Imagination Library is Closed

Such a sad news for New York City parents were delivered couple weeks back as Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program sent an email informing us that the program has been suspended for further notice due to insufficient funding. For all of you who don't know what the Imagination Library, it was an amazing program that provided all the New York City Metro-area's kids free books from birth to the age of 5 to encourage parents to read to their children and to enable the life-long love for books!

These age-appropriate books were mailed to our and thousands of other participants' house once a month, and this was our reality ever since my son was enrolled two years ago. So sad to see it go.


Below is the email that delivered the sad news:

"Important Notice - Please Read

Dear Imagination Library Parents,

We wanted to take a moment to confirm with you that the Imagination Library program in the New York City area is currently suspended.  The local affiliate sponsoring the program is working to acquire sufficient funding to sponsor all children from birth to age 5 in New York City.  At this point we do not have a targeted date for the Imagination Library to resume in this area, although all parties are working to ensure an expedient return to operating status.

FAQs

• How will I know if our local affiliate comes back online with your program?
  If your local affiliate resumes, we here at The Dollywood Foundation will send an email to each of you immediately letting you know that the program has resumed.
• What do I need to do now?
  Currently, there's nothing you need to do.
• Will I need to register my child again when the program resumes?
  No, this is not necessary. When your local program resumes, we will notify you via email and your child's books will begin being mailed automatically.
• My address changed, what should I do?
  When you receive notification that the program has resumed, at that time you will be able to login (use your same email address that we emailed you at today) and update your child's address to ensure proper delivery.
• Will my child receive books that were missed while the program was on hold?
  Unfortunately, this is not possible since funding was lost.
• What if my child turns 5 before the program resumes?
  If your child turns 5 before the program resumes, they will automatically be removed and no longer be registered to receive books.  

Our team here at the Imagination Library remains poised and ready to resume book delivery as soon as the local affiliate is financially prepared to proceed. We appreciate your patience during this period and promise to communicate with you as soon as we have additional news relating to the Imagination Library in New York City.

Sincerely,

The Dollywood Foundation"


Our little boy surely enjoyed having a new book delivered to him every month, so PLEASE, return back soon, Imagination Library!
 

DIY Layered Haircut

How embarrassing start for the blog with a month long gap, but it is time to get back to it.

As I will include in this blog things that are relevant to my life at this point as a mother of two young boys, as an individual trying to live by environmental values, as a fulltime unemployed student with a fitting financial situation and as a woman with at least some dignity (I'm saying this while hiding the days old baby spit on my jacket), this posting shall be touching the ideas of the two latter topics; looking good while saving money (on a limited time schedule, too)!

I give the credit of this idea to my good mom-friend, whose hair I've been admiring for months. She got a haircut with layers, which is absolutely one of the easiest haircuts, when you don't have a lot of time to dedicate for hairdos. In my opinion, layers increase the airiness of the hair making it appear more voluptuous and alive, and if anything, it looks like you actually care about your hair and looks! 

Going back to my friend with gorgeous hair, little did I know she does it herself!! Not only had I envied her for the beautiful locks, but also for the freedom of pampering herself with a regular visit to a salon, how wrong was I! I am forever grateful to her for letting me into this secret as now I get my hair done by myself as often as once a month and my layers look amazing. And it is time for me to pay it forward..

Here is step-by-step instructions:

1. Comb your hair and flip you hair to the front, so it covers your face.
2. Collect it to a loose bunch (to ease the cutting) and start cutting the inches you want to take off. REMEMBER that while cutting few inches looks a lot shorter than your hair looks after losing those inches.
3. Flip you hair back and if there are any weird patches longer than the layer around it, clean those off.
4. Voilà and you're welcome!

P.S. (My husband is very critical of any beauty DIY, but even he is now swearing by this.)