What??? There’s a New TV Show Called “Bet On Your Baby”!

Tags

"game shows", babies, Bet on Your Baby, new TV show, TV shows

I just found a new show that blows my mind. In fact, I had to look twice at the listing. Yup…ABC has a new television show where parents actually bet on their babies to win prizes. Now isn’t that something you want to grow up and one day find out about!

Look…I watch some pretty bad TV shows. Ones that I know probably set my brain’s development back at least a few years.  But this is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen on TV – and I’ve watched Sean from The Bachelor as a dancing “star” on Dancing with the Stars.

Maybe it’s a joke. I know it’s not April Fool’s Day, but maybe they are going to stop near the end of it and tell us they’ve been pulling our collective legs.

Ok. Now a father walks his kid into the “baby dome” where we will watch to see if he lets go of a ball.

What I Learned About Dieting from Daytime TV … and Snooki?

Tags

daytime TV, diet advice, diets, Dr. Oz, reality tv, Snooki, Snooki diet

When I’m in between consulting jobs, one of my most beloved indulgences is daytime TV. Even bad daytime TV.  And that’s where I found Snooki. And I was reminded of one of the most basic of diet truths, something I had forgotten amid a flurry of fad diet advice and sure-fire diet tricks.

Now as much as I love bad TV, daytime or anytime, I have never watched Snooki or anyone on Jersey Shore. Wasn’t even tempted. And I stoop as low as watching and totally enjoying The Bachelor!

So when I was channel surfing and saw that Snooki was going to be a guest on the Dr. Oz show (his show has good info, but one revelatory THIS is the answer moment after another can really grate on you after a while), I decided it was time to get myself out for a nice walk instead. But something – perhaps the fact that it was April Fool’s day – made me tune in. Or maybe it was just a thought that it’s cool sometimes to get past preconceived notions. Anyway, for whatever reason, I prepared to give her and my curiosity a few minutes.

Snooki on Dr. Oz

And there she was, being interviewed by Dr. Oz, who in a charmingly-annoying way seems to find the best in almost everyone. As for Snooki, she was natural; she was engaging; and she was coherent. All things I didn’t expect.

And Once More Home

Quietly

Ever so quietly

She tip-toes back.

There is no fanfare.

No warm embrace.

Just the click-clack

Of well-worn keys.

She is home.

A Hair Test to Detect Breast Cancer???

Tags

"breast cancer", Australia, Cancer

Just saw something about a potentially groundbreaking new test for breast cancer being tested in clinical trials by the Australian company Femiscan. Here’s a link to the article at HeraldSun.com.au:

Cancer test in a hair

Basically, Femiscan tests your hair using a synchrotron particle accelerator (they use one located in Chicago at the moment) and then they interpret the results. So far, according to Femiscan, test results look very promising.

One caveat: As of now, the test gives some false positives and some false negatives. But if it really has the potential to detect breast cancer at its earliest stages and at least alert women to get further testing, well…this could be a huge step in the battle against cancer!

I like to think of it as hair today, here tomorrow! (-;

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: I was only able to find this update on hair testing for cancer, and I haven’t found any updates on Femiscan’s role in this.

If you are here because you are interested in a different Femiscan product related to urinary incontinence, you may want to go to the Femiscan dot com website. I know nothing about this other than what I read on their site, but if it helps, great. Good luck!

Fatima the Spinner: Today Is Just a Thread in Our Tapestry

Tags

work

 

Fatima the Spinner is an inspiring tale of a girl whose life is filled with misfortune, and yet…with the help of fate and her own skills, she finds happiness. It’s one of my all-time favorite stories.

I love discovering new books by just letting my eyes wander through bookshelves and see what calls to me. That’s how, many years ago, I found a book called Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah. It was in that book I found the marvelous story of Fatima.

My life has been like Fatima’s in many ways. She goes from land to land and job to job (in essence) always wondering why she must move on, why she hasn’t found the one place she truly belongs yet. Each time she learns a new skill, but always something happens that causes her to move on. And then one day, after surviving yet another disaster, she lands in China, where they desperately need someone with ALL the skills she’s acquired. And it is here, finally, she finds love and happiness.

I just love this story.

