Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

As I sit and look at this giant bowl of candy comprising leftovers from the candy I bought to give out for trick or treat (only two kids showed up at my door) and candy my kids didn't like and thus gave to me (that includes all of their Reese's cups and Snickers bars. Score!), I realize that Halloween is the beginning of fat season. Next comes Thanksgiving, which includes a day (or two in this modern world of split families) of overeating from morning to night on turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, three kinds of pies, cheese balls and crackers, noodles, baked beans, cheesecake ... and anything else the family happens to put on the table. After that is the whole Christmas season. That's assorted candies and chocolates, hors d' oeuvres galore, drinks made with cream and rum, and probably another big dinner. Then there's New Year's Eve, and about 120,000 empty calories' worth of drinking. Moving on to February, we wrap up the fat season with Valentin...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iNetVideo . All opinions are 100% mine. I went downstairs for a cold glass of water. I don't really like the taste of our water from the tap, but I've got a great water filter pitcher that makes it taste fantastic. Oh, there's nothing wrong with our tap water. I've seen the water analysis reports, and it's perfectly safe. A lot of people aren't so lucky. Have you heard of Charity Water ? It is a favorite charity of Will and Jada Smith, and it provides wells for safe drinking water for areas of the world in need. How big is the problem? Well, 4,500 people die EVERY DAY from water-related illnesses. Is that big enough for you? iNetVideo.com is getting involved to help Charity: Water by donating $1 for every purchase of selected items on their website. Just look for the items marked with a water drop , and $1 from your purchase will go to a great cause. You can also donate directly to iNetVideo's campaign . On...

My daughter Gin (age 12) and I spent about an hour tonight just sitting and talking about the time her eye got injured and what it means for her future. It started when she sat down to tell me about a silly game they'd played in gym class today, which involved bumping a volleyball to a player, who then had to hit it and then run around the bases while the other players passed it, then one player had to throw the ball into the basketball hoop to get the runner out. Gin said she was designated to shoot into the basketball hoop, and out of 15 tries, she didn't make it once. I told her, "That's no surprise. You can't shoot into a basketball hoop if you have no depth perception." I might have told the story of her injury before, but I'll tell it again anyway. She was five years old, and it was the summer after kindergarten, shortly before her sixth birthday. She'd just gotten a new kitten early for her birthday that week. Unbeknownst to me, she'd gone ...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PlayStation MOVE . All opinions are 100% mine. Winter's coming, which means the holiday season as well as cold weather that keeps us all cooped up inside. The kids occasionally venture outdoors. They also occasionally find quiet activities, such as reading, to occupy their time in the house. But more often - and I think all mothers know this - they get cabin fever, and need some physical activity. For two girls ages 9 and 12, that often means yelling and screaming at each other. This Christmas, I might just have found the perfect outlet for them - something that will keep them entertained and physically active even while they're cooped up indoors - the new PlayStation Move . I've been thinking about getting something like this for quite a while. It's something we can do together, have fun with and keep the kids entertained (kids this age are always "bored"). My youngest loves to play her video games, but that...

Yesterday was my usual slow Monday at work. Mondays are always the easiest day at the office because we don't publish a paper on Tuesdays, which means we don't have any pages to build. It's catch-up day for everyone, and I usually cut it short, because the rest of the week gets pretty hectic. This week is even more hectic than usual though. Today, our lifestyles editor is taking the day off, so I'll be doing her pages. The other day-shift paginator is working the evenings this week doing the front section because our news editor is working on building the annual cookbook, so I'll be doing his pages too. Yes, very busy day. The rest of the week, I won't have the lifestyles pages to do, but I'll still be picking up the rest of the inside pages. And there will be more of them, thanks to extra space needed to run election letters to the editor. Oh, then there's Election Day on Tuesday, which means working day...and that night. Ugh. I should be getting more s...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of BH Cosmetics . All opinions are 100% mine. Most of the time I go for a pretty natural look, but sometimes I want to play with my look. I'll glam things up, or go sexy, or play rocker chick - or sometimes just play around with the make-up tricks I've seen on TV. I'm a former model, and I find myself sometimes just locked in my bathroom experimenting with different looks. But we all know how expensive cosmetics can be, and getting a great variety and huge palette can really break the bank. A lot of times I'll shy away from a new makeup color if it's something I'm not sure I'll be using a lot. But I've just discovered something that will let me play with my look all I want, without breaking the bank. You can find huge and amazing palettes of eyeshadow at BH Cosmetics for less than you ever thought possible. These shadows are blendable - so you can experiment with all the latest techniques - and highly pig...

I'm keeping so busy I've barely had time to breathe lately, but I took advantage of the "extra" day off I got by working the annual cookoff recently by taking that "comp" day and a vacation day to jet off to Las Vegas for a mini vacation. No, I'm not suddenly rolling in the cash. The trip was a treat provided by F, who generously offers to fly me to wherever he is when he comes stateside. This is our second trip to Las Vegas. We also had one to Tampa. I had the opportunity to go to New Orleans last February, but I passed it up as I was still looking for work and feared being away if something should come up. This trip was much better, though all too brief, certainly. F and I have had our tensions in the past, but it seemed to be a much smoother visit this time. I avoided being oversensitive, and he curbed his occasionally sharp tongue. Really, it's always been about misunderstanding, but I think as we've grown more accustomed to each other, we...