I have been enjoying these first lazy days of winter and the holiday season immensely. The kids and I have been getting crafty… watching some good movies, and generally just enjoying our time together. While they have been at school I have been doing some SERIOUS cleaning. I mean scrubbing the baseboards with a toothbrush type cleaning. My husband has been afraid to walk in the door for fear I will rope him into some sort of cleaning "project". I think the cleaning is coming to a close though… my carpel tunnel (which is so bad I usually cannot hold a pencil for longer than 5 minutes) is flaring up AND the kids and I will be going out of town for awhile… a week, maybe two. I hope it snows soon… we want to go sledding.

But I can't help but smile when I see my little guys snuggle up on the couch with wool blankets, watching movies that make them laugh so hard their sides ache (G-Force). The house lights are off but the Christmas lights are twinkling and providing ambient lighting. Every now and then the toddler gets bored and decides to remove ornaments from the tree… which is why the bottom of the tree is now bare and the top is stuffed to capacity. I love that we keep adding homemade ornaments.. salt dough, cinnamon & applesauce, pine cones, and photo frames.

I also did some furniture re-arranging. My two oldest have art tables in their bedrooms and with the craftiness in the air this time of year, I was getting lonely with them hiding out in their bedrooms. So I picked up an old-school desk from Craiglist and put it along the same wall where my computer desk sits. Now I can work away and have one of my kidlets sitting next to me working on their own projects. LOVE it!! I am on the lookout for 2 more so I can line them up next to each other.

All of these moments are so special. I think that in many ways because we don't have any religious motivation for celebrating it just makes this time of year even MORE about family and love. If it weren't for my kids I wouldn't even bother to celebrate so this is a tradition born out of love for my family. It makes me keenly aware of how fortunate I am. We are healthy, we are warm, we are well fed, we are inspired by every breath we take to live and learn, and we are happy. Beyond that there is just the call to be good people, do good things with our lives, and leave the planet better than we found it.

From my family to yours… wishing everyone a very happy holiday season!!

Hubby and I were talking recently about our how our nearly 6 year old daughter seems to be maturing so fast to the ways of the world. Already we have been hearing things come out of her mouth that are clearly to mature in content for her to know about. One time she almost caused her feminist grandmother to blow a gasket when she mentioned that wives who stay pregnant all the time don’t have to work. Last week she mentioned that kids can move and get their own place if they are unhappy with the house rules. In all instances she learned about these things from television or modern kids movies.

It got me to thinking about what I watched when I was young and most things that came to mind were very old shows… shows that would have been old even when I watched them. I have to hand it to my mom… somehow I grew up watching old classics and loving them. I watched the Mickey Mouse Club.. the black and white version with Anette Funicello. I watched the original Parent Trap with Hayley Mills. I was over the moon for Tommy Kirk from The Shaggy Dog and Peter McEnery from The Moon Spinners. In fact I remember looking up one of their addresses at the public library and writing to them, professing my adoration. In return I got an autographed photo and was stunned when the picture was clearly of an elderly man… I was confused to say the least.

It has put me on a mission to introduce some of those great old movies to my own kids. Movies about kids having adventures and just being kids. I think they will be a vastly better alternative to prime time Nick TV. Any of these sound familiar to you? They were my favorites.

Old Yeller – I get teary eyed just thinking of this movie and how it shows the love between a boy and his dog. I think my oldest son would really like it as he has two yellow labs in his life that he loves dearly. The draw for me was Tommy Kirk… could a young man get any cuter?? I think not.

Swiss Family Robinson – This is the ultimate family adventure IMO! I used to daydream about getting shipwrecked just like this family because I loved the way they lived. I wanted to go and live with them to make sure Ernst had a wife when he got old enough (yep Tommy Kirk again). My younger brother and I would run to the Swiss Family Tree House every Christmas when we went on our annual trip to Disneyland. I still love this movie to this day because it is a story about a family’s love and the greatest adventure of their lives and how it makes them see what is really important.

The Shaggy Dog and The Shaggy DA – These are two separate movies, the original and the sequel. It is about a boy who finds a mysterious magic ring that turns him in to a sheepdog. The sequel features him as an adult.

The Moon Spinners – I could go on all day about how I love this movie and I still watch it every year. It is about a young girl named Nikki (Hayley Mills) and her Aunt going on vacation to Crete. Nikki meets and becomes enamoured with a young man named Mark, that she meets at a party. The next day she is sightseeing and wandering through an old crypt when she stumbles upon Mark, shot and wounded badly. It turns out Mark has tracked jewel thieves from his home in England to this island and now both of them have to run for their lives.

