The Hole

Those of you who've followed this blog know that Mark is disabled and we're on a fixed income. A very, very fixed income. That means some seriously tight budgeting and no raises, except through the benevolence of the powers that be in DC. For a couple of years now, they haven't felt very benevolent.

If the income limits weren't frustrating enough, we've also been paying large amounts of child support to a deceased ex-wife for a child who turned 18 about six years ago and for 2 kids who lived with us for three years. While supporting children you helped create is important, it's pretty safe to say that no custodial mothers are seeing any of this money. Add in that the deductions amount to a noticeable percentage of your monthly income and it becomes frustrating, to say the least.

The Shovel

Now, starting in 2012, some of those burdens may be easing. We may be able to shovel some of the dirt back into the hole.

For the first time in what seems like an eternity, the Social Security Administration has announced a COLA for next year. For those getting SSI or SSD and paying Medicare premiums, it will (probably) be a wash - as the powers-that-be are upping Medicare premiums for 2012. For us, we get to keep the entire 3.6%! Woo! and Hoo!

At the same time as this modest (but wonderfully welcomed) increase in income, we are looking at (possibly) doing away with the child support on young men who are now 25, 22, and 21. I say possibly, because Arizona is what is called an interest state. This means that they can charge interest against child support payments. And, trust me, they do.

When it's all said and done, we will have paid nearly 100% interest on one of the accounts! We don't (yet) know if they are going to start assessing interest against the other one, when it's paid off next month. Cross your fingers - and eyes and toes - that we get a break on this one.

The Light

What these happy little changes mean for us is what I like to call: the-non-train-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel.

We have been without a vehicle for about 4 years. Luckily, we live spitting distance from a major intersection where buses arrive and depart - in all four directions - on a fairly regular basis. And two businesses on 'our corner' sell reduced-rate bus passes. Anywhere too far to walk is a reasonably easy bus ride away. With two major caveats: 1.) Mark is at risk for skin cancer and heatstroke (because of his transplant meds) and can't be outside for long periods waiting for a delayed bus; 2.) One simply cannot haul a month's supply of groceries home on the bus.

With the additional income and reduced expenses, we can finally start saving for a new-to-us car or truck. This benefit simply cannot be overstated. As a transplant-recipient, lung cancer survivor, insulin-dependent diabetic with reduced kidney function who is predisposed to skin cancer and diabetic complications - Mark really needs to see his doctors on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, buses are out of the question - we tried it, it was simply too difficult for him. And the round-trip cab fare to the hospital is simply impossible, as often as he would need to be there. See, this doctor only sees patients one day a week; that doctor prefers a different day, and the Vision Clinic ... well, they have their own special days and times. It, basically, boils down to seeing doctors every month -- or eating.

And, speaking of eating, that's no cheap trip either. It costs us almost 10% of our monthly grocery budget just to get to the store and home again. This means we must get everything we need (that the freezer will hold) for the month in one trip. There are no oops-I-forgot-the-??? runs in our lifestyle. Just can't be done.

So, as you can see, putting a vehicle back in our parking space would be one of the absolutely best things we could ever do for ourselves. Not to mention, with the money we save on cabs, we might be able to go out to dinner, once in a while. Or shop the grocery sales, as they happen. Or visit our sons. Or take a mini-vacation.

End of the World

There's a song, by REM, with a chorus that states: "It's the end of the world, as we know it." It appears, from where I'm sitting, that 2012 may well be the end of the world, as Mark and I have known it for several years now.

Change - good or bad - is never comfortable. But it would certainly be nice to catch a break. Ya know?

Free sites are more likely to attract singles, singles who can't necessarily afford the fees from other sites. It will also, because it's free, attract less ... serious ... daters. Including, in my imagination, marrieds, trollers, and bar-hoppers looking for a new hunting ground. All of this makes free sites a little less selective and a little more likely to hold unattractive options.

Fee sites are more likely to attract serious daters, since they are required to put up cold hard cash to join. It should, in theory, eliminate some of the trollers and lower forms of dating life. However, they may also be home to slightly more desperate singles, who've had no luck through other venues. All of which means that the selection of potential dates / mates could still be rather tainted.

Have you ever tried online dating? Any stories you'd like to share?

The Bill

The official summary states:

Amends the federal criminal code to authorize a person who is carrying a government-issued photographic identification document and a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm in one state, and who is not prohibited from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm under federal law, to carry a concealed handgun (other than a machinegun or destructive device) in another state in accordance with the restrictions of that state.

The OpenCongress summary simplifies that:

Would require all states to allow out-of-state visitors to carry concealed firearms as long as the laws of the vistors' home states allow them to do so.

Sponsors of HR 822 cite the Second "Right to Bear Arms" Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment as reasoning behind the bill [emphasis mine]:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

How It's Done Now

As was explained by a New York congresswoman, currently, states legislate their own requirements for individuals to be granted a concealed-carry permit. Some states are strict; others more relaxed. In keeping with those regulations, states form agreements with other states, related to carrying weapons across state lines.

For example, New York has some of the most restrictive concealed-carry regulations of all states. They have partnered with states whose laws mirror or are compatible with their own to recognize each other's carry permits. Meaning, if Colorado has regulations similar to New York's, the two states might agree that residents of Colorado could legally travel into New York carrying a concealed weapon. And vice versa.

Conversely, if another state's laws were significantly different, New York could choose to not allow those residents to carry a concealed weapon in the state. As I haven't read the statutes for any state, I don't know the specifics on any agreements or possible repercussions for violations.

What Would Change

If this bill, introduced in February of this year, were to pass - all of these regulations and agreements would be out the window. The federal government would be legislating how the states run things. A step that could set a precedent for other intrusions into, and violations of, states' express rights.

With this (potential) change, in direct violation of the Tenth Amendment, New York (or any state) couldn't say or enforce: "Gee, we don't think convicted felons should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon in our state, no matter what state ABC thinks is right for their state."

My (Personal) Opinion

Any legislation that protects the rights of citizens has always seemed like a good idea to me.

As far as the Fourteenth Amendment? In my limited understanding, I imagine that the intent was much different at the time of adoption - given that it's one of the Reconstruction Amendments adopted in the five years following the Civil War. Undoubtedly, the goal was to stop former slave-holding states from arresting free blacks who traveled into or through their states.

But, that's just my opinion. And, please, don't get me started on the impact of stomping on the Tenth Amendment.

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Newborn Hat, Sweater, & Shoes

This newborn set consists of a cloche-style (brimless) hat, sleeveless sweater, and lace-up bootie shoes.

Crocheted in 3-ply baby yarn, this set is soft, comfy for baby, and easy on and off. Designed for little girls, there is a cute little flower on the hat with a simple bow in the center.

The main color makes up the bodice, trim, and ties on the sweater, as well as the upper on the shoes. We've crocheted the soles and ties of the shoes in the accent color - and just love the look!

Because not everyone wants / likes more than one color, we offer the option of ordering the set in a single color. It's just as lovely. And, as always, shipping is included in the price.

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Hats, Mittens, and Booties

These sweet, warm baby hats, mittens, and booties simply must be seen to be believed. They are so cute, no matter what color.

This newborn set consists of a cloche-style (brimless) hat, mittens, and booties. Crocheted in 3-ply baby yarn, this set is soft, comfy, and stretches just enough to fit all newborns. All ties are done in white.

The booties and mittens are appropriate for boys, girls, and when you don't know yet. Simply pick the right colors for your baby / grandbaby, and we'll take it from there.

The flower is optional, as you can see. For boys, simply check 'No' and we'll leave it off.

With winter on it's way, it's a good time to think about keeping warm. And, because these items are small, they ship within 3 days of your order - for Free.

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We are so excited about these new items. Hopefully, you will be, too. Please let us know what you think.

Before you jump onto this site - Aèropostale, Inc - to go shopping for your men, the styles and sizes are (primarily) designed for ages 14-17. And the high school crowd will love these clothes. Trust me.

With that said, you can easily throw that caveat out the window - depending, and this is the important part, on the sizes you need.

It's just as easy to find chinos and polo shirts for your husband, as it is to shop for your son. At least, it was for me. Everything I looked at seemed well made and casually stylish.

Naturally, there are items that are too young for my 56-year-old hubby. There are also dozens of pants, shirts, and jeans that he could easily wear. Heck, half of the shirts in his closet could have come from Aèropostale.

What is a Sneeze Page?

To answer that question, I went searching and landed on the site for a previous year's challenge.

Sneeze pages are simply collections of related posts from back in the archives of a blog. They can be themed: all Health-related posts, or Holiday, or Crafts, or Political News; whatever theme or themes are relative to a blog. 'Best of' a particular year or month is another choice - although how you determine which posts were best is up to you.

Another idea would be collecting and sharing links to your posts that get tons and tons of comments - the most popular / hottest posts on your blog. If they've been getting attention long after the initial publishing date, they're probably still interesting to readers. And it's a good way to keep people on your blog.

Lastly, if you write a series - like the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge - putting links to the entire series on one blog page would virtually guarantee reader attention. For me, I'm much more likely to read all of a series if I don't have to go chasing all over someone's blog to find the pieces. How about you?

My Topic Cloud

On my blog, because I like doing things the easy way, I use a topic cloud. It lists all of the topics about which I blog. The larger the type-face, the more posts on that subject. Once the cloud is set up, I don't have to do anything but post; the topics automatically update for me.

I also don't seriously limit the number of entries on any of the pages. The main index, as well as the topic and monthly pages, holds 100 posts - covering at least 3 months, depending upon how chatty I am in any given month.

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If you find, while you're visiting here, that you'd like to be able to see more, let me know. I'd be happy to see what I can do about updating links to deeper archives.

The worst thing about tall and big sizes for women has always been the frumpiness of the options. One trip through these pages will make it clear that not being a size 0 doesn't mean not dressing with style.

Admittedly, I don't wear suits anymore. But the separates are just amazing and really inspire me to update my wardrobe. Nothing super business-y or overly fancy would suit (pardon the pun) my current lifestyle.

But (for example) this gorgeous linen dress, over a pair of jeans or leggings would be a perfect dressed-up-casual outfit for dinner out, trips to the store, or an evening with family over the holidays. Just add some chunky jewelry and a little half-boot - c'est parfait.

And, please, don't get me started on the gorgeous sheaths and flared tank dresses. Those are so my favorite dress styles. It's nice to know that attractive styles are available in my size.

There isn't much I can do about shipper damage, beyond avoiding companies that notoriously maul packages. However, the weather is - stay with me here - a little more within my control. By using freezer paper, specifically biodegradable freezer paper, I can minimize moisture damage and avoid using plastic bags to protect my products.

Why freezer paper? Because one side is coated to prevent moisture transfer. When you wrap food, you keep the coating on the inside to keep fluids in. For wrapping packages, keep the shiny side out - to keep fluids out. And, again, biodegradable.

Win - Win - Win

Shipping Companies

One item I hadn't thought about, except for the maulers referenced earlier, is the shipping company. The article on sustainable shipping I was reading today really made me think beyond box-bashing.

Just how 'green' are these companies? From what I've read, the USPS hasn't ever measure their carbon footprint. Or, if they have, they aren't sharing it with the rest of us.

FedEx and UPS, on the other hand, are committed - to different degrees - to sustainable shipping and environmental responsibility. (Click on a company name to read what they're doing.)

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It's something to think about, when you (or I) get ready to ship to our customers. Or, with the holidays approaching, when we send packages to our friends and families.

While the park benches I found are (probably) designed for public spaces, I don't see any reason they couldn't work on the back patio. Or even in a sun room or screened-in porch.

I can see a pad, like for a chaise, on the seat. Add a couple of tables and simple lamps, and ... ta da! A lovely spot to lounge with a good book.

Picnic tables are another personal weakness. Sitting outside on a warm evening with burgers, dogs, and a pitcher of tea? Perfect.

I like the small-ish square units best. Seating four or more people, with the benches attached, they fit nicely in smaller spaces where long, rectangular tables just wouldn't go. And, seriously, so cute!

A bright cloth and some colorful tableware are all it needs.

Even though my granddaughter is only 17 months old and lives in Chicago, playground equipment just speaks to a grandparent.

The options are almost endless, but this one grabbed me. The adorable details got me started. Then, my inner child went "Ooooh!" and I was lost. Swings, bumpy slide, climbing wall - it's all here, just waiting for me to turn 4 again and climb on.

All I can say is: "Just wait until I get a yard!" (And hit the lottery, cuz there's a lot of shopping to be done here.)

I googled satellite dish since I'm going to be moving this week and need a good deal on TV! Great deal, by the way. I need to be super conscious of my expenses nowadays. Who doesn't, right?

I'm so excited for my move. Not the actual move, but living in the new apartment. You know what I mean. Actually moving is the pits.

