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Past Talks
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Nov.15.2010 1:00pm ESTFamily Dinner: Talking with Laurie David About Great Ways to Connect With Your Kids One Meal At a Time
Laurie David, whose new book "Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect With Your Kids One Meal At a Time" just came out last week and is already in its second printing (!), is leading a chat on all aspects of getting our families to the table and enjoying the food and time together. Co-hosting with her are a fabulous group of mom bloggers!! Here's what Tom Hanks said about Laurie's book: “If you can muster the energy for only one tool to raising a healthy family, make it having family dinner. This book will help you make those meals easy, fun, and of lasting impact.” And Dean Ornish said this, “A great fun cookbook, but it’s so much more than that — it’s an empowering recipe for joy, health, and healing.” Join us for a GREAT conversation!! http://thefamilydinnerbook.com/ http://www.lauriedavid.com
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The Forum
disney crazed moms
for all moms who love disney themselves or have kids who cant get enough disney.
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla SDisney upgrades, updates California Adventure Park ANAHEIM, Calif. — Like Cinderella, the Disney California Adventure Park has toiled out of the spotlight while its sister park, Disneyland, got all the attention. But just as in the classic Disney animated feature, for this second Walt Disney theme park located right next door to Disneyland, its prince has finally come. That prince arrives in the form of a $1 billion enhancement of Disney California Adventure — more than Disney originally spent to build the theme park 10 years ago. Yet, that investment is how Disney, the maestro of theme parks and owner of the world's most popular facilities, is hoping to dash some pixie dust on one of its rare missteps. Visitors during the summer rush will see, for the first time, more tangible signs of Disney waving its wand over a park that hasn't lived up to the company's standards. This year marks the fourth in a five-year plan to turn Disney California Adventure into a park that can hold its own, or at least proudly stand next to the 56-year-old theme park masterpiece designed by Walt Disney himself. A makeover of the entrance, as well as new rides, restaurants and shops are being unveiled this month, urging visitors turned off by the facility's rocky beginnings to step inside again. "People will be pretty amazed at how different it is," says Kathy Magnum, a vice president with Disney's Imagineering unit who is in charge of many aspects of the park's upgrades. The stakes for Disney are large. Amusement parks, part of the company's Parks and Resorts unit, are a significant part of Disney, accounting for 28% of revenue and 17% of profit last year. And Disney's theme parks have more employees than any of its other businesses. Besides, the parks are what give Disney the aura that makes it one of the most recognizable and respected brands in the world. Keep reading: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2011-07-07-disney-california-adventure_n.htmViewJuly.8th.2011
Share the Love
The home of theMotherhood zenwalk; A circle where we remember that any little gesture can make a big difference. Any news, ideas or events that made a difference in someone's life. Sweet and thoughtful things your child, your friend, a stranger or an organization did today. Any news that highlighted a good cause. Every day we're bombarded with not-so-good news, it's nice to read some HAPPY and uplifting news that can definitely make everyone smile. So, share the love, you'll get more of it in return! Join in and share any little things that made you or anyone smile!
LATEST POSTED BY: Erin OThis is going to be a cool site! It's an online service that matches moms with potential friends in their area. So if you're a mom looking for new friends in the same parenting boat, or moving to a new area where you don’t know anyone, this is the kind of “friend matchmaking” service that might help you start a new IRL community. If you sign up now with the word "Booth" in the comment line, you'll get a free, unlimited membership once they officially launch. http://www.mom-ami.com/ViewJanuary.24th.2012
Quick and Easy Recipes
Sometimes, it's wonderful to spend all afternoon lovingly creating a special meal. But most of the time, you have guests coming over in twenty minutes and you haven't started cooking yet. These are the recipes for those times. Quick, easy, reliable, and GOOD!
LATEST POSTED BY: HollandI wouldn't believe it but these have gone over like gangbusters TWICE for my kids (12,7) and husband.
KALE CHIPS
Ingredients
1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
Directions
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.
