The casting call went out last January, not to big Hollywood agents but to animal shelters and rescue groups across the country.

Looking for four-legged crooners, black and white, who can get along with others on tour, do the old soft paw on stage, and won’t leap off into the audience when they hear the sound of applause.

Dozens of shelter dogs got the parts for the The 101 Dalmatians Musical including Rascal, a puppy with a broken leg found on the side of the road. Like the others, he has been given a new leash on life by getting to reside on a Florida ranch and travel in a celebrity tour bus while the show begins a national tour this month, starting in Minneapolis.

Animal trainer, Joel Slaven, told the Associated Press it was tough finding dogs to cast for the show.

Apparently, following the release of the popular live-action Disney “101 Dalmatians” in 1996 there was a rush on Dalmatians as  family pets, a role not suited to the breed. After the cute puppy stage, many new owners abandoned the dogs which flooded  shelters. Since then, canine rescuers are protective of the animals being exploited.

“When the movies came out, they were over-bred and that made the breed, which already has some health problems, even worse. People got the dogs, couldn’t afford the vet bills, found the dogs untrainable, or that they didn’t get along with kids. Shelters, Humane Societies and rescue groups don’t want anyone to use these dogs for entertainment, and they don’t want to help someone who’s going to do this again,” Slavin said.

I guess they came around when Slavin convinced them the animals would be treated like divas and dapper, leading men. Training the newbies like Rascal (above) involved helping the choreographer stage a three-minute finale of all dogs performing a dance routine to a tune by composer Dennis De Young of Styx fame. I hear it’s “jaw dropping.”

But instead of using the Dalmatians throughout the show, their parts are primarily played by actors, as in the musical Cats.

Images: Bree Bailey, The 101 Dalmatians Musical

My lovely, celebrity-style dressing room is a spare bedroom I stole in the house, a spare that once housed a maple crib, green nursing glider and armoire of precious, spit-up stained Baby Gap dresses on mini-hangers.

Today, it’s my own little retail Mecca (organic, of course). But I do allow my daughters to visit and check out the blouses and shoe rack, and yes, even borrow on occasion. That sort of thing was taboo when I was growing up. Moms were moms.  Friends were the ones loaning stuff.

My own stylish mother (here with me and Grandma Zelda) towered over me at 5-foot-9 (not counting the beehive do) and always wore at least a size 14. She wasn’t a Laker like Julia Child and her sister, Dorothy, but when she got married, she wore flats so not to surpass 6-foot dad.

I hung out in Mom’s cavernous walk-in closet while she was away at luncheons. But no way could I actually borrow one of those gowns since they hung on me like a puddled curtain. I also was drawn to her off-limits, pointy, size-10 pumps, dyed to match her Jacky suits.

I was the fourth child and the runt of the litter – considerably shorter and smaller than the rest. (My theory is mother smoked a few more cigs and sipped a few more martinis when she was preggers with me.) But to be fair, I’m also considering the DNA link to my small, Polish ancestors.

Cut to my gorgeous teenage daughter with a great sense of style, who caught up with me in stature a few years back. I provide her with her own little Nordstrom Rack down the hall. I take full credit for cultivating her sense of entitlement since I have been most gracious about loaning her items, and have only kvetched a few times when they weren’t returned on time. She is very responsible and that counts.

Combined, Syd and I have a substantial inventory. I’m proud to say a chunk of it is the ski apparel we share for our annual Mommy-Sydney ski weekends in Lake Tahoe.

I was glad to squeeze into a pair of my daughter’s skinny jeans for my birthday outing with friends in August, and only felt a pinch after the second drink. You dirty martini, you!

How does the sharing work? Sometimes we fall for the same cardigan and it can make more sense during hard times to buy one to share and take turns – you know, like college co-eds on a strict budget. Call it the The Daughterhood of the Traveling Pants.

I also prefer to loan rather than buy her a dress for the countless B’Nei Mitzvah parties and other events she seems to attend. If she wears something of mine, it feels like new to her, even though I’ve worn it a dozen times.

This whole lending thing is why those smart couture rental shops, like Boutiqueville in Chicago, do so well. Why own something costly when you can rent for the occasion? When the high is over you send it back. Thank you, it was a great date, but onto other matches.

I should point out it isn’t just us girls sharing the wealth. My daughter also gets warm and fuzzy about wearing her dad’s old sweaters. I seriously think it brings her closer to him in a very sweet way.

