Where is the willpower?

I have none so it's no wonder I can't find it anywhere! In the past few weeks, I've added a couple of pounds onto a frame that already needed to lose weight. Stomping and throwing a temper tantrum won't get rid of it (if I stomp and tantrum for an hour, I wonder how many calories I'd burn?).

There are lots of appetite suppressants available, like Phentermine. My appetite isn't my problem though. My problem is that I don't eat enough, making my body hold onto every calorie it takes in, and I don't exercise. If I would exercise, it would jump-start my sluggish metabolism and start the fat burning.

I always think I will walk every morning after the kids get to school, but something else always needs to be done. I figured I would do sit-ups a few times each day but that only happened once.

You know, if I spent as much time exercising as I do dreading how I look, I'd probably lose a few pounds. Lazy. That's what I am.

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Don't Buy Palm

We bought two brand new Palm smartphones on our cell plan, one for me and one for my husband around March of this year. I have the Treo and my husband has the Centro. They have been problems for months.

Let's take my husband's Treo...

Last month, it stopped working entirely. It was stuck on the Palm logo page and that was all it would do. Couldn't phone anybody, couldn't text, couldn't get into the schedule - nothing! I went through with Sprint and Palm all the soft and hard resets that you have to try first. It didn't work.

Then they want you to do one of two things:

1. They will send you another phone out with a $300 hold on one of your credit cards (it would've been our bank card which means they'd hold $300 of our checking account money) until they receive the broken phone back; or
2. Send your phone in, they promise to fix it within 5-7 days of receiving it and will send it back to you.

We went with option #2 because who the heck has an extra $300 to give a company to hold onto for who the heck knows how long when you are supporting six kids? We sent them the phone according to their instructions and waited. And waited. And waited.

I called them because it'd been longer than the 5-7 days they'd claimed. They apologized and said they'd take care of it within 24-48 hours and send the phone back to us. We finally got the phone back to find that they didn't fix the one we had sent them. They sent us a refurbished phone back. We bought a brand new phone from them a few months ago and they send us back somebody else's repaired phone? Hm.

So, it should be all good now right? WRONG! The dang phone they sent us didn't work. We could barely hear who was talking...seems the ear piece was bad. So they sent us a bad phone after waiting weeks for them to fix the phone to begin with! Nice.

*sigh*

So I call them back and they'll fix the phone. They think they are being considerate in agreeing to waive the $25 fee to fix this phone. Huh? They sent us a broken phone so why the heck should I pay them to to fix it or be grateful to them for waiving that fee?

THEN....wait for this...

They want us to send that phone back into them and wait weeks to have this one fixed or replaced. Again? Do they not realize that we bought a new phone from them just a few months ago, that we'd waited weeks already for them to fix it, and they sent us back a bad phone? I tell them that isn't agreeable, for us to be inconvenienced for their mistake.

They tell me that they will send us another phone but will have to hold $300 of our money until we get the phone from them and then send ours back to them. What? This is THEIR mistake remember? I am livid at this point and ask to talk to a supervisor.

I get the supervisor who won't budge so they send me to corporate. They won't budge either. Why should I let them hold $300 of my own money for THEIR mistake? I basically tell them where they can put their Palm phones. They keep their patronizing tone on the phone with me while I hear some man laughing his backside off in the background at Palm. GREAT customer service!

I will NEVER buy a Palm phone from them again. Never. It'll be a cold day and pigs will fly before that happens. They have horrible customer service - sending us a bad phone and then refusing to fix it without totally inconveniencing us. What kind of customer service is that?

BUYER BEWARE! Their customer service was terrible to deal with and their products break down. After this happened, I went online and it seems like this "freezing up" like my husband's phone did is a big problem with the Palm phones. You'd think they'd have a better customer service response than the one they had with me.

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Internet & Children

We bought my father-in-law a new computer system with a faster processor and better hard drive. They are coming to visit soon and will be bringing their old system with them for my oldest daughter for school work.

