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We have more juicy local “celebrity” news here in the Tampa Bay area than you can shake a stick at, proverbially speaking.

Can you believe two years have passed since the sentencing of Debra Lafave? She is the former Hillsborough County (Tampa, FL area) English teacher who pled guilty on November 22, 2005 to committing lewd and lascivious acts after admitting to having sex with a 14-year-old student.

Lafave was 24 when all of that happened. Now, at 26, she is finished with two years of house arrest with no violations. The deal she struck with prosecutors would have had her under house arrest for three years followed by seven years of sex-offender probation. At the time she was looking at a possible 15 years behind bars.

The deal was enabled by the fact that the kid’s mom decided she did not want her son to testify or to be subject to the trial being broadcast on Court TV. A psychiatrist examined the teen said he suffered extreme anxiety from the media coverage of the case. I suppose before the media attention he was just suffering extreme bragging rights

Part of that deal allowed her to ask the courts to commute her last year of house arrest to probation if she completed the first two years without incident. She and her attorney are expected to file the request in the next couple of weeks, though it is also expected that her request will be met by an objection by both prosecutors and the victim’s mother.

She spent her time working at a Danny Boy’s restaurant in Sun City Center and then at her mother’s barber shop in Ruskin, both here in Florida.

Lafave is never far from controversy. Former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter (yet another disappointing Floridian who grew up in the Tampa area) claimed on The Howard Stern Show that he lost his virginity to Debra Lafave when they went to school together.

Well, she is a virtual doll. My daughter loves loves loves the Cartoon Doll Emporium and their virtual dress up dolls. She recently hit a new pinnacle of excitement when we discovered that CDE has a Rachel Ray doll. You see, my 4-year-old is a Food Network junkie. She discovered cooking shows a couple of months ago and now she often chooses the Food Network over Noggin or the Disney Channel. The, she asks me to cook what she has watched being prepared. My little foodie in the making.

You’ve heard of monthly wine clubs before, but have you ever tried one? Has someone gifted you with wine? If not, I’m here to give you a small taste of what the clubs offer. I was able to sample this month’s offerings from the Gold Medal Wine Club’s Gold Medal Series. This subscription gives you a monthly taste of California’s best small premium vineyards. The wines always come from family-owned boutique wineries and would be close to impossible to get otherwise. I’m certainly not going to find these gems on a Florida market shelf.

I was impressed at how carefully packed the wines were. They arrived in impeccable shape, in compartmentalized cartons, and wrapped in bows to boot. They were accompanied by literature that assisted me in learning more about the wines. Most impressive is the 8-page newsletter The Wine Press, which entirely dedicated to the bottles I was given. Both the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2004 Merlot came to me from Madroña Vineyards, in the Sierra Foothills of California. This family-owned endeavor has been producing wine for their own label since 1978.

When I first tasted the Merlot, oaky was my first thought, but then when I read a little about the wine I see that it is aged 20 months in oak. Well done, that. But the oak quickly subsided as I found the flavors warm and rich, densely fruity and absolutely bringing the characteristics of raspberry and sweet pipe-tobacco, as it so claims. Most pleasing is that there is little to no aftertaste. This is a dry, clean wine. I credit the flavor of the grapes in this wine to the fact that Madroña is probably the vineyard at the highest elevation in the entire United States (which makes me think I would love to try their Reisling).

The Cabernet Sauvignon is spicy, herbed, and musky. It is absolutely perfect for pairing with a steak. In fact, the suggestion is strong that it is making me want to fire up the grill and serve some heavily spiced filets. Remember that our sense of taste depends so very much on our sense of smell. I have a *highly* developed sense of smell and that affords me a sensitive palate as well. For that I am grateful. For me, tasting anything (especially wine) starts with the ability to take a minute and smell the nuances of the item in question.

What I can tell you is that the wine is high quality, the pricing is more than fair, and the opportunity to try a wine from a boutique vineyard is thrilling. For a very reasonable price, you can give someone you want to spoil a gift that lasts 3, 6, or 12 months. The selections are varied and exciting, and you can count on the quality and low production rate.