A Thanksgiving Story: The Magical Gift of Giving

Tags

Thanksgiving

 

 

After mom died last year, a dear friend who lived nearby took it on herself to help me. I was lost in a fog of grief and just having her support was gift enough.

But Elizabeth wound up giving me so much more. And it didn’t end there!

I asked friends and family to take whatever they wanted and, of course, saved a few precious memories for myself. But there was still so much in the house! A lifetime of things. And because I live in a small fully furnished apartment many miles away, I decided to donate most of mom’s stuff. This way at least mom’s death would turn into gifts for other people.

At the time, Elizabeth was the head of a wonderful charity that helped kids and their families. And she offered to take charge of EVERYTHING! She and her team spent the next 6 weeks making sure each item, even down to things like warm coats, gloves, and socks (there were many unopened packages), found the right place.

Putting Her Muddy Hands Where Her Mouth Is

Tags

Architecture, Housing, Ireland

Fellow blogger Liz is going to build her own house…out of mud. (More accurately “cob” which is made up of dirt, water, and straw.) Now Liz is not someone who’s ever done this. Actually, I don’t personally know anyone who’s ever done this – although I know people have. But silly details like that don’t stop Liz from forging ahead with her plans.

In fact, since she first posted her intention to do this, she’s been plenty busy gathering lots more pieces of the puzzle. She’s also finished a bunch of projects for her wonderful non-profit consulting business during that time, but now I’m just making myself feel like a total sloth!

As her blog will tell you, Liz sees no sense in getting caught up in all the reasons NOT to do stuff that calls to you.

A Little Bit of Pure Joy

Tags

, "mary chapin carpenter", country music, music

Just a little two-steppin’ fun for a Saturday night. A personal favorite of mine despite the fact that I’m far better at toe-steppin’ than two-steppin’. Thought some of you out there could use a good pick me up!

Dancing and singing along much encouraged. I know I am. (Well…in the privacy of my living room, that is.) Have fun!

A little about the song and the singer:

A Magic Carpet Ride of Her Life

Tags

Books, Literacy

In 1986, I met an amazing woman named Julia Palmer. For her, books were magical carpet rides to all the wonders of life. And she devoted most of her adult years to bringing their powerful magic to the children of New York City.

Let me backtrack a bit. Today Surface Earth posted something about Magic Carpets and tagged me. I decided to answer in my own way, since I’ve never been very good at following rules. Neither was Julia.

Julia grew up a shy, often sickly child, with a book in her hand almost all the time. She adored being wafted away to new lands and introduced to as many ideas as her thirsty imagination could embrace. As she got older, she got stronger. She married, had children, and had a lovely life. But her love of books only grew. And she decided to share the magic.

Sex, Mothers-in-Law and the Internet

 

 

 

It’s not like this blog gets a lot of traffic. But one post is a guaranteed view-getter: Sex and My Mother-in-Law.  While admittedly there are words like XXX and orgy in the post, it’s not about that at all. I think it’s a humorous and also touching piece about love, marriage and my relationship with my former mother-in-law. In fact, I’m quite proud of it.

So, without trying to sound too judgmental, I have to shake my head a bit when I see the search terms that get people to my lovely little story. Things like “sex with my mother-in-law” and “mother-in-law hot sex” and “mother-in-law sex stories” and lots of other sometimes more explicit stuff like that. I’m sure you get the picture. (In fact, I realize I’m risking hits on those terms by just writing this, but I figure I’m already getting that traffic so what the heck.)

What I can’t help wondering is whether any of these people looking for hot, juicy stories actually wind up reading what I wrote. I’ve never gotten one comment and yet the post has had hundreds of views just in the last 30 days. Do they all walk away disappointed? And is that a good thing or not?

How Not to Find My Soul Mate?

Aha! I spotted exactly what I needed while looking through a local adult education catalog, and signed up for a class that said it could help me find my soul mate. It felt like forever since I’d had a date – much less a soul mate – and at least a lifetime or two since I’d met anyone that even resembled the “right” guy. So throwing doubt and fear to the wind, I decided to re-enter the world of possibility.

Aaah…the idea of a soul mate is so utterly comforting. One person out there for me and me alone. And this amazing class would help me find him.