With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.
allrecipes.comViewNovember.30th.2011
Sandwich Generation
Caught between taking care of your own kids and your aging parents? We understand. Join us. Let's help each other through this. Together we can be the Ham in the Sandwich Generation!
LATEST POSTED BY: QuiltndollmakerPoor Dad, when he takes my Mom shopping with him for any thing she is just interested in giving out suckers to every kid she comes close to. Mom is not the same since she spent 12 weeks in ICU a few years ago....ViewNovember.8th.2011
TechMamas
This is a circle for parents to come and discuss technology and gadgets as it pertains to family life.
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla SCES: 10 Over-Hyped Gadgets SmartMoney.com - Senior consumer reporter and "Deal of Day" columnist Kelli B. Grant traveled booth to booth at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to find the best, the worst, and the most-hyped gadgets and gizmos. Read her dispatches at Pay Dirt. One will weigh your baby and send each reading to a linked smartphone app. Another is supposed to alert dog owners via text message when Spike escapes the yard. And then there's the Solowheel -- which is essentially a battery-powered unicycle that retails for a whopping $1,800. This week, as thousands poured into the Las Vegas Convention Center for the Consumer Electronics Show, Americans got a glimpse of the not-too-distant future. But they also got a peek at a lot of products that critics say may never see the light of day, or have some other quirks. Here are ten that may fit that category. Click here for the photo gallery: http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/technology/ces-10-of-the-most-overhyped-gadgets-1326409783882/?grcc=ec78f5a6319fe2c11f6480f670386217Z3&mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_personalfinanceViewJanuary.16th.2012Moms in Social Media
Mothers have taken to social media in a big way. Are you participating in online social networks? Do you want to get more involved in social networks? Need an excuse to spend more time in social networks? Join our circle.
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla SGoogle search undergoes 'most radical transformation ever' (CNN) -- Google search is about to get way more personal. In a change that's been called the "most radical transformation ever" to Google's search engine, the Mountain View, California, company on Tuesday announced an update called "Search, plus Your World," which causes Google's robots to incorporate data from its social network as well as the public Internet when delivering search results to people. "Search is pretty amazing at finding that one needle in a haystack of billions of Web pages, images, videos, news and much more," Google said in a blog post on Tuesday morning. "But clearly, that isn't enough. You should also be able to find your own stuff on the Web, the people you know and things they've shared with you, as well as the people you don't know but might want to ... all from one search box." The company added: "Search is simply better with your world in it." On the prominent blog Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan writes that the updates fundamentally change the way Google's search engine functions, calling it the "most radical" change ever. "The new system will perhaps make life much easier for some people, allowing them to find both privately shared content from friends and family plus material from across the Web through a single search, rather than having to search twice using two different systems," he writes. "However, Search Plus Your World may cause some privacy worries, as private content may appear as if it is exposed publicly (it is not). It might also cause concern by making private content more visible to friends and family than those sharing may have initially intended." Keep reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/10/tech/web/google-search-plus/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6ViewJanuary.11th.2012Healthy Moms, Healthy Families
As mothers, we're always paying attention to health issues--our families' as well as our own. This circle is dedicated to keeping everyone we love healthy--including ourselves!
LATEST POSTED BY: Deborah15 Ways to Eat Healthy Without Breaking the Bank.... I am very committed to eating really healthfully and feeding my family as much nutritious food as possible. Many people complain to me that they can’t buy fresh, organic food because it’s too expensive. It’s interesting to me that 100 years ago we spent twenty-five percent of our disposable income on food and now we only spend ten percent. Furthermore, we’re actually consuming more food than before, while getting fatter and sicker. But I do think we’re starting to make the connection that we have a lot of cheap food in this country, and that cheap food has hidden costs—to our physical bodies, as well as the environment. To read on: http://www.positivelypositive.com/2012/01/30/eat-well/ViewFebruary.2nd.2012
Kids's Health
Let's share tips, information, articles, idea, resources, etc. on kids food, menus, and health.
