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Is Teflon Safe?

I used to swear by Teflon. I loved the non-stickiness of it. But, after reading that it may release toxic substances, I switched back to stainless steel and cast iron. Teflon (also known as PTFE for polytetrafluoroethylene) was invented at Kinetic Chemicals in 1938 by Roy Plunkett. Roy was actually trying to make a new refrigerant when he actually came up with Teflon. It was French engineer Marc Gregiore who first used Teflon to coat a pan. By 1961, “The Happy Pan,” the first Teflon coated frying pan, hit the market. While I love the fact that nothing sticks to … Continue reading →

Home For The Holidays: Celebrating Kwanzaa

Another title for this blog could be: “Everything I Know About Kwanzaa I Learned From Elmo.” It’s a reference to a “Happy Holidays” Elmo video my 2-year-old daughter loves to watch over and over and over—-by now we both have the thing memorized. Kwanzaa happens to be one of the holidays Elmo learns about from his young “friends” on the tape. Elmo does a fantastic job of simplifying the holiday–allowing children of all ages to better comprehend and appreciate it. Viewers learn that Kwanzaa is a modest celebration. At the heart of the seven-day festival is a focus on heritage, … Continue reading →

Silly String: Lifesaving Gift for Soldiers?

Have you heard that Silly String or other brands similar to this product may be the best gift you can give our troops? It sounds, well… a little silly, but it’s actually quite serious. The Marines apparently came up with the idea but word is traveling fast. Silly String can be sprayed as troops enter buildings in order to locate trip wires. Talk about thinking on your feet! These guys know how to improvise! If the string goes straight down, no problem. If it seems to hang in the air, it could be due to nearly invisible trip wires, which … Continue reading →

Home Week in Review: December 3 – 9

This week, Marjorie started us off with, Your Holiday Notebook: Part Three, continuing her series on holiday organization. Michele finished up the week with, Inexpensive Ways To Set A Festive Holiday Kids’ Table, which included some fun ideas. We also talked about letters to Santa, Seeing Santa, and Sending Christmas Cards, as well as some decorating tips for the holidays. There were also some terrific tips for cleaning everything from pots and pans to coffee makers and other small appliances. We’ve all been pretty busy, so the list is a little shorter this week. You have probably been busy as … Continue reading →

Cookie-Scented Ad Campaign Crumbles

You’re familiar with the “Got Milk?” campaign, right? Well, here’s a story about an ingenious twist on the campaign that just got dunked for reasons that made me shake my head (see if your head wags after you read why). The new marketing campaign to promote milk included outfitting five San Francisco bus shelters with cookie-scented cardboard strips at a cost of about $30 per shelter. Basically, scented oils were sandwiched between cardboard cards emblazoned with “Got Milk?” and affixed to shelter walls, in hopes that the smell of just-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies would spark cravings for milk. The creator … Continue reading →

Home For The Holidays: A Family Tradition That Helps Our Troops

What’s your family’s favorite holiday tradition? I told you about some of ours in a previous blog, and I also provided some ideas in case you were looking to add a few new ones to your holiday repitoie. For many families a favorite holiday tradition is simply slowing down long enough to bake up a batch of cookies. It can be especially fun and productive when you allow your kids take the reigns in the decorating department. You may be surprised at how much children can learn participating in a simple task such as baking cookies. For instance, think about … Continue reading →