Earlier today, I took a short walk to shoot some pictures for the next blog post. Normally, the walk takes about 5 minutes and I looked forward to getting away from my computer and getting moving, so taking the car was not even considered. Little did I think about all the unshoveled sidewalks along the busy highway. Not only were the sidewalks not shoveled, but they were also used to pile up the snow from the thoroughly cleaned driveways. Cross walk to nowhere
The footsteps I followed on the bumpy path told me I wasn’t the only one attempting to walk there. Sidewalk for happy pedestrians.
We often read and hear about the need for building a more sustainable society. This isn’t something that just “others” need to do in big bold moves. Everyone can contribute by adding one little habit at a time. Reuse, reduce, recycle are the obvious pillars, but the connection between shoveled sidewalks and a sustainable society might be less obvious. If you build a house according to the LEED standard, you get quite some bonus points for a location that makes it easy to walk or bike to stores, restaurants, libraries, churches etc. What’s the point of that if the sidewalks are full of snow and ice?
Next time you shovel your driveway, please add a few minutes for a cleaner sidewalk. It would be a very appreciated thank-you gift to the pedestrians who are not polluting the air we all breathe! Elisabeth
A very exciting year in my life has come to an end. It’s not the first time I’ve done a one-of-a-kind job without a given path. However, launching a business and a new line of stylish safety reflectors on the American market has certainly been (and still is) more challenging than any endeavor I’ve taken on before.
I’d like to send a huge thank you to everyone supporting this project of launching a business!!! Without customers, we would already have closed our doors, so thanks to both individuals and store owners for buying our funflector™ tags! Thanks also to Village Green Montessori and the Red Rose Childen’s Choir of Lake County, who gave us the privilege of organizing very successful funflector™ fundraisers. It has been a pleasure to work with our sales representatives and we are looking forward to expanding that cooperation in 2011. Our blog readers, facebook fans and twitter followers mean a lot to us, so thanks for staying tuned. The factory in Sweden is a great partner, patiently answering all our questions and discussing our ideas. Thanks also very much to family and friends for promoting our fun safety reflectors and giving a helping hand when needed. THANKS!
While the Champagne is cooling, we are busy shipping some new funflector tags to our sales reps. The basketballs arrived yesterday along with shamrocks and hearts. What better way is there to tell your loved ones that you love them and want them to stay safe than with a funflector™ heart for Valentine’s Day?
The new funflector® safety reflectors will be available in our web shop next week. If you want them immediately, just contact usand we’ll ship them on Monday.
Finally, Christmas is almost here! In Sweden, Christmas countdown has arrived to “lill-julafton” – little Christmas Eve. The fact that even the days before Christmas have names, may tell you how important Christmas used to be – and still is!
The countdown starts with the first Sunday of Advent (this year Nov. 28) which kicks off adventsfika (afternoon coffee with Christmas cookies and sweet buns), Christmas concerts and – by now long ago – Christmas shopping.
Paper advent calenders are still popular and starts on the 1st of December. You open a little door every day from December 1st to Christmas Eve (24th) to see what is drawn on the sheet behind. There are available in America as well, but most commonly filled with a piece of candy instead of pictures. The most popular Swedish advent calender is, however, “Julkalendern” a kid’s TV show with one short episode every day. Every year is different and most of the shows are by many considered to be the best Swedish TV productions for for kids. It started in the 60’s and caught on quickly in the neighboring Scandinavian countries. For another few weeks, you can catch up with this year’s Swedish julkalender on SVT play.
Lucia is the next big event, celebrated on December 13th as I described in our previous blog post.
After Lucia, Swedes get busy getting their Christmas food, bread, sweets, trees and gifts ready. Rooted in the times when most people were farmers and had to prepare all the meat from their Christmas pig, there are many dishes on the “julbord”, a Swedish smörgåsbord with the addition of a Christmas ham.
The julbord is served on the 24th. It is also the day when tomten (the Swedish Santa Claus) visits late afternoon to give gifts to all nice children. The blog “Celebrate Christmas like a Swede” has a wonderful description of what we do. Look under the heading “Things we do and dates to remember” except that they forgot “annandag jul”. Literally it means “second day Christmas” and it is another holiday to do nothing or shop for bargains at the first day of the Christmas sale.
