While the chances of getting audited are incredibly slim, it’s not uncommon to receive letters from the IRS. Your initial response might be to freak out, but it’s vital that you keep a level head. If you used a tax professional or you’re confident that you paid your taxes correctly, chances are the issue(s) at hand are trivial. Here some of the letters you might receive and how to handle them. Correspondence Audits When the IRS notices any red flags (like donating half of your income to charity), your chances of being audited increase drastically. However, if the alarm on behalf of the ... read more
Western Australia Hotspots for Picky Wanderers
Western Australia – the land of extreme adventure and fantastic city life. WA occupies a third of the continent’s total area. It’s also the largest of the Australian states that have less than 10 percent of Australia’s total population. Here you’ll find endless stretches of white-sand beaches, rugged gorges, weird rock formations, natural assets and indomitable city life. If it’s your first time here, you’ll want destinations that will fulfil your expectations – and while there are many to speak of, we’ll just highlight a couple for your quick perusal. There’s no city in Australia ... read more
Tips for Planning a Family Vacation
As summer draws near, many families start thinking about how they’d like to spend it. The warm weather gets mom, dad, and the kids itching to go outside and soak up the sun. This summer, consider breaking away from the beach or backyard and take a family vacation! Family trips are essential for strengthening bonds and creating memories, not to mention having a ton of fun. Whether you go for a week or weekend, there are a few tips you’ll want to keep in mind as you plan your vacation. We’ve laid them out below to help you make the most out of your meaningful time with each other. Choose ... read more
Poopyhead – the toilet based game for kids
Master C is a five year old boy. It's therefore to be expected that he has an obsession with poo at the moment. It's one of his favourite things to shout out at inappropriate moments, and for about six months now he seems to have an obsession with calling me "Professor Poo Poo Pants". I'm trying to follow the parenting course advice of not reacting to the name calling in the hope that he will finally get bored and move on to something else. I'm not sure he ever really will though! I'm therefore not at all sure if agreeing to review the game Poopyhead with the kids was such a good idea. ... read more
Geomag Panels and Geomag Mechanics #geomag
When it comes to toys Master C and Little Miss C do love something that challenges the old grey matter. Master C's teacher has described him as a child who likes to understand how things work and he's always asking "why" questions to find out exactly why things do the things they do. LMC is in credibly good at following detailed instructions to build things or make them work, and then retracing her steps sometimes to identify where she might have gone wrong in an original build so that she can rectify a problem herself. Just this holiday she has been teaching herself to code I'm Scratch ... read more
Paddington 2 Marmalade Challenge #Paddington2DVD
One of my best moments of 2017 had to be seeing Paddington 2 at the cinema. I absolutely loved that film and it wasn't only the kids that were desperate to go and see it again. I am therefore absolutely thrilled that Paddington 2 is out on DVD today (12 March 2018) and to celebrate I've been asked to take part in the Paddington 2 Marmalade Challenge. "What is that?" I hear you ask. Well, we all know that Paddington loves marmalade sandwiches - and rightly so as they are absolutely delicious - and I've been challenged to come up with my very own marmalade sandwiches design. Now, the brief ... read more
David Williams The Boy In The Dress Jigsaw Puzzle – Review and Giveaway
As I sit here writing this blog post now St Albans is bathed in sunlight and there is a very, very light sprinkling of overnight snow on the ground. More snow is forecast for later on today, but as a northerner I'm not totally convinced that this isn't just the media getting their knickers in a twist about something and actually it's the kind of weather that all Southerners go to pot about, but Northerners just put on their big coat and get on as usual. The one thing that people do seem to be worried about (or looking forward to, depending on whether you're a child or an adult) is the ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Flight Four: India
This post has now moved over to Penny Reads, the new home for all my book related blog posts. Click here to read the post in full. If you, like me, have a fascination for old Ladybird books then please take a look at all the books I have featured here on Ladybird Tuesday over the years. There’s a list of the titles I have and links to when I covered them on Ladybird Tuesday here, but I will warn you that it’s rather in need of an update. If you have any old Ladybird books that you no longer want, photos of books in your collection that you want to share, or are trying to track ... read more
The Importance of Work-Life Balance for Small Business Owners
With the amount of pressure people feel nowadays to make money and reach sometimes unattainable goals, people often devote too much of their time to work. It’s not the type of devotion that employers want to see in those that work for them. It’s devotion that’s more of a chore. It’s not always on just employees either. Sometimes employers overwork themselves without realizing the effect that it has on their employees. You start to resent your job and dread waking up in the morning, knowing that you have to suffer through another day there. If you feel like this, you’re one of many in the ... read more
Birdy & Bou: The Floating Library – Mandy Stanley & David Bedford
These last nine months have seen me living literally next door to a library. Anyone who has read this blog before will know how much I love books and am a huge supporter of libraries, yet for the first few months of living here we hardly visited. I'm not totally sure why, but I've put this right recently though and the kids and I have become library regulars, even remembering to return books before they become overdue! Both kids have really discovered the joys of audio books and our local library actually has a huge collection of them which they can borrow for free. I just daren't tell the ... read more