LATEST POSTED BY: Erin OStress we face as children stays with us The idea that the adversity we experience as children will go on to wound us forever riles me as being particularly unjust. But that’s exactly what Dr. Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center, explained a few weeks ago, when we spoke by phone about her research on stress, anxiety and addiction. “The stress and motivational systems in the brain are really susceptible to learning and adaptation,” said Sinha. “As children we begin to adapt to our environment and learn things from it. If a child has a pervasive sense of adversity in his or her childhood for whatever reason, the brain responds to that kind of hardship by becoming more sensitized to stress. It gets hard-wired to react much more strongly than someone else who didn’t experience a lot of turmoil. So, to some extent, you will always have an elevated level of stress.” “Fascinating.” I replied calmly, when what I was really thinking was: “That is so bloody unfair!” I was nine when I fled the Iranian revolution and it would be another four years of going from country to country before I would see my immediate family again. Am I really doomed to lifelong vulnerability to stress, depression and possibly addiction over something I had no power to change? How many people have any control over their fractured childhoods? It is exactly when we are all at our most helpless and vulnerable. “What kinds of adversities are we talking about?” I asked. “Parents’ conflict, physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, witnessing violence, loss of a parent, dealing with a parent who has a mental illness or addictive disorder. Also, divorce. But that doesn’t mean that all divorce will be in that category. There’s always the issue of how it’s handled. But in general, divorce has been related to stress-related disorders and addictive behavior as well.” “What about bullying?” I asked, recalling a recent Youtube video made by a young boy who was being taunted to within an inch of his life. “I haven’t personally seen data,” said Sinha, “but that may be among the types of stressors that lead to risk.” “If our stress system is so adaptive, then how come it doesn’t just adapt to these higher levels of stress? What happened to ‘that which does not kill us makes us stronger?’” “That’s a valid question,” Sinha explained. “The stress pathway is developing during childhood. The stress system needs time to grow and become fully functional. The same goes for the reward system, the pleasure pathway which responds to high-fat, high-sugar foods. So you’re right, we are one of the most adaptive animals, but we also take a long time to develop and it is during that period of development when we want to protect our children. And unfortunately that is eroding, in terms of children who have to live with all kinds of adversity.” Read more: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/07/stress-we-face-as-children-stays-with-us/?hpt=hp_bn10ViewDecember.7th.2011Get the Chemicals Out
(Yes, I renamed this circle!) With more and more chemicals showing up in food and more and more people worried about it and thinking about it, I thought this could be a good circle to discuss those issues!
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla SPediatricians Seek Better Regulation of Toxins USAToday.com - The U.S. needs to do a better job protecting children and pregnant women from toxic chemicals, says a policy statement out today from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The group says children's developing brains and bodies are far more vulnerable than adults' to toxins. And while pediatricians typically spend more time in the clinic than on Capitol Hill, the policy's authors say they felt compelled to advocate for patients who can't defend themselves. "Kids don't vote," says pediatrician Jerome Paulson of Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., lead author of the statement. The pediatrics group is the latest of a growing number of medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association and American Public Health Association— to call for changes in the way that the government regulates dangerous chemicals. MORE: A list of potentially dangerous chemicals The Toxic Substances Control Act hasn't been updated since 1976, Paulson says. That law treats chemicals as "innocent until proven guilty," which puts the burden on the government to prove something is harmful, says pediatrician Harvey Karp, a longtime environmental advocate who was not involved in the new policy. The current law is so weak that the Environmental Protection Agency wasn't even able to use it to ban asbestos, says Sarah Janssen, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. In all, the law has been used to regulate just five chemicals or chemical classes out of the 80,000 chemicals used by businesses, Paulson says. And although companies are required to notify the EPA about new chemicals, they aren't require to test chemicals for safety. Only about 15% of these notifications include health or safety test data, according to the Government Accountability Office. Yet there's growing evidence that children face real harm from chemicals in their homes, schools and communities, Janssen says. Three studies published last week, for example, found that children exposed to the highest levels of pesticides before birth had lower IQ scores than other kids. Other studies have found that boys exposed before birth to the highest levels of phthalates — chemicals widely used in plastic — were more likely to be born with anatomical defects such as undescended testes. Continue: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/pediatrics/story/2011/04/Pediatricians-seek-better-regulation-of-toxins/46474962/1ViewApril.25th.2011Education Talk
All education talk. All the time.
