Strollerderby : lifestyle

Homemade Roller Coaster!

Madeline Holler — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:39:00 GMT

We should all have access to one of these -- a homemade roller coaster.

An auto mechanic, with, I'm guessing tons of property insurance, built a roller coaster in his backyard! He used scrap metal and his welding skills and figured the rest out as he went.

Guess what. It works! And no one has suffered injury or death while riding it. Oh, and he let's his grandkid ride on it (every parent's nightmare of a grandfather, every child's dream of a grandpa.)

Watch the video. There's even a 360-degree loop.

Photo and Video: Fooey USA

Weekly Check-Up: Shockingly, Being Fit is Better for You in the Long Run

Kelly Mills — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:02:00 GMT

Stop the presses! A new study has found that being fit actually makes you healthier and more likely to live longer than people who are out of shape and sedentary. My god, do they mean that having, say, better cardiovascular health could in turn lead to better overall health and less risk of certain diseases and a longer lifespan? My world has been rocked. Why, next they'll be telling us that smoking is bad for you and you shouldn't let kids suck on lead-encrusted toys.

Oh, fine, now that I've had my fun I'll tell you this is actually an really interesting finding: When it comes to longevity, being fit is more important than being "normal" weight. People who were fit but considered obese or overweight actually had a lower mortality rate than people at normal weight but low fitness levels. So perhaps some of that emphasis on obesity was not quite as important as we thought. Study lead Steven Blair says we still have an obesity epidemic (thus making him part of the epidemic of people referring to obesity as an epidemic) but "what happens all too often is we focus nearly exclusively on obesity and forget the activity and fitness part."

They found that even a li'l tiny bit of fitness through activity significantly lowered the risks for folks in the study. So while a couple of walks a week and healthier eating habits might not result in big weight loss, they will probably lengthen your lifespan. Good news, if you ask me.

Bike-Friendly Cities Also Family-Friendly

Karen Murphy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:30:00 GMT

I'm something of a cyclist. It happened when I moved to a town not far outside of Boulder and I saw that bikes were pretty much standard-issue in that area. It was great: cyclists were everywhere! In the city of Boulder they seemed to be well-respected by drivers and well-taken care of by the bike lane and bike rack gods and it wasn't unusual to see Burley trailers being towed along which contained a kid or two next to the groceries. And it spoke to me about a very different way of life from the isolating car-centric society we seem to have built. Since then, I've had to move again to eastern Pennsylvania, where things aren't nearly so bike-friendly.

This article in Wired about bike-friendly cities around the world got me to thinking about how being bike-friendly also means, by extension, that a city is family-friendly:

Cities with a lot of bikes tend to have less pollution. Unless they are Beijing. Or Bankok.
People who ride bikes as transportation (sweeping generalization here) tend to be more eco-friendly in other ways too.
Cities that are friendly to bikes tend to be more people-centric in general, which is good for families.
Cities with thriving neighborhoods that are bikeable or commute-friendly attract families.
Biking is wonderful exercise and can be part of an overall healthy family lifestyle.

If you live in a bike-friendly city, I am envious. Can I move in with you? (You don't mind a few extra kids, do you?) Seriously, I think a wonderful way to raise kids is in a smaller city that's bikeable and walkable.

Rich Families Are Having More Kids

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:31:00 GMT

Remember when the people with a lot of kids tended to either be farmers or on welfare? Not anymore. Having more kids is becoming a new status symbol. The days of the ultra-wealthy to show off by having one incredibly spoiled child or possibly two very, very spoiled children are over.

According to an NPR article four kids is the new standard.

I blame the Pitt-Jolies for adopting all of those children.

I mean, I guess if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

Hey, I have enough money to pay for four college educations.

Oh yeah, I'm so rich that I can pay for six kids in private daycare, they are all going to get a BMW on their sixteenth birthday and they will all go Ivy League. No scholarships here. I've got the cash.

I'm so loaded I can afford three live in nannies and a personal chef.

That being said, if appearing wealthy requires me being pregnant again, I'm happy to be middle class. My kids didn't sleep through the night until they were 2 1/2.

[via Rice Daddies]

Liveblogging: St. Patrick Who? Irish, You Say?

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 02:13:00 GMT

Dana and I were out at a farmers market this morning when a woman nearby answered her cell phone and said, "Happy Drinkers Day!" Two years ago, that was us.

Before the pregnancy, before the baby, before the rigid scheduling brought on by nap times and bed times and before that sad fact that we simply can't find a babysitter who doesn't charge $98 an hour and insists on medicine cabinet priviledges, this used to be our holiday. We'd eat corned beef and cabbage. I'd suck down Guinness while Dana pretended to enjoy herself. A great time was had by all.

