Personal video recorder (PVR)
If you have a tendency to miss your favourite show because you have yet to pack the kids' lunches, give the dog a bath, pay the bills, get dinner on the table...then a digital cable box may be your saving grace. "Given that most moms of this era are managing multiple things, a PVR allows her to tape live TV and to prerecord programs," says Buksh. "You can also pause live TV. So if one of the kids gets up from bed, you can pause the show and come back to it just as if you paused a DVD." A PVR can also help manage children's television consumption, by recording your kids' favourite shows so that viewing can be split up throughout the week.
Top pick: Depends on your particular cable company and desired features -- prices range anywhere from $399 to $799.
Digital imaging software
You've taken tons of digital photos of your children. Now what do you do with them all? Get creative with photo-editing software. Just upload your pictures to your computer, launch the program and create scrapbooks, cards, photo albums, calendars and more to print right at home. If you're not creatively inclined, you can get help from an image service lab, such as the one through Best Buy, which allows you to upload and share images, to insert photos into calendars and photo books, and to archive your pictures on CD.
Top pick: Keepsakes Scrapbook Designer, which has 5,000 project designs, 50,000 images and 1,200 decorative fonts for $49.99.
What did that say?
Can't keep up with your kids' messaging lingo? Here are some of the top text abbreviations and some helpful translation sites.
B/F: Boyfriend
B4N: Bye for now
BBS: Be back soon
BRB: Be right back
CU: See you
F2F: Face to face
G/F: Girlfriend
GR8: Great
HRU: How are you?
ILBL8: I'll be late
L8R: Later
LOL: Laughing out loud
MOS: Mother over shoulder
NOYB: None of your business
PLZ: Please
QIK: Quick
SRY: Sorry
SUP? : What's up?
THX: Thanks
TTYL: Talk to you later
UR: Your/you're
WKD: Weekend
X: Kiss
XLent: Excellent
Check out these sites for more text message translations:
Transl8it!
T9 text Fast
Webopedia: Text Messaging Abbreviations
Page 2 of 2
Comment reported
Thank you for reporting this comment as inappropriate.
Back to Comments »