Family

Our family is growing. We are now 4 generations. We started out by ourselves 58 years ago and now there are 4 children and their mates. They all have families and some of those children are married now. We have 14 grandchildren. Some of those have their own children also and now there are 6 great grandchildren. My how time flies. It gets harder and harder to get everyone into the family pictures each year. We had a great Christmas as one of our twin daughters and her husband opened their home to our whole family and lots came except those who were sick. We had much good tasty food and I am sure we all added a couple pounds to our waistlines. Back on the exercise machines for us! I hope everyone had such a wonderful Christmas with their families as we did.

Cereals

What is your favorite cereal for breakfast or even for snacking during the day? Do you like to mix various cereals together? I have been trying that and find that I like it. By adding another cereal to shredded wheat mini wheats, it gives you a whole new cereal and you can add some crunch to it depending on what you use.

I like Oatmeal Crisp and I also have some Honeycomb and our little dog, Holly, thinks she has to help me eat my breakfast. I like to cut a banana up on top of it too and she likes a little piece of that now and then. She sits beside me and talks to me about the breakfast food, until I give her a little bit. Little bits satisfy her and she is happy and she gets to lick the bowl before it goes into the dishwasher. She looks forward to that.

Church Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Sunday and time to go to church. I caught a heck of a cold though and tonight I feel rotten. I don't know if I will be going. I don't want to give it to anyone else. My husband has been coughing for a couple of weeks so the germs were flying. It seems like no matter how much you wash your hands and try to keep the germs away, they tend to sneak up on you. As someone said once "I forgot how much fun a cold could be" NOT! This week has been so mixed up, it has felt like we have had several Mondays and several Saturdays and maybe next week will get back to normal, whatever that is :0)

Kitchen Sinks

If you are thinking of replacing your sinks, you want to look into kitchen sinks as a great place to find what you are looking for. They have all the name brands and the most beautiful sinks in all types of finishes to match your kitchen decor. Before you go anywhere else, check into their website for a huge selection of fine sinks.

Reading and Magazines

Yesterday was a good day to catch up on my reading. I was getting behind on newspapers and got 2 new magazines so sat down and read through everything. I spend so much time blogging and making money at it, that I get behind on everything else.

I also watched a number of my favorite shows I had on tape. I was piling up a pile of those too and caught up on exercising on the Gazelle. I can't get behind on that. Sometimes you just need a day when you sit and basically do little or nothing and yesterday was one of those good days. Took a nap too.

I just heard on television that the latest study shows if you get a good night's sleep, it is good for your heart and you will probably never have heart trouble. I should never have any heart trouble, because I can nap in the daytime, fall asleep in front of the TV, get up and go to bed at 10 and sleep till 6 or 7. It is a blessing to be able to sleep like that when so many are taking something to help them sleep.

Island Struggles to Deal with Epidemic of Monkeys

How would you like to be overrun with monkeys? Especially monkeys carrying diseases. In Puerto Rico. the easy life is over for hundreds of monkeys, some harboring herpes and hepatitis. They have run wild through southwestern Puerto Rico for more than 30 years. Now authorities have launched a plan this month to capture and kill the monkeys before they spread across the entire island, threatening agriculture, native wildlife and possibly people.

Some animal experts and farmers who have complained for years about the rhesus and patas monkeys think it may be too late already. Dr. Mark Wilson, director of the Florida International Teaching Zoo which has helped find zoos willing to take some of the animals, feels they will never get rid of the patas monkeys there. They may go deep into the forest, but they will never go away. There are just too many of them and they are too smart.

Rangers began trapping them in cages that are about 10 feet long, bated with food and equipped with a trip lever. Two of 16 monkeys were released with radio collars for further tracking too. There are at least 1000 monkeys from at least 11 distinct colonies in the Lajas Valley. Officials decided shooting the monkeys was more humane than lethal injection. They regret having to kill the monkeys but have no choice since 92 organizations have rejected them. The scourge of non-native animals in Puerto Rico is particularly acute because of its lush climate and lack of predators.

Animal treatment is a sensitive topic in Puerto Rico, when there were seized 80 cats and dogs from a housing project and hurled them off a bridge. In May, a veterinarian confirmed that 400 racehorses, many in perfect health, were killed by injection in Puerto Rico each year.

Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn

Congratulations are in order for Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn. They have just welcomed their third daughter, Emery Hope Sehorn into their family. Emery was born on Thursday and Harmon's publicist reported the birth. The actress, who is 36 and former NFL player, Jason Sehorn, age 37, were married in 2001 and have two daughters, Finley, 5 and Avery 3. That is a nice family. I really loved watching Angie in "The Murder Wives" and hope it comes back on television again. She played a rough and tough cop. She is a beautiful lady.

Hate Crimes Rising Across Russia

Thugs are blaming migrants for the financial crisis and more than 100 foreigners have been killed due to this. A group of skinheads gunned down a man on a Moscow street, cut off his head and emailed a picture of the gruesome trophy to rights groups. A spike in hate attacks against non-Slavic migrants with Asian or Middle-Eastern features has gotten worse and the experts say it is due to the rapidly spreading economic crises. It is Russia's worst in a decade. Four times as many foreigners have been killed in apparent hate attacked this year than in 2004.

The poor people of impoverished, former Soviet republics have moved to Moscow to take low paying jobs in Moscow's once booming economy but things have changed. The killers who are still at large, warned of more violence unless the Kremlin expels what they called the black occupiers. It is sad when people are just trying to exist and feed themselves and their families are killed for moving to another location in Russia.

Win a Gift Box of Ferrero Chocolates

There is a great contest going on at Jenna's blog between now and Monday, Dec. 22, at 5:30 p.m. Check it out. She is going to give away 7 Ferrero Chocolate Christmas tree gift boxes filled with Ferrero chocolates and all you have to do is leave a comment on her post with your e-mail address. Then on Monday, December 22, at 5:30 p.m. CST, she will randomly draw 7 winners and they will get an e-mail immediately. Who wouldn't want to win a prize like that. I know I would. So hurry over to her website and get your entry in to win that box of chocolates.

The great part of this giveaway is that the Ferrero Company is in their second straight year of partnering with Share Our Strength. This is one of the nation's leading organizations working to make sure no child grows up hungry in America. So far they have given $150,000 to this organization and you can add to that amount as well. It is easy. All you have to do is go to Share Something Sweet and "send something sweet". That is a customized e-card, and then Ferrero will donate another $1 per card sent. They will match this up to $10,000, In addition to that, for every person who joins the Ferrero facebook page, "Ferrero Lovers Unite," they will donate another $1 to Share Our Strength - up to $1,000. Let's all help the hungry children of our country, the good old USA and get a chance to win a lovely box of Ferrero chocolates.

Tarmac Protest Raises Security Question

News out of London England reported that environmental protesters cut through the perimeter fence of Britain's third largest airport and occupied the tarmac. This forced the cancellation of more than 50 flights and raised questions over the vulnerability of airports. Two waves of protesters arrived at Stansted Airport before dawn. Using an old fire truck for cover, the first group sliced through the fence with bolt cutters. A second group ran through the gap. The action was meant to protest a possible second runway and escalating carbon emissions. Police arrested 57 people. They were right in arresting them for breaking in by cutting the fence.

Sleep Number Bed

Did you know that 9 out of 10 couples do not sleep well on their mattress because each of them would like something different? One would like a very soft mattress they could sink into dreamland. The other would like a firm mattress that makes them feel more rested in the morning. Now there is a solution to this problem. By getting a sleep number bed each one of them can adjust their side of the bed to their liking. There is just nothing like a good night's sleep to make you feel like a new person in the morning, more full of energy and less aches and pains. Check out their great selection. My son and his wife bought one and they say it is the best. And they tried a great many and returned them until they found this mattress.

Bank will Extend Credit to Plant

The creditor of a Chicago plant where laid off employees are conducting a sit-in to demand severance pay, said it would extend limited loans to the factory so it could resolve the dispute. However, the workers declared their protest unfinished. The Republic Windows and Doors factory closed last week after Bank of America canceled its financing.

About 200 laid off workers responded by staging a sit-in at the plant. They vowed to stay until getting assurances they would receive severance and accrued vacation pay. I really can't blame them. I know if I had vacation pay coming, I would want that for sure.

Their action brought national attention and was seen by some as a symbol of defiance for workers laid off nationwide. When the bank announced that it had sent a letter to r\Republic offering to "provide a limited amount of additional loans" to resolve the employee claims, a resolution appeared closer.

Monex Precious Metals

With the economy so unstable and seemingly getting worse all the time, everyone is looking for a safe place to invest their wealth so that it secure. That is why many people have turned to Monex Precious Metals over the years. Monex has been in the precious metals business for over 30 years and they have the most dedicated staff of professionals to help you invest your funds. Both gold and silver have been for centuries, the safest investments. People from all over the world have purchased bullion to preserve their wealth. Check into their website and see if this is the solution for you as well.

