Mobile Apps for a Mom's Frayed Nerves

As a busy mom, you have multitude of tasks to accomplish in a day. You often wish if there are ways to keep your life better organized. Fret not, the onslaught of mobile apps are here to keep your life easy, relaxed, productive and organized. Among the thousands of apps that are available, check out few mobile apps that can come in handy when your hands are full. Though these may not entirely take the load off your shoulders, they will definitely ease your worries and keep you entertained. 

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Mommaps: One of the things that every mom wonders, are different ways to keep her child(ren) entertained. Mommaps will search for kid playgrounds, play areas, eating joints, museums and other interesting places for the kids to have fun!  This useful app is available on Iphone and Android. Areas are restricted to the US, (San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Orange County, Hawaii, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, New York City, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City,  Boise, Phoenix, Denver, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas) Canada (Vancouver, Montreal), Europe (Paris and France).  About 28,000 locations in these areas to let you know where you could take your child for a quick bite or let him play or discover. This is available for Iphone and Android.

MyFitnessPal: Keep track of your and your child’s health & fitness through MyFitnesspal. This app has an exhaustive database of food items that you can search and add to your list.  It also allows you to add any items that are missing on the list. Track your fitness goals with each serving of different types of food that you and your child eats along with the amount of exercise or physical activity that you do for the day.  It analyses the daily diet and warns about the possible impact of the weight in the future. Let your friends know about your fitness goals through its social networking functionality. Go ahead and try the cool app that keeps you and your family fit. This is available for Iphone, Blackberry, Android, Ipad and Windows Phone.

Mint’s Personal Finance App: One of the most popular among the mobile finance apps that have received thousands of positive reviews. This safe and secure app aggregates information from your different types of accounts, including investment and retirement account to show analysis between the inflow and the outflow of your money. You do not need to enter transactions except while you make cash purchases.  You can also setup alerts to pay bills, fees and will warn you when the account balance goes low. Make use of the attractive graphs to track your financial goals and milestones. Organize all financial transactions in a single place and synchronize them across the devices such as Iphone, Ipad and the Web. This app is available for Iphone and Android.

Fridge Pal: Have you wondered, if the items that are part of your shopping list, are already in the fridge or not? Fridge Pal is a great grocery-shopping assistant that helps you add the items in your fridge or cabinet and even keeps track of its expiry date. Barcode scanner enables faster entry of products into your list.  Next time you are at the store, simply scan the barcode and Fridgepal will tell you if you have the food item at home or not. Store the food products as per storage areas as panty, freezer and fridge. Create your personal cookbook by searching for recipes online for the ingredients that you have. This app is available for Iphone and Ipad. 

Evernote:  Do you feel the need to grab a paper to jot down things, when you have thousands of things running in your mind? Evernote is your personal assistant who aids to capture what you see, hear and like. Stay on top of things with to-do lists and event reminders. Use your voice for audio notes and reminders. Take snapshots of bills, receipts, books, and reduce the hassle of noting things down. Share your notes through email, Facebook and Twitter.  Stay organized by accessing and synchronizing all your notes across devices and desktops. Look up locations, events, phone numbers, notes and more on the go, anywhere, anytime. Evernote is available for Iphone and Android.

Groupon: Get fresh and hot deals on great stuffs to purchase and make great savings! Browse through unbeatable discounts and cool offers on dining, clothes, spa treatments, gym and other great deals around 500 cities around the world. You can buy and redeem the coupons immediately through your mobile. This app also tracks the expiry date of each coupon by location. You can even personalize the app to show the deals, which are relevant based on your age, gender and zip code. You can also gift great deals to your near and dear ones.

WhiteNoise: If you have difficulty falling asleep or making your children sleep, this app will help you a great deal. This nifty app has the right sounds to make you feel better and relaxes you before it lulls you or your children to sleep. Human mind is accustomed to hearing familiar sounds such as the sound of a fan, air conditioner, flowing water, raindrops, fire logs, chimes, shower, washing machine and so on. Studies show that the presence of familiar sound has considerable influence on the quality of sleep. White noise blocks other noises and signals your brain to slow down. This handy app will give you a restful night’s sleep almost anywhere. It is a great app for insomniacs. This is available for Iphone, Android, and Blackberry.

