1. Eat Greens Every Day
2. Reduce Salt Intake
3. Meditate Once A Day For At Least 15 minutes
4. Motivate Your Self
5. Manage Job Stress - Leave The Stressors At Work
6. Get In Touch With YOU. Pay Attention To Your Internal Dialog
7. Laugh & Let Go
8. Make Friends With Someone New Every Six Months
9. Stimulate Your Mind With Health Info
10. Get A Pet - And Spend Time Enjoying It
11. Love Your Self First
12. Keep Active - Take Daily Walks, Take The Stairs
13. Exercise For 30 Minutes At Least Three Times A Week
14. Get Enough Sleep
15. Stay Positive About Life & Your Self

Stay At Your Best…
********************
Darren L. Johnson
The Letting Go Pro

Darren L Johnson is an expert on Letting Go of Stuff® and is known as the Letting Go Pro. He has written and published numerous articles on letting go. In 1994 Darren created and began teaching Letting Go of Stuff®.

During his twenty-five year career stint, Darren has worked with fortune 100 companies such as General Motors and Nissan, USA. As a speaker and consultant he combines personal experience, theory on change, and proven methods - all leading to success for his clients in the process of letting go of stuff.

In 2009 he founded the National Letting Go of Stuff Day and in 2007 founded a 501c3 NGO called the Global Business & Organization Development Foundation.

I was horrified today when I was watching the news today about a new baby doll that is hitting the markets called bebe Gloton:

From Fox News

A Spanish toymaker known as Berjuan has developed a breast-feeding doll that comes with a special halter top its young “mothers” wear as they pretend to breast-feed their “babies.” The halter top has daisies that cover the little girls’ nipples and come undone just as easily as the flaps of a nursing bra would.

The doll — called Bebe Gloton, which translates as “gluttonous baby” — makes sucking noises as it “feeds.”

I do support breastfeeding your children and was able to do so for two of my children however the thought of a young girl at any age holding up a doll to herself to “feed” it and hear this doll make “sucking” sounds makes me cringe!

I personally feel that this doll will not help the breastfeeding cause as the company claims but will actually hurt the cause more. Can you imagine going to a park or a mall and see a little girl with her doll, hear the baby crying and then see said little girl pick up the doll and place her to her chest?

Personally I would rather talk about breastfeeding to an adult who can see both sides to breastfeeding and bottle feeding and make their own choice of how to feed their baby,  I know some women cannot breast feed due to health issues or to personal choice. I was one of those women. I was able to breastfeed my oldest and my youngest but not my middle son due to health issues, so I know and have experienced both sides.

This post is not about whether you should breast feed or bottle feeding,  remember “YOU make the best choice for YOUR life” every woman has the right to make the best decision for her own life and her own baby.  I want to hear your thoughts about this “toy”….

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Post them below in the comments section.

On our weekly talk show “Mom’s Coffee Break” , featuring Myself, Tonya Ramsey and Jody Maley, I have noticed that the last two shows we have talked alot about teenagers. What they do, don’t do, how they behave and so forth. I thought this would be a great article idea, not just because I have one, but because many parents are going through what I call ” The Teenager Experience”, but also because many will go through it someday.  All children, no matter what their age or what they say, want to be paid attention to. They NEED to spend time with their parents and families. So here are some ideas of spending time with your teens: go to the zoo. Noone is to “old” to enjoy animals. The monkey exhibit is always fun, they seem to do some pretty inappropriate stuff that most teens, especially boys, find amusing. If your teen enjoys music, take a couple of pills for the headache that will occur, then go to a music store, concert ( if you can handle it), etc. If he/she is into gaming, check out some game stores or exhibits. There is  local facility here that hosts monthly gaming tournaments. The point is to try to spend some time with your teens that focuses on their interests.

Let your teen help prepare at least  one meal a week. It might be a little stressful for you in the beginning, but this will teach them valuable skills that they will need when they venture off on their own (hopefully) in the not so far off future. You don’t want them living on pizza, ramen noodles, and macaroni and cheese, do you?