The Parent Trap – Another Hayley Mills movie about twins separated at birth that accidentally discover each other when they are sent to the same summer camp. I love the re-make of this movie with a very young Lindsey Lohan too.

Annie - Another movie I have to watch every year. It brings back memories of seeing the Broadway play version with my grandmother when I was little. The adorable redhead, Daddy Warbucks, the idea that abused orphans find happiness… its good stuff!

Camille – Okay this one isn’t for kids… teen or tween girls maybe. I fell in love with this movie when I was about 12 I think and it was Annie that made me seek it out. When Annie goes to the movies for the first time this is the movie she sees and the end scene was so moving I wanted to see the whole film. It is basically about a young man (Armand) who falls in love with a courtesan played by Greta Garbo. She falls in love with him as well but pushes him away at first not wanting to tarnish his name by association but he will not give up. Her debt and her relationship to a very powerful man put her love in danger so she betrays him in the hope that he will realize she is no good and give up. When Armand discovers that she was trying to protect him and that his own family begged her to leave him, he tracks her down with the intention to marry her once and for all. Sadly when he finds her, he discovers that she is dying from a terminal illness. This one is a cry fest!

The Sea Gypsies (Originally titled Shipwreck) – Travis and his two daughters, Courtney and Samantha, set off on a trip around the world on a sailboat. Along for the trip is Kelly, a journalist who has been assigned to cover the voyage. Also, Jesse, a stowaway, is found aboard adding a fifth person on the trip. Soon, they are shipwrecked on a deserted island and must learn how to survive together in a dangerous environment.

The Monkey’s Uncle – Yep, Tommy Kirk (again). My little brother and I LOVED this movie. It is about a genius college student named Merlin Jones. He adopts a chimpanzee named Stanley, and makes him his legal “nephew” (an experiment to raise Stanley as a human). Merlin ends up inventing a man-powered airplane and a sleep-learning system all the while raising a chimp and hilarity ensues.

The Wilderness Family – Another story of family adventuring… Skip Robinson is a city-dwelling construction worker. His family is tired of the city and move to the mountains with no plans to return. After fixing their own cabin, they settle in to find out that their environment isn’t always peaceful. A pack of wolves, an angry lioness, and a menacing grizzly bear harass the Robinsons, in their otherwise happy new home. This movie has two sequels as well.

Savannah Smiles – Oh how I adored this movie! It is actually about a 7 year old little girl of a US politician who runs away from home. She accidentally ends up in the car of two convicts who can’t exactly turn her over to the police without turning themselves in. While they try to figure out what to do with her this little girl captures their hearts and makes them want to be better men. I like it because it shows how children really can be the motivation to better ourselves.

Cloak and Dagger - An 11 year old boy who is mourning the death of his mother gets a bit carried away with his role playing a game called Cloak and Dagger. He is even seeing an imaginary friend based on the character he loves.. Jack Flack. One day Davey’s friend Morris who owns a video game shop sends Davey on an errand, where Davey witnesses a murder. Right before the victim dies, he gives Davey a Cloak & Dagger video-game cartridge that supposedly contains important military secrets. Davey seeks help from the authorities but they simply believe him to be engaging in fantasy play. Only this time its not a game.

Did you watch any of these? Or have any to add to this list of must see family classics?

I don’t think it will shock anyone to hear that kids today are “larger” than they used to be. Well, heck adults are too but the fact that so many children are on the obesity radar is scary. We can blame this on many factors such as their SAD (Standard American Diet) which consists of pizza, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and soda pop. We can blame it on the fact modern kids have nature deficit disorder and that they are an inactive, captive audience member of television sets and video game consoles.

But what if there were something else contributing too? Something we can’t see. What if this invisible something was actually messing with their hormones and creating imbalances and fluctuations that could directly effect their growth. What if that cushy couch their little bottom is camped out on all day while they play video games is messing with them on a chemical level? Well, its not such a stretch. There are obesity causing chemicals all around us and all over our homes.

BPA – By now you are likely very familiar with BPA or Bisphenol A. It is essentially a synthetic estrogen found in many items you may have around the house. It can be in your plastic food storage bins, your water bottle, your canned foods, your baby formula, even the binky your kids had as little ones. BPA has been officially linked to obesity and yet it may be lurking in many different places in your home.

And it isn’t alone…

PFOA – According to the same article above, perfluorooctanoic acid has been found to contribute to obesity in mice. PFOAs which can be found in Teflon, Scotchgard, non-stick coatings, and food packages that need to be oil and heat resistant like microwave popcorn bags and pizza boxes.

