Archive for the ‘News’ Category

We don’t typically mention books, movies, etc. as we’re not a review site, but this year we’ve come across two books that we feel are worth noting for our audience.

The first is called: 31 Days to a Younger You: No Surgery, No Diets, No Kidding by our friend Arlene Pellicane. Arlene is a writer, bloger, speaker, mom, and all around good egg.

Arlene’s book is filled with engaging, insightful and charming stories about her everyday life, and makes you feel as though you’re having a conversation with someone you know and trust.

The books includes lots of helpful tips on fitness, nutrition, health, beauty, organization and more, and encourages the reader to think about how practical tips can be applied to everyday life in order to help you look better, feel better and enjoy life more.

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The US Census Bureau recently compiled a 4 page PDF report about moms and Mother’s Day. Here are some of the highlights:

Motherhood and Children:

• 80.5 million number of mothers in the United States
• 55% percent of 15 to 44 year olds who are mothers
• 81% perecent of 40 to 44 year olds who are mothers. In 1976 this number was 90%.
• 2.1 the number of children women have in their lifetime. In Utah the number is 2.5, and in many northeast states the number is as low as 1.7.
• 10.4 million the number of single moms with children under 18. 3.4 million in 1970
• 61% & 81% percentage of children of maried couples under 6 who eat breakfast and dinner with their mothers every day
• 4.1 million the number of 2005 births in the US. 414,406 were from teen mothers, while 111,190 were from mothers above 40.
• 25.2 the average age of women giving their first child
• 40% percentage of births that are the first child. 32% second, 17% third, 11% fourth or more
• 35,578 the number of 2004 births outside hospitals
• 1:31 the odds of delivering twins

Working and Raising Children:

• 5.6 million the number of stay at home moms in 2006
• 55% percentage of moms with infant children in the work force in 2004. Down from an all time high of 59% in 1998.
• 729,040 number of child care centers across the US

Shopping for Mom:

• 21,667 the number of florist establishments in the US in 2004
• 12,454 number of perfume, comsetics, and beauty supplies stores in the US in 2004
• 28,772 number of US jewelry stores in 2004

A head teacher in a Carmarthen, West Wales school has decided to ban the making of Mother’s Day cards:

“More than five per cent of children here are separated from their birth mother and have either no contact or no regular contact with their mother,” she said.

Surely it is sad to know parental ties have been broken for some children, but it doesn’t make sense to go out of our way to break them for all children. Everyone is a minority if you inspect them hard enough, but we shouldn’t make everyone suffer for it. How is that politically correct?

Anyone who thinks that being different is a bad thing or something that everyone should give up freedoms for should read about how bad that world would be if we were all the same in Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron.