playdate

The diva's guide to 2008 trends

I know you're all freezing your cute little butts off out there, but trust me spring is right around the corner. Before long you are going to be wondering what kind of clothes you should be stocking up on in order to preserve and promote your image as the MILFiest mom on the block. (That's right, it's an adjective now - you heard it here first).

And so I present to you, my take on the first five of the Top 10 fashion-must-haves for 2008 according to Elle Canada magazine.

Africentric School Approved

Last night, after an intense discussion that included 20 speakers, the Toronto District School Board voted 11-9 in favour of an alternative Africentric school.  In addition to the Africentric school, the board passed other measures (all by wide margins) to combat the 40% dropout rate of Toronto's black students.  These included an action plan to help all black students improve, pilot programs covering subjects from an Africentric perspective in regular schools, and establishing a research program (with York University and community groups) to determine how to reduce the disparity between black children and their peers of other races when it comes to academic success.

Scary Monsters, Super Creeps

My daughter is beginning to worry about monsters and nightmares and dragons and other fear-inducing creatures of the night. It's the age - imagination blooms and magical thinking takes hold about three, and monsters are as much a part of that as dressup. But perhaps they might feel better with a few stories about other kids with the same troubles, and they might even get a few suggestions about how to deal. Try these:

For Matilda Rose

It is only fitting that this week's Musical Monday be a tribute to the sudden death of actor Heath Ledger.  To tell the truth, I didn't believe the Husband when he told me the news.  He's too young, I thought, you must mean someone else!  And then, of course, my mind strayed to the inescapable conclusion that he was just another young star who fell by the wayside, into the path of drugs and destruction.

Daycare Ratings Go Public

The City of Toronto has become the first municipality in Ontario to make daycare ratings public. The decision to make the ratings public follows a daycare probe released by the Toronto Star in June of 2007, where conditions were found to be horrible in some cases. A standardized scoring system has been implemented, and the results are available online at http://www.toronto.ca/children/quality.htm, where they can search by name or location.

Fresh Finds

It takes a while for a book to work its way from publisher to distributor to acquisitions to processing to the branches of a large organization like the one I work for. Sometimes, by the time I'm seeing a book, it's a good 6, 8, 12 months old. But even so, even if they are really a year old, the new books are always a bit of a thrill. Usually I haven't seen them before, even if they are from, say, 2006, as most of these are. These are some I've found and enjoyed over the last 6 months, most of which have gone home to Pumpkinpie, too.

Musical Mondays: My New Philosophy

Well, here we are on the first official week of my new feature:  Musical Mondays.  How apropos that we start this little venture with my current favourite Broadway, Kristin Chenoweth.

If you aren't already familiar with her work from Broadway (Glinda in Wicked), you may know her as Annabeth Schott from West Wing or Olive Snook from Pushing Daisies.  She's a powerhouse songstress, with an incredibly sunny, yet strangely not annoying, bent.  Fabulous comedic timing just completes an already outstanding package.

Hanky Panky

by hot mama

There's nothing like a good spanky.

It took me so long to ask hot daddy to spank me. It was something I had fantasized about for years, but never dared asked anyone to actually do. I finally got up the nerve one night after several cocktails and a jacuzzi (funny, I'm only blogging about spanking after several glasses of wine and a jacuzzi).

Family Day Revisited

In September, prior to the provincial election, Ontario Premier Dalton McGunity announced a new holiday in February called Family Day.  Since that time, the election has been won, and the holiday has been scheduled (February 18 this year).  While some experts claim that the holiday will have a long-term payoff, others have been quick to point out the problems it created, including hundreds of traffic charges tossed out in Toronto due to them being scheduled on that date (one wonders how Ottawa could have the foresight to avoid scheduling cases on that date but Toronto could not).  One opponent argued against the holiday for two distinct reasons: the cost to the small businesses who have to pay their employees for the statutory holiday, and giving people a day off won't make them better parents.

Where you want to BEE

If you've been following my column, you will know that I went to see the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in New York. It was quite possibly the best time I have ever had at the theatre. If you haven't read it already, you can check out my post about it here. Well...it's coming to Toronto at the end of January for a limited run. This is a must-see.

For more information, visit the website at Dancap Productions - there's 50% for blog readers. Me, I'm hoping I'm one of the few, the special, to get free tickets. Woot, woot! If I don't, I'm still going to shell out the ticket price, because I can't wait to see it again.