I Love Costa Rica’s Rain Forest!

Young Travel Writers and Artists Contest

We have added prizes and extended the deadline!

Three 1st Place winners will now get $100

from Smart Poodle Publishing

PLUS all the great prizes donated by Rand McNally’s Online Store

The deadline has been extended to November 30th

Click here to read more

There are never enough hours in the day. how cliche that sounds, yet how true! I was daydreaming about what inventions could really make a huge difference in my life. Here is what I came up with:

1. The Instant Car Cooler - The inside of my car is somewhere around 113 degrees F every day during Miami’s intense summers. How wonderful would that be to press a button on my key chain as I am approaching my car, and instantly bring the internal temperature down to 75 degrees? No more second degree burns on my hands.
2. The Laundry Goddess - I swore I’d never complain about laundry again once I got a Whirlpool Duet Washer and Dryer, but I now realize I could really benefit from an invention that washes, dries, sorts, folds and hangs clean clothes where they belong.
3. The Dust Maestro – Who doesn’t need a machine that you can place on a floor in the center of the room, and it quietly sucks every particle of dust out of that room – and only dust? I am not talking about one of those twirling robots that sweep the floor (and don’t really work anyway). I am talking about a system that eliminates every piece of dust in every corner of a room. No more dusting!
4. The Complete Doggy Stylist – Where can I find a machine that will wash, dry, brush (knot free!)  and then cut a poodle’s hair (except for the face and head) evenly to 1/2 inch? Might as well clip the toenails and clean out the ears while you’re at it.
5. The Total Weeder – This handy invention will sweep the garden and kill ONLY the weeds, leaving the flowers and plants to thrive. No more pulling!

http://www.1clipart.com

I’ve got a bunch more, but I’ll save them for another day.

I love KidsTurnCentral.com. It’s a popular, adorable, entertaining, educational, safe place for kids to be. And I have to tell you, I’ve found my 48-year-old-self addicted to clicking on links, playing the games and browsing the site for great info. I’m sure I’m not the only Mom or children’s book author who cannot stop using this site either.

Wendy Hogan started the site back in 2001 to offer a completely safe place for kids to go online. Over the years it has developed into what you see today, through Wendy’s dedication to giving her loyal readers what they really want. The site is colorful, easy to use and uncluttered. (I despise hodgepodged, overly busy websites,)

There are so many ways to entertain and educate kids here. The Games Tab offers endless hours of fun puzzles from sliders and crosswords to jigsaws and maze and everything in between. I started doing some of the slider puzzles, and it was hard to stop. Find yourself stumped about what to do with your kids on a rainy day? Click on the Color Tab and print out page after page of cute pictures to color. You can choose by themes, holidays and more.

Speaking of Holidays, just click on the Holidays Tab, choose a holiday and find dozens of activities relating to it. You’ll find history, trivia,  crafts relating to the holiday and more. And since I am a big fan of crafts, I absolutely love the Craft Tab. It offers tons of creative projects such as costume making, paper maiche, tie dye, leaf pressing, Christmas crafts and tons more. You can also find a nice collection of clipart you can use for free with a link back to the site. You can also click on a list of contests for kids, including our very own “I Love Costa Rica’s Rainforest!” Contest.

If all this entertainment weren’t enough, click on the Hot Topics Tab to find info galore on the latest news for kids, science, seasons, genealogy, how to manage money, babysitting tips, sports and buckets more. At the bottom of each page there are darling icons to click on that bring you to even more pages of educational fun.

With Kids Turn Central, parents will never run out of really cool ideas to entertain their children. We commend Wendy for putting together such a fun and essential place for kids to go and get their creative juices flowing.

I live in Miami. It is July. Enough said! Here are my favorite stay cool summer treats.

http://www.freeclipartnow.com

1. Iced Decaf Coffee. (With honey and soy milk – no sugar!)
2. A Clementine (“Oh may darlin’ Oh my darlin’ Clementine . . .)
3. Fruit Popsicle
4. Banana Orange Pineapple Smoothie
5. Ice Water with Splash of Key Lime Juice
6. Lemon Honey Water – YUM! (tastes like lemonade)
7. Frozen Blueberries
8. Chilled Sparkling Apple Cider
9. Cup of Crushed Ice
10. Good ol’ Glass of Cold Spring Water in a Big Ball Jar

We had fun last night with our friends celebrating the 4th of July.  I have to admit I was a bit sad thinking about one year ago, when we had a party on the 4th to celebrate my Mom’s 70th birthday. It was the last pary she had, since she passed away on July 22.

Cliche as it may sound, it is a lesson for all us to celebrate as much of our lives as we can. And we do not have to wait for holidays to do so!

Tower with Red Velvet Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

The Men Getting Ready to Light off the Fireworks

We had the Best Fireworks in the Neighborhood!

Don’t forget to watch the Twilight Zone Marathon on the Sci Fi Channel today. The Zone is my favorite TV show of all time! I am watching as I am cooking dinner for 40 people tonight!

A few years ago I started a new tradition- reading the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day. Have you ever read it?

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

hen in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

As I’ve recently promised, I’ve started to clean my house – slowly but surely.  The first project was my daughter’s dusty closet. We took everything out, vacuumed and washed it down. We got rid of about 70% of her stuff and took it right over to Good Will. Honestly, the junk we found in there was alarming. Why on earth do we hoard this STUFF? It is liberating to get rid of items you don’t need. And I have to tell you that being able to move, with great ease, the clothing around on the rod in the closet is one of life’s finest pleasures. Hopefully this will inspire you to do the same in your home.

My new motto:

Anything that has no real use, or is not used,

has to be constantly moved, rearranged,

or dusted has no place in my home!

My daughter going through a box of baby books, wearing a mask to protect herself from the dust in her closet.

Me – enjoying a few items from the closet before taking them to Good Will

Torturing Gigi by making her try on hats before donating them #1

Torturing Gigi by making her try on hats before donating them #2

Torturing Gigi by making her try on hats before donating them #3

I’ve come across a lot of strange news today while doing searches online. Check this out.

1. Award Winning Bridal Gown Made from Toilet Paper!
2. Statue of Michael Jackson to be Made from Butter – Yes, Butter!
3. Queen Elizabeth Orders the Counting of her Swans
4. Kitten Born with 2 Faces
5. Lady Egyptian Mummy Turns Out to Be a Man

Our friend and Geographer from ERSI, Dr. Joseph Kerski, shared an incredible new free online software program with us. It is called Sketch-A-Map and is simple and fun as heck to use! You can draw right on an unlabeled map of the world and mark it the way you want. What a fabulous way to get your kids interested in geography! Access Sketch-A-Map on the ESRI website by clicking here.

http://www.worldatlas.com