If you are looking for a Christmas gift and cannot zero in on the perfect thing to give that hard-to-buy-for individual, I seriously recommend you think about wine.

We don’t have basements here in Florida. So, as much as I want to use the garage for my cars, I just cannot do it right now. We had one car in the 2-car garage in my last two homes, but now that I am sharing a house with my mother space is tight.

So, the garage acts much like your northern basement – storage and crafting and sometimes even our sewing room. I got some great heavy-duty plastic utility shelves (no issues with rusting if they are plastic) and we have them lined up in rows, like at a store. It’s nice and tidy out there. The real coup, though, is that one of the medical offices down the road put a healthcare cart out in the trash last week. They are in perfect shape, so I can only assume they got the budget for upgraded versions. You know what I’m talking about? They are the heavy rolling carts that either have multiple shelves or sometimes drawers. You see nurses pushing them around and they are usually for medical gear and lab equipment. I asked if I could take it from the curb and it turned out they had several they wanted to toss, so now we have some spiffy new carts for storing smaller items, tools, and household cleaners. Niiice.

Do you have any storage tricks you use in your basement or garage?

It’s that time of year again. I was sitting here in front of my computer last night, pouring over the information on the new health insurance plans I have to choose from (my current plan is being phased out by WebMD), crunching numbers, and trying to make sure I get similar coverage – when the phone rang. It was my ex and he was doing the same thing on his end. He was trying to figure out what plan to take from his employer for himself and our daughter. I offered the best advice I could, since my opinion was that his plan would have been much better for a single adult who never gets sick and never needs travel insurance or expensive medications. And it looks like he will be switching plans as well in the end.

I’m grateful to have access to a group health plan. Once this timeframe runs out for me, I will need to either pick up an individual policy or work out of the home full time. That last option might just be fine, because by then Gigi will be in school all day and my reasons for being at home with her will be slightly different. As hard as it is around here financially right now, I will be able to look back and say without a shadow of a doubt that I was there for my daughter when she was young. I choose to give her me over giving her a big house right now. She has love and time and health and nurturing. That’s more than I ever expected to be able to give her as a single-mom.

Man, VH1 Classic is running Ramones Raw right now. I had to finally turn it off and make myself get my computer in order for the night so I can head off to bed. It was hard. The Ramones are my absolutely most iconic rock group. They personify my youth, my teens, my innocence. I cried for 8 hours straight the day Joey died. I just sat in front of my computer listening to Ramones songs and bawling. That signified an end of an era for me.

It’s so hard for me to look at concert footage and remember that Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee are all gone. In my heart, they are so alive that I almost forget sometimes. They’re my boys. I feel young and happy and free and alive when I am listening to the Ramones.

God bless them.

Diamonds have their traditions in our culture. Of course, there is the diamonds are forever adage. Christmas tends to be one of the times of the year that people give diamonds more often than at other times. Just look at the flood of jewelry commercials on TV this month. Most consumers will agree that when it comes to buying diamonds, quality is important. Unfortunately, when you are shopping for diamonds, it is easy to get distracted by the setting.

That’s why your best bet is to buy loose diamonds and then find a setting in which to use it. You can find the quality you want and in almost all cases, you will save so much buying a loose diamond and then going to a reputable jeweler for the setting that you can probably pay for a fun weekend out of town. A&W Diamonds just started DiamondsoftheDay.com. It is a blog offering two specially discounted loose diamonds each day. Plus, it features articles on diamond education and useful facts about Diamonds, Loose diamonds, Wholesale Loose Diamonds, and other diamond topics. You can find exactly the stone you want and work from there.

There is more news from here in Clearwater about the trials and tribulations that followed in the wake of the August 26 car accident that left John Graziano in a vegetative state and Nick Bollea (son of wrestler Hulk Hogan) looking pretty guilty.

George Tragos, the attorney for John Graziano’s mom said yesterday that a civil suit “will be filed”, though it may not happen until it can be better determined what the costs will be for Graziano’s long-term care. He also said that Graziano’s condition is “improving” as he is being treated at the James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital in Tampa. The facility has a brain injury center.

