Life and Reviews

Shoebuy is by far my favorite place to buy shoes online.  Because it is one of the biggest online retailers of shoes, the selection is enormous and the prices are great.  Shoebuy sells shoes, bags, apparel, and accessories.

There are shoes for everyone in the family (men, women, teens, and children) from more than 600 brands, and the bag selections include backpacks, handbags, computer cases, and luggage.  Shoebuy also has accessories that include:  belts, insoles, shoe care products, shoe trees, socks, sunglasses, wallets, and watches. 

Their website is easy to navigate and is fast and efficient.  You can search by brand, size, width, on sale, type of shoe, and even more specific searches. 

Other than the amazing selection of products, why do I love shopping at Shoebuy you might be asking.  Shopping with Shoebuy is risk-free.  They offer:  free shipping, no sales tax, free returns & exchanges, 110% price guarantee, and 100% safe purchase guarantee.  Shoebuy also has excellent customer service.  Ordering is fast and easy.  They offer great savings in terms of coupons and just buy registering at their site, you get 10% off each time you shop. 

They also offer coupons specific to a rewards program called Sunshine Rewards of which I am a member.  This gives me access to even greater savings than someone who does not belong to Sunshine Rewards.  I also earn a percentage back from Shoebuy through Sunshine Rewards on top of the great savings!  It is a win-win situation!

Here is one of my recent purchases for our upcoming vacation…

 Eagle Creek Pack-It Wallaby II

$35.95 –plus I got 10% off and an additional 10% off.  Then I got cash back on top of that! 

I also got my daughter a cool pair of shoes for school….

Girls’ Skechers Bikers Jinxy

$36.95 — plus 10% off and an additional 10% off and cash back!!

Well, you get the idea now….

I can honestly say that I rarely if EVER purchase my family’s shoes anywhere else.  Did I say that I LOVE shoes! This makes my shoe addiction much easier on our budget.  Plus now, I earn cash back and put it towards our family vacations each year which makes my husband very happy!

I highly recommend checking out Shoebuy.com today for all of your shoe shopping fun! It is a great shopping experience with no long lines and it saves you gas!  I don’t know about you, but with this economy, I need all the help I can get!!!

I don’t know about you, but this economy is getting to be pretty scary thing for our family budget.  I can certainly see what they meant when economists said a while back that eventually there would not be a middle class.  The gas prices have certainly put a crunch on our family budget as well as the increasing prices of food and everything else.  Unfortunately, my employer did not give our annual raise either.  But, they did double the CEO’s salary and significantly increase the other 11 or so VPs’ salaries.  Isn’t that nice?  Make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

I have certainly decreased my driving unnecessarily.  I am getting back into using coupons and watching for sales before purchasing anything.  We walk whenever we can to cut down on our gasoline useage.

 The Wall Street situation is more than worrisome especially for someone like me who uses stocks and money markets to try to increase their retirement savings.  Now that stability is gone.  I am thinking of going back to saving my money in mason jars and burying it in the backyard somewhere as some of our ancestors did.  Seriously! 

So, it means for we have to call the person who handles our retirement fund and put it in a no risk account.  I think I will just leave it this way.  Too much risk for me to have it otherwise.  I cannot afford to lose it all.

Grocery shopping is so depressing.  I am thankful we had a garden this year and were able to can and freeze a lot of vegetables for the winter months.  Of course, we still have to purchase things weekly like milk, bread and the staples.  I find myself trying to time my trips to get the marked down dairy and meat products.  I often plan our meals around what I can find on sale or marked down.  Many nights we just eat veggies due to the high cost of meat. 

We definitely do not eat out like we used to.  Gas money takes away from any funds we used for eating out or doing anything spur of the moment. 

Difficult economic times has caused the crime rate to increase significantly too.  I hate even hearing the news about all of the local shootings.  Most are drug related.  As the economy worsens, this will become more and more common as drug abusers need to steal money for their fixes.  Of course this makes the walking more dangerous for all of us.

I would love to hear how others are making changes to cope with the declining economy.

Well, this morning I dropped our 8 month old rescue beagle pup off to be spayed today.  A friend had told me of a great place just down the street from our neighborhood called Wally’s Friends™.  After checking it out, I decided we would gladly use it because of its cost, location, and the reputation it already had in our area.

Boy was it CROWDED this morning.  You go in and fill out the paper work, wait in line, and they check your dog’s vaccination history, and take your payment based upon the services you choose.  You can get any vaccination your pet is lacking as well as test for heart-worms or get medication for heart-worms.  You also have a choice of getting pain medications for your dog once it goes home after surgery.