Amazon Mobile: You can find almost anything under the earth on Amazon that comes with great deals.  Compare the cost of an item, read reviews, search for a product and much more on Amazon Mobile. You can simply scan the barcode of a product item or take a snapshot to search for a product. Amazon Remembers feature uses the camera of your phone to take pictures of the product that you wish to purchase and builds a wish list. It tries matching a product at Amazon and gives review, price comparison and deals that come with the product. Use a single app for universal shopping of Amazon’s products in Italy, France, Germany, China, Japan, Spain, US and the UK from a single app.  This app is available for Iphone and Android. Download this app for Iphone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone.

WebMD: Is your child down with a fever? Do you want to know the reasons, symptoms, treatment for it? WebMD lists hundreds of ailments, injuries and other medical emergencies with detailed information along with drug and treatment advice. The first aid information section lists all the steps that you could do for a medical condition before you visit the doctor or hospital. This medical encyclopedia gives in-depth information to ease your health worries and concerns. This is available for Iphone, Android and Blackberry.

What are your favorite apps? How has it made your life better? Leave your comment…

Nurture a Musical Genius

Parents often wonder and search for ways that can sharpen the skills of their child. A child learns easily through play, and hence the current generation technology and innovative ideas make it easier for a child to choose skills that suit him/her.  “Play and learn” concept believes in unleashing the creativity of a child in a variety of ways.  The brain of your child is a sponge capable of absorbing mammoth information. Child psychologists thus believe that exposing a child to various skills in the early years is important as it can shape the interest and personality of a child. 

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Among the many skills that your child learns during the first five years are motor skills, emotional wellbeing, language skills, critical/logical thinking, social skills and musical skills. Learning music is similar to learning a language.  Sooner a child is exposed to musical activities richer becomes his musical aptitude.  Activities include singing, chanting, dancing or moving to music or playing a musical instrument. Cognitive development is significant through learning music.  In an era when parents consider Math and Science as the prime subjects, there is also a shift in the attitude towards art and music.  University studies on students confirm that students trained in music have greater memory recall and have more concentration and attention skills than students who are untrained in music.

You can create a musically conducive environment to help your child learn or appreciate music. There are vast resources that help to expose the child to music. Many moms expose the unborn baby to the music right from the womb. After birth, play classical music at play or sleep time and encourage your child to listen and appreciate the music.  You can also play or practice a musical instrument to your baby to draw his attention.  Develop basic music knowledge with simple musical instruments with a musical keyboard, wind, brass, string or percussion instruments.  Market is full of toys, which focuses music and sound enabling the kids to explore music in their own way. Piano, xylophone, drum set, mini keyboard, and music players are some innovative toys that throng the toy shelves. 

Expose your child to singing, which is another form of music. Sing to your child his favorite songs, make up your own songs or encourage him to sing his own songs. Toy microphones, karaoke sets, sing along CD players, boom boxes are some musical toys to help your child get started with vocal singing. 

Once your child develops a musical sense, start his music lessons to improve his musical talent. Children as young as three or four have an innate sense to learn music. Turn on the spark and watch your child learn and enjoy music to make way for a well-rounded individual.

The Wonder Herb - Ginseng

Ancient traditional medicine used various types of plants, herbs and spices to treat a number of ailments. Natural or alternate medicine is gaining momentum since people are increasingly keen on using natural medicine to cure modern-day illnesses. A wide range of natural and herbal supplements is making its way into the medicine cabinets of many households. Ginseng has been in the spotlight in the recent years due to its high potency to repair and restore health of the body, mind and soul.  No wonder, natural medicine considers this herb as the king of the herbs due to its cure-all properties.

 

Read more at http://www.infobarrel.com/The_Wonder_Herb_-_Ginseng#BzeDlKcAxak9KI50.99

Surprising Health Benefits of Pumpkin

For most of us, Pumpkin is synonymous with Jack-O’-lantern for the Halloween Day. They take up the prominent role in cakes, cookies and costumes.  People consider pumpkin as funny, cute and an innovative fruit.  There is certainly more than what meets the eye. A large number of people are oblivious to the amazing and the super health benefits of this humble fruit.

Read more at http://www.infobarrel.com/Amazing_benefits_of_Pumpkin#d6ZDDroZVoJ0Dcte.99