New Year’s Resolutions

/ thoughts

We are not even four weeks into 2012 and the headlines on New Year’s resolutions are few and far between. So what happens to those resolutions?
During January, about 20% drop theirs, in July 50% are still working on theirs. At the end of the year, when it is time to make new New Year’s resolutions, 1 out of 10 have accomplished or are still working of theirs. So why is it so hard?
In Psychology Today, Jim Taylor points out that many of the popular resolutions mean a significant change in lifestyle. Some of the most popular resolutions are loosing weight, exercising and getting organized, which means changing habits and mindset and that is hard work!

Pink Radio for listening to moms talking about new year's resolutions

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to  The Mom’s Roundtable (it’s in the second half of the show) at Mom Talk Radio to discuss New Year’s resolutions. It turned out that Sarah, the other mom at the table, also made goals throughout the year. Specific goals for the next few months are easier to reach than big fluffy ones and might be part of several larger goals. Take the pledge to replace short car trips with bike rides for example. It makes the air cleaner, saves gas money and gives you exercise as well. Biking and walking is a bit slower than the car, but the 10 or 20 extra minutes are well worth all of the benefits.
Writing goals down and/or making them public helps with sticking to them. Eva Liljendahl, business coach at Inspiration for Excellence advised me last summer to write down the goals for my business and not just keep them in my head. I had a clear view of what I wanted to accomplish so it didn’t take long, but it made a huge difference when I started to use them as a high level to-do-list. I was amazed to see things happen!
So, how am I doing on my New Year’s resolution to get to bed earlier? I did get more sleep for a couple of weeks and then I had a busy week at the Chicago Merchandise Mart plus a screwed up blog to fix last night, so I need to get back on track. Two steps forward and one step back…
How are you doing on yours?
Elisabeth

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The Blue Hour

/ thoughts, traffic safety

Long ago, I used to come home from work, kick off my shoes, turn on the stereo and cuddle up under a blanket in my couch. A huge window, facing southwest, framed a stunning garden and the sunset this time of year. Late January and early February, I would come home right after sunset and hit the “blue hour”.

Blue hour on the lake Drevviken, Stockholm. January 12 at 3:40pm.
Blue hour on the lake Drevviken, Stockholm. January 12 at 3:40pm.


The best ones where those with a clear sky and snow on the ground. The far north location of Stockholm made sunset slow and the blue hour lasted long enough to wind down from a busy day in the office. Now with kids and in Chicago, (same latitude as Naples, Italy), I need to be observant to catch the blue light. It only lasts for a couple of minutes before it gets pitch black. Often, I only notice it on days when I happen to drive my kids to their activities during those precious blue minutes.

The blue hour (minutes) in Libertyville IL, January 2, 4:46pm
The blue hour (minutes) in Libertyville IL, January 2, 4:46 pm. Did you notice how the sky is still bright, but the road and side walk are not?


The blue light gives you opportunities to take spectacular photos that cannot be made any other time of the day. Miklos Andrassy has few basic tips at his bluehoursite.com. Just don’t think you can take any more daylight photos that day! Even very good cameras are not as good as the human eye at compensating for the blue light.

Winter blues medicin - fun pedestrian safety reflctors and a long walk!
Winter blues medicin – fun pedestrian safety reflctors and long walks!


The blue hour is also treacherous from a traffic safety perspective. It often falls during rush hour, both in the morning and evening. Since the human eye is trained to compensate for the dimming blue light, we easily think it is not yet dark and forget that others might not see us. It is not uncommon to see drivers without headlights on and it is very common to see pedestrians who think they are as visible as in full day light. So here we go again: Wear some reflectors! They might save your life!!! Our loyal readers know to get our fun-to-wear pedestrian reflectors at our webshop. If you are a new to this site and pedestrian safety reflectors, you can learn more from our blog posts on traffic safety or on our info page.
Take care,
Elisabeth

Blue hour at the lake Drevviken, Stockholm, February 6, 4:45pm
Blue hour at the lake Drevviken, Stockholm, February 6, 4:45pm
Polar bear during the blue hour at Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, December 28, 5 pm.
Polar bear during the blue hour at Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, December 28, 5 pm.

The Blue Hour Read More »

Walk to School

/ go green, thoughts, traffic safety / , , , ,

Kids benefit so much from walking to school, but fewer and fewer do it on a daily basis. A local walk to school program is a great way to get kids into the habit. Parents at Vienna Elementary (VA) organize “Walking Wednesdays” and here they share their story:

Vienna Elementary, a school with just under 400 students, has been participating in the October International Walk to School Day and a local spring Walk/Bike to School Challenge for several years. Almost all of our students live within 1/2 mile of the school, but about 3/4 are bussed because of  two heavily traveled roads near the school. Bussed students are allowed to walk if accompanied by their parents. Our turnouts for these walk and bike to school days was as high as 120 walkers during nice weather.

Safety reflectors for kids walking to school
The bright orange hand was one of the pedestrian reflectors that Vienna Elementary students could get in their walk-to-school program.

