Visit our friends at Upstream Arts!

We wanted to take a minute to recgonize Upstream Arts.  They are a super talented group of artists who's mission is to: "enhance the lives of adults and youth with disabilities by fostering creative communication and social independence through the power of arts education."

Check out their newsletter. http://tinyurl.com/UpstreamArtsNewsletter 

Check out their webpage. http://upstreamarts.org/

They also have a really cool blog, be sure to stop by and say "hi". http://upstreamarts.org/blog/

Commerce East – True Psychedelic Colors

Check out our psychedelic color science experiment!

Milk, like all other liquids has a surface tension or property that allows the liquids to stick together. Milk also contains fats and proteins. When dish soap is added to the milk, it lowers the surface tension by reacting with the fats and proteins; which causes the milk to move. The food coloring shows the reaction and the result is the effect of psychedelic color explosions.

Try it at home.

What you will need:

Whole milk

Food coloring

Liquid dish soap

Dinner plate

Cotton swabs

Directions:

1)      Pour milk into dinner plate

2)      Add food coloring droplets. (Can separate the colors or add all the colors into one spot)

3)      Add a drop of liquid dish soap. For different effects, dip cotton swab into soap then dip it into food coloring.

Enjoy and have fun!!

Commerce East - Favorite Movies

Rose and Jack (Titanic 1997)

New great movies are released every year, especially around this time of year. Sometimes we have certain movies that we love and can watch it over and over again. If not over and over, we’ll at least purchase the movie and watch it occasionally. Or sometimes, there’s that particular scene from a movie that is just great and we watch it repeatedly. PepsiLady loves Annie. Staff G says Princess Bride is the “best movie ever”.

When you find yourself looking for something to do on a rainy day, check out the following movies:

Moulin Rouge

Big Fish

Shrek

Annie

A History of Violence

American History X

Becoming Jane

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Paranormal Activity

It

Nightmare on

Elm Street

1984

The Hours

Top Gun

Interview with the Vampire

The Chaser (South Korean thriller)

Pan’s Labrinth

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Avatar

Newsies

Star

Star Trek (2009)

Titanic (1997)

A Little Princess

Feel free to comment and let us know what your favorite movie is.

West Side Blog- Bee Stings and other things that bug us!

Bee Stings and other things that bug us!

 Today we discussed our summer plans and what we need to do to enjoy them. Bee stings are a very scary thing if you are unprepared for what can happen. Stargazer, Ms. Pacman and LindaLu have all gotten bee stings and they said it was painful and accompanied by swelling.

There are several ways to avoid getting stung:

1.     Keep your shoes on outdoors.

2.     Don’t wear sweet smelling perfume.

3.     Dress in long pants and a light-weight long sleeve shirt.

4.     Avoid bright colored clothing or flowered print.

5.     Cover food at picnics and don’t drink from a can.

6.     If a bee comes around do not swat at it, remain still and calm and it  will be more likely to go away.

7.  Wearing bug spray will help deter other bugs from stinging you.

 A good rule of thumb is to wear your bug spray and avoid swatting or chasing bugs.

What you should do if you get stung:

1.     Remove the stinger as quickly as possible. Scraping the stinger out with a credit card or ID card works best.

2.     Wash the area with soap and water.

3.     Use ice or cool water for 10-20 minutes after removing the stinger.  This will help reduce swelling

4.     For added relief, try Benadryl, calamine lotion, topical hydrocortisone, acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

5.     Seek medical attention if hives, redness or swelling occurs elsewhere on the body or if vomiting, dizziness, hoarseness, thickened speech or difficulty breathing occurs.

6.     If you know you’re allergic to bee stings and have an Epi-pen, make sure it is not expired and always carry it with you.    

Westside -Music Choices

This week our group was very much into talking about music. We discovered that we all have very different taste in music and different reasons we listen to our favorites.

Golfer said she loves rap and that Usher is her favorite artist. Her favorite radio stations are 93X and KDWB. Her taste in music changes according to her moods. She likes listening to music to help get her mind of things.

Star Gazer and Sassy said they likes 80’s 90’s and today’s music and listens to some country as well. They also agree that it really depends on their mood as to what they will listen to.

Hershey says he likes rock, with Linkin Park being his favorite band. Princess Nor loves Elvis and Lady GaGa. She enjoys all the oldies.

Fan Lady enjoys a variety of different kinds of music, piano instrumental and her Hmong cultural music. She loves any music she can dance to!

Some of the groups favorite groups are Ardele, Taylor Swift, Usher, Rascal Flatts, Kati Perri and of course Lady GaGa. We hope everyone enjoys their summer music and is willing to share their favorites with us.

DTH - Movies, Movies, and Superheroes

Chris Hemsworth as Thor, God of Thunder

Are you ready for summer movies? Are you a comic book fan? If Thor is indicative of what’s to expect this summer then be prepared to be blown away (no pun intended) by superheroes and giant machines. Other highly anticipated movies based on comic book heroes are: X-Men: First Class, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Green Lantern. 

This is good news for some comic book hero fans here at DTH. MovieGuy saw Thor in theaters and recommends it. AvatarAng is anticipating Green Lantern and Captain America. MovieLover plans to see Pirates: On Stranger Tides on May 20, 2011. DealorNoDealGuy plans to see Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom and Cars 2. And folks, that’s just what’s coming up until memorial weekend.

