Trick #3: You can never have too many babysitters.

This is a golden rule. A GOLDEN RULE. Okay, technically, the golden rule is to treat others as you would like to be treated, but this could apply to babysitting.

Babysit unto others as you would like them to babysit unto you.

Recently, I was out with my son and a group of lady friends at Velveteria, THE only velvet painting museum in the world (well, except for Villa Velour, which is a copycat at best). The museum closed its doors officially on January 24th, and we didn't want to miss the opportunity to check it out beforehand. We came back to my house to grab another friend and head out to the Delta Cafe for dinner. As I was standing there, "convincing" said friend to come along, Ian began to complain...

"I don't wanna go. The Delta Cafe is BORING.  I don't want it." BLAH DUH FREAKING BLAH.

I was about to go into my rant of, "Well, we're going and that's THAT and I never get to do anyth...," when my roommate chimed in, "I'll watch him!"

WHA? I thought I was dreaming. No, seriously.

"Oh, but Angela, you exaggerate."

Nope. See, I hadn't been out on the town with just the ladies for quite a little bit of time. I was in some serious need of what the parental units like to call "grown up time." All work and no play makes Mommy a cranky lunatic. I was in desperate need of some adult conversation and frivolity.

Did I literally jump on his offer of free babysitting? Uhm, you bet your sweet arse I did!

BECAUSE... I have a motto.

Never turn down free babysitting, (assuming the offering party is someone you know and trust). In the parenting world, a free babysitter could literally be traded for twice his or her weight in gold. If you have a friend and they offer to babysit "sometime," you take them up on it! PRONTO! Say, "How bout next Wednesday?"

And if this babysitter has kids of their own, make sure to reciprocate. It's the right thing to do.

Here are a few FREE babysitting resources I have found over the years...

Other Parents

My sister-in-law and I babysit for each other frequently. Neither of us keep tabs on how many times or for how long or even WHY we're babysitting. We just do it. This works out great for us. I rarely end up paying for babysitting and our kids have instant playmates.

We just happen to be family, but it doesn't have to be family, per se. Ian has a friend from school who often comes home with us after school for a visit so his dad can finish up whatever errands he is running. Likewise, Ian spends the night at his friend's house occasionally so I can get a little "me time."

Aunts and Uncles

MY aunts and uncles. Yes, those very people who watched me grow up and blossom into the young mother I am today, have been known to babysit my offspring (the aforementioned Ian). There is a slight danger in this scenario that your child may get spoiled by his or her great aunt or great uncle, but it's worth it for the night out!

Friends of Grandma and Grandpa

One slightly weird connection I've utilized when in need of a babysitter is asking friends of my parents. You'd be surprised how many older people out there want to babysit your children. I'm not sure why, but it could be because they miss their own children, who have grown and left them with empty nest syndrome. Perhaps they never had their own children and find the company of wee ones to be a fun romp into parenthood without the commitment. Whatever the reason, don't question it... unless they are creepy.

AND OF COURSE...

There's Grandma and Grandpa, or as Ian calls them, Grandma and Partner. I call them Mom and Dad. Yes, there is a 100% chance that your child will get spoiled by your parental units (there's that phrase again), but they are a tried and true standby and are just waiting for you to ask them for the chance to overload your children on candy, toys, and FUN FUN FUN!!!

"But, ANGELA, I don't have friends, or parents, or sisters, or random family friends... hook me up!"

For a cheap babysitter, try finding a young teen from your church or social community. Last night, I needed a babysitter so I could go to OMSI After Dark with friends, and I was able to find a young teenager from my church to babysit. She wasn't THAT much older than my son, but she did a fantastic job and she didn't charge me a ton of money! (DUDE, I can TOTALLY hook you up!).

So, go out there and get your babysitter on!

Tip #3: Keep your kids connected

I am a Facebook fiend, an addict, a connoisseur, if you will. I'm hooked on the social interaction, the games, the reconnection with long lost pals... I just love it. And it's not just Facebook. I love blogging, I love podcasts, I love online media, period. I've even been known to tweet on occasion.

My son has noticed my love for all things internet-related, and over the last year, has developed an interest in getting connected with the world wide web.

Of course, my primary thought was, "Is it okay to let an 8 year old roam the depths of the internet? How do I keep him safe?"

Well, apparently, everybody is doing it and it is just high time that I jumped on the "letting my kid play on the internet" bandwagon. Why not? Online interaction and skills are necessary to communicate in our high-tech world. Much like learning to cook or how to read, it is imperative that our children learn how to navigate the internet safely, sanely, and with skill.

At first, I set Ian up with an email address through Gmail and sent an email on his behalf to trustworthy friends and family to get him started. My parents enjoy getting emails from their precious grandchild and love sending him emails, funny pictures, and videos. Ian sends emails back and forth with his friends. It's a great time.

