Group items tagged

The Daily Kool family does a lot of driving. In fact, between work, school and enrichment activities for the kids, it often seems as if we practically live in our car. By the end of the week, our poor Saturn looks like a bomb has hit it...snacks, juice boxes, papers and toys are strewn all over the place. We've seen people recoil from the shock, shake their heads in wonder or, if they're parents, simply nod in commiseration at the mess of our car....yep, it can be pretty embarrassing! So, Fridays have now become the official "car cleaning" day in our household, and everyone has a job. No one ever complains...except whoever is responsible for window cleaning. The fingerprints and dog snot (Pepper loves taking rides in the car) are not such a big deal. The windshield, however, is another matter altogether. Our car has a pretty deep slope in the front, requiring us to drum up our best contortionist skills to clean it deep down. We admit it, our flexibility is quite pathetic...thus, so are our windshields.

The Daily Kool family is very proud of our home. While it may not seem like much to some people, we have spent countless hours decorating every nook and cranny to create a warm, livable environment. We love it and it's all ours...well, ours and the bank's, anyway. The only problem with home ownership is that there is always something that needs to be fixed, refurbished or just maintained. We learned quickly to expect the unexpected and by necessity, we've become quite savvy and adept at many do-it-yourself home repair projects.

Our wedding ten years ago (yikes!) was a beautiful Victorian affair with rich fabrics, bold colors and flowers in every corner. We even found these beautiful jewel-toned potpourri pillows at a local flea market. Each pillow was an actual picture frame, and we decided to use them for place card holders/party favors. Thank goodness they were all individually wrapped or the scents would have been overwhelming! Anyway, we spent the last night before our wedding carefully cutting open each pouch, putting the place card in the holder and resealing the plastic wrap. It was a long and tedious process, but the results were truly magnificent.

Buying kids apparels perhaps one of the toughest jobs in the life of parents. These days, it is seen that the garments for your baby is going to be extremely expensive that kills your wallet gradually.

This is the time of year when a photographer can get that big picture that can make the whole year. No, not the Superbowl or Lindsay Lohan with her skirt over her head dancing on a bar at the Viper Room. I mean, who hasn't seen that. This is much bigger. People screaming, fighting in the lines and aisles. All to get the big shot...

Periodically, areas in The Daily Kool home fall victim to the chaos of a busy life filled with activity, children and pets. Okay, are you ready? We confess that sometimes, we are just too busy (or too tired) to clean. There, it's out. Whew! Don't get us wrong...it's not we spend our time living in squalor. But, at some point, just about every room of our house has seen a period of what we consider unmitigated disaster...except, the kitchen. We are absolutely fastidious when it comes to the appearance of our kitchen...this is our domain, the room held in highest regard. We keep every crevice absolutely pristine, so imagine our surprise, when we realized we were missing the boat with our garbage disposal. Our garbage disposal is like any other...it's a magnet for dirty, greasy build-up and offensive odor. Sure, we'd been using the Plink garbage disposal cleaner and deodorizer tablets every few days, but we really weren't getting down into the nitty gritty of our disposal's grossness. Plink smells great, but its effects are very short lived...plus, it seems to be more of a deodorizer than a cleaner. We've tried it all...baking soda w/vinegar, ice, even citrus peel...all okay, but not exceptional. We really use our garbage disposal a lot, so it was definitely time for a more effective solution. Enter the Fuller Brush foaming garbage disposal cleaner.

Last week, there was a breaking news story about one of the larger baggage theft rings ever seen at Oregon's Portland International Airport. Baggage handlers literally stole hundreds of items from travelers' checked luggage...one of them even sold some of the property on eBay. Think about how easy it is to gain access to someone's luggage...you don't even have to be an airline passenger to go to the baggage claim. With crime in general escalating in today's tougher economic times, it's no wonder that baggage theft is on the rise as well...it's certainly one of the easier crimes of opportunity.

Last month, we carpooled with a friend and her children to meet a group of four other families for a quick (but crazy) weekend trip to the Florida Keys. Thank goodness for the invention of the minivan...we just put four car seats in the Honda Odyssey, strapped the kids in, and away we went. We all had a wonderful time, but wow...you should have seen those car seats when we got back! Imagine the coagulated mess...apple juice, chocolate milk, mushed M&Ms, cookies, crackers, chips...the list goes on and on. Combine all that with the sand, ocean water and tar from the beach, and we had a serious mess to clean up. Oh, and did we mention the projectile vomiting incident that spanned across the entire second row?

Yesterday, we returned from our gluttonous trip to our local Carvel ice cream shop on a euphoric sugar high. Oh yeah...The Daily Kool family has officially kicked off our celebration of National Ice Cream Month! Needless to say, we were in a fabulous mood when we walked through our front door. Of course, so was our lovable dog, Pepper...we may have mentioned him a few hundred times or so in our previous blog posts. Well, Pepper (as usual) was beside himself with joy when we came home, wagging his tail a mile a minute to show how excited he was to see us. We're telling you, there's not much that beats the feeling of unconditional love from a furry friend. Wait a minute...did we say unconditional? Because when Pepper got closer to lick our faces (hey, he's a French poodle, after all), he literally took a giant sniff of our ice cream breath and reeled back from each of us in indignant shock. Okay, we realize we're attributing human characteristics to our dog (doesn't everybody?). But seriously, you should have seen the accusatory look on his face before he pointedly turned his doggie butt on us and walked away to pout on his bed. Yep, Pepper's big brown eyes can really bring on the guilt. No doubt about it, our dog wanted to be a part of July's National Ice Cream Month holiday.

