How to find a trustworthy pet-sitter or doggy day care

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Finding a responsible pet care provider while you travel can be a challenging and nerve-wracking experience. When it comes to your furry "babies," don't settle for anything less than the best. Whether you decide to hire a pet-sitter or take Fido to doggy day care, asking the right questions will help ensure your pet's safety while you're away.

How do you choose between a pet-sitter and doggy day care?

Pet-sitters are best suited for dogs that enjoy being at home and feel most comfortable in their regular surroundings. Households with multiple pets might consider hiring a pet-sitter as a cost-effective option since many pet-sitters charge minimal to no fees for multiple pets.  Pet-sitters can also take care of simple home maintenance needs such as picking up your mail and watering plants. An added bonus: Having a visitor in your home can help deter potential intruders.

How to find a trustworthy pet-sitter

Make sure your pet-sitter is licensed and bonded

Networks such as Pet Sitters International allow you to search for licensed and bonded pet-sitters based on where you live.  

Ask for references

Any dependable pet-sitter should be able to provide you with at least three references. Make sure to contact each reference and ask them to provide their feedback.

Does your pet-sitter have a back-up?

Be sure to ask your pet-sitter how your pet will be tended to in case the assigned pet-sitter is unable to make it due to an emergency.

Is a meet-and-greet included free of charge?

Most pet-sitters will include a free consultation to get comfortable with your pet. Once you find a pet-sitter that fits the bill, it's Fido's turn to make the final decision.

If your pet suffers from separation anxiety or is destructive when you leave the home, a doggy day care may be a better option. Doggy day care facilities allow you to prevent your pet from finding any opportunities to act out, by providing a safe and supervised environment. Most even allow a variety of sleeping accommodations to ensure your pet's comfort. 

How to find a trustworthy doggy day care

Visit the facility

Don’t be afraid to be nosy, ask for a tour and get to know the staff. This gives you a chance to see how the staff interacts with other pets and if it is a well-organized establishment.

Ask for a trial run

Ask the facility of you can drop off your dog for a half-day trial run and see how your pet reacts after spending some time at day care. Some doggy day cares make this a requirement, to make sure your pet plays well with others. If Fido has a bad experience, you’ll be the first to know.

Do they require proof of current vaccinations?

The last thing you want to come home to is a sick dog and vet bills. Make sure your facility makes this a requirement to reduce the chance of your puppy catching any germs.

Do they have an emergency plan?

Find out how the facility handles emergencies including fires, break-ins or anything else that may be a threat to your pet. Some locations may provide overnight security to ensure your pets are secure 24/7.

More tips for pet owners

Grooming tips for stylish dogs and cats
Pet separation anxiety: 4 Tips to help cope
How to introduce pets to your children

16 Dec, 2011

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Source: http://www.sheknows.com/pets-and-animals/articles/849553/how-to-find-a-trustworthy-pet-sitter-or-doggy-daycare
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Green holiday gifts for kids

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Help stimulate your child's senses and create an eco-friendly environment for your child at the same time with these green holiday gifts. We've selected six green gifts that your little one is sure to love.

Manny and Simon train push toy Give the perfect green holiday gift with the Manny and Simon train push toy . This train is for children one and up and comes in two attractive color themes. Each train car detaches easily and can be used as a single push toy or together as a complete train. Take care of our Earth and your child's health with this train -- it's made of 100 percent post-industrial recycled wood residuals and painted with non-toxic, zero-VOC paints.

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PlanToys My First Dollhouse The PlanToys My First Dollhouse has a realistic feel with four empty rooms ready for furnishing, a balcony and real sliding doors. For children ages three and up, this simple, eco-friendly dollhouse encourages children to use their imagination and creativity while playing. Rest assured knowing that your child will be safe with this dollhouse, thanks to its all-natural and organic recycled rubber and wood materials. Why you should support imaginary play >>

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Blabla Clochette the Fairy  Clochette the fairy is a must-have green holiday gift for little girls this year. Like all the other popular blabla dolls, Clochette is 100 percent cotton and handmade in Peru by fair-trade artisans. Your little girl will love sitting down for tea with her new fairy and safely snuggling with her at night.

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Green Start Book Tower These Green Start Little Animal books are a great eco-friendly gift, as they made from 98 percent recycled materials. Your toddler will enjoy reading these 10 chunky books while learning all about his or her favorite animals. The stackable set comes complete in a tower box and is perfect for enriching your little one, as it's chock-full of engaging information, charming illustrations and adorable rhymes.

