Stay at Home Mom

(StayatHomeMom.com was recently invited to sit in on a call with the Director of the movie The September Issue – available on DVD Feb 23rd – a documentary described as an intimate, funny and surprising look at Vogue’s legendary editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her team of larger-than-life editors, this is the captivating story of how they create the must-have Bible of fashion: The September Issue. Director RJ Cutler explores the untouchable glamour of Wintour’s Vogue to reveal the extraordinarily passionate people at its heart.)

Terri Carlile
Feb 16, 2010

I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to participate in the conference call with R.J. Cutler this morning! The movie, The September Issue, was great. I couldn’t go to bed before I finished watching all the extra material included on the DVD set.

R.J. Cutler was very pleasant and friendly. You could hear his enthusiasm for the project and his excitement to address the questions posed to him. He is truly passionate about film making and translating that passion to the public with his story telling.

Stayathomemom.com was the last to ask a question to R.J. during the conference call. I was able to ask question #1, “It looks like you had a full access pass to Anna Wintour and the entire Vogue September Issue process. Did you ever get a feeling that they were holding back or hamming it up for the camera? Or did you have a sense that you were basically a fly on the wall?”

R.J. Cutler responded that is it a process that takes place and that the goal is not to disappear but to get them to be as comfortable with themselves as possible with the crew present. He said that filming took place over a 7 ½ month period. At the start of the process, they enter people’s lives and get to know them. “The first month is all about getting to know each other.” R.J. said. “Half way through the process everybody is truly themselves.” It takes this long for everyone to become completely comfortable. “Most people see Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington as a caricature, not really themselves.” R.J. continued. He strives to bring out their complexity and humanity and translate this so that we the audience can see them as they are everyday. He felt he was able to accomplish this and received confirmation when life long friends and associates declared “My God, you really got them!”

There were many fascinating questions brought to the table. ‘What guided your decision to include the extras?’ His response was “Let me be clear, this is the Director’s Cut of the film.” He had final cut of the film. For the extra material provided he felt people would like to see more of Anna making decisions, Grace and her creativity, Andre behind the scenes with the designers – them being themselves. The biggest change in the documentary genre over the last 20yrs he finds to be technology. “Everyone has a digital camera” and can access editing software on their computer. Accessibilty is much easier, you don’t have “a huge out lay of money for equipment and processing of film.” He paraphrased Francis Ford Coppola as saying “He looks forward to the day a masterpiece is made by a 12yr old girl from Detroit with her dad’s video camera.”

When asked about his progression of documentary film making from political to THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, he stated that his work is consistent. He is telling a story about people with passion in a high stakes industry whether it is political or fashion driven. Communication in the fashion industry he felt was a myth – it definitely was not verbal like a political debate. Once he detected that communication is subtle in the fashion world, that it’s a glance or a gesture, he changed his filming style to be ‘tight’ to capture and decipher this non-verbal, visual communication taking place.

A powerful message that translates from the film? He states, “On the surface Anna and Grace appear to be polar opposites.” We see in the film that “in fact they have a symbiotic relationship that pushes the other” to be better and greater. It is a very touching moment in the film “when Anna acknowledges Grace’s genius.”

R.J. Cutler tells a fascinating story in THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE. You don’t have to love fashion to be pulled into the lives of Anna and Grace and appreciate this iconic relationship. What a great experience!!

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE available on DVD February 23

It is the big romantic holiday of the year and that can put alot of pressure on our guys. TV and magazines are telling all of us that if he truly loved us he would sweep us off our feet, buy us diamonds and have chocolate covered strawberries chilled on ice ( even though we are trying to lose weight ).

But is that really love. This Valentines day we have a chance to really show our kids what love is all about and help them to build strong loving relationships when they grow up. Love isn’t the bump and grind seen on music videos – it’s paying attention in the quiet moments. It’s listening. It’s laughing. It is watching silly movies together ( and occassionally one with lots of explosions ). It is not getting irritated when one or the other of you slurps down their cornflakes in the morning or leaves toothpaste goo on the sink. It is the big picture of building a life together.

Kids rarely learn what we tell them – they learn what they see. So, this valentines day remember its not about whether he buys us the biggest diamond ( or any diamond at all ). It is about the little affections that we show to each other and share with each other every day that lets the other person know we care and we love them. We are teaching our kids how to love.

And we need to let them know that we shouldn’t just wait for one special day a year to treat each other with a little extra love.

So this is a big Stay at Home Mom Valentines Day Wish for every mom out their that they can look around and realize we already have everything we need right here.

(ok super sappy I know but I am feeling a little gushy today – I think I need some chocolate).