Have them participate in the cleaning of the house. Yes, I am speaking of CHORES! If your child(ren) do not already, assign some household duties for your teen to complete. Reward them appropriately for your families situation and value system. If your teens don’t know how to keep up a home, can you imagine what theirs will look like?

Teach your teens the importance of doing what we can to help the environment, even if it is as basic as recycling and using reusable shopping bags. Maybe you will learn something, too.

As always, make sure you communicate with your teen.

Your child(ren) DO listen to you, even when you think they do not. Let them know, and prove it, that they can always talk to you about anything, even things that they think “will make you mad”. It is so important for your kids to know that they can ALWAYS come to you about anything and you will help them work out the tough problems that is best for them and your family.

I hope this article provides a little bit of information. As always, please leave your comments! I hope everyone has a great week!

Mandy Sly

The Dometic Goddess

Fast and Furriest
by Betty Jo Tucker

Because of those cute previews for G-Force, I could hardly wait to see this latest Walt Disney movie. If I loved Alvin and the Chipmunks, the quirky hamster in Bolt, and those darling Air Bud puppies, surely I would also be charmed by an elite force of guinea pigs out to save the world. Sorry, folks, that didn’t happen. The CGI animals lack visual appeal, the frenzied action goes on too long, and the human actors seem bored by their own characters.

Who are the G-Force members? Assisted by Speckles (voiced by Nicolas Cage), a mole with extraordinary computer skills, this ace rodent spy team includes Darwin (voiced by Sam Rockwell), Blaster (voiced by Tracy Morgan) and Juarez (voiced by Penelope Cruz). Although each guinea pig is supposed to display a unique personality, it’s not always easy to tell them apart — and I had trouble understanding the dialogue spoken by Blaster and Juarez at times. Darwin, self-confident and commanding, leads the gung-ho group, Blaster provides comic relief, and Juarez is the stereotypical sexy spitfire. They all have access to cool spy gizmos and gadgets ala James Bond.

Zach Galifinakis (looking too easygoing for this assignment) plays Ben, the researcher who has developed a way to converse with these critters and also serves as their human wrangler. Their mission? To thwart the plans of Saber, an ambitious billionaire (Bill Nighy) who’s involved in placing dangerous microchips in electrical appliances everywhere.

After an officious FBI agent (Will Arnett) informs Ben he’s closing down the G-Force activities, our heroes decide to prove their worth by stopping Saber any way they can. In the process, they reluctantly recruit a wacky hamster (voiced by Steve Buscemi) and Hurley (voiced by Jon Favreau), a lonely guinea pig with unmet emotional needs.

Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean) produced this movie, so it’s no surprise that fast-paced chases, loud explosions and furious action sequences fill the screen. Unfortunately, these elements overwhelm everything else and detract from the film’s value as a family entertainment offering. Most youngsters at the screening I attended were not amused — not even by the usually giggle-evoking flatulence scenes. However, I saw the 2D G-Force. Perhaps children watching it in 3D became more excited about the guinea pigs and their spy game. But for me, it would take a lot more than objects flying in my face to improve the G-Force viewing experience.

(Released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and rated “PG” for some mild action and rude humor.)

For more information about G-Force, please go to the Internet Movie Data Base or the Rotten Tomatoes website.

Betty Jo Tucker is a member of the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS). She teaches an online class, “The Reel Deal: Writing about Movies” for the LSS School of Writing and has published three movie-related books including CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT, an amusing memoir about her life at the movies. Betty Jo serves as the editor/lead film critic for ReelTalk Movie Reviews and hosts a weekly radio show, “Movie Addict Headquarters,” for BlogTalkRadio. She also writes monthly film commentary for the Colorado Senior Beacon. For more information, please go to www.BettyJoTucker.com

Don’t Mess with the Kids
by Betty Jo Tucker

Sometimes a cheesy movie makes me happy because it’s just plain fun. Aliens in the Attic probably won’t win any awards — or receive many positive reviews – but it tickled my funny bone. After watching the humorous shenanigans by youngsters who fight off a group of menacing little creatures from outer space, I was in a good mood for the rest of the day.  And, if aliens ever take over my abode, it’s the Pearson kids I would call on to take care of them.