LATEST POSTED BY: Brandie"They Shot Him, Papa!": Finding Smarter Ways to Talk to Kids About Diversity David Valdes Greenwood Teaching children about diversity can be a tricky proposition. In the "No Child Left Behind" era, so much time is devoted to preparing students for test-taking that old school subjects like good citizenship, social behavior, and community values may get short shrift. (There is, after all, no standardized test for "plays well with others.") Multiculturalism -- so widely emphasized in the Marlo Thomas 70's -- often ends up limited to theme days and special projects. When my daughter was in Kindergarten, the subject of diversity did not arise in her class until Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This is how we found out that they were talking about race: over dinner, she announced that Martin Luther King Jr. wanted people with white skin and brown skin to be friends but people got mad so they shot him. While that is not an inaccurate summary of the history involved, it does pretty much foreground the assassination and diminish the rest of his accomplishments. It's a little depressing to think that the legacy of Dr. King's life could be boiled down into "Equality will get you killed." Obviously, race murder was not the subject we'd expected to be discussing when we asked "How was school, honey?" so we probed to find out what else she had learned. All she could remember was that people have different skin colors and that some people really don't like people with brown skin. As a mixed race girl in a school 95% white, this was not a small thing to ponder. This theme continued all week at school, with her classmates making paints to match their own skin colors, which I assume was meant to be empowering, but which only cemented the notion of pigment being key. I was volunteering in class that week and was asked to make a rainbow using the skin colors labeled by student name; I counter-proposed and suggested a collage, with all the colors mixed. Both ideas are ways of saying "we're all in this together" but the second approach moved away from any kind of spectrum in which similar colors would be closest to each other. Click the link to continue reading: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-valdes-greenwood/talking-to-kids-about-diversity_b_1193801.html?ncid=webmail11ViewJanuary.16th.2012
Centsible Moms
Centsible Moms is a place to discuss saving money, making smart money choices, and living a centsible life. This isn't just for the frugal minded moms, maybe you want to spave (spend to save), or you want to get rid of the stuff you could care less about so you can spend more time and more money on the things you do care about. Living a centsible life is all about making smart choices, and being able to manage your money, whether you're a stay at home mom, or a CEO.
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla SHmm...is this 'centsible' or just plain weird? ___________ Why your grandma swipes sugar packets CNN - If you build it, they will come. And if you put it on the table, chances are someone is going to take it. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, condiment sachets, paper napkins, individual coffee creamers, cracker packets, and just about anything else “not wrapped for individual sale” that can easily be stuffed into purses and/or pockets without a single qualm. Whether it’s your best friend, grandma, crazy uncle or maybe even yourself doing the lifting, evidence of the petty pilfering can be found in drawers and car glove boxes across the nation – each with their own little cache of restaurant and sugar caddy bounty. Diane Merrits of Orlando, Florida, says she saves money this way. She hasn’t had to buy coffee creamer in years, takes extra ketchup packets at fast food restaurants and saves all the leftover condiments sachets when she orders delivery. She even washes and reuses plastic tableware because “it is good for the environment and better than wasting money.” “It’s easy for some people to say – to rationalize – taking these items is not going to have an impact. 'No one is going to feel it if I take five Sweet N’Lows,'” says Kristene Doyle, psychologist and the Associate Executive Director of the Albert Ellis Institute. For those people, it’s the restaurant's way of paying it forward. “Although there is an unwritten understanding that condiments and small spices or ingredients for making the food served at restaurants more flavorful are there for limited use, some people choose to see this as an unpaid bonus of having come to the restaurant,” agrees Patricia Farrell, clinical psychologist and author of “How to Be Your Own Therapist.” Farrell adds some of the caddy swipers might say to themselves, “It's there for me, isn't it? Why shouldn't I take it? If they only wanted me to have a little bit, why didn't they just put out a little bit?” - an example of what psychologists call attribution of responsibility.ViewJanuary.13th.2012Inspirations
This is the place to talk about the people and things that inspire you to grow, to change, to try harder and do better today than you did yesterday. Who knows--maybe you will inspire someone else!
