REMOVE. My friend's mother just had a medical crisis in her home and the EMTs had a hard time getting in the house, partly because all her windows had burglar bars. (Her front door was locked and she passed out after calling 911; they finally smashed the back door to get in.) Here in California, code for new construction is that bedroom windows be unobstructed and large enough that a fully-equipped firefighter could break the glass and then climb in, do a rescue and remove a resident or residents through the same path. Long story short, I've become convinced that burglar bars are a significant danger rather than a safety feature.

Please allow me to introduce Zwarte Piet, the blackface-wearing companion to Sinterklaas, who is considered an essential part of the Dutch celebration of Christmas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwarte_Piet To me, as an American looking in from the outside, Zwarte Piet is the perfect visual representation of colonialism, ignorance and systemic racism. To a 60-year-old Dutchman, Zwarte Piet may be a symbol of warm holiday memories, familial love and national tradition. I would argue that Thanksgiving Indian-and-Pilgrim dress-up parades and Zwarte Piet are interchangable. Both are manufactured cultural products of a less enlightened age, both of which should be shed immediately.

It's totally not OK anymore. Our preschool does it every year for their Thanksgiving potluck--construction paper crowns with cut-out glued-on shapes and colored feathers--and every year I squeal, "Oooh! Look! Adorable multicultural turkeys!!" because I can't deal. Both my high school and college were schools that had former Native American mascots and it was a great choice in both cases. College was the Indians until 1972 and is now a color, high school was Warriors until 1996ish and is now the Wildcats. In both cases, leaving the racist, dehumanizing past in the past was the correct and best choice. Possibly relevant video from Buzzfeed, Native Americans Try On "Indian" Halloween Costumes:

One of my college RAs was named Rainbow. People called her Bobo for short. (Her choice.) There was a lovely story about how her parents were inspired by a line from Genesis: "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

Deleted because I thought better of it.

(a) I like all the advice to not meddle and just give her movie gift cards or something totally unrelated. (b) That said, the turning point on cooking for me was a knife skills class at a local cooking school. My mother bought it as a gift for me and DH. I believe she was working on the same agenda you have. :) After that, the next three suggestions (in order of importance) would be a copy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything book and/or a very nice knife and/or an enameled cast-iron dutch oven. I basically lived on drive-through and defrosted Trader Joe's until I had kids, but I have worked my way into a decent cooking repertoire since then.

URBAN! http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/10/18/green-manhattan Done properly, cities are good medicine for people and the planet. See also: http://www.amazon.com/The-Permaculture-City-Regenerative-Resilience/dp/1603585265

One of the most inspiring articles I've read on the WHY of decluttering: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/stage-your-home-for-living/

Just for fun: A Visit to the Le Creuset Factory

There is comfort in this DJIA historical chart, which shows stock market growth from ~1900 to present day: http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/historical/marketindexes.html

I plan to show it to my five-year-old when it comes out on video. He already knows all the swear words (and knows they are inappropriate in "polite" company) and he has a butt and he knows that all animal poop is good fertilizer. I just can't take him to see it in a theater because he would ask a zillion questions and disturb the other audience members. I wish there were a genuine "morals and good spirit" scale instead of a sex-violence-drugs ratings system. Some movies are quite violent and yet have an honorable spirit, and some movies are proper on the surface but reveal a dark heart. Anyway, I consider The Martian the best sort of film for my kids to see. I like James Fallows' tweet about it: "Jim’s Movie Tips: go see The Martian - Heroes: science. duct tape. diversity. America + China. grit. general spirit of enterprise"

We no longer use non-stick because we have concerns about the safety. Our egg pan is a cast-iron skillet.

You can probably find replacement lids on eBay! http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2051542.m570.l1311.R1.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xtupperware+modular+.TRS0&_nkw=tupperware+modular+mates&_sacat=0

Ha. Well, we are only three chapters in, but to me she's obviously a witch on leave. (Like a potions and wands witch.) I suppose the story may reveal itself otherwise but so far I like my notion that she was burned out on the witching business so she decided to nanny for a bit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

Oven lock is my favorite safety thing I ever bought: http://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-Oven-Front-Lock/dp/B0056S8AGW I always worry the kids are going to see what's inside the oven while it's cooking, or just yank on the door and get burned. Easy to install.

Sidebar, a quote from the great New Zealand reading advocate Dorothy Butler, who passed away this week at age 90: "It is my belief that there is no 'parents' aid' which can compare with the book in its capacity to establish and maintain a relationship with a child. Its effects extend far beyond the covers of the actual book, and invade every aspect of life. Parents and children who share books come to share the same frame of reference. Incidents in everyday life constantly remind one or the other--or both, simultaneously--of a situation, a character, an action, from a jointly enjoyed book, with all the generation of warmth and well-being that is attendant upon such sharing."

Apparently back in the 1930s they would read the newspaper funny pages aloud on the radio and my uncle taught himself to read by listening to the broadcast and following along in print. A modern variation on this would be to the Scholastic Video/Weston Woods DVDs from the library and pair them with the books. And back when I was little they had cassette tape recordings where they would say, "turn the page at the sound of the chime." Surely they have similar these days? Maybe just YouTube videos? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, you should just be able to repeat the program for the early weeks and it would work great. Plus, it doesn't know if you are actually walking when it says to jog, LOL. Get out there and do anything at all for 30 minutes a morning and you will see rapid improvement. I promise you will be so proud of yourself!

Forgive me if this was shared/discussed elsewhere. This is a nice article on some positive homeschooling outcomes: http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2015/09/8_of_oregons_elite_national_me.html

I will get it at a local grocery or drug store, probably at whichever chain is offering a coupon to those who get vaccinations at their site. Kids will get theirs at pediatric office. Big guy always asks for the mist but I guess it isn't always available. DH will do what he wants, but between you and me and the fly on the wall, I really hope he gets it this year because if it could save me a week of his being bedridden and incredibly cantankerous, I would be ever so grateful to the universe.

I saw the second one and agreed completely with her thoughts, although I see she is an advocate for open marriage, which is a bridge too far, IMHO. :) To quote the great sage George Michael, "Sex is natural, sex is fun, sex is best when it's one on one."

Free Jinger and Johannah and Jackson and, man, what a disaster.

Emeril's Herbed Spaghetti Squash http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/herbed-spaghetti-squash-recipe.html It's fine just as described, but for extra flair I cook up some wild-boar sausage from Sprouts, then crisp sage leaves in the boar fat, take out the sage, add in the squash, mix, and then add back the sage and other herbs.