On the first day at their summer vacation house, the Pearson cousins discover that tiny space aliens have set up operations in their attic while preparing for an upcoming invasion. These strange-looking beings use a special gadget for human mind control, but it only works on adults, so it’s up to reluctant math braniac Tom (Carter Jenkins), smart-aleck Jake (Austin Butler), twin brothers Art and Lee (Henri and Regan Young, respectively), cutie-pie Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) and sexy Bethany (Ashley Tisdale) to put aside their differences and save the day. Bethany’s smarmy boyfriend Ricky (Robert Hoffman) is no longer a teen, which means he’s vulnerable along with the other adults (Kevin Nealon, Gillian Vigman, Andy Richter and Doris Roberts) at the summer house as well as the local sheriff (Tim Meadows) who drops by occasionally.

Responsible for evoking most of the laughter here, Hoffman (Step Up 2 the Streets) shows off his exceptional ability for physical comedy during hilarious sequences when “Ricky” is taken over by the mind-control thingamajig. Hoffman’s dance training certainly must have come in handy for this role. But he’s also quite funny in scenes where his character secretly mocks his girlfriend’s dad (Nealon), makes belittling remarks to her brother (Jenkins), and finally realizes what’s been happening. Almost matching Hoffman in earning laughs is veteran actress Doris Roberts (Grandma’s Boy), especially during a ninja-like fight scene where she displays fantastic moves, thanks to the magic of special effects.

All cast members deliver entertaining performances in this amusing family movie, but I wish Andy Richter, one of my favorite comedians, had received more camera time. His “Uncle Nathan” seems like a throwaway part. And, although the voice talent for the aliens (Thomas Haden Church, Josh Peck, Ashley Peldon, J.K. Simmons, and Kari Wahlgren) works fine, their physical appearances could have been more startling and scary. I did, however, particularly enjoy the E.T.-ish relationship between one of the aliens and the youngest Pearson (the adorable Boettcher).

Directed vigorously by John Schultz (The Honeymooners) from an imaginative script by Mark Burton (Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and Adam F. Goldberg (Fanboys), Aliens in the Attic offers 86 minutes of refreshing summer fun. The only message? When it comes to space aliens, trust your kids.

(Released by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation and rated “PG” for action violence, some suggestive humor, and language.)

For more information about Aliens in the Attic, go to the Internet Movie Data Base or the Rotten Tomatoes website.

Betty Jo Tucker is a member of the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS). She teaches an online class, “The Reel Deal: Writing about Movies” for the LSS School of Writing and has published three movie-related books including CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT, an amusing memoir about her life at the movies. Betty Jo serves as the editor/lead film critic for ReelTalk Movie Reviews and hosts a weekly radio show, “Movie Addict Headquarters,” for BlogTalkRadio. She also writes monthly film commentary for the Colorado Senior Beacon. For more information, please go to www.BettyJoTucker.com

by Diana Daffner

Tantra is an ancient Sanskrit word, meaning “to weave or to expand.” In tantric sex, we weave and expand our energy with our love partner, for the purpose of opening up to the entire universe. Shaped variously by Hindu and Buddhist traditions, sometimes constricted by Confucianism, Tantra in its widest meaning describes an approach to living that links the physical universe to the cosmic whole.

Sexuality, the most physical and intimate of human interactions, is thus seen a sacred activity, continuously reenacting the original creation of the universe. The First One, separating from Itself to know Itself, embracing Itself to experience Itself.

Tantra proposes that each one of us must undergo within ourselves this total union, a joining of the female and male within us. And when love partners dance the path of Tantra together, the relationship is transformed into a sacred journey to Oneness.