She can't wait to have a computer again. She would like to have the Internet on it but I am against a child having Internet access in their bedrooms where they can't be monitored closely. I've heard there is a browser program that you can pay for monthly or annually that is totally parent controlled. However even at that, I still don't feel right about a child having Internet access in their bedrooms. Do you allow your child unmonitored Internet access?

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Acetaminophen (Tylenol) Causing Asthma?

Is the Acetaminophen (Tylenol) you give to your infant putting them more at risk to develop asthma a few years down the road? According to one study, it just might. Studying 205,487 children from 31 countries around the world seemed to point towards this.

Knowing how often pediatricians have recommended Tylenol for illnesses or before vaccinations, these are seriously scary results. Is Ibuprofen next? You never know anymore.

Read more about it here.

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Ike's Damage to Us

I am finally getting around to going through some pictures and thought I'd post a few here.

Well, all we had up here from Ike were strong winds (up to 80 mph). Most of the rain missed us but the heavy winds did a lot of damage in this area (and all over the state from what I am hearing with state of emergencies in most of the counties in this state). There were several times our house shook good. There are still schools closed in our area, though our kids' school was only affected the day after the storm. They still have not restored power back to everybody yet. We got lucky. We had some damage but compared to some people around us, we were lucky. We had some yard items flipped over (kids' playhouse was left standing) and several of our trees damaged but at least they weren't on our roof, like our neighbor down the road. Most everything was ok once flipped back over. The volleyball net poles were broke so that went into the trash but everything else was fixable.

Some of our neighbors weren't so lucky. I can't imagine living in the south and going through an actual hurricane. The winds from Ike were bad enough here in the north!

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Million Dollar Friend Award

I received the "Million Dollar Friend Award" from MammaDawg:

Start copy - - - - -

Twisted Sister

“You are never a burden.. don’t ever think that. Friends need each other to pick them up when they are down and I would do nothing less. ” ~Dawn Drover

A Nice Place In The Sun

A Million Dollar Friend is the kind of person who instinctively knows what it means to be a good friend; this kind of person makes you look forward to the days ahead and fondly remember the days that have passed.

Only in Silence (Abelle)

A million dollar friend is someone who not only pulls you up when you’re down, but also always finds a way to not let you fall.

Can of Thoughts (Vhiel)

"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down" ~Arnold Glasow-

MammaDawg

"It's the little things that matter, that add up in the end, with the priceless thrilling magic found only in a friend." ~Elizabeth Dunphy

Syn's Life

The things we truly love stay with us always, locked in our hearts as long as life remains."
- Josephine Baker

You Here!

Post your nominees and tell the world what a million dollar friend to you means. That’s it!

End Copy - - - - -

I would especially like to nominate:

Unbalanced Libra

Travel Snippets and More

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More on Partial Birth Abortion & Barack Obama

On September 4, 2008, I wrote a post about Barack's Obama voting history for babies born alive when partial birth abortions failed. (You can read my post here.)

Born Alive Truth offers additional information on this subject that may be of interest to some readers, including a timeline for 2001 - 2003 when Barack Obama voted no against protecting these babies born alive, allowing them to be "shelved to die" is the term I've seen used. Check out the FAQ page where it states such things as:

"According to the Chicago Sun-Times, March 31, 2001: "A spokesman for Christ Hospital's parent, Advocate Health Care… estimated that between 10 percent and 20 percent of fetuses with genetic defects that are aborted survive for short periods outside the womb.

What is the common cause of death for babies who survive induced labor abortion?

Many are not viable because they are sick or too premature. The ones who could live most often die of asphyxiation, a deficient supply of oxygen.

Of the babies who survive an induced birth abortion, could some continue living with appropriate medical care?

Yes..."

There is a lot more information on the web site. Check it out!