I've been working on packing all day and I haven't even touched my kitchen. It is incredible how much STUFF one person can accumulate! And I'm far from a pack rat! I actually have the opposite problem.

My mom is coming in to town to help me. I have such a great mom! I'm glad we'll have the TV all taken care of. As soon as we finish dinner, she likes to turn on the TV and just relax until bed. That is the way to go, though.

My mom is an amazing cook, too. She's been on a healthy kick for a while, which is probably great for my waistline, but I miss her meatballs! She always tells me I eat too many carbs! She is right, though.

I am a carb queen!

Statistics

Okay, this is the slightly boring part - stay with me, please?

An estimated 11% of the world's population, or about 766,700,000 people, suffer from migraines. This includes kids and adults of all ages. Of those 766M miserable people, about 30% (230,010,000) experience auras.

In the study, conducted at Montefiore Headache Center in New York, 14 of 2,100 participants (0.667%) reported olfactory hallucinations. Translated to the aura-suffering migraine population, meaning - potentially - 1,534,167 people around the world may experience these phantom smells.

Phew! That's enough to trigger a headache.

What Types of Smells?

If migraines weren't ugly enough, most of the sufferers who reported imagined smells prior to an attack didn't smell roses and potpourri. Although some did mention the scent of coffee or oranges.

According to Dr. Matthew S. Robbins, senior researcher on the new study, "The most common [scent] was of the burning or smoke variety." With a general burning smell topping the list, other reports included cigar smoke, wood smoke, and burned popcorn odors. (I was good until the burned popcorn part. Ick.)

The next pattern of smells, after burning, was what the researchers called decomposition smells - garbage or sewage odors. Now that's an addition to a migraine that no one needs to experience.

Bottom Line

Although an extremely small (calculated) number of people suffer strange, phantom smells prior to onset, it is something - if you get migraines - to consider.

My understanding is that migraine medications are most effective if taken before the attack has taken hold. This means that any weapon in a sufferer's arsenal that provides a heads-up (pardon the pun) is a good thing.

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I am not a medical / healthcare professional. I simply offer my opinion of what I read in the news and on the 'Net. Nothing written here is intended to be medical advice or to substitute for consultation with a healthcare professional.

Always consult your physician about any health conditions or concerns.

Supplement Users

One of the first things that surprised me was that most of the people who indicated they used nutritional supplements didn't actually need them. These participants already had better diets and got enough nutrients through what they ate.

This means that taking vitamins and minerals only resulted in excess intake. While the risks from too much zinc or magnesium aren't known, taking too much calcium (in supplement form) has been linked to kidney stones. Excess iron is stored in the organs and can lead to cirrhosis and heart failure^[1]

Supplement Non-Users

Conversely, those participants who indicated no use of nutritional supplements also suffered from poorer diets. They were the ones, it appears, in need of additional minerals, yet they weren't getting / taking them.

Daily Requirements

One odd notation, in the article I read, related to the way people use supplements.

Everyone knows that there is an RDA (or whatever it's called these days) on containers of vitamins and minerals. Most of these items have been evaluated and the FDA has determined what the average individual needs every day. This is not the starting point for supplementation.

Yet, many of the survey participants were treating these numbers as the minimum amount - dosing upward from there. This almost guarantees, especially when their diet is sufficient, that individuals are getting too much of what they're taking.

Conclusions

Since researchers determined that those who need them least, take supplements most often, I have to wonder if it tends to boil down to income in the end. People who can afford supplements (which are not inexpensive) can also afford better quality food - fresh fruits and vegetables, and lean meats. They (possibly) eat less fast food, as well.

Individuals and families who are struggling financially, who can't afford more expensive meats and produce, probably can't afford vitamin and mineral pills to assist with the nutrition that their diets are lacking. Another catch-22 for families that are caught in the monetary crises crippling so much of society.

Just one more reason to make junk food more expensive, and lettuce, carrots, potatoes, and chicken breasts cheaper.

We've decided that we desperately need to replace some of our kitchen stuff. The spatulas we own are old and/or nylon. Neither is a good thing. The old one is falling apart and the nylon ones just don't get the job done - especially now that we're transitioning to cast-iron cookware.

Another problem? I've been making homemade biscuits and pie crusts, but I don't actually own a rolling pin or dough blender. Sure, I've gotten some very creative work-arounds going. Owning the actual, designed-for-this-purpose tools would be a serious time-saving improvement.

Then, we have the ultimate (for us) kitchen dream: a Mandoline. We have a deep fryer and love to make our own fries, chips, chimichangas, etc. But, cutting fries takes forever and cutting chips is just too labor-intensive with a knife and cutting board. Something that juliennes veggies for a salad, crinkle-cuts fries or chips, slices potatoes (evenly) for potatoes au gratin would just simply make our lives a thousand-percent easier.

So ... we're window-shopping and creating wish lists. If we only pick up an item or two every paycheck, we'll still be simplifying our cooking routines and, in the long run, cutting our food bills dramatically by making our own goodies.

I probably wouldn't consider this, if it weren't for OXO - their products are well-made, reliable, and durable. I can plan out my utensil / kitchen tool remodel with ease, knowing they'll still be around when I get to the end of the list.

And knowing that I won't be replacing the first OXO item before I've managed to buy the last one.

With brutal honesty, Ling shares her upbringing and what life in China was like for women in the '80s; how limited the freedom and how strict the expectations. Permits were required to marry and have children; a woman was to defer to her father and her husband.

It was, in many ways, that societal pressure that led to her involvement in the protest. She felt she should support her husband, who was an active leader.

Following the military action in Tiananmen Square, Ling was on the run for ten months, altering her features to escape detection and execution by the government. Eventually, she and her husband escaped to Paris and, from there, to the United States.

Freedoms that Americans take for granted were difficult for Ling and many of her friends who also made it to the US. Luckily, her story has a happy ending. Unlike so many who were in that square on June 4, 1989.

*****

This was a difficult book for me to read. Mostly because I simply couldn't comprehend living in a world of limited to no rights or personal freedoms. Of living in fear that saying or doing the wrong thing could end your life or destroy your family. Of poverty so extreme that surely death would be preferable.

I recommend this book to everyone. Life for the average person has not improved greatly in China since 1989; for women, the story is far worse.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network <http://mediacenter.tyndale.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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Newborn Hat, Sweater, & Shoes

This newborn set consists of a cloche-style (brimless) hat, sleeveless sweater, and lace-up bootie shoes.

Crocheted in 3-ply baby yarn, this set is soft, comfy for baby, and easy on and off. Designed for little girls, there is a cute little flower on the hat with a simple bow in the center.

The main color makes up the bodice, trim, and ties on the sweater, as well as the upper on the shoes. We've crocheted the soles and ties of the shoes in the accent color - and just love the look!

Because not everyone wants / likes more than one color, we offer the option of ordering the set in a single color. It's just as lovely. And, as always, shipping is included in the price.

---

Hats, Mittens, and Booties

These sweet, warm baby hats, mittens, and booties simply must be seen to be believed. They are so cute, no matter what color.

This newborn set consists of a cloche-style (brimless) hat, mittens, and booties. Crocheted in 3-ply baby yarn, this set is soft, comfy, and stretches just enough to fit all newborns. All ties are done in white.

The booties and mittens are appropriate for boys, girls, and when you don't know yet. Simply pick the right colors for your baby / grandbaby, and we'll take it from there.

The flower is optional, as you can see. For boys, simply check 'No' and we'll leave it off.

With winter on it's way, it's a good time to think about keeping warm. And, because these items are small, they ship within 3 days of your order - for Free.

---

We are so excited about these new items. Hopefully, you will be, too. Please let us know what you think.

Since 1992, fifty-two journalists have been murdered in the former Soviet Union; eighteen of those deaths are still unsolved. And that doesn't begin to approach the number of journalists who are routinely beaten, jailed, harassed, and threatened for exposing crimes and corruption in the political and military leadership of the pseudo-democratic country.

Politkovskaya was arrested by Russian military forces in Chechnya, subjected to a mock trial and torture, and later poisoned on her way to Belan. She survived and continued to report on the wars. One can only assume that it was desperation to silence her voice that led to the brutal shooting, in the elevator of her apartment building, five years ago.

Please, on this sad day, share her story and don't let the world forget what happened to her and continues to happen to journalists who speak out against Russia.

Granted, you're going to know if you aren't caring for your floor regularly. Or properly.

Stone is not immune to damage and, with time and neglect, even dust can cause scratches. However, on a daily basis, as the surface dulls and small damage occurs, you may not really notice the changes until it's too late.

Scheduling regular inspection and/or granite polishing is going to save a lot of money in the long run. A small polishing job once a year is far more cost effective than waiting until chips and deep gouges in the floor require major restoration work.

For me? Since I don't manage to clean my faux-marble-ish lino every day, I suppose that I should wait until we hit the lottery and have a full-time cleaning staff before I pick out the granite flooring. Although, maybe a granite countertop is within my powers to keep up.

What October doesn't know is that the cemetery is home to five kids, about her age, from different eras of the town. Those five ghosts are only allowed to come out once a year, for a few days until Halloween. They aren't happy to find out October isn't a ghost - but, eventually, the six manage to become friends.

When the French teacher dies in a mysterious accident at school, October decides to investigate - with the help of the five dead kids. Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? They can walk through walls and get into places that she can't. Of course, not all of them can read and write, so there are some problems along the way.

Before they know it the kids (including October's school friends, who don't know about the ghosts) are knee-deep in murder plots, car chases, and searching for clues. Will they find out the truth? Will they get caught? And what happens when the five dead kids have to go back at midnight on Halloween?

*****

This has to be one of the greatest young fiction titles I've read since I was a tween/teen. The characters drew me in and took me back several decades. I found myself hunched over the laptop, scrolling like a maniac, eager to keep up with the kids.

Although there's a lot of time in a cemetery and murder plots and evil doings, it's not a frightening story. It's an exciting, fun adventure. And certainly made me hope that there are going to be many more cases for the Dead Kid Detective Agency.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic galley of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com <http://www.netgalley.com/> professional readers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Typical symptoms are the same as for women:

• A lump or swelling in the chest area
• Dimpled or puckered skin
• A nipple that is inverted (facing inward)
• Redness or scaling of the nipple or breast skin
• Discharge from the nipple

Both men and women can develop lumps in the breast that are non-cancerous. But it is incredibly important for anyone with changes in the tissue in and around the breast to seek medical advice. Only a medical professional can determine whether those changes are benign or something that need further attention.

If you are female, I hope that you perform monthly exams. It is your first line of defense.

If you are male, please realize that you are not immune to breast cancer. If you notice changes in your body, tell your doctor.

Breast cancer is treatable - the earlier it's caught, the better the hope for a full recovery.

We don't really have a large surface to cover, so price isn't a huge consideration. (One of the benefits of a supremely tiny kitchen.) Metal mosaic wall tiles (didn't know there was such a product) really appeal to me. Easy to keep clean and seriously durable - two of my favorite things.

But, and this is a biggie, they are a little hard on the budget.

That sends me back to glass tiles, which is fine. There are about a zillion options, including some beautiful stone and glass tiles from which to choose. And prices tend to be far more reasonable for our limited cash flow.

Now, all I have to do is find something PB and chocolate colored. Well, and convince management (and Mark) to let me redecorate. Wish me luck!

Apparently, I was wrong. I found this recipe on the Betty Crocker website and it doesn't mention anything about keeping the meat mixture cold. It does, however, seem to require extra-lean meat and pressing the mixture firmly onto the foil.

I haven't tried it yet - still need to get the grocery shopping done - but I do think (with a few modifications) that we're going to be trying it this month. Now, all I need is a couple of baking potatoes, sour cream, and some fresh green beans. Yummy!

If you try this before I do, let me know what you think.

Frankly, I have a personal issue with buying anything to put on my finger that's going to cost something in the neighborhood of a new car. Not to mention, while diamonds are gorgeous (See Ooooh, shiny! above), I must admit I find semi-precious amethyst, topaz, aquamarine, and garnet jewelry just as beautiful.

Plus - big plus - I can own 7 or 8 really nice 5-carat amethyst rings for the price of a 1-carat, marquise-cut, H color diamond.

It occurs to me, as a bit of an afterthought, that if one was looking for a diamond or diamond ring - less than $4K/carat for the stone is probably not such a bad deal. But, until you see the stone ... less expensive may just be an object lesson in caveat emptor.

In a nutshell, this was intended to be similar to the Pizza Hut pasta switch. You've seen those commercials, right? People are invited to a nice restaurant for a pasta dinner, only to find out - after the fact - that it wasn't haute cuisine, but Pizza Hut's new pasta offerings.

Chuckle, chuckle. "Ooh, you fooled me." New ad campaign is launched.