Transformers 3 will kickoff the July 4^th weekend and start the next wave of highly anticipated films, including part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Check out the following websites for trailers, release date, reviews, and ticket information.

http://www.imdb.com/ 

http://www.moviefone.com/

Leave us a comment with what super hero based movies you’re looking forward to this summer!

Here are a couple of trailers recommended by AvatarAng and MovieGuy:

VOC Severe Weather Revisted

Voc- Severe Revisited!

So, with all the crazy weather changes we are having in Minnesota we decided to ask our followers again “What do you do to prepare for severe weather? With tornados hail and heavy winds this week our conversation was about severe weather and severe weather plans.

Sassy said she and housemates joined in the basement closet. They have an emergency kit including flashlight, water and radio. They waited the storm out in the shelter. Xerox said her family didn’t have a severe weather plan and that they just watched the storm on the TV. Victoria and DJ said their families watched the storm on the weather radar on TV and didn’t seek shelter as the storm missed them.

Webkin said he was in bed before the storm hit so he didn’t even know about the storm. Serena said they heading to their horrible basement with all their pets and waited out the storm. Afterwards they played with the egg size hail. They have no emergency kit but stated maybe it’s a good time to make one.

Dragon Lady said while she wasn’t worried about the storm she was very upset that her favorite shows Glee and Raising Hope were interrupted and she missed both of them.

Star gazer said that it’s very important to have a emergency kit, but also as important is to know your county so you know if you are in the path of the storm.

The discussion of the difference between a watch and a warning was opened again with Star Gazer explaining a watch means that conditions are good for a storm whereas a warning mean severe weather has been detected and we should seek shelter.  Based on our discussions, we would like to remind everyone to form a severe weather plan and stock your severe weather kits at your homes.  

DTH - Favorite Music

This week at DTH, we are exploring different types of music. We enjoy a variety of music but the three dominating genres are: country, classical, and pop. Some enjoy the more contemporary country music from artist like Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts.

DealorNoDealGuy suggests The Everly Brothers. AvatarAng is currently enjoying music by Norwegian girl group M2M. He recommends Mirror, Mirror and The Day You Went Away. MovieGuy enjoys “quiet” music, which was determined to be classical. Staff S recommends Lady Gaga. Staff J likes music played on radio stations like 101.3 KDWB. Staff O and G recommends Yiruma’s River flows in You and Kiss the Rain.

Other genres we enjoy listening to are the oldies and old school boy bands such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Beach Boys, and Boys II Men. We couldn’t determine if Elton John was considered oldies, but we like his music. Other enjoyable artists are: Adele, Evanescence, Brad Paisley, Vanessa Mae, Miranda Lambert, Bruno Mars, and Madonna.

In light of the upcoming tour of New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) and Backstreet Boys, we listened to their music and several consumers sang along to I Want it That Way and The Right Stuff. For further information on the tour, click on the following link to NKOTB's website: http://nkotb.com/

Here are other recommendations:

·        Dolly Parton’s - Coat of Many Colors

·        Billy Joel – Good Night Angel Lullaby

·        Tori Amos – Winter

·        The Everly Brothers – All I Have to do is Dream

·        Sungha Jung’s guitar version of Yiruma’s River Flows in You

·        M2M – Pretty Boy and Girl in your Dream

·        Adele – Rolling in the Deep

·        Evanescence – My Immortal

Voc- Movie Review 5-4-11

Voc- Movie Reviews

With all the rainy cold weather lately we have been stuck indoors to entertain ourselves. Movies and Television have become our entertainment.

With several new movie releases and new releases onto DVD we decided to review several movies to help in the decision making of what to see and do. We decided on a star rating system of 0-5 with 0 being it was a bomb movie and 5 being an outstanding movie.                                 

  WATER FOR ELEPHANTS is a movie about a veterinary student who leaves school after the death of his parents and joins a circus. He is in charge of the all the care of the animals. He falls in love with the Ringmaster’s wife. The movie is about their struggles in having a relationship. Golfer said she enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to others. She gave this movie 4 stars. The movie is currently in theaters.

THE KING’S SPEECH is about King George who stutters. It’s about his struggles and determination to give his speech without stuttering. The King with the help of a therapist overcomes his fears and nervousness to give the speech. It’s a feel good story that inspires us to do whatever we can to achieve our goals. Golfer viewed this movie and gives it 3 stars. The movie is currently out on DVD.

 BABIES is a cute movie about the development of babies from around the world. We are shown how the babies grow and learn with the different cultures and traditions from around the world. Sassy and Dragon Lady saw the movie and gave it 4 stars, they enjoyed babies very much. This movie is DVD.

 KARATE KID- When work causes a single mother to move to China with her young son; the boy learns to defend himself against bullies and embraces kung fu, taught to him by a master. Princess Nor, Sassy and Fan Lady all watched the movie and thought it was very good. They all thought it was a 4 star movie. This movie is on DVD.

SOUL SUFER- A teenage surfer girl summons the courage to go back into the ocean after losing an arm in a shark attack. This true story of Bethany Hamilton is a great example of how one can overcome disabilities with hard work, adaptation and determination. Bethany was training for the surfing finals when she was attacked by a shark and lost her arm. STB and star gazer both agreed it was a very good movie and they give it 4 stars. This movie is currently in the theaters.