My daughter has an original Leap Pad unit by Leap Frog. It’s been in our house for over two years now and still gets plenty of use. I suppose that is because the books grow with her and as she needs more challenging tasks, we buy more challenging books.

I have no idea what go into my daughter, but a couple of days ago she came to me saying the pen would not work. She showed me how it would no longer trigger responses when touching the green Go button and otherwise. I looked at the unit, checked the connection of the tape and then looked closely at the pen. It was frayed, for lack of a better word, at the cord near the pen itself. My daughter informed me she had chewed on it.

Let’s put aside for the moment that she will be five next week and should be well past chewing on her toys. I know that. Let’s skip to yesterday when I went about the task of getting a new pen to fix the Leap Pad unit.

First, I called the Leap Pad Company and made sure a new pen included the full length of cord, because in our case it was the cord that was damaged. I was assured the new pen would indeed be a new pen with a new cord and the whole thing affixes to the Leap Pad near the battery case. Good enough.

I went back to the toll free number; because I remembered how difficult it was to get past the automated operator once you tell the system you are after a new pen or stylus. I kept asking and asking to talk to a live person and the system would acknowledge that I wanted to speak with an operator, but tell me that I should just stick around and order my new pen through the system.

It took me nearly random pushing of tens of buttons to get the operator in the first place, so this offer for a free new pen was burned in my head now. I thought my second call would be a breeze.

I called and started through the automated system to order the replacement pen. There was no problem when I put in my credit card number to pay for shipping. The problem happened when I had top speak my address. My street has a super unusual speaking and the system would not let me spell it out. It just kept registering a garbled name. So, I completed the process, thinking I could just call back with my confirmation number and speak, to a live person to get it corrected.

No dice.

When I called back and gave another operator my confirmation number, which I had written down twice, it pulled up another person’s order. The girl informed me she had no way whatsoever to get into the system for the automated orders to try and find my order and that I should just wait for the pen to arrive. Arrive WHERE? – I asked her. I was going to be charged for a pen that would inevitably be shipped to another person or returned to sender. She suggested I order a second pen thought her (for which she wanted to charge me more than the automated system charged me) and just call later and dispute one of the charges. WHAT!

I asked to speak to her supervisor. She informed me, tersely, that it would do me no good. They cannot find my order for me.

So, at this point I just have the one pen on order, though I have no idea where it will be delivered. I will NEVER use the Leap Frog automated system again. And, I still need to get a new pen for my daughter’s Leap Pad.

I suppose I am back at square one, plus the added aggravation of a charge on my credit card I need to dispute.

Pizza Hut’s new budget pizza, the Pizza Mia, is complete crap. It’s that simple.

I wrote my initial review and in a follow up asking for you, my readers, to tell me what you thought, the consensus was overwhelming. People hate the Pizza Hut Pizza Mia. Most agree it is not worth the $5 you will pay for each medium, one-topping pie.

My question is, are there still enough people out there that have not bought this product yet that Pizza Hut can afford to keep it as part of their menu? My belief is that the only sales they will make on the Pizza Mia are from first time buyers. I cannot image that many will return to willingly eat more.

Dig deeper into your pockets and come up with the extra money to order off of Pizza Hut’s regular menu – you will thank me later. Pizza Hut’s regular offers are some of the better pizza items on the take-out market. I have to wonder how long the Pizza Mia will stick around before it either pulls Pizza Hut under or the company just 2quietly dumps it and pretends it never existed.

My daughter is almost five, but her hair is still so baby fine and soft that I feel using shampoos formulated for babies or children is the best thing for her. When I use my own shampoos on her hair, they often strip the moisture to the point that I need to use my BioSilk on her hair afterwards. Plus, she is learning how to wash her own hair and shampoos that boast a no-tears formula are an attractive option for us.

Gigi is not fond of having her hair washed. Since she was a month old I have taken her in the tub with me and she quickly grew into a child that loves baths. Getting her into the bathtub has never been a problem; though getting her out can be tricky. The hair washing, though, OH the hair washing! That is usually a battle royale.

One of my attempts to get her to be more enthusiastic about washing her hair has been to let her pick out her own shampoo. She goes for the fun bottles and yummy scents. This time around she zeroed in on the bottle of Suave Kids 2 in 1 Smoothers in the Fairy Berry Strawberry scent. I had never used a Suave product for Gigi’s hair, so I thought it would be an interesting experiment.

So, onto my review; I will break it down into pros and cons.

Pros
1. The Fairy Berry Strawberry smells so amazing that Gigi actually begs to wash her hair every single night! I was thrilled. The scent doesn’t really stick around until the next day, but she finds the concept of smelling like a strawberry so glorious that washing her hair has become a more willing event.