In this case, the bloggers invited to dinner were somewhat seduced with talk of preservative-free food and community-supported agriculture prior to the meal. The implication was, apparently, that the food they would be served would exemplify those concepts. Instead, the diners were treated to Marie Callender's new lasagna meal and Razzleberry pie - soon to be found in the freezer section of your local market.

It wasn't so much the deception by ConAgra/Marie Callender's that I found upsetting. They were attempting to prove that, if you removed the labels, most people couldn't tell chef-made from frozen. Unfortunately, they also scripted and controlled conversations, leading people to believe that they were not just getting chef-made, but healthy chef-made. That was the hook for the ad campaign.

While we don't know if there were outraged consumers after the Pizza Hut pasta meal, we do know that the bloggers (by and large) were not amused by what many felt was a bait-and-switch. There are posts all over the 'Net attesting to their dissatisfaction. And a great number of comments attached to those posts.

The comments are what triggered my ire. Many of them read like plants; highly negative, personal attacks on the bloggers. I don't know if they're damage control by ConAgra or not. But if you look at Chubby Chinese Girl or Mom Confessionals or Food Mayhem, all quoted in the NYT article, there are a number of snarky commenters jumping from blog to blog.

This was a PR stunt that went badly. Bloggers who pride themselves on the veracity of their work were duped. They have the right to voice an opinion of the event; a responsibility, in fact.

They don't deserve to be attacked for expressing their displeasure. Well, I don't think they do, anyway. What do you think?

As party plans progress and Wren fights for her job, she is forced to relive the tragedies that split her family apart. And face a growing attraction to a local man at the same time her ex-husband appears to be stepping back into their lives.

Will she be able to give her son what he needs; and where will that be? Can she let go of old hurts and resentments to make peace with her siblings? What should she do about her feelings for Paul, and for Charlie's dad? And what has Charlie been praying for?

*****

Sweet Sanctuary is a good read. The characters are, by and large, well-written and well-rounded; Charlie is just a joy. It was easy to lose myself in the story, curious how all the problems would resolve.

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

But you have to wade through a lot of information to get to what you need to know. How reliable is the company? How stable? Will they be around in 20 (or more) years, when you shuffle off this mortal coil?

And, from my experience, once you fill out those send-me-a-quote forms, you run the risk of being inundated - for the foreseeable future - with information from companies who are dying (pardon the pun) to take your monthly premium payments.

So, circling back around to where we started, I believe that everyone should plan for their future - and what happens when they're no longer around to pay the bills and care for their families. It just isn't quite as clean and easy as it seems.

While the components are perfect for competition riding, they also make for a tremendous casual-with-jeans option for anyone. There is a removable vest liner and a ventilation system for cold and not-so-cold weather. The shell is heavy-duty nylon, meaning it's going to last more than one season.

Did I mention it comes in black or white? And it's absolutely gorgeous?

In this, the fourth book of the series, the cousins finally meet Albert and learn why he needed their help. Treasures have been disappearing from Lord Darkthorn's castle and fingers are pointing at Albert, who was in charge of caring for them. But, as usual, Patrick and Beth discover that things aren't exactly what them seem.

Will they be able to track down the missing treasures, before Lord Darkthorn returns and punishes Albert? And, if they do, how will they call the Imagination Station and get home?

*****

Another well-written story from The Imagination Station and Adventures in Odyssey, offers a trip through medieval history that kids will love. When the reading is done, there is a Secret Word puzzle and links to exciting online adventures in the back of the book.

Can't wait to read the next story. And I'll bet your kids will agree.

Recommended for Ages 7 and up
Fleisch-Kincaid Grade Level: 2.1

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network <http://mediacenter.tyndale.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Not every towing or roadside service company is going to be equipped to deal with an RV.

It only makes sense that, if you're going to go for assistance coverage, you want to choose someone who can do the job. Not to mention, someone who isn't going to tack on a ton of mileage charges and hidden fees.

When you find a company that offers 24-hour help, unlimited mileage, and coverage throughout North America - jump on it. Or, as they say in the commercials, don't leave home without it; without making sure you can get back safely.

This is the second book from the founders of Prayer Shawl Ministry*. And they offer much more than patterns and prayers. There are the expected, or at least hoped-for, crochet terms, yarn descriptions, and designer biographies.

What isn't expected, is the appendix covering colors and symbolism. As an example, I made an afghan in varying sizes of squares and rectangles, in red and black a few years ago. I thought it was cool; so did the recipient.

Little did I know that, with those colors and shapes, I was promoting energy, vigor, and health (red); strength, self-confidence, and harmony (black); and balance (squares). Important needs to the young man who received the afghan.

*****

I have never made a prayer shawl, but I can't resist crochet books. This one is beautiful - patterns, stories, and images that touch the mind, the heart, and inspire a need to pick up some yarn and a hook.

Whether you're part of a prayer shawl ministry, want to be, or just love crocheting shawls - you're going to want to add this book to your library.

---

* "Whether they are called Prayer Shawls, Comfort Shawls, Peace Shawls, or Mantles, etc., the shawl maker begins with prayers and blessings for the recipient. The intentions are continued throughout the creation of the shawl. Upon completion, a final blessing is offered before the shawl is sent on its way."

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic galley of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com <http://www.netgalley.com/> professional readers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Alex was in a coma for weeks and, frankly, few people believed he would survive. The impact of the accident, effectively, separated Alex's skull from his spinal cord. Doctors expected he would never breathe on his own, swallow, or have normal brain function.

Luckily, Alex's life was being held in much stronger hands. And, in a few short months, he was able to share with friends and family what had happened to him - from the time of the accident; how he had watched what was happening to his body. To tell them of angels, demons, truths, and lies.

Of how he spoke with God.

*****

As a parent, this is not an easy book to read. I had to stop several times in the early chapters, overcome by emotion. And, honestly, I don't know that I'd have believed what I read in the later chapters, if it weren't for the images and x-rays.

It's simply too amazing.

But there is no denying that Alex probably shouldn't be alive. He probably shouldn't be doing the things he's doing today. And there is certainly no medical explanation for his recovery.

Whether you believe in miracles, or not, this is an incredible story that will make you think - and feel. And wonder.

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network <http://mediacenter.tyndale.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

In my youth, you had to be pretty good to get chains on your tires. It, generally, involved laying them out - just right - in front of your tires and hooking one side on to the rim of each tire. Then you had to pull slowly and carefully forward, allowing the chains to evenly wrap around each tire.

At that point, you got out and hooked the other edge to the rim. If you hadn't driven straight forward, the chains wouldn't be wrapped around the tire and you got to start over again. (My grandfather made it look as easy as pulling on a pair of galoshes.)

These days, tire chains are designed to be much easier to put on. There's even something called a tire sock. It isn't sufficient (or approved) for chains-required areas of many states. But, in the city - during sudden ice or snow storms - it will get you safely where you need to travel. Without damaging city streets.

Almost makes me miss those old winters - snow, and ice, and freezing ... Nah, don't miss it at all.

---

Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,
Cross eyed mosquitoes, and bow legged ants.
I am about
To tell you a tale I know nothing about.

Early one morning, in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
They stood back to back and faced each other;
Pulled out their swords and shot each other.

A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came and killed those two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
Just ask the blind man - he saw it too.

This is an old poem; actually it's two old poems, sort of mashed together. The first four lines actually don't belong with the rest of the poem. But I learned it from Mark and this is what he remembers - more or less.

Hope I started your day with a laugh.

---

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It's five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules ...

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don't edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post to this week's here.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

One caveat, before we begin: some of what we're looking at, as far as refilling containers, is not about food storage. Not all plastics are food-safe. They can leach chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens, into your lunch or leftovers.

Containers

One thing we are famous for, at our house, is repurposing plastic bottles. That big, empty dish soap bottle - rinsed well - now holds the feeding solution for our plant. The oven cleaner spray bottle - thoroughly washed - is our plant mister.

There's no reason why, if the bottle for the window cleaner doesn't spray anymore, you can't repurpose the one from the carpet cleaner. Just wash it well first. (The window cleaner might just bleach the carpet.)

Bulk Buying, Refilling, and Going Green makes a really good point about containers. Old mayonnaise or pickle jars make great canisters and dry goods storage. Since they're clear, you can easily see what's stored in them. If you don't have room on the shelf for a big can or box, these smaller jars are perfect.

At our house, we love coffee and oatmeal containers. The large coffee ones are a great size for our small cupboards, have great stay-fresh lids and easy-grip handles, and hold about 4 pounds of flour or sugar, each. I covered several tall oatmeal containers in matching contact paper to hold our rice, corn meal, and spaghetti noodles.

Concentrates

One great way to save money, and save the environment, is to buy cleaners in concentrated form and refill smaller, easier-to-manage bottles. Ready-to-use products are already diluted with water, meaning they weigh more to ship - further increasing cost to the consumer.

Some manufacturers, like Windex®, are already testing the shopping waters, by offering small pouches of concentrated products that you just cut, pour, and dilute - at home. Some, like LA's Totally Awesome, have always offered a concentrated version of their most popular products. Hopefully, this will keep a little more plastic out of the landfills.

We make our dish soap do double duty. The brand we buy is concentrated and we buy the largest bottle they have. Part of it goes, full strength, into a smaller bottle at the kitchen sink; part of it, diluted by 1/4 to 1/3, goes into a pump bottle at the bathroom sink for hand soap.

It's easy to see the 1,000,001 ways that bottles, jars, cans, and containers can be used and reused. Plus, as Greenery points out, the more we reuse and refill - the less we have to schlub to the trash can.

(Press any of the above links for more great ideas from the three writers who inspired this post.)

The first day at school, Autumn's world turned upside down. Her son's new history teacher who was single and getting divorced (or so everyone kept telling her)? Good ol' Mr. T? was Henry! Her Henry!

And he was not happy to see her -- especially after she bounced into the bookcase, knocked down the encyclopedias, and bloodied his nose rushing to pick them up - in front of twenty of her son's new classmates. She was mortified, Elliott was mortified, and Henry was wounded.

Autumn stumbled out of the room, knowing her heart hadn't changed. But would Henry ever forgive her? Would he ever love her again?

*****

I guess we all have a 'what-if' person in our past; a wondering in ourselves about what might have happened ... if. If we had gotten together or if we hadn't broken up, where would we be today? And what if we had the chance to do what we didn't or undo what we did?

That's what this book is about - second chances.

It may have been the intention, but many of the conversations and behaviors felt too much like high school. The main character, her thoughts and interactions, seemed to be formed by a teenager who was imagining life as a grown-up. And, perhaps, a tad more research could have gone into the father's condition.

Nonetheless, it was a fun book and a great summer read.

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic galley of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com <http://www.netgalley.com/> professional readers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

I must admit, I loved the article from snopes.com. No one knows where the eight-glasses-a-day rule came from, and there are most certainly experts on both sides of the issue, pointing fingers and crying foul. But I was looking for information about how much fluid we lose on a daily basis. This quote, I think covers it:

To replace daily losses of water, an average-sized adult with healthy kidneys sitting in a temperate climate needs no more than one liter of fluid, according to Jurgen Schnermann, a kidney physiologist at the National Institutes of Health.

---

Food

Not all of the fluids that we take in during an average day come from beverages. Depending on our diet, we could be adding two or three of those 8 oz. glasses through fruits and vegetables, alone.

Foods with high fluid content include:

• 1 medium Apple - 4 oz.
• ½ medium Cucumber - 5 oz.
• ½ medium Grapefruit - 4 oz.
• 1 small Potato, baked 5 oz.
• 1 small Potato, boiled 6 ⅓ oz.
• ¾ cup Soup, average - 5 ⅓ oz.
• 1 small Tomato - 4 oz.
• ½ cup Watermelon - 2 ½ oz.

It's easy to see, with just these few items, how simple it is - especially right now when produce is at its best - to keep hydrated. All without guzzling copious amounts of water.

Bad Beverages

Not all fluids are created equal.

Caffeine

For years, we have been told that drinking coffee and tea leads to dehydration. This is apparently based on the fact that coffee and tea contain caffeine, and caffeine has a diuretic effect on the body. However, a 2003 review of medical and scientific literature for the period of January 1966–March 2002 found that, in simple terms, if you indulge in caffeine on a regular basis, you are likely to be immune to the mildly diuretic effects.

If you rarely drink tea or coffee, when you do indulge, you may spend more time in the bathroom than your neighbor - the caffeine junkie. But there is no evidence, according to this review, that simply having a cup or two of coffee will cause you to pee out more than you drank. You probably don't need to drink extra water to counteract the caffeine.

Alcohol

Like caffeine, alcohol has a diuretic effect on the body. However, it's just a little more aggressive. (If you've ever had two beers and peed out four, you know what I mean.)

To paraphrase this article on kidney function: to conserve water, the pituitary gland excretes vasopressin (also called anti-diuretic hormone or ADH) which, in turn, increases permeability of the nephrons in the kidneys. More water is kept in the bloodstream; less is released in urine. Alcohol causes dehydration by blocking release of ADH, removing fluid from the system and sending it to the bladder.