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Weight & Thyroid

Well, I got on the scale the other day and was disgusted to find I'd gained two pounds. At a time when I need to LOSE weight, this wasn't good. Nothing has changed so I'm not sure where the extra weight came from.

Thyroid disease can be hard to handle, not just physically but emotionally. I was recently reading that taking iodine (carefully as you can do more harm than good) can help get your thyroid going, as well as something called ashwagandha. I haven't talked to my doctor about any of it yet and I would encourage everybody to discuss these things with a doctor before trying something new. I'm not sure if any of my thyroid is still working at all (living I guess) so I'm not sure if it'd help me at this point. So I've not done either, though I would really like to take diet pills and get this weight off once and for all. However, I have to be careful because my body reacts to medications unusually since my thyroid went wonky. How I react isn't even normal for thyroid disease patients so it's marked in my chart for safety.

I'm not normal - no big surprise there.

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Career Choices - Mine is almost done!

Well, I finished another unit in my studies. I have a few more units to finish, then I want to do a thorough studying of all of my notes all over again, take the pre-exam for my certificate and then get my state test scheduled. This state test is supposed to be very difficult that most people don't pass it the first time but I am anxious to see what it is like. I hope to pass it the first time, however, if I don't, I'll have a better idea of what to look for the second time around.

So, what it is I am studying for? It's still a secret to most people online that I know because baggage from my husband's past gets a little intent on snooping (I must be really fascinating) so...well, you know how that goes. When I get my state license, I'll share. It's not futures trading or anything like that, but if it works out the way I hear it is supposed to, it will be a nice career for me to do from home so I have a good income plus am home for my kids. What more could I ask for?

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Remnants of Ike

The remnants of Ike are heading this way, bringing with it heavy rain and strong winds. I am thankful to not be on a coast where hurricanes hit so what we are getting might be strong storms but nothing like what the Gulf coast residents were hit with. Hopefully, it is just a strong storm and that's it - I can do without tornados.

I checked the news last night to read that they were going out to hopefully rescue those who made it through in the south, and I would imagine recover in many cases those who didn't make it, those who didn't evacuate. I hope those that made it through stay safe and those who are going out to rescue and putting their lives on the line to do so, stay safe as well.

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Career Paths

It's been a few years since I've been to college...six or seven years I guess since I was last in college. I started going to college nights right after high school while I worked full-time. At that time, it was for office administration. Once I had a great career going, I took some drafting courses thinking I might change career paths into computer aided design (CAD) or program management where I worked as my job was already including duties outside of office administration and I was good at them. Then I had kids and well, you know how that can go sometimes. I did go back to school about 6-7 years ago for Paralegal. I love the law and had wanted to be an attorney since I had married. However, who has money for law school when you get married and get two automatic children (two stepkids) and court fights out the wazoo with their mother? Paralegal was the affordable step down for lawyer. The ex got lucky on that one.

Now I am studying again and it feels odd. It is harder to concentrate, probably because it is a home study course instead of an actual classroom setting. This course had classroom study but with our four kids, that just wasn't going to happen. In a classroom setting, you have the instructor to bounce your questions and ideas off of. I like the home study hours (they are what I want them to be) but you do lose out a bit with not having an instructor on hand daily or weekly to clarify and keep you on track. I am hoping to take my state test in a few weeks (after my studies are done). The test is very difficult. I guess most people don't pass the first and second times (or third). Tough stuff! I want to pass it the first time.

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Career as a Futures Broker

One field that I hear can be great to get into is trading stocks. I think my brother was going to do it at one point because a good friend of his had made a successful career out of it. I am not sure what happened with that, but he's not buying and selling stocks. I thought about doing it at one point but life happened (four kids, being a stay-at-home mommy).

If there are those out there reading this that are interested in a new career and learning about exchanges, charts, margins, expirations, commodities, and more, and want to become a futures broker, the opportunities are out there for you. You just have to go get them!

