Something New from Ray Bradbury. JOY!

Just got an alert from Harper Collins. He is my favorite author. The world's he's created. My gosh.. Check this out! Read more at Harper Collins.

In We'll Always Have Paris—a new collection of stories gathered together for the first time—the inimitable Ray Bradbury once again delights us with prose that soars and sings. He imagines great things and poignantly observes human foibles and frailties. He enchants us with the magic he mastered decades ago and still performs flawlessly. Whether he's exploring the myriad ways to be reborn, or the circumstances that can make any man a killer, or returning us to Mars, Bradbury opens the world to us and beckons us in. His tales will live forever—we will always have Bradbury.

RIP Robert B. Parker

When I left Boston for Ohio, I could always return home by reading a Spenser novel. RIP and thank you for decades of great reading. From Media Bistro Galley Cat.

Kim Stagliano Now on HuffPo

When I began writing for Huffington Post in 2007, Fearless Voices was both the theme of the category in which I was published and the title of Arianna's book. I had a fearless voice, and was thrilled to chime in here. But now, I feel like an outcast. Everyone is talking about how to get to sleep. How to stay asleep. How to sleep well, deeply, restfully and many more adverbs all of which imply that sleep is an elusive dream.

Not for me.

I sleep like a rock within minutes of turning out the light. It's almost too embarrassing to share. No Ambien. No wine. No Lunesta. No melatonin (although my kids get a spray of it every so often.) No warm milk .I can drink a gallon of coffee at 6:00pm and still zonk out at 10 p.m. as if on command... Click the headline to read the full post and comment. Thanks!

Support Debut Author Maria Garcia Kalb!

Maria is a member of the very cool grog, The Debutante Ball. Her book launches today. Day 1 is really important for sale - so is week 1,2 and 3. Fast movement is GOOD. So, if you'd like to add to your list of how to torture the loved on in your life, grab a copy on Amazon and leave a review after you read it. Check out her WEBSITE HERE.

"101 Ways to Torture Your Husband" is a fun, devilish manual for every wife who dreams of makingher husband pay for his naughty wrongdoings.

While the title refers to "husbands," boyfriends and lovers are also included, and can suffer the same consequences when they drive their woman insane! Sure, it’s a passive-aggressive way to seek revenge, but boy will you feel better afterwards!

HELP HAITI

BEEPOSH Too Cute!

STUPID BLOGGER WILL NOT UPLOAD A PHOTO! Anyone?

Santa brought Bella these boots - alas too small! And the store where we bought them didn't bring in the next size up. So I contacted the company, which happens to be right here in CT and they are helping me. Isn't that nice? Check out their cool stuff - very creative and fun.

Autism Speaks Autism Forum


Please join me to tell Congressman Himes how autism has affected you and/or your family and what you need now and in the future. KIM

Moderated by Congressman Jim Himes (D-4)

Saturday January 23
2:00 – 4:00
Darien Library
Community Room

Please RSVP HERE.

Panelists:

Peter Bell, Autism Speaks Executive Vice President Programs and Services
Father to a child with autism

Senator Bob Duff Connecticut State Senator representing Darien and Norwalk

Dr. James McPartland Assistant Professor, Yale Autism Program

Julie Swanson Special Education Advocate
Mother to a child with autism

Kim Stagliano Managing Editor Age of Autism
Mother to three children with autism

It's Time for the Manic Mommy 3rd Annual Blood Drive!

I've borrowed Manic Mommy's entire blog post - I've done the drive for the last two years and if you're able to donate blood, you should too. Read on:

Welcome to the New Year, New Decade and the Third Annual MaNiC MoMMy'S Virtual Blog for Blood Drive Challenge! I can't believe this is the third year of the blood drive and I wasn't sure if I was going to do it again, but something pulled at me and here I am! Thank YOU for taking the time to consider participating! I ended 2009 by donating my pint yesterday, and I've been bulking up on the iron and came in at 15.4 for my iron count! That's like a MAN's iron count! Been eating a ton of red meat lately now that I'm not eating SUGAR or Diet Coke any more!

If you're new to this, thanks for stopping by, and here's a quick explanation: In 2008, I had a carload of 6 kids and drove past a Heartland Blood Center and decided to stop in to see if I could donate on a whim. With SIX KIDS in the car. We all went in, I donated, and it was SO EASY! I blogged about it, then thought, if that was so easy, why isn't it this easy for everyone else to do it?

Then I thought to make it fun, I'd put some money into it, and give away prizes. Some other awesome bloggers came forward, donated their time and money toward prizes. The next year, a company donated a trip to Florida, and we had even more great people give up a pint of their blood for the cause.

ONE PINT OF YOUR BLOOD WILL SAVE THREE PEOPLE. Some of you have a blood type that can save up to FIVE BABIES. But my mom said it best. Your blood saves more than just three people or five babies. It saves their whole FAMILIES.

