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The toddler leash revisited {ParentDish}
Jan 12th 2007 3:12PM When I was a teen in the 70s, I thought leashes were for dogs. Boy was I CLUELESS! My first baby was a breeze ... until her brother was born when she was Terrible Two. Whether I was holding him in my arms or pushing the stroller or grocery cart, Big Sis refused to hold my hand or stay next to me. The day she ran into the street while we were out for a walk decided it: I packed them into the car & headed straight to the store to buy the leash. I prepared for a big fight, but she thought it was a novelty and always enjoyed wearing it. She never seemed to notice she wasn't getting very far, and actually seemed to believe she had greater freedom. It was a paradox. As for Little Brother, he was born with a mind of his own, so there was never any question but that he was going to be a Leashed Boy. He didn't put up a fight about wearing it, but he didn't exactly seem as charmed by it as his sister had been. He seemed more resigned to his fate than anything. He was well-behaved as long as he was wearing it in public, but the minute it came off for any reason, he was possessed by the mischievous spirit. In the end, that leash saved all of us a lot of headaches and heartaches, and may be the reason both of my children survived to give me grandchildren ;)
Thin but not necessarily healthy? You may be a Tofi {That's Fit}
Dec 12th 2006 4:22PM To Katie who is 5'4"/110lbs: You're on the right track with watching your diet, but please lose your hesitancy to exercise. Weight training will build your weight, because muscle weighs more than fat. More importantly, it will prevent fat accumulation around your vital organs, which is the issue with TOFI - something far more dangerous than simply being underweight. Weight training, along with aerobics, will also strengthen your heart - something that's also more important than simply being underweight. To maximize the benefits of aerobic exercise, try water aerobics, which combines aerobics with the natural resistance of water acting like weight training. Your body will appreciate the effort as you age, because it prevents bone loss (osteoporosis), prevents injuries from tearing or straining long-unused, atrophied muscles (a risk that increases with age and number of years without exercising), and it will increase the efficiency of your cardio-respiratory systems (which tends to decline with age). Another thing that happens with age is that our metabolism slows down each year, tending to become more noticeable between the ages of 30-40, and averaging about a gain of a pound per year for most. You don't say how old you are, but don't count on struggling with being underweight for the rest of your life. I, too, am 5'4", and before I turned 30 I bounced between 100-110, always struggling to keep the weight on. I thought 115 would be ideal, so within months after my 30th birthday, I was pleased to finally hit my goal .... but then I just kept gaining. By my 31st birthday, I was 130lbs, even while continuing to exercise (cutting back on the weight training and adding more aerobics). It was a totally new thing to have to limit my caloric intake to 1600 nutrition-packed calories a day, but even with that deprivation, I continued to GAIN, NOT LOSE. I've finally stabilized @ 140, and it's a daily struggle to maintain that weight. I can't even imagine how bad it could have been if I'd neglected to exercise throughout my 20's. I'm just glad I got into the habit back then, because it was hard enough just adjusting my diet. Good luck to you.
10 best bras ever {Stylelist}
Sep 13th 2006 10:17AM I need a bra that offers back support. I'm 5'4", started out as a 36C but benign fibrocystic tumors have pushed me up to a 38D. Large breasts are a heavy load to carry on one's shoulders, & mine are getting heavier each year. I don't think it's good for all that weight to be supported by 3/4"-1" straps in the mid-shoulder region -- that puts all the strain on the neck & upper back, between the shoulder blades. Also, ever since the brassiere was invented, those straps have caused many women to suffer from pinched nerves. Another thing - bra straps are actually deforming women's shoulders. Normal, natural shoulders are rounded, but if you look at modern women's shoulders, you see a dip or a depression which is caused by carrying 3-5lbs or more of weight directly on that spot ... and that damages the underlying tissues, causing pinched nerves. I say we get back to the sensible & sexy BODICE - not the shape-altering corsets that destroyed internal organs, but the ancient method of support that lifted from beneath the breast, and acted as a back brace without cutting into armpits or shoulders. If you try a good bodice, you'll discover that it lifts a great weight off your shoulders.