This Christmas tree has an eclectic mix of ornaments from Europe and America. With that we thank you for being our reader and wish you
Imagine early morning before sunrise when the darkness of the season feels heavy. All of a sudden, there is a faint singing in the distance and the doorway is lit up by a woman in a long white gown, wearing a wreath with candles on her head. Lucia, her maidens, and the “star boys” follow and bring light, joyful singing, coffee and sweet saffron rolls.
A “star boy” in the Lucia procession.
The night of the 13th, the day of Lucia in the saints’ calender, was the longest night in the medieval calender. To the fend off the darkness and the dark forces, one had to eat several meals before dawn. Feasting on food from the Christmas slaughter eventually turned into Lucia who brings light, coffee and saffron rolls before dawn.
Swedish saffron buns (“lussekatter”) for Lucia.
This year’s Lucia on Swedish Television has a beautiful mix of traditional Lucia carols and modern songs and is available until January 13. In the Swedish neighborhood Andersonville in Chicago Lucia will be celebrated tonight at 4.45 and at 7. See The Swedish American Museum for more info.
Lucia choir by the Swedish School in Chicago.
Lucia is no longer the darkest day of the year: we have another week to go before it gets brighter again. Fend off the dark forces and especially pedestrian traffic accidents with some joyful safety reflectors!
How dark is it where?
If you belong to those who tell us that you are never out in the dark, please think again! This is when the sun sets today in a few cities – and remember that dusk starts earlier!
Anchorage – 3:41 pm
Montreal – 4:11 pm
Boston – 4:12 pm
Vancouver – 4:14 pm
Chicago – 4:20 pm
Toronto – 4:21 pm
New York – 4:29 pm
Minneapolis – 4:32 pm
Denver – 4:36 pm
Washingotn DC – 4:47 pm
San Fransisco – 4:51 pm
Indianapolis – 5:20 pm
Dallas – 5:22 pm
Honolulu – 5:51 pm
Of course, none of these places are as dark as the Nordic countries—Oslo (3:11 pm), Stockholm (2:47 pm), Helsinki(3:12 pm), but if your kids have any after school activities or you work normal office hours, you are bound to be out in the dark in most of these places. Get sunset and sunrise in your own city at timeanddate.com. Once you have your city, click the “Sun & Moon” tab.
We are so excited to see some of our funflector™ tags featured in the Winter issue of Tots To Teens Magazine! Check out page 64 where they are page mates with the funny My Face Icons. Just don’t miss the pages just before on some great teen picks, and the pages before that on and…
Here are some highlights:
One of our favorites is the MITT-ONS™ on page 24. Especially exciting is that they have up to teen sizes! With kids who love being outside to play in the snow, this is a blessing!
These days, it seems to be more common than not to have someone in the family with an allergy. We are not alone reading the fine print in the grocery store to find out if the chocolate contains “traces of tree nuts or peanuts” in hope to find out that it is safe for our kids to eat. The divvies chocolate and treats on page 47 are made without eggs, milk or nuts – yeah!!! So let’s put some of those in the stockings!
You may have a leash for you dog, maybe for your toddler, bud did you know you could get it for your baby’s stuff too? The Kael&Kaed Sophie/Toy/Sippy Leash on page 29 will save you from having to pick up an clean many passifiers!
The magazine features many more neat and unique gift ideas but also has some articles on a variety of topics, so it’s certainly worth taking a peak!
To a non-American, the culture around the school mascot, the school colors, the spirit wear, sports teams and cheerleaders is fascinating.
LHS Go Cats banner
Here, kids grow up with it from kindergarten and it follows all the way through college and, more often than not, they never let go of “their” team. In Europe, for example, all of that is non-existent (believe it or not) and sports are rarely connected with schools or colleges.
Paw print and football safety reflectors
Living very close to a high school football field gives my whole family large doses of all of this fine American culture. The week of band practice in August can be tough on our nerves, but other than that, we truly enjoy it. We know when “our” team scores—who in the neighborhood can miss the Wildcat roar? My kids adjusted to all of this in no time after our transatlantic move. The first season we lived here, they would stop their outdoor play at the beginning of every high school match and stand with their hands on their hearts for the entire national anthem. Luckily, that has worn off after a couple of years.
Libertyville High School homecoming parade, October 2010.