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PlanToys Kitchen Center Searching for a great green holiday gift? It doesn't get any better than the interactive PlanToys Kitchen Center . This realistic, all-in-one play kitchen is double-sided, with working turn knobs and allows children to pretend cook with an oven, sink, dishwasher, storage area and built-in cooking utensils holder. Tip: Don't forget the cooking utensils set!

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GoodWood Deconstruction Blocks Spark your child's creative mind with the GoodWood Blocks . These fun building blocks engage your child's imagination and encourage open-ended exploration through creativity. The different shapes -- along with additional building sets -- allow children to build in every dimension to create architecturally and geometrically interesting designs. For children age three and up, these blocks are made from harvested rubber, wood and painted with water-based acrylic paints. Lessons to teach while playing with blocks >>

More green ideas for your family

5 Earth-friendly outings with kids
10 Simple ways to green your family meals
How to teach your kids to go green

16 Dec, 2011

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5 Ways to make sure your holiday guests are having a great time

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Holiday party season has arrived, and chances are you've already hosted a seasonal soiree or three. To help take your next party from good to great, we put together five no-fail strategies to ensure your guests mix, mingle and have lots of festive fun

Make detailed introductions

Names don’t really mean anything. It’s nice to know who the other people at the party are, but when you’ve never met someone, starting a conversation can be tough. As the hostess, go one step beyond basic instructions and get more detailed. Along with providing names, share a few tidbits of information about the people you’re introducing – how you know them, the fact they just got back from a trip, what they do for a living – the point is to help people feel more familiar with one another and give them a starting point for discussion.

note

As the hostess, one of your most important jobs is to ensure everyone gets introduced to everyone else.

Work the room

Don’t hide in the kitchen – get out there and mingle! It’s your party, and that means you need to have a presence among your guests. If they see you having a great time they will be much more likely to get in the holiday spirit, relax and enjoy themselves. Being out among your guests is also the only way to see if anyone needs anything or if there’s someone who might need a little extra nudge to integrate into the party. As you walk among your guests, look for anyone who looks out of place and introduce them to someone you think they would get along well with. Being in the party will help you be a better hostess.

Set a festive scene

Don’t discount ambiance when it comes to hosting a memorable party. You don’t need to channel your inner Martha Stewart. but do put some thought into making the space look special. Get rid of clutter, light some candles, create a playlist of upbeat music and decorate using seasonal elements – a bowlful of pomegranates and clementines,  a large glass vase filled with Christmas balls, for example. Just keep it simple but stylish.

Tip

Create a signature seasonal beverage to offer guests as they arrive. It’s a nice welcome and a great way to make everyone feel at home.

Create conversation opportunities

Get guests to loosen up by breaking the ice with some cute conversations starters. There are many simple but amusing ways to get people mingling. These are some of our favorites:

1. Give everyone a tag when they arrive but don’t let them look at it. On each tag write the person’s name, along with an object or famous person . For the rest of the night each guest has to guess who or what is written on their tag by asking other guests yes-or-no questions. Whoever guesses first gets a prize.
2. On each person’s place card write a true or false question . Guests can take turns asking and answering throughout dinner.
3. Give each guest a "task card" as they arrive – anything from "tell a joke to the person standing next to you" to "use the word 'fruit cake' in a sentence." Each card should also have a number on it; at various points throughout the evening, call out a number. The person with the corresponding card has to perform their task.

Keep things flowing

The last thing you want to do is usher everyone immediately into the dining room or make one specific area the only place to get food or drinks. Instead, let the party unfold naturally and make sure there are several areas to get appetizers and drink refills. The more that people circulate, the better the evening will go. That way guests get to talk to more than the one person they’re sitting beside and everyone gets to know one another even better.

More holiday tips

An old-fashioned Christmas
Tips for reconnecting with faraway friends
Our best tips for stress-free holiday travel

16 Dec, 2011

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Christian Bale attacked for trying to visit Chinese activist

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Christian Bale was "roughed up" by Chinese security guards as he attempted to visit a blind legal activist whose detention has sparked outrage around the world.

He plays a superhero on the silver screen, but Christian Bale was no match for a group of Chinese guards who forcibly blocked him and a CNN crew from visiting a blind lawyer-dissident being held under house arrest.

On Friday, Chinese security officials "roughed up" and briefly detained the Dark Knight actor as he attempted to visit a  legal activist whose detention has sparked an international outcry.

The Academy Award-winning actor invited a camera crew from CNN to accompany him on the eight-hour drive from Beijing to a village in Linyi District, where Chen Guangcheng is being held under the watchful eye of a corrupt government.