The class was taught by a charming woman (whom I’ll call Melinda) who with all her heart seemed to honestly want to help each of us find our true soul mate. So, after some basic introductions, for the next 3 hours she told this somewhat skeptical, somewhat hopeful group of soul-connected wannabes what WE needed to do to make that happen.

But wait a minute…I have to actually do stuff to make this happen? This concept twisted my brain a bit. I’d always thought if soul mates truly existed, then it was all preordained and the universe took care of everything – even cleverly creating the serendipitous circumstances of our meeting. I assumed I wouldn’t have to do much of anything except know where to look and how to recognize him – and then just scoop him up. Not so it seems. There are often diversions and even obstacles. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So Melinda starts out by telling us the origin of our soul mate – basically a variation of the Adam and Eve story. Once we were one with our soul mate, she tells us, but it seems things changed big time when poor Eve took a bite out of that oh-so-tempting apple and Adam ratted on her rather than defending her. As Melinda explained, men are designed to protect women, so naturally a rift occurred. Women, she informed us, need to be taken care of and without that are not complete.

Hand goes up immediately. Mine. “What do you mean men are designed to protect us and that we actually NEED this to be whole again? This goes against all I’ve ever believed!!!”

She graciously resisted a variation of my favorite Dr. Phil question “And how’s that workin’ for ya?” and gently explained how it’s all about yin and yang.

Hand goes up. Mine again. “But I thought the yin and yang was in each of us and that we each have male and female essence?”

“Yes, we do. Of course. But we search for the other half of our soul to be complete.”

Hand again. Mine. “Weren’t we both men and women in our past lives?”

“Yes. At one time. But women are higher up on the evolutionary scale and therefore once you are a woman, you don’t go back to being a man.”

The lone man in the room sank a bit lower into his chair.

Hah! The Guidance Counselors Were SO Wrong!

Tags

college

My friend’s daughter got in to great colleges DESPITE being told she couldn’t. In January, I posted When Bad Guidance Counselors Happen to Good Kids, which told about my friend’s sweet intelligent college-bound daughter being told late in the game that her focus on the humanities and lack of science and math would prevent her from getting into really good colleges. In fact, she was warned she was over-reaching in the schools to which she had chosen to apply. This threw the kid for a loop and left her and her mom feeling like they’d been punched in the gut.

Well, I am thrilled to report that, despite this being a notoriously tough year for applicants (New York Times: A Great Year for Ivy League Schools), my friend’s daughter applied to 11 schools and got into FIVE – including Brandeis and Barnard – and was wait-listed at three, including Columbia. All this despite her not having perfect 800s on all her aptitude tests and despite her strong focus on the courses she truly loves.

Maybe, just maybe, colleges actually look deeper – beyond the “looks good on paper” crowd who may not enrich the student body and later society as a whole as much as my friend’s daughter. I know my young cousin, who had horrible test scores, got into some highly competitive schools based on her extra-curricular activities and a knock-out application that depicted her dynamic spirit and strong drive better than any test.

So, Mr. and Ms. Guidance Counselors out there…before you open your mouth about things you don’t know…before you terrorize children and their parents with advice based on undifferentiated statistics and fear…remember that these are kids with real feelings and real hopes and dreams. They have a right to pursue things that match who they are – and not just who they are bullied into thinking they must be. We want to prepare happy adults who are following paths they care about rather than hordes of college clones coming out with skills they think they need – and lacking many of the very ones that might help them get ahead in the long run.

Now I am not saying that if a high school student has their eye on a business career, for instance, but hates math that they should avoid those courses. No…they need to do whatever they can to get those skills comfortably under their belts. You need to do everything possible to make sure you have the skills you need to get where you want to go – not that you can be completely sure at this point.

But to all the parents and college-bound teens out there trying to fit themselves into courses and roles that are clearly not even slightly related to who they are or want to be, please know that there is another way.

Does It Really Help to Cry?

Tags

crying, feelings, good cry, sadness

I woke up today thinking I hadn’t had a good cry in a while. There was an Everybody Loves Raymond episode where we learned that Ray’s wife, Debra, sets aside time on a regular basis just to let herself cry – on purpose.

Now I did cry the other day when I watched the last half of the last episode of Sex and the City. I know it well, but it never fails to elicit tears from me. Still I’m not sure those are the type of tears I’m talking about. Although it did feel great. In fact, a friend of mine called me and we sobbed together. That was nice.

