We did not have much in the way of video games when I was a kid. We had arcade games, but you had to be at an actual arcade or maybe the local Pizza Hut to play them. My dad had Pong and my friend Kathleen had Intellevision. That was it. Other wise, we actually went outside and rode our bikes, built forts in the woods, made dams in the little creeks out by the park, roller-skated, and sat in the willow trees and read. That was how I and the other neighborhood kids kept ourselves occupied when I was young.,

Now, I have to battle my daughter to get her to play with something aside from online computer games and watching television. She loves her dolls and books, but not as much as she loves the fact that at her dad’s house he lets her play with his xbox 360.

How can I compete? I am after her all of the time to be active and run. She thinks my idea of fun is boring. Despite that, I am going to continue to keep on her about being outside and being active, because I want her to have effortless fitness. I want her to be able to see that with the right amount of physical activity she can eat a healthy amount of food and still look great. I want her to LIKE being active, derive joy from movement and activity. Why is that such a battle?

I have been able to get through every day of this past week without taking a single diet pill. I feel like it’s a start. I must mean I am finally learning to eat enough protein often enough during the day to not feel as many hunger pangs as I used to.

Still, my cravings for sweets and carbs are as yet an issue in my life. I am eating the sweetened ricotta I mentioned earlier, but I’d love a little chocolate one night. When I am working to maintain my weight, I find I actually can eat some candy and bread and pasta. When I am actively working to lose with, though, I need to absolutely cut out those foods.

So, I am still just down the 40 pounds I lost when I started the diet. I took off about two months, because I was just plain wearing of dieting, I maintained during that period and did not gain. Now, I need to start back up and make this diet work for me. I would like to lose another 40 before I take another maintenance break.

My sister got my daughter a Hannah Montana MP3 player for her birthday this year and I have been downloading songs I have on my computer to sd memory cards. It was such a time saver that I already had a little folder on my hard drive just for Gigi’s songs and now she can run around and listen to her music without having to ask me to play it on my PC for her.

It’s just an inexpensive MP3 player, but adding those Hannah Montana graphics to the gadget and packing it with girly colors and lots of pictures of Miley Cyrus makes it a product that is now irresistible to girls like my daughter. Clever marketing is such an amazing thing. I love the idea of being able to charge more for a low quality item simply because you have the licensing rights to a hot music artist, even though less flashy products might indeed be higher quality.

Wait, let me clear something up – I do not love having to be the one paying for those low quality flashy items. I just love the irony of marketing said items. The MP3 player we have is actually a piece of junk. It does not turn on consistently and it is hard to charge. However, that picture of Hannah Montana on the front means my daughter is willing to overlook all of the crappiness and focus on the cool factor.

No matter what sort of professional you need, you should always find someone who is a specialist in the field in question. If you have heart problems, you call a cardiologist. If you roof is leaker, you call someone who focuses on roof repair and roofing. If you want guitar lessons, you find someone who is aces at the guitar, rather than say the piano.

So, when my friend out in California was involved in an automobile accident that happened when he was riding his motorcycle and said he was just going to call his buddy down in Los Angeles who just started a practice in personal injury, I suggested he actually go the extra mile and look for an Oakland motorcycle accident lawyer. I felt that not only should he be working with someone right in his own town that is familiar with the judges and courts local to my friend, he should also work someone who is familiar with clients who have been in accidents while on their bikes.

Does my logic seem sound? I just think that with all the bad feeling other motorists seem to have toward motorcyclists, he should go with someone who can really navigate his situation.

I know that Florida is not the only place you have to be super careful about fleas and ticks if you have pets that go outdoors, but we sure do have to deal with it for more months out of the year than a lot of other locations.

I learned the hard way about being very careful with what I put on my pets to deter fleas and ticks. Although I never skipped a month, I did buy some off brand medications that may or may not have been up to par. Despite keeping a schedule on heartworm medication, my older Greyhound did end up with heartworms. Now, as old as she was and as mild as her symptoms were, there was no need to worry with painful or expensive treatments. She was diagnosed and the vet told me she would die of old age before she died of heartworm related complications.

When I buy Frontline and other pet medications now, I make sure I am getting them from a reputable dealer who is not apt to substitute out of date products or products made in dosages that are meant for countries other than the United States.

I was 23 when I finally got my ears pierced. I was just not interested before then and when my room-mate bought me a gorgeous pair of earrings for my 23rd birthday, I figured it was high time to get the holes to match the jewelry.

My daughter asked me if she could get her ears pierced back when he was about five-and-a-half. I sat her down and explained the process and what happens in the weeks and months following the piercing. She backed off.

This week she was sitting in the van with me, on the way home from school, and told me she had been thinking about the ear piercing and felt ready. She finally felt like the little bit it would hurt during the process was worth it. So, I called her father and got his opinion. He was all for it, and only asked that he be invited along. It was a little harder to work a trip to the mall into his work schedule, but we finally settled on an evening we both found workable.

She was excited right up to sitting in the chair. Then, she held the doll she had brought along, tensed up and cried softly. However, she did not flinch or back out. Sure, she cried when they inserted the earrings, especially when one of the girls had a problem getting the back onto her left ear. At one point she even gave off a little howl, but all in all she was brave.

A lot of my friends feel I allowed this at too young an age. Some of my other friends actually had their daughters’ ears pierced when they were infants. It is all a matter of opinion. I think if the child shows an interest and can take part in caring for the wounds as they heal, they are old enough. So far, Gigi has been better than me in remembering to clear her ears twice a day.

I’m a fan. With my low-carb diet, I feel like I am missing out on a lot of the desserts I really low. I have been using ricotta cheese, sweetened with Splenda or Truvia, to get my dessert fix, but the texture of the ricotta is not always as luxurious as I might like.

However, Sorrento Velvety Smooth Ricotta Cheese is amazing. It’s not any different than other ricotta cheeses when it comes down to substance, but the velvet texture makes it feel richer, more decadent. I still just sweeten it with Splenda and top it with a few fresh berries, and it’s more satisfying than almost anything else I am allowed on my diet.

The only downside is that I have been unable to find it anyplace other than Super Wal-Mart. It’s not available at Target, Publix, Albertsons or even the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. So, I buy four containers when I have the time to trek over to the Super Wal-Mart.

After a stressful day, it’s an emotional band-aid.

Even though the newest thrill ride at Sea World Orlando does not officially open to the public until May 22, I got to ride it today! Manta is on soft opening. That means they are up and running, but testing various aspects of the ride, like line timing and such.

I went to Sea World as a chaperone with some of the kids from my high school. It was mostly Biology and Marine Science students and this particular trip had an overload of people volunteer to chaperone initially. I’m not sure what happened, but about a week ago they ended up with too few chaperones. I was not even going to ask to go, but I’m thrilled it worked out. I’m not sure I will ever have another opportunity to go to Sea World for free. ?

Anyway, I’m sure you are much more interested to hear about Manta. It is amazing. I am a roller coaster fan and have never really played on anything quite like this. Besides that jolting second loop, the ride is smooth, freeing, and made me laugh with pure glee the entire time. I rode Manta with a couple of other teachers, one of which was dead set against going when we got to the park that morning. I think she just experienced so much enthusiasm throughout the course of the morning that she got all caught up and in the end she was the most excited person in our group.

I know Sea World is not known primarily for the thrill rides, but I think they made a brilliant move when they brought this one on board. It’s worth the entire price of admission. Well, that and those super cute puffins.