Guess teens have been burrowing in oversize wool since Ann-Margret sang “How Lovely to be a Woman” in Bye Bye Birdie. He doesn’t mind her using the old sweaters, or at least, has never complained.

I got to wondering if other kids and parents are comfortable with community closeting or if most families are fiercely territorial about their closets. It certainly requires trust and respect, and the right kind of green deodorant.

I did a bit of research online and found little has been written on the subject. Hurray for me!

But I did stumble upon an interesting post on How to Share Clothes with a Cross-Dressing Husband.

Okay, the ground rules killed me: Killed me! They included keeping his paws out of your underwear drawer, making him replace anything stretched, torn or stained, and drawing the line when it comes to your most precious blouses or skirts (i.e. the ones with price tags still attached). The helpful primer also suggested shopping together to make sure you have the same taste. Oy!

None of this would work in my marriage. My husband is a large man who prefers high-wasted, baggy slacks to hip jeans. If he were a cross-dresser, he’d still be swishing around in those Dean Martin pants.

I do like some of his Oxford shirts and could see slipping into one after a post-sex shower and cocktail in bed, but since we don’t schedule those kind of Hollywood encounters (we don’t eat Chinese out of the box either), it’s all just another fantasy, like wearing my mother’s Yves Saint Laurent caftans.

I do have friends who are married to dainty men with little feet and excellent taste, and I could see trading with one of those fellows, swapping Indian tunics and Moroccan slides for a tux and velvet slippers when those Victor-Victoria mood strikes.

Of course, the well-dressed gay husband is top drawer when it comes to swapping, assuming he would cooperate. His rules might be too stringent for even me. I sort my closet by color but not by texture and season and don’t iron a thing. Crisp is not in my vocabulary.

No, I think I’ll stick with sharing with the girls, my wonderful girls, grabbing a wrap for Lauren when leaving for a party, pulling a dress for Sydney for a Bat Mitzvah. Selecting a hand bag that works. Maybe a trinket or earrings to tie it all together.

Does sharing benefit my daughters more than me? Well, naturally. It goes with the territory when you’re a consummate stylist and mother – who still misses dressing her dolls.

This is the sixth installment in Luanne’s column, Life in the Green Lane.

Main Image: In Style

Image One: Luanne Bradley

No one growing up during the upbeat, Mattel-directed Sixties figures they’ll be worse off in middle age, forced to scrounge harder for work, buy less, live smaller.

Those Barbie songs my sister and I sang along to in our pink and green room constituted teenage visions of a supercalifragelistic future that we owned, co-starring Dick Van Dyke, four kids, a shiny Lincoln and full-service yacht.

“Here’s a cake, that you and I can make, I’ll share the recipe, if you say yes to me.”

But due to the recession and soaring costs of raising two girls in the city, I’m singing a different tune today on my birthday. Sure, I married Ken, but where are the other Camelot conquests I was guaranteed?

Gone is the wine country home, jaunts to spas on a whim, the black velvet boxes concealing gems he bought for me with cash from cases he settled.

Despite the unexpected Barbie plot twist, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of gratitude as I take inventory of what I do have.

For instance, I spotted a gold necklace on Fillmore Street with a round charm that that bore the words I am completely blessed. I didn’t dare buy the $600 trinket but I have kept the affirmation close to my heart.

So, I’ve decided to count my blessings today (my colleague Sarah Irani should know that quite a few of them came free!). Here are a whopping 50, plus one for good luck.

