DJ Lance spins for the babies!

This week we spent the early evening at Brooklyn Bowl, which, to me, is really just a club that happens to also have bowling lanes. It was a launch party event for Yo Gabba Gabba’s live show. My big girl has watched the show. My baby, who won’t turn two until the end of June, hasn’t.

We went inside and saw throngs of people — kids, moms, dads and babies — milling around. All the characters were there, too, as was DJ Lance, who was actually using a turntable and spinning records. (Yes, actual vinyl! Each one encased in its sleeve and the sleeve encased in plastic.)

My big girl was excited to be there. The little one was a little scared. The noise, the darkness, the flashing lights. Once she settled down, however, she loved the music. Only ten minutes after we arrived, she stopped clinging to my shoulder and started dancing. Then she started clapping her hands.

It was a fun even even though I had to snag a bracelet from someone leaving (I was told at the front door they had no more to give) so we could get onto the dance floor. Once we stepped down onto the floor we participated in the meet and greets with everyone. I think my husband, who I am technically not allowed to write about anymore, was most excited. He really wanted to meet DJ Lance, who turned out to be one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met. I asked him to do a video intro for the blog. Not only did he do it, but he did it twice since he didn’t get the name right the first time. The video will go up over the weekend or on Monday. (Have to let hubby work his technical editing magic on it.) In the meantime enjoy the photo, the following Favorites and the rest of your Friday!

Leafware = I have a new compost bin. I entertain a fair amount during the summer. I hate plastic.

I’m hoping this statement — if I was doing a truth table — would come out all true. (I’m expecting a sample some time soon, so I will let you know.) Leafware, as the company says is  “leaves of specific trees and vines, sewn together with bits of stem” to form plates, bowls, and trays. If you buy them in bulk they come out to about $.50 each. I’m personally willing to give it a try, especially since I can throw it into my compost when I’m done. Again, I’ll let you know what I think.

BetterWorldBooks. I am a reader. I’m also someone who writes stuff that goes into newspapers and magazines. And yet I hate the thought of how many trees I’ve probably killed doing what I do for a living. This is why this site may be one of my favorite new haunts. Every book it sells ships free in the U.S. (the international shipping fee is $3.97), and the company offsets its shipping by buying carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org. It also collects old, unwanted books and sells them to support literacy efforts. To date, the company says it has diverted 33,082,876 books from landfills. Not bad. Now do they have my next book club book?

Let’s Go Chipper! app. I got a press release about this one. Sounded pretty neat, so I checked it out. It’s an educational storyline (books, movies, activities and iTunes downloads) for kids ages 2 to 6 that teaches them about ecology. With the summer coming up — at least here in the northern hemisphere — the stories explain how to keep the environment the way you left it. A plus: Chipper, who is a chipmunk, is pretty cute, too.

That’s it for now. I’m back to work. Another few interviews to do today and then we’ve got a birthday party and I have a flip-flop party to go to. Whoohoo! What are you up to this Friday night? p.s. See that little brown box over to the right? The one that says Top Mommy Blogs? I am trying to move up in the rankings. Would you pretty please click on it and then click to vote for my blog once you get to the landing page? Thanks in advance! I only need 30 clicks through to move into the top 10 in the Eco category.

BookSwim. Last week I bought The Red Tent. It was our book club selection. I wanted to take it out of the library or nab it on BookMooch, but after waiting patiently I finally gave up. Wish I would have known about BookSwim before I made my purchase. The service, which charges you between $9.95 and $59.95 per month depending on how many books you want to borrow per month, will mail books directly to you and take them back when you’re done.

Safety Assessments for playgrounds. How safe is your school’s playground? How about the one at your park? The University of Alabama at Birmingham has created playground safety checklists that can be downloaded here. (Click on Supporting Documents at the bottom of the page.) A wonderful free resource for any parent or grandparent.

Child Online Safety Guide. With accounts of cyberbullying and cyberstalking making the news all the time I decided I would pass along this resource, which a PR person passed along to me. Good list of dos and don’ts related to online safety for kids. (I plan on using it next year as the basis for a a Girl Scout Brownie Try-it patch.)

Open Center Online Learning. The New York Open Center is a holistic learning center located in — where else?– New York. So if you want to attend one of the more than 500 programs it runs you need to come this way. Until now. This month the Center launched an online repository of downloadable podcasts that include subjects like Reiki, meditation, reflexology, Feng Shui and Chinese Medicine, among other topics. Some are free; others require payment. (I’m planning on downloading some to my iPod the next time I have to go into the city.)

That’s it for now. Hope everyone has a good weekend. I plan on blogging over the weekend since I am starting WordCount’s Blogathon 2010, which requires daily blogging from May 1 to May 31. Not sure how coherent my weekend posts will be — my weekends are crazy with more events and chores than time to do them — but we’ll see! Hope you’ll stop by to check it out.

A-mazing! Kids can stay healthy learning about their blood.

This week’s post should have an extra “F” in it — for free! I’ve found some fun (oh, there’s another F) online resources that are definitely worth checking out.

• Children’s Vascular Health Activity Book. It’s hard to tell a teenager to eat right and avoid smoking. It’s easier to give a child a visual, and hope the lesson sticks with them into adulthood. The Society for Vascular Surgery has given parents a resource to do just that: A printable health activity book that helps kids understand how their veins and arteries work, and what smoking and not eating right can do to them.
• Mamapedia.com. Launched five months ago, Mamapedia is part search engine, part coffee klatch. Say you have a question about the first day of school or hiring a babysitter or your a funny bump on your child’s leg or anything that might keep you up at night. Go to the site, ask your question, and it will be answered by other moms — often in a matter of minutes. The site is broken up into categories — Behavior, Money, and Pregnancy, are a few — so if you don’t feel like asking your question, you can search past questions to see if someone else was stressing about when molars come in, for example. Part community, part resource. I wish I thought of this one.
• Rouxbe.com. I was looking for a recipe for this week’s CSA veggies (ok, I’ll admit it; I didn’t know if I was supposed to peel white turnips) and I came across this site. It’s a nice place to check into daily for a free video cooking lesson. Plus, you can browse past lessons to learn cooking basics like how to sharpen knives or choose the best cuts of meat. (Note: There is a paid membership, but there’s enough here that’s free to keep anyone busy.)
• BookMooch.com My writer friends are going to hate me for posting this, however my compulsion to save trees is just too great to let this one go unpromoted. BookMooch is a lot like last week’s Zwaggle. You go to the site, list the books you’ve already read, and you get points for them. Every book listed gives you 1/10th of a point. When you mail one out you get one to three points, depending on where it is going. “Mooching” a book will cost you one or two points. Leaving feedback gives you points, too. My office is overrun with books, so I’ll be posting plenty this weekend. Anyone want the Emily Griffin series?
• ScrapbookScrapbook.com. This isn’t going to be applicable to everyone, but if you’re a scrapbooker, you’re going to like it. The site features a ton of printable papers, letters, and whole page layouts. The site itself isn’t exactly perfectly designed, however it’s worth digging around in.

Next week: I’m going to be announcing my first big give-away on the site! A large baby vendor is donating a basket of items. Also, I’m going to add a news feed so I can keep all of my readers up-to-date on news that matters.