  Everything is reasonably priced.  The pain meds for example are only $5.  The spay cost me $42.  That is a price just about anyone can afford.

Wally’s Friends™ is unique in the fact that it offers a low cost spay and neuter in our area to reduce the increasing number of unwanted puppies and kittens.  It is the first of its kind in the Chattanooga area!  Wally’s Place™ is a stand alone clinic that is devoted solely to high quality, high volume, low-cost spay/neuter for both dogs and cats. Wally’s Friends™ serves Chattanooga, Hamilton County and the surrounding rural counties, including Georgia and Alabama.

Interestingly, I found that after reading their web-page, that Wally’s Friends™ is a Petsmart Charities Partner. Spay and neuter are important to help solve the problem of pet overpopulation. 

Did you know that a spayed or neutered animal will live a longer healthier life? Spay or neuter decreases your pet’s chance for cancers of the reproductive organs.  Spayed or neutered animals are less aggressive and exhibit better behavior.  It also reduces the desire to roam, fight, and mark territory.  It is a win-win for both you and your pet!

Check out Wally’s Friends™ webpage for more information!  

We get to pick up our little girl first thing tomorrow morning. I will let you know how she does with an update tomorrow. 

We picked her up and she did great.  We are on day 3 post op.  I put a bit of peanut butter on her pain pill and she took it just fine.  We have had a hard time keeping her quiet so she can rest.  But, she is recuping just fine.  I am very please with our experience with Wally’s Friends. 

A parent told me of an incident that had happened to her daughter on the elementary playground of the school my children were attending.  What alerted her to the problem is a sudden unusual outburst and behavior by her daughter that happened at home.  The problems included some molestation issues of younger children by older children (thankfully my daughter was not involved – thanks to her older brother looking out for her).  When the director was informed, she told my friend that her daughter had learned the suddenly exhibited outburst and behavior at home.  Both my friend and myself were shocked that the director would even insinuate such a thing. 

 Once I learned about what was going on with what was dubbed “the cool girls”, I immediately spoke to my son who was 12 and asked if he knew anything about the happenings on the elementary playground.  It is a small school and between two buildings houses preschool through 8th grade.  He informed me that he indeed had and immediately told his sister to stay away from the playhouse no matter what.

If my son and his friends in middle school knew what was going on, it showed it actually was happening even though the director refused to acknowledge it.  My husband and I immediately decided it was time to get them out of that school as soon as possible.  The problem with that lies in the fact that my daughter has learning difficulties and cannot go to school just anywhere.  That is why we were at The Montessori School in Chattanooga to begin with.  My daughter’s physcial therapist had highly recommended the school to us based on my daughter’s learning needs. 

My son at the time of this recommendation was happy and thriving in 4th grade as an honor student at an altogether different school in which my daughter would not be adequately accommodated — Silverdale Baptist Academy.  When I toured The Montessori School and spoke with the director she assured me that she could help my daughter.  Once she learned I had another child, she then emphatically informed me that if I didn’t transfer my son to The Montessori School, that she would not take my daughter.  I was very angry at the thought of being forced to move my son from his environment.  We didn’t have a lot of options available to us and it seemed that the hands on learning would best suit my daughter at the time as this is the only Montessori school in this city.

 After my husband and I discussed this unhappy turn of events, we then spoke to our son to see what his reaction might be.  He was very mature to be a 10 year old and said, “I know my sister really needs this and cannot go to my school, so I will move to The Montessori School.”  We talked with him at great length making sure he was really ok with the move.  He was unhappy to leave his friends with whom he had been with since the beginning, but wanted to make sure his sister had what she needed too.  With heavy hearts we spoke to my son’s principal who is an amazing Christian woman.  She was shocked to learn of such barbaric practices for a director to pad one’s pocket so to speak instead of wanting what is best for a child.  She told me that SBA would never insist on a family placing all their children at one school because one school does not necessarily fit all.  She asked if I wanted her to call the director and speak with her.  I told her no, that we had spoken to our son and he was ok with the move to help his sister (something that the director should never have even asked us to do).  As they say, hindsight is 20/20. 

Here it was February already which would make it most difficult to find another school that would be able to help my daughter with her learning differences.  Also, my friend moved her children immediately into the public school in their area.  Although her daughter does not have learning problems and was supposedly working and mastering things at a second grade level, once tested in the public school system, she was found to be very deficit in things that The Montessori School had said she had passed and mastered.  This really alarmed me as my child had learning issues.