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September 11th

I am driving one of my kids to school this morning and they play a song to honor 9/11. They were asked to play it by a man who anonymously donated $1,000 to Operation Open Arms. He didn't want to be recognized for the donation so he asked that his name be kept out of it; he just asked that they play a song for 9/11. The song makes me teary but I'm ok. Then the phone calls start...

• ...thanking the station for playing the song, for remembering.
• ...thanking the troops for what they are doing.
• ...thanking the anonymous donor of $1000 for donating to Operation Open Arms.
• ...thank you for playing the song and remembering, they have a husband and brother going to Iraq and Afghanistan both in January.
• ...the calls don't stop with people calling in and crying.

By that point, I am parked in the school parking lot and crying myself. I had to turn the radio off because I had an 8 a.m. appointment with my daughter's teacher and I didn't want to go in there blubbering.

For those who lost their lives and lost their loved ones on 9/11, we won't forget.

For the troops who have fought, are fighting now, and will fight in the future, we won't forget.

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Obama Says He Doesn't Have the Experience to Run in 2008...but does anyway

Does four years make the difference between knowing what you are doing and not knowing what you are doing for running a country?

He said he didn't have the experience to run in 2008...yet does anyway. Huh.

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VMAs on MTV

I caught different parts of this show last night and flipped stations when people and/or performances came on that I didn't care to watch.

Rihanna opened the show and I thought her performance was really good. Her dancers coming out first the way they did I thought was great - - the walking dead. Reminded me a bit of thriller but different.

I saw Britney speak right before Rihanna came out and she looked good. Hope she's going to stay on the mend mentally.

Pink's performance was awesome except I was afraid she was going to flash us toward the end there. Sometimes it seemed her shirt was going to gap a bit too far and oopsie! I've always liked Pink and enjoyed her performance last night.

Lil Wayne - I had to turn the station. I can't stand that pants falling down crap. I like some hip hop and rap so it wasn't the music...I just couldn't get through the underwear showing, constant crotch grabbing. Maybe I am getting old. I just want to yell at them to pull their dang pants up and play with yourself in private (isn't that what you tell kids when they start to do this as kids?). It just seems disrespectful and inappropriate to me. UNDERWEAR...see the word "under" in there - you wear it UNDER your clothes.

The Jonas Brothers were cute. My daughters had no idea they were on last night or else they would've been begging to stay up. The host went after them a few times about their rings...I'm glad my kids weren't watching because the host was a little to blatant about sex and kids who choose abstinence.

Speaking of the host, Russell Brand - eh. He was a tad cute in looks (just a tad), though perhaps a bit too girlish. Sashaying around I can do without. I could have done without some of his humor too. I think this particular Brit giving Americans voting advice is silly...especially since he was so gung-ho for Barack Obama who I think is the worst candidate the Democrats could have representing them. I don't trust that man or his ties to "friends" like the hate spewing idiot reverend and his criminal friend. I don't know how a man so full of hate can carry the title "reverend". You can't be so close with a man for 20 years as Barack was and be so ignorant of the reverend viewpoints - it's not like the shouting hate spewing reverend kept his mouth shut about his opinions. Attending church for 20 years under this reverand who used his sermons to preach hate while Barack sat there. That tells me a lot about Barack Obama. Nor do I respect a man like Barack who allows his voting failures to allow more babies born alive during live birth abortions suffer and be allowed to die cruelly. Murder. Whatever a person's opinion on abortion in general, live birth abortions don't always work (don't always "kill" the babies in utero) and there were babies in 2nd and 3rd term pregnancies being born alive and allowed to basically suffocate over the next few hours until they died under his watch. He had the power to vote and change this and he only voted "present" the first time it came around (coward) and then voted it down the second time. By the third time, it finally passed. I wonder how many babies had been born alive during this time span with his voting failures that were allowed to suffer and die slowly and cruelly after their failed live birth abortion. As far as his wife - not who I want as a First Lady. Families of candidates, to me, are off-limits unless they get up and open their mouths like his wife does. She'd have been better to keep her mouth shut. Makes me question my previously high opinion of Oprah Winfrey. Ack! Got a bit sidetracked here...back to the sashaying Russell Brand. So Russell Brand's opinion of Barack, our current president, and anything else politic-related can suck eggs. It didn't belong on the VMAs. I don't watch award shows to see celebrities use them as their forum to offer their political opinions. Perhaps Russell Brand should just get a blog so he can give his opinions, like I do, lol.