Now, however, it's a different story. Emmeline is sleeping in her room. Dana is finishing some work, and I am dreaming of a cool pint of Guiness. So if, like us, you're lame enough to be home. this. instant. instead of out drowning your uvula (no, silly, higher) in Guinness, please enjoy this inaugural rendition of the St. Patrick Days blues -- in which I drive the fun out of Ireland.

5pm: Emmeline wakes up. Dana wakes up from nap. Change Emme. Feed Emme. Start dinner.

6pm: Finish Guiness beef stew. Put in oven. Finish Guinness used for said stew.

6:30pm: Bed time routine. Make bottle. Open more Guinness.

7pm: Emme goes to bed. Neighbor in the flat above us begins screaming, "Yeahhhh Boy!!!" (Our landlord lives above us; otherwise we'd beat the crap out of the ceiling.)

7:10pm: Dana sits on couch to finish work. I sit at computer -- writing this and thinking of Guinness. The distant sound of revelry from North Beach bars can be heard. Upstairs landlord neighbor shouts, again, "Yeahhh something!"

7:27pm: Me: "Is the stew ready?" Dana: "No baby. It'll be another hour." Me: "An hour?! Ohhhh." Dana goes back to work.

7:37pm: We hear a noise. "Oh, no - she's coughing," Dana says. I go in to check. Emme has her lovey bear, and I linger a moment at the crib, watching as her chest rises and falls in the soft light. I touch her cheek and exit softly, trying to remember I'm supposed to be annoyed at missing the festivities but smiling quietly to myself instead.

7:53pm: Just received batch of photos from a friend, who came over on New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve party caption says: "Out until 7 pm!" Us parents; our holidays have taken a decided turn for the worse.

8:10pm: Put water on stove to boil for potatoes. Watch pot. It boils! Potatoes in, and then read this story from Drudgereport. Ew.

8:30pm: Turn on TV. Nothing. Play Internet poker. Lose. Dana still working. Stew smells freaking good. Neighbor is stomping around.

8:55pm: Stew is ready! But a few Guinnesses on an empty stomach has left me feeling, well ...

9:50pm: Oh. dear. god. A full bowl of rich stew on an empty stomach is not a good idea. The Guinness don't help. We try to watch a movie, but I slump on the couch, begging for Dana to rub my head. "I don't feel so good," I tell her. "Some holiday," she says. But I just sit there, feeling her hands on my head and feeling her warmth beside me, and I begin to realize she's onto something. Some holiday indeed. I'm going to bed.

5 Best Cities to Have a Baby

Karen Murphy — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:09:00 GMT

Say you're pregnant (or want to become pregnant), have unlimited funds and flexibility, and want to move to the U.S. city best suited for your and your baby's new lifestyle. What city would you pick? Fit Pregnancy spoke to The Today Show about their findings of a review of the 50 most populous cities in the country, and how they stacked up in terms of health care, safety, child care, affordability, birthing options, and fertility laws. Who made the list?

1. Boston. Awesome healthcare, and definitely the place to be if you need specialized prenatal care (and I hope you don't). Plus Boston has the best chowdah anywheah.

2. San Francisco. Well, duh. A healthy lifestyle makes for a healthy baby, plus it has high breastfeeding rates and is chock-full of fertility specialists. And the fried calamari? Yum.

3. Minneapolis. Three times the national average for the number of child-care providers? Wow! Plus it has lot of fertility clinics, specialty birthing options, and midwives and doulas. Something for everyone! And don't mind the cold in winter: there's a cool network of above-street Habitrail-style walkways that can get you all over downtown without setting foot in icy slush.

4. Portland. It's all about the nunnies, as we say in my house. Yeah, that. Breastfeeding. Portland's got the highest rate in the nation. Woot! And is jam-packed with midwives and doulas-a-plenty. If you have alternative leanings? Sounds like this is the place to be.

5. Omaha. Er, Omaha? That's in Nebraska, right? Well, I hear they have great steaks. Also? Affordable housing, access to daycare, and a Baby Friendly Hospital. Who knew? Hey, Omaha! You've been outed! (Get ready for the influx)

Although my personal favorite city, Boulder, wasn't mentioned (it's not one of the 50 largest cities), nearby Denver made #6. So there. Family-friendly bike trails, a wide variety of fresh and organic produce, lots of alternative birthing options, over 200 days of sunshine per year, and a gorgeous daily eye-feed known as the Rocky Mountains make this MY place to be. (Philadelphia, the city near where I'm presently ~~interred stuck~~ uh, living, is at almost the bottom of the list. Yeah, I knew that.)

[photo credit: UrbanInfant.com]