DIY Santa Ornaments

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Krissyar

These DIY Santa ornaments are tons of fun, and can be great gifts that the kids can even make themselves!

Supplies:

Directions:

  1. Wrap the ribbon around the ball ornament, and cut when the ends meet. 
  2. Apply a glue dot to one end, then one in the middle, and one at the other end. Make sure that the ribbon lines up and appears to look even through this process.


  3. Cut about ½ – ¾ inch piece of washi tape, making sure it is straight on each end. I cut a larger piece, and used an Exacto knife to make sure that the end cuts were nice and straight. Apply to the center of ribbon with a glue dot, for added sticking ability. (this becomes santa’s “belt”)


  4. Remove the top from the ornament. Fill the ornament with the red glitter balls.
    Replace the top of the ornament.

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Frozen Olaf Dessert Cups

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Krissyar

If you are like us, you are loving the new Frozen 2 movie! We decided to celebrate with some Olaf dessert cups, and the kids loved them!

Items Needed: 

  • Small shot glass cups
  • 8 oz tub of Cool Whip 
  • 1 Berry Blue Jell-O Gelatin (3 oz size)
  • 1 packet of unflavored gelatin (3 oz size)
  • Condensed Milk 
  • Olaf Cocoa Trimming Kit (which can be found on Amazon or Walmart). 

Directions:
Place Berry Blue Jell-O in a bowl and whisk in 2/3 cup boiling water. Stir until dissolved and allow to cool. Once cooled, fill each cup about 1/3 full of blue and allow to chill and set in the refrigerator.
Mix 1 packet of unflavored gelatin with 2/3 cup water and 1 can of condensed milk
Add white gelatin on top of the blue once set and place in refrigerator.
Once the white gelatin has fully set top with another layer of blue.

Once the third layer is set top with whipped cream to make your Olaf body. Top with Olaf face.
Refrigerate until ready to serve

 

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Blueberry Yogurt Bark

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Krissyar

INGREDIENTS 

  • 2 Cups Blueberry Greek Yogurt

•  Blueberries

•  Parchment Paper

  1. Take a piece of parchment paper and lay it out on a baking pan. This will make your bark remove from the pan effortlessly.
  2. Spread out 2 cups of blueberry greek yogurt on to the parchment paper.
  3. Sprinkle blueberries onto your Yogurt.
  4. Place in the freezer for 2+ hours.
  5. Remove from freezer and break into pieces.
  6. Serve & enjoy!

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Virtual Doctor Visits at Home: Saving Money and Time with Amwell

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Krissyar

That time of year is here – the weather turns colder, and it seems the kids get sicker. The Winter to Spring seems to be the biggest ‘sick’ season in our schools and home. A few years ago it was literally every other week I turned around and one of my kids (or myself) was sick. With working a full-time job and doing all this parenting on my own, I don’t always have time to run myself or my kids to the doctor every time we start to not feel well.

But I’m a worrier just like any other Mom – is that cough just part of a regular cold, or could it be something worse? Is the sore throat from coughing, or do they have strep? So many questions, and not enough time to spend hours at the doctor’s office waiting to get answers (we definitely are not fan’s of sitting around the Doctor’s office) not to mention money! I mean,  it stinks to be sick at any time , but it especially stinks to be sick during the holidays. A few years ago my oldest daughter was sick on Christmas day and spent most of the time in her room or the bathroom. We have missed a lot of our winter/holiday celebrations due to illness, so when someone even so much as sniffles now, I am on it. So when my son wasn’t feeling good, and going to bed without me telling him to – and his cheeks and ears were flushed, I knew we had to make a call.

Now before we did the video call to find out what was going on with my son,  we just filled out our information and such as my name, our health insurance, where we are located, and then his age, sex, and symptoms so that the Doctor would have a general idea before we got online with her –  we only waited for a few moments before we were online and able to talk to the Doctor.

