Moves In Curves gives a play-by-play comparison of two great Sense and Sensibility film adaptations.

Tribal Style has posted her February Featured Video for your viewing pleasure.

Read the stream of consciousness Grammy Commentary by Melia Lore.

Find out what February has in store on the Official Hippymom.com Blog.

Calming Winds gives her readers specific instructions for using a pendulum to Communicate With Your Inner Self.

SocGradMama shares a Precious Moment with her teenage daughters.

Equality and Justice 4 All ponders A Peaceful, Inclusive Faith.

I'm Gonna Be A Bear!

Gonna be a bear

In this life I’m a woman. In my next life, I’d Like to come back as a bear. When your a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, your suppose to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.

When your a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while your sleeping and wake up to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definatley deal with that.

If your a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. you swat away anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

Modern Sage shares her weird Candy Striped Grub drawing.

SocGradMama is pulling her hair out in Homework Hell(p)!

Equality and Justice 4 All tells us What Pissed Me Off This Week.

Are you Missing the Miraculous?  Spectacular Me! says, “snap out of it!”

Calming Winds reminds us that no matter what happens around us, we can survive by Clinging to the Core.

Melia Lore is corrupting the youth with her feminist sex studies.  Read all about it:  Sex and the Melia.

The Official Hippymom Blog has a great Valentine Kid Craft Project for your family to try this month.

Wouldn’t You Like To Know what she’s watching on TV?

Luscious Decadence has come up with 10 Ways to Give Back.

Moves in Curves is Snowed In!

I don’t think you’re ready for this Jelly Jaunt on the Inside Life.

Gray Gaia is just looking for a reason to celebrate.

Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming online workshops being offered at Hippymom.com during the month of February:

Tuning Your Senses

Scrapbooking

Freelancing

Candlemas Day and Groundhog Day are both on February 2nd. Lets hope it’s a cloudy day, not rainy of course (I
have had enough of that)!

But if you are a Candlemas Day observer I say, eat those pancakes and enjoy!

“If Candlemas Day be sunny and bright, winter will have another flight.
IF Candlemas Day be cloudy with rain, winter is gone and won’t come again.”

~Old Enlish Proverb~

Or if you are a Groundhog Day observer (that would me!)

I say,

“If Phil see his shadow, thre will be six more weeks of winter;
If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.”

~Punxsutawney Groundhog Club~

Either way if someone is praying for rain right now I think we have enough! Happy Groundhog Day.

I watch Groundhog Day every year starring Bill Murray. Does anyone else watch it?

Wouldn’t You Like to Know exercises self-control with Chocolate Graham Cracker Crunch.

Take a Little Sip of Sunshine with Luscious Decadence.

Browniegasms on Moves in Curves. YUMMO.

Tribal Style featured a video of the Florida Tribal Dance Advanced ATS Students’ Hafla Performance.

Spectacular Me! has A New Set of Tools and wants to know if you’ll use them, too.

Modern Sage ponders the Destruction of the Ego.

Melia Lore documents a Night of Insomniac Hell.

Every Child Deserves a Voice, and the Official Hippymom Blog discusses Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Love Them or Leave Them:  Calming Winds talks about affirmations.

The Inside Life Howls at the Moon.

Tribal Style begins her series on The Care and Feeding of Zils.

Spectacular Me! only has one resolution for the new year.

Modern Sage is at a Crossroads.

Wouldn’t You Like To Know? struggles with addiction.  And not her own.

Socgradmama is reminded of her own power.

Get MamaBirdie’s perspective on Reiki at the official Hippymom.com Blog.

Melia Lore takes a slightly painful, slightly humorous walk down memory lane with the Ex Files.

Moves in Curves has a new book review:  What Happens in London.

Luscious Decadence takes herself Out to Dinner.

The Inside Life Regains Herself.

Catch up with the Social Justice Week in Review on Equality and Justice 4 All!

Mama Duck reminds herself to Stop Waiting and Live in the Moment.

We all are feeling the “eco” consciousness of the new decade. During the last few years we have been reminded constantly of the need to be more eco-friendly. Whether it is recycling, energy saving or smarter use of our money we all are looking at consumption in a whole new light. I have to tell you though I have been this kind of person my whole life. You only have to talk with my adult children to see them roll their eyes and groan at my save the planet tirades. For them it has not been easy having their mother grab a used tin can from the garbage can and rant about how they were not eco-conscious but as adults they just pat me on the head and say well, that is cute Madre.

