OneKnoxFamily

Department of Health and Human Services website 4parents.gov launched a new ad campaign “Talk To Me” that urges parents to “speak up” and talk to their kids about waiting to have sex until their married. View the commercial below.

The 4Parents website also has tips for parents on how and why to talk to your children about this usually difficult and/or awkward topic and the benefits of marriage.

First of all, let’s be clear on one important point. In general, children - and adults - do better in homes headed by a married mother and father. That’s in general, or on average. There are countless single men and women doing a wonderful job raising children, and their children do very well.

What do you want your son or daughter to know about the benefits of marriage? Talking about the value of marriage now can help your son or daughter make good choices that will impact their future. Make sure you let them know what you want for their future. Marriage can be a positive part of your child’s life. Research supports this!

They stole this “House Rule” recommendation from my father

Set clear guidelines for your child when he or she goes out: Where will you be? What will you be doing? Who will you be with? When will you be home? How can I reach you?

Luckily, we don’t currently have to worry about this as daughter is still 3 years old but it’s never too early to start learning how to address different topics with your children.

Junk mail comes everyday.  It fills up the desk top, or if you happen to be disorganized… the kitchen table. Regardless of where it lands once we carry it through the door, we all hate junk mail.  Ann Hartter gives us fifty ideas for junk mail.  Here’s some of my favorites she listed.

• Put multiple mailings in a prepaid envelope and send it back to the company.
• Clip coupons from it.
• Use return envelopes for an envelope budgeting system.
• Put grocery coupons inside a return envelope and write the shopping list on the outside.
• Use it to negotiate lower rates

The last tip is my personal favorite.  Mostly because it works so well and can save you a ton of money as I pointed out the other day.

Read the full list at SavingAdvice

Well, not really… It’s more like Teacher Gone Dumb. I was trying to let this one slide by without commenting on it but I couldn’t resist any longer. If you haven’t heard about Inskip Elementary School teacher Melinda England posting risque photos on MySpace, read this KnoxNews article first, or watch the WATE6 report.

At 28 years old she’s an adult and as a citizen of the United States of America she has a first amendment right to free speech. She’s also not breaking any laws by posting what some are calling “partially nude” photos on MySpace. The legality of her actions however are not what I feel the issue is about.

There are certain jobs in this country where people are held to a higher standard. Anyone working with minors in a teaching or mentoring role is obviously one of those people. Now those people still have the right to a private life. These extra-curricular things don’t effect her teaching because they aren’t taking place in the classroom.

What kind of questions should we ask to determine if she’s fit to be an elementary school teacher?  Michael Silence a KnoxNews blogger says,

What’s her record in the classroom? Do her students excel? Is she respected by her peers? Is she respected by the parents? … Silly me but it would seem these would be pertinent questions.

I think those are very valid questions. Here Michael, I’ll answer them for you… Her record? I don’t know.  Students excel? I don’t know. Is she respected by her peers? Not any more. Is she respected by the parents? Absolutely not!

The problem is, once you post pictures and information about yourself on the world wide web it’s no longer private. As a teacher, one of your primary objectives is to keep the respect of your students, the students parents and the board of education. Once you’ve lost any of these you can no longer perform your job effectively.

Any teacher with a little common sense would know not to put pictures like this on a public website.  She knew what she was doing.  She was pushing the envelope and she went to far. 

This weekend I took our Altima in to have a recall fixed. If you have a Nissan that needs to be serviced, I recommend you go to Oak Ridge Nissan.  I’ve been to several others Nissan dealerships in the Knoxville area but this was my first visit to Oak Ridge Nissan… from now on they’ll be my first choice. When I called to schedule an appointment the service department answered the phone in the first couple rings. This was the 3rd Nissan dealer I had called and they were the first to answer within 10 rings (one of the others didn’t answer at all). They were also able to schedule my service for the following day.

Now, I know nothing about cars or engines so I can’t really attest to how well they know what they are doing under the hood but I did find out they know what they are doing when it comes to customer service.  Everyone was friendly and eager to answer any questions I had and my service was completed in a timely manner.

The biggest thing I noticed that set Oak Ridge Nissan apart from the rest was their service department waiting room. Not only was it much nicer than any other I’ve seen – nice comfortable seating instead of those hard plastic chairs – but the 48″ Plazma screen TV playing Saturday SEC college football really raised the bar!  Couple that with the fact that that I was able to connect to the nearby Arby’s free wireless Internet and that makes Oak Ridge Nissan the perfect place for a geek like Dad.

