Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts

Friday, April 3, 2009

Earth Day 2009

Earth Day is April 22 so I thought I'd put together a "little" mention about that. (It seems impossible for me to write a short anything.) I remember talking about Earth Day in elementary school and getting excited about participating in something that people all over the world were involved with at the same time. It somehow made me feel globally connected. (I didn't travel far outside my hometown of 400 and these were the days before the internet.) I remember that we had a little parade up to Main Street and I "reported" on it for our short-lived faux news channel. In a class of 17 children, we didn't have the resources that kids in the metro area have now. (And we had to walk to school uphill in 2 feet of snow, barefoot.)


Back in 1988-ish, Earth Day was a nice thing to talk about, but it didn't have the urgency that it does today. I remember our main concerns being oil spills and cleaning up litter around waterways. Boy, if those were the only things we had to worry about today. Now, every day during the summer, I have to check the Air Quality Index to see if my child will be allowed to go outside at recess. Oh, and by the way, the arctic ice that helps cool the Earth is melting faster than expected and a new study shows that it could be completely gone in 30 years, so get ready for a heat wave! Ugh.



Last year, we bought her this book, It's Earth Day! by Mercer Mayer at Wal-Mart. We've always loved that author and this seemed like a good way to introduce environmental responsibility. In the book, Little Critter finds out that the polar ice is melting, so he embarks on a mission to help save the polar bears by recycling, etc. We decided that this was an easy, albeit not entirely accurate, way to engage a then two-year-old in discussions about conserving energy. So, whenever she runs the water too long, stands with the fridge open for several minutes, or forgets to turn a light off, we chime, "Anna, we need to save the polar bears!" This is a cause she can get behind. Who doesn't love polar bears?! I saw this link this morning that the Arctic nations are taking steps to help save the polar bears. The KC Zoo is supposed to be getting a polar bear exhibit in the next couple of years, so that is exciting!


We observed Earth Hour on March 28 and it was surprisingly fun, as we played some board games by the fire with champagne (for me), while I Twittered on my new iPhone. We had explained to Anna that this was another way to help the polar bears and she even insisted on going to the bathroom in the dark. She actually got upset when we used electricity instead of flashlights the next morning. My heart swelled with pride last night as she picked up one of Roy's empty pop cans (that he leaves all over the downstairs) and brought it upstairs to put in the recycle bin.



Last year, we bought adorable organic cotton t-shirts from Wal-Mart and they have new designs this year for the whole family, including a maternity version. These range in price from $4 to $6. We had to get ours fairly early last year because they were selling out, so get there soon. This year's designs were all "inspired by" celebrities, including Keith Urban, Jewel, Demi Lavato, Beyonce and Gavin Rossdale.




Wal-Mart has a whole section of their website devoted to Earth Month. Here are a few other products that caught my eye. Sesame Street video, Ziploc Evolve bags, shelving and Planet Earth DVDs (which we have, but haven't watched yet).


Some other ideas I use: recyclable toothbrush, canvas shopping bags for $1 and recycling other plastic bags at grocery stores, Starbucks cup that gets you 10 cents off every time you use it, save leftover fast food napkins to use at home, take old catalogs to Anna's school to use for art projects, Ideal Bite, "An Inconvenient Truth", "The 11th Hour".


There is the related issue of THE HORRIBLE THINGS WE ARE DOING TO OUR OCEANS, but I could write a whole other post on that and this one is getting too long!
I'd love to hear ideas that you use to help save the polar bears!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Another "New Moon" cast member added..


BBC News is reporting that 20 year-old Jamie Campbell Bower has been cast as Volturi vampire Caius for “New Moon.” The British actor’s first big screen credit was Anthony Hope in Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd.” Bower might just get along great with “Twilight’s” leading man and fellow Brit, Rob Pattinson. Bower is also a musician and last year he had a small part as a rock star in Guy Ritchie’s “RocknRolla.” Maybe we’ll see a Pattinson/Bower collaboration on the “New Moon” soundtrack?


In the book, Caius is described as having shoulder-length, white hair and “paper-thin skin.” An outspoken member of the Volturi leaders, Caius threatens Bella’s life and forces a decision that shapes her future with Edward. He is also the only one of the Volturi leaders that does not possess a special gift beyond normal vampiric abilities.


If Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, comes to the screen, the calculating Caius would likely be called on again as he plays a big role in the showdown between good and evil.


News on the casting of the Italian vampires for “New Moon” continues to trickle in. Last week, I reported that Canadian model Noot Seear was chosen to play the sexy vamp Heidi and the role of uniquely gifted Jane went to Dakota Fanning earlier this month.


What do you think? Are you surprised Chris Weitz has tapped a 20 year-old to play one of the ancient vampires?
Update: I wrote this under the impression that it would be used on MTV Movies Blog again. They didn't end up needing it so I posted it here because it was already written. I will not attempt to make this a "Twilight" news blog.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The mysteries of toddlers explained

Finally, someone has unlocked the secrets to why toddlers don't do what they're told.

"If you just repeat something again and again that requires your young child to prepare for something in advance, that is not likely to be effective," Munakata said. "What would be more effective would be to somehow try to trigger this reactive function. So don't do something that requires them to plan ahead in their mind, but rather try to highlight the conflict that they are going to face. Perhaps you could say something like 'I know you don't want to take your coat now, but when you're standing in the yard shivering later, remember that you can get your coat from your bedroom."

I'm so glad they cleared that up. Now I won't have to pull my hair out every time Anna ignores me. Instead of saying, "Go to bed now!", I should say, "Hey, you can stay up and play all night if you want to, but tomorrow when I fall asleep on the couch because you were jumping on my bed so I wasn't able to get any sleep and you decide to fix yourself some lunch and you burn down the house, the number you'll want to dial is 911 and you'll realize then that you should get some sleep tonight. Although it may be difficult since we'll be sleeping in the van and it is likely to get cold, so be sure and take a blanket because you'll want it later."

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Remember when the worst thing your kid could pick up at school was bad grammar? Me either.


I'm having one of my parental freak-out moments. I try to avoid watching the news because it only upsets me. I know that Roy will fill me in on anything important, so I let him be my filter. He knows not to share anything sad involving children that I absolutely don't need to know. Now that I'm home, I'm getting more info than I'm used to.

For instance, after working very hard to reformat my resume in Word (a program that I LOATHE for anything other than basic note-taking) I needed a little breather. I turned on the TV to watch a few minutes of mindless BS and unwind. Unfortunately, the first thing I saw was local news talking about someone being arrested for possession of these lovely little drugs disguised as children's vitamins.



I immediately started hyperventilating because now I have to warn my 3 year-old not to take vitamins that anyone other than myself offers her. And I'm supposed to be safe in the knowledge that she will understand the danger and obey me. Please--I can't get the kid to brush her teeth 50% of the time. Is she honestly going to listen to me when I say, "Don't take yummy, fun-shaped candy from nice strangers (or unsuspecting children) that offer it"?! I can hear the dialogue in her little mind..."Mean Mommy tells me to do things that I don't want to do, like going to bed. Mean Mommy doesn't want me to do anything fun, like go to the store in only my princess underwear and Hello Kitty boots."

For the record, I was a staunch opponent of capital punishment before I had a child; now the issue is a little cloudy for me. People who exploit children like this should be subjected to the absolute worst form of punishment imaginable. I don't want to get too graphic, but it would involve wire cutters, a pack of dingoes and the Hanson CD.

Go home and hug your kid.