Chen -- who Bale describes as an "inspiration" -- is a self-educated attorney-turned-activist. He is being detained for campaigning against forced abortions sanctioned by the reigning Communist Party.

Chen was jailed by Shandong officials in 2005 after exposing a forced abortions program sometimes implemented as part of China's one-child policy. He was formally released in September 2010 after serving four years in prison on a charge of "blocking traffic."

Guangcheng, 40, has been under house arrest for the past 15 months.

Christian Bale says bye-bye to Batman >>

Activists organized through the Internet have been flocking to Chen's village as part of an online campaign to free him. In recent months, however, the government has mandated a crackdown on local activists and those who rally around their causes.

Dozens of Chen's supporters have been blocked from visiting him. Many of them have been beaten by guards in plainclothes, The Associated Press reports.

Bale, who is in China to promote his upcoming Nanjing Massacre film The Flowers of War, was stopped on the outskirts of the village in eastern China early Friday, just as he tried to make contact with Guangcheng.

"Why can I not visit this man?" Bale asked several security officers as he was shoved.

Christian and the CNN crew were eventually punched and battered by the burly guards.

"You know, I'm not being brave doing this," Bale told the crew after the melee.

"The local people who are standing up to the authorities and insisting on going to visit Chen and his family and getting beaten up for it and my understanding, getting detained for it and everything. I want to support what they are doing," he added.

"What I really wanted to do is to shake the man's hand and say: 'Thank you,' and tell him what an inspiration he is."

Photo credit: WENN.com 

16 Dec, 2011

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It's all about Katy Perry: MTV's first Artist of the Year

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Katy Perry tops Adele to earn distinction as MTV's first Artist of the Year. Good call?

Katy Perry has been named MTV's first Artist of the Year.

The card-carrying "California Gurl" edged out stiff competition from British songbird Adele for the coveted distinction, the network said Thursday.

Just last week, Adele was crowned Billboard's Best Artist of 2011 in another battle with Perry. But the "Rolling in the Deep" chart-topper failed to overtake Mrs. Russell Brand in MTV's new annual round-up of the year's most dangerous lyricists.

The tough decision came after some heavy debating from a panel of seven pop music experts, Amy Doyle, the network's Chief of Music Programming explains.

The success of her sophomore offering, 21, catapulted Adele to the top of the international charts, but the panel was ultimately swayed by the enduring success of Katy's 2010 disc, Teenage Dream.

Just take a look at her brag sheet…

In August, Perry entered the musical history books alongside the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, when she landed a fifth No. 1 hit off her multi-platinum-selling album.

Katy’s party anthem "Last Friday Night "climbed to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 -- just as the Snoop Dogg-assisted "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," "Firework" and "E.T.," which featured Kanye West, had done in the months before.

The feat made Katy and Michael the only two artists in history to earn five No. 1 hits from one album. Katy's now tied for the record set by MJ’s Bad way back in 1988.

Katy Perry gets SNL hosting advice from her hubby >>

The accomplishment was also the first for a female artist in the 52-year history of the Billboard Hot 100.

In May, the buxom pop star became another Billboard trendsetter after being named the first artist to spend an entire year in the Top 10 of the Hot 100. In May 2010, the sunny anthem "California Gurls" kicked off Katy's record-breaking stay on the chart, spending 18 weeks hovering in the Top 10.

Katy Perry looking to dethrone Michael Jackson! >>

Additionally, Perry picked up the top prize at MTV's annual Video Music Awards last August. The promo for her hit song "Firework" was voted the best music video of the year.

The chart successes made Katy an obvious victor for MTV's Artist of the Year prize, network chiefs say.

"Riding high off the success of 2010's Teenage Dream, Perry didn't rest on her laurels," MTV wrote in a release announcing Katy's win.

"Instead, she set the bar even higher by hitting the road on the California Dreams Tour, where night after night, decked out in candy-colored clothes, she belted out her greatest hits and empowered her fans with tracks like 'Firework,'" the network added.

"That anthem, originally released late last year, became so ubiquitous this year that it finds itself at #10 on MTV's Best Songs of 2011 list. Visually, she always wanted to keep us guessing. She continually made music videos that were cinematic, tickling our funny bones at times and leaving us nostalgic at others."

Did MTV make the right call by selecting Katy as its first Artist of the Year?

 Photo credits: Fayes Vision/WENN.com

16 Dec, 2011

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Time magazine names Ryan Gosling "Coolest Person" of 2011

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Golden Globe nominee Ryan Gosling has been named the "Coolest Person of 2011" by Time columnist Joel Stein. Do you agree?