It was great to be able to sit on our couch -from the comfort of our own home – and not get out in the cold and sit in the germ-infested Doctor’s office waiting, and waiting..we gave the Doctor his symptoms, and held the phone close to look in his mouth, ears, etc. She easily was able to let us know that he had an ear infection and needed antibiotics – which she was able to get us a prescription for an antibiotic right away! The entire process took less time than driving to the Doctor’s office! And he was feeling better just in time for our annual Winterfest tradition!

That is why I love Amwell. Amwell has Doctors, therapists, and specialist that you can reach in minutes from your computer, tablet or phone.

So there are soo many reasons to love (and use) Amwell.

  • There’s no wait – once you fill out your information and login, you are placed in a queue to see a Doctor based on your symptoms. The longest I’ve ever sat is 5 minutes – FIVE minutes! That’s it. It makes me longer to get signed in at the front desk of our family doctor!
  • No appointment needed – have you ever had a kid get sick in the middle of the night and you knew they needed to be seen by a Doctor? So you try to appease their fever/ etc all night and wait to call the Doctor in the morning only to find out their first appointment isn’t until the end of the day, or even worse, they can’t fit you in at all? No worries with Amwell. Call and BAM! you’re in!
  • No Need to Use those PTO Days – Having to take off of work to go wait hours in the waiting room at the doctor’s office has always super irritated me, especially for something like diagnosing a rash, or answering questions about why my eyes were red and itchy,or why my son’s wart wouldn’t go away. Instead of taking a day off,I’m able to get online with Doctor’s via Amwell and get answers when it’s convenient for me – even if it’s right before bedtime, or first thing in the morning!

They can help figure out what ails you – from fever, to cold and flu’s, allergies, sinus infections, stomach bugs, rashes, and even UTI’s.

Don’t just take my word for it – use this special code: AMWELL25 to receive 25% an $69 urgent care visit with Amwell.

Compensation was provided by Amwell via Momtrends.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Amwell or Momtrends. 

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What is Sales Tax, and What is it Used For?

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Krissyar

So exactly what is a sales tax? 

A sales tax is imposed by the government on the sales of goods and services – a conventional sales tax is taken at the point of sale, collected by the retailer, and passed back to the government. A business owner or service provider is liable for sales taxes in specific jurisdictions if they have a nexus there- so it can be a store location, an employee, etc.

Breaking it Down  

Conventional or retail sales taxes are charged at the end of a good or a service. Sometimes it can be hard to determine who is responsible, since most of the time goods and services can be passed through to the next person – like a manufacturer, or a broker – so documentation is necessary to prove who is liable for that sales tax. For example, since I like crafting, say I make a design that a t-shirt company wants to use. So that I am not responsible for the sales tax on selling the design to the company, I must obtain a resale certificate from the government saying, “hey, I’m just the middle man.” So I sell my design to a t-shirt company, so say they get a resale certificate too, because they are going to design these shirts and actually sell it to a retail store – so they aren’t responsible either. So the retail store will have to charge the customer sales tax along with the price of the t-shirt, since they will be the final responsible party in this arrangement – so they are the ones responsible for the sales tax audit.

There can be issues sometimes, when different jurisdictions charge different sales tax amount, and they can overlap, such as when states or counties or even cities at each level have their own sales tax. A sales tax is kind of like a ‘use’ tax, which applies to residents who purchase items from outside their jurisdiction (think online). So they have the same rate, but it may be difficult to enforce it. Usually this only comes in to play with a large purchase, like purchasing a car out of state – you would have to pay the sales tax in the state you purchased the car in, not your home state. (you can actually calculate sales tax based on the purchase price and zip code in this handy sales tax calculator)

So what are they used for?

Pretty much the sales tax in almost all states, go to the ‘general fund’ which is used for special projects, or other spending categories that are used in the city/county/state such as: police and fire departments, public schools, transportation and infrastructure, parks, public medical facilities, etc.

Usually when a sales tax increase is approved, they use those extra funds for special projects, like rebuilding or repairing schools, updating the parks or other recreational areas in the area, even things like Christmas lights during the holidays – sales tax funds the city , and helps it run (on top of property taxes, and individual city/state taxes as well – but that’s for a different post).

 

 

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