A Place Like This......

Good Continuation

These days between Christmas and New Year's in the Swedish tradition are known as "Good Continuation". Why end all of the merriment? Our huge family gang is still together moving in tribal form around Montreal, that is until I took a look at our travel schedule. Thinking I was leaving tomorrow December 29th, I soon learned that I'm leaving today. The question now is "How fast can you pack to make it to the airport on time? How fast can you say good-bye to 30 something relatives who all went back to work today? Is a text message considered inappropriate? How do I get myself into these messes?(Oh that question I can ask myself when I'm in my airplane seat.) Though these days should be calm and merry, the next few hours are going to be wild. My mantra? Be Calm and Carry On.All Will Be Well.

For all of you my friends, I wish you a happy continuation of the holidays with family and friends. I'll be back tomorrow or the day after, with some unusal  tale of the Traveling Tribe. Until then be well.

On the Road and a Boy's Alive Online Event

Greetings everyone ! We're on the road again. This time we've been hitting the sights of the North Eastern United States. In our minds there is nothing better than a road trip. 

 

While we're away I did want to share with you a wonderful event that I'm having the priviledge of speaking at.

Boys Alive An Online Event

Boys are in trouble.  The world is placing increasing importance on communication and relationship skills.  Most boys (and men) don’t have these skills naturally.

If you’re raising a boy, you’ve likely read all the books, watched countless videos, and been given advice by well-meaning family and friends…

But STILL you’re at a loss for how to raise your boy to be a confident man ready to serve the world with his energy, creativity, and skills.

We know you worry…and wonder…about your boy.  If you’re a teacher, we know you worry and wonder, too.

It’s time to blaze a new trail for your son.  Before you can do that, though, you have to know about:

·         His Education:  Schools generally disapprove of the reading and writing choices that boys make.  Add to that the rules that don’t fit his need to be physical, social (in his own way), and he withdraws, resists, acts out, and, yes, drops out.

 

·         His Inner World:  Knowing the way he learns best means you know how to motivate him.  Help him connect to his own inner wisdom and he’ll have strategies and strength to navigate the peer pressure ahead.

 

·         His Wider World:  Understand the pressures that your boy faces every day and find out how you can help him be the best man he can be.

Janet Allison and Kiva Leatherman have joined together to bring you experts from around the world!   There is so much noise out there – we’ve sifted and sorted for you – we’ve found the experts that will give you a new MAP of your son…they’ll help you blaze a trail of success for him!

Janet and Kiva are leading this never-before-together GATHERING OF EXPERTS who will help you Discover HIS World!

I am thrilled to announce that I am one of the speakers for the Boys Alive! On-line Event.  This free, on-line event brings together authors, coaches, doctors, and parenting experts to help you Discover HIS World!  Boys approach life and school in their own unique way and this Event will give you the MAP so you can blaze a trail and lead him to being a confident, capable man.

Be ready to hear why we need to be worried about our boys.  And what we can do to make the changes THEY NEED US TO MAKE! 

If you’ve been puzzled, frustrated, angry, or just plain exhausted by your boy…just ONE of these expert insights or strategies may be the spark that changes everything between you.

Register now for this free, on-line Event at www.boysalivevent.com  With 15 experts, these interviews are going to change your perspective about boys and men – FOREVER!  We begin on October 10^th but you can get started right now:  REGISTER and you’ll be taken immediately to the “treasure chest” filled with free gifts from our speakers to you.

Be sure to join me on:  October 28th at 1 p.m. Pacific as I talk about Reading with Boys and Giving Back to the Community through Books.

“See you then!”

 

Crafting for Courage

 

 
 

We are almost two weeks into the devasting aftermath of the Japanese earthquake,tsunami,and radiation concerns. To date For Japan With Love has raised $57,545 US dollars to send to Shelterbox.This is just incredible!

Today we have another great opportunity to help Japan and to place a piece of beautifully crafted art in your home. Crafting for Courage is a combined blog of Artists who have donated items to be auctioned off for the relief efforts in Japan. They are sending their funds to Save the Children. Many of them are blogging friends such as Gennine, and Maribeth from Lovely World. Along with donating their artwork, many of the contributors are also taking a percentage of sales from their personal online shops at putting it towards Save The Children fund.Take a moment, stop by and see what catches your eye.

I just want to say thank you to all who are doing something to help the great people of Japan.

Be well !

For Japan With Love Part II

 

For Japan With Love has raised almost $53,000 US Dollars to provide shelter boxes for earthquake/tsunami victims. Please keep giving to whatever charity you deem suitable.

There are many other individuals doing what they can as well in the most creative way possible. Thought I would share a few of these.

This and That from Japan are donating 15/% of every sale to Save the Children of Japan

Handmade for Japan an auction happening this week on e-bay.

Tokyo Subway Quilt  blog giveaway from Ohfransson for those who make a donation to the American Red Cross.

Are you hosting a giveaway on your blog for Japan? Please leave me a comment and I'll make sure you get listed.

 

For Japan With Love

Though yesterday was the official day of silence for Japan, I've been silent for well over a week. We've all seen the images and videos of the devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake and tsunamis.

 

I've been literally haunted by the suffering being endured by the Japanese people. I've felt for the last week like I've wanted to get on a plane and head over to Japan. I've just wanted to do something, anything at all. We've given to the Red Cross and then in the blogosphere I discovered that Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours are sponsoring a fundraiser to provide ShelterBoxes for the victims of the Japan Earthquake.

ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters at a time when they need it most. Each large green shelterbox contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, and many other vital supplies. Each box costs $1000 US dollars.