2. The product rinses easy. This is a huge plus when you are dealing with children, because the actual rinsing process is still a bit traumatic for us. We use a cup and gently pour the water over her tilted-back head, but it is still an issue of anxiety for my daughter. So, the easy rinse means that rinsing takes less time.

3. The 2 in1 formula leaves Gigi’s hair super soft. I’ve used a couple of other baby and kid shampoos that needed to be followed up with a conditioner or BioSilk leave-in, but this does the trick.

Cons
1. Although the bottle says the product is “Tear Free”, when Gigi attempted to wash her won hair and the suds dripped down and got in her eyes the shampoo did sting and made her eyes very red almost immediately. I would not personally trust this product to be a true tear free shampoo.

2. Actually, I do not have any other Cons to report.

And so there you have it. I gave you what you need to know if you are considering using this product for a child. Keep in mind that Gigi is only 5-ish and an older child might be more successful in keeping the shampoo out of their eyes.

In May 2007, the United States Postal Service hiked the cost of a first class stamp by two cents. Right before that, they issued “forever” stamps you could buy at the existing price a first class stamp and use, quite literally, forever – no matter how much the stamp prices rise in the future.

Well, the USPS has announced that this May, there will be yet another one penny increase. They will continue selling Forever stamps, too. You can get them now and you may as well stock up. There seems to be no end in sight for the annual stamp increases.

When I was in high school, I remember 15 and 20 cent stamps. Long gone are those days. I do almost all I can to avoid sending a letter in the mail. I pay bills online, I send e-mails more than regular letters, and I even sent out my daughter’s birthday invitations via the internet last year. The only time I really use a stamp is Christmas and the occasional bill.

I take particular interest when I see an obituary that mentions that the person in question had multiple myeloma. That is because my mom has multiple myeloma.

From what I can gather, Scheider died at 75 today after being treated for two years for multiple myeloma. The difference between him and my mother is that she was blessed to find out she had it in a very early stage and has been living with it for almost 13 years now.

Someone has already updated his Wikipedia page and says that Scheider was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2004 and had a bone marrow transplant in 2005. They mention that he was in “partial remission”, though I know that doctors are not keen on using the word remission with patients who have multiple myeloma. His death is being attributed to a staph infection – which is very common in healthcare settings. In fact, I have written various blog articles about the very serious threat of staph and MRSA in our community.

My heart goes out to the family of this wonderful actor. I have always liked the guy, more so than most actors.

I’ve enjoyed Florida’s smokeless dining for years now. You may not smoke here in a restaurant or even in some bars that serve over a particular percentage of food. You cannot smoke in workplaces either. It all makes for a very pleasant dining experience and I have to admit I’ve become spoiled.

When I used to visit my dad in West Virginia, I would be shocked back into remembering that the entire US is not yet at the same place Florida is. I would stop on the way up north to eat and realize I had to eat in a non-smoking section at a Cracker Barrel in Georgia, for example, where the smoking section poured over onto my table. Ick.

West Virginia went no-smoking in certain counties a few years ago, so my time in the state is actually quite lovely.

I am happy to hear that even nations like France are looking around and seeing that the world is becoming a healthier place. France is following fellow European countries like Ireland and Italy in making all bars, restaurants and cafes smoke-free. You can still smoke if you are sitting outside, though.

If you want to see manatees while in Florida, one place to go in the wintertime is the Crystal River area, as well as nearby Homosassa State Park.

So, it is apt that Crystal River is the place where a public meeting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was held to talk about protecting the endangered manatees. Much of the states’ human-manatee interaction takes place in and around Crystal River. As the manatee population grows, so does the number of people who want to experience swimming with the big mammals.

The meeting was held to help Federal officials draft a 15-year comprehensive conservation plan for the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. Many people came to the meeting to point out that stricter rules are needed to help protect the manatee population. Some cited the widely circulated videos showing people deliberately harming the animals. Many agree that the number of people in the water should be limited and touching manatees should be outlawed.

Then, there are those who think that the manatee encounters that encourage the petting of the animals serves to create new manatee fans who will in turn stand up to champion manatee safety.

And there is the issue of rental boats in the water. Boating accidents still account for most of the manatee deaths locally.

Fish and Wildlife officials will continue to seek public comment for the next 30 days. Then they will start to draft a management plan. The final plan should be implemented by late 2010.

The state fair in Florida starts tomorrow, February 7 and runs through February 18. Lucky for me, our state fairgrounds are right across the Bay in Tampa. 4800 Highway 301 North, to be exact.

This year there will be a Las Vegas Review, Country Gold Tour, WWE stars of tomorrow, and Elvis Impersonator Extravaganza, and Roller Derby, a live prayer gospel tend, a big bear show, alligator wrestling, and much more. There are food and animal exhibits, dance competitions, as well as arts & crafts.

