Swine Flu - Q&A - Take a Read

Some Frequently asked questions answered regarding the "Swine Flu".

Q&A: Swine Flu Myths and Mysteries

http://www.livescience.com/health/090427-flu-q-and-a.html

Swine Flu - Symptoms - Good Article

Here's another good article about symptoms regarding the Swine Flu and when you should seek medical care.

Swine flu: Know symptoms, but don't panic

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090428/OPINION03/904280305/1005/rss32

Swine Flu - Before you panic - read this

Swine Flu - Before you start panicing about another "plague" outbreak - read the following article.

1976: Fear of a great plague

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1976.html

Exercise Tips - No Excuse for No Time

Don't have time? No problem! Tries these tips to help you get in some form of exercise during the week:

• Take 15-20 minutes of your lunch break to take a brisk walk outside
• While brushing your teeth in the AM & PM - perform some standing leg work like lunges, leg lifts, calf raises, squats, etc.
• Right before bedtime - you can even do this while lying in bed! - perform some crunches and reverse crunches for those ab muscles
• Take 15 minutes in the evening or later afternoon - turn up the music and dance to your hearts desire!
• Doing housework? Instead of trying to carry everything up the stairs at once - make multiple trips to burn some calories.

Weight Watchers Tips

Trying to lose weight using the Weight Watchers Points system? Great start. Here are some tips that helped me to stay within my daily and weekly points range.

• Eat foods higher in fiber and lower in fat and calories – they are worth less points and keep you fuller longer
• If you are craving a snack or sweet – try having flavored tea first and see if it satisfies your craving. If you still have the craving for a snack or sweet pay attention to portion size - 2 cookies is the average serving, 1/2 cup ice cream, 1 oz M&Ms, etc.
• At night – brush your teeth when you put the kids to bed or around 7:30-8pm or so – you will be less likely to want to snack on anything other than water if you’ve already brushed your teeth for the night
• Save your extra points for the weekend – that’s where you will most likely use them the most. I found it more manageable to stay with my allotted daily points during the work week and then use the extra weekly points mainly on the weekends as my schedule was more up in the air and you never know what you would be eating where as well as what kind of events were happening.
• At meals, fill up on your veggies and fruits first - then move on to protein and carbs.
• Participate in activities and exercise to gain more points – a brisk 20 minute walk will gain you about 1 point to use - just imagine if you walked 20 minutes 5 times a week? That’s another 5 points to use on the weekends!

Hopefully by following these tips they will help you to lose the weight faster and keep it off!! Good luck!

One Flaw In Women

A friend of mine forwarded me this in an email and I thought it was worth sharing.

One Flaw In Women

Women have strengths that amaze men. They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up to injustice. They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution. They go without so their family can have. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards. They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding. Their hearts break when a friend dies. They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left. They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart. Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how much they care about you. The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning. They bring joy, hope and love. They have compassion and ideas. They give moral support to their family and friends. Women have vital things to say and everything to give. HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN, IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

How to Save Money Grocery Shopping

One of the simplest and biggest savers I have found to be - switch which grocery store chain you go to!! It took me nearly a year to convince my husband that if we switched to Market Basket from Shaws or Hannafords - we could save a bundle! (Yes - he does the grocery shopping because he does it better than me.) Finally, after many financial changes this past 6 months - he figured "what the heck - I'l l try Market Basket and see how it goes." Well - when he came home with the receipt and saved approximately $40 (if we had gone to Shaws instead) he was convinced. I find that we save an average of $30 to $40 per week which comes out to approximately $90 to $120 a month!! Just think what you could do with that extra money!! A few other tips are:

• buy store brand items
• clip coupons (I tend to only clip coupons on items I buy frequently - diapers, wipes, formula, detergent, etc. as it can take some time)
• buy in bulk when on sale

Hopefully these tips will help some of you save some money - it sure helped me!!

The Toes Have It!

I love the warmer weather - it means pretty painted toes!! And cute, chubby baby toes, and long, awkward toddler toes too!!

Potty Fairy - UPDATE

And so I'm finding the thrill of the "Potty Fairy" to be very short lived at this point. We have had no more attempts or even desires to use the potty. She's actually gone to the opposite end of the spectrum in that she seems almost afraid to use it at this point. My thoughts are to back off for awhile and try again in a month or when she seems more interested. I'm not big on pushing kids into something they are not ready to do yet especially at such a young age (she will not be 3 until July). Some people may not agree with me on this but I feel that she is going through a difficult stage right now where we have a lot of "No's" coming from her and defiance - partly I think due to the fact that her young sister (now 9 months) is more active and requires more attention as well as all of the new information she has learned (colors, letters, numbers, etc.) so I think it's a lot for a 2 1/2 year old toddler to deal with right now. I'm hoping by the summer she will be more interested (and have more success) in the Potty Training area. But for now I'm OK with her still being in diapers (as much of a pain as it is at times). She is my first baby and so maybe some milestones will come later than others.

Should we have one more??

As I read an article in Parents magazine (see link to article below), I begin to realize this is exactly as I feel right now. Should we have one more? Then I think "Am I crazy?" The immediate questions that come to mind are "Can we afford another baby? Can we mentally handle another baby? Will by husband and I get through having another baby and still be married in the end?" My husband and I both come from families of 3 so 3 just seems to be the right number for some reason to me. My gut tells me I'm not done yet so I guess that means I'm not. The next question is "When do we have another one?" We currently have a toddler and infant at home who keep us constantly on our toes so I'm thinking it's going to be awhile yet. We'll see.

http://www.parents.com/getting-pregnant/considering-baby/another/should-we-have-one-more/

Right Now

As I'm watching the movie "Marley & Me" the other night with my husband and 2 1/2 year old daughter, I realize that this is a lot like my life. Around the middle of the movie when they have their second baby who's colicky, the mom decides to leave her job to be a stay-at-home mom (I wish we could afford for me to), you and your husband are on different ends of the spectrum on what seems like everything, the dog (or dogs in my case) always seem to bark or pee on the floor at the most inopportune moment (you know - when you're trying to get the baby down for a nap or just finished cleaning up a really messy diaper and had to give the baby a bath due to the really messy diaper), there's never enough money, life is as crazy as it gets (or so it seems at the time), and you wonder when you will ever get your equilibrium back - yeah - that's where I'm at. But then you have those moments when you are rocking the baby to sleep at bedtime and they cuddle into you for warmth, or your toddler hugs you, rubs your cheek and tells you not to be sad when you cry at a movie, or your 2 crazy dogs cuddle up next to you at the end of the night when both kids have gone to sleep or your husband wraps his arms around you from behind and nuzzles you on the neck...and then you know that all is OK...life is perfect and you wonder why you ever thought different...yeah...I'm there too.

Why I Voted for Obama

I tend not to listen to the politics side and to go with my gut when voting. My gut was already leaning heavily towards Obama for this last major election, but the final push was the following article I read in "Parents" magazine (see links below).

The Next First Family: Q&A with the Obamas
http://www.parents.com/family-life/work-money-politics/election-2008/the-obamas/
Q&A with Cindy McCain
http://www.parents.com/family-life/work-money-politics/election-2008/cindy-mccain/

What struck me with these two articles was that the Obama family came together as a family for the interview (which was the main topic of the interview) and the McCain family did not (only Cindy McCain was available - John McCain and children were too busy traveling, etc.)

In the end, I wanted someone in the Oval Office who would do right by my family. And my belief (especially after reading these articles) is that Obama was the best person for the job.