Free stuff will be available in neighborhoods all over America on May 15, 2010. It’s an event Mike Morone is hoping to establish world-wide twice annually. The event could eventually help millions, while diminishing landfills, reducing clutter, and boosting the economy.

Many of us own valuable stuff we just don’t want anymore. But instead of giving it away or selling it, we allow it to clutter our households and businesses. Billions of great items are just wasting away, taking up space.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could magically shift ownership of this stuff, in one weekend, coast to coast, with zero effort, little time, and at no cost?

Cool happens on May 15, 2010. It’s called Give Your Stuff Away Day and it will work (almost) like magic, as long as we promote the idea and follow common sense procedures.

On May 15, bring your valuable, but unwanted stuff to your curb. Some guidelines – no trash, recyclables, illegal or dangerous items. No food, drugs, chemicals, or weapons. Just safe, valuable items we would like to donate. Then watch the fun – or better yet, take a walk and find some free stuff you can use.

A few warnings: Give Your Stuff Away Day can get a bit messy, but it’s worth it. Trash hauling expenses could spike that week. But in the long run, fewer items in landfills equate to lower hauling expenses.

Local governments won’t like it – until they understand how beneficial it can be. Last month, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell became the first elected official to understand that. Read about it here, and please call Mike Morone if you would like to discuss this event.

Brand new movies are great! It’s so much fun standing in line at the theater, breathing in the buttery popcorn smell, giddy with anticipation when a new movie is released.

My children love watching the latest and greatest movies, but I just grin when I hear my children singing the songs I used to sing as a kid – “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” or “Tomorrow”. Hearing their little off-key renditions is the best music to my ears.

Have you introduced your children to the movies you enjoyed when you were younger?

Swiss Family Robinson (1960) Buy it on DVD: Swiss Family Robinson

The Robinson family gets shipwrecked near an island. With hard work and togetherness, they build a majestic tree house. They are faced with many trials – wild animals, weather, and pirates, but their ingenuity carries them through. Great family values!

The Parent Trap (1961) Buy it on DVD: The Parent Trap

Twin daughters are raised not knowing about each other, each living with one parent. They unexpectedly bump into each other at summer camp, put two and two together, and work out a scheme to get their parents back together again. This movie is just plain good fun.

Mary Poppins (1964) Buy it on DVD: Mary Poppins

Mr. and Mrs. Banks are both so preoccupied with their own interests that their children, Jane and Michael are unhappy. When the magical nanny, Mary Poppins enters their lives, she brings the family closer. Between the penguin scene, the chimney sweep dance, and the magic, your children will be entranced.

The Sound of Music (1965) Buy it on DVD: The Sound of Music
The hills are alive with the sound of music. Your home will be alive with the sound of music once your kids watch this one.

Annie (1982) Buy it on DVD: Annie
Oh, how we love Annie! The music, the dancing, the wealthy Mr. Warbucks, and a happy ending. It doesn’t get much better than that!

These five movies are a must in every family library. Share the memories, and sing the tunes. It’s ok if you’re a little off-key. I won’t tell.

Don’t miss Show Kids The Fun – a fun site to inspire parents to keep the lines of communication open with their children, making memories that last a lifetime.

Mother’s Day is a treasured holiday that each year is celebrated with an overabundance of flowers, brunch reservations, and sappy cards intended to give moms across the nation a little well-deserved recognition. But today’s moms are drastically different than the pearl necklace and high-heel wearing housewives of yesteryear. Women have careers to juggle while simultaneously catering to their families and upholding a decent social life. Traditional gender roles are being challenged on a daily basis with the frequency of single moms, stay-at-home-dads, and the complex uniqueness of the modern family. As meaningful as traditions can be, the modern mom’s idea of a day devoted to her has changed from what it was twenty years ago.

So, it’s time to catch up with the trends and give Mother’s Day a renewed jolt. Think about your mom’s unique interests and try something unusual. Here are a few ideas that have become high demand activities of the modern woman. [Read more...]

Mom’s Talk Network is pleased to welcome the Schmoozins blog into their small but growing network of Mom Blogs.

Future plans include publishing mom focused product and website reviews as well as implementing a recognition award for products created by or for moms.

If you’d like to see your product or site featured here for moms to find, just leave a comment and we’ll be in touch.

New Year’s resolutions are made every year by millions of people. Unfortunately, many if not most of them are never completed. If you plan to make a resolution, you may want to set a New Year goal that is not beyond your reach.

