Trick-or-treat!  These words bring back images from my childhood as well as new traditions with my own family.  The custom can bring out the best from children, the worst from teens, and is loved and hated by adults.  Still, Halloween marks the start of the autumn and winter holiday season, commercialism and all.

When it comes to Halloween costumes, I have always pulled the working mom excuse and bought costumes for my kids.  Sometimes we got hand-me-downs or found deals at costume swap events, but for the most part, we forked over large sums of money for costumes. This year was different!  I was somehow inspired to make my daughter’s costume and it cost less than five dollars.  If you’re already crafty and can sew, move along, you will be seriously underwhelmed!

Balance can be extremely difficult to achieve especially if you are a control-freak perfectionist.  Unless of course, you choose balance itself to master.  Over the years, I have strived to "have it all", from work, to personal life, and finally family.  Once the kids came however, everything was thrown out the window.  Now that my oldest child is nearly nine years old, I have finally found a sense of balance in most areas of my life, although it sometimes comes crashing down like a house of cards.  Here are some of my tips to help achieve balance.

I have always struggled to get my son to eat healthy foods, as witnessed by his complete refusal to eat fruit.  Vitamin supplements are the next best thing right?  We all know that’s not true.  But when should you rely on vitamins and where do you draw the line on vitamins and supplements?

You can put me squarely into the category of “overachieving Asian”, thanks to my parents' policy of paying me a dollar for every perfect “100” I scored on a test.  Anything less and I would get nothing.  Pay for grades?  Does that actually work?  In my case it seemed to.