If you regularly consume large amounts of alcohol, you are regularly at risk for dehydration. You may very well need those 6 to 8 glasses of water per day, just to keep up. That glass of wine with dinner? Probably not an issue.

Fluid Loss

Perspiration

People who live in the desert or exercise regularly, know that excessive sweating leads to excessive fluid loss. By the time you're thirsty, according to common wisdom, you are already 2% dehydrated. So, for us desert dwellers and you exercisers, 6 to 8 glasses of some sort of fluid every day is already the norm.

If not, it probably should be.

Illness

Vomiting, diarrhea, and/or a sweaty fever are other ways we suffer fluid loss. In the midst of a nasty bout of the flu or a wicked virus, it's not always easy to get enough fluids. Your stomach may simply reject everything you try to swallow.

Even if it's only a few sips of water, followed by a few more, fluids are critical when you're sick.

Conclusion

What I have tried to do is look at fluid intake and common causes of dehydration - whether they hold water (pardon the pun) or not. I'm no medical expert, but it seems to me that, when clean drinking water is readily available, hydration is reasonably simple. And, despite the hue and cry from some quarters, I believe that few of us are at risk of imminent death from dehydration.

I don't suppose that taking in 48 to 64 ounces (6 to 8 8-oz glasses) of fluids over the course of the day is going to hurt anyone. I just don't see it as some do-it-or-you'll-die mandate. Especially when there's really no scientific basis for it.

What do you think? Good or bad? Sane or silly?

---

Life is an interesting thing.

Some days, it's a bit like having a Facebook account - stuff that you know you didn't agree to pops up to surprise you. You run around in circles, trying desperately to fix what you hadn't actually broken. Hoping against hope that you can.

Other days, it's like dancing in the warm summer rain with someone you love. Nothing could be better. (I've been there, done that; it is incredible.)

Every day, we wake up not knowing what kind of day it will be. I guess that's what makes life interesting; or incredibly frustrating. It all depends, I suppose, on how you look at the 'gifts' that arrive with each new day.

Life is an interesting thing. Much better, I imagine, than the alternative; although there are days.

---

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It's five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules ...

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don't edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post to this week's here.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

The days and weeks leading up to that jolly holiday are the busiest for JMark Afghans. We, easily, get as many orders in the last third of the year as in the other eight months combined. And since we don't make it, until you order it, those four months can get pretty ... interesting.

Which is why we'd like to offer you a little Christmas-in-July gift, a reason to order early and order often.

From now, through August 31, we're running a Buy-One-Get-One special. Every order, over $150, will automatically include a matching lapghan - a minimum $40.00 value - at no extra charge. At 36" x 36", they are the perfect size to throw over your legs, wrap around your shoulders, or bundle up the baby.

And you just can't beat FREE!

Whether you're decorating a dorm room, jazzing up the den, or brightening up the bedroom, avoid the holiday rush and crush by ordering now. Then, when the snow is falling and shoppers are scurrying, you can sit back and gloat, just a little. Because you did your shopping - in July.

One of the travelers in their camp, Zachariah, is an old friend of Sean's and, I suspect, the author's alter ego. He shares the story of his work: studying the survival skills of the animals of the Serengeti and how those skills can be applied in our lives.

There are seven animals and seven types of skills: the strategic lion, enterprising crocodile, efficient cheetah, enduring wildebeest, risk-taking mongoose, communicating elephant, and graceful giraffe. Each of us, in our daily lives, instinctively responds to problems and challenges - to threats to our survival - with a skill set that matches one of these animal's.

Which one are you? Which skills would you like to master?

*****

I must admit, I didn't expect to enjoy this book. Self-improvement tomes always seem dry, preachy, and pushy. Not to mention, five minutes after I finish them, I've forgotten what they said.

Happily, Surviving Your Serengeti was none of those things. And, because the messages were attached to and surrounded by incredible mental images, they stayed with me long after I flipped the last page.

Admittedly, the story portion of the book is a little rough. It was, obviously, not written by a novelist. But it is, nonetheless, engaging.

This is a book that you'll need to read twice. Simply because, the first time through, you'll be too busy sightseeing your way across the Serengeti to notice the message.

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Guggulsterones

Briefly, guggul is an extract from the resin of the mukul myrrh tree Commiphora mukul. It has been used, medicinally, since 600 BC for obesity, atherosclerosis, and inflammatory conditions. It is believed that the plant sterols, E- and Z-guggulsterone, are the bioactive compounds, the parts of the extract that interact with the body.

The Claims

Obviously, when use of a plant extract goes back 2600 years, there's bound to be a great deal of anecdotal evidence related to its medicinal properties. The idea of completely dismissing such information, out of hand, is as foolish as blindly accepting it. However, throwing in a little common sense and science is never a bad idea.

Now for the claims from one product [emphasis mine]:

Guggulsterones have been shown in studies to maintain normal blood lipid levels ¹⁰, support a fine skin texture by decreasing the appearance of blemishes, and optimize thyroid gland function (thus supporting ideal fat loss and body weight). And the best part… [product name] won’t strip away your muscle like other weight loss products.

We'll start with the study¹ that supposedly supports these claims. Luckily, for a change, I was able to access the full study on JAMA. (The documentation for the supplement references the abstract from the same study.)

Cholesterol

Recent research indicates that the guggul compounds affect two specific hormone receptors. One of those receptors is related to cholesterol metabolism, leading researchers to question whether guggulsterones might be an effective treatment for high cholesterol. Hence the purpose of the study.

While not large, only 103 people in the Philadelphia area, it was a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Participants in this 8 week study were divided into three groups: low dose, high dose, and placebo. The low dose group was given 1000 mg tablets containing 2.5% standardized extract; the high dose group, 2000 mg tablets at the same concentration.

At the end of the trial, not only had the guggulsterones not reduced cholesterol levels, LDL-C (bad cholesterol) levels actually increased 4% and 5%, respectively. Additionally, HDL-C (good cholesterol) levels were depressed in both groups. With the placebo group, however, LDL-C decreased by 5%.

(A review of scientific evidence on the use of guggul for hyperlipidemia, performed by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration and published in 2005², agreed that the effects of guggulipid on cholesterol were not clear and there was "not enough scientific evidence to support the use of guggul for any medical condition.")

Thyroid Function

It was noted in the research, as in the claim for this supplement, that guggulsterones are reputed to have a positive impact on thyroid function. Within this clinical trial, due to its relationship with cholesterol, thyroid function was monitored and tested. "There were no significant changes in thyroid function as assessed by a sensitive third-generation TSH assay."

An article³ from the American Thyroid Association on thyroid and weight offers some guidance. The more active the thyroid, the higher a person's metabolism and, consequently, weight loss. It is possible to increase activity in the thyroid with hormone therapy. However, increasing thyroid function also increases appetite, potentially negating any benefit.

Furthermore, there may be significant negative consequences from the use of thyroid hormone to help with weight loss, such as the loss of muscle protein in addition to any loss of body fat. Pushing the thyroid hormone dose to cause thyroid hormone levels to be elevated is unlikely to significantly change weight and may result in other metabolic problems.

Muscle Loss

While, undoubtedly, dietary supplements do not (or should not) contain prescription-grade hormones, clearly the American Thyroid Association believes (see above quote) that altering thyroid function can lead to changes in muscles. It has been my experience that loss of muscle protein equals loss of muscle.

Conclusions

I'm no medical professional, although I do spend a good portion of my time studying health and wellness articles.

In the case of this diet pill ingredient, I have tried to use and review the supporting documentation. It seems to me that even the research cited doesn't support these claims.

What do you think?

---

1. Guggulipid for the Treatment of Hypercholesterolemia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
   Philippe O. Szapary, Megan L. Wolfe, LeAnne T. Bloedon, Andrew J. Cucchiara, Ara H. DerMarderosian, Michael D. Cirigliano, Daniel J. Rader
   JAMA. 2003;290(6):765-772.
   doi:10.1001/jama.290.6.765
2. Guggul for hyperlipidemia: A review by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration
   Catherine Ulbricht, Ethan Basch, Philippe Szapary, Paul Hammerness, Serguei Axentsev, Heather Boon, David Kroll, Levi Garraway, Mamta Vora, Jen Woods, Natural Standard Research Collaboration
   Complementary Therapies in Medicine - December 2005 (Vol. 13, Issue 4, Pages 279-290, DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2005.08.003)
3. Thyroid and Weight: <http://www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/Thyroid_and_Weight.pdf>

Disturbing Sunscreen Secrets

Originally published in Women's Health , this article looks at 10 things the average consumer may not know about sunscreens. Here are four of them:

Ingredients

Retinyl palmitate, a vitamin-A compound found in almost half of all American sunscreens, is added to help reduce the signs of aging caused by sun exposure. Sounds good, doesn't it? However, in truth, it "may speed up the development of skin cancer–related tumors and lesions when used on skin hit with sunlight." In a nutshell, retinyl palmitate and sunshine look like a bad combination.

Not to mention:

Oxybenzone and octinoxate, common block chemicals, are linked to allergic contact dermatitis and photocontact dermatitis (irritation caused when certain chemicals are on skin that’s exposed to sunlight), as well as hormone disruption, in lab animals.

UVA vs. UVB

Just a quick reminder: UVA rays cause wrinkles, UVB rays cause sunburns, and both have been linked to skin cancer.

The SPF number on that bottle of sunscreen relates only to protection against sunburn. To protect against those wrinkle rays, you need something entirely different.

Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide have been around for a number of years. The solid white, Kabuki-mask effect was so unpopular that many manufacturers started adding colors. (Yeah, that was a lot better. Not.) Today, most preparations are transparent.

There are also two chemical-based ingredients, now available: Avobenzone (a.k.a. Parsol 1789) and Ecamsule (a.k.a. Mexoryl SX). Avobenzone is one of the most effective of its type and is fairly easy to find in U.S. sunscreens. Ecamsule, a more recent addition to the American sunscreen arsenal, is even more effective; it is also harder to find and much more expensive.

Expiration Dates

Something I didn't realize or even consider, sunscreens expire. Ingredients, designed to maintain the potency of the product, are only effective for a limited time. Generally, three years is the outside limit. After that, you're not going to get the same level of protection.

In addition, lying around in the sun at the beach or the pool is just as bad for your sunblock as it is for your skin. Heat in general is the enemy. So, store it in a cool place indoors and, outdoors, try to keep it in the shade. (Pretty much the only way to survive summer in Arizona. {winks} )

Labels Lie

Not surprisingly, not everything you read on a bottle of sunblock is the god's truth. One of the more common misrepresentations has to do with SPF factors. The assumption is that the higher the number, the greater the protection. That isn't necessarily the truth:

“People think they’re doing themselves a favor by using high SPF, but the difference is incremental. SPF 15 filters out 93 percent of UVB rays; SPF 30 protects against 97 percent; SPF 50, 98 percent; and SPF 100, 99 percent–and that’s only if you apply enough of it.”

Another crossed-my-fingers-when-I-said-that issue relates to coverage. The terms 'waterproof' and 'all-day' sound impressive and reassuring, but may be far from the truth. In fact, common wisdom says sunscreen should be reapplied every 2 hours, no matter what's on the bottle.

New Sunscreen Regulations from the FDA

Directly related to these sunscreen issues, the FDA has issued new regulations for sunscreen manufacturers. They officially go into effect in 2012. And I quote:

The new regulations promote a change in terminology:

• Sunscreens that have UVA and UVB protection will be known as broad spectrum. SPF, which protects from UVB radiation, will remain on the package.
• SPF ratings 15 and above will be permitted to state that they protect against early skin aging and reduce the risk of skin cancer. SPF’s below 15 help prevent sunburn but offer no other protection.
• The highest SPF rating will be 50+ as studies have shown there is no additional benefit gained beyond this.
• Waterproof or sweat proof sunscreens will be vigorously tested to determine the exact amount of time they provide sun protection. This helps consumers know how often it’s necessary to reapply in order to reduce the risk of burning. Most sunscreens should be reapplied every two hours, which is the longest amount of time allowed.

The hope is that sunscreen makers won't wait until next year to make these changes. I can imagine that there would be some marketing benefit to being the first to comply.

Let's hope that, by next summer, we'll know what we're really getting in that bottle of sunscreen.

---

I suppose, as my bedtime reading has been the "Three Sisters" trilogy and I'm currently watching Harry Potter chase dragons, it's not surprising that I have magic and power on my mind.

For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of having 'special' powers, of being able to twitch my nose or blink my eyes and change what is. I would imagine part of that accounts for the popularity of Harry Potter and other magical stories. As children, we rarely operate from a position of power.