From today’s twitter headlines

Parents travelling w/ very young children need to know! What happened to this child and why? READ FULL ARTICLE

This is a tragic story and our hearts ache for this family. But we can’t just leave it at that. Many parents travel every day with their young children (Many adults who don’t have kids often wish they wouldn’t but that’s another story). But the fact of the matter is on most airplane trips these days you will see at least one small child on the plane. Invariably these kids are accompanied by parents lugging a cumbersome amount of carry-ons and wheeling a mega-stroller. But when you have kids you have stuff so there you go.

It is hard enough to fly with a child and try to anticipate their every need while still packing the smallest amount of stuff necessary to accommodate the carry-on requirements.

That is why it is vital for us as parents to know why this 2 month old child died on a flight from Detroit to Denver. The story indicates that there is no autopsy planned, the child appeared to be in good health and because of patient privacy issues no statements may ever be made.

I think I understand the immense grief that must be going on with this family right now but there is still a chance that other parents can learn something from this and possibly other children could be saved. Was this a case of SIDS or is there something else to be learned? This is not a morbid, tabloid magazine, curiosity about this story but truly one of saving other children from the same terrible tragedy.

We will continue to try and follow this story as best as possible but if anyone hears anything that we miss please let us know. Leave your comments here of tweet us @sahm411

As parents we all know that it is in our kids best interest to limit their TV time. We also know that it is in our best interest ( and our family’s ) that we take a shower on occassion. When the kids are young that may mean letting them watch some TV while you jump in the shower or start dinner or whatever it is that you need to do.

But we also know that what goes into their young impressionable brains stays there and the old saying “Garbage in – Garbage out” holds true.

If you are letting them watch garbage shows then you know what you can expect. Kids who hear bad language on TV repeat it. Kids who see bad behavior on TV repeat it. If TV were not that impressionable then companies would not spend millions of dollars for 30 second spots of advertising on it.

So, what is a parent to do? The short answer for our family was TIVO. When we got our first TIVO years ago it changed our life. We were able to watch our favorite show when we wanted to and we could watch football games as a family ( the pause feature allowed us to pause the game and only restart it when everyone had had a chance to take a bathroom break or go to the kitchen for a snack ). So, I love TIVO.

But now TIVO is even smarter – if that is possible. It can be managed from the Internet. With a few clicks of the mouse you can program your TIVO online and make sure the kids are catching the programming you want them to watch and not the garbage you don’t.

We recently received info on a new program put together by the Smart Television Alliance that allows you to do just that. Visit their website for more information and there is also a great sweepstakes going on right now ( last day to enter is Dec 25 so check it out now )

ENTER TO WIN

Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to go to the movies with the kiddos. We always love going to the matinee and taking advantage of the matinee prices.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox opened today and is getting great reviews. The voice talent is spectacular and the story is based off a book by Roald Dahl ( also wrote James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ). The stop action filming of the movies sounds really cool and I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing this one. I love movies that are based on books. Last year the movie the Tale of Despereaux inspired my son to get into reading ( he read that book 3 times ).

The movie website has some fun games along with movie info.
CHECK IT OUT

READ Fantastic Mr. Fox CLICK HERE

What was your favorite book / movie tie-in?

Thanks Moms for making Stayathomemom.com one of the top Mom twitter pages. Twitter.com/Sahm411 is one of the top sites for news, information and inspiration for Stay at Home Moms and all parents in the Twitter world.

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Send us a DM or add your comments here.

Thanks for following!

If you are not already following us then do it today! If you don’t have a twitter account and would like to know more including why you even would want a twitter account feel free to email us your questions and we’ll include them online here. email support at stayathomemom.com

We just received this information about a great way to celebrate Veterans day this year. If you know anyone with a Military family this is a great way to celebrate their dedication to our country. These bears would make great Christmas gifts too. I have the camo bear and he is sitting on the mantle of our fireplace in my living room right now. My baby is now 11 ( years… not months ) and there is really no good reason to go out and buy a bear but I have recently discovered that you are never too old for a new friend.

Build-A-Bear Workshop® Offers Discount to Military Families

WHO: Build-A-Bear Workshop…

WHAT: …is showing support for all military families in honor of Veterans Day. Members of the armed services including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Reserve Officer Training Corps will receive a 20% discount on any one transaction at Build-A-Bear Workshop stores with the presentation of a government issued military identification card.