LATEST POSTED BY: BrandieMy note: I struggled where to place this. But I ultimately decided here, because I think Jenny sharing is inspirational to everyone who struggles with depression. The fight goes on. by The Bloggess http://thebloggess.com/2012/01/the-fight-goes-on/ If you follow me on twitter you already know that I’ve been battling off one of the most severe bouts of depression I’ve ever had. Yesterday it started to pass, and for the first time in weeks I cried with relief instead of with hopelessness. Depression can be crippling, and deadly. I’m lucky that it’s a rare thing for me, and that I have a support system to lean on. I’m lucky that I’ve learned that depression lies to you, and that you should never listen to it, in spite of how persuasive it is at the time. When cancer sufferers fight, recover, and go into remission we laud their bravery. We call them survivors. Because they are. When depression sufferers fight, recover and go into remission we seldom even know, simply because so many suffer in the dark…ashamed to admit something they see as a personal weakness…afraid that people will worry, and more afraid that they won’t. We find ourselves unable to do anything but cling to the couch and force ourselves to breathe. Click the link to continue readingViewJanuary.3rd.2012Sustainable, Organic Lifestyles
There's a new lifestyle choice out there.. promoting sustainable, organic living! It's not as difficult as it sounds.....Check it out!
LATEST POSTED BY: Hope M. HillI just heard the news that our community now has a community garden in the works. I am so excited to hear that! I'm hoping to make a donation of leftovers from my greenhouse. Do you have a community garden? I am hoping lots of volunteers out there can make this a success for our area. With the ever-rising gas and grocery prices, the more people can do for themselves the better. The term "Victory Gardens" have an ever-increasing prevalence in everyday communities.ViewMay.16th.2011
Travel Tips (for the family and beyond)
Vacation season is upon us! I don't know about you but we already have the first part of our summer booked up with travel, in and out of the country. I started this circle in the hopes that we can all share traveling tips with each other. What works for you? This is the first time I will be traveling with kids (preschool and infant). I am specifically looking for tips on traveling with the infant. Where have you traveled with your little ones? Can you offer any good suggestions related to airports, flying, hotels, amusement parks, etc.?
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla S$99 rates and other Thanksgiving hotel deals USAToday.com - Trying to avoid staying at Aunt Beverly's house on Thanksgiving night? A number of hotels across the USA are ready to accommodate, so it's worth shopping for discounts or value-added packages. In case you're headed to New York, Philly, Washington D.C. or San Diego, Hotel Check-In rounded up a few, select deals that haven't been widely publicized so you still stand a good chance of taking advantage. Philly: The most urgent of the deals is a $99 call-in rate at Philadelphia's Sofitel hotel is offering that you must book today by 8 p.m. The rate's a good 50% off what you might otherwise pay that night, and it also includes Wi-Fi. A hotel executive shared it with me via Twitter. The non-refundable rate's good for any night from Sunday, Nov. 20, through Monday, Nov. 28. Book it by calling (215) 569-8300. Continue reading for more deals: http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2011/11/sofitel-hotel-philadelphia-99-thanksgiving-deal/567871/1?loc=interstitialskipViewNovember.21st.2011Clean and Organize inside and out.
I hope to tie together that when we are not ordered in our surroundings, then we are not ordered in our minds either. For some, the mind must be ordered first. For others, the mind can't focus till the surrounding have been uncluttered.
