Take Part in Earth Hour!

Rather than send an email out to everyone, I thought I’d post this here where you will actually see it. 🙂 I did get the hubby to agree to do this so I’m very excited! I hope that you join me in making our voices heard.

On Saturday, March 28, 2009, at 8:30 pm, I am taking part in Earth Hour – a global event in which millions of people will turn out their lights to make a statement of concern about our planet and climate change.

I want to invite you to join, too! Sponsored by World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour got started just two years ago and is now the largest event of its kind in the world. Last year, more than 50 million participated and the lights went out at the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and the Coliseum in Rome, just to name a few. Even Google’s homepage went black for the day!

In Israel, President Shimon Peres personally turned off lights in Tel Aviv.

This year, Earth Hour will be even bigger – already 250 cities in 74 countries have agreed to take part including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville with more signing up every day. Around the world, cities like Moscow, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai and Mexico City will turn out their lights.

But Earth Hour isn’t just for big cities-anyone can participate. To get a better sense of the event, check out this video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjWD8pbK5t8.

Participating in Earth Hour is easy, fun and free. I hope you will join me for this amazing event.

To sign up, visit http://www.EarthHourUS.org where you’ll learn more including ways you can spread the word about Earth Hour, plus creative things to do when the lights go out in case you need inspiration!

We want the US to turn out more lights than any other country in the world during this historic event so please pass this note along to anyone you think might want to take part.

Let’s all turn out and take action on March 28 at 8:30 pm.

www.EarthHourUS.org

Thanks.

UBP 2009: Get Over the Hump Dessert!

Wednesday can make or break your week. It can be fabulous and you go on to win a gold medal, solve world hunger and find world peace. Or it can cause your week to go into a tailspin and send you down the doom-n-gloom spiral of despair. So, to avoid the second scenario, I’m giving you my super secret, extra special, sure fire to make it a fabulous week recipe for Banana Pudding.

Don’t scoff. It works. I pinky swear.

Banana Pudding

• 1 cup sour cream – you can also split this 50/50 between yogurt & sour cream; or just use plain yogurt
• 2 cups 2% milk (because we want less fat, no?)
• 1 tub of partially frozen cool whip
• 1 – 5oz package of vanilla instant pudding
• half a box or so of vanilla wafers – they come in low fat version now but whatever floats your boat
• a bunch o’ bananas
• banana liqueur if you’re feeling frisky

Mix the sour cream, yogurt, milk and pudding mix together. Gently fold in Cool Whip. In a large bowl, or if you’re fancy, a trifle bowl, layer in the pudding mix, bananas, then wafers. Keep doing that until you run out of room and/or ingredients. Put the bowl in the fridge to chill for a bit. Serve about 1/2 a cup per person.

This dessert is yummy and rich, so a little dab’ll do ya!

So, how’s that for getting over the hump? 😉

Results of Pediatric Visit

If you haven’t read my post last week about taking Jacob to see the developmental pediatrician, feel free to catch up.

Today was the day. I got him up early and drove down to LA. Can I say how much I detest LA traffic? The 405 should be demolished and a park put in its place. But I digress.

So, we saw Dr. Loo and his med students. Lovely bunch of people. They had a good time playing with Jacob and assessing him. And the diagnosis?

He’s quirky.

Yep. My four year old is quirky. Apparently, he’s social, cognitively flexible, and creative. All those things rule out anything on the Autism spectrum.

Which frustrates the hell out of me. Yes, he’s quirky. I can live with that. But why does he flap his hands when he’s excited? Or sing from sun up to sun down? Or stare? The answers to that? Oh, it’s behavioral. Well, yah. Duh.

Tomorrow he has another appointment with another psychologist. Who I imagine is going to tell me the same thing.

*insert huge sigh here*

One good thing did come out of the meeting. Dr. Loo was concerned about Jacob’s articulation problems and gave him a tentaive diagnosis of apraxia. I think. I didn’t quite get it and I was still thinking about what he said from the other stuff.