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 11 through Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009

WHERE: Build-A-Bear Workshop stores in the United States

WHY: Build-A-Bear Workshop offers a variety ways for Guests to salute their favorite military heroes. The Camo Bear ($18) complete with a Build-A-Sound® ($8) for Guests recording a 10-second personal message, is great for servicemen and women and their families. Other products inspired by the armed forces available at Build-A-Bear Workshop include:
• Army Officer Uniform
• Marine Outfit
• Naval Outfit
• Air Service Uniform
• Coast Guard Work Uniform

About Build-A-Bear Workshop
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is the leading and only global company that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. Founded in 1997, the Company and its franchisees currently operate more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. In 2007, the interactive experience was enhanced – all the way to CyBEAR™ space – with the launch of buildabearville.com®, the company’s virtual world stuffed with fun. The company was named to the 2009 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® list. Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW) posted total revenue of $468 million in fiscal 2008. For more information, call 888.560.BEAR (2327) or visit the company’s award-winning Web site at buildabear.com®.

To stay up to date on all the latest promotions at Build-A-Bear Workshop® follow them on twitter too! http://www.twitter.com/buildabear ( You should really follow them on twitter – I just read that BABW now has Star Wars gear for their bears…tooo cute! )

FULL DISCLOSURE: Build-a-Bear in support of Wired Safety’s (http://www.wiredsafety.org) Stop Cyberbullying Coalition donated bears to the event (which we attended) in support of Stop Cyberbullying month and we did bring home a bear from that event.

Here is a fun idea for Halloween Night. We used to have a Mystery Dinner every year at our church for all of the kids who volunteered over the year. We would be treated to a formal sit down dinner and the parents would serve us. The only thing was that we had to choose 5 menu items for each course and each menu item was in “code”.

On the menu you might order a SPEAR and you would end up with a fork. It was always funny when someone got spaghetti, pudding, soup, a cracker, and their drink for their first course (and no silverware).

My daughter is having a party this weekend and we were trying to think of something fun and different to do and I remembered the mystery dinner. So after several online searches we decided to customize our list to a Halloween theme. We started out with the menu items and then tried to give them Scary Code Names.

Here is what we came up with:

printable STAYATHOMEMOM’S HALLOWEEN MYSTERY DINNER (PDF) click here

Have you guessed what each item is?

Here is the PDF with the menu items and their corresponding true menu item

Have fun with this. Start with your menu then create your own “mystery dinner”. Let us know how it turns out. Send pics!

Happy Halloween!

We have all known this is just entertainment – setting the record straight on Baby Einstein http://bit.ly/yQYjD

That was the headline on Twitter today that got the most attention.

At issue is the video series “Baby Einstein”. I am going to quote from the company because so much of the controversy today stems from misunderstanding.

Baby Einstein products are designed to provide parents with tools that promote interaction and also expose their little ones to the world around them in playful and enriching ways. What started as a “digital board book” has become a broad array of products for infants and their parents.
Baby Einstein has built its reputation on creating developmentally and age appropriate content that parents know they can trust.

This is of course, the product description as of September 2009. When the DVDs first came out they did make some claims that this product would help your childs mental development in one way or another.

The science behind it demonstrates that children under the age of 2 are really better off not watching TV at all.

Now, Disney, who purchased the Baby Einstein company in 2001, is offering a refund to anyone who bought the product between June 5, 2004, and Sept. 4, 2009.

The articles on everything that led up to this refund can be found all over the Internet today and it is really quite remarkable. Some articles are quite reasonable while others are downright irate at the “scam” that was pulled off on the gullible mothers of America.

We agree that the new description of the products and their purpose is improved over unsubstantiated but well meaning claims of brain development. At the same time as Moms we know instinctively that it would be better for a two year old to avoid TV. We know it is better for our kids to eat their vegetables. It is better if we make sure they stay to a strict sleep schedule. Ok ok – we got it.

But if you have just spent a sleepless night and this one little delightful video will calm your child down enough to give us a moment to hop in the shower without having to endure the shrieks and screams of a fussy newborn – I’m going to say “press play”. Is that wrong?

We need a balance. We know intellectually what we need to do to help provide our children with everything they need – that is to sit down with them on the floor and play with them. And that doesn’t cost a thing. But a nice warm shower is really a good good thing every now and then too.

I can appreciate those who want to defend children and prevent them from being over media-ized but at the same time I appreciate the playfulness of the Disney Baby Einstein DVDs.

Is it too late for me to get a refund on all those Barney the purple Dinosaur VHS tapes in my basement?

Yes there is a theme – Motherhood -

It has been the theme here ever since we found out about the upcoming movie starring Uma Thurman. We have participated in teleconferences with the Director and stars of the film and have LOVED their perspective on making movies for families and on being parents themselves.

It is just before Halloween and the teenagers have taken over the movie screens bringing huge box office numbers to those scary movies that have been strategically released to coincide with Halloween.

It is time for us moms to get out there and let the world know that we want more family movies with a fair depiction of the Motherhood experience.

Go See the Movie Motherhood and take your picture with your friends at the theater! We’ll post your picture here and post any comments you have about the movie.