Now, if only they had a decent website that I could link to. 

Oak Ridge Nissan

Regardless of how you manage your money – the dreaded written budget, the cash flow plan, watch your purchases via your banks online services, or you balance your checkbook once a year or so - this is a simple tip virtually anyone can use to save some decent money every month.  The best part is that it takes very little time or effort.So, ready to find out how to trim your monthly expenses on 21st century “necessities” like cable, internet and phone service?  Use competition as leverage.

The best place to start is in your junk mail. We all get those introductory offers in the mail wanting us to switch from our current service provider to another one. Keep them, you’ll need them in just a minute. Or just jot down the details from commercials on the tube. Either way, you could actually switch your service and save money but then you have the hassle of installation visits, phone number portability (which isn’t a pleasant experience), etc.  That’s too much hassle.

Here’s an easier way. Call your current provider, tell them about the benefits of the competitors offer, faster speed, more channels, better price, etc… whatever the case may be.  Then tell them you really like their service and would like to stay but the other offer is very compelling.  Then, politely ask what they can do for you.

Many times you’ll get a decent discount offer immediately.  That simple.  If they still didn’t match the competitors offer, you can probably get more just by telling them you were hoping they could do better or you thought they’d be able to match the competitors offer.  Like taking risks, then you could even take it one step further.

When you make the call, you don’t want to be demanding or set limits that force you into cancelling if you don’t want to.

This approach should work if this is the first time you are trying to lower your cable monthly rate. For those that have done it a number of times, some cable companies are becoming a bit stricter. I have one friend who insist on the way to continue to get the best price is to say you are going to cancel and if they won’t offer you a better price, cancel. Most of the time they will relent before actually cancelling and the few times they haven’t (he’s been doing this for years) he simply calls up the next day and says he’s changed his mind and wants to continue the service.

It really does work… and it’s so simple.  Now go call your cable company and save some money.

More at Personal Finance Advice

Halloween is just around the corner and everyone’s favorite family craft for October is carving the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern.  If you’re like us, you pull a knife from the drawer and start cutting away.  Or, maybe you buy the $5 kit with a plastic carver and a guts scooper.  Those methods work okay if you aren’t too particular about how well your oversized squash turns out.  This year, there’s two new affordable tools out to help get the job done right.

The first one is no doubt the one Mom would choose here at the OneKnoxFamily house.  It’s the Van Vacter Pumpkin Knife and is perfectly designed to help you carve a perfect Jack and it’s not so dangerous that the kids may have to leave the room while you take care of business.  It features a rounded safety tip and a non-slip handle.

This second tool however is definitely designed for the man of the house and is made by Dremel.  The Pumpkin-Carving Drill Kit is an orange and black battery powered rotary tool.  The kit also comes with templates to use to help you carve out the best looking pumpkin on the block.

So whether you are a low-tech or high-tech personality (like Dad) you can get the right tool to make this pumpkin carving season perfect.

Via Unclutterer & Uncrate

Local Wal-Mart stores just started carrying an 11 inch tall Jesus doll created by Christian toy makers One2believe.  It was weird at first for me to think of Jesus as an action figure doll.  But then, my next thought was, I can’t believe this hasn’t been done before.  I’ll get back to what I think about it in just a moment.  First, here’s what some local Knoxvillians think about it.

First Baptist Church’s senior pastor, Bill Shiell, wonders if the toy sends the wrong message.

“To reduce Him to a doll purports to say that we somehow know what Jesus looked like and that we can play with Him as a figure much like we could play with any other object like Bob the Builder,” Pastor Shiell said.

Instead, Pastor Shiell says the best way to teach kids about Jesus is for parents to live out His message and read the scriptures to their children.

It’s not quite that simple, though. According to One2believe’s website, the doll comes with a mini-storybook and also quotes several bible verses audibly.

Now children can learn more about Jesus’ incredible Tale of Glory while they play! Jesus narrates his own biography, and also quotes key memory verses from the Bible, including Mark 12:30, Mark 12:31 and John 3:16. Our unique start/stop function allows children to pause and restart the story at any point.

If we are relying only on parents to teach their children about Christ what about children of non-christian parents?  I don’t see this as bad thing and if it’s able to reach children who may not hear of Him otherwise, awesome!

One2believe also has several other “Messengers of Faith” figures and other Christian based toys as well, check them out.  What do you think?

More here