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In the flurry or excitement to take children trick-or-treating on Halloween, basic safety precautions can sometimes be overlooked.

Here are some tips for parents, children and homeowners from Sacramento Police Officer Laura Peck.

Click the link below to see her advice.

SacPDHalloween.doc

 

It's a dreaded question in many households: what's for dinner?

The routine query seems even more trying now, as many of us struggle to do more with less.

A few weeks ago, I solicited readers' tips on stretching food budgets while still cooking meals that the family would enjoy. What I got in return was some great advice.

Judy Lane, of Gold River, wrote me in an e-mail that years ago, before her now-grown children were born, she started planning her family's menus, checking recipes for truly needed ingredients and verifying pantry items before heading to the grocery store.

She shopped just once a month, making weekly trips as needed for produce, milk or things that couldn't be frozen or stored. She also remained flexible, cooking dinner a night in advance if the family's schedule warranted.

"I always incorporated several 'go to' family favorite recipes each week and most always tried something new," she said. "The effort cut 25 percent off the grocery bill and reduced the number of hours in the grocery store by a couple of hours each week!

"Menu planning is a task that even small children can help with and they are more likely to eat what's prepared when they've had a voice in that decision-making process."

Lane admitted she has strayed from the exercise over the years, but when she returns to planning her grocery bills go down.

Follow the link below to read more advice from fellow readers.

Joanne Graham wants children to have fun on Halloween. She also wants to help ensure they don't wind up with stomach aches, cavities and too much sugar in their system to sleep (now that's a nightmare).

The dietetic internship program director at California State University, Sacramento just wants to help parents steer their kids toward some healthier choices.

That's why Graham, the dietetic internship program director at California State University, Sacramento teamed with the California Milk Processor Board to arm parents with some advice this trick-or-treat season.

Did you know a typical candy pail on Halloween contains about 9,000 calories worth of candy? Click the link below to learn more.

It's been a whirlwind of work the past few weeks, so I'll be taking some time off the rest of this week and taking a scheduled vacation next week.

As a result, the posts on this blog will wind down. If you're looking for other blogs to fill the void (oh how I hope I make that much of an impact), check out the other blogs The Bee has to offer.

Want fashion and entertainment news? Try 21Q. Running the California International Marathon and want some advice or support? Check out our new running page. Food news? Head to Appetizers. Grocery shopping tips can be found at Shop Cheap.

Looking for a good parenting blog? Try the New York Times' blog, Motherlode, by Lisa Belkin.

See you soon.

Having trouble getting your toddler or preschooler (or teen for that matter) to eat something other than waffles and chicken nuggets?

Check out my story in today's Food & Wine section, where we explore daycares and preschools that are striving to expand childrens' culinary horizons through fresh produce and innovative meals.

The section is packed with recipes, but here is one we couldn't fit. For more extra recipes, check out our Appetizers blog.

Stevie's Speedy Enchilada Sauce
Cook time: 22 minutes
Serves: 8
Notes: This recipe is courtesy Chef Steve Magana of Sacramento Montessori School.

Ingredients
1/3 cup corn oil
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons chili powder
One 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Sea salt to taste

Instructions
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour and chili powder and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Stir in tomato sauce, water, cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder into the flour until smooth, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 12 minutes, until thick. Season to taste with salt.

Eating Suggestion:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a good amount of sauce in a casserole pan and roll some mozzarella cheese in a few corn tortillas and place in a casserole pan. Add more sauce over and top with cheese. Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes.

Per serving, sauce only: 102 cal.; 1 g pro.; 5 g carb.; 9 g fat (1 sat., 2 monounsat., 6 polyunsat.); 0 mg chol.; 94 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 0 g sugar; 79 percent calories from fat.

Some families are willing to go to great lengths for a crack at fame and fortune.

Take the Heene family.