And then there’s the spontaneous cry like when something reminds me of my mother or Harry (my cat) or my good friend Julia who all died within the last 14 months. I know those are good cries and honor those moments for the love they represent.

But we all grapple with lots of tough things on a daily basis. And our friends do too. And sometimes it all feels overwhelming – and we can’t always let ourselves cry in the moment. Like at work. Or around our family, like Debra. And then of course, there are all the horrible things going on in the world that we see and hear about every day. People right now are dying for the want of clean water, food, or basic medical care. And they are dying from war. If we were fully in touch with our feelings, wouldn’t we be crying every day – every moment?

But of course, that’s no way to live. So we have to be able to distance ourselves. It’s how humans survive. But how much distance? Don’t all the sad things we hear about and encounter build up somewhere inside us? Don’t we need to let some of this out somehow? Taking action where possible and giving to charities that help directly is a good way to deal with the horrible things we see. At least we are doing something. But what about our own emotional needs? Are we ignoring something deep and primal by being so “adult”?

I was raised not to wallow in sadness – to just get on with things.

Morning Musings: Icy Streets and Pigeons

The snow stopped falling a few hours ago. I’m looking out my window at a portion of still unshoveled sidewalk across the street. All the rest of the busy block is amazingly clean after last night’s ice storm. In fact, I’ve been hearing the sounds of industrious shovelers all morning. And now the sun is shining, helping to melt the remaining snow. Luckily, we didn’t get hit too badly.

But I do digress. I just had to share with you the name of the one business that ironically hasn’t bothered to shovel except for a very thin strip: Orthopedic Arts! While I guess they’re technically in compliance with New York City regulations*, I still can’t help wondering if maybe – just maybe – they’re also open to the possibility of a new client or two?

But hark! Two young people approach walking hand-in-hand. Curses! They let go of their hands and are forced to walk one in front of the other on the narrow shoveled part. Hands reunited once again, they walk on unimpeded. And now… here comes a brave bicyclist. New York bicyclists are notoriously fearless. Yup! He’s riding right on the icy snow. And he makes it. Good for him. Bad for business.

Ah! I see a couple with a baby carriage. Also a man on his own. The man diverts to the shoveled strip – good for him. But the couple with the carriage are not to be deterred. I guess people with children, a lot like bicyclists, become fearless by necessity. A good thing. Plus at the moment they have the trusty carriage for balance. (Lord knows that won’t always be the case!)

So over the snow-covered icy patch they go. And yes…they are clear – baby and all. Now two older women armed with big boots (or more accurately footed with big boots) make it slowly and safely across. As do three pigeons – well…almost. At least they’re trying. I applaud the noble efforts as I take another sip of tea from my big cup.

And so the morning goes. I’m happy to say it looks like the proprietor of Orthopedic Arts may not get that extra business after all. All this traffic and the warming sun are combining to do the clean-up job for him. Although wait…one pigeon does seem to be precariously wobbling. No little pigeon…fly! Fly off the ice! Don’t let yourself get suckered into a pair of teeny tiny crutches!

Big sigh of relief. He makes it across and joins the others. I wipe a grateful tear from my eye and sip some more tea.

Note to self: Consider switching to some caffeine-free tea – especially when using the big cup!

_____

*Oh…in case you were wondering: New York City regulations state “Snow and/or ice must be removed from the sidewalk within four hours after the snow has stopped falling, or by 11 AM if snow has stopped falling after 9 PM the previous evening. If the snow or ice becomes so frozen that it cannot be removed, the sidewalk may be strewn with ashes, sand, sawdust or similar suitable material within the same time limits. The sidewalk must be thoroughly cleared as soon as weather permits.”

There is no mention of liability for pigeons.

Source:
www.nyc.gov

Fabulous Googley-Eyed Food Fotos!

Tags

Crafts, Radio

Wacky Amy Sedaris in cahoots with WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show sponsored a Crafts Challenge a while back. The winning photo below will give you an idea of the googley-eyed ground rules:

For an amusing break and some laughs, check out the rest of the entries. I just love them!

http://www.wnyc.org/photos/lopate/craft_challenge.html