To participate in MaNiC MoMMy'S Virtual BLog for Blood Drive, all you have to do is head to your local blood bank and donate a pint of blood from now through February 28. (Make sure you've eaten enough iron-rich foods and have had breakfast and that you drink water before you go.) Have someone there take your photo WHILE YOU ARE DONATING BLOOD and email it to me, along with your name, email, and city and state. Tell me what motivated you to donate. Every Sunday I post the photos calling it SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY.

Email photos to: manicmommy@comcast.net.

At the end of the drive, we'll have great prizes to give away, some of them yet to be determined, but I am ponying up like every year, $3 per EVERY DONOR of my own cash toward prizes ($1 per every life saved - up to a total amount determined by me).

A grand prize will be a ROUNDTRIP SOUTHWEST AIRLINE TICKET for one random winner so if you're looking to head somewhere warm, and if you've got a pint of blood just flowing in your veins that YOU DON'T NEED that maybe someone else COULD USE TO LIVE, you might consider giving it away!

I'm trying, desperately, to entice Ellen Degeneres to give a pint to the cause on her show - wouldn't THAT be fabulous? Or maybe SHE would let a winner come visit HER in California? I've been emailing and tweeting her trying to get her to notice my blood drive efforts, but I know she gets thousands of requests every day, but just as she wanted to be on the cover of Oprah magazine, she didn't quit, so I'm not going to quit bugging her on my quest to get her to at least give me a pint of blood. In fact, wouldn't she look GREAT donating a pint of blood?

All you have to do is donate a pint of blood and have your photo taken. If the staff says you can't get your photo taken in the chair, that's NOT true. See all the people who have had their photos taken: Last Year's Donors! Don't they all look awesome--and they're ALL full of SMILES!

SHOW the staff the photos from the above link! If they still won't let you take a picture, give your pint, and take your picture outside the establishment and take a picture of your "Be nice to me, I donated" sticker, or a picture of your paperwork you fill out, or your bandaged arm. Photos will be considered at my discretion, and I do prefer the photo of you in the chair, but if they're being sticklers about it, do what you can!

Remember to EMAIL your name, email address so I can contact you, city, state, and what motivated you to donate to: manicmommy@comcast.net. Photos will be posted every Sunday!

If you would like to consider sponsoring part of the drive, or donating a prize, those opportunities are also available as well, just email me! Any gift at all is welcome and appreciated! But most of all, the gift of your pint of blood is what we want most!

Thank you very much and if you have any questions about anything I might not have covered here, please leave them in the comment section! Below is a photo of some of the awesome staff at Heartland Blood Center in Naperville, Illinois! Thanks Tammy & Chez! And we'll be seeing the other Tammy and Gloria soon when I bring Mr. Manic in for blood later this week

How about it, Got a pint to spare? It's a great way to start off the New Year! Happy 2010!

Stephanie Elliot
* * * * *
Follow me: http://twitter.com/stephanieelliot
http://www.stephanieelliot.com
http://www.manicmommy.blogspot.com - THeRe'S a MeTHoD To HeR MaNiC

I ask you...

If you spray Scrubbing Bubbles in your bathroom, then forget you sprayed Scrubbing Bubbles in your bathroom and then decide two hours later you have to use the bathroom, then remember you'd sprayed Scrubbing Bubbles in the bathroom two hours earlier and then wipe down the bathroom and then use the toilet did you ever really clean your bathroom?

Look! Birthday Cake!

Decorated by Gianna no less. And then, Kim left it on the dining room table after serving a mere 3 slices. And Bella got a hankering for another slice. Or handful!

And that was the end of the cake!

Hello, Back Nine! (Maybe 11th hole?)

46 today.

Is it January Yet?

Random photos, Sunday gravy prep.
GFCF Peppermint creams for cookie party.

The Giginator.

Meesk.

Rudolph GFCF cupcakes. Have a wonderful winter break, everyone.

Merry Christmas, Friends.

(Borrowed the idea from Stephen Parrish. )

CDC Did Not Properly Screen Medical Experts for Financial Conflict of Interest on Vaccine Safety

If there's one story the NYT has avoided, it's vaccine safety. No matter how many drugs they'd "out" for being dangerous, needing recalls, or pharma ghost written studies or their myriad other hard hitting journalism about pharma, vaccines were always the Virgins in Church, piously pristine. Maybe not.

Read the full article by Gardiner Harris in the New York Times, HERE.

WASHINGTON — A new report finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a poor job of screening medical experts for financial conflicts when it hired them to advise the agency on vaccine safety, officials said Thursday.

Most of the experts who served on advisory panels in 2007 to evaluate vaccines for flu and cervical cancer had potential conflicts that were never resolved, the report said. Some were legally barred from considering the issues but did so anyway.

In the report, expected to be released Friday, Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, found that the centers failed nearly every time to ensure that the experts adequately filled out forms confirming they were not being paid by companies with an interest in their decisions...

The Island of Misfit Toys Diorama is BACK!

My brother, who is an architect, made this diorama last year. Isn't it fabulous? Enjoy! (And if you need a gorgeous house built or remodeled, he's with a firm in Bethesda, Rill Architects.

15 years old today.

Let's Make Gluten Free Whoopie Pies!