You don't have to come from a dysfunctional family to feel powerless, although that certainly helps. As parents, we tend to think we know what's best for our kids. If we, and they, are lucky, as they mature - so do we.

Children, in order to become healthy adults, need chances and opportunities to make their own decisions; to operate from a position of power, however limited that power might be. This is how they learn self-reliance and develop personal autonomy, the hallmarks of stable and well-balanced adults.

When those opportunities are missing at critical stages of development, powerless children can evolve into adults who constantly need guidance and reassurance.

---

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It's five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules ...

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don't edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post to this week's here.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

When the leader of the survivalist community learns that his daughter has been taken by the Rebuilders, he vows to get her back. And Cass, with nothing left for her now that Smoke is gone, packs up her daughter and insists on going with him.

Suddenly, Cass finds herself deeply involved with two men and an organization that has vowed, by any means necessary, to ensure the rebirth of humanity.

*****

This is the fascinating story of one woman, trying to create a normal life in an extremely abnormal world.

There is no doubt that this is the second book in a series, although I didn't know that in the beginning. Consequently, when I first started reading, I kept feeling that I was missing something. That there was something I should know or understand, but simply wasn't getting.

Once Cass, Ruthie, and Dor leave to find his daughter, and some details from the previous book are shared, my confusion cleared and it was easy to lose myself in the remaining chapters. The author paints word pictures that carry her readers into the Aftertime, with all of its sites, scents, and dangers. A very exciting journey - that I highly recommend.

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic galley of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com <http://www.netgalley.com/> professional readers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

By guessing how much you own and what it's worth, you run a huge financial risk. Overestimate and, month after month, you're paying premiums for coverage that you'll never use. Guess too low and, in the event of a loss, you'll be replacing furnishings out of your own pocket.

For example, if you opt for a policy that covers $50,000 in personal goods, that is the absolute maximum that the insurance company will pay out. Own more than that, and you're out of luck. If you own less, the insurance company will only pay out the value of what you owned; not $50,000.

How To Make a List

The easiest way, at least for me, is to go room by room.

If you've never done this before, start with a small room. Grab your camera and a notepad, or better yet an inventory form. There's a good one here to get you started.

Now simply photograph and record everything you own. The process is the same whether you rent or own your home. You are going to write down and take pictures of anything and everything that, if it were damaged or stolen, you would personally have to replace.

Do your best to remember what you paid for it at the time. Ideally, your coverage will be for the replacement value of each item; but all mattresses look alike, even though prices vary widely.

Additional Information

Hopefully, you are a diligent record keeper and never throw anything out; because you're going to want to add the original receipts to the pictures and list.

As I mentioned before, all mattresses look alike, as do many electronics, appliances, towels, and dishes. Without receipts and/or detailed information, it is entirely possible that the insurance company's payout will be much lower than your original cost.

Storage

Once you've put together all of this information, you're going to want to make certain that it's kept in a safe place.

I would suggest making several copies, on disk and/or online, of your pictures, lists, and receipts. Ideally, one set would go to the insurance company and one set would be kept in a safety deposit box or a fireproof box. You could even give a copy to family or friends for safekeeping.

The whole point is to have an accurate record of what you own in case of an emergency. Disasters strike and burglaries happen. You should never be unprepared for the worst.

It is interesting how well the software understands most of what I say. I do see, however, that I'd tend to speak very rapidly and tend to slide over certain syllables.

And, apparently, there are certain letters that I simply do not pronounce well. I was taking the tutorial for this software and at the end of each section, I had to say "next". By the time I finished the first few screens, Mark was ready to kill me. (In fact, I had to manually type "next" just now.)

Frankly, I don't know how well I'm going to do with this, since speaking clearly enough is much more difficult than I expected. It also, for some reason, makes me feel very self-conscious. Perhaps, if I didn't have to speak quite so slowly, I wouldn't feel like the village idiot.

Oddly enough, in the midst of this learning curve, I have found an interesting side benefit: I spend much less time worrying about formatting each post. Despite making myself crazy, I actually seem to be getting more done. It just feels as though I've run a marathon by the time I reach the end of each sentence.

There is always the chance that it isn't all me. It may be that the microphone I am using, although designed for voice recognition, isn't quite up to the challenge. If memory serves, it has been treated rather unkindly since I bought it several years ago.

So, with all of that working against me, I am begging you, please! - cross your fingers, your toes, and your eyes for me. I am obviously going to need all of the help I can get.

Oh, while I'm asking for favors, could you toss in a prayer or two for my life? Because, if I don't get very good at this - very soon - Mark is going to kill me!

Not everyone who needs a little help gets into trouble. But the potential for problems increases when you're adding debt to an already shaky situation.

It's one thing when you have a stable income and don't routinely live beyond your means. An occasional small bump in the road isn't going to send you into a financial tailspin. And that one time loan is just that: one time.

However, when you routinely spend more than you make and, just as routinely, borrow to make it to the end of the month, those payday loans become the shovel that digs a deeper financial hole.

I suppose that borrowing is an occasional necessary evil in this economy. But, to my way of thinking, learning to live within one's means is the smarter way.

Truth be told, there are keyboards that I can buy that will plug into this laptop. And given the fact that we now have two laptops with problems, it will probably be in our best interest to own a keyboard that works from a USB port.

Let's play a little, shall we? Would you like to play a game?

I will simply talk for a moment or two or three or 10 or 15, because I loved to talk, and we'll see just how software recognizes my speech patterns. I want to correct what he gets wrong I won't even look at what its typing for now.

Now, I will say the same things that I said before. But this time, I will go through and correct the mistakes.

I will simply talk for a moment or two or three or 10 or 15, because I love to talk, and we'll see just how well the software recognizes my speech patterns. I won't correct what it gets wrong, I won't even look at what it's typing, for now.

It could be a tremendous amount of fun, or this could be what finally sends me to the rubber room.

Luckily, I won't be going alone. I am taking Mark with me.

---

It all started late in May of 2003. Mark came home, not feeling well, and went in to lay down. By the next morning, he had a fever of about 104° and the ambulance was at the door. He was septic and the doctors suggested we call the family; the beginning of, nearly, the end.

No one told Mark he was supposed to die, so he didn't.

By January 2004, he had been in and out of the hospital more times than I could count. He had HepC and his liver was failing. Shortly before his birthday, he slipped into a hepatic coma. Only 20% of patients ever come out of a hepatic coma.

No one told Mark he was supposed to die, so he didn't.

We celebrated his birthday, February 3rd, at the VA with his family present. He wasn't even remotely well, but he was alive and that was worth celebrating. (While all of this was going on, we were working our tails off to get his disability instated.)

No one told Mark he was supposed to die, so he didn't.

If I thought he was sick in January, by April I knew that we hadn't seen anything. Mark needed a new liver. The VA in Phoenix sent us to the VA in Portland for evaluation, in an attempt to get Mark listed for transplant. They nearly killed him; and refused to put him on the transplant list.

We came home and signed up for hospice care. The scale for measuring liver failure tops out at 40; Mark was at 38. They brought in oxygen tanks and tried to help me understand that he had about 2 months to live.

No one told Mark he was supposed to die, so he didn't.

Then, one day, I checked the mail. Mark's disability had come through, but no insurance coverage - until that day. An envelope in the mail held the hope for our future - the state was giving Mark insurance. We notified our contacts at the VA.

Immediately, we had to stop hospice; patients on hospice can't get on the transplant list. Before I could take a breath, we had appointments with the transplant clinic and a transplant surgeon. On the day we met Dr. James Cashman, Mark was added to the transplant list and admitted to the hospital.

My memory is a little fuzzy - but, as I recall, the surgery took place within 72 hours.

On July 2, 2004 Mark was released from Good Samaritan Hospital with a brand new liver. And that's an anniversary I will gladly celebrate.

No one told Mark he was supposed to die, so he didn't.

---

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It's five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules ...

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don't edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post to this week's here.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Which really got me thinking.

I'm big on coupons for everything we get at the grocery store. Yet, I never think of looking for coupons for places like Kohls, where I can probably save a small fortune on clothes and shoes and stuff for the kitchen (one of my fave shopping categories). And, with these coupons, I could probably avoid buying what are (undoubtedly) irregulars at the outlet shops I frequent.

Some of the coupons are short-term - a couple of weeks or the current month. Which inspires me (and other savvy shoppers) to check in on a regular basis. Nothing wrong with that. If you want to save a bunch of money, you have to be willing to do a little work.

When you're looking at twenty-percent off or free shipping with no minimum, non-grocery coupons just look better and better. Of course, you still have to shop carefully and maximize the return on those coupons. And, in my case, get over previous issues with a store.

Okay, I've showed you mine - now, you show me yours. What are your favorite coupon offers? Where do you find the best deals?

They have some great recipes for Homemade Spa Treatments that I can't wait to try. Here are two:

Over on About.com, I found some interesting recipes for homemade facial masks. There's something here for just about everyone, though I tend to prefer the ones that are made from stuff I'm likely to have in the kitchen or pantry. I know me: If I have to hunt down ingredients, it's never going to get made.

Here's one that fits the bill:

On Kaboose, there are several At-Home Beauty Treatments, including exfoliating scrub and masks for different skin types. But I truly hit the motherlode with 50 Pricey Spa Treatments You Can Do at Home. Someone, bless their money-saving soul, went to the time and effort of compiling a list of links to various DIY spa recipes and techniques. It runs the gamut from mani-pedis to massage to aromatherapy to makeup tips.

So, what are you waiting for? Pull out the oatmeal and eggs and yogurt and cucumbers and start spoiling yourself.

I know I'm ready for a little self-pampering.

Internal vs. External Links

Links are links are links - Right? Wrong!

If your links are sending visitors to another page on your site or blog, that's an Internal Link. If you're sending them out into the 'Net somewhere, that's an External Link. How you send them there is important.

I'll use my site as an example, since that's the one I know.

Internal

All of the product images on my site link to the order page for that item. I don't need special coding for these links. When the links open, they open in the same tab or window and overwrite the page that was already open. A simple click on the navigation menu, or the back button, takes visitors back to the page they came from.

It's all good.

External

There are links all over my site and blog that lead away from my pages. I have relationships with other merchants, support causes, and have great blogging friends that, obviously, live elsewhere on the 'Net. While I love to share those sites with my visitors, I don't want to lose my visitors because they clicked on one of those links.

Therefore, I code any links that will jump off my site with target="_blank" . What that does is important. It allows my visitors to visit those other sites -- in a new window or tab, keeping the window or tab with my site open.

They can surf the other pages to their heart's content and, when they're done, the page that they started from - on my site - is still there for them. All they have to do is close the other tab.

The Point

I adopted this method for coding links when I was applying for awards for my site. Internal links must open in same window; external links must open in new window. It's a requirement of every award program I've seen, and just good practice.

This is where I get frustrated with sites I visit. I was looking at a page, just the other day, with a list they had compiled of sites on macrame. I wanted to look at each site they had listed, meaning I would go back and forth between the directory page and the macrame pages.

Except for one problem: When I clicked on a link in the directory, it opened the macrame site on the same tab; obliterating the link to the directory. It took several back-steps to get back to the original page. That didn't work for my purposes and made it a far less useful source.

If each of those links had been coded to open in a new window, it would have been perfect.

---

Frankly, we all want to keep our visitors on our sites. We want them to love our words, buy our products, and have such a great time visiting with us that they send everyone they know our way.

We send them to pages on our sites and blogs that we hope they will love. We also share great sites and blogs that we have found in our travels. And this is where we can run into trouble.

Think about your links on your blog or site. Are they keeping your visitors linked to you? Or bouncing them away into the ether?

Which is the better way? For you? and for them?

*****

Alexis Austin has troubles. She's fourteen years old, living in a former mortuary with a collection of kooks, misfits, and anti-establishment former (or not so former) protesters.

With her mother unable to run the hotel, Alexis has taken over the cleaning and repairing and afternoon teas. And the care and maintenance of her extremely quirky tenants. The roof leaks, the plumbing's bad; a crow, a snake, and a bathtub full of fish only add to the chaos.

Then, things get worse: There is a plot to sell the hotel.

This is the only home her tenants have; the only home Alexis has ever known. How can a young girl and a sea of lost souls, with widely varying grips on reality, save Hotel Angeline? What about Alexis' missing father? her suddenly militant surrogate dad?

As things continue to go from bad to worse, which almost seems impossible, Alexis learns about herself, her strengths, and who her friends truly are. She also discovers what makes a family and that, sometimes, it's okay to just be fourteen.

*****

Not surprisingly, with 36 minds telling Alexis' story, the novel is a little uneven. The jumps in perspective between some of the chapters is a bit jarring; especially the illustrated chapter. But, oddly enough, when push comes to shove and you turn the last page - it works.

The best advice - taken from the foreword - is to read this book as you would read any novel: Sit down, open the cover (fire-up the ereader), and dig in. Ignore the author names at the beginning of each chapter.