Tantra describes a movement of energy, a welling up within us, of joyous excitation. Unlike forms of meditation that cause us to withdraw from the world of senses, Tantra encourages us to start with the senses, building on their ability to focus us in the present moment.

This energy need not be explicitly sexual; all sensual experience is appreciated as a tool for awakening the energy within us.  In the moment that we shift from overt physical pleasure to an internal joy, to a focus on the internal movement of energy, the subtle nature of our being is exposed and Tantra takes place. Nor does Tantra exclude experiences which are not overtly pleasurable; this same internal shift of focus can take place as we experience outward pain, even death.

Tantra occurs only in the present moment; yesterday’s experience has no relevance.

When I smell a rose, I smell it in this moment, not yesterday or tomorrow, but right now, right here. And if I embrace that moment of smelling the rose as the prelude to a spiritual experience, if I invite the rose-smelling into my total being, aware both of the scent and my total bodily response to the scent, aware of the softness of the petals and the rose energy in my heart, then in that moment I am open to the fullness of who I am. This is Tantra.

And if you and I both smell the rose together, and sharing that experience, dissolve our separateness into an infinite Oneness, then together we experience Tantra.

Tantra brings poetry to lovemaking. When my lover caresses my face and our eyes meet and we breathe together and acknowledge our rising passion, sense our hearts joining and our spirits soaring, the energy rising through the power centers of our bodies, this is Tantra.

Some spiritual paths teach us to deny, to say not this, not that; they teach that who we are is not the body, not the mind, not our actions, not our thoughts. Stripped of what we are not, these paths allow us to see the emergence of who we may be. Tantra takes the seemingly opposite approach and teaches us to say YES! to this, YES! to that. I smell the rose and I am that experience, my lover touches me and I am that experience, there is nothing that I am not, I am everything. All experience can be a doorway to who I am, provided I focus on the experience itself, with the intention of energetic awareness.

To learn and benefit deeply from Tantra, we must practice being still, undistracted. When I am smelling the rose, I smell the rose.

To make love in the Tantra way means to be fully present, to allow each moment to be the entire experience. In Tantric lovemaking, there is no goal, no race toward release or orgasm.  Instead, there is complete attention to each touch, each breath, each movement of energy.

Every moment in our lives can be shaped by Tantra, can be lived in fullness and acceptance.

However, our minds, our thoughts, are constantly darting here and there. We are consumed with busy-ness, at our jobs, at school, taking care of our children, our home, our parents. Birthday parties.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, weddings, funerals. We are bombarded by input from phone, TV, fax, e-mail and junk mail. Bills.

When we finally get away on vacation, often as not we’re busy skiing or snorkeling, eating, shopping, museuming, being transported from place to place.

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off! But first, I need a haircut, car wash, new blouse, shoe repair, show to see, and of course, those bills to pay. Our lives are structured around busy-ness, not around living in the moment.

While we are skiing, or snorkeling, or playing tennis, basketball, or golf, the world does disappear, leaving only the action of the sport. This is the attraction of athletics. It is a natural occurrence.

But how do we make time for a momentary tantric relationship with a flower, let alone an hour with our lover? How do we say Yes! to each moment, when the next moment is already here and then gone?

We need to do even more than make time to smell the roses. We need to learn how to let the scent permeate into our belly, deepening our breath and opening our heart to the expansiveness of spiritual experience.

Athletic pursuits require practice and training. They are designed to take place in a zone outside of daily living.  Tantra provides us a way of living daily in that zone.

An Intimacy Retreat is a great way of starting on the Tantric path with your lover!

Diana Daffner, with her husband Richard, leads “Intimacy Retreats” for couples and provides coaching in sexual intimacy as a spiritual path. The Daffners are the authors of  Tantric Sex for Busy Couples: How to Deepen Your Passion in Just Ten Minutes a Day. They originated the Tantra Tai Chi™ program, a partnered movement practice to enhance intimacy in body, heart and soul. For a schedule of workshops, visit www.IntimacyRetreats.com or call 1-877-282-4244 (tollfree).