Parents Richard and Mayumi Heene, of Fort Collins, Colo., are accused of staging allegedly staged<NO>a runaway balloon caper starring their 6-year-old son, Falcon.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden is now saying the whole thing was a hoax, staged as a publicity stunt to land a reality TV show. One entertainment media outlet has paid the couple in connection with the balloon launch, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

The Heenes have a history with reality shows. They've already been featured twice on ABC's "Wife Swap."

The couple face possible state and federal criminal charges in connection with the hoax, as well as other sanctions.

Kevin Wehr, an associate professor of sociology at California State University, Sacramento, said he's not surprised that an alleged attempt at reality stardom was behind the Heene fiasco.

Society has become addicted to television, and reality TV has simply extended the fascination.

The problem is that reality TV isn't really what it claims to be: While we think we're watching real people, those people "are largely reading off scripts that are very similar to the shows done by actors," Wehr said.

"Because we see these people as 'real people,' there is a certain amount of voyeurism involved," he said. "I think this really leads to an increase in people behaving badly."

What's truly disheartening is how much time we all dedicate to these types of shows and the impact they have on our lives.

We talked about "Octomom" for months following the birth of her eight babies. (To summarize, the birth of her octuplets in January brought her total number of kids to 14.)

The same holds true for Jon and Kate Gosselin, the stars of TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8," who announced earlier this year that they were divorcing.

We ate it up.

The show's ratings skyrocketed, ranking No. 1 among the top 10 cable programs in the Nielsen ratings for the week of June 1-7 with 5.94 million viewers tuning in, according to online Nielsen information.

The couple and their set of twins and sextuplets have graced the covers of tabloids and dominated pop culture conversations ever since. And it likely will continue now that the show will shift to focus on single mother Kate and her brood on Nov. 2.

Wehr said our collective fascination with reality television has become a stand-in for actual relationships, making it an even more powerful medium.

"This really diminishes us as people," he said. "We're talking about the latest antics of (celebrities) instead of talking about real issues. These are fake issues."

There may be hope on the horizon, however.

The number of reality shows currently on television and their pervasiveness indicates that the bubble might burst soon, Wehr said.

"The way these things go in terms of the spectacle they represent is they become massively popular and then after a while, saturate the market and people tune out," he said. "My hunch is that we're about at that point with reality TV."

Let's hope so.

Jeanne Chasko, 58, holds reading in high esteem. Chasko is a mother, grandmother and substitute teacher who is looking for a job teaching elementary school.

Chasko recently read and reviewed "Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read" (Perigee, $15, 279 pages), a book that author Diane Frankenstein wrote to help guide people toward appropriate books for kids and help connect children with reading.

Chasko enjoyed the book and found it to be a useful tool.

Follow the link below to read her review.

Buy a book, support a local charity.

That's the crux of a fundraiser that begins today in Barnes & Noble stores nationwide.

The bookseller will be donating a percentage of all sales made today through Sunday to a Sacramento Children's Home "Reading to dogs" literacy program.

The program pairs children with calm, volunteer dogs who patiently listen as children read aloud to them, said Michael Kressner, the organization's spokesman.

Sacramento Children's Home programs serve 3,600 children and 2,200 families in the Greater Sacramento Area through emergency, educational and supplemental services.

Author Michael Milone will be reading his book "Nasha, The First Dog" at a special reading event at noon Saturday at the Barnes & Noble store located at Arden Fair mall.

To make a purchase that will help support the Children's Home, mention code 10041499 at checkout.

OK parents, here's the skinny on H1H1 vaccinations for your children: some pediatric offices in the region have them, others don't.

Kaiser Permanente has received 17,000 doses of the nasal spray version of the H1N1 vaccine for use in Northern California and began distributing a limited number of them to pediatric clinics earlier this week, Dr. Stephen M. Parodi, Kaiser's chief of infectious disease, wrote in an e-mail to The Bee.

The vaccinations are being given only to certain high-risk groups as directed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state Department of Public Health guidelines.