When Ian lost a tooth, the tooth fairy left him a very special coin from the Denver mint. I helped him look up the coin online and we discovered it was a Denver Mint Facility Medal.

For Christmas, I purchased my son a computer on Craigslist. For $100, it was a pretty sweet deal. The computer isn't anything fancy, but it's enough to play flash games, check his email, chat on Facebook, post pictures, play music... pretty much anything an 8 year old could desire from online media. And thus, a gamer was born.

Ian ran with it. I was tired of him trying to play all my Facebook games, so I set him up with his own, HIGHLY RESTRICTED, account, one which I know the password to and can monitor his activities on there. This has led to some interesting lessons on online etiquette, also known as netiquette. I sometimes wonder, if everyone had learned how to behave on the internet from their parents or some other wise soul, would there be so much annoying and ridiculous content floating on the web out there?

Ian has a few websites and browsers, besides facebook, which he loves. Here are six of them:

Club Penguin was created by Disney. Your child can create a penguin avatar to play games, chat with other kids, and engage in other fun activities. Parents can monitor their child's activity with a parent account, and for a small monthly fee, children can get a membership, which opens up more fun and games.

Poptropica is a virtual world in which kids explore and play in complete safety. Kids create a "Poptropican" character to travel the many islands of Poptropica and use gaming literacy to enjoy a narrative that is often rooted in factual history. You can create a parent account with paid membership. 

Yahoo! Kids has a lot of fun, safe games and videos for kids. It also has a page called StudyZone that links to homework help and educational games. This site also has a parents page, which gives advice on current entertainment, online safety and other kid-related media.

PBS Kids has games and activities from all of your kids' favorite PBS television programming. Most of them have an educational bent, so there's no need to worry about too much mindless web surfing. From here, you can also link to PBS Parents, a great resource for parenting in general.

Nick (for older kids) and Nick Jr. (for younger kids) feature games, videos, and activities from all the Nickelodeon shows. You can also check out Parents Connect, which has advice, tips, and recipes for parents.

KidZui is a safe, fun, kids’ search engine, filter, and online web browser with over 2.5 million parent and teacher approved websites, videos and games. I downloaded this for Ian before he was old enough to navigate the internet with some know-how. It's a great introduction to the web and gives children the freedom to explore on their own safely.

Here are some other websites that kids can play around on without worry:

Kindersite Project
Kids Know It Network
Kid Sites
Fun Brain
National Geographic Kids

For more information on your kids and the internet, check out this free e-book by Aldric Chang.

Trick #2: Crock pots are the bomb diggity.

My book club, I [heart] Book Club, read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies over the winter and finally met a week ago to discuss it. I hosted the meeting at my house. We joked about making cauliflower treats to share (if you have read the book, this will make sense to you...), so it should come as no surprise that I, being the mischievous lady that I am, crafted some delectable cauliflower snacks to share.

We all had a good laugh and enjoyed the various dips in the cauliflower heads, but when the evening was over, I was stuck with more cauliflower than I could shake a stick at (not that I would be inclined to shake a stick at... food. Ahem.). I mean, SERIOUSLY, what is a family of two going to do with 3 decapitated heads of cauliflower?

Well, let me tell you...

I decided to make SOUP. Yes, lovely, mushy, warm the tummy, delicious soup. And what better way to make soup than to do a good ol' sweep of the fridge and shove all my odds and ends into my trusty dusty crock pot, along with said cauliflower? <---This is a rhetorical question. There is no better way. Believe me.

I grabbed all of my ingredients (see below) and five minutes later? It was in the pot and cooking away. How easy is that? <--- This is another rhetorical question.

I am no stranger to the crock pot. It has been my culinary refuge time and time again. Chili cook off? Crock pot. Food about to go bad in the fridge? Crock pot. Potluck at church or work? Crock pot.

There are endless possibilities with the humble crock pot. I've made chili, soup, pork roast, cider, fondue... you name it, it can be made in the crock pot.

If you are curious about what I stuffed in my crock pot today, here are the ingredients I used:

3 half heads of cauliflower, cut up into little pieces
1 cup of broccoli, chopped up
1 can of corn
1 large container (4 cups) of veggie broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
1 tall boy beer
1-1 1/2 cups of mexican shredded cheese
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/8 cup romano cheese
1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp. garlic, chopped up
Pepper, sprinkled on top (about 1 tbsp.)
Soul seasoning, sprinkled on top (about 1 tbsp.)
Garlic salt, sprinkled on top (about 1 tbsp.)
1 stick butter, cut up

I layered all the ingredients in that order and let the magic crock pot do its thing. It has been slowly cooking for about 3 hours now and let me just say, it is AMAZING. Sincerely. I wish I could link to the smell...