Your ultimate New Year’s resolution may be to learn a new language or how to dance all forms of ballroom dance. However, an unreasonable goal is to assume you could do either of those in a short period of time. Some goals are possible within a month, such as losing five pounds, but learning how to speak fluent Chinese in that amount of time absolutely is not.

It is important for us to plan for the future so we’re not aimlessly wandering through life. Sometimes setting long-range goals can be overwhelming because they’re so far out in the future that we doubt if we’ll ever meet them. If there aren’t intermediate goals along the way to your ultimate goal, it will be too easy for you to lose focus and give up.

Instead of having just the one, long-range goal, consider having small goals that you can work on – even on a daily basis. This will help you by allowing you to feel a sense of accomplishment when you meet one of the smaller goals, as well as letting you know you’re on the right track to reach your goal.

How do you break down one big goal into several smaller goals? That all depends upon what your goal is. You can choose best what you need to do each day to help keep you on track. Don’t let your gaze go too far down the trail that you have laid out for yourself. If you don’t stay focused on the day at hand, you might miss something wonderful along the way.

Remember that reaching a goal is much like going on a journey. If you’re too focused on the destination, you’ll miss the beauty along the way. You can stop along the way and smell the roses rather than speeding along the path you’re on and missing them entirely. By setting smaller goals that you can reach, you’ll be moving toward your goal and be much more likely to actually reach it.

Don’t give up if things don’t work out exactly like you’ve planned. Things in life happen that may keep you from reaching a small goal in the time you had hoped. When things settle back down you can pick up where you left off. It may take longer to reach your goal than you wanted, but that’s no reason to give up.

Give yourself a reward when you’ve reached a smaller goal, rather than waiting to complete the large goal. Knowing you’ll have a small reward when you have met a goal may be the impetus you need to keep going when you feel discouraged.

When you have a goal in mind, consider the steps you can take. Set New Year’s goals that are not beyond your reach. Reward yourself when you’ve reached a small goal and then keep going to the next one.

New Year’s Eve brings to mind glasses of champagne clinking together as the clock strikes midnight. While champagne is fine for adults, it isn’t appropriate for everyone. Here are ten drink ideas the whole family will love this New Year’s Eve.

1. For those who want the sensation of champagne, you should be able to find sparkling grape juice at nearly every grocery or discount food store. You can also make your own by combining white grape juice with ginger ale.

2. If you’re having a Hawaiian or luau themed party, you’ll want a tropical style drink that everyone can enjoy. Try an Island Dream. This drink is made by combining crushed ice, orange juice, pineapple juice, and Sprite. Don’t forget the umbrella to finish this drink off.

3. Another tropical cocktail that the whole family can enjoy is the orange burst cocktail. This is made by combining orange juice, Sprite, and grenadine syrup with crushed ice. Your children are sure to love this one.

4. Strawberry limeades are popular at some fast food restaurants. These would be a great alternative to alcoholic drinks. Of course, with this recipe requiring limes and strawberries, you may have to do some searching to find the ingredients.

5. New Year’s Eve punch is another great alternative to champagne. It is made with several different juices, fruit cocktail, sherbet, and sparkling grape juice.

6. Snowbird Mocktails are delicious. They’re made with pineapple juice, sweetened condensed milk, orange juice, coconut extract, and ginger ale. One of the nice things about this drink is that it keeps for up to one week.

7. Non-alcoholic (or virgin) margaritas are a popular drink and would be the perfect choice if you’re having a Mexican themed New Year’s Eve party. They could also be used for a winter beach party theme.

8. Another summertime drink that would be appropriate for New Year’s Eve is a virgin strawberry daiquiri. Strawberry daiquiri mix is added to Sprite and ice. To make the drink more festive, put fresh fruit on a plastic sword and put that in the drink.

9. If it’s really cold outside, it’s quite possible your guests would prefer something hot to drink instead. Hot spiced punch may be appreciated. It is made with pineapple juice, cranberry juice, all spice, cloves, cinnamon, water, and brown sugar.

10. Spiced punch may not appeal to you, but hot mulled cider may be just the thing. Similar to the spiced punch, hot mulled cider has all spice, cinnamon, and cloves. The main ingredient, however, is apple cider, which makes the taste different.

Everyone wants to enjoy a New Year’s Eve party, but it doesn’t have to include alcohol. By having non-alcoholic drinks at your party, these ten drink ideas are something the whole family will love.