I get a lot of sinus headaches now that I am an adult. I think it started back when I was in my mid-20s and I lived near Pittsburgh. The weather had a big impact as to when I got the headaches and how bad they were. When I moved to Florida, they subsided for a while, but I’m back to getting them again.

I do what I can to avoid them: medication, good hygiene, and sinus washes. I still get stuffed up around allergy season or when something new blooms in the neighborhood.

Today is a terrible day for sinus problems. Something is definitely blooming and the weather is uncharacteristically wet and overcast for December in Florida. A week or so ago I received a bottle of Afrin All Night (which contains chamomile and relieves congestion for 12 hours) spray to try. The products claims to work much faster than pills, so I was pretty keen on giving it a test run. The day it arrived, I just happened to be so stuffed up I could not even smell my morning coffee. I opened the bottle and used the spray. Let me tell you, my breathing was back to normal within minutes.

How fast it worked was only one of the benefits. I tend to get very agitated when I use decongestants. I’m a firm believer in not using combo medications. That means, I don’t want an all-in-one cold or flu remedy. I want one product to do one thing, so that I am not putting chemicals I really don’t need into my system. Afrin contains only what you need to take care of nasal congestion, and nothing more. I was able to sleep that first night I used it, and it did not keep me awake with the jitters.

Many thanks to BzzAgent and Afrin for sending me the product to try. If you want to give it a try yourself, just e-mail me. I have coupons for free product that I can mail to you.

And now, I am off to use my Afrin.

As soon as I saw the massive stand-up display in my locals movie theater for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street I noticed Johnny Depp’s hair and I just KNEW that Tim Burton was involved in the picture. I remember smiling in pleasure. I think the world can always use another Johnny Depp/Tim Burton adventure.

I had a fleeting crush on Depp back when he was Tom Hanson on “21 Jump Street”. I guess I was 16 or 17 when that show first started airing. Cops undercover as high school kids was something I found intriguing. After Depp left the show, it quickly became evident that his career was destined for bigger things than episodic television. That man has had some of the best roles in movie history, hands down. He is never just playing Johnny Depp. He loses himself in the characters and no matter how familiar his face becomes, he is always JUST that character while I am watching him. I wish I could say that all other actors.

I love him best in roles where he plays a gentle innocent. Benny & Joon is a movie I can watch over and over, no matter how ultimately cheesy it is in the end. Depp is child-like and lovely, all at once. I fell in love with him just a little bit when he played Sam and reenacted the Buster Keaton moments.

I also adored Finding Neverland. I’m not sure how truly innocent Sir Barrie was in real life, but Depp brought a dreamlike quality to the character and a depth that made you want to lose yourself in the both the story and the man that wrote Peter Pan. He has a line that kind of sums up how I feel about my daughter growing up: “Young boys should never be sent to bed… they always wake up a day older.”

I could go on and on. There are SO many of Johnny Depp’s films that make me think of him as one of the best actors of my generation. If I had to pick only one film, I suppose I’d go back to Finding Neverland. But please – don’t ask me to choose.

So, here we are on the cusp of the film version of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. The movie opens for wide release on December 21, just in time for people to be off work for Christmas and to have the time to relax and enjoy a good movie.

Whoever predicted the death of the film musical needs to be flogged. Americans cannot seem to get enough of the musical right now, but doesn’t that historically seem to be the case in wartime? And Johnny, my friend, you sound delightful. I took the time tonight to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site. I knew Helena Bonham Carter had a great voice, but I’m pretty sure the only other time I had heard Depp sing was when he did the drunker singing in the Pirates of the Caribbean films – and when I went though the updated Pirates of the Caribbean ride as Disney World back in February.

If you are as excited about this film as I am, don’t forget to visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace.

‘Tis the Season…, to make Christmas Tree hair clippies for the girls in your life. Or, for yourself.

I’ve got free hair bow instructions over on my Girly Things website.  There are countless step-by-step instructions for bows and other girly accessories. And, in the spirit of Christmas, I am featuring the Christmas Tree Clippie instructions right now. It’s a very easy design and if you want to jazz it up, you can decorate it with little stick on crystals for ornaments. Kudos to Michelle Cooper, who submitted the photos and the step-by-steps.

