Monthly Archives: October 2012

Pumpkin Bread Recipe for Halloween

Happy Halloween!

It’s Halloween and it’s raining, not surprising for the Pacific Northwest. I remember scrambling on rainy Halloween’s when my kids were little to keep them dry while still showing off their costumes. I learned to use saran wrap very artfully. I also learned an excellent pumpkin bread recipe that soon became a family favorite. Even today with the kids all grown up, I still make loaves and loaves of the bread to distribute at Halloween and Thanksgiving. I thought I would pass on the recipe for you to share with your family.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

2/3 cup shortening

2 2/3 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 lb canned pumpkin

1/3 cup water

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3 1/3 cups flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Blend shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to mixture. Then blend in pumpkin and water. Sift together baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and flour and blend into wet ingredient mixture. Fold in chopped pecans and crushed pineapple. Bake approximately 55 minutes. Bread is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Anigan Menstrual Underwear

Anigan Stain Free Menstrual Underwear

Here at Dot Girl Products, we are always on the lookout for new products that will help periods be a little less messy for girls (and their mothers) and we just found a new product you all will love.

Anigan Menstrual Underwear has just been introduced to the market. The stain-free, guaranteed not to leak period panties look and feel exactly like other pretty underwear you would want to wear everyday. There is a wide range of colors and styles to make that time of the month as fashionable as the rest of the month.

The company is so sure of their product that they have made a guarantee that if the panties ever stain, you can return them for a free pair. This is a pretty strong statement that they believe in their product.

Anigan has paid special attention to the needs of pre-teen girls with sizes and styles appropriate to that age. You don’t know when your daughter is going to start her period. Slipping a pair of menstrual underwear into her backpack or locker means she’ll be prepared at school and at other activities. This will help relieve some of her anxiety about that all important first period and whether her clothes will get stained, a common worry among young girls.

We’ve looked at other period panties on the market. There are very few companies that venture down this path and when they do, the panties are generally one color with few sizes available. Anigan has taken a giant leap forward with the variety of colors and styles, your daughter may want to wear this underwear all the time!

To check out all the styles and colors available from Anigan Menstrual Underwear follow the links from their ‘Where to Buy‘ page. The product listings goes into more detail about what materials are used to provide the stain free, leak proof guarantee the company is offering.

Day of the Girl

Today, October 11, 2012, is the first ever United Nations Day of the Girl! From now on it’ll be every year on October 11^th.

According to the United Nations, this annual Day will “help galvanize worldwide enthusiasm for goals to better girls’ lives, providing an opportunity for them to show leadership and reach their full potential.”

The campaign for this Day was started by Canadian girls who inspired School Girls Unite, an organization in the Washington, D.C. area, to mobilize support in the United States. Since 2004, School Girls Unite has focused on the right of every girl in the world to get an education. Girls everywhere are confronted with stereotypes, discrimination, abuse, violence, and other reasons that limit opportunities now and in the future.

Why does the world need a Day of the Girl? Here are just a few reasons the organizers at Day of the Girl give:

Illiteracy – By 2015 more than 64% of the people in the world who cannot read will be women
School Dropout – Only 30% of girls in the world get to go to some kind of secondary school.
Forced Marriage – One in seven girls in developing countries is married off before age 15
Violence – In the United States more than half (54%) of all rapes of females happen before age 18

How can you help raise awareness about Day of the Girl and help solve some of these issues? Talk to your daughter and her friends, your friends and neighbors, church community or other groups you belong too. Educate yourself about girl issues in your town or city. Perhaps the local schools need reading tutors or a high school student needs a mentor.

There are also excellent websites that discuss girl issues and list organizations that work to improve the lives of girls worldwide. Half The Sky is one example.

By improving the lives of girls, we will improve their families and communities, and the lives of the future children. Visit the Day of the Girl website to learn more and find out how you can help.