Posted on: Monday, March 14, 2005

Banish morning madness

Advertiser Staff

One easy first step you can take to simplify your life with kids is to create an unhurried morning routine, said Elaine St. James, author of "Simplify Your Life With Kids."

Some ways to alleviate morning madness:

• Set reasonable bedtimes for yourself and your kids so no one's tired and cranky in the morning.

• Teach your kids to set out their clothes the night before.

• Kids who take their lunch to school can make it the night before and put it in the refrigerator.

• Designate a convenient place where the kids can leave their schoolbags when they've finished their homework.

Got worms?

Learn what worms and waste management have in common at "Worms Eat My Garbage," a vermicomposting workshop presented by the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter. The free class, part of the organization's monthly sustainable-living series, will be 6:30 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at the YWCA on Richards Street.

Mindy Jaffe will demonstrate how to manage household organic waste with compost worms, which eat food scraps, cardboard, newspaper and junk mail. For details: bettygearen@verizon.net or 524-8427.

Final word

Leonardo DiCaprio | "The Aviator" actor who rode to the Oscars last month in a fuel-efficient car as part of the "Red Carpet-Green Cars" campaign:

"I'm an environmentalist for life."