Phthalates – These bad boys are a group of lab chemicals that are widely used as plastic softeners. They make that plastic tub toy more chewable for toddlers… thanks  a lot! They are also used in hairsprays, perfumes, cosmetics, shower curtains, wood finishes, lubricants and much more. A 2005 study released by Environmental Health Perspectives found that pregnant women exposed to common levels of phthalates might have baby boys with reproductive organ abnormalities. This article also explores the relationship between phthalates and abdominal obesity and insulin resistance.

PBDE – Polybrominated diphenylethers or PBDEs are flame retardants that are added to our clothes, furniture, care interiors, electronics, etc is another chemical that is under investigation. A team of researchers at the University of New Hampshire is investigating whether the increasing ubiquity of chemical flame retardants found in foam furniture, carpeting, microwaves and computers might be related to the climbing rate of obesity in the US. Here is a quote:

Tagliaferro, whose research interests concern whole-body energy and metabolism questions, will assess sensitivity of all body tissues to insulin, as well as examine the food intake, body weight changes, and energy metabolism of the rat pups once they are weaned from their mothers. PBDEs, the researchers note, seem to interrupt thyroid hormone levels, which may impact caloric expenditure.

“There’s much more to obesity than eating too much McDonald’s and not exercising,” says Small. “PBDEs may be one of the confounding factors to obesity.”

So what can you do? Well, in addition to making sure our kids are eating well and getting plenty of exercise we also need to make sure we aren’t setting them up for failure by exposing them to massive doses of endocrine disruptors and other hormone mimicking chemicals.

Analyze what you have in your home and research what it may be hiding. Can you find an alternative? Is their some way to make working with what you have just a bit safer? Knowing is half the battle so we are already halfway there. We just need to be on the lookout for safer, greener, cleaner products and demand that corporations that poison us clean up their act. Their is no greater motivation for industry change than a change in the market.

I am not one who feels inspired to clean in the springtime. I grew up in Arizona where winter was a whole different ball of wax than what you find here in Ohio so when Spring rolls around… you won’t find me inside the house cleaning! I am going to be outside enjoying the sunshine and early spring flowers.

While I am not a fan of the cold I do not get depressed in winter as so many do… due to lack of outdoor time and sunshine. I do find myself drawn indoors most of the time but I find it sets off a sort of nesting instinct. Out come the warm quilts (I have a blanket fetish), I clean and declutter, and generally just try to make sure our hybernation chamber is comfy and clean.

This week I bartered for help cleaning house. In fact I plan to get permanent help in that regard but I can’t wrap my mind around paying someone to do what I can do myself so I have devised a way to trick myself. I will cancel the YMCA family membership we never use and cancel our cable and use that money to pay a house cleaner twice a month. Then I won’t feel like I am paying out extra money. Now I just have to sell my husband on the idea but since he almost never watches TV, I think I can do it.

This week I got busy cleaning carpets, cleaning windows, cleaning the oven, scrubbing everything down, rearranging furniture, and cleaning out closets. In return for help with all that I am teaching someone step by step how to set up an online business and make money at home.

In addition to cleaning, this time is also perfect for winterizing. My daughter’s room is freakin cold no matter what we do, so I decided to make room for a twin size bed in my own bedroom for her and she will just sleep there for winter. We already have our toddler in our bed so the only one missing is my oldest boy.

We have a very drafty closet on one end of the house so that got loaded from floor to ceiling with fabric, rugs, blankets, books, storage bins, etc to insulate more. We brought a futon out into the living room for the kids since the cold leather couch was discouraging them from sitting out there to read or watch DVDs. And a Wii is going out here after Christmas so we wanted it to be cozy. Next week I will set to work making a draft snake (filled with rice) for the front door, because we have a wicked draft coming in at the base of the door.

Oh and anyone else ever get sick from the Peppermint Castile Soap from Dr. Bronners?? We used it to clean the carpets and the peppermint smell was so strong and it made me so nauseous that I had to leave the house for awhile to avoid vomiting. Guess I need to use less of it next time… either that or I am so sensitive to fragrance that I need a plastic bubble now.

So tell me… do you “nest” in the winter? What do you do?

I absolutely loved the video from Annie Leonard called The Story of Stuff. Now she has come out with another video I love explaining why Cap and Trade is a rotten deal all around. I have been against it for awhile now since it puts the responsibility for cleaning up our planetary act directly in the hands of corrupt businessmen… think Enron and Goldman Sachs. It allows them to become profiteers in the business of saving the world all the while giving the worst polluters a bunch of free passes and not ensuring that third world countries aren’t left holding the bag for the wild pollution party we have been having for decades.

If you don’t quite understand why this is such a short sighted solution then this video should make it all very clear. Enjoy!