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Twilight (Book 1 in the Popular Series)

If you haven't heard about the new book that all the teens are into (and the movie that is being made from this book, set to come to theatres in November), I checked twilight (by Stephenie Meyer) out from the library after hearing what a great book it was. It is a "young adult" book but adults were finding it great so I thought I'd give it a try. I can see why this book is so popular with the teen set. I have the other two books in the series on hold at the library so I can finish the series.

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My Last Two Horrid Weeks

The last couple of weeks have been quite horrible. I must have ticked somebody off in the universe or something.

It started with one of our horses dying. Rex was my daughter's horse, her best friend, and he died unexpectedly. We were so attached to that gentle giant and he left a hole, a lot of questions, and a lot of tears behind. That was two weeks ago.

Then, our hot water tank, which has been on its last leg for awhile now, finally died completely. It's a propane water tank with a power vent (stops the carbon monoxide from backing up into the house because of the way the idiot builders of this house vented it to begin with) which costs twice as much as a regular one so we are out $1200 for parts and labor on that (and still don't have it yet). The power vent makes it a special order and it's still in shipping somewhere. So, we've been boiling water for baths or on warm days, putting the kids in their bathing suits and under the hose (the Beverly Hillbillies ain't got nothin' on us!). We hope to see a new hot water tank in our house within this next week (PLEASE!).

My pre-schooler has been yakking on her bus ride to school still these past two weeks and I can't get the transportation manager to return my call. So, I emailed the principal of the school and plan to stop in there tomorrow if I can squeeze it in between everything else going on. I will change her schools if they won't do something about it!

Then, she my youngest gets sick (as in virus sick) a few days ago. I knew it would happen as her immune system adjusts to being around all of these kids but it still stinks.

Then, a few mornings ago about 4:00 a.m., my daughter wakes me up, says a pop woke her up and sparks are flying out of an electrical outlet by her bed. We'd already replaced one outlet and circuit when this happened before. This blew an outlet in my son's room next door too - black plate and black plug. There are no sparks when I get up there but it's warm. I unplug everything in the two rooms and check all the plugs and others throughout the house. They cool off so there isn't anything arcing in the wall that I can tell. Then I am up because I can't go to sleep by this point because I am worried. Hubby and I start going thru the circuits to see which one it is to see: 1) if it popped off like it should have and 2) which circuit it was. Turns out it didn't pop off the way it should have and it was the same darn circuit we'd already replaced with a new one. So, we get it turned off and I replace all the batteries in the smoke detectors to ease my mind and we leave the circuit off. We are leaving the whole circuit off until we can get an electrician in so we are sure no other electrical problems can occur. That leaves my kids rooms without any plugs whatsoever but better safe than sorry. I am thinking we need to update/replace the electrical box completely and have both those bedrooms (and the kitchen while we're at it) totally rewired with new wires. I'd rather just have the whole house rewired but we can't afford that. Heck, we can't afford to have those two rooms rewired yet which is why the circuit will stay off until we can.

Then yesterday, oh my gawd yesterday...

My husband is sick now from our youngest's germs. My son is starting to get sick then too. I am feeling it in my lungs already. That's not all...