Get to know Alexis, Linda, LJ, Habib. Enjoy the characters who are Ursula, Roberta, Otto, and Mr. Kenji. They are fascinating.

Trust me.

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic galley of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com <http://www.netgalley.com/> professional readers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Think about it for a minute. You wouldn't cut up chicken and then, without disinfecting the board and knife, slice up your veggies. But, by not washing your totes between trips, you might well be doing exactly that. Especially if we're talking about foods that are eaten raw - carrots, celery, lettuce, tomatoes.

Researchers ran tests on reusable totes and found that 50% were positive for coliform bacteria - the group that includes E. coli. In fact, 12% of the bags tested actually had E. coli. That's a sobering thought, in these days of contamination scares.

The good news? Hand or machine washing killed over 99% of those bacteria.

So - always wash your bags between uses. We take so much care purchasing, preparing, and cooking our foods. Let's not contaminate it before we even get into the kitchen.

---

This has been a thrilling (insert sarcastic tone 'here') week.

With our updated and upgraded internet connection, everything has been a lesson in patience. Lesson learned? I have no patience.

I don't think I've been this peeved in a very long time and, trust me, I've been known to get pretty darned peeved.

Then, on Friday, if the week wasn't slapping me around quite enough – our cooler went out. Not a problem in June - in Montana. In Arizona, with triple digits rising higher and higher - it's a problem. So much of a problem that I had to shut down the laptop. Wouldn't work in the 98° that was our living room.

Since then, I've been trying to play catch-up, with limited success.

What got me going again today are the feeds for my blog. They validate, then they don't. They post through to NetworkedBlogs, then they don't. And I have absolutely no idea why.

I can change it to the Feedburner feed – it validates, except when it doesn't.

Frankly, I'm seriously considering moving the blog – and the website – onto WordPress.

Anyone know if they treat feeds better than this piece of … stuff I'm using now? Cuz at this point? Just about anything looks better than Thingamacrap.

---

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post to this week's here.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Timeouts

For the week ending 06/18 (or 06/19, the reports differ), one service indicates no timeouts; the other shows 19, for 06/13 alone. In a way, that's rather easy to explain: If service #2 accesses my site more frequently than service #1, the odds that #2 will hit at a time when the connection times out - before the front page loads - are increased.

Uptime

All 3 reports show 0:00 time on error and/or 100% uptime. Which probably means that they could both reach the domain name servers or host, every time they tried. It's just that, for service #2, on several of those times (36 over the week) my site failed to load in a reasonable amount of time.

Connect Time

This is where it gets interesting. Service #2 doesn't provide daily connect times, only a weekly average. Service #1, however, sends me two separate reports - about an hour and a half apart - that do not have the same information.

Last Tuesday, the first report (sent to an email @jmarkafghans.com) showed:

The second report, 1 hour 33 minutes later, (sent to an email @yahoo.com) showed:

Interesting. Isn't it?

Asbestos Removal

I've written about asbestos before - major health issues, mesothelioma, lung cancer. It's incredibly bad stuff that, thus far, the government hasn't quite managed to out-and-out ban. They have, however, put in place some serious guidelines for dealing with it - especially in renovations and rehabs where removal is legally required before new construction can take place.

Notices must be posted; current occupants/tenants must be told of the findings.

And I quote:

The Clean Air Act requires that owners of public buildings that contain asbestos follow federally established work practice standards to ensure the safe removal of the asbestos. The required standards include providing notice to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before starting asbestos removal, adequately wetting the asbestos during the removal and before disposal, and properly disposing of the asbestos at an EPA-approved disposal site.

From what I've seen, rooms and buildings found to contain asbestos are, virtually, sealed up. Only experts, certified and approved by the government, are allowed to perform removal of this hazardous waste. And, believe me, if you've ever seen a team descend on a home to get the stuff out - it looks like a biohazard SWAT strike.

Violations

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'll simply present the EPA charges:

[...] while Knapp was overseeing the project, material containing asbestos was removed from the building and disposed of in an uncovered dumpster. [...] demolition work was performed by workers who were not provided with personal protective equipment to reduce exposure to the asbestos. [...] building workers, one of whom was disabled ^[1], and tenants, were exposed to large amounts of dust that resulted from the demolition. A worker testified that the workers were not instructed to wet tiles containing asbestos before and during the demolition process, which increased their exposure to dust.

Mr. Knapp pleaded (pled? plead?) guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of failing to remove all material containing asbestos before beginning renovation of the building. The renovation took place between 2005 and 2008. Which says, to me, lots of violations and lots of exposure for workers and tenants.

Part of the plea agreement (you knew, after all this, that there had to be one, didn't you?), good ol' Bobby Joe admitted that he and Russell Coco, also charged, conspired to get the asbestos out of the building without adhering to government requirements.

Sentencing

In addition to 41 months in prison, the sentence provides for "two years of supervised release and 300 hours of community service. [Mr. Knapp] must also pay a $12,500 fine and $200 crime victim special assessment fee ^[2]."

Bottom Line

I don't mean to pooh-pooh 3 years and 5 months in prison; wouldn't want to do it, myself. But the release doesn't mention whether Bobby Joe will be required to do the full 41 months. And, heaven knows, he won't be doing it in Walla Walla or Corcoran.

Frankly, it's the financial slap on the wrist  that caught my attention. Given the cost of proper (and legal) asbestos removal, especially on a building with more than 10 floors, the fine is small potatoes. As a deterrent to future offenders, it simply doesn't work.

I've been slapping at the EPA for months over their inability or reluctance to P the E. This doesn't do much to improve my opinion of them.

What do you think? Did Mr. Knapp get what he deserved? Did the punishment fit the crime? Or was this a token action, meant to make it appear as though the government and the EPA are actually doing their jobs?

---

1. There was no clarification as to whether the worker was disabled before, or disabled by, the exposure.
2. "Since 1984, the federal government has collected a small monetary assessment from all convicted defendants for each federal crime committed. This "special assessment on convicted persons" ranges from five to two hundred dollars depending on the seriousness of the crime and the status of the criminal."

   Marie T. Farrelly, Special Assessments and the Origination Clause: A Tax on Crooks?, 58 Fordham L. Rev. 447 (1989), http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol58/iss3/5

Why not learn to make those goodies that are our favorites, when we dine out?

Personally, I'm a hollandaise junkie - I'd eat the stuff on cardboard. Over the years, I've found a couple of recipes. One involves a double boiler and more time (and skills) than I'm willing to invest. The other is a blender-hollandaise that is virtually foolproof.

My other favorite is Chicken Kiev. It's a simple, if somewhat time-consuming, recipe; chicken breasts, stuffed with butter and green onions and a little garlic. They can be pan-fried, oven-fried, or deep-fried.

Following the same process as Kiev, you can easily make Chicken Cordon Bleu.

---

Hope you enjoy these recipes. Once you get the pounding and browning down pat, you can adapt these chicken recipes to just about any ingredients. Personally, I love adding asparagus spears to the Cordon Bleu - great flavor.

So ... what are your favorite dishes? Have you learned to make them at home? If so, would you share your recipes? We're always looking for something new.

At his first post with the 27th, Prew became a boxer. After a bout that nearly killed a man, he gave up fighting. Constant harassment and abuse, designed to force him back in the ring, instead sent Prew to 'A' Company, home of the bugle corps.

Now, as the novel begins, Prew has been passed over for promotion to First Bugler in favor of a company 'pet.' There are rumors that Prew rejected his commander's advances; he isn't saying. But, once again, he is transferred.

His new home, 'G' Company, is regular infantry with a commander more focused on boxing than war. Since Prew refuses to fight, conflict is inevitable. And, with the help of his second-in-command, Captain Dana E. 'Dynamite' Holmes is determined to teach Prew the error of his ways.

What follows is a portrait of military life on Hawaii in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor, and the shocked and shocking days that came after. A portrait of men just trying to survive the politics, the discrimination, and the brutality of the few who held power over the many. Written by a man who lived it.

*****

I have never read the 1951 version of this novel and it's been many, many years since I saw the 1953 movie. Therefore, when I chose to read the restored edition, I had a vague Army-on-Hawaii-before-Pearl expectation of the book's content. Which is a bit like saying Moby Dick  is about a guy and a big fish.

What grabbed me, and stays with me as I write this, is the language. Not the F-bombs and C-word, expunged in the 50s and common today, but the way that language was used sixty years ago. Language molded in the mind of a remarkable writer.

(A brilliant example can be found - here - at the James Jones Literary Society  site.)

It would take days, and skills I simply lack, to describe even a portion of this work. There are people and places that you can see, and hear, and smell, and feel. The voices and lives of Schofield Barracks will live with you long after you close your e-reader.

Why not carve out a couple of weeks, pick up the ebook, and lose yourself?

---

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic galley of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com <http://www.netgalley.com/> professional readers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Just so we're all on the same page here, we're not talking about a case of nerves. This isn't sweaty palms or butterflies in the stomach over a first date. Although it can begin that way.

The kind of anxiety we're talking about is crippling, all out of proportion to the situation. Most everyone gets a little jumpy over new situations. But when it devolves into heart palpitations, shortness of breath, shaking, dizziness, and fight-or-flight reactions; when the physical and mental manifestations make it impossible to function - then, it's time to get help.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is not, in and of itself, therapy. Rather it is an umbrella term for therapies "based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors, not external things, like people, situations, and events.^[1]"

Cognitive-behavioral therapy doesn't say thoughts are wrong or tell people how to think. It begins with the premise that people who seek this form of therapy don't like the way they feel and want to do something to change those feelings. CBT therapists teach their clients how to do that. How to unlearn damaging reactions and behaviors.

For Example:

Years ago, I was married to a man who had issues with working every day and paying his portion of the bills. This caused me great anxiety, as we couldn't survive solely on my income. A natural anxiety, all things considered, that imagined starvation and homelessness.

The problem was, in my mind the situation magnified to such a point that spending any money caused intense panic. I simply 'knew' that the minute I paid out anything, something would happen and we'd be out on the street, living in our cars. Those thoughts became so internalized, so completely ingrained, that I couldn't pay bills.

Credit counseling, in this case, wasn't the answer. I had to change my thought process; recognize that I was way over the top and doing myself serious financial damage. It took time, and counseling, but I got there. (Sadly, not before I did some serious damage to my credit rating.)

Medications

There are a number of medications that are effective for anxiety. As with any other condition, not everyone responds to all treatments. Sometimes, the side effects override the benefits.

Rather than attempt to describe all forms of medications that are prescribed for anxiety disorders, let's look at what the medications (when they work) accomplish. In a nutshell, they reduce the physical symptoms of panic attacks. By eliminating or reducing these crippling mental and emotional reactions, medications offer patients time to calmly and rationally assess the situation and manage their response to the trigger.

For Example:

In my I-can't-pay-the-bills-cuz-I'll-end-up-homeless scenario, just opening a credit card bill was enough to make my heart pound, my palms sweat. I'd get dizzy and have trouble catching my breath. Once these symptoms kicked in, there wasn't much I could do but hold on for the ride.

With medication, the extreme physical fight-or-flight didn't happen. This aborted the roller coaster ride, before it even got started. Or, more accurately, lowered the peaks and raised the valleys of the anxiety.

Because I didn't have to deal with the immediate panic, I was able to (literally) take a deep breath and do the right thing. It didn't solve the problem of a husband who was financially irresponsible. But it did keep me from giving in to damaging behavior patterns.

Bottom Line

Anxiety and panic disorders are potentially crippling conditions. They keep people from functioning and, often, lead to additional problems because of the dysfunction. Untreated, life becomes a series of ever more crippling thoughts and irrational behaviors.

Therapy or medication alone is, frequently, insufficient to combat the combination of physical and mental processes that comprise anxiety and/or panic disorders. Reducing physical symptoms and retraining thought patterns is, from my experience, the best management option.

---

1. Source: National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists, What is CBT?

---

Father's Day is difficult for me. I have 2 fathers and, at the same time, no father.

As an adopted child, I have one father who gave me up. As the adopted child of a suicide victim, I have one father who gave himself up.

It's difficult not to internalize those two situations. Difficult to not take it personally, especially on the day that celebrates fathers.

I did a post about the surrogate fathers I came to know through my first 2 husbands (wow, that sounds bad) and I truly meant exactly what I wrote. But somewhere in my heart of hearts, I really would have loved to have a father who chose me; who chose to stay.

Maybe in my next life.

For now, I simply have no choice but to try and understand that Father #1 did what he felt was best for me. And, heaven knows, suicide is not about those who are left behind. It is about the incredible emotional pain that seems to have no cure but by ending the life that holds that pain.

That one I understand. And battle with - every day.

God bless our fathers - they do the best they can. Some succeed; all leave a memory.

