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Entry bubble Word of the Year: Bailout

By: Joanne | January 13, 2009 | Category: Money

cartoon man carrying a giant bag of money

In its 19th annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted “bailout” as the word of the year. When I heard the story on NPR yesterday morning, I was really hoping that the word of the year would be something fun, like 2005’s word of the year, truthiness, made popular by Stephen Colbert. I guess 2008 was a more serious year than 2005.

2008 found us in an economic crisis and it’s going to take a lot to get our economy back on track. I think it’s pretty painful to pinch pennies at the grocery store and drive aging cars, and watch the federal government give billions and billions of dollars away. Yes, I work for the government, but I pay taxes too, you know!

Like you, I don’t have to power to give away billions of tax dollars, but there are some things that we can do. President-elect Obama has a plan to stimulate the economy – get informed about the plan. Gov Gab’s readers are highly intelligent and always writing in to tell us about their great ideas. You can send your economy-saving idea directly to the Obama transition team. They’re listening.

Don’t forget to contact your Senator and Representative in Congress to let them know your ideas and how you want your tax dollars to be spent. They’re the ones that write the laws after all, and we need to hold them accountable to give us the truth, not just the truthiness.

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Entry bubble Caring for Your Pet

By: Joanne | January 06, 2009 | Category: Home and Family

close up of my cat's faceI know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but I’m pretty sure that our cat understands English. I’m not just talking about tone of voice stuff, but she knows what I’m talking about. When it’s my daughter’s bedtime, she comes running to me when I ask her if she’s ready to snuggle with Bailey, but last week she had a vet appointment and I spent 25 minutes searching the house from top to bottom and couldn’t find her anywhere. She heard me talking about the appointment that morning and even an open can of tuna couldn’t coax her out of her secret hiding spot.

She’s a naughty girl, but because we love her, I secretly rescheduled the appointment. When you have a pet that you care about, you want to care for her as well as you can. Keeping your pet healthy and pain free is best for them, but it’s important for your health as well since some animal diseases can be transferred to humans.

Routine veterinary care is pretty affordable for most of us, but if your pet develops an illness or gets an injury, the costs can be shocking. If you’re a pet owner, you may want to consider health insurance for your pet. I’ve never had pet insurance, but I have a friend whose beloved dog developed an autoimmune disorder and I’m certain that the vet bills were thousands of dollars. It’s pretty scary.

We’re not going to miss the vet appointment this week. This time I was smart and wrote it on the calendar but won’t mention it. I’m pretty sure she can’t read.

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Entry bubble Diet Pill Warning

By: Joanne | December 30, 2008 | Category: Health

a bottle of pillsHow timely. Just when half the country is looking for an easy way lose weight in 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has come out with a warning about tainted, unsafe weight loss pills. This is not just one product, but actually more than 25 different products that contain dangerous chemicals.

So far, there’s no recall and these products are still available to consumers, so if you’ve got a bottle of “natural” or “herbal” weight loss pills in the house, check to be sure that yours isn’t on the list of tainted products.

Come on, we all know that these kinds of products aren’t the answer anyway. We think it would be wonderful if we could just pop a pill once a day and have the figure of a supermodel. Sure, weight loss pills and slimming diets can help us lose a few pounds, but once you’re off the diet, the pounds always creep back.

To risk sounding old and wise, I have to tell you that it’s all about your every day food choices and exercise. Really. You know I like to ride my bike, and I have to confess that I’m riding my stationary bike while I'm writing this. That’s right, I can pedal and type at the same time. I get some exercise and changed my diet and I’m here telling you it works and it’s not so terrible. I needed a nutritionist to help me figure out what I need to do, but if you don’t want to spend the money then head to nutrition.gov and read up. Make a little effort, and you’ll get the lasting weight control you’re looking for and you won’t need the silly pills after all.

| Post a Comment | View Comments [0] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: diet   joanne   loss   pill   recall   warning   weight  

 

Entry bubble Where's Santa?

By: Joanne | December 23, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

I can’t remember ever feeling so calm right before Christmas. Maybe it’s my gluten free diet, or my stress management techniques. I don’t know why I’m so calm, because things haven’t been going exactly smoothly. I’m still preparing the big, fancy Christmas Eve dinner for 12, and have I mentioned that my car still isn’t fixed?

But you know what? I just don’t care. I’m really looking forward to the family all being together this year. On Christmas Eve, I just want to have some time playing with the new Wii and getting the kids excited for Santa’s arrival. We’re going to keep track of Santa’s progress around the world thanks to NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command. NORAD uses four high-tech systems to track Santa – radar, satellites, Santa Cams and fighter jets. You can keep tabs on Santa’s journey from your desktop or now with your mobile device!

And finally just before it’s time to tuck into bed, we’ll sprinkle magic reindeer food in the front yard, leave a plate of cookies for Santa and turn off the Christmas lights.

| Post a Comment | View Comments [1] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: christmas   holiday   joanne   norad   santa  

 

Entry bubble Holiday Cooking

By: Joanne | December 16, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

turkey dinner on a plateI’ve been obsessed with two things this week: finding a store with a Nintendo Wii in stock, and cooking. I got the Wii on Sunday – I sat in the store parking lot for an hour before they opened. I am a one woman Christmas shopping commando.

I’m cooking in preparation for the holidays. My husband’s whole family will be in town. Luckily his brother lives close to us, so we won’t have an overwhelming amount of house guests, but when we’re all together, we add up to 12 hungry mouths to feed. I try to prepare as much food as I can in advance, so I have time to enjoy being with my family.

This weekend I made freezer rolls and three kinds of soup: a free-form veggies and beans, curried peanut, and corn chowder.

My big challenge will be a big, sit down dinner on Christmas Eve. We’ll have turkey, gravy, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, salad, and I’m still undecided on an entrée for the vegetarians. I’m thinking of a bean dish, but will have to put a little more thought into the holiday menu. Let me know if you’ve got ideas.

I still have to figure out when to take the turkey out of the freezer, but I’m sure the Meat and Poultry hotline can help me with that and remember, if you’re planning on bringing some of that killer jam you made this summer when you fly to grandma’s, remember that airline security applies to food, too.

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