Homecoming is another phenomenon that’s part of all of this and that takes some time to grasp for a foreigner. According to Wikipedia, “Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back former residents and alumni of an institution.” A parade through town, a football game at home and a dinner ball are often the main events during homecoming weekend. In Libertyville, the highschoolers also help with painting most store windows downtown with scenes from their sports, theater group, etc, in orange and black before this special autumn weekend.
Together with all of this goes the “spirit wear,” that is T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, pants, caps, hats, scarves and sport bags in the school colors and with logo or mascot to pinpoint a specific school. Wristbands, key chains, earrings, hair bows, tea mugs and much more are also standard stuff and don’t forget fleece blankets, seat cushions, earmuffs and more that are needed to enjoy the late fall football games. Often parent’s organizations run the school store as a means to bring in money to support the team.
All the Wildcat’s roars and the paw prints on my kids school papers from their buddy the Bulldog has inspired the funflector® paw print design. With so many Bulldogs, Lions, Tigers, Bears, Wildcats, Cougars, Huskies. Wolverines, Badgers, Jaguars, Wolves and Panthers (did we miss anyone?) out and about this time of year with all sorts of team colors we decided we should have paws in all sorts of colors as well. We have launched a good handful of color combinations and there will be more. If you don’t find your team colors, just let us know!
Why not be safer leaving school, leaving the game or anytime you are out after dark and show your school spiritat the same time? And don’t forget to be proud of your North American school spirit culture!
The number one Halloween hazard by far is kids being hit by cars. That’s what we were told on Good Morning America the other day where they urged everyone to attach safety reflectors on Halloween Costumes. The funflector® safety reflectors will do the trick! They are high quality reflectors, fulfilling the European standard E13356, which means they can be visible to drivers from about 500 ft. Earlier this week, we did a funflector fundraiser at a local preschool. One of the teachers, who had happened to drive by during the photo session along the highway commented: “Wow, were they bright! Now, I really understand how useful the safety reflectors are.”
We have equipped this nasty witch for Halloween with several high quality reflectors!
The ball chains that come with funflector® safety reflectors 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?
Attach Safety Reflectors with Safety Pins
Even if we don’t recommend it for everyday use, safety pins allow us to temporarily put the reflectors wherever we’d like them. Put the safety pin through the seam (through as many layers as possible) of the garment to avoid the Halloween costumes tearing and reflectors getting lost. Low down is good—that’s where headlights shine the most. On the witch’s dress, we attached it at the bottom of the side seam to let the funflector® safety reflector dangle below the hemline. With one cat on each side, she should be visible from all directions.
Our witch is wearing one of her black cats at ankle height. It dangles nicely below the hemline making her visible from multiple directions.
Attach Safety Reflectors on Mesh Material
It is easy to stick the chain through the mesh material that some costumes are made with. Put it through several layers or around a seam to avoid ripping. The witch’s hat has a large bow made from mesh material, so we just put it through several layers.
Attach safety reflectors in the mesh material. Put the chain through several layers for strength.
Attach Safety Reflectors on Belts and Straps
Many costumes have a belt. If the belt is too wide for the ball chain, put a loop made from a piece of string around the belt and slip the ball chain trough the loop. Please DO NOT replace the chain with a string! The chain is designed to break if it gets firmly hooked on something, so that the wearer doesn’t become stuck. A strong string may harm your child.
Attach Safety Reflectors on Eyelets
Our witch’s dress has some eyelets on the front which came in very handy for a few more safety reflectors.
Attach safety reflectors through the holes of any eyelets.
Attach Safety Reflectors with Tape
The ball chain can also be taped to handles of light sabers, scythes, brooms, swords or magic wands, alerting drivers when your kids are busy fending off evil spirits on the loose.
Beyond that, use your imagination and common sense to find suitable places to attach reflectors and let us know what original ways you come up with! The glimling team wishes you a fun and safe Halloween. 🙂
The girl’s story was also featured on king5.com in December last year. They visit schools to talk about their accident and what the kids can do to avoid it happen to them. Their “STAY ALERT & STAY SAFE” campaign can be found at www.stayalertstaysafe.com.
The number one Halloween safety concern: Drivers not seeing trick-or-treaters. This witch is well equipped with safety reflectors for being seen by drivers!
If you suddenly feel the urge to have more reflectors on hand for your kids this Halloween, you can still order funflector® safety reflectors in our web shop, but please don’t wait much longer. Our FREE SHIPPING includes standard mail via USPS. Please contact us if you need express shipping.