The gates open daily at 9 a.m. and I know some of the local school districts even give a day off to attend the fair on Student Days.

Fish from the Gulf of Mexico are the cause of outbreaks of ciguatera fish poisoning. This was confirmed today by the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. The outbreaks of the illness were confirmed in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis.

The biggest threat of tainted fish comes from grouper, snapper, amberjack and barracuda. Why these particular fish? It is because they feed on fish that have eaten toxic marine algae. Though the toxin causes no harm to the fish, the humans that eat them can develop neurological problems that could last for months or even years.

Symptoms of ciguatera poisoning include nausea, vomiting, vertigo and joint pain.

Although it is considered rare for fish in the northern Gulf of Mexico to have the toxin, the FDA did confirm that the tainted fish are from the area around the Flower Garden Banks National Marine in the northwestern Gulf.

Those who think they may have ciguatera poisoning are urged to report their symptoms and what fish they ate to a doctor or local health department.

The fact is that Congress has not actually approved the tax rebate plan that weould give people between $600 and $800 back on their taxes.

Nonetheless, scammers are already hard at work trying to use the expected rebate as a way to trick people into giving out their personal information.

The scammers are making phone calls and sending out e-mail offering their services to assist people in getting their rebate check. All they are looking for is your personal information so they can get into your bank account, or worse.

One example of what they scammers will attempt: a company calling itself the Federal Commission Refund Department offers to help you get your refund for a $29 fee that they would deduct from your bank accounts. Or, there are those claiming to be IRS agents and ask for your social security number and other information that would then allow them to get a credit card in your name.

If someone offers to help, hang up. If and when the rebate plan gets approved, the government will supply more than enough information to the public to make sure you get what you have coming to you. In most cases, you won’t have to do a thing except walk to your mailbox.

What?

Yes, you heard me right. Allstate is saying that things like the “warming oceans” need to be taken into consideration when setting home insurance prices. They are bringing this argument to the table to try and justify why they want to raise home owners’ insurance prices in Florida even after Florida put new laws into place that should LOWER insurance rates.

Allstate is desperate to raise our prices, even though it’s been years since a major hurricane has hit the state. And this is even in light of the highly controversial “McKinsey documents” that outline how the insurance company plans to increase profits by doing things like lowballing insurance settlement offers to desperate car crash victims.

Allstate, just one of the many insurance companies being run by complete tools.

Yes, we all know that Joran Van der Sloot lies. The joke is on him, though. While he thinks he has the wool pulled over the collective eyes of the world, that we have believed his ever-changing stories and smug expressions, we all know that when he is telling people he lied about admitting to having a hand in the dumpling of Natalie Holloway’s body that he is lying then as well.

A judge in Aruba has ruled that the case against van der Sloot will be reopened. This comes after Dutch television aired an audio clip where Van der Sloot admitted that he was with Holloway on a beach near her hotel when she died, and that he subsequently arranged for a friend to dump her body at sea.

What he said was, “He went out to sea and then he threw her out, like an old rag.” Van der Sloot said this is a recording that Aruban businessman Patrick van der Eem made is his car while riding with Van der Sloot on January 16.

And now, Van der Sloot admits he said those words, but that he was lying at the time.

Riiight.

“I didn’t lose a minute of sleep over it,” he later said.

Oddly, this next item is Florida news. Wesley Snipes was charged in Florida for his Federal tax fraud issues, because at the time of the incidents in question he lived in Windermere, Florida.

His trial was wrapped up quicker than most people had assumed, but his jury took three days to his find him guilty on three misdemeanor charges of failing to file tax returns. They returned a not guilty on the more serious felony charges of tax fraud and conspiracy.

Even with the lesser convictions, Snipes could spend up to three years in prison, but most people expect that a shorter sentence will be determined.

It’s not a headline that makes people like happy. I have a house on the market. And what a deplorable market it is! Believe me, if it were not for my divorce, I would not be touching the current real estate market with a 20-foot-pole. No, indeed.

In the midst of all that, Forbes magazine online and Moody’s Economy.com have named the Tampa Bay area as the number one place in the United States to buy a house.

BUY a house. Not, you see, to sell a house. *sigh*

Forbes says the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region is a prime bounce-back market. They predict a classic V-shaped recovery, where the real estate market will experience a free fall followed by a strong rebound. Forbes looked for areas that had a lot of seller’s desperate to strike a bargain. All in all, a good bit of news for buyers.

Of course, that is of little consolation to me. :

Forbes’ top 10

1. Tampa

2. Minneapolis

3. Miami

4. Kansas City

5. Chicago

6. Phoenix

7. San Diego

8. Milwaukee

9. New York City

10. Atlanta