Right now it's -11F and forecast to get colder, with a wind chill warning issued. The combination of cold and wind will result in wind chill factors of -35F to -45F. I'm hanging out at home with my children tomorrow, my littlest one can't even stand the trip to the car when the wind chill kicks in. But what is wind chill anyway?

According to Rachelle Oblack, About.com's guide to weather, wind chill is a measure of the amount of heat loss from the skin of living creatures such as humans and animals. While the wind doesn't change the temperature, when the wind blows, it feels colder and increases the risk of winter deaths and injuries, such as frostbite and hypothermia

Thanks Rachelle, and also thank you for an idea for an at-home project that I'll try with the kids tomorrow: making a cloud in a bottle.

The weather is predicted to warm up by the weekend, temperatures are forecast to be just below freezing for Sunday. Shorts, anyone?

• How to calculate wind chill
• How to make your own a cloud in a bottle

A friend just turned me onto Minnesota Public Radio's Wonderground Radio station. It's similar to MPR's The Current, but designed for adults and children to listen to together. Wonderground plays many of the same contemporary artists as The Current, mixed with classic rock and pop songs. The idea is to make a kid-friendly radio station that adults can bear to listen to. No horrid squeaky singing animals here.

In the same spirit, MPR presents Rock the Cradle, an annual all-day event for music loving children and parents.

On Sunday January 25 at the Children's Theatre Company in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, children can meet some of The Current's DJs, dance in the disco, play instruments, listen to stories, do yoga, and art projects. The Current DJs will be reading their favorite children's stories and there will be live theater and music performances from local musicians. And if that's not exciting enough for your little one, they can be a guest on the radio and be interviewed by a real DJ.

It's designed for children aged 2-9, but it almost sounds fun enough to go if you don't have a kid to take, no?

More information on Rock the Cradle at Minnesota Public Radio

The St. Paul Almanac is a unique guidebook to Minnesota's capital city. It's an event calendar, guide to local businesses and attractions, but what sets it apart is the collection of stories, poems, reviews of businesses, memories, love letters and hate mail to the STP.

The 2009 St. Paul Almanac is on the shelves of local independent and chain bookstores right now, but currently the editors are looking for submissions for the 2010 edition.

Stories are requested from lifelong residents and recent immigrants to St. Paul, professional writers and regular folks. Review your favorite coffee shop, praise your favorite shopkeeper, tell a childhood story, rant or rave about something unique to St. Paul.

Visit StPaulAlmanac.com to learn more and submit your story. Works accepted for publication will receive a small stipend.

_{The 2009 St. Paul Almanac. Photo Lou Michaels}

The retailer that sells homewares and foods from around the world is closing all six of it's Minnesota stores, five of which are in the Twin Cities metro area. It's part of a cost-cutting measure that will see 26 stores close nationwide. Cost Plus World Market has stores in Bloomington, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Rochester, Rosedale and Woodbury. Once, I lived in a suburb in a different state and the local Cost Plus World Market was the only place I could buy Indian curry sauce, but here the concept seems a little unnecessary in a metro area where we have so many international food markets. And I'm guessing retailers like Target and others were eating into their furniture and homewares sales with their own ranges of slightly ethnic furniture. Still, it's sad to see so many large stores close, and hoping that their employees are find replacement work as soon as possible.