I am completely blessed because…

1. I birthed two healthy, spectacular daughters who teach me something new each day.

2. I married a great father.

3.  I follow my bliss every day that I write.

4. My girls are strapping amazons because God gave me super human breast milk.

5. I’m surrounded by friends who are like family.

6.   My mother is still around and down to just one biting criticism of me a day.

7. I am never hungry when I don’t want to be.

8. We live without war in the  streets of San Francisco.

9. I have not been killed by a truck like my brother.

10. My religious faith has connected me to a community of fellow yentas to grow old with.

11. My older sister is an exceptional auntie.

12. My older brother is keeping the family business afloat during rocky times.

13. My pug and cat think I’m their mommy and I am.

14. I married father nature.

15. I’m healthy and strong from exercise and can climb the fence when I get locked out.

16. The builder’s daughter has always had a roof over her head.

17. I have commercial-free TV.

18. I have art on my walls from friends who made it.

19. I have memorized dozens of bedtime songs.

20. My daughters sing the songs I have sung to them.

21. My children are known for being creative and kind.

22. My beloved camera almost always works.

23. My children can read and write and like to do both.

24. My children make me exquisite birthday presents and set a regal table with a tiara at my place.

25. I can walk to the movie theater on Saturday nights.

26. No one at the theater asks me if I want the senior discount.

27. My city has excellent public transportation.

28. I can still see very well when I wear magnified lenses.

29. My mom, who unloads much, has kept her box at the iconic Hollywood Bowl.

30. My children get to use the box at the Hollywood Bowl and hear live music.

31. No menopause yet.

32. Menopause will come sooner or later.

33. I think I’ve seen god.

34. I think god is the miracle of birth.

35. I have learned how to kayak.

36. I have learned Italian.

37. Henna makes me higher than jewelry.

38. I married a great teacher.

39. My husband rarely spends money. When he does, it is on books and candy.

40. I have kept my commitments.

41. I’m in a bad girls book club.

42. My book club is all about the food.

43. Decent chick flicks are still being made, i.e. Julie and Julia.

44. I can grow vegetables in my yard to make soup.

45. I can pick flowers in my yard for table bouquets.

46. I can find stylish Sixties-inspired fashion on sale.

47. My Weight Watchers Guru is a Stanford Nutritionist.

48. I have gained the wisdom to see my own culpability.

49. I was born a healthy female in a rich land.

50. I’m a survivor because my Polish grandparents were survivors.

51. Today is my 51st birthday.

Main image: Sparkleneeley

Second image: Luanne Bradley

This is the fourth in Luanne’s new lifestyle column, Life in the Green Lane.

Wondering what to get your little Susie Homemaker for her birthday? How bout an eco-friendly appliance, like the Wonderworld Washing Machine Play Set or Kitchen Sink, $90 at Toys R Us?

Just think of the hours of fun loading the machine on a cold cycle with green detergent or scrubbing those vegan casserole pans by hand! “No dessert, Miss Susie, until that pile of organic cotton napkins is folded and put away!” Speaking as the mother of two chronically messy daughters (why hang up that dress when you can toss it into the hamper?), you can never begin the training too early. Otherwise, your darling little ones will grow into the kind of disorderly dorm mates wise co-eds try to avoid. One more incentive: They look absolutely adorable in the playroom.

Wonderworld describes itself as “a strong advocate of protecting the environment” and uses friendly rubberwood and only non-toxic color and laquer finishes for all of its products. “This not only contributes to the safety proposition for children but also demonstrates our determined commitment to mother earth,” says the toy company.

There’s so much to think about when raising your children green in a brown world. Food, clothing, shelter ““ these are just the beginning. What do you do when your child comes home with lice? How do you regulate TV and internet? Any conscious parent will want guidance for these issues in raising their child as holistically and organically as possible.

Lynda Fassa, author of Green Kids, Sage Families provides over 240 pages of such guidance. And the author has taken into account your busyness as a parent and provides useful information in bite-sized chunks that are accessible and fun to read. You can literally flip through this book and pick out what you need in the moment for healthy snack ideas, easy green home improvement, school-related issues, and arts and crafts for toddlers to teens. (Check out Lynda Fassa’s Green Babies, Sage Moms if you’re a new parent of a little one).

Here’s some of what you’ll find out in this book:

How to host an eco-friendly party
The truth behind food labels
Conscious consumerism for teens
Easy, homemade bath and body products for kids
Ideas for family meal plans
Green ideas for the holidays
Toxic products you absolutely must not allow in your house

Green Kids, Sage Families is a well-rounded read, with plenty suggestions for those on a budget (as many families are) and lots of expert guidance from green CEOs, businessmoms and other “green gurus” with real world experience to help your family thrive organically in the real world.

A friend of mine wants to keep it hush-hush when her daughter is gifted a hand-me-down dress, as if wearing used garb signifies poverty or shame that might not fly in her affluent social circle.

My friend is a European whose family often struggled to make ends meet. And although she keeps it all in the closet, she accepts these offerings for all of the right reasons: they are clean and usually in perfectly good condition; It’s wasteful to go out and buy a new outfit when you can recycle; people who snub second hand goods are snobs. She may aspire to the don’t ask, don’t tell policy, but she knows better.