Patients are asked to call Kaiser's flu information hotline at (800) 573-5811 to determine if they are eligible.

Kaiser anticipates that it will receive more vaccinations, including the injectable form, in coming weeks.

Belong to Mercy, UC Davis Health System and Sutter medical groups? Follow the link below to learn more about vaccination availability with those providers. 

Want some cute Halloween costume ideas for kids?

Check out these instructional webisodes featuring Michaels creativity guru Jo Pearson.

Pearson shows viewers how to make an adorable owl costume out of just a T-shirt, felt, yarn and hot glue.

Seriously.

Here's the link to the online videos. Speaking of Michaels, the company's stores also are holding free adult mask making demonstrations and a Halloween T-shirt event from 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 25. On Halloween, the stores are holding a free family event from 10 a.m. to noon. Children will receive a free trick-or-treat pail, candy and get to participate in a coloring activity, make a Crayola pencil topper using Model Magic Fusion and decorate a Halloween frame.

For more costume and fall decor inspiration, go to Michaels Web site or check out my story from earlier this week.

Sweet potatoes and autumn dinners seem to go hand-in-hand.

Instead of our typical baked sweet potatoes, I decided to try mashed sweet potatoes this weekend. Not only was it a delicious accompaniment to our at-home date-night dinner of spiced filet mignon with blue cheese butter (total cost of dinner was $25 - much more affordable than going out and having to get a sitter), but the kids loved the potatoes the next day. For theirs, I eliminated the cayenne and nuts.

The potatoes would also be delicious alongside a simple herbed chicken breast.

Follow the link below to get the recipe.

Turns out the insurance company that denied medical coverage for a chubby Colorado baby has changed its mind.

The Associated Press has reported the following:

Rocky Mountain Health Plans said Monday it will no longer consider obesity a "pre-existing condition" barring coverage for hefty infants.

The change comes after the insurer turned down a Grand Junction 4-month-old who weighs about 17 pounds. The insurer deemed Alex Lange - called by his parents a "happy little chunky monkey" - obese and said the infant didn't qualify for coverage.

To read more, click here to go to my previous blog post.

Prescription drug abuse among teenagers is a growing problem, but one local youth organization is holding an event this week to help curb the trend.

The Vision Coalition of El Dorado Hills and its partners will be collecting old and unused medication at "Operation Medicine Cabinet" from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The event also will include education for parents and teens by law enforcement and emergency personnel, states a Vision Coalition news release.

Jon Daily, director of Recovery Happens Counseling Services, also will help parents understand prescription drug abuse and how to identify abuse and intervene.

"As adults, we think of drugs as illegal substances," he stated in the release. "However, kids think of drugs as anything that creates intoxication which includes many household medicines."

Two El Dorado Hills residents, both in their early 20s, died in the past 11 weeks from accidental overdoses of prescription medication, said DJ Peterson, the organization's executive director.

Prescription drug abuse has become increasingly prevalent among teenagers and young adults nationwide, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Abuse of prescription pain killers now ranks second, only behind marijuana, as the nation's most prevalent illegal drug problem," the office's Web site states.

Peterson said getting old or unused prescription drugs out of homes is critical.

"If we don't do something, more lives will be lost," he said.

Medication collection will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. and the educational talks will be held from 5:15 to 6 p.m. at the El Dorado Hills Community Services District Pavilion, 1021 Harvard Way, El Dorado Hills.

For more information about the organization or the event, to the Vision Coalition's Web site.

Most parents just can't resist taking a bath-time photo of their baby or small child.

It's innocence personified - those sweet little faces beaming at the camera from amongst a tub full of bubbles.

We parents eagerly snap photos and file them away in our computer hard drives or photo albums, saving them for the day when we can show them to the child's spouse or our own grandchildren.

But an investigation and subsequent lawsuit in Arizona has spurred a national debate about whether it's OK to take such photos and what parents can do with them.

