kwr221 said...
And I tweeted! twitter.com/kwr221
December 14, 2009 1:28 PM
Squeeballs are 12 toys that are manufactured on a secret island somewhere in the Pacific. Before they can be sold to children around the world, the Squeeballs must be fully put to the test...to the point of destruction! You can blow up, cook, slice, bat, bowl, shoot and bounce the Squeeballs. The game features a unique collection of 11 party games, each taking place in a different environment from lava-filled canyons, bowling alleys and kitchens to science labs and snow-capped mountains. As the game progresses and more challenges are met - each one more difficult than the last - the game showcases more than 150 unique challenges. The game is available for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS/DS Lite/DSi, Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. The Wii version features 11 party games; other versions vary in content. "Squeeballs Party" is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) with the descriptors "Cartoon Violence" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The game retails for $19.99. Find more information at www.Squeeballs.com.
Winner’s Comment: My LO is still technically an infant, rather than a toddler, but she is already enjoying the Duplos, if for no other reason than that they're fun to bang together. Growing up, I always loved my Fisher Price Little People playsets. (Yep, we had the old school barn that would make the 'mooing' sound when you opened the door.)
Boys that love things that roll. Any toy that rolls is interesting to a toddler boy. It can be a ball or it can be a car. My toddler has a big thing for trucks and trains. If you interested in finding toys for toddler boys that roll and move as they much as they do, Little Tikes is definitely a place to visit for the holidays. Any of the ride-on toys can be a hit with toddler boys who are constantly on the move.
Play Centers. Play centers can always keep a child occupied and busy for hours because they allow children to role play and we all know toddlers have wonderful imaginations. Further, they are educational because they allow children to explore. A Real Projects Workshop from Step 2 would keep a toddler entertained for hours and is a toy that would still be interesting until about age six. From kitchens to construction kits to doll houses, Step 2 has a variety of play centers to keep your toddler interested well into the school age years.
Picking toys is not easy and there is a toy website called ebeanstalk, dedicated to selecting good, safe learning toys and toys for a 1 year old. BUT they need help from moms like me to help pick the toys. The toy they sent is called Buzzing Though Book by Manhattan Toy, one of their many unique toys.
THOSE OF US who face chronic illness remember the before and after moments: the day the phone rang, or the doctor walked into your hospital room, and it was clear that life as you had known it was about to change. You discover that you have cancer or multiple sclerosis or that your child has been stricken with leukemia. You hang up the phone or walk out of the hospital feeling as if your world has been transformed. It’s not simply fear that makes you so disoriented—it’s because you are in the midst of experiencing a true glimpse of the great preciousness and precariousness of life. Falling ill is like joining a private fraternity—one you would never enter voluntarily, but whose membership reveals profound truths that most of us are too busy rushing through our days to consider. In the midst of everyday life, you are suddenly jolted by your own fallibility and finiteness, by the fact that you are no more durable than the shoes on your mortal feet.
At the age of fifteen, Roxanne was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic inflammatory condition that attacks the vital organs of the human. For any teenager, this is a scary experience, and for Roxanne, she was forced to find connections with others to help her to understand what it was she was going through. She started a support group from her hospital bed called “Friends Health Connection,” which is now a nationwide community that matches people who have similar conditions, whether it is cancer, lupus or any other chronic condition. 
Sitting outside Steve’s office always makes me feel like a naughty schoolboy.
I’m guessing that it’s the old wooden panelling that makes me feel as if I’m sitting outside a headmaster’s office awaiting the cane. Not that I ever did such a thing when I was a child - after all in the school I went to the headmaster’s office had a PVC door.
But there is something about the dark wood, the smell of the varnish and the dim lighting that sparks some childhood memory that I never had. It’s something archetypal.
This feeling isn’t helped by Melanie staring at me over her computer monitor. She’s tapping away at something obviously far more important than me. When I arrived I tried to start up a conversation but she just told me to take a seat and that ‘Mr. Hughes’ will see me shortly.
I’ve never called Steve anything other than Steve. It’s a bit hard to call your boss ‘mister’ anything when you’ve gotten horrendously drunk in a Japanese bar and had to bail him out from police custody after he tried, and succeeded, to climb the outside of a church. The climb was impressive, even more so because he could barely walk at the time. During his ascent all I could think about was wether I should try to catch him if he fell. I didn’t want to break my arms trying to save him if it would do him no good.