---

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post to this week's here.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

No matter how famous a father is, he is still, at the end of the day, a child's dad. This Father's Day, children of famous writers discuss special memories of their dads. Funny, quirky, and inspirational, these videos illustrate that the special bond between parent and child exists forever.

As we prepare to celebrate the 45th official  Father's Day, I share with you these touching rememberances** of men who may be more famous than all of my fathers. Yet, they are no less loved, cherished, and celebrated than the men I was lucky enough to call Dad - if only for a season.

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* The correct (and original) spelling is Fathers' Day, plural possessive; however, the 1913 bill that first attempted to establish the holiday spelled it Father's Day. Right or wrong, it stuck.

** My sincere thanks to Laura DeSilva at Open Road Media for sharing these amazing videos with me, and allowing me to share them with my readers.

In this, the third book in the series, Patrick and Beth go into the past to find the golden tablet. Carrying gifts from Mr. Whittaker, they barely land in China and are kidnapped by Mongol warriors. At the Mongol camp, they meet Marco Polo and are taken to the palace of Kublai Khan.

Where things only get worse: the Khan doesn't like their gifts or their message of Christianity, Beth challenges the priests' magic, and war breaks out. Kublai Khan locks up the cousins, so they won't escape. Marco Polo leaves.

What are Beth and Patrick to do? How will they find the golden tablet? What will happen to Albert?

*****

This well-written little book is a trip to China in 1621, as seen through the eyes of two 8-year-old children. Evenly paced and beautifully illustrated, it is a fascinating story. The Christian message is presented, but it doesn't overwhelm the short history lesson.

A lesson that readers, caught up in the adventure, won't realize they've been taught.

Recommended for Ages 7 and up
Fleisch-Kincaid Grade Level: 2.1

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network <http://mediacenter.tyndale.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Amazon Grocery & Gourmet Food

There are a couple of good reasons to give this section a look: 1.) wide variety of products and 2.) free shipping (orders over $25.00). And one, not so good: many items are only available in bulk - big bulk.

Still, there are some great deals. And if you sign up for regular delivery, i.e., 6pk of Folgers coffee every 2 months, the prices drop even further. (There's supposed to be an 'Add to Shopping List' option on the product detail pages, but I couldn't find it.)

Tea

We go through a lot of tea - a gallon a day, or thereabouts. That works out to about one 100-count box of tea bags, per month. At the grocery store or the corner store, we pay between $4.50 and $5.00 each; about $0.20/gallon†.

On Amazon, there is Lipton Tea Bags Cup Size 100-Count, 4pk for $17.96*, which works out to $0.18/gallon†. Or try the 312-Count Tea Bags option for $8.69*; about $0.11/gallon†.

Coffee

We make a pot of coffee most every day, primarily Folgers. A canister, 27.8 - 29.2 oz, lasts us about 30 days. The last one we bought was $9.88 {ouch} - or ~$0.33/pot†.

On Amazon, there is Folgers Brazilian Blend Ground Coffee 27.8-Ounce Canisters, 2pk for $17.13*, ~$0.29/pot†; and Half Caffeinated Ground Coffee 29.2-Ounce Canisters, 3pk for $25.12*, ~$0.28/pot†; and Classic Roast Ground Coffee 11.3-Ounce Refill Packs, 6pk for $21.65* ~$0.24/pot†.

Miscellaneous Groceries

Not everything we buy (naturally) is available through Amazon's Free Super Saver Shipping. So, I wouldn't order them here. Of the general grocery items we've been known to buy, here are a few items that are part of the free shipping program.

• Maruchan Ramen, 3oz 24ct at $8.56*, ~$0.36/each.
• Hunt's Diced Tomatoes (w/ Green Peppers, Celery & Onion), 14.5oz 12ct for $14.38*, ~$1.20/each.
• Plochman's Yellow Squeeze Mustard, 10.5oz 6ct at $8.44*, ~$1.41/each, $0.13/oz.
• Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise, 64oz 3ct at $22.51*, ~$7.50/each, $0.12/oz.
• Crisco Pure Canola Oil, 16oz 6ct at $13.70*, ~$2.28/each, $0.14/oz.
• La Moderna Spaghetti Pasta, 16oz 20ct at $14.96*, $0.75/lb.
• Frontier Onion Powder, 16oz 2ct at $11.40*, ~$0.36/oz.
• Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, 7.25oz 15ct at $19.38*, ~$1.29/each.

---

Admittedly, this is not easy shopping. If you're searching for items that you always buy, the deals may not be that much better and you may have to factor in the additional cost of shipping. Hunting down the items that are part of the free shipping program means that you may not be able to find your usual products or brands.

But, for the pantry fillers (bulk flour, sugar, pastas, or oils) or if you're willing to take the time to really look, there are some great deals to be found. And don't forget, you can sign up for regular deliveries of items you use all the time - shipping is always free.

---

* Prices are valid as of this writing.
† Price per gallon or pot depends on brewing strength; making tea or coffee stronger or weaker will increase or decrease the cost per/gallon or pot.

After traveling ten days through the desert, Cassia and Alexander arrive in Petra, only to be attacked and robbed. Forced to rely on the help of strangers, Cassia seeks Aretas' family and finds that they are the rulers of this city in stone. Her dreams of a happy life are soon dashed, however, when the new queen, Hagiru, takes Alexander and has Cassia thrown from the palace.

Seeking only a peaceful life as a stone carver, Julian is approached by Malik, the leader of Petra's church, who speaks of "the Jew's Messiah" and the future. He resists the message. But when he finds Cassia, battered and bruised on the palace steps, Julian takes her to Malik and becomes entwined in her mission to free her son, as well as the fledgling Christian church in Petra.

*****

I chose this book because of a personal fascination with Petra. I was not disappointed. The descriptions of the city are so incredible, one would expect the author had time-traveled from the ancient Nabataean capital to tell this story. A story that feels old and ... real.

While I might not have picked this title, had I known the underlying theme, a well-written book is still a well-written book. I can easily recommend it to anyone interested in the city or the time period. Or the beginnings of Christianity.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary electronic galley of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com <http://www.netgalley.com/> professional readers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Definitions

Stepping away from the article and into the study itself, there are some basic definitions that impact the understanding of this study.

It is important to note that there are differences between screening and clinical surveillance. With screening, apparently healthy people are targeted to help them make better-informed health care choices. ... Clinical surveillance, on the other hand, involves the targeted use of diagnostic tests and questionnaires to either rule out or rule in a diagnosis among people who have a relatively high probability of having that condition by virtue of having already been identified in some way.

In other words, arbitrarily screening all toddlers for autism vs. testing children whose parents and/or pediatrician have already noticed possible problems or delays in development, or who are at higher risk.

Testing

Another question in the study was the effectiveness of current testing methods.

Some tests are incredibly good at determining children who are not at risk, but frequently fail to diagnose those who are: Checklist for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Toddlers (CHAT). Even with modifications, M-CHAT, the test is unable to diagnose 15% of children with autism.

Other tests generate a number of false positives, in addition to false negatives: Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). The SCQ, according to the study, suffers from 15% false positives (not identifying children who don't have autism) and 25% false negatives (not identifying children who do have autism).

For routine community-wide testing, the available testing options were deemed insufficient. And, as the accuracy of the results are questionable, the "potential burdens on families of receiving a misdiagnosis (either a false-positive or a false-negative) may be enormous, and there might be labeling effects that can be hard to remove."

Treatment

Along with the question of accurately assessing which children have autism, there is the question of severity and treatment.

There are varying (widely varying) differences in the abilities and disabilities of children with autism. This is not measles or whooping cough, where you either have it or you don't. Each child is unique and must be treated according to his/her needs. Therein lies the problem.

Unlike interventions for phenylketonuria or congenital thyroid disease, there is no strong evidence of the effectiveness of the various autism therapies currently provided. In addition, the availability of these therapies is limited (there are waitlists often as long as >1 year in many therapy centers), and the cost is often prohibitive.

Programs for children with autism are difficult to find, difficult to get in to, and expensive. Even something as simple as behavioral therapy for a higher-functioning autistic is, pardon the term, a crap-shoot. If a program or service exists, and has room for one more, the quality of the therapy may be so poor as to be more harm than good. (I know.)

Conclusions

Strictly from the standpoint of testing all children for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), it appears that this study of current literature makes a valid point. Lacking accurate testing and readily available treatment options, arbitrarily subjecting children and families to testing seems pointless.

Ongoing research is certainly needed to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of screening programs for ASDs. ... [B]ecause the implications of instituting a major program without sound research-based evidence are so enormous, we believe that the child health community has an important responsibility to undertake [such] clinical trials as a matter of priority. At this time we recommend careful surveillance and assessment of all preschoolers who present with impairments in their development of language, social function, or cognitive skills that result in activity limitations, but we believe that community screening of all preschoolers is premature.

I repeat: "We recommend careful surveillance and assessment of all preschoolers who present with impairments in their development of language, social function, or cognitive skills that result in activity limitations." No one should, for a moment, take this study to mean that children should never be tested and families should not demand all available support and assistance. That would simply undo all of the progress that has been made.

And that, my friends, would be a crime against our children.

---

* This link to the full [PDF] article in Pediatrics  is valid as of this posting. Journals frequently limit access to full articles and, subsequent to this writing, access may be removed.

---

I think I have a problem. And if I don't get a handle on it, there won't be any room left on my blog to ... well ... blog.

I have become addicted to widgets, whats-its, gadgets, and gizmos. Every day, while visiting other bloggers and wandering the WWW, I run across some other 'cool!' tool that I just have to try out. Then, I spend hours getting it to look and work -- just right! -- on my pages.

It's not like I have nothing else I could be doing; or should be doing. It's more that they're so shiny, and pretty, and fun -- I just have to have them.

I did learn something from one of my latest toys - a link I had put on a post had moved. Dozens of visitors (okay 5 or 6) had left the same page on my blog for the same page on another site. I had to find out why, which is how I found out that the page I'd linked to had moved.

It's now fixed; too late for those other visitors. But, anyone who follows can find the information I intended to share in the first place.

I also learned that I get a lot of hits for crochet information. Have to think about that one.

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This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post to this week's here.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

By the afternoon, we had slowed to a crawl that would have left us in the tortoises's dust - had we been foolish enough to actually try to race the little critter. I started, heaven knows how many, projects only to be thwarted by a connection that wouldn't. Kept getting DNS errors - for sites like Google.

Naturally, every bit of work I do (dishes and laundry don't count) relies on a connection to the WWW. The frustration is huge; tempers are flaring.

And there is nothing that can be done until Monday.

What did we do in the old days - the days before Internet access on everything from a computer to a cell phone to a wrist watch? How did we get by; get information; function?

How did we survive ?!

It is January 6, 1965.

Agnes Lampion is in her Bright Beach, California kitchen: in labor and baking pies. Her husband, Joey, is frantic to get her to the hospital. But pies must be baked, and Maria has arrived for her English lesson. By the end of the day, Barty would be born and Joey would be dead.

In the wilds of Oregon, Junior Cain and his wife, Naomi, are hiking along an unpaved fire road. They reach the fire tower in time for lunch. Fifteen stories above the top of the ridge, they shared cheese sandwiches, dried apricots, and the incredible view. By the end of the day, Junior would be hospitalized and Naomi would be dead.

At St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco, Seraphim White is a very pregnant and very sick teenager. With extreme hypertension and pre-eclampsia, she is undergoing a battery of tests and treatments while her sister, Celestina, waits and worries. By the end of the day, Angel would be born and Phimie would be dead.

What follows is the story of how the lives of two unique children, two single mothers, one dedicated cop, and a homicidal maniac are inescapably bound together. The story of a young boy with amazing abilities; of a murderer hunting the child he believes is his mortal enemy and who is, in turn, hunted by the priest-turned-cop determined to end the evil.

It is filled with signs, symbolism, and omens good and bad. By adding quantum theory, the idea of an almost molecular connectedness in the nature of human relationships, Koontz steps beyond the ordinary. And takes his readers with him.

*****

I wasn't certain what to expect from a book that promises to give sight to a boy with no eyes. (This book was loaned to me by a friend, who hadn't read it yet.) It was an interesting ride. But, at over 600 pages, it wasn't a short one.

As far as the characters go, most of the 'good guys' were well-developed. But there are a lot of people in this book and many are given short shrift. The focus is on Barty and his family, and Junior - very nearly polar opposites in every way imaginable - and it shows.

Still, this is an engrossing novel. My only complaint would be that, after living with these characters for seventy-nine chapters and almost four years, the final 50 pages resolve all of their issues and fly them through the next 30+ years.

Oh, the recovering-sight-with-no-eyes thing? You'll love that one. I promise.

If they'd had these great replica sunglasses in those days, I'd have saved a fortune - and could have gotten a couple pair for my little shade-killer, while I was at it.

