers!

Hope all our U.S. readers had a beautiful and meaningful Thanksgiving.

The season is upon us ... we're holiday happening! For our Jewish readers, Hanukah has been upon us for a few days. Happy Hanukah!

This is my favorite time of year. We're all happy, we have an excellent excuse to shop and people just seem to feel good inside. Gotta love the holidays. :-)

You all need my Christmas site! Plenty of WWW holiday festivities including graphics, cards, Christmas for kids, food & cooking, Santa site-ings and a complete shopping mall to make your life as easy as it's gonna get this time of year. You'll find individual shopping pages for specific people with perfect present and stocking stuffer ideas. Here's the link to your salvation: Rexanne's Christmas

*** Special holiday offer for my readers: Requests for my personalized email letters from Santa are coming in rapidly. Each letter costs $3.00 when ordered through my web site. I would love to send a personalized letter to all your favorite kids at a discounted price of only $2.00 each. After filling out the form, include the code (RWR) AFTER your email address. Please include the parenthesis ( ). You will be billed the discounted price with this code. Requests must be received by December 22. Here is a direct link to the Santa letter page: Personalized Email From Santa ***

We have a super issue, with an especially lovely story in the Parenting & Family Topic of the month. I wish each of you the happiest holidays and a fantastic New Year! See you in 2003.

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Reader's Comments:

Rina wrote about last month's newsletter:

"Great stuff! I forwarded it to a coworker who has a 6 and 2 year old. She will love it."

Thanks Rina. Love those forwards! ;-)

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Marci wrote about last month's parenting topic:

"Thank you for the homework help tips! They helped with my son who is in fourth grade and beginning to hate homework. I also ordered the book that you recommended, 'Love & Limits: Achieving a Balance in Parenting,' by Ron Huxley and it is excellent! You always have the best parenting advice and information. Thanks again for all you do!"

You are very welcome, Marci. I am always careful with and research my recommendations, including ads that are placed in this newsletter. I stand behind each advertiser or product referral. If you ever have an issue with anyone or any product I recommend, either in the newsletter or on my site, please let me know. I will do all I can to help straighten it out.

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And Daysi wrote about our tooth fairy tips from the last issue:

"I feel bad saying this but my Blaise lost her first tooth in Kindergarten and my husband put a $10.00 bill under her pillow. She was soooooooo excited and has not spent the $10.00 bill yet! Then with all the other teeth we gave her $5.00. Did we go OVERBOARD? Another thing we did is put her first tooth on a charm. She wears it very proudly with her Cross on her chain. The funny thing is she got it for Christmas that year and she said: 'Wow, Mom does Santa know the Tooth Fairy?' Haha!"

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OK, here's the scoop:

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Quote of the Month: Fear less, hope more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more ... and all good things are yours. - Unknown

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Parenting & Family Topic of the Month

Did You Get What You Asked For?

This story feels like a gift. Written by Pam Blaine ... a beautiful piece about moving from her home of 17 years. I love it and I think you will, too. Enjoy:

"Did you get what you asked for?" I was pondering the question my friend had asked me earlier as I walked through the vacant rooms of our house one last time. Of course, she had meant did the house bring the price we had asked for in the sale. As I continued looking through the house, I remembered it had been nearly seventeen years since I had seen these rooms empty. The rooms echoed my footsteps as if they were a bit sad also at the emptiness so foreign to them. Had it really been that many years since I first came here with my husband along with three children in tow?

It didn't seem so long ago that I heard my 14-year-old daughter say, "Can I have the room with the purple carpet?" I walked into that bedroom where the purple carpet still remained along with the purple stenciling on the walls where she had created her work of art. Several times we had considered redecorating the room, even to the point of buying the paint, but we used the paint somewhere else and somehow the
room managed to stay unchanged.

I meandered on down the hall to another bedroom and I wondered how many times my husband had repaired the walls in this room after Justin, our "wall abuse" child had joined our family a couple of years after we had moved to this house.

In the living room, now so bare, I imagined I could hear the laughter and squeals of children sitting around the Christmas tree that usually stood before the bay window at Christmas time. I thought of the year that a young friend had brought us a real tree from the woods that we had to repair with duct tape. We even put a stuffed animal in the bare spot because we didn't want to hurt his feelings by acting as if the tree were anything but perfect. I looked at that window behind where the tree would have been, and I was almost sure I could see "Rocky" the cat, sprawled above everything as he arrogantly watched his kingdom of human peasants from his royal cat throne.

I turned toward the kitchen and I cringed once more at that slight shadow on the floor next to the refrigerator where I had spilled an entire gallon of salad dressing. The carpet was new at the time and
although I scrubbed with everything imaginable, the stain never completely came out and I had finally just placed a pretty throw rug over the area.

I walked through the kitchen and on down the steps to the basement to the family/recreation room, better known as the "wrecked room." I stood staring at that old black cast iron stove which was about theonly thing remaining in the house. It was like an old friend as it kept the basement warm in the winter and I often sat a pot of ham and beans on the top of it, allowing them to cook slowly all day. Over against the East wall I noticed the indentation's in the carpet where the old upright piano had been. There were a lot of good times around that piano. It was there that I taught my son, Jeremy, to play "Moonlight Sonata." He refused to take real piano lessons but just wanted to know where to put his fingers on the piano and before long he had memorized the entire song.