An Arizona couple was accused of sexual abuse last fall after they took photos of their kids that included bath-time shots to Wal-mart for processing.

Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken into custody for a month during the investigation. Neither parent was charged, but the couple is now suing Wal-mart and the state.

The photos were among 144 pictures taken during a family vacation. Seven to eight of the bath- and playtime photos showed a "portion or outline of genitalia," the Associated Press reported.

"This is a parent's worst nightmare," Richard Treon, the couple's lawyer, told the AP.

One of my favorite photos of my son is a bathtime shot. He was a little under a year old at the time and standing at the tub in nothing but his little fur-lined Robeez booties, his cute baby tushy facing the camera.

That photo has never been printed. It's never been e-mailed. I'm a little paranoid after years of crime reporting and obtaining a master's degree in criminal justice will do that to a person. But I can't put aside the fear that the photo might be misconstrued or fall into the wrong hands.

Now I'm beginning to think my paranoia may be a blessing in disguise.

Jim Harris, an FBI supervisory special agent who heads the Sacramento office's cyber crime program, said the average kid-in-the-bathtub photo isn't considered sexually explicit in the federal system and there aren't laws that prohibit digitally sending or printing such photos.

Parents should, however, exercise caution when e-mailing or posting their kids' bathtub photos on the Internet.

"I am always in favor of posting as little to the Internet as possible, particularly naked pictures of kids," he said. "There are folks who, even though the picture isn't designed to arouse sexual desire, find them to be arousing."

If you use photo sites, know the terms of service.

"If the company isn't promising anything, they shouldn't expect anything in terms of privacy," Harris said.

Fair Oaks grandmother Klorys Happe said she took bathtub photos of her three children all the time when they were little, their faces adorned with bubble mustaches and beards.

"It was innocent fun," she said.

Happe also cherishes a recent photo of her two grandsons - 2 years old and 6 months at the time - in a bubble bath.

The loss of frivolity in something as simple as a bathtub photo of a child is disappointing, but even more disheartening is the need to protect such photos.

"There are just ugly people out there sometimes that take advantage of innocents," she said. "I'd like to think it's pretty few and far between, but how do we know?"

What do you think? Have you refrained from e-mailing or printing bathtub photos of your kids or grandkids? Post your thoughts and comments here.

Having a chubby baby used to just mean more arm exercise for doting parents and bypassing cute newborn-size clothing given at a baby shower. Not anymore, apparently.

A Grand Junction, Colo. couple recently was denied medical insurance for their 4-month-old son, Alex, because he falls into the 99th percentile for height and weight for babies his age, Nancy Lofholm of The Denver Post reported today.

Alex's "obesity" - he's 17 pounds and about 25 inches long - is considered a pre-existing medical condition that makes him a financial risk. The denial speaks to an issue, called underwriting, that health insurance reform measures are seeking to eliminate, Lofholm reports.

Meanwhile, the Langes are frustrated and planning to appeal the denial, which came from a provider they were attempting to switch to after their current insurer raised rates by 40 percent.

Here's a portion of Lofholm's report:

Insurers don't take babies above the 95th percentile, no matter how healthy they are otherwise.

"I could understand if we could control what he's eating. But he's 4 months old. He's breastfeeding. We can't put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill," joked his frustrated father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anchor at KKCO-TV in Grand Junction. "There is just something absurd about denying an infant."

Click here to read the rest of Lofholm's story.

What do you think? Should insurance companies be able to deny infants insurance because of their weight? Is this a problem in the health care system that you think needs changing or are insurance companies justified in such actions? Post your thoughts and comments here.

Want to have a say in determining the best family spots in the Sacramento region?

Hundreds of readers voted on the best things for families to see, do and eat in the area in The Bee's preliminary Top 20 survey and hundreds more have cast their ballots in the final survey.

Which businesses, spots and restaurants should get the bragging rights?