When you live in Florida, baseball takes on a whole new meaning. There are more teams that have their spring training stadiums in the state than you can shake a stick at – not that I have ever shaken a real stick at them. We have the Phillies stadium right down the road, literally. The Yankees play over in Tampa for spring training. There are other teams all around the Bay area.

I enjoy watching the games in the spring much more than I do during official season. The crowds are different and the vibe altogether more relaxed. It is usually the hardcore fans and the locals that fill the seats. I take advantage of Spring Training more than you’ll ever know. It’s a great time to travel around to other parts of the state and stay with friends who are also baseball fans, going to see games being played by my favorite teams. I really enjoy the Boston Red Sox and I’m fortunate that my great-aunt lives in Fort Myers. It’s not a very long drive, but if I choose to stay over night, I have a comfy guestroom waiting for me.

My favorite times were actually when my step-dads was still alive. He played for the Pirates back in the days of wool uniforms and pay so low that everyone had to hold down two and three jobs just to afford to play the game they loved. He loved to travel around with me during spring training season and see as many games as we had time for, or the energy. I had a good handle on the Boston Red Sox Spring Training Schedule and we took a week to drive down for a visit and a game. He and my mom and I drove down and talked my aunt and her husband into coming along as well. We did not have the best seats at the game, but there is something about having been there with family and with an “old-timer” ball player that makes the memory stand out for me more than most. My step-dad spent a lot of the game commenting on how different the sport is these days. Poor guy. I wish he had been able to play in a time when he could have made a living off of it.

My eye was drawn to this news story at first because it took place in Clearwater, though not the one here in Florida. This happened in Clearwater, South Carolina.

I remained interested in the story, because it is a perfect illustration that some people in this world have so little common sense that they should be forced to live together in walled encampments where they will not annoy the rest of the population.

Alexander D. Smith (31 going on 13) from Augusta, GA, tried to open a bank account in Clearwater, SC using a fake $1 million bill.

A million dollar bill. Seriously. The federal government has never printed a million dollar bill.

He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of forgery. The disorderly conduct was because he cursed at bank workers when they refused to open an account with the bill. The second forgery charge was because he bought several cartons of cigarettes from a nearby grocery store with a stolen check.

What a gem, that Mr. Smith. Now, please remove yourself from polite society and go live in that encampment.

My ex is a liar. I say that without venom. He is just one of those people who lies n a daily basis and for inexplicable reasons. He lies when there is no discernable reason for lying. He answers pretty much any question in the defensive, immediately, without a thought. It was difficult to navigate conversations with him when we were married, but I wanted to believe him so I overlooked an awful lot. Now that we are divorced, most of the issues that involve us communicating involve our daughter or selling our house. And, I am pretty sure he rarely tells me the truth –even when the truth would best suit the situation.

So, get this – there is a system called LiarCard. I can call my ex via a toll-free access number. I enter my pin and then my destination number. Once the call is fully connected, the software starts analyzing the speaker’s voice in real time. In the background I will hear a heartbeat pulse and a buzz when the software detects untruthful indications in the voice. Only I will hear these sounds. Plus, I will be able to login to the website at http://www.LiarCard.comand access a control panel to replay the call later.

LiarCard ignores the content and words, instead focusing on the emotional patterns of what is being said. It uses 129 parameters on every speech segment. I’m going to give LiarCard a try. You buy minutes, much like buying calling cards, which cost $10 for 30-minute intervals.

I’ll let you know how it worked for me once I have the chance to use it on an important conversation.

I’ve been posting information to help people keep informed about the local situation here involving the family of Hulk Hogan. There is the divorce filing, the horrific car accident Nick Bollea had that caused his friend John Graziano to be in a vegetative state, and the recent release of police reports and 911 tapes.

But do you want to know what one of the number of search terms bringing traffic to my blog seems to be lately? Linda Hogan’s bra size. I kid you not. I have not written about her bra size, not have I speculated on it. I really could not care less. She seems to be in fairly nice shape for a woman her age and for that I give her kudos, but it stops there.

Sick people in a sick world.