THEN I am grilling burgers outside...my two oldest girls do something on their bike together that they were told just the other day NOT to do. That results in my seven year old's foot is all twisted in between the rear wheel and the steel bar that the wheel is attached to. My husband is gone so I have no help. I'm not sure if she's broke anything but she's in a lot of pain. I am trying to hold her up and the bike at the same time because the pressure on her foot/ankle/leg has her screaming bloody murder and any movement makes it worse. I need help because I can't get her foot out and hold her and the bike up and my two oldest kids have disappeared into the house (my oldest probably because she knows she is in a boatload of trouble at this point). I am yelling like an angry banshee for my oldest to get outside and help me (I can't imagine what the neighbors must think at this point between the bloody murder screaming of my seven year old and me). I'm swearing like a truck driver (I don't know how to take a bike apart, where is your dad, there are no neighbors outside, I don't have any help, etc...add a few swear words in there...I let loose). My daughter finally comes out so I send her for scissors to cut the shoe off. I get that off and still can't slide her foot through. I send her into the garage for tools to try to take the bike apart. The only thing I can think of is to try to take that wheel off to give her some room if I can so I take the nuts off holding the wheel on and am able to move the wheel enough to slide my daughter's leg up where there is now a gap and get her foot out. Phew! If that hadn't worked, I would've been calling the Fire Department to cut that bike off of her leg because I didn't know what else to do to free her. My oldest locks herself in her room to cry and my burgers are burned - shoe leather! Their grounding is going to be more strict than usual because I am tired of telling them not to do something (especially when it is for their own safety) and they go ahead and do it anyway so they've lost going to cheer camp at school this week, cheering at the football game, and extra chores to pay me back for the $$ I paid for cheer camp for them already, plus no texts or phone calls on my oldest's cell phone. There were tears over cheer camp but darnit, they have to learn when I say something, that I mean it and this has to stick. This was the only thing I knew to take away, that meant something to them, that would make an impression on them since taking away tv privileges, extra chores, and early bedtimes weren't making an impression.

So, we sit down to eat dinner anyway and my youngest gets a chip caught in her throat. She is making noise so I know her airway isn't totally blocked but it's hurting her. She vomits in her hands and in the sink and clears the chip. She's better, but I am about to lose it and run crying to my room myself.

Then (yes, there is more), my husband heats up water on our flat, glass top stove for his bath (remember the hot water tank is out). He turns the stove off but it takes awhile for those burners to cool and they don't look hot anymore. My nine year old son puts his fingers on the burner. He's in agony. I run cool water which isn't cool enough so I get an ice pack out and try to cool his fingers a bit. I then put Lidocaine on it to try to numb the pain because he's still rolling all over the place and crying, hanging onto his hand and banging it into the couch. Between his fever and sore throat from the virus and now his hand, he's pretty miserable but he finally gets some sleep when his fingers numb up a bit.

I am surprised I still have my sanity after these last two weeks. A bottle of Cuervo is seriously needed about right now.

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Peeve of the Day - Don't Preach If You Can't Live It Yourself

Everybody has pet peeves - things they just can't stand...something that snaps the nerves the wrong way. I have been married for almost 13 years so I have a few of them where it concerns husbands, but this isn't about husbands, lol.

My peeve for the day (for the week, month, and year probably) is people who can't stop talking about and recommending self-help books and crap when they have never managed to manage their own lives responsibly (whether it be family, financial, etc.). It gets on my nerves when I get that message on my answering machine about some fantastic person I just have to read or just have to look up online when the person who is spouting the recommendation I have little respect for. It is like a born again christian who preaches about being saved to me as they go out and get drunk on the weekends, around their kids, etc. (I have nothing against born again christians in general unless their religious beliefs are being pushed on me personally so don't go off on a tangent about that.) The point is - - I am NOT going to listen to somebody who doesn't live the way they preach. Don't preach to me if you can't manage yourself.

That's my peeve. Not that y'all care but it's bugging me right now and since I write when I am annoyed, you guys get to read about it, lol.

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Iraq War YouTube Video - Must See!