Halloween costumes rarely have zipper pulls to attach reflectors to, so later this week, we’ll offer some ideas of what to do instead.
Although one of my daughters often has asked “When will I get a dog” (noticed the lack of “if”?), we have no dog in our house. Three kids and a small house is quite a handful as it is. Sorry for the misleading headline… Luckily, Maggie, one of our cool glimling blog dogs, lives just around the corner. Maggie is a lab, a black lab, and a great model for dog safety reflector. With her pitch plack fur, a dog safety reflector looks extra cool on her—and is extra necessary when it gets dark.
In the dark, drivers will see the safety reflector long before the dog.
When Maggie was a puppy and too little for these reflectors, her owner tied a few of them along the leash instead. One evening a neighbor came home and slowed down to almost no speed while they were walking along the street. The neighbor was very puzzled by the weird dangling lights. She could not figure it out until she had stopped the car, rolled down the window and asked.
Maggie helped us decorate the bushes for Halloween with some ghost and cat funflector® safety reflectors.
Today, Maggie is no longer a small puppy, so she wears the reflectors on her collar. For Halloween, she picked the Jack O’lantern. Maggie was also very excited helping pick out reflectors to hang in the bushes in our yard.
Woof, woof! means Go Wildcats! Help driver see your dog, why not with a paw print safety reflector.
Dino, who is another friendly neighborhood dog, picked his favorite—the paw of course! Dino and his master like to take long walks and it is not always that they manage to come home before the sun starts to set. A dog safety reflector is a must. In about two weeks, daylight saving time ends and they will loose another hour of afternoon walking time in daylight.
There are many places to put reflectors, but on kids, dogs and adults are certainly the most important ones. Halloween is a night when a lot of kids are out in the dark, so make sure drivers can see them. If you need more funflector safety reflectors for Halloween, you still have a few (but not much more) days to order them so we can ship them. If you are not convinced, please read my blog post about traffic accident statistics—pedestrian reflectors really do save lives!!!
Tomorrow, October 9th, the amazing Imagine Peace Tower will be beaming again to celebrate John Lennon’s birthday. It’s light beam reaches far up in the sky and is powerful enough to penetrate the lowest clouds. The interaction with the clouds make it an ever changing piece of art and reminder that peace is never static.
The memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, was inaugurated on this day in 2007. It is built on the tiny island of Viðey just outside Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It is said that the location was chosen for it’s beauty and access to clean power, produced with geothermal heat. The 15 powerful searchlights are boosted by prisms that act as mirrors, extending the light beam well beyond 10,000 feet on clear nights.
Turquoise heart and peace sign safety reflector.
Few of us will have the opportunity to go there on Saturday, but we can watch it live at 7/8/9 pm in Western Europe and 1/2/3/4 pm in America and make our wish on twitter:@IPTower I wish…
At funflector.com, we also have our own way of saying “I love You, Imagine Peace” and a different way of beaming light – with a funflector® safety reflector of course! We are so excited that our first batch of “Love & Peace” reflectors has arrived. The first order go to an alert California customer, who ordered via our web shop. The second order goes to Whatsit & Dohickey Co. It is a fun toy and game store in Libertyville, IL, full of brain teasers, board games and other neat stuff.
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
Name
Domain
Purpose
Expiry
Type
lp_eu_agree
funflector.com
LegalPages EU cookie
7 days
HTTP
wpl_user_preference
funflector.com
WP GDPR Cookie Consent Preferences
1 year
HTTP
tsrce
paypal.com
PayPal tracking cookie
3 days
HTTP
ts_c
paypal.com
PayPal tracking cookie
3 years
HTTP
ts
paypal.com
PayPal tracking cookie
3 years
HTTP
akavpau_ppsd
www.paypal.com
PayPal tracking cookie
52 years
HTTP
YSC
youtube.com
YouTube session cookie.
52 years
HTTP
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
Name
Domain
Purpose
Expiry
Type
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
youtube.com
YouTube cookie.
6 months
HTTP
Analytics cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
Name
Domain
Purpose
Expiry
Type
IDE
doubleclick.net
Google advertising cookie used for user tracking and ad targeting purposes.
2 years
HTTP
Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.
Name
Domain
Purpose
Expiry
Type
l7_az
paypal.com
---
Session
---
x-cdn
paypal.com
---
52 years
---
Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.