Will it be Freeport Bakery, Ettores or Costco for the best bakery? Slocum House, Ella or Moxie for the best date night restaurant? As of Friday, Freeport was in lead for best bakery and Slocum House for best dining spot (without the kids, that is).

Other front-runners include the Discovery Museum as the best place to entertain children on a rainy day and Apple Hill as the best pumpkin patch.

Don't agree? Then log on to the survey and make your vote count.

The results will be published in a Living Here Family section in October.

Click here to go to the survey.

A law prohibiting sale of baby formula, baby food or over-the-counter medicines after the "use by" date was among dozens of bills signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Sunday.

Assemblymember Ted Lieu, D-Torrance proposed the legislation after an investigation by state Attorney General Jerry Brown's office last year found that several southern California pharmacies were selling consumer goods with expired labels, some as much as four to six months past the expiration date, according to Lieu's Web site.

The Consumer Federation of California and other health and consumer advocacy groups sponsored the legislation.

For more information, check out my previous blog post.

To read more about which bills Schwarzenegger signed or vetoed, see my colleague Jim Sanders' report.

The question of where to find an inexpensive date-night dinner may just have been answered.

Selland's Market-Cafe is running a dinner special for $25 that features a meal for two and bottle of wine, pitcher of beer or sangria.

The specials are dine-in or carry out, and are creating quite a buzz at the east Sacramento spot, especially on Thursday and Friday nights.

The intent is to offer customers "a good deal in these tough times and to hopefully help show that Selland's can be a good deal for great quality anytime," said Gina Funk Nelson, a spokeswoman for The Selland Group.

This week's dinner for two special is Moroccan chicken tagine with couscous and a bottle of wine selected by Randall Selland, the market's executive chef. Selland and his family also own and operate The Kitchen and Ella.

Other dinners have features paella, mahi mahi sandwiches with slaw and Coq au Vin.

The second Wednesday of the month, when there also is a wine tasting at the cafe, the dinner for two special features pizza paired with red wine or a pitcher of beer.

Is it dinnertime yet?

We didn't quite believe our ears when we heard it, but indeed it's true - the 99 Cent Only Stores have children's Halloween costumes for a penny shy of $1.

The array of kids costumes at the store on Fair Oaks Boulevard in Carmichael ranged from pint-size pirate getup to fairy finery.

The prepackaged costumes for 99 cents were somewhat basic - policeman, pirate, witch, mouse - but slightly more elaborate costumes, the components of which are sold separately, are just a few dollars more.

For instance, a cheerleader costume (skirt, shirt, pom poms, megaphone) would be about $4.

The bargain costumes may not last forever, but the money saved and one-stop shopping is sure to take pressure off parents.

Now that's valuable.

For more inexpensive Halloween costume ideas, check out my story on Tuesday in the Living Here Family section.

A southern California legislator is proposing a law that would forbid stores from selling expired baby products and over-the-counter medicines, but one company implicated as having sold expired goods is not taking the accusation lightly.

Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, and others held a press conference in Los Angeles Wednesday calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's support of the bill, AB 1512.

The law, sponsored by the Consumer Federation of California, prohibits retailers from selling baby formula, baby food or over-the-counter pharmaceuticals after the "use by" date, a news release from the organization states.

The legislation follows investigations by California and New York attorney generals, which found that "many retailers were selling consumer products with expired labels," the release states.

The governor has until Sunday to sign the legislation.

Follow the link below to see which company was investigated by the consumer organization.

Good news local Chipotle fans - the Sacramento region is one of several test markets for the burrito chain's new children's menu.

Chipotle Mexican Grill will roll out the new kid's menu on Monday at its 21 Sacramento area restaurants and will be offering one free kids meal with the purchase of an adult entree every Sunday from Oct. 18 to Nov. 8.

The kid's menu was first introduced in Denver last spring. Sacramento was chosen as a test market because it's a "family-friendly city," Chris Arnold, the chain's director of public relations, wrote in an e-mail.

