Wednesday Funny

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter. The man at the counter asked the older boy, "Son, how old are you?"

"Eight," the boy replied.

The man continued, "Do you know what these are used for?"

The boy replied, "Not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four. We saw on TV that if you use these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now, he can't do either."

Psycho Donuts: Tasteless

I wanted to post a newsletter I received from NAMI this month. For those of you who aren't familiar, NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness. According to their website, NAMI is "the largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness." Each month, NAMI StigmaBusters publishes a newsletter. StigmaBusters is a network designed to fight inaccurate portrayals of mental illness. The purpose of the group is to educate society regarding mental illness, the reality surrounding the disease, and the numerous struggles consumers and family members face as a result. StigmaBusters essentially works to fight ignorance and discrimination. The August newsletter contained the following ... thought it would be good "food for thought" ... no pun intended! I especially thought the comparison to cancer, heart disease, diabetes or burn victims was an excellent point.

Psycho Donuts: Tasteless

Join the national on-line food fight. Help turn lemon donuts into lemonade.

Since early spring, NAMI Santa Clara County and other mental health groups have been fighting an impressive, valiant battle against stigmatizing elements of a "Psycho Donuts" store that opened outside San Francisco.

The store's worst features include a straitjacket, padded cell decorations and tasteless donut names-such as "Massive Head Trauma," which has especially enraged war veterans.

Concern has existed that the company's business plan may envision franchise expansion to other states or communities-but victory may be near. The store owner has promised an "evolution" and some changes are starting to be made. Nonetheless, the story "went national" this week.

• Fox News ran a "debate" between the business owner-a Silicon Valley entrepreneur-and the head of United Advocates for Children and Families.


• AOL ran a story with a reader survey-60 percent of respondents supported the store. Last time we checked, there were more than a thousand reader comments posted. Add your own!


• An ABC News story also produced strong reader comments. Please review them and add your own.

Protests raise awareness and begin a process of education-and dialogue-even if they don't immediately change minds. Here are points to consider in posting your own comments on-line. The basic points can be used in almost any situation-and any ongoing reports of this controversy.

• The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that stigma surrounding mental illness-including mockery-is a major barrier to people getting help when they need it.


• Would a business ever seriously consider a humorous theme involving cancer, heart disease, diabetes or burn victims?


• Mental health advocates work every day to help individuals and families who need help. Does Psycho Donuts support that need? For people who want to learn more about mental illness and education and support programs please visit the NAMI Web site.


• We respect freedom of speech-which includes our right to protest. We also have a sense of humor (Food fight? Lemon donuts?). But there is such a thing as business social responsibility. Psycho Donuts should not be contributing to a public health crisis by reinforcing stigma. They should be supporting education and recovery.

Yes, donuts can be funny. But not tasteless ones that are hazardous to public health.
We congratulate NAMI Santa Clara County and all the other groups and individuals who have been leading the fight in the local community-and seeking a constructive outcome. We welcome the business owner's promise to "evolve." Let's hope it happens quickly.

Words for Women to Live By

1. Aspire to be Barbie - the bitch has everything.

2. If the shoe fits - buy them in every color.

3. Take life with a pinch of salt ... A wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila.

4. In need of a support group? - Cocktail hour with the girls!

5. Go on the 30 day diet. (I'm on it and so far I've lost 15 days).

6. When life gets you down just put on your big girl panties and deal with it.
7. Let your greatest fear in life be that there is no PMS and this is just your personality.
8. I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here.
9. Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.
10. Don't get your knickers in a knot; it solves nothing and makes you walk funny.
11. When life gives you lemons - turn it into lemonade then mix it with vodka.
12. Keep your chin up, only the first 40 years of parenthood are the hardest.
13. If it has Tires or Testicles it's gonna give you trouble.
14. By the time a women realizes her mother was right, she has a daughter (or son) who thinks she's wrong.

As Eleanor Roosevelt once said ...

In the long run,

we shape our lives,

and we shape ourselves.

The process never ends until we die.

And the choices we make

are ultimately our own responsibility.

Happy Fourth of July!