Polar Bear Club

The Polar Bear Clubs seem to be getting more popular all the time. I think it was in Chicago that I saw the first bunch of people jump into frigid water in their bathing suits. I think they are nuts. The hypothermia has got to be risky but the water is soooo cold, I just don't know how they do it. Now, there is a club here and we watched them on television run through snow barefoot in tiny swim suits and bikinis and jump into the lake. I got cold just watching them. It is insane in this weather to do this I think. I wonder how many of them got frostbite out of the deal or hypothermia, because it has been so very cold this year, more so than normal. You would never catch me doing something like that.

Time for a New Battery

Our car battery is 8 years old and is 2 years past it's guarantee and it still starts great in this below zero weather. But with the new batteries, like this one, they can just die on you at any moment. So tomorrow we will be going in to get a new 6 year guaranteed battery to be sure we are safe for the winter. It has a 2 year free replacement too if anything goes wrong the first two years. I think that is a good warranty.

We will have it done here in our home town where we know the people who work on our cars and we can trust them to advise us on what is best for us to buy. We have had an account with them for 38 years now and bought a new set of tires last winter from them and they are very good tires. Everything on our car has really lasted so we know it is a good quality car and we are glad we bought it when we did.

Wedding Website

A wedding is such an important part of your life that you want to be sure that everything is done right and yet you do not want to spend your life savings on it. That is one reason that this online website Wedding Website is a wonderful place to start. They have all the advice for you that you need to pull off the perfect wedding.

First you may want to check out their wedding checklist and also wedding budget. They can put you onto caterers, florists, and even bands for your wedding dance, that will save you money. The include a list of fine places to register for gifts. A wonderful gift would be one of gold bullion and something that will last and be of real value to you in your life together.

Weighty Problem for Oprah Winfrey

January's "O" magazine carries a story by Oprah Winfrey, who is now 54 years of age, and is about her weight struggles. She details her recent battle with an out of balance thyroid and how the condition made her develop "A fear of working out". She is embarrassed, but then a lot of us have done the same thing. She says she has fallen off the wagon and gained weight up to 200 pounds.

Back in 2006, she weighed 160 pounds. I remember seeing her on TV and she looked great and she was running every day. Now she's gained 40 pounds and she looks at herself and says how did I let this happen? I know. It is a pound here and a pound there and if you let them stay, they seem to bring in more pounds for company :0). It isn't funny to the one who has gained the weight though. They can't move as well, get short of breath upon exertion and it isn't fun at all. I hope she is able to overcome her fear and lose that weight again because she looked great at 160.

Diet Pill

Here we go again. It is diet time. Too much good food and not enough exercise over the Holidays. No, running around stores, buying gifts is not enough exercise, even though you are ready to drop. So it is head for the store and get a good diet pill you can take safely along with your schedule and get rid of those excess pounds before you put on more or they become a permanent part of your body. This company has done all the work for you. They have reviewed over 200 of the top diet pills and use a 12 point criteria to choose those that would be best and safe for you. Check out the 10 top diet pills with them before you go out and buy one.

Michael Jackson's Glittery Glove

Want to buy Michael Jackson's glove? It will be auctioned off in April. His glittery glove is going on the auction block. This is the glove which inspired countless copycats, quips and Halloween costumes after it was unveiled in the l983 video for Jackson's hit "Billie Jean," and will be part of a five day auction next year.

Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles announced Wednesday that they would auction off the glove among other things. Jackson is also unloading the grandiose gates that once led to his Neverland ranch, along with more than 2,000 other personal items. The King of Pop's possessions will be on display before the auction begins April 21. Bids will be accepted in person and online.

Jackson plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to MusiCares, a charitable organization founded by the recording Academy to help musicians in need. Now is your chance Michael Jackson fans to own something of his. Get online if you can't get there in person to the auction.

Protesters to Withdraw from Airports in Thailand

In Thailand, there, anti-government demonstrators declared victory and said they will end their occupation of the country's two main airports. This was after a court decision forced the country's prime minister from office. Have you ever seen so much unrest in the whole world as there is now?

While an estimated 300,000 travelers, stranded by last week's airport takeovers, breathed a bit easier, the question of who will hold power in a democratic Thailand remained unanswered. The protesters who seek to eliminate the one-person, one-vote system, left open the possibility of more unrest, saying they will return to the streets if political change does not occur. That sounds like more violence could occur.