Would you light your kid's cigarette? {ParentDish}
Aug 7th 2006 3:25PM Those stupid smokers lawsuits! I don't remember ever seeing a pack of smokes withOUT the "Smoking is dangerous to your health" warning because it was mandatory to put that on the packs in 1962. Then 30 years later people started suing, and even today they're STILL saying, "The tobacco companies lied!" I hate seeing all these nonsmokers who drive cars everywhere blame all illnesses on smoking and complaining that smoking is so "nasty." Motor vehicle fumes STINK, people! I'd rather smell cow manure than auto exhaust. And let's not forget that people who work in manufacturing are dying daily so all you PC rabid anti-smoker SUV drivers are safer and more comfortable in your vehicles. Just about every component of your car damaged the lungs, liver, kidneys, brains and joints of the people who made it for you. Don't blame all rising health care costs on smokers, when you contribute just by insisting on having a certain standard of living. If you want to make America healthier, go completely Caveman... but then that, of course, comes with its own risks. Just get off your holier-than-thou horse, because everyone who uses modern conveniences (which we think are "necessities") contributed to killing the factory workers in my family. Unless you walk everywhere, you're contributing to asthma, emphysema, and other lung ailments, as well as global warming. So don't think you're so superior to smokers. And don't tell me that "at least we get benefits from using motor vehicles for transportation," because the only "benefit" is to decrease the risk of osteoarthritis ... big deal, that disease doesn't kill anyone. P.S. there were as many nonsmokers as smokers among my factory-worker relatives who died from all those ailments; the doctors and nurses in our family said "At least the smokers had SOME kind of enjoyment out of life before dying at such a young age from BENZENE EXPOSURE. Too bad the nonsmokers didn't even have that pleasure." The weird thing is that my maternal grandfather's family all used tobacco from the age of 12 or 16, but they live into their 90s and die from Alzheimers - and now they're saying smoking may delay the onset of that disease. So for all you know, Melanie might be helping her daughter live longer. Nobody lives forever, everybody's got to die of something. We all make the best choices we can based on HOW WE WOULD PREFER TO DIE. But don't forget your own responsibility in contributing to the deaths of factory workers.
Ten ways to help mom get in the mood {ParentDish}
Jul 8th 2006 1:46AM How on earth does housework "EMASCULATE" a man as some are saying? That makes no sense! I just finished the dishes, which I washed with my HANDS, not with any parts of my body that make me female. When my guy does dishes, he doesn't use his masculine parts. We both have HANDS, we both have HEADS to think with, HEARTS to love with. We can both do housework, we can both earn money, and we can work together as a team. That turns me on and inspires my desire for him.
Ten ways to help mom get in the mood {ParentDish}
Jul 7th 2006 9:38PM Wow, I thought the article basically pointed out that an exhausted woman doesn't feel sexy. And WHEN a woman starts to feel like she's the executive giving orders to an assistant, it disrupts the romantic relationship. That's a conflict that turns into a power struggle, leading to zero desire - who wants to bring pleasure to someone who gives you grief? Who wants to acquiesce to someone who demands sex? What woman can relax enough to feel sensual pleasure with a man who hasn't proved himself worthy of her trust? For those who equate pitching in to "exchanging work for sex = prostitution": You're in that power struggle. If you think you're "helping out," then you're saying it's HER responsibility, even if you're nice enough to share HER jobs. That's still part of the power struggle. My ex boasted that he was liberated because he not only didn't mind if his woman worked, he thought it was great - it meant more money. Of course he came home from his job and sat on his rearend all night, all weekend. As far as the housework or babies went, he made it a power struggle - and on top of it, he wanted full control of the finances. That's why he's my ex. I found someone better. The man I've devoted my life to gives people a funny look if they compliment him for "helping out." His attitude is, "We're in this together. We both live here." Like Sheryl said, "getting along is the goal here." Like Candace said, when we (a couple) take care of business we get to enjoy relaxation time together w/o worrying about what's yet to be done. And she's right on the money about "an independent man who can take care of himself" - there is nothing sexier in a man than that. Just gives me shivers all over. That's the kind of man I want to please.
Can AOL make up for $2 billion in lost subscriptions? {BloggingStocks}
Jul 7th 2006 3:44AM I've been with AOL since 1997, met my long-term partner in an AOL chatroom soon after joining, and we've been together since then. We moved in together the following year, and a year after that he cancelled his account, so we've been sharing this one. Now we're buying our first house together, and need to cut back on expenses. We've been paying for cable internet access since 2000, but kept AOL because it had the best email program for sending pictures to our families. That's it - the only reason. But now other free email programs have made it easier to send pictures, so there's really no reason to pay $15/mo. just to have & use AOL software, on top of the $70 for our cable internet subscription. I'll be making the switch to aim.com for email and IM, and will gladly put up with the ads.
