Because who doesn't need a laugh these days...

FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

Where to donate used stuffed animals...

They're very cute but, really, how many stuffed animals does one family need? And somehow, like rabbits, they seem to multiply like crazy. Kind of baffling for inanimate objects.

In the San Francisco Area there's a great organization that accepts stuffed animals (and some other items, including blankets and books) that are in like new condition. They package them as care package for kids in homeless shelters. It's called Project Night Night.

Thanks, Rachelle, for the tip!

Tips for Baking with Toddlers

[This is Part 2 of entertaining rained-in toddlers on the cheap. Part 1 is here.]

It took about 6 months to figure out the best way and the best kinds of things to make in the kitchen with the girls.

My first rule now is I always make stuff that goes in the oven because they want to see the cooking part and I can't handle the two of them in front of a working stove.

I get out all the ingredients and measuring implements first before "inviting" them to come bake.

I spread out a tablecloth on the kitchen floor and we either mix things up on the floor or else on a low table.

I substitute oil for butter in most things because creaming the butter inevitably involves a mixer or lots of elbow grease and I prefer to just keep the batter really malleable so they have a shot at mixing it.

Speaking of mixing, they both get a tablespoon to stir with. Meanwhile I stir things up with a big spatula. Whenever I tried having them take turns with the real mixing implement they would fight over it and send batter splatting everywhere.

One of the best things to make from a practical budget standpoint -- also a hit because it's like playdough -- is REAL DOUGH. If you have a food processor it's really easy - just follow the manual's basic bread recipe. Using the dough for rolls and pizza are the simplest ways I've found to deal with it. Making actual bread takes multiple risings, so it's harder to keep track of.

This apple cake recipe (below) is a pretty good one for them. Partly because it's made in one bowl with straightforward ingredients. Partly because it involves using this: an apple peeler corer, their favorite kitchen implement. If you have gadgets that do neat things (manual egg beaters, egg slicers) those might be other surefire hits.

NORWEGIAN APPLE CAKE
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups 1/2-inch cubes of apples (tart apples work well so I use Granny Smith. 4 apples usually equals a little over 4 cups)

2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 335 F.

Spray a bundt pan well with no stick spray. Combine the sugar and oil. Then add the eggs and vanilla. Once those are combined add the apples.

Now add the baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir just until combined. Finally add the flour.

Spoon into the bundt pan. Bake for about an hour, until toothpick inserted comes out mostly dry.

Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then use spatual to release the cake from the sides of the pan and flip onto plate to cool completely.

Getting 3 kids in car seats in a small car

I'm not trying to jump the gun, but I imagine sometime soon we'll want to take our girls' friends along for a playdate to the zoo, or even carpool with kids coming home from preschool. But with 2 kids already in car seats in a compact car, there isn't much room for a third.

I recently learned about this product that may make it possible to get three 3 or 4 year olds safely and comfortably in the back of our civic. It's called the Ride Safer vest. I'm hoping that in combination with the narrow Radian seats we'll be able to easily transport our daughters' friends. My blog about the Radians is here.

So now I've set up an RSS feed looking for one of the Ride Safer vests on Craigslist. Once I get my hands on one I will post more info.

Where to donate or recycle stained clothes

I've got three kinds of laundry detergent next to the washing machine and four different stain removers. Bleach stick, Ecover stain remover, Oxy Clean stain spray, even the old hair spray stand-by (for ink). But sometimes stains get set in and while I don't mind my kiddos wearing them, once they outgrow them, I often feel bad passing them on.

A woman on my twin parent listserve just posed the question of what to do with stained clothes. It seems to be an urban legend that Goodwill has ways of recycling them. Thought I'd post the useful link she received as a response:
http://parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/charity/clothes_poorcond.html

Rainy day activity: volunteer with kids

A recent Wall Street Journal piece compared different volunteer websites where you can potentially find one day opportunities doing things like stuffing envelopes. Probably not going to work with straight up toddlers, but could be nice with an older child.

And here's an article about volunteering specifically with kids.

I mentally bookmarked some of the ideas for volunteerism with children that I heard about on Obama's national day of service. Collecting food for food banks and also becoming a regular visitor to a nursing home (where a child's energy is welcome) were some of the most appealing to me.

Find out about discounts at Sadiedey's play cafe

For all Bay Area folks: I just discovered the owner of Sadiedey's (formerly Tumble and Tea) is on twitter. She posts everything from updates (like the fact she's scouting for property for a possible second location) to heads ups about discount offers on her twitter feed (@SadieDey). Just follow her and you'll find out if there's a deal of the day.

Another good resource on twitter for toddler/preschool parents is Savvy Source. While the website is predominantly preschool advice and reviews, their tweets (@savvysource) run the gamut.

If you know other great toddler resources on twitter, please post them below.

And while you're following people, I'm here (@rdornhelm).

How to Go Green in Hard Times

The Wall Street Journal has a special section today on the subject. Their suggestions are generally higher cost than the stuff I cover here, but then the pay-offs are probably bigger too. Their ideas also only seem relevant if you're a homeowner. My audio-curious side is wondering about the affiliated podcast but haven't had a chance to check it out.

Rain, rain please stay...

...Though only for the earth's sake. Being rained in with two toddlers is marginal at best. And admissions to indoor activities adds up.

So in case it's useful to anyone else here's what I've been falling back on:

1. Having a stash of thrift store books to pull out. I make periodic trips to Thrift Town to scout for clothes and always try to pick up one or two books. It's been invaluable to have a bag of them to reach into. The girls happily sit through numerous readings of their new books.

2. Smelling spices. One day I discovered the girls love going through and smelling the spices in the spice rack. We can spend 15-20 minutes that way. Not a ton of time, but it's something!

3. Very Random Arts and Crafts. This is not well thought out stuff. More like cutting out the pictures in today's advertisements and then using a glue stick to put them on scraps of saved wrapping paper. Today we actually made Valentine's. And I think we'll send them, so the project was not for naught. Another suggestion I got from a friend was making fingerpaints from shaving cream mixed with food color. It looks really cool when dried too.

4. Streaming video. A. & I are addicted (HBO posted the entire first episode of Flight of the Conchords before it aired and I've been catching United States of Tara at Showtime when I cook).
But it's also great for the girls. What you want is there when you're most desperate. We tend to head over to the official Sesame Street site. You can view their videos by character. (The girls LOVE Bert and Ernie. I wonder if it's because, like the girlios, Bert and Ernie are a pair. Then maybe it's because Bert has a twin (Bart).) This counting sheep sketch with Ernie is popular, also this one where Bert ice skates.
Still, for some reason, our Sesame Street classic faves we can only find on You Tube. Like this one:



5. And then there's baking. That's been a huge winner for us, though it's taken some trial and error not to end up with flour everywhere or fights over batter laden spatulas (meaning batter everywhere, even worse). Part 2, Baking, will come with tomorrow's showers...

Another cheer for gmail (I conceded the privacy issue long ago)

There's a very useful new tool that was just released for gmail users. If it had been available when my girls were still at the "what do you do with two napping kids in the back seat?" stage I would have been really psyched. Basically it lets you use your gmail account offline. So you can fire up your laptop anywhere, regardless of wifi and go for it. Also would be great for airplane use (though I can't foresee a flight where I'll be kicking back doing email anytime soon).

It's called Google Gears and you can find it here. It works with other web apps too.

I didn't think that site was helpful in figuring out how to actually make it work. So I just followed these instructions.