I looked out the window where the kids used to play "Fox and Geese" in the snow and I almost felt I could hear my daughter, Julie, ask, "Mama, we're having so much fun! Can Angie stay overnight?" The number of children around the house seemed to multiply as my other children would often want a friend to stay on the very same night or weekend.

There was the time that Jeanna asked to invite a few friends for her 13th birthday. A few friends turned out to be 19 friends, and while I was busy preparing food, one of them decided to show the group how he could hold his breath until he passed out. Fortunately, we stopped that little game. After that, I thought about writing the surgeon general requesting a warning sign to be posted on birthday supplies and candles stating: "WARNING: Children's parties can be hazardous to parental sanity."

I walked out into the yard and stood under the tall maple trees that now towered high above the house and their limbs even shaded the deck. They were only small trees when we first moved to this house. A garage now stands at the edge of the yard where there was nothing but lawn when we came here. I remembered my husband, his dad, and a couple of neighbors working together to build it. We had such good neighbors.

As I stepped up into the van and gazed toward the house one last time, I thought about how that house had been such a big part of my life for so many years. I asked myself the question, "Did I get what I asked for?" I would have to answer a resounding, "Yes, I got what I asked for and so much more, for who can put a price on family, friends, good neighbors and love?

I wondered what changes the new owners would make. Would they have purple carpet, stenciled walls, and children's parties? Whether they do or not, I hope they also get what they asked for ... and more.

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Visit Pam at her home on the web: PamyPlace or email Pam at: Pamyblaine@aol.com
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Know of a good parenting or family site your fellow readers might enjoy? Please send it for possible publication in an upcoming issue. Click here: Parenting Site

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Food & Cooking Site of the Month: Recipe Goldmine

From our Food & Cooking Editor, Martha Jones, AKA Queen Can-ivore.

Give yourself plenty of time to dig around Recipe Goldmine, it's an incredible collection of recipes and almost anything else having to do with hearth and home. Need a birthday cake for a horse? No problem! However, I was not thrilled with some of the dog care tips (cleaning fluid on ticks - I would be surprised to hear a vet OK that, as well as several other skin no-nos like bluing for a whiter coat and cream rinse for tangles - OK if specifically for dogs, but products for people should never be used on critters).

The kitchen chart selections offer more info than anyone could probably use in a lifetime. All categories are jam-packed from kid stuff to crafts to gardening, the list goes on.

Don't miss the Christmas Mice cuties: Christmas Mice Cookies

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Queen Can-ivore is also known as The Real Martha. Find her at: The Real Martha - real easy recipes for real busy, real people. Not for fans of the UnReal Martha.
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Bon Appetit!

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Kid's Site of the Month: Christmas for Kids

This page will enthrall the kids for Christmas and throughout their vacation time. Links to all things Christmas on the 'Net, including crafts, online games, activities, stories, great holiday sites and plenty more. There's a special section with a list of pre-approved children's holiday books and movies, too.

Wish those babies a Merry Christmas from me!

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Freebie of the Month: Free Game Score Sheets & Game Rules

Here's a site with free game score sheets. Perfect for this time of year when the kids will be home on holiday break and going through those score sheets like crazy: Game Score Sheets
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Did the dog chew up the rules to the kids' favorite game? Here is a site where you can print out rules for most board and card games: Game Rules

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Tip or Trick of the Month: Homemade Bubble Wrap & Appetizer Tip

This trick, sent in by Sylvia, is just in time for shipping cookies and gifts to loved ones far away:

"You can use any plastic baggies that zip for making your own version of bubble wrap. Stick a straw in a mostly closed zipper baggie and inflate it. Remove the straw, zip it the rest of the way and place as many as you need in and around items that you'll be sending through the mail."

This trick is terrific, Sylvia. Thank you!
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Here's a little food tip that will come in handy for the holidays:

Instead of using toothpicks for spearing soft appetizers, try using pretzel sticks. This will save guests from wondering where to deposit the used toothpicks and adds a snappy crunch.
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Have a tip or trick your fellow readers would enjoy or could use? Please send it here for possible publication in one of the next issues: Tips

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Time Waster of the Month: Topic Tangle
Because life is supposed to be fun!

Topic Tangle is a classic word scramble game. See the topic, figure out the word by dragging and dropping the letters in the appropriate slots. Topic Tangle might seem easy at first, however, it's deceptive! Topics such as "composers" and "things that are white" keep it interesting. The game will keep track of your previous scores for incentive to improve. Guaranteed to waste at least a half hour. ;-)

Feed the kids first ...

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Featured Site of the Month: Second Annual Internet Toy Drive

Help put a smile on the face of a needy child this Christmas!

It's a sad fact that millions of children in the United States will NOT have a single gift to open on Christmas Day. The Internet Toy Drive aims to change that to make sure EVERY child has at least one present 'from Santa' under their tree. The Internet Toy Drive is partnered with the official U.S. Marines "Toys for Tots" program. Please help them offer a needy child the gift of Christmas spirit in YOUR community right now:

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Supporting the sponsors and advertisers in Rexanne's Web Review keeps this newsletter alive. Each advertiser has Rexanne's Seal of Approval! Please visit them today.

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