Every little bit helps another's suffering. Please join Utterly engaged, Ever Ours and many blogging friends to help Japan.

The Japanese have a saying/greeting "Gambattemas" which means we're all in this together.

Thanks so much for your help.

The Text Files

Greetings Friends~ I thought I would update you to our status. We are still very cold, very snowy, and yes I must, have to, know matter what, get in my car today to take my daughter back to University. It's nail biting time as I go over two mountain ranges. At least my ipod is charged and I've just loaded some good books and music.

 

Which brings me to sort of a confession and realization. Our household is a techno mixed bag. My children are very agile and adept at using any kind of media.My husband sends emails and really I'm so impressed with his texting, and then there is me.

 

 I consider myself to be very hip when it comes to technology except in the area of texting.

 
The keyboard is so small and how do you make a letter capitalized, place a comma or the ever popular exclamation point? Why when I back space does the entire message disappear?  Here's the confession part, I've only been texting for about a year, even-though I've had the phone capability to do so for longer. Is what brought me out of the texting closet were my girlfriends. I considered myself to be so much more techno-hip than they were and I couldn't even text. So I succumbed to peer pressure. My girls complain that I write way too much stuff in a text message and hence my frustration with texting. Big girl Zuzu sent me this website yesterday called When parents text and now I understand. Yes I understand that I'm a bit wordy but at least my wit shines through and you get to read complete words.  So I guess that makes me Hip and Wordy. :0

So off I go into the frozen tundra........back tomorrow. Be well everyone!

 

 

 

Swine Flu ?

 

A phone call came in from the high school nurse at 9:30 A.M.  " I have Mimi here with a very sore throat,and body aches. I need you to pick her up".

Upon my arrival at school, another "nurse" friend informed me that this is how the swine flu starts. "Keep a close eye on her because it can really pick up steam." 

On the way home I was thinking "Surely we don't have swine flu? I won't worry until I hear differently."

Mimi seemed sick but normal sick , nothing to worry about. I got her home and tucked her in. A few hours later great complaining came from the sick bed of extreme headache, body aches, chills, and the same sore throat.

I made a quick call to the doctor to ask what the symptoms of Swine Flu are?

" Headache,low grade fever,chills,body aches,and a sore throat".

"We have all of those symptoms" I mentioned in a seemingly apprehensive voice.

"Let's see her today at 5:10. We'll do a quick test for the flu and go from there."

**********************************************************************************************************************

As we arrived into the examing room a very official looking nurse with a very large Q-tip was waiting for us.

"I just need to get a mucus sample". ......and with that ,all I can say ,is that she clearly invaded some personal space in an up the nose way. I'll go for the blood test anyday.

Great news,however. Mimi doesn't have Swine Flu. She has another virus which is circulating in the high school. It's a virus with many letters and so I've renamed it Hackencough. She will get a little worse before she gets better and will try to lose a lung from coughing but that's ok because it isn't the Swine Flu. Nobody has ever died from Hackencough.

Our doctor informed us that this is the worst August he has ever seen for virus's. He  had diagnosed 3 or 4 cases of Swine flu today but says it is appearing in a very mild form here. It's like a normal case of flu so far.

I don't want to minimalize those families who have suffered from the swine flu or lost loved ones due to the swine flu but is it being over hyped? This has also lead me to ask some other questions like: Is the new Swine flu vaccination safe? Has there been enough time to test it? Would one get a case of Swine flu by taking the vaccination? If you've had the swine flu do you still need to take the vaccination?

Our doctors are actively searching out answers to these questions and getting the information to their patients as they find out. It helps us to make informed decisions.

Let me know what you think about the Swine flu and the new vaccination.

Tomorrow we hope will see Mimi feeling better and  no one else getting sick. Be well !

Food Inc. Changing America one bite at a time

Yesterday I saw a preview to a new movie called Food Inc. Usually movies like this scares me to death and I do not like to work from a place of fear, but for the longest while I've had a new awareness slowly sneaking up on me that there are many scary items in our food source.        

               

Travelling mama Angelina Hart and I shared a couple of comments on her blog that had us both asking what can we do to make changes in our diets but more importantly the larger picture which is the food industry itself?

Very daunting ideas indeed for a couple of travelling families. We both agreed something needed to be done but what ? Food Inc. left me with a clearer awareness of what is in our food and the choices I can make to be the change. The choices we can all make to be the change. Here are some simple things we can do to help change our food system:

Want to lose 25lbs? Replace one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie drink, like water.
Eat at  home. This can help in the calorie crunch. Kids consume almost twice as many calories when eating outside the home.
Work with your Schools. Collalborate with your school to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks in the cafeteria. These items have been a leading cause in the rising obestiy rate among children between the ages of 6 and 19.
Meat Free Day. Choose one day a week to go without meat. 70% of all antibiotics used in the US are given to farm animals.
Buy Organic. Buying organic,pestiside food will reduce the 1 billion pounds of pesticides used each year in our food chain. Want more say in the matter? Make sure that the food is raised on a farm using sustainable practices.
Eat Local. Take a visit to your local farmers market. For every dollar you spend they get to keep 80 to 90 cents on the dollar.
Have a local meal. Do you know where your food comes from? An average meal in America has taken the journey of 1500 miles before it was found at your local grocery store. Why not have a local only meal. If you would eat one meal of only local items every week, we could save millions of barrels of petrol/gas every week.

It really does get down to we vote with our dollars. In the last year I have started making very different and conscious buying decisions based on new information that I've been discovering. Starting next week I will be sharing those changes here on the blog as well as some of the practices that have been apart of my life for many years.

I would love to hear your ideas as well. Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think or what you are doing.