Topical Whensday: When will YOU wear a Colored Tee to Recognize Violence Against Women and Children.

Colored Tees help women affected by violence. Do you have one to donate and one to wear this Topical Wednesday in respect for women affected? The Clothes Line Project could use your donation. It is an international awareness-raising event where women affected by violence decorate a color-coded Tee shirt to be displayed as a barometer of those affected by intimate violence. Herstory: The idea for the Clothesline Project grew out of the Men’s Rape Prevention Project in Washington D.C. The men’s project claimed that while 58,000 soldiers died for the love of their country in the Vietnam war, 51,000 women … Continue reading

Homeschool Field Trip: Peachy Keen

Summer is the perfect time to take advantage of Mother Nature’s bounty and look beyond the walls of your home for some fantastic homeschool lessons. For clans with students of varying ages, a field trip to a u-pick farm can be a real treat.  Most states feature fields, orchards and sprawling acreage designed to give city folk a taste of country life.  These green spaces are bursting with seasonal produce including corn, strawberries, tomatoes and my daughter’s favorite—peaches. Picking sweet, juicy, tree-ripened peaches lends itself to a slew of hands-on lessons.  For starters, a field trip to a peach orchard … Continue reading

Three Common Breastfeeding Myths Explained

Part of getting yourself ready for the day when you welcome your new baby into the world involves thinking about how you plan to feed your baby. As is the case with many of the decisions that you will make regarding your baby, the best way to prepare yourself is with information. The more you know about infant feeding and nutrition in advance, the better prepared you will be to navigate the ins and outs of feeding your baby once he or she is born. One helpful type of information to have at the ready if you plan to breastfeed … Continue reading

Downtown Disney to Expand into Disney Springs

A few years after it announced and then scrapped plans to reformat Pleasure Island, the official Disney Parks blog has revealed that Downtown Disney is getting an upgrade.  A years-long project will transform Downtown Disney into Disney Springs, an even larger shopping and entertainment district. Downtown Disney is so popular with Florida residents and Disney World guests alike that it was time to expand.  Don’t worry about suddenly needing a ticket to get into the area: just like before, Disney Springs will be open to the public (though individual entertainment venues still might require tickets for entrance). Tom Staggs, the … Continue reading

Seven Things to Get at the Library for Free

If you haven’t visited your local library in a while, you might want to plan a visit sometime soon. The library is a very different place than it was just ten years ago, thanks in part to current technology. Plus, with the economy, there is a new need for additional services, all of which most community libraries are trying to provide. They are doing a very good job of it, too. So get that library card out (or sign up for one) and start saving. Here are seven things that you can get at the library for free. • Free … Continue reading

Genealogy Resources on Pinterest

Pinterest is filled with all manner of interesting things! Some of them are related to genealogy. In fact, there are some genealogy websites that have their very own Pinterest page. Here is a quick list of where to look if you want to find some genealogy resources on Pinterest. When I first started using Pinterest, it appeared to be filled with photos of wedding dresses and intricately braided hairdos. You will find a lot of wedding ideas on Pinterest, but that is not the only thing it is for. The main idea of the website is to use it to … Continue reading

Free Websites that Teach Your Kids about Money

Teaching kids about money, where it comes from, how to make it grow and how to use it responsibly is one of those things that many of us mean to get around to doing, but don’t often seem to complete. In fact, money lessons should never really come to an end. As society, the economy and technology changes, it is important for us all to keep up, and pass on the skills, knowledge and advice to our children. Fortunately, we don’t have to do this alone. There are a few really good websites out there that will help us teach … Continue reading

Can Mammograms Be Harmful?

I have been putting off my yearly mammogram. I’ve had one almost every year since I turned 40, as dictated by someone somewhere as the thing I was supposed to do. Recently, there has been some controversy as to whether the “need to start having mammograms” age was 40 or 50. Now, there is another controversy – that routine mammograms can cause breast cancers to be overly treated. Overly treated? If you have breast cancer, can treatment really be overly? Maybe not, but maybe so says Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, who recently coauthored an analysis of mammograms published in The … Continue reading

Harvard Newspaper Website Runs Ad for “Adderall Alternative”

Is your child starting college this semester? Parents of kids who have ADHD might want to take a few minutes to have a talk about why it is important not to sell their medication to other students. A recent advertisement on the website of a college newspaper makes it clear that there is “black market” for Adderall. It seems that there are many young adults who are in college right now who think that Adderall, (a commonly prescribed medication used to treat ADHD), is something that they can use to help them “cram for an exam”, or to write an … Continue reading

Upcoming Genealogy Events – Week of July 15, 2012

Each and every week, there are plenty of genealogy courses, workshops, conferences, and events happening. All you have to do is find one, and figure out what you need to do in order to attend it. Here is a quick list of some of the genealogy events that are going on this week. There could be one near you! On July 16, 2012, the Ela Area Public Library, which is located in Lake Zurich, Illinois, will have a meeting of the library’s Genealogy Interest Group (GIG). It will begin at 3:00 in the afternoon, and will end at 5:00 in … Continue reading