LATEST POSTED BY: robinI really (really) struggle with clutter in terms of paperwork pile-up in my office! I need help and support in this area. Thanks for this circle!ViewMay.13th.2010
Television: What we watch
From the shows we grew up with, to the shows our kids are growing up with, to the must-see shows we hunker down with after the kids are in bed, let's talk about what we're watching on the tube.
LATEST POSTED BY: CooperWho watched the Mad Men premiere and what did you think? http://entertainment.time.com/2012/03/26/mad-mens-return-surprise/ViewMarch.26th.2012
Picked from the headlines
Let's talk about what's in the news these days - articles that catch our eye, interesting tidbits, studies released, whatever's going on in the media that you'd like to talk about.
LATEST POSTED BY: DeborahI'm wondering are you following the Treyvon Martin case? Or lack thereof?ViewMarch.28th.2012All about Apps!
I'm an iphone/ipad addict and I'm constantly looking for new apps. Share your favorite, your not so favorite, or cool app finds here - iphone, ipad, etc.!
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla SNew wave of location-based apps mark a 'paradigm shift' (CNN) -- As location-based apps go, Foursquare or Gowalla will work just fine if you're looking for the spot where all your buddies are having a beer. But what if they discovered an awesome, out-of-the-way spot six months ago? Or, better yet, what if you didn't even know you were looking for a watering hole until your phone told you there's one around the corner you shouldn't miss? As the novelty of the simple check-in fades, and the abilities of GPS-based location technology expand, some new mobile apps -- call them "discovery apps" -- are looking to parlay mobile "noise" into useful, place-based tips. "It feels like the paradigm shift in the late '90s when Google came along," said Babak Pahlavan, CEO of Cleversense, which released the app Alfred this month. "There's an information overload -- to find something useful for you is a very daunting task. It's time for a new shift; it's time to make sense of it and make it useful for you." Alfred has been called "Pandora for the real world." Users feed it information about their favorite places (mainly restaurants, bars and coffee shops). Then, theoretically, Alfred -- a mustachioed robot butler -- can suggest similar spots that are nearby, no matter where you are. The free app, currently on Apple's iOS system, with Android and Windows Phone versions in the works, was rolled out this month and took top honors in the "Startup Idol" contest at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado. The app, which was two years in the making, uses a Web-crawling algorithm to pull the information together and, according to Pahlavan, recognized the difference between positive and negative chatter about a place. Continue: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/07/29/discovery.apps/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7ViewAugust.1st.2011Motivate Me To Be Fit
For our body and soul: a place where we can motivate each other to eat healthy and exercise - be it cardio, weight lifting, pilates, HipHop Abs, or Yoga. So post your goals and actual work-out. Let's have fun! (Make sure you consult your doctor before starting any exercise routine - just be true to yourself!)
LATEST POSTED BY: gottalovemomMountains, the beach and the sky: being close to nature, where my mind can be calm. These settings give me a zen feeling. What about you?ViewOctober.6th.2011
Party Time!
Whether you're throwing your child a birthday party at home, or casting about for ideas to jazz up a classroom party, this is the place to come for inspiration and to share your ideas!
LATEST POSTED BY: Kayla SPlanning a Superbowl party? Check out these great tips! Eatocracy.com - So - you've decided against the idea of lodging yourself into a crowded bar of foam cheese hats, terrible towels and reverting fraternity brothers this Super Bowl Sunday and opted to catch the big game at home? Nice defensive block. But, where's your offense? Sunny Anderson, the host of Food Network's "Cooking For Real," has got the game-winning strategy. Hut, hut, bite! Super Bowl Entertaining Tips: Sunny Anderson 1. Ice, Ice Baby 2. Wing It! 3. Rock the Halftime Show 4. Double Duty Drinks 5. Sober 'Em Up! Check out the full tips here: http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/01/55-sunny-anderson/?hpt=C2ViewFebruary.2nd.2011
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