The purple ones grabbed my attention immediately - it's a personal addiction: anything purple. But the gold ones are absolutely gorgeous, even though I don't think they would offer much sun protection.

Then again - who cares? They're gorgeous.

'Awesome' Products

There are over 25 products on the LA's Totally Awesome website. From oven and grill cleaners, to laundry soap and fabric softener and stain treaters and bleach, to bathroom cleaners, to cleaners with orange or bleach or oxygen, to ammonia with lemon or pine -- there is a product for every job.

I haven't tried all of them, by any stretch of the imagination; but the ones I have used certainly live up to their press. And they're a good size. Each bottle is, depending on product, no smaller than 24 oz; most are 32 oz -- or larger.

Awesome Benefits

Just a quick line (or two) about the safety of these products:

• No acid
• No ammonia (except ammonia products)
• No bleach (except cleaners w/ bleach)
• Non-flammable
• Safe for septic tanks
• Contains no phosphorous

And they are -- Made in the USA!

Awesome Stores

We used to buy all of our 'Awesome' cleaners at the local dollar store for ... wait for it ... $1.00/bottle. Sadly, they are having a tough time and don't seem to carry most of our favorite goodies. So my mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find a new source.

There are a number of stores listed on the LA's Totally Awesome website. It's difficult to confirm exactly which stores carry which products. The best I could do was:

• Dollar Tree carries (on their website) every single solitary LA's Totally Awesome product - including my beloved Mop & Shine. The price is the same - $1.00/bottle; but they only sell in case lots online. They will ship to a local store, for free; but charge shipping to get it to your door.
• 4sgm.com is a wholesaler that offers by-the-case sales only. They seem to carry virtually all the 'Awesome' products at a lower per-unit cost than Dollar Tree -- with one huge caveat: Minimum order is $250.00. Which would work if one could get several people/families together and combine orders.
• 99¢ Only is supposed to carry LA's Totally Awesome products, but the only online sales are through their 'Club 99' program. Without signing up and logging in, it's impossible to tell what exactly they offer.
• Family Dollar and Dollar General are also listed as retailers. As best I could tell, neither offers online sales and, without visiting a store, there is no way to know exactly which products are available.
• The same holds true for the many little mom-and-pop dollar and discount stores around the country. Not part of a chain, it takes actually going through the cleaning products at the shop to know if and where you can find 'Awesome' cleaners.

I hope I've given you some help with those much-hated, but unavoidable, household jobs. Heaven knows, now that I've found my little cleaning treasures again, I'm going to be stocking up.

I am a huge fan of learning and I'm not overly picky about how. Over the years, I have taught myself to macrame and crochet by buying books and fumbling my way through until I was reasonably proficient. By picking the online-brains of those who know, I've managed to figure out (more or less) how to build a website and create a blog.

It's not, necessarily, the method that's important - it's the learning that counts.

More than the knowledge, however, recruiters and employers look for that piece of paper. Something from an institution, such as Walden University, as proof of learning; as evidence of competency. No recruiter is going to come knocking at my door with a job offer, but they do contact, and work with, colleges and universities to place graduates.

So, there are serious advantages to formal education. (Not to mention, a correspondence course in orthopedic surgery is just too scary to contemplate.) And I do contemplate the benefits, and costs, of going back to school; of getting my degree - frequently.

Being out of the workforce for as long as I have puts me at a serious disadvantage when it comes to marketable skills. But, as a primary stay-at-home caregiver, my time, travel, and financial options are severely limited. Just thinking about tuition expenses at, for example: WaldenU.edu, makes my palms sweat and my heart race.

Nonetheless, it is highly probable that within the next couple of years I'll be forced to find employment and support myself. I can do it with a rusty, outdated skillset. Or I can start investing in my future and see what educational options actually exist.

I'm hoping that the surprises will be pleasant ones.

Tribute

The film fest begins (if you have LMN) with Tribute, published in 2008 and filmed in 2009. I remember, from the synopsis, that I have read an excerpt of this one. (Off to the bookstore for me.)

From myLifetime.com:

Cilla McGowan is a former child star who has found more satisfying work restoring old houses. In search of a normal life, Cilla buys her grandmother’s farmhouse in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to rescue it from ruin. Her hope for serenity is soon eclipsed by haunting dreams of her famous grandmother, who died of a supposed overdose in the house more than 30 years ago. Cilla soon forges a romantic relationship with Ford Sawyer, her handsome new neighbor, who ultimately comforts and protects her when her dark dreams and family secrets spiral into a real-life nightmare.

Blue Smoke

Next in the line-up (if you get LMN), Blue Smoke was published in 2005 and became a Lifetime movie in 2007. It gets a lot of TV time and, although not my favorite novel-turned-movie, is pretty well done.

I'm actually in the process of revisiting Baltmore and the Hale family. Let me tell you, if you haven't read it (yet), Ms. Roberts packs a lot of action into this one volume.

From myLifetime.com:

The blaze that destroyed her family's pizzeria changed the life of young Reena Hale, forcing her family to start over from scratch. But the fire's brutal beauty and destructive power would seduce her into learning to understand and master its terrible force, leading her to become a fire investigator herself. This line of work proves to be exciting, but also has a dangerous side -- and she soon finds herself caught in a hotbed of trouble!

Carolina Moon

The third movie of the day (first for me) is Carolina Moon. Published in 2001 and filmed in 2007, this is one of Ms. Roberts delicious visits to the South - you can almost smell the magnolias.

I haven't read this one in a very long time, so I'm excited about revisiting the chills and thrills. (If Lifetime keeps this up, I'll be spending a lot more shopping-time at the bookstore.)

From myLifetime.com:

Tory Bodeen returns to her hometown in South Carolina, a place that holds violent memories of her childhood friend Hope Lavelle's murder. Coming back revives Tory's psychic visions of what happened that fateful night, and she becomes determined to unearth the truth, enlisting the help of Hope's hunky older brother. However, the murderer has been waiting all these years for her return -- and it may be someone closer to her than she realizes!

Carnal Innocence

Last in the line-up and published almost 20 years ago, Carnal Innocence is the newest Nora Roberts novel-become-movie. And this is its Lifetime premiere. This may have been, I'll have to check, Ms. Roberts' first trip south of the Mason-Dixon. Happily, it wasn't her last.

I haven't read this one in, at least, a dozen years. How wonderful it will be to 'see' everyone, again. (Just one more trip to the bookstore to replace my copy of this great story.)

From myLifetime.com:

After suffering a professional setback, world-renowned violinist Caroline Waverly decides to head to Innocence, Mississippi, where she spent summers as a child, for some peace and solitude away from the spotlight. Shortly after arriving, Caroline meets the arrogant but charming Tucker Longstreet, a member of one of the town’s most prominent families, who is quickly smitten by her. But Caroline’s dreams for tranquility turn into a nightmare when she discovers the body of a young woman, the possible victim of a serial killer whom the authorities suspect may be Tucker. Caroline soon discovers that even in a town called Innocence, secrets have no place to hide.

Enjoy! I intend to have a great time - just need the popcorn and my favorite afghan!

Wildlife Protection

Hunting is illegal in Kenya. Period. Intending to stop big game hunters, the government's blanket law has been applied at all levels - including traditional tribes. In addition, Ol Kinyei (where the tribe and three lion prides coexist) has recently been set aside by a Maasai community as a wildlife sanctuary.

The Ol Kinyei Conservancy, part of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, "covers an area of 8,500 acres in the Koyaki Lemek area of the greater Mara ecosystem." A 4-hour trip from Nairobi, it is a pristine wilderness that is home to plains, forests, streams and rivers, and a wide variety of animal species. It deserves to be protected.

Allowing man to slaughter its animals, in this time of ever-decreasing animal populations in the wild, should be aggressively discouraged. And yet ...

Lifestyle Protection

"In a time when stories about endangered wildlife regularly hit the headlines, few people seem to notice that incredible human cultures are being lost; ‘like swatting a mosquito – no-one seems to notice’." This is the threat to the Dorobo.

This Kenyan tribe has hunted, gathered, and scavenged on these plains for generations. When they were unable to make a kill to feed their families, they bravely (or foolishly) took from the lions. If the hunt was good, they left the excess for the lions.

Living in harmony with the lions, almost symbiotically, they know the Ol Kinyei and they share it, peacefully. But because other humans cannot share, cannot live in peace and harmony with nature, the Dorobo way of life is as threatened as that of the lions.

Choices

Hopefully, there are choices.

Jackson Looseyia, who runs a safari lodge in the Masaai [sic] Mara, has started employing Dorobo men to be spotters and trackers for his tourists. Jackson says, 'If the Dorobo way of life disappears, so too does their knowledge. The Dorobo can spot and name any distant bird or animal, identify any nearby track or noise, and tell the story of hunt through reading the tracks in the sand.'

Only time will tell if an entire culture must be sacrificed to save the animals of the Masai Mara.

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* Actually, from what I've been able to determine, there is no specific 'Dorobo' tribe. The term Dorobo "referred to the original forest-dwelling hunters in the Rift Valley of what is now Kenya and Tanzania." Various unrelated groups are called by that name, possibly originating from the Maasai word Torobo which sounds very much like Dorobo and means 'poor people (who do not have cattle)'.

Eight births - all at 2100 on 21 December 2012 and all bearing a birthmark on the right calf - signal the Time of Becoming. One of those children, according to prophecy, has the potential to end the world as we know it. Putting the destiny of the world in the hands of a chosen defender, should Matthew Samael Serafino grow to power.

Jump thirty-six years, to 2048. The Earth is in trouble, after years of man's inhumanity to the planet. Technology has advanced; religion has gone underground. And Paul Binder, a cultural history professor born at the same time as the Eight, receives a mysterious letter, sending him on a quest to find the 2nd-century Diatessaron manuscript and "unlock the future of your world."

What follows is a journey, filled with prophesies and strange events, reaching from one possible future back into ancient traditions and forward again. Travel with Paul and the Eight from the United States to England; to Egypt, the Sahara, Israel, Syria, Italy, France, and the Cave of St. Anne on Patmos - where it is believed John wrote "Revelation." Share Paul's struggle to find and decipher hidden clues, and realize his destiny.

In the end, there is only one possible answer.

***

I am not a student of "Revelation" or ancient and/or religious symbols and texts. It is, however, with a little thought, not difficult to examine the world around us and imagine where we might be heading. The possibilities in this book are unnerving, a little frightening, and not inconceivable.

If you believe that we are heading "to hell in a handbasket," you should read this book. The 'Alphabet of the Apocalypse' in Part V will make you think; will make you question. It will make you search for answers, before it's too late.

If you don't believe our world is in trouble, you must  read this book. For the very same reasons.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

A parental poll, cited in the article, was specifically asking about Fragile X Syndrome. An incurable genetic condition, FXS is caused by a change in the FMR1 gene which makes a protein that is required for proper growth of the brain. The mutation makes the gene produce little, or none, of this protein.

Symptoms include delayed motor skills (crawling and/or walking), hand clapping or biting, hyperactivity, mental retardation, speech and/or language delay, and avoidance of eye contact. Only about 1 in 4,000 boys and 1 in 6,000 girls develop Fragile X Syndrome.

Yes

There are those who want to know; who want to be prepared for possibilities. All possibilities.

As rare as the syndrome is, parents feel the need to know.

No

Some parents don't believe in testing infants unnecessarily. Others believe, as one mother put it, "Knowing can cause anxiety. The chances of it happening are very small; don't know how it will unfold. Not knowing will not make you treat your child a certain way."

Me (and You?)

Personally, I don't think I'd want to know. Being a chronic worrier, I'd drive myself and my child crazy looking for signs and symptoms that probably weren't there. And, heaven forbid, my child should develop FXS - would knowing sooner have any positive effect?

What about you? Would you want your child tested? Why or why not?

To My Grocery Store:

We purchase your store-brand products because they are less expensive and perform virtually as well as some of the name-brands. It should come as no surprise that we expect those products to continue to be a good value.

Today, my dear store, you disappointed me.

I picked up a box of quart-size freezer bags - the same ones I've been buying for months - only to find that there were now 5 fewer bags in the box. What was $0.0796/per bag is now $0.0995/per bag. Or the equivalent of a 25% increase in price.

In other words, I now have to buy 5 boxes of bags to accomplish what I did with 4 boxes. What I used to get done for $8.00, will now take $10.00 and more trips to the store. This is just bad news, no matter which way you look at it.

Oh, in your defense, dear store, you did add a white field to these fewer bags; a place, theoretically, where I can mark what I bagged and when. Sadly, I was already doing that - with a permanent pen - on the bags that didn't cost me quite so much. So, in all honesty, I'd rather have the missing - plain - freezer bags.

They did the job. At a price that was a decent value. It wasn't broken; you shouldn't have fixed  it.

Signed,

A Not-So-Satisfied Shopper