The Daily Kool's beloved pooch Pepper, has just turned 9 years old...wow, time is definitely flying by quickly. Though he still acts like a puppy much of the time, we have noticed that things are slowing down just a little bit for him. The vet has told us his hips are beginning to weaken, as is often common for a standard poodle of his age. Plus, we've seen the extra hesitation when he jumps in the car, on the couch, and especially on the bed...yep, it's definitely time to get Pepper a pet ramp.

The different views and opinions on surrogate motherhood are as vast as those on abortion. Everyone has their views and ideas of the social and ethical issues related to surrogate motherhood. Let's look into some of these issues and what the different sides think about it all. Is it morally correct to rent your body? Some would argue that renting your body to have a baby is hand in hand with renting it out for sex. You are being paid for the use of your body. On the other side, pro surrogates would say that this is an unfair comparison, as sex for money is seen to be dirty and having a baby to help someone who can't is a pure thing. What does religion say about the ethics of surrogate motherhood? Roman Catholicism and Islam forbid it. The Roman Catholics refer to the story of Sarah, wife of Abraham, in the bible. She was barren and gave her maid Hagar to her husband so that she could bare them a child. Abraham impregnated her through copulation. In the end Sarah got jealous, Hagar didn't want to give the baby up and she and the child were thrown out. Not a good ending. In Islam the belief is simple; a woman should bare only her husband's children. How does being born from a surrogate mother affect the child when it grows up? What does a person say when asked, who is your mother? Some people argue that being born from another woman can confuse a child and cause it to have issues as an adult; have feelings of confusion on the subject. The pro surrogates will say that there are many stories of successful children born of surrogate mothers that don't have these problems. It is simply explained to the child. The parents were unable to have children so they took each part of the child from the parents and put it in a surrogate to be born. Can a surrogate mother truly consent to the taking of the child after it is born? This is a major issue. Before gestational surrogating, it was only through artificial insemination of the father's sperm that a surro

One of our girlfriends showed up to the event with a couple of bottles of wine and the cutest drink coasters we've ever seen. These Drinkwear attachable flip flop coasters were the perfect party accessories for our gathering. Designed to fit on the base of most stemware, Drinkwear flip flop coasters stay appropriately attached to the "foot" of your glass. The EVA foam rubber material keeps stemware secure as you mingle and is easy to hand wash clean. The best part? Each one of us was able to identify our wineglass with our own flip flop style. They are simply adorable!

Is there any child who does not love bubbles? There is just something so magical, so alluring about the way these iridescent spheres float in the air and drift slowly down in mesmerizing fashion...then, POP! Such a simple pleasure for kids and the parents who cannot help but be drawn into their bubble ecstasy. Bubbles are such a world-wide phenomenon, it has even become a recognized art form. Don't believe us? Check out "The Gazillion Bubble Show", produced by Fan Yang who holds 14 Guinness World Records for bubble artistry. If you are ever in New York City, this is an absolute "must see" for the entire family...it is spectacular! The Daily Kool family has seen the show, and we cannot recommend it highly enough! But we digress...

HBO's latest offering 'Chernobyl'has grabbed a lot of attention in the last few days since it was released. This mini-series, co-starring Jared Harris, Emily Watson and StellanSkarsgard, is a very grave picturization of one of the worst human disasters in modern history. Written by Craig Mazin (of "The Hangover" Parts II and III fame) and directed by Johan Renck, this five-episode series brings back to life the tragic event of 1986 in erstwhile USSR and does not shy away from showing the horrors committed during that time. It gives the audience a glimpse of the events before, during and after the nuclear explosion, ill effects of which can be seen in Europe till date.

Today, The Daily Kool has decided to play hooky. That's right, folks...we are taking the day off from school and work to do absolutely nothing but have fun together as a family. Novel idea, huh? Since we are a group of classic workaholics, we occasionally need the break to reclaim our sanity. Yes, we realize this is why we have weekends, but ours tend to be spent running around to birthday parties and catching up on all of the chores/errands we've neglected throughout our hectic week. This calls for a day at the waterpark, complete with a picnic...without the weekend crowds.

The Daily Kool family spent a better part of our weekend going through and organizing our closets. That's when we noticed that most of our closet space is taken up by bedding. Blankets and sheets and pillows...oh my! We have comforters for the winter, lightweight blankets for the summer, two sheet sets per bed, plus extras of everything (including pillows) for the occasional barrage of family house guests. Yikes! Unfortunately, our closet space is at a minimum, and it's tough to fit those large storage bins through our attic door. We needed a better solution.

Guess what The Daily Kool found out? There is actually a National S'mores Day, and it's today (August 10)! Ah, s'mores...the delicious gooey campfire treat that is made up of graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. These are even worse than those potato chips (sorry, Lays). There is no way we can eat just one...we need "s'more, s'more!" Hence, the name. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

Mining in Burma (now Myanmar) has yielded some of the finest rubies the world has seen. Rubies have been found in a number of different areas of Burma. Mogok is the birth place & many more