In fact, there’s a entire culture of thrifty moms who surf newspaper classified ads, Craigslist and Ebay to locate gently-used clothing and objects for their children. Seizing on this trend, an emerging site called handmedowns provides a one-stop destination condensing all of the shopping sites into one.  It combines the listings from the top five classified sites with original postings from trusted hand-me-down users.

It’s a brilliant idea because recycling clothes is good for us and for the shaky economy. The credit goes to two Hollywood dynamos: Norah Weinstein, a lawyer and mom who also founded The Hollywood Reporter, ESQ, and Jane Buckingham, who authored the bestselling Modern Girls Guide to Life.

“The sites that were out there had some great listings, but were simply not designed with a parent in mind,”  remembers Weinstein, who tired of sifting through torn, stained cast-a-ways on the web. “Our goal is to raise the bar for children’s classifieds and create a more family-friendly atmosphere.”

Buckingham adds they are saving parents time and money by pulling together safe, user-friendly products. Safety, they say, is heavily promoted to stay on top of government product recalls.

When you visit the site, you can click on your location and what you are shopping for (clothing for girls, boys, toys) and the age range. In terms of clothing, from layette to child sizes, you will find everything from shoes to winter outerwear and cute little legging outfits. There also are categories for selling, donating or giving your items away for free.

As the founders put it: “Once you start shopping at handmedowns, it may be hard to buy at retail prices again.”

It’s great news for kids who don’t have older siblings or cousins. I never met a kid who didn’t smile when I handed them something one of my girls had worn, from party dresses to ski parkas. For some, it’s even more special knowing your new posession was loved so well.

Image: manuel

Mmmm. I just finished a few cookies from the Immaculate Baking Company called Sweet Georgia Brownie Triple Chocolate Chunk, and boy, were they good. Known for their creative flavor combinations, like Key Largo Lime, Leapin’ Lemon and Pumpkin Gingerlies, all are made with natural ingredients, are 70% organic and are kosher.

Immaculate founder Scott Blackwell, also a folk art collector, decided to combine his love of food and art and created the Folk Artist’s Foundation to help deserving folk artists maintain the integrity of their lifestyle and the sincerity of their unique vision by providing encouragement, support (financial and otherwise) and exposure.

Blackwell also founded the Soul Food Fund “artreach” programs to inspire kids of all ages to stretch their imaginations. The fund provides artists with materials for their craft, contacts between artists, collectors, galleries, and museums, and holds events that unite folk artists with children of all backgrounds. Each bag and box of cookies features an original work of folk art and a short bio of the artist. Now there’s one cookie company we hope will never crumble!

I’m tickled pink that the Bay Area company Serena & Lily – which names its collections with offbeat girl and boy names (Maggie, Hazel, Rye, Lulu) -  has now introduced a new organic line, climbing on the green bandwagon and responding to what customers want in the nursery.

“It’s about making healthy, responsible choices for us, our children, for our families, and for the planet,” says the growing home design company. “People need to know the story behind each product – where it comes from, how it’s made and why it’s made that way.”

The highly successful duo promises that the organic options will contain the same signature quality and style, which really is unparalleled in the baby decor market. That’s why the company that began selling out of  a small warehouse has moved into major department stores, including Bloomies, where it caters to the grownup bedding market.

The certified organic cotton products thrown into the lovely variety of kids’ bedding include a quilted innerspring crib mattress $425, a spring shaded Maggie Collection of crib linens ($569 for 3p set), an ultra chic, hand-embroidered, Market Sling, $129, in earthy shades of grass, cloud and flax; and a 5′x7′ Potholder rug, $589, made from 100% recycled clothing and other textiles, available in grass or oatmeal.

If these organics are too green for your nursery, check out the other new organic collections, including Hazel (orchid and brown florentine-pattern) or Rye (blue bandanna print), at the site. All of the collections have coordinating low-VOC paint in 20 shades, as well as matching rugs, slipcovered gliders, and lamps with fabric shades. It’s basically one-stop shopping for the nursery, and now shopping that is sustainable for the price.

Here’s a topic I didn’t even want to write about, it’s so potentially disturbing. A study done in Denmark, in conjunction with UCLA, has shown that pregnant women who use cell phones only 2 or 3 times a day have a much higher risk of having children with behavioral difficulties. If the young children themselves use cell phones regularly, that risk is compounded.