Hi everyone - hopefully you all have plans to enjoy this great holiday. It has been quite the week here ... I took a couple of days off from work and really spent them working around the house. You know ... fun stuff: baseboards, plant shelves, kitchen cupboards, Cam's ROOM, things like that. Pretty much things that have been put off way too long. I also squeezed in a few appointments, so it was pretty busy. It felt like something had been accomplished, so I suppose that is always a good thing. Another week of skate camp is complete. Cam's been having so much fun, and really progressing with his skating. There was a skate contest this morning at one of the local skate parks, but the thought of skating in the heat didn't seem too appealing. Yeah, me either. Now how about an annual New Year's skate contest, or even Memorial Day? Seriously ... Fourth of July is not the holiday to expect a good turnout. The weather has been stifling. And pretty crazy. It's rained off and on the last few days which is great ... when it keeps raining. The few drops here and there suck - all it does is bring the humidity up and it is miserable. Today is clear and not a cloud in the sky. It should be perfect for our BBQ/party we've got planned for today. Looking forward to it! Our week also consisted of heading tot he theater to see Transformers. Loved it. Thought the first one was better, but this was really good. And ... we also watched Gran Torino which was EXCELLENT. Clint Eastwood was amazing in this movie. It was a tear-jerker, so watch out. But in a great way. It also had some great humor in it, which made it a great all-around flick! Honestly that's about all we've been up to. Not too exciting - but I'll take it. Have a great weekend!

The world is full

... of women blindsided

by the unceasing demands of motherhood,

still flabbergasted by how a job can be

terrific and torturous.

~ Anna Quindlen

A good chuckle

Out of the Mouth of ... Cameron

"Mom ... Do you know why Preston wasn't at skate camp today"

"Preston, one of your instructors?"

"Yeah ... he was at the dentist. He had to get his wizard teeth pulled."

WildEarth.TV - Bald Eagles

This is an incredible website! WildEarth shows live broadcasts of various animal habitats. For example, there are webcams positioned near bald eagles' nests. One particular nest is located at Saanich, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada and had been recording a mom and dad and three eggs that were laid! The eggs hatched, the first eaglet was born April 8th, and the last of the three was born this morning. You can see various recorded segments of the eaglets, or watch them live. It's pretty amazing. This is the link to watch the nest/eagles/eaglets live ...

Here is the link to the first sighting of the eaglet that was born April 8th.

About 30 seconds or so into the seekpoint, you can see all three little bobbleheads briefly

This link is from a video on Monday that shows both Mom and the Dad. Mom is sitting on the eaglets and Dad arrives on the nest. You can see how different they are. Mom is bigger and Dad's head is smaller. Dad has some white feathers on his back that Mom doesn't.

This picture was posted on the website ... It was taken today around 2:35 pm. Mom is feeding fresh prey (fish?) to 1 & 2, and #3 is apparently living on yolk.

Just thought I'd pass this info along. I thought it was interesting and Cam was pretty excited to see the little eaglet when he got home from school. :)

Stop Breast Cancer For Life.

Hi everyone - I received this today, and wanted to pass it along.

Be my support. Be my strength. Be my Bra. There is currently a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a MINIMUM 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. This is all about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" ... many women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of her doctor, and usually still groggy from anesthesia. Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on. Please click here to sign the petition, you need not give more than your name and zip code.

Get rid of unwanted catalogs!

Apparently on the Today show (I think the episode that aired today) they gave out a free website where you can stop receiving catalogs you currently get in the mail. It sounded pretty cool. You register with the site, and then choose from the list and you pick which ones you don't want. You need to have the catalog on you for the key code. So the next time you get a junk catalog, one that's not even worthy for bathroom material, hang onto it and enter the key code from the back on the site. Everyone benefits! Saves the companies money from making the catalogs and spending postage, the environment from the excess paper, and my mailman from adding even more crap to my mailbox.



http://www.catalogchoice.org/


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I got this today, and thought I’d add it on to this post … not a bad idea!

Junk Mail

When you get ‘ads’ enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those ‘pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, don't throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes. It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage 'IF' and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas:

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 41 cents.

Help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!