Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, December 23, 2009 12:28 pm

No I have not fallen off the planet. It seems I have taken a bit of a blog break though.

I’ve been doing lots of winter nesting at home as well as attending plays, concerts and events at my children’s school.

The annual class Heifer International bake sale brought in $870!! Bravo class!

All that baking, clapping and driving kids around has left me with little time or energy to blog. But since I Blog Without Obligation and believe in living life first and blogging about it all last, I guess my priorities are in the right place.

We are having a lovely Christmassy snowy day here today in the Arizona mountains, a perfect day to lock myself in the bedroom and wrap presents.

Our tree came yet again from our empty lot next door, and like last year, is a bit of a Charlie Brown tree. A tree “only a mother could love, lol!” But it is actually quite beautiful in a delicate, spindly sort of way.

Today we’ll make some cookies. Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, is our Bird Christmas Day where we make edible ornaments to hang in our yard for the wild birds. They’ll be especially grateful this year since food must be hard to come by with all this snow.

Best wishes for a happy, relaxing, and meaningful holiday for you and your family!

Comments (12)

By Mom Unplugged, November 3, 2009 6:20 pm

A few more Halloween candy ideas:

• Do science experiments with it! (Be sure to click the link - I LOVE this website, it is such a nerdy, Mom Unplugged thing!)

• Send it to troops overseas for them to pass out to local children. For more info, go to the Operation Gratitude website, but basically just send your candy (plus an optional but very welcome $11 to cover the cost of shipping overseas) before December 8th to:

Operation Gratitude/California Army National Guard
17330 Victory Boulevard
Van Nuys, California 91406
ATTN: Charlie Othold

You can also send it anytime to Operation Shoebox at this address:

Operation Shoebox
8360 E Highway 25
Belleview, FL 34420

(Keep in mind that soft or chocolate candy might not travel so well, especially to a hot climate.)

• Find a local dentist who is participating in a Halloween Candy Buyback program. Participating dentists give your kids $1/pound of candy and then they send it to troops overseas! Go to the Halloween Candy Buyback website to do a zipcode search for participating dentists in your area. Consider encouraging your children to donate their dollars to a charity that interests them.

• Save it to use on a holiday gingerbread house. Check out the Flickr Gingerbread House Showcase for inspiration.

• Some food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters accept candy. Be sure to call first to find out if yours wants it.

• Buy inexpensive cellophane party favor bags and make pretty little candy packages. Tie the top with a scrap of ribbon or yarn and donate them to your local charitable thrift store for them to sell. Great stocking stuffers for someone!

• According to this article in the Wall Street Journal Online, some Ronald McDonald Houses accept candy donations. Call your local Ronald McDonald House to find out.

• Of course you can always do a Candy Bank too, and then use one of these ideas as the final destination for your traded candy!

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, November 2, 2009 9:10 pm

Nielsen released a study last Monday (October 26) which found that children ages 2 to 5 watch more than 32 hours of TV per week. Kids ages 6 to 11 only watch about 28 hours per week (but they are in school more which accounts for the reduced TV watching).

When you consider that most adults work a 40 hour week, I find those numbers to be astonishing. Apparently this is the most television viewing for 2 to 11 year-olds since 1995.

Also according to this study, kids aged 6 to 11 also watch more commercials than older kids or adults. Thanks to the wonders of DVR, they also watch the same programs over and over again.

What about video games? The same study says that children ages 6 to 11 spend nearly 2.5 hours per week playing video games on a TV.

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SOURCES:

Nielsen Wire Blog: TV Viewing Among Kids at an Eight-Year High

MSNBC - Study: Many Tots Watch 32 Hours of TV a Week

Comments (7)

By Mom Unplugged, October 30, 2009 9:45 pm

Get your Candy Bank ready, it’s Halloween tomorrow!

If you are unsure about what to do with an influx of massive amounts of candy into your house, then read on.

If your children are young (younger than maybe 4 or 5?) you can probably get away with the “Hide It and They’ll Forget About It” method.

If you have older children, take it from me, that will not work. Either let them have it all in moderated doses (and “lose” a few bits here and there and hope they don’t notice), or try a Candy Bank.

We have a jar into which all extra candy is put (as well as any junky little toys that somehow show up). We use it throughout the year for birthday party candy, but Halloween is where it really comes in useful.

Once the Candy Bank is full, the kids get money for charity in exchange for the candy. The first time I did this, I let them each choose a small present in exchange for the candy. Ever since then, I have given them $10.00 collectively to donate to a charity of their choice.

I like that it goes to charity (rather than just more junk to fill the house) and I also like that they must agree amongst themselves as to how the money will be applied. I can only hope that this will encourage a lifetime of negotiation and cooperation!

Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, October 25, 2009 8:19 pm

This week’s post is a change from other Unplugged Project posts. The theme for this week’s Unplugged Project was change. We did lots of things this week that involve change, but no real sit down and do it kind of “project.” None of these projects were planned around the theme, they just happened.

Change the world: On Thursday I took my oldest daughter and a few other children from her class to our local soup kitchen to help serve lunch and clean tables. I am leading a community service workshop for our small Montessori school’s elementary class (6 to 9 year-olds). If we want to change the world, we must start with the children. More on this project later.

Small change (can change the world): Of their own initiative, my oldest daughter and two friends have formed a secret club called The Helping Hands Club (The HHC for those in the know!). On Saturday they sold homemade chocolate chip cookies that they made (by themselves) and pumpkins (that they bought with their own money) to a few neighbors and made $21+ in small change for charity! (Reminded me a bit of the great Heifer International Christmas ornament sale a few years ago.)

Change of seasons: It is fall in our part of the world and we walked together on this glorious fall day. The sky was blue, the fall colors vibrant, the air crisp yet comfortable. A fire is crackling in the fireplace now as I write this.

Changing the worm bin: Yes, the worms in our worm bin are still happily eating, reproducing, and pooping. It was time to change the bedding and harvest the castings, so we did it today. The kids love interacting with the worms. We are trying a new harvesting method this time, more on that later if it works.

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If you did a change Unplugged Project, then please link to your POST not just your blog in the Linky below. If you did not join in, then do not link, but you can always read more here about how to participate in the Unplugged Project. We’d love to have you!

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The theme for next week’s Unplugged Project will be:

Smell

Have fun and be creative!

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