Skeptics might scoff at this, but when the researchers accounted for other potential factors (smoking or alcohol during pregnancy, history of mental illness in the family, etc), the results pointed even more strongly towards cell phone use as a danger. The researchers aren’t sure why developing fetuses are biologically affected by cell phones, but the numbers are there. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we’ve seen such a high rate of ADHD and autism in the past few decades? If you have information about this, please share it. We’ll keep you posted.

Image: IamSAM.

After school today, at least a half dozen parents are taking a meeting with the middle school head to speak their minds about the toll of homework stress. It won’t be pretty.

At  the prestigious K-8 private school my girls attend, they pour it on thick throughout the week, on the weekends, and over holiday breaks. And this isn’t even one of San Francisco’s so-called Motrin Schools where overloaded students need pain medication to cope with chronic head and stomach ailments.

My 12-year-old, a gifted writer and artist who skipped 3rd grade because of her aptitude, size and maturity, is more anxious than ever. “We’re getting robbed of our childhoods,” complains Sydney, chomping on her cuticles and twitching her eyes, just a couple side effects of her anxiety.

In addition to the two to three hours she faces daily in math, social studies, and religious studies, her crazed English teacher has the students completing a novel a week, part of a project called Book Search involving comparative literature. Among the tasks to complement the reading is second sourcing: Researching related topics (in Syd’s case, White Supremacy) and summarizing 1,000 word essays on the topic.

While my husband and I are in agreement that most homework is sheer busywork cast off by time-crunched teachers, we can’t do much to overhaul the curriculum. I did, however, locate some helpful coping tips from Web MD for both parents and kids battling the modern epidemic of speed learning and information overload. See if they help your family.

Watch for signs of school-related stress:

According to school counselors and other experts, much of the pressure and anxiety about school stems from the college admissions race. Younger kids feel it, too, espeically when it comes to test-taking anxiety. In the younger kids, signs of stress could be headaches, stomachaches, or trying to stay out of school. In older kids, look for cutting or expressions of despair.

Teach kids time-management skills:

In the face of unimaginative administrators, we must do our part to help our children meet demands far beyond their cognitive development.

Time-management and organization skills are crucial for fighting stress and are not often taught in the schools. Help your kids stay on track after school and at night, allowing short breaks but no TV until the work is finished. Also, make sure their binders are organized by checking in with them. Don’t assume they are old enough to take charge of all of this themselves. It isn’t anything like when you were a kid and they need loads of support. Tough love is the wrong approach.

Consider whether your child is over-scheduled:

I’ve scaled back on everything but soccer team and voice training with my girls, mostly at their urging. When will they have any down time at all if their days are crammed with acitivities and homework? They are humans, not machines.

“If parents filled their kids schedules with more sleep, down time and family time, we would not be in the situtation we are today,” recognizes Denise Clark Pope, PhD, (below) a lecturer at the Standford University School of Education. Check out her study: Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students. Don’t even ask your kids what they want. If they’re stressed out, lighten the load!

Encourage more sleep, exercise and family mealtimes:

Sleep deprivation only aggravates school stress, especially in young teens who tend to fight sleep. Experts agree most kids need at least 9 to 10 hours per night and many are getting 6 or less. Help them burn off stress with exercise (kicking the soccer ball out back). And maintain connection for cushioning stress with family mealtimes, at least 4 to 5 times a week. At my house, we use that time to go around the table and take turns talking about our day.

Watch parental pressure:

Pope says be careful asking kids how they did on a test the minute you greet them at pick up. Instead, she says inquire, “What’s the best things that happened to you today?” I just love this alternative as someone guilty of the prior line of questioning. Try to resist feeling your child cannot compete with others on a fast track if you ease up a bit in your approach.

Tips and tools to help:

Provide your child with a planner to schedule assignments; create a quiet space to study free of distractions; bump up homework to after school rather than after dinner if you are able; find a homework club at your shcool or let your child do homework with a friend when appropriate. Let these school years be fun. A childhood is supposed to be fun.

In the end, our time with our children is short. They grow up quicky and head off. It’s so important to find a balance for them so they’ll become enthusiastic lifelong learners rather than burned out head cases. It’s easier to be compassionate when you think of the long haul.