 As far as consolation prizes go, this one ain't half bad.

He failed to nab People magazine's hotly sought-after "Sexiest Man Alive" tag , but Ryan Gosling is still pretty cool if you ask the folks over at Time magazine.

In fact, the publication has dubbed the 2012 Golden Globe nominee the "Coolest Person of the Year."

Time columnist Joel Stein gifted Gosling with 2011's "Coolest Person" tag after growing impressed with the actor's ability to be "tough but emotional" both on screen and off.

Is Justin Timberlake jealous of Ryan Gosling? >>

"Ryan Gosling, the 2011 Coolest Person of the Year, is so cool that he refused to talk to me about this honor," Stein cracked of the cool Crazy, Stupid, Love actor. "Faced with this problem, other magazine franchises might back down and pick someone willing to play ball and be their publicity monkey, but the Coolest Person Committee is committed to the truth."

"Also, it was getting really close to deadline, so it just seemed a lot easier to stick with Gosling,” he joked.

"Yes, [Gosling] was a Mouseketeer alongside Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. And yes, he puts on a weird Brooklyn accent even though he's from Canada. Yes, he was homeschooled and sometimes hangs out with magicians," Stein added.

"But he's so cool, he wears all of that proudly."

Ryan Gosling embarrassed by street fight heroics >>

Stein and other Gosling fanatics may be surprised to learn that Ryan is neither "handsome" nor "cool," according to director Nick Cassavetes.

The 31-year-old Drive star recently revealed that he got his big break in the 2004 romantic tearjerker The Notebook because the film's director wanted a guy who wasn't that good-looking.

"The director, Nick Cassavetes, called me to meet him at his house," Gosling told British magazine Company this week.

"When I got there, he was standing in his backyard and he looked at me and said, 'I want you to play this role because you're not like the other young actors out there in Hollywood. You're not handsome, you're not cool, you're just a regular guy who looks a bit nuts.'"

Photo credit: WENN.com

16 Dec, 2011

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Movie review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked

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Jason Lee is back -- and stranded on an island to boot -- with his three favorite furry little pop singers in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked.

Jason Lee returns for his third installment in the Alvin and the Chipmunks series as the one guy who knows how to put up with these singing tree creatures and their amazing little voices.

Who says they’re hard to put up with? They do. Known for their childlike antics , their manager Dave, played by Jason Lee, tells the chipmunks to grow up or ship out. They take the latter option, to some extent, and find themselves stranded on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean.

Chipmunks who hate the outdoors

Why would it be a problem for chipmunks to be stranded in the wilderness? They are animals, right? Yes, they're animals, but these guys have been out of trees so long, they've kind of lost their roots.

Left with nothing but street smarts and a whole lotta vocal cords to go around, the dynamic trio, Alvin, Simon and Theodore -- accompanied by three spunky female singers Eleanor, Jeanette and Brittany -- must try to survive on the island alone until Dave comes to rescue them.

If he ever comes...

When Alvin realizes his juvenile antics might be too much for Dave, the chipmunks start to wonder if they will be rescued at all.

Dave, on the other hand, is nothing but worried about his fury little friends. But unfortunately for him, he’s stuck on the other side of the island with his archenemy Ian, played by comedian David Cross, who has some of the funniest lines in the movie. Did we mention he’s wearing a chicken suit the entire time? You have to see it to believe it.

Sing your way to civilization

Things get stranger -- and a little more interesting -- when the chipmunks run into Zoe, played by Jenny Slate of Saturday Night Live and HBO’s Bored to Death. She’s been stranded on the island in a bit of a Tom-Hanks-Castaway-meets-Lord-of-the-Flies fury for almost a decade. Least to say, she isn’t fazed by seeing talking chipmunks who can sing their way out of any problem.

With lots of hilarious dance sequences and great vocals, the musical numbers make up for the rather thin plot. With a tone similar to other animated-live-action hybrid films like Russell Brand’s Hop and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, this movie gives adults some time with their favorite My Name Is Earl actor and children time with their favorite singing chipmunks.

Celebrity voices include Justin Long as Alvin, Amy Poehler as Eleanor, Anna Faris as Jeanette and Christina Applegate as Brittany. If you liked the first two chipmunk movies, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, don't miss seeing these spunky little singers try to survive life in the wilderness.

Bottom line: If you like Jason Lee, booty-shaking tree critters and the voices of Anna Faris and Amy Poehler, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-wrecked is a cute family comedy full of music and laughs.

Photos courtesy: Twentieth Century Fox

16 Dec, 2011

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