Online College Courses

In today's economy, it is very hard to find enough money for every day expenses, let alone college tuition. However, 75% of Capella's online students receive financial aid for their online college courses and now they have put out their latest podcast relating to financial aid for students. Capella is one of the finest and fully accredited online universities. They have a complete line of both Master's and doctoral degrees in business, public health and public safety, just to name a few. They are a very big help to working students who wish to complete their degrees but have not been able to afford it, or so they thought. However, with Capella's program of financial aid, many are now able to get their degrees and move on to much better positions.

This post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Chemical Ali Sentenced to Death in Iraq

Remember him? He is Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid and he received a second death sentence, this time for crushing a Shiite uprising in the wake of Iraq's defeat in the l99l Gulf War. Once among the most feared members of Saddam's regime, he uttered "thanks be to God" as chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa declared him guilty and imposed the sentence at the end of the trial, which began in August 2007.

I don't know why it takes so long to have the trials, etc. He already faces the gallows after being convicted last year for his role in the killing of tens of thousands of Kurds in a crackdown in the late l980's, in which chemical weapons were used against civilians. Legal wrangling has delayed that execution. They think if they die they will automatically go to Heaven, but he might be in for quite a surprise.

O.J. Simpson Sentencing

Here we sit in front of the television set watching what is supposed to be the sentencing of O.J. Simpson and another man. They went into a room with guns and were convicted of it and now they are going to sentence them. But so far, the lawyers have come up with one thing after another. Happily, the judge threw out everything so far but it is taking hours to get to the actual sentence. My husband loves to take an afternoon nap but we are beginning to wonder if they are going to get this over with today, or is it going to drag on into tomorrow. I would hope not.

Well, they finally got to the sentencing and the judge was very thorough and made sure that everything was based on this case alone, and nothing in the past. The whole thing was on tape in a casino so they almost didn't need witnesses as the judge could watch the whole robbery go down. Simpson was sentenced to 15 years in the Nevada State Prison with possibility of parole in 5 years. Another judge there said no one gets parole at the first try or 5 years, probably not at 6 years, perhaps they will listen to him at 6 1/2 years but not then either. I believe he is 61 years old so he is going to spend the best of the rest of his life in prison. Justice was done today. The judge was right on and very well versed in what happened and the sentences.

Former Drug Czar of Mexico Charged

The former drug czar of Mexico was charged in a payoff scandal. Noe Ramires is the highest ranking official detained yet in the sweeping corruption case. Mexico accused its former drug czar of taking $450,000 from a cartel he was supposed to destroy, going public with a scandal that deals a serious blow to the country's U.S. backed drug war. He is the highest ranking law enforcement official detained yet as part of Mexico's sweeping effort to weed out officials who allegedly shared police information with violent drug smugglers. It sounds like it is a very good thing they caught him. He was going to collect similar amounts each month for alerting the drug gang to planned police operations. Isn't that something?

Even though the arrest complicates President Felipe Calderon's nationwide crackdown on the drug trade, Attorney General Eduardo Medina said it also proved the government's commitment to rooting out corruption. That commitment could be key to ensuring continued U.S. support for its drug fight. Thomas Schweich, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement, said the revelations suggest Mexico is aggressively dealing with its corruption problem. It is good to see Mexico working on stopping their drug problems. So far they have arrested at least five top officials and two federal agents this year as part of "Operation Clean House," which targets officials who allegedly shared information with the Pacific cartel.

Obamas Choose Private School

President-elect Barack Obama and his wife have chosen private Sidwell Friends School in Washington for their two daughters. A spokeswoman for Michelle Obama says the Obamas considered several schools for 10 year old Malia and 7 year old Sasha but decided Sidwell Friends was the best fit. Sidwell Friends is a private Quaker school in northwest Washington that Chelsea Clinton attended. I suppose it is difficult enough for security to watch over them but would be doubly difficult if they attended a public school.

Britney Spears Will Launch "Circus" Tour in March

Britney is taking her "Circus" act on the road, in an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America". The pop star announced that her North American arena tour will open March 3 in New Orleans. She has a new album out, "Circus" which arrived on Tuesday, on her 27th birthday. It is her first tour in five years as she gains career momentum and stability in her personal life. Britney, who sang her hit "Womanizer" on "GMA" begins rehearsals next month.

Spears' 27 city itinerary includes Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. She will close the tour on April 28 in Chicago. She will go to London for performances on June 3 and 4. I guess time will tell if she really does this and completes her tour without incident.