This video was posted on a forum and I thought the message might be appreciated by some. With a nephew in the Army, set to be sent to the Middle East soon, it's important to me.

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Potential Safety Issues with Medications

The FDA released it's January - March 2008 report with a list of medications with potential signals of serious risks and new safety information identified during this period. I recognize several of the medications, though thankfully they aren't any I take. Though I am sure we all know somebody who takes at least one of these. Check out the list and make sure:


Arginine Hydrochloride Injection (R-Gene 10) -Pediatric overdose due to labeling / packaging confusion

Desflurane (Suprane) - Cardiac arrest

Duloxetine (Cymbalta) - Urinary retention

Etravirine (Intelence) - Hemarthrosis

Fluorouracil Cream (Carac) and Ketoconazole Cream (Kuric) - Adverse events due to name confusion

Heparin - Anaphylactic-type reactions

Icodextrin (Extraneal) - Hypoglycemia

Insulin U-500 (Humulin R) - Dosing confusion

Ivermectin (Stromectol) and Warfarin - Drug interaction

Lapatinib (Tykerb) - Hepatotoxicity

Lenalidomide (Revlimid) - Stevens Johnson Syndrome

Natalizumab (Tysabri) - Skin melanomas

Nitroglycerin (Nitrostat) - Overdose due to labeling confusion

Octreotide Acetate Depot (Sandostatin LAR) - Ileus

Oxycodone Hydrochloride Controlled-Release (Oxycontin) - Drug misuse, abuse and overdose

Perflutren Lipid Microsphere (Definity) - Cardiopulmonary reactions

Phenytoin Injection (Dilantin) - Purple Glove Syndrome

Quetiapine (Seroquel) - Overdose due to sample pack labeling confusion

Telbivudine (Tyzeka) - Peripheral neuropathy

Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Blockers - Cancers in children and young adults

To see the FDA's report at fda.gov, click here.

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My Fridays With Ghost Whisperer

Ghost Whisperer - Season 4 Preview


I love this show! I've watched Ghost Whisperer from the beginning and still love it. I can't wait for the new season to start. Yes, if that is pathetic that this is my Friday night, so be it, lol.

I just wish Moonlight was still on after Ghost Whisperer. I don't know why they canceled it. Stupid!

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Projected Path for Hanna and Hurricane Ike

Updated map for the projected path for Hanna. Hanna left behind 137 dead in Haiti.

Hanna is closing in on the Carolinas and Ike will be along soon after. Here is a current map to project Ike's path so far.

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Where is the objectivity with ABC and CBS?

I was watching the morning news shows on ABC (Good Morning America) and CBS (The Early Show) and was struck by the lack of objectivity portrayed by well-known journalists on the political coverage. They were rabid in their negative questioning regarding Sarah Palin...not only rabid but ludicrous. One example I saw regarded the teenage daughter's pregnancy and when it was announced. It seems they expected Governor Sarah Palin to give a speech as soon as she was announced on August 29, 2008, "Hello, I am Sarah Palin. I have a 17 year old daughter who is pregnant." Get real! She announced it three days later. What's wrong with that? Family is personal business. Couldn't the media come up with anything else other than totally humiliating a minor? How would your 17-year-old daughter feel about being outed on national news by her mother the day she is announced as McCain's running mate? Most 17-year-olds would crawl under a rock.

What I would like to know is this:

• Do the big-shots who own these stations lean on the national news outlets on their stations to lean to one political side over the other? Is this why I couldn't find objectivity on either of these stations for the national news yesterday morning?
• Do these well-known journalists really feel this way themselves, the way their rabid "journalism" portrays or are they just doing what they're told and selling their personal ethics to the devil?

I was a loyal Good Morning America viewer until being turned off the "journalism" I saw yesterday morning. So, I changed the station to CBS' The Early Show only to find the same thing. Where is the objective journalism?