I love to bake. And my kids are gluten and casein free, so I sort of have to bake. We made holiday shaped Whoopie Pies this weekend. A Whoopie Pie is a sandwich of two pieces of soft cake with a cream filling (almost like an Oreo but softer) inside. So, follow our story, won't you?

First, you need a helper. Bella stepped up to the plate.

I tried the new BC GF mix. Excellent. I was really pleased with it.

Use a holiday shaped "Cookie" pan. They make nice detailed shaped cakes. Only fill them about halfway, to cover the full shape, otherwise they'll rise too high and dome.

Mmm, here's the first pan. Cakey! Holiday-ey!

Cooling on a Santa mat. Onto the filling. I couldn't remember how to make it. Fear not! I have a cookbook!
When I was 11, my Mom gave me, "Kim's Cookbook." In it is a recipe for Whoopie Pies. Along with Chinese candy (remember the butterscotch chip and chinese noodle candy?) and many other favorites. I've had this book for close to 35 years and I treasure it. I bought a replacement on e-bay just in case anything ever happens to this onw- shocked to find it! The publisher was part of American Greetings, I think. Oh, you can't believe I'm that old? Ha! Look down.

My Mom inscribed the book. Isn't that the very best?!

Here are the ingredients for the filling. I used a Kosher corn free powdered sugar - although any kind will do.

Here's the finished product. Yum. I think. Are they good?

Gianna looks pretty happy! Guess they ARE good!

When Your Child Needs You.

Last night, my Mia, who will turn 15 next week, was very sad. She was crying, almost sobbing. And she was desperately trying to tell me what was wrong, but she doesn't have the words to do that. She was saying, "Fix it! Fix it!" and "Elmo?" and I paced the house looking for a broken Elmo toy. For a while I thought she wanted my laptop - she likes to ferret it out from where ever I've hidden it and log herself on. We keep one CD-ROM in it, a Blues Clues game - in case we're traveling and she needs some entertainment. She tore my room apart looking for the laptop.

Bella went to sleep easily around 8pm. Gianna's eyes were closing as we tackled her night time reading assignment. She crawled into bed at 8:30. Mia was still crying and roaming the house. She'd say a word here or there. She tapped her finger into her palm, "Can I have.... Can I have... PLEASE?" But she couldn't tell me the noun - I ask her, I try to help her. I wrack my brain trying to piece together her thought process to see what she wants.

I was tired. We'd had a snow day. So from 5:30am until 8pm it was just us girls. We drove Mark to the train station at 7am to catch the train to Newark airport. Then we started on the world's longest day.

I gave Mia Melatonin to help relax her. She finally got into my bed - which she NEVER does. IT was clear she needed me. I just wanted some quiet time to read and then go to sleep. But I let her into the bed, put her three snowmen, six arts and crafts Halloween friends she now carries everywhere next to her. She grabbed them all and lined them up in a different order. The RIGHT order. I stroked her head.

She stopped crying abruptly and fell asleep.

This morning she handed me one of her snowmen - she has three. And she named them Mommy, Daddy and Baby. She loves that little family. I looked at the snowmen, and noticed that one of them is missing a fuzzy pom pom button. AH HA!! FIX IT now meant something to me.

She took my hand, and placed MY finger on the missing button. "Fix it."

I hugged her and promised her six ways to Sunday that today I will fix her family. That's my job. I'm her Mom. And I must fix her family.

I'll be at JoAnn's or Michael's the second they open today.

I Denied my Inner Guidette.

There's a new reality show called, Jersey Shore. Remember the two, buff, Mafia wannabe's on the Soprano's? Jersey Shore elevates their ilk to godlike status as it follows a group of Italian kids/young adults at The Jersey Shore. No Madam Marie here. None of Sandy's Fourth of July love at the boarwalk. Not a hint of the heartache of Puerto Rican Jane.

Some folks are finding fault with the show for its stereotypes. Tanning beds and abs are Italian? Since when?

I went to a prep school. The minute I walked in, freshman (pardon me, IV Class) year, I realized there was this thing called the WASP - and I was not one of them. It was the first time I had ever felt any difference from my peers, a teeny tiny taste of feeling inferior, although nothing like other groups feel every day even in 2009.

I straightened my hair. I wore hot pink wide whale cords (for which I will NEVER forgive my sister who dragged me to Olken's in Wellesley to buy them.) I bought Bean boots (still have them and wear them.) I wore grosgrain ribbon headbands. I was a preppie. With a vowel at the end of my name. So not really a preppie at all.

How much more fun would it have been to have embraced my inner Guidette? I had the perfect hair for a mountainous spray on top of my head. I had the right lips for copious globs of pink gloss. I had big eyes that begged for sparkly eye shadow and six coats of mascara. I had a cute figure that would have looked kickin in tight jeans (wait, I did wear Sasson, does that count?)

Not sure I'll watch Jersey City - Boston Italians aren't Jersey Italians, though now I'm mid-way between the two in CT. I find it amusing that the show exists. It doesn't offend me. And maybe I'll check out the abs for a minute.