And now I see the idea of eco-friendly moving into the electronic age. You can do just about anything online these days. One thing I have seen grow is eBooks. I have a niece that runs an eBook web site She just released her Ten Rules Books . I asked her what is in the eBooks since I am now a Kindle owner. Another eco-friendly thing I do is not buy books that consume room or use up our trees. She, Madeline Openshaw is her name, tells me that “these books take a realistic view of get rich quick or lose weight fast quick schemes”. She believes the goal is lifelong habits. But my concern was another thing we do not have these days is a lot of time. I don’t want to spend a lot of my time reading “how to” books. I need something that is concise and the point, being a person with a short attention span you see. And who doesn’t have too many things crowding in our time.  But she assured me as eBooks they are guides not long novels.

One of these eBooks is “10 Rules for Getting the Most Out of Your Money” or how about this one “10 Rules for Getting Ahead.  But what I really like is that Madeline has vowed to “donate a percentage of the proceeds towards helping the environment and endangered species”. Now that is something I can my mind around and she recently challenged her readers to “plant a tree”.

EBooks are here to stay as the Internet continues to advance we will be getting a lot of our information online. I find useful information every time I look online.

I like 10 Rules for one main reason. Simplicity and it saves the earth. I have been talking to some people since the first of the year and many feel a positive feeling as 2010 rolls in. More of us are eco-friendly and conscious of what we are doing and buying. And being the financial tight wad that I am 10 Rules for getting more out of my money? You betcha!

The Inside Life is Taking Inventory.

Modern Sage invites her readers to Come Out Come Out WHOever You Are!

Moves in Curves has a list of Movies to See in 2010.

Melia Lore has kindly provided us with her Favorite 15 Songs of 2009.  Turn it up!

Moments to Keep posted her first post, The Semi-Beginning.

Wouldn’t You Like to Know…How Long the Hair on Her Legs Is?

Got a Special Spot?  Luscious Decadance does!

SocGradMama is only one week into 2010 and already has Learned Some Lessons.

Equality and Justice 4 All at Camp Courage!

Know CPR?  Mama Duck reminds us all how important it is to learn.

Gray Gaia has a Funny Perspective for you.

A  young couple moved into a new neighborhood
The next morning while they were eating breakfast,
The young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
‘That  laundry is not very  clean,’ she said.
‘She  doesn’t know how to wash  correctly.
Perhaps she needs better  laundry soap.’

Her husband looked on, but remained  silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,
The young woman would make the same comments.

About one month  later, the  woman was surprised to see  a nice clean 
wash on the line  and said to her  husband:

‘Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.
I wonder who taught her this.’

The husband said, ‘I got up early this morning and
Cleaned our windows.’
http://www.ctcadv.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Images/looking%20out%20the%20window.jpg

I recently received my January 2010 Better Homes and Garden magazine. As I was browsing the pages I came across an article on Orchids. Off I went to see how my Den Burana (Pink) is fairing this winter. It looks healthy enough but I realized that I need to give it some TLC. And in pondering my replanting venture I decided to do a bit of research. I am a bit intimidated when working with orchids. They seem like they need a load of effort. But! This article inspired me to go ahead and try again. If you would like to try an orchid on your window sill this winter here are a few tips I cleaned from this article.

Water and Fertilizer:
Orchids need to dry out completely before watering each time. The article recommends “orchid fertilizer” but I confess I use my usual plant food. After comparing the ingredients on fertilizers I find that many repeat the ingredients. The important thing is to water and fertilize regularly. But a word of caution here, more is not is better. Over watering and over fertilizing will only defeat your goal.

Repotting:
The recommendation is every 1-2 years repot with new medium preferably bark or moss. This is a good medium and I always put small rocks or glass beads in the bottom tray for interest and drainage. And while we are at it, every 1-2 years is good for all houseplants. Orchids are famous for those long stalks that need to have a stems staked so that the flowers can show off.

Orchids can tolerate low humidity and thrive in light from the east or south. I have mine sitting on the window sill in my laundry room that gets the morning sun.

If you want to try your hand a orchids a few that are good suggestions are Nun’s orchids, Cattleya hybrids, Lady Slippers and Moth orchids. For more information and interactive conversation about orchids Better Homes and Gardens has a great link at www.BHG.com/easyorchids . If you already grow orchids I would love to hear what you have and how they are fairing.