Journalism Ethics & Standards:

"While various existing codes have some differences, most share common elements including the principles of — truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability — as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public."

Did anybody else read OBJECTIVITY and FAIRNESS in those standards? I sure did.

According to the Society of Professional Journalists:

"The Preamble to its Code of Ethics states:

...public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility."

- - seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account...serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Something I don't believe Good Morning America or The Early News did yesterday.

There should be a line drawn between news and opinion. These weren't editorials. When I turn on national news on a local station (not cable station), I expect fairness and objectivity. I want the facts. I don't want biased journalism with my morning orange juice. If it is Oprah Winfrey, whatever, it is her show and she can stand behind whichever political candidate she wants to (or celebrity, or book, or cause) but when I watch national news on stations like ABC, CBS, or NBC, I don't want to see media bias. I just want the facts. Period.

I think Sarah Palin has a degree in journalism. Maybe she should remind ABC and CBS what objective journalism is.

I don't know who I am voting for. I don't consider myself as either a Democrat or a Republican. I vote according to the candidate, not the political party. What would help is fair reporting so people can get the information they need to make good choices.

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My Frog Hurts

My three-year-old tossed and whined all night. Something was bothering her but she wouldn't tell me what. Her head was cool but her bare feet were really hot so I wasn't sure if she had a fever or not through the night (and thanks to the kids, our thermometer went missing). Hot feet? I dunno! That's a new one on me and I thought I'd seen everything seeing as she is our sixth between our kids and my stepkids. She couldn't get comfortable for nothing. A few times, I had to pull her back from the edge of the bed before she'd rolled herself off of it. I didn't want to add concussion into it if she hit the wall or dresser. Through the night she would sit up and put her hands below her mouth...I thought she was going to yak.

When she woke this morning, I asked her if anything hurt. Lo and behold...she's talking now! *sigh* She said her frog hurt and that she had a frog in her throat. OK, I take that to mean she has a sore throat in three-year-old speak (she's adorable even when she's sick...my frog hurts). She also felt more definite like she had a fever when she woke up. No preschool for her today. Throughout the morning, her cough has increased.

She started pre-school last week. It didn't take two weeks for those school germs to get her. I expected this to happen since this is her first year of pre-school and her immune system is going to have to go through this but I was hoping it wouldn't start right away. It's still in the 90's here...I thought it'd wait until the weather cooled.

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The Things I Do

It seems like I just bought my new patio set and it is already getting time to put it into storage unless I buy patio furniture covers to protect it so we can still use it on those milder autumn and winter days. Patio furniture covers protect to sub-zero temperatures (or the blazing sun if you are in a southern climate).

Here is my new patio table that I waited a year to buy:

I could purchase a patio cover like this one and protect it from the snow:

I am going to run it by my husband and see what he says. I am willing to bet that he'd rather cover it than carry it all down from our upper level deck and clean his garage to make room for my patio set. My buying this means less work for him. See how that works?

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One Way To Sell Your House

A couple in Michigan is selling a dollhouse (worth a couple thousand dollars and built by one of the owner's fathers who has since passed away) for $169,000. If you buy the dollhouse, you get their actual home for free.

Because of the housing market slump, people are getting creative to get out of their current homes. This is one way. I'm curious to see if it works. With all the publicity this is getting, I wouldn't doubt if they sell it. Whoever buys it is likely assured at least one newspaper article about it...perhaps even a mention on local up to national news at least once.

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Amazon Buys Shelfari

I am an avid reader...a downright nerd if you must know when it comes to reading (or so that is what my husband calls me). I just found out that one of my favorite online stores (Amazon) bought a book social networking site that I use, Shelfari. I wonder if this means changes are in store for Shelfari...perhaps more options in the social networking area. We shall see.

I've been keeping track of what I own and/or read at Shelfari. I'm not sure why I started doing it but I do. I think it's the nerd side of me. Here's my bookshelf:

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

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