This year we received a grant from Prevention Connections to implement a “Walking Wednesdays” program that was launched on this year’s International Walk to School Day (October 9th). Every Wednesday that a student walks, they are given a small foot charm to put on a chain. A local coffee shop, Cafe Amouri, has donated free coffee for the parents. The program has been an overwhelming success. We are regularly seeing over 150 students from all over town walking on Wednesdays and the charm and coffee table has become a small social scene.
As part of the grant, we purchased several hundred funflector reflective charms to give away on a few special days each year. We gave them out this year on December 7th and 14th and let the kids know there would be a special surprise for walking. Now that it is getting dark early, we wanted to help keep the children be safe when they walk in the dawn and dusk hours or on rainy or overcast days. Turnout was high and the children were very excited to see the reflectors which were in the Paw and Peace Hand designs. Now, almost all of our walkers have one on their backpacks to help make them more visible. Kids like the designs and proudly display them on their backpacks. Because it is not obvious that the funflector tags are highly reflective, we are sending out followup information to the parents about the pedestrian reflectors. Close to St Patrick’s day, we’ll have another funflector day with the shamrock design so that students will have one for their front (typically jacket zipper pull) and one for their backpack if they choose.

Sean McCall, a father of two Vienna Elementary students, is engaged in the PTO walk to school committee and contributed this post. Thanks for sharing your project and experience with our readers!

Elisabeth

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What’s in a Tally Mark?

/ thoughts, traffic safety / ,

We are looking at statistics and wondering about the 3000 pedestrians killed in traffic since last Christmas. What do their families and friends think about the past year without them? Many of them will celebrate the upcoming holidays without them for the first time. What will that be like?

1500lives could have been spared in traffic had Americans worn reflectors like Scandinavians...
Look at all of these pedestrians killed in traffic 🙁 They are people like your neighbor, college or friend or could have been in your family

For each pedestrian killed, there are also 10 injured. Some might have gotten away with a broken leg or foot, others have had to revise their dreams beyond what’s imaginable for most of us. Did you know that 30% of Finns wear pedestrian reflectors regularly? We estimate that if Americans did that, each year about 1500 lives could be spared and 15.000 injuries avoided. That would be 16.000  kids, teens, men and women without shattered dreams of what their life would be like. Each year!
You, your family and your friends only have one life and you need to take care of it! Walking is an easy way to get some exercise, but you need to help drivers to see you if you out after dark (planned or unplanned.) Put some safety reflectors in the stockings this year—not just for the kids. Grandpa needs them, the reflectors will dangle nicely on his walker! College students need them! Your friend the dog walker needs them! Your friend the runner needs them! And YOU are too valuable not to wear any!
Our lightweight soft pedestrian reflectors are easy to send in a holiday card and they make perfect stocking stuffers!
Have fun and be safe!
 Elisabeth

What’s in a Tally Mark? Read More »

The Good Man of Snow

/ funflector® designs, thoughts / , , , , ,

Le bonhomme du neige – the good man of snow – is the french expression for snowman. And who does not like snowmen? Shoveling snow might not be our favorite pastime, but making snowmen is fun, creative and brings us outside. After the snowman has been adorned with a broom, stick arms, a carrot nose, a scarf and a hat, we  dry our mittens and enjoy some hot cocoa or cider while we let our rosy cheeks fade away.

Snowmen pedestrian safety reflectors - or Good Man of Snow as the french say.
Snowmen safety reflectors – or Good Man of Snow as the french say.
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The Good Man of SnowRead More »

The Good Man of Snow Read More »

Have a Fun and Safe Halloween!

/ news / , , , , , ,

Only one week to Halloween (where did October go?) and new Halloween decorations are popping up every day in the neighborhood. Are you planning for a safe Halloween? All over the country, funflector safety reflectors are popping up in people’s mail boxes. If you want some in your’s before Halloween, please order today, tomorrow or Wednesday before noon (central time)!

Funflector Halloween safety reflectors
Funflector Halloween safety reflectors


To make it easier and quicker to order our most popular Halloween safety reflectors, we’ve bundled the Jack O’Lantern, the white ghost and the orange cat and give you $4 off compared to buying them separately! The glimling webshop has all the details.

By the way, did you know that the funflector reflectors are official Must-Haves at Modern Mom? And, we totally agree with Lauren at parenting.com about reflective tape!

Modern Mom awarded funflector with their "must-have" seal :)
Modern Mom awarded funflector with a “must-have” seal 🙂


Recently, we wrote about how to attach Halloween reflectors to costumes. If you don’t want to tape the reflectors to swords and light sabers, wands or broom sticks, you can put a (strong) rubber band around and then slip the chain through.
From our friend and funflector fan Beth, we got a cute duck tape candy corn candy bag. Instead of putting reflective tape on the handle, she made a loop for her funflector and taped the loop to the outside of the bag! While in craft mode, you might want to check out this milk jug skeleton by the Party Animal. We are up to five jugs, so soon, we’ll get started on ours! How is yours coming along?

fun safety reflectors for a safe halloween
Duck Tape bag with Halloween safety reflectors
The DIY milk jug skeleton by Party Animal
The DIY milk jug skeleton by Party Animal

Have fun and safe Halloween!  – the funflector team

ultra bright funflector safety reflectors to hang on costumes for a safe halloween
Don’t worry, photoshop helps us keep our models safely on the ground!