The upshot is that the doc thinks Jacob needs to be in speech therapy more often which I totally agree with! 1/2 an hour once a week is not enough for his articulation issues. So, he’s suggesting 2.5 hours a week and is sending Jacob’s pediatrician (and myself) a copy of his report. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the ball rolling on that. Cross your fingers as I start to deal with the insurance.

Am I overreacting or looking for problems when there aren’t any? I don’ t know. I do know that “quirky” just doesn’t sit well with me for some reason. Maybe it’s just my cross to bear. Jacob seems to be a happy guy until he cannot get across what he’s saying. And really that’s his major issue with life right now.

Gah. I’m tired. And melancholy. And happy that my son is the best son he can be. Which is pretty darned awesome. 🙂

Ignore me. I’m going to bed. I’m sure everything will look better tomorrow!

UBP 2009 Monday Destresser

Hey there blog party people! Has Monday worn you down? Take a moment to refresh and revitalize yourself with this homemade and easy face masks. By the way, guys, these aren’t just for the ladies! You have skin than needs pampering too.

For normal to oily skin

• 1 – 2 tsp lemon juice
• ½ Cored apple
• 1-2 Egg whites
• 30-40 Seedless grapes

Puree in the blender and apply to your face. Leave on for 10 to 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water. Pat dry and moisturize! The grapefruit and lemon have are astringent and unclog pores, the apple has loads of Vitamins A, B and C. It also contains malic acid which helps your skin to absorb these vitamins.Egg whites tone and grapes are full of antioxidants.

If you have dry or mature skin, don’t use the citrus mask! It may irritate overly dry skin. Try this instead:

• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 medium banana
• 2 TBSP honey (any kind works, but try to get the local and/or wild stuff)

Mash it all together to form a consistent paste. Apply to skin and leave on for about 10 minutes. Rinse off with a warm, wet washcloth. Make sure to moisturize afterward! The yogurt is good for cleansing & moisturizing, the banana is full of potassium and has emollient properties, and the honey is humectant which attracts and retains moisture. And it tastes good. 🙂

So sit back and down a few Blogging Betties while you and your skin relax!

UBP 2009 Muffins for all!

Welcome, bloggers! I see that you are a bit tired from running from one blog party to the next. So take a moment, have a latte or a mocha or just a plain cup of joe and nibble on some of my fabulous muffins. You’ll regain your strength to party on!

Sunday Brunch Muffins

• 2 cups of flour – you can use 1 c whole wheat and 1c all purpose or 2 cups all purpose
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup white sugar – I use Splenda, personally
• 1 egg
• 1 c milk – nonfat or lowfat works just as well
• 1/4 c veggie oil – try replacing with applesauce or sour cream

Here’s the fun part with these muffins. They’re versatile and you can add whatever you want. The rule of thumb is 1 cup of chopped fruit or, for savory muffins, 1 cup of cheese, 1/4 bacon, and less sugar. I like to use 1 cup of chopped peaches and 1 tsp of cinnamon with a dash of cloves. Yummo!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. This is important. You’ll find out why at the end of the directions.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients til blended.

In a separate bowl or mixing cup, stir together the egg, milk, and oil (or substitutes that you’ve chosen). Mix well.

Using your fist, create a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Add in any of your additions (fruit, raisins, dates, or cheese/bacon). How easy is that? Now mix until just blended. Do not over stir! If you’re using whole wheat flour, the mix will be a little stiff. You can add just a titch of milk to make it a bit easier to move around if you need to.

In a greased muffin pan (or muffin tins), fill each about 2/3 full.

Pop the pan into the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 400 degrees. Why? Because the high heat from the pre-heating will actually cause the muffins to rise so they get that “store bought” dome. And, really, don’t we want pretty muffins?

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Pull out of oven and pop those puppies out onto a baking rack. Be careful because they are hot when you scarf them down!