Needless to say it's graphic, but then, that's shagging for you: it's a rather sticky thing, no matter how you approach it. I decided to write about sex in my blog because I felt that the feminist and female-centred perspective is missing from mainstream media. A sexist double-standard about male vs female sexuality still exists, and which chastises women if they express sexual wants and needs; I hoped my blog would provide a counter-balance to this old-fashioned attitude.
The first time I met him face-to-face I wanted to kiss him.
Actually, I had wanted to kiss him for some weeks; each conversation we had over email, IM, or Skype increased my desire, so that by the time I finally saw him in the flesh I was almost craven with my need to feel his lips against mine.
Ever present in my mind, though, was that the feeling might not be mutual: how can you know if there’s real chemistry until you meet offline? Not to mention, of course, the fact that he’d recently learned of my Girl with a One Track Mind infamy, and I was anxious to show him another side of me, so that he would be getting to know me, Zoe, not the obsessed-with-shagging ‘notorious’ sex diarist.
But I still wanted to kiss him, god how I wanted that.
John Robinson’s book titled Anyone You Want Me to Be tells the story of the first Internet serial killer. Anyone can pretend to be anything on the Internet and teens and younger children are particularly vulnerable especially if they send out personal information and photographs of themselves. As parents, it is our responsibility to know what our children are doing and with whom. It is important to talk to our children and without scaring them, we need to remind them of the potential outcomes of their actions on the Internet. Further, we need to be extra vigilant in order to protect our children from predators and even cyber bullies. 
"Roxanne Black used her own life challenges with illness as a motivating force to reach out and help others. She has touched thousands of lives and continues to serve as an inspiration to all who know her." - Deepak Chopra author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
More than 50% of mothers with small children work outside the home, and the main reason that these mothers work outside the home is financial need. For every mother, the decision to work is not an easy one nor is there a correct answer to whether a mother should or should not work outside the home. Every mother does what is best for her family, and deciding to work outside of the home brings with it issues of guilt, prioritization, and time management that can make the nine to five lifestyle difficult and stressful.
"It seems that no educated modern woman can have a baby without suffering agonies of self-doubt about the meaning of motherhood." Danielle Crittenden of the National Review discussing Susan Chira’s A Mother’s Place: Taking the Debate About Working Mothers Beyond Guilt and Blame.
We Are That Family. Kristen will be celebrating her second blogversary on October 22, 2009. Kristen’s family is like any other family in America; they laugh, they cry, and they deal with disasters. Here is Kristen in her own words:
Through the years, I’ve been in different conversations and either said or someone said to me, “You know THAT family?” They don’t even have to say a name usually. My mind automatically pulls up THAT family.
You know the ones.
The family that always has troubles. Something out of the ordinary is always happening and they are usually followed by disaster.
Who Put Me in Charge of These People? Texan Mama is a full-time stay at home mother raising four children. She hasn’t quite figured out where she is a country gal or a city girl. She shares with us the craziness of her days, and despite it all, she manages to keep and have an amazing sense of humor (to our benefit, of course). Here is an excerpt from a post titled “How to Have a Relaxing Vacation.”
How to Have a Relaxing Vacation
1. Do NOT bring your children.
2. Enjoy the good libations.
3. Eat out - don't cook for yourself.
4. Leave all the bills at home or set-up auto pay or something brilliant like that.
5. Do not bring your computer with you.
6. Wear sunscreen.
7. Only pack shoes you've worn at least a few times before.
8. Stay somewhere that you aren't afraid to touch everything or leave something out of place.
9. Have some alternate activities planned besides "watch tv". Not that you have to do them, but at least you can have a back-up plan.
10. Don't watch any sexy movies unless you've brought your sexy mate along with you.
You know how I've always wondered what is the correct pair of underwear to wear to the doctor? Well, I got the answer today....it's any pair you don't mind your doctor seeing.
Which means my leopard print thong went over really well this morning. Especially when my 27 year old cutie doctor went to stick the pads to the electrical stimulation down my pants....(just typing that makes me shudder.) I'm sure he got quite the surprise when all he felt was cheek....
With the busy life I have, you would think I would not have time to stalk blogs, but I do! It is something I have time for on a daily basis. The good news is, since I let you know which blogs are interesting, you have more blogs to stalk. The bad news is that your blog could be next. Here are the latest blogs I have been stalking and a fair warning to these bloggers, I will be stalking these blogs more often. 