Have a Fun and Safe Halloween! Read More »

Funflector® Safety Reflectors on Halloween Costumes

/ traffic safety / , , , , , , , ,

“Funflector® tags are so much more fun than reflective tape, but how do I attach them to Halloween costumes?“ is a question we often get this time of year. Four times as many kids get killed in traffic  on Halloween than on any other night of the year! That’s why Good Morning America urged everyone to put reflectors on Halloween Costumes. The funflector® tags will do the trick! They are high quality pedestrian reflectors, fulfilling the European standard E13356, which means they can be visible to drivers from about 400 ft.

Fun-to-wear life saver: Ghost safety reflector from our webshop. Also available in white, pink & blue
Fun-to-wear life saver: Ghost safety reflector from our webshop. Also available in white, pink & blue


Here is a recap of what we wrote last year about attaching reflectors to Halloween costumes:
The ball chains that come with funflector® tags are meant to be attached to zipper pulls and loops. So what do you do when the robe of your grim reaper has none of that?

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Funflector® Safety Reflectors on Halloween CostumesRead More »

Funflector® Safety Reflectors on Halloween Costumes Read More »

Where Are My Cookies?

/ news, thoughts /

Hello IKEA,
There are two types of expat Swedes: those that live near an IKEA and those that don’t. For us that live close, IKEA helps us stay Swedish—but that will soon change. Many of us grew up with Billy bookshelves or the Poäng armchair and we go shopping for furniture and clever things for our homes. However, the main attraction is the little food store after the checkout and that one brings us back often. Our IKEA trips get scheduled when our freezer is out of meatballs, when we need Ahlgren’s bilar (yummy gummy cars) for Saturday candy, when the kids request Ballerina cookies for their birthday parties or when the cravings for Marabou chocolate bars overwhelm us. I have lost count of all the times I’ve given away a box of Paradis chocolate as an inexpensive but special thank-you gift.
It’s not just that Ballerina, Singoalla, Marabou, Abba’s herring, etc. taste good. Moving overseas is a BIG change in one’s life and eating food that taste exactly like the food we grew up with is very comforting and brings back memories. I’d also like that to be part of my kids’ memories. Every time I eat Brago cookies, I think of my mom’s story how she and her sister shared a roll on Saturdays while they were college students. That was in the late 50’s and because the cookies still taste the same, they bring stories and memories.  We can buy food anywhere in America, but foods that carry a greeting from “the old country” and our families is harder to find.

childhood memories - sweets still available at IKEA
Last chance to pick up this kind of childhood memories at IKEA (except that it should have been Singoalla raspberry, but there were none left).

There are rumors about a decision within IKEA-US to replace all classic Swedish food with IKEA’s own brand. I hope that you realize that that you will loose quite a bit of your Swedishness! Seriously!!! Your meatballs, and gravy are great (after we moved here and served our American friends your meatballs, IKEA meatballs have become a staple in their freezer as well. And they have picked up some pieces of furniture while they were in your store anyway…) !
However, when it comes to chocolate, I prefer Marabou, Lindt or Ritter Sport (I’ve lived in Germany and Switzerland too) and the latter two I can easily get at Target, so I’ll go there instead. I haven’t yet figured out what I will do without the Ballerina and Singoalla cookies. Whatever you come up with to replace them, no matter how good they taste, they won’t carry any greetings from my childhood.
I know you can’t make your stores go around on Swedish expats only, but we do bring you repeat business and new customers, so please don’t let us down! Please reconsider your decision—and if you change your mind, add Brago cookies to the must-haves!
Elisabeth

Where Are My Cookies? Read More »

40 Days Left

/ traffic safety / , , , ,

Safety reflector season has started and the days are zipping by. Most of all we notice it because of how much earlier it gets dark every day. Here in Chicago, we are losing one minute a day. One week I pick up kids after their activities and it is not so dark. The next week it is pitch black and I’m thinking of which Halloween safety reflectors to get them tis year. Have you too been surprised how fast it goes?

Are You Ready?

I got an email today “65 Days Until Black Friday! Are You Ready?” Bah, no, I’m not. funflector.com is ready, we are already shipping orders for stocking stuffers, but not me personally. The kids are still going to school in shorts and it is hard to find (real) fall leaves to use for photo props.  So how can I be ready for what’s beyond Thanksgiving? We are busy with Halloween safety. Very busy! Last week, we came across some statistics that stated that four times as many kids are killed in traffic on Halloween as on any other night during the year. Four times—that’s a lot and we don’t want to stand on the sideline to see that happen any more.

Do your kids prefer reflective tape or Halloween reflectors?
Do your kids prefer reflective tape or Halloween reflectors?
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40 Days LeftRead More »

40 Days Left Read More »

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