Chipotle hasn't had a kid's menu in the past because the style of its menu - which allows diners to pick ingredients to include in the burrito, taco or salad - helped parents adapt meals to suit their child.

"But some of our customers, particularly newer customers, don't understand the variety or the best way to feed their children at Chipotle," he said. "We began testing a kid's menu to help people better understand that. The response we've seen so far has been really encouraging."

Items on the kid's menu are priced at under $4 and include juice, organic milk or a small fountain drink. The menu features Chipotle's naturally raised meats, which comes from animals humanely raised without antibiotics or added hormones, a news release states.

Here are the choices:

• Taco kit ($3.95) - Children can choose any three ingredients and two crispy or soft taco shells, all served on a tray, allowing the child to construct their own meal. Served with rice and a small order of chips.

• Single taco ($3.50) - Chipotle staff will construct the child's soft or crispy taco, using any three ingredients the child chooses. Served with a small order of chips.

• Small cheese quesadilla ($2.95) or small meat and cheese quesadilla ($3.50) - Served with a side of rice or beans and small order of chips.

I almost did a end zone happy dance. Twice.

I may be able to make a mean lemon cake and a most irresistible brownie, but when it comes to bread making, I'm solidly in the novice category. After several failed attempts, I am trying my hand at yeast breads. I think much of the problem lies in my patience (as in I have very little).

I decided to give making homemade pizza a go this past weekend. It's inexpensive and the DIY version means we could top them any way we pleased.

Fortunately for me, the pizza dough turned out beautifully, though the cool, Autumnal weather darn near destroyed my dough-making effort. After a two hour rise outside, the dough was barely bigger than before. It took a good hour longer on our kitchen table, under the warmth of our incandescent chandelier, to double in size. Whatever gets the job done.

The best news, however, is that my preschooler loved it. When asked if he liked it better than the restaurant pizza, he said "Mama's is better." I couldn't stop smiling.

This recipe for dough yields enough for two pizzas, perfect for parents and kids to top as desired. I did a spinach, garlic, bacon, onion and mushroom mixture atop the adult version, while the kids voted for cheese.

Follow the link below to get the recipe.

Ask a working mother how she's doing and you probably will be lied to.

We'll say "fine," but the response in our head - the honest one that we wouldn't disclose to a coworker or boss - likely leaves much unsaid.

For me, the truth would sound something like this: "I'm busier than I've ever been in my life. I wake up thinking about work, power chug scalding hot coffee while I make a marginally healthy breakfast for my kids, take them to day care, work frantically all day, fret over what's for dinner, bath the kids if there's time, eat after they're asleep and collapse into bed thinking about work and feeling guilty that I'm not spending enough with my kids."

Apparently, I'm not alone.

Women comprise nearly half of the workforce in this country, some 47 percent, yet many of us feel conflicted about working outside the home, according to a recent report by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends Project.

Sixty-two percent of working moms say they'd prefer to work part time. Only 13 percent of moms with full-time jobs say that it's an ideal situation for young children, the report states.

Working moms also are more likely to feel stressed and as if there aren't enough hours in the day. Four-in-ten working moms with kids under 18 years old say they always feel rushed.

Follow the link below to read what Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Maria Shriver and others have to say about working mothers.

With wage reductions and furloughs taking a toll of family budgets, the discretionary income for Halloween costumes may be at an all-time low.

It doesn't have to mean a dull disguise, however.

Dollar stores, discount bins at Target and Wal-mart and your own closet are veritable treasure troves of trick-or-treat attire.

I'll be offering some inexpensive costume ideas in the Oct. 13 section of Living Here Family and here on my blog.

But before I do, I want to hear some of your cheap costume ideas.

Post a comment below or e-mail me your favorite budget costume concept, either for kids or adults (or both) and I might use it for the story and give you credit for your inspired idea.

Let's help each other not have to resort to going as "static cling" this year.