Beauty is my business with Gina

  How is the pandemic going to affect your holidays this year?  So many people are dealing with this right now and it is a hard topic to address. There are several holidays coming up Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. This Nana has decided that her boys are not going trick or treating this year. I do not feel comfortable sending my boys to some strangers house to get candy from them and not know if these people have been sick, have been around someone who has been sick or what. So we will get doughnuts and cider and buy them all the candy they love and watch Halloween movies on TV and just have our family time. After all it is hopefully just one year that things have to be strange. Then comes Thanksgiving. We have a large family and usually have Thanksgiving at my sisters house with both sides of her family and well I just don't think that this year it is going to happen. Having that many people together in a home is probably not a smart thing to do with people who work i...

  The older boys are off to school now and it is difficult as an adult to send them to school. Even though we are doing a hybrid model it is still scary that they are out in the public after keeping them home and safe for all these months.  To have to remember to pack a snack, a water bottle and now a clean mask every day. I am finding my youngest who is in Kindergarten and has sensory issues tends to chew on his mask and by the time he gets home it is soaking wet. Now this is not going to be a good thing for his skin and face. I am thinking maybe I should send him with a disposable mask that way he won't like to chew on it.  Being a parent especially as a grandparent in these uncertain times is definitely not an easy thing. I remember when I was raising my kiddos how exciting going to school was and how I looked forward to it every year. Now it is a lot of remembering schedules and what days they go and if it is an even or odd day or an a,b,c,d,or e day.  What ...

  School like we have not seen it ever.  So our youngest grandson was supposed to be in his second year of a head start program. But Covid-19 messed that up. His program decided to be remote till 2021 and well our boy has a pretty big IEP of three days speech and two days OT a week. This Nana needed to do something quick.  So I knew there was a Universal Pre K in our district run by the YMCA my kids went to it and so did my nephew and my one grandson. So I called the special ed department yesterday and they helped me to get the information. I went right in as there were 3 spots left and with the head start not starting they will be filling up quick. As I was sitting there filling out the paperwork the secretary told me "get it done by 2 pm (it was 1:30 pm) and he can come tomorrow. You better believe this Nana got that paperwork all done. He is going from a full day program where he rode a bus to a 2.5 hr program where I drive him. But he needed a place to be face to face...

School time and just like any parents, us grandparents who are raising our grand kids are just as fearful of what is out there and what is going to happen when the kids do go to school.  Our school is doing a hybrid method so three of my 4 will go in person Thurs and Fri and remote Mon, Tues, Wed and while I am happy they are going to be getting some in person time and I absolutely LOVE the school they are in and know they will do everything to keep them safe, there is still a fear. Will they wash their hands as much as at home, will they keep their distance and wear their masks? All valid concerns. This morning while watching a morning news show they had an interview with Elmo and our youngest, who's preschool is not doing anything yet was very interested. Elmo has a book that he put together and Amazon has it free for prime members to read on their tablets or computers. I highly recommend that parents or grand parents read this to their kids before they start school.  E...

  Church takes on a whole new meaning when you are doing this whole raising a family all over again. We have always been the type of family that didn't believe in the old fashioned "crying" room for our children. The few times if the kids were teething and miserable and we would go in there it was like a free for all. Parents were chatting, kids were just running around. Like really? Why even go to church? Just to say you were there? So we would tough it out in the church with our BITP ( butts in the pew)  Fast forward to now our youngest ones are 3 and 4. I still carry a "diaper bag" per say it is a draw string bag that I throw some pull ups in and wipes. Then it is the lets pick what toys we can put in there that won't make a lot of noise. Now with COVID-19 we are spaced out in the church so of course noise does travel.   So here is my advice if you have young children and you are taking them to church, books are the best bet and if you are bringing toys b...

  Potty training as a Grandparent As if raising another family after you have "been there done that" isn't enough, we are now faced with, you would think would be much easier. I mean we have experience right?  WRONG I seem to remember potty training my own three children was pretty easy. Just put them in underwear and set a timer and put them on the toilet and they just got it.  Kids now a days seem to have so many distractions whether it be TV, electronics etc.  When I started to potty train our now 4 year old grandson I looked at a lot of websites I mean we didn't have google to use when we had our kids. There was so much advice and people who claimed if you followed their directions you could potty train in three days. These people have not met my grandsons. I fell into the hype and purchased a Potty Watch. This watch has a timer that you set and when it goes off the child is supposed to go to the bathroom. Here is the thing, the watch doesn't work when the chi...

Some  F acts on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren In the United States, slightly more than 7 million grandparents lived with at least one grandchild under age 18 in the same household during 2010. One in 10 American children (a total of 7.5 million children) was living in a household with at least one grandparent. Such family settings may range from multiple generations sharing a home together to a widowed grandmother raising a granddaughter. In particular, however, 2.7 million grandparents carried the primary responsibility of caring for their grandchildren and meeting their basic needs, representing nearly 40 percent of grandparents who reside with a grandchild (data from U.S. Census, 2010). These families headed by a grandparent often are called “grandfamilies,” and they are common among families in which a relative has taken over primary responsibility for raising a child from parents (known as “kinship care”). Relative caregivers, such as grandparents, are adult relatives in ...

  What is Pink Himalayan Salt? Despite its appearance - similar to sea salt in small, jagged pebbles - Pink Himalayan salt is actually mined salt, from the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains in the Punjab region of Pakistan. It's believed to be the healthiest of all types of salt and is one of the purest available. The unique salmon-colored hue of Pink Himalayan salt is due to the amounts of trace elements (impurities) found within it. Many of these are minerals valuable to your body's functions, including manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and iron. The presence of these minerals gives Pink Himalayan salt its distinctive metallic taste.  Balance fluids and avoid dehydration Salt has historically been used to dry food. However, in your body, balance is key. Proper sodium intake can actually help prevent dehydration and correct your ratio of sodium and potassium. Here's how it works: sodium follows the water. If you have too much sodium, you'll retain ...

  The Role of Collagen in Skin Care If you’ve ever searched for an anti-aging skincare product, there’s no doubt you’ve heard of collagen. Many products claim to “replenish collagen” or “boost collagen production” in the skin. While collagen does have a very important role in skin care, some of these marketing claims can be misleading. In order to help you choose the best product or treatment to address concerns such as wrinkles, fine lines, or sagging skin, this article will provide a full explanation of the role of collagen in skin care. Collagen: structural component of skin Collagen is the main structural protein of the extracellular space in various connective tissues, including the dermis, the middle layer of skin that lies below the epidermis.  The connective tissue of the  dermis  provides strength and elasticity to the skin through an extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastin fibers, which are embedded in hyaluronan and proteoglycans .   In ...