Save the Children - Valentine's Day Cards

When you donate $25, today, you will receive a set of 30 limited-edition Valentine’s Day Cards (6 cards of each design), perfect for children to send to their classmates. Or use them yourself to add a touch of whimsy to your own Valentine’s Day greetings, especially to children who are important to you.

Your donation will support Save the Children’s work to help children living in poverty in the U.S. Give children a lifelong love of reading, and you give them a chance to breaking the lifelong cycle of poverty.

This limited-edition set includes cards designed by your child's favorite children's book authors and illustrators: Ian Falconer (Olivia!), Kevin Henkes (Kitten’s First Full Moon), Leuyen Pham (Freckleface Strawberry), Brian Selznick (Wonderstruck) and Mo Willems (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!).

To ensure delivery of your card set(s) by Valentine’s Day, order by February 6.

Click on the link to order your cards:
https://secure.savethechildren.org/site/apps/ka/rg/ecreg.asp?c=8rKLIXMGIpI4E&b=7913765&en=inKGKFPjFaKCIGPiF1LyEHPqFeJAIGMoGiKNJSNvGkINKWMwHaLGJSOqFhLSK4K

Children Full of Life

Children Full of Life: Moving documentary about kids
and their homeroom teacher.

“We come to school to be happy, so let’s all be happy together!” This is the vow made by Grade Four, Class One and their teacher Kanamori. Each day, three children read letters to their classmates, talking honestly about their feelings for each other and events in their lives. The class searches together for ways to understand and cope with troubled relations, unhappiness and loss of loved ones. In the course of the year, the children’s characters develop naturally as they share their experiences, and grow to understand the value of life and of caring for each other’s feelings.

Click on the link to see a clip from this documentary:
http://www.wimp.com/homeroomteacher/

12 Things Happy People Do Differently

Let's all see if we can keep these in mind as we go through this year!

1. Express gratitude. - "Being grateful for the goodness that is already evident in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness."
2. Cultivate optimism. - "People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times."
3. Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. - "If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an earlier version of yourself."
4. Practice act of kindness - "Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside. What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness"
5. Nurture social relationships - "The happiest people on the planet are the ones who have deep, meaningful relationships."
6. Develop strategies for coping. - "How you respond to the ‘craptastic’ moments is what shapes your character. It helps to have healthy strategies for coping pre-rehearsed, on-call, and in your arsenal at your disposal."
7. Learn to forgive. - "Harboring feelings of hatred is horrible for your well-being. You see, your mind doesn’t know the difference between past and present emotion. When you ‘hate’ someone, and you’re continuously thinking about it, those negative emotions are eating away at your immune system."
8. Increase flow experiences. - "Flow is a state in which it feels like time stands still. It’s when you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you become one with the task. Action and awareness are merged."
9. Savor life's joys. - "It’s the simple things in life that can be the most rewarding if we remember to fully experience them. When we neglect to appreciate, we rob the moment of its magic."
10. Commit to your goals. - "Being wholeheartedly dedicated to doing something comes fully-equipped with an ineffable force. Magical things start happening when we commit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to get somewhere."
11. Practice spirituality. - "When we practice spirituality or religion, we recognize that life is bigger than us. It enables us to connect to the source of all creation and embrace a connectedness with everything that exists."
12. Take care of your body. - "Taking care of your body is crucial to being the happiest person you can be. If you don’t have your physical energy in good shape, then your mental energy (your focus), your emotional energy (your feelings), and your spiritual energy (your purpose) will all be negatively affected."

To read this article by Jacob Sokol of Sensophy in full go to this link:
http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/08/30/12-things-happy-people-do-differently/

Do You Have a Health Condition Affected by the Weather?

Do you have asthma, allergies, arthritis, get migraines or sinus headaches?
At this website you can put in your location and get a forecast
as to how the weather could affect these health conditions and more.
Go to the link: www.accuweather.com
Click on go. Put in your location. To the right click on the "Health" tab.

Road ID

You don't have to be an athlete to need an ID that could save your life!

1. If you can’t speak for yourself, Road ID will speak for you.
2. Road ID enables First Responders to immediately contact family members and friends.
3. Road ID enables family members to provide additional details about your health or give consent for potentially life saving procedures.
4. Road ID enables hospital staff to locate vital medical records.
5. Road ID can communicate medical conditions or allergy information to medical staff.
6. Road ID can prevent serious delays in treatment by saving crucial time during the “golden hour” of medical treatment.
7. It’s far better to have Road ID and not need it than to need Road ID and not have it. It’s not just a piece of gear, it’s peace of mind.
8. Accidents happen far more than you think they do. Each year approximately 450,000 of us are taken to hospitals unconscious and without identification.
9. Road ID looks good on and makes a statement about your athletic lifestyle – not to mention that studies would probably prove that people that wear Road ID are considerably smarter than those that don’t.
10. Road ID can save your Life. Period.

They have many ID styles to choose from such as wrist, ankle, shoe, dog tag, as well as other safety items.
Check them out at: http://www.roadid.com/Common/Products.aspx

30 Lessons for Living

Yvetta Fedorova

30 Lessons for Living offers practical advice from more than 1,000 older
Americans from different economic, educational and occupational strata
who were interviewed as part of the ongoing Cornell Legacy Project.

Check out: "Advice From Life’s Graying Edge
on Finishing With No Regrets"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/health/elderly-experts-share-life-advice-in-cornell-project.html?_r=1&smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=HL-E-FB-SM-LIN-AFL-011212-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click

What advice do you wish you could have given to your younger self?
What would you like to tell your children/grandchildren?
Email me and put "Advice" in the subject line and I'll post it here.
debbie@geraniumfarm.org

From you the readers:
"to my younger self: have a career to fall back on just in case, save, save, save more in a 401k or another fund, always use sunscreen. I would say the same to my children and grandchildren."

Apps in Education

The blogspot states - "One of the hardest things with using the iPad in the classroom is finding the time to go through all of the apps in the iTunes Store listed under the education banner. We have started to list some of the apps we've found under each of the Key Learning Areas."

Hey, this isn't just for teachers! Parents check it out for Apps for yourself as well as the kids. : )

Subject areas that are included: Math, English, Religion. Health, History/Geography, TV/Film, Science, Music, Art, Apps for Teachers/Special Needs

Check out the descriptions of the apps here:

http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/

Regalo Abbracci - A Nice Start to the New Year!

Please put your sound on.

Happy New Year Everyone

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
- T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

Snap Bag Crazy!

To see original posting on Snap Bags go to:
http://geraniumfarmhodgepodge.blogspot.com/2011/11/easy-snap-bag.html

These were made slightly different & were made as gifts. Email me if you need more help in understanding the directions.