Microsoft no longer fits in Redmond, Wash {BloggingStocks}
Jul 5th 2006 4:33PM People are always wanting to move where there are no other people, then when other people start moving in the first-comers want out. But people who complain of traffic and crowding still want jobs, services, conveniences and luxuries. "Out of sight, out of mind," I guess. I admit to grousing about crowded conditions. I don't want to live in the city because it's noisy, traffic is congested, and that all adds up to a lot of pollution. But yet I sure do like my computer and all the amenities of a modern life - none of which would be possible without the workers who make it happen. Those workers have to live somewhere. Their work has to be done somewhere. Since I'm aware of the complexities, I would be disingenuous to snark too much about the evils of Microsoft. Those who snark unawares are simply naive.
Starbucks donates coffee to troops after all {BloggingStocks}
Jul 5th 2006 4:01PM This rumor is so old it was around when my boyfriend was still moonlighting at Starbucks. He hasn't worked there since 2004. It's a RUMOR, but I don't see what the big deal is, anyway. I've been on fundraisers for small local charities, and we went to various businesses for donations. Sometimes we got turned down, depending on the charity, but it always came with a letter explaining the company policy in such matters. My attitude is: BIG DEAL - IT'S A CHARITY. We're asking people to voluntarily give us stuff -- $ or goods. People and businesses have the right to choose what charities they want to donate to. "The Military" is generally not considered to be a charititable organization, and neither are its divisions, or even individual troops. When I want to donate to soldiers or their families that I don't personally know, I look for organizations that manage collections and package mailings - there are lots of them in just about every U.S. town. Starbucks employees get a free pound of coffee each week, and the company got the word out to employees letting them know how to connect with those "soldier support" charities in their local communities. Even though it's not company policy to donate to the military or to individual soldiers, they give the nod to any employee who volunteers to gather the employee donations for the week to do so "on the clock." Also, customers sometimes buy a pound of coffee to add to the week's collections, and the volunteer takes care of those, too. It's not a grand gesture for the company to pay the volunteer the regular hourly wage for those minutes, since it only takes a short amount of time to pack the coffee & other items for delivery to (or pick up by) the charities - but that's a far cry from behaving like a rabidly anti-war/anti-military company. If Starbucks policy was to get all political in opposing the war, the company would, I'm sure, emphasize that all collections for the troops must be managed OFF the clock. Personally, I'm not crazy about Starbucks coffee, but it's not an evil company.
US's Most Sweaty Cities {Gadling}
Jul 1st 2006 7:19PM "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" - but all that means is how much sweat gets evaporated within a given amount of time. You'll pretty much sweat the same amount in a given temperature, but if the air is already saturated with moisture (humidity), your sweat will evaporate more slowly. So in a humid environment, you'll feel warmer than the temperature says, plus you'll feel wet & sticky on top of it.
Phoenix is getting more humidified from all the snowbirds who moved there for the weather but didn't think it was a home without Kentucky blue grass & a backyard swimming pool. They imported all these rain-sucking plants for their yards & gardens, but Phoenix doesn't get much rain so they have to suck tons of water from the reservoirs to keep those foreign plants watered. I've heard from old-timers who said when they used to fly over Phoenix it was a desert, now they fly over and see green patches where people planted water-sucking grasses so they can have lawns to mow just like they did back home. They say every year there's more green - individual lawns are running together and the city is sprawling. Those old-timers tell me that the lawns and swimming pools have made Phoenix much more humid than it was even back in the 1970s and 80s. I've only been there once, on a trip from my native Great Lakes, in 1996. We don't get as much humidity as Florida or the rest of the Southeast, but we do get much more than New York City. To me, Phoenix felt about as humid as East Texas - Bayou Country, a.k.a. swampland. A lot more humid than anywhere I've lived in the Great Lakes States. I don't know if that's just because it was something like 115F degrees in Phoenix, so any little bit of humidity felt more oppressive. All I know is it FELT more humid than I feel right now sitting between two swamps in the Northeast. We have 80F degrees, with winds SSW @ 14mph, and relative humidity of 45%, so it feels like all of 81F degrees. The weather report for Phoenix says it's 107F degrees with winds W @ 8 mph and 15% relative humidity, so it feels like 104F degrees. That's still a lot hotter than our humid 81F, so I'm betting those people are sweating a lot more than I am.