I was not able to really get anywhere with her teacher and even had brought in her physical therapist who specializes in children with learning differences.  She sat in on a meeting at the beginning of the year to set some guidelines and make some suggestions on how to best help my daughter in the classroom.  This was a big expense for me to have her at school for the meeting. 

My daughter who was finishing up 2nd grade had been at a standstill on the learning curve this year.  After having several meetings I was still frustrated with the current school.  The pushed independent learning.  That is great if you can learn on your own which she cannot.  She needed modifications which were not being done according to what our therapist had suggested.  This other issue of the molestation was the last straw…the thing that told me there HAD to be something better for my daughter and my son.

My son really wanted to go back to SBA where he had moved from.  We scheduled testing.  The testing showed he was very far behind from where he should be and we were told that it would be difficult for him to succeed there now.  That was a big blow to us.  We hadn’t realized how far my son had fallen behind.  He was passing and making good grades at The Montessori School so there was no reason to believe he would be or could be behind.  Afterall, according to the director, The Montessori School is far superior in academics to traditional private schools.  HA! We certainly knew that was far from the truth.  SBA asked us if we had any other schools we were applying to and we mentioned Hickory Valley Christian School.  The principal said that they have no difficulty taking students from Hickory Valley.  Well, that was definitely all I needed to hear to speed up the process of getting my kids out as fast as I could.

I ended up calling the principal at Hickory Valley Christian School that I had spoken with a couple of years earlier to see if they had openings for their school.  She told me they did and that I could bring both in for testing.  After the testing, I asked her if she could help my children.  She said she knew they could.  I felt so much relief!

Once they had gone through the testing process, I was told that Cameron had done well enough to go on into the 7th grade but did have some serious math deficits that would have to be worked on.  As for my daughter who was finishing up 2nd grade, she did not fair nearly as well.  She had tested as barely being on a 1st grade level.  We decided to hold her back in 2nd grade and tutor her during the summer to bring her up as much as we could before the fall.

I am happy to say that after only two tutoring sessions my daughter finally “got” math! I mean she could add with no problems because of a program called Dots and Spots math.  She was able to do subtraction after the 3rd session with a program called Punch Math which adds a bit of kinetics to the math and makes it easier to remember.  I was simply amazed. 

The reading tutor is trained in the LIPS (Linda Bell Mood) phonics program.  After 2 sessions, my daughter was reading much better.  She was actually stopping at the end of each sentence instead of going nonstop. 

Since we are now into the 4th week of school, my daughter’s self esteem continues to climb as do her academics.  In math, although still behind where she needs to be, she is now carrying and borrowing with no trouble at all.  The reading has really taken off.  Now she cannot wait to go to the library to bring new books home to read.  She is taking AR tests on the computer and passing them.  She loves to read.  I know by the end of the year she will definitely be ready for 3rd grade.  These teachers at Hickory Valley Christian really care about the students.   If one method does not work for a child, they use another until they find what works.  The environment is so loving and kind.  The teachers hug and love on the kids and they kids reciprocate.  It is such a nice change.

We have finally gotten to a point where my daughter is not crying at homework time.  She can actually do her homework.  She feels successful.  She now knows she can learn and succeed.

Oh, and another great thing about HVCS, they have an occupational therapist on staff who teaches Neuronet to the students in grades K – 3 during physical education.  What in the world is Neuronet you might ask?  Click on the link above to learn all about it.  Neuronet instruction is VERY expensive and can only be given by someone specially trained to use it.  This is INCLUDED at HVCS!

My son? He is loving school.  He is really working hard in math and has really impressed his teacher.  He says he has learned more in 3 weeks at Hickory Valley Christian than in 2 years at The Montessori.  I am so happy.  The teachers cannot say enough nice things about my son’s work and his character. 

 My children have found many others who have come from The Montessori School.  No wonder HVCS knew they could help my kids.  They are used to picking up the pieces and putting them back together again as a whole successful academic picture. 

The principal is the just the sweetest woman in the world.  My kids love her as do all the children.  They all make a beeline to her whenever they see her.  I cannot say enough good things about the school my children are attending this year!  We could not be happier. This is the school that will bring out all of their hidden potential to prepare them for high school. 

I am here to say that HVCS is the best kept secret in Chattanooga! It is a goldmine of educational techniques and resources.

Always remember you are your child’s best advocate.  If you feel something is not right, go with your instinct and investigate.  Today it is imperative for us to take charge of our child’s educational needs.  If you do not, no one else will. 

I also heard that yet another molestation issue has occurred in that playhouse on the playground with two young boys this time.  Oh, and by the way, that playhouse, where the molestation supposedly “never” took place, has been torn down all of a sudden.  Interesting huh?  Yeah, I thought so too.