Off and running Area girls in Girl Quest eye goal of finishing 5K event

Alyssa Rottler has learned pushing herself to be physically fit helps her study better.

"It helps me to push myself to concentrate on school," said Alyssa, 11, a sixth-grader at Napoleon Middle School.

Alyssa is among 15 girls at the school who have been participating in Girl Quest this semester.

The after-school program seeks to build the esteem of preteen girls by emphasizing the importance of physical, mental and spiritual health, and character education.

About 350 girls from 17 elementary and middle schools in Jackson and Hillsdale counties are participating in the 10-week program this semester. It is funded by various grants.

Girls in grades three through seven train to run in 5-kilometer events. The last race of the school year starts at 7 p.m. Friday at Advance Packaging, 2400 E. High St.

"The goal is finishing the 5K, and I don't care how long it takes them to do it," said Debbie Lazaroff, who coordinates the program for the Jackson County Intermediate School District.
"My mantra is to get kids running."

Colleen Hopson, 12, is one of the Napoleon girls who made new friends through the simple act of running. "It's made it a way that you can exercise and still have fun," she said.

Some of the exercises and activities are designed to help the girls learn how to adapt to their ever-changing bodies, said Jen Latocki, a Napoleon middle school teacher who coaches the program.

"I got to learn how to use my speed more wisely," said Erica Shepard, 12, of Napoleon.

Five area elementary schools are piloting a program for boys to see if it has the same results that Girl Quest has seen in recent years, Lazaroff said.

Latocki said the program has matured her team of girls.

"The bad behavior has definitely gone down," said Latocki, a seventh-grade teacher. "Self-esteem has gone up in all of them."

Latocki is assisted this semester by Jackson Community College student Jessica Page, 19, who volunteered to help.

Each girl gets a T-shirt and a new pair of running shoes.

Lazaroff said the program is in search of business sponsorships. She can be reached at 768-5238

The Advance Packaging 5000 is the 1st race of the season for me this year. It's also one of my favorite ones. I especially like it because it's at 7pm.

I tried to get the day off but instead I'm getting out 2 hours early. It won't make much difference this year. I'm working 7-3:30 so even if I hadn't arranged to get out early I would have plenty of time to get there. Also I haven't ran a step since the last race which was last AUGUST!!

Needless to say, even though I am usually last to finish, for sure this year I will not be in contention. Hee.

Another reason I like this race is because of the Girl Quest girls participating. There a ton of them. Some of them are so little!! They run in little bunches. Some take off and run really fast, then slow down, others start off slow and speed up later and others take it nice and easy the whole way.

The mentors run with them and yell out encouragement and come back to the ones who are having a hard time. The Lumen Christi (my high school) cheerleaders and running team help out and make up posters and stick them in the ground with cheesy slogans. Some of the mentors are hot guys!!

At the finish line there is a radio station and food and it's a bunch of fun. It's so much fun.

Even if I'm not a real runner it's fun and I love it. And I'll get another T-shirt for my quilt!

Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala May 07, 2007 in New York City

I LOVE Renee. She ALWAYS looks beautiful to me. LOVE her short hair.

Ivanka is so beautiful. Too bad her dad is such a jerk.

Rhianna is gorgeous. Except for her HUGE 5head.

Kiki is so fun, that dude is beyond fug though.

Cam is a tranny. I hate that Indian jewlry. Tacky.

Mischa. Fug dress. Makes her too flat on top. Why is she still around?

Josh. Is he the daddy?

Chris. Is he the daddy?

Experts skeptical of 'Master Cleanse' detox diet

NEW YORK (AP) -- At 6-foot-4 and a rangy 212 pounds, Scott Campbell doesn't need to lose weight. But there he was, squeezing lemon juice and mixing it with maple syrup, bottled water and cayenne pepper.

It is part of an extreme "detoxifying" diet called the Master Cleanse, whose adherents swallow nothing but the lemon concoction, saltwater and laxative tea.

Also known as the lemonade diet, the Master Cleanse has gained in popularity recently, thanks to celebrities like Beyonce Knowles who swear by the regimen, as bad as it may taste.

"I'm never hungry," said Campbell, a 35-year-old freelance TV producer from New York City who was cleansing not to lose weight, but because he usually eats "a lot of bad stuff" like burgers, fries and Philly cheesesteaks.

Devotees of the diet eat no solid food but drink up to 10 daily glasses of the lemon juice cocktail and round it off with saltwater in the morning and laxative tea at night. They are supposed to stay on the cleanse for at least 10 days, then ease back into normal eating with orange juice and vegetable soup.

The main drawback: You never want to be too far from a toilet. The cleanse produces very liquid and copious bowel movements. As for other side effects, some say they are always hungry.
Medical authorities say they have yet to see any evidence of harm from the Master Cleanse, though experts generally caution against extended fasting and other extreme diets.

They say those who try the Master Cleanse to lose weight will just gain it back. And they dispute the claim that the Master Cleanse or any other diet can "detoxify" the body from the effects of red meat, sugar, fried foods or alcohol -- or that the body needs to be detoxified at all.

"We have organ systems such as the liver, spleen, lungs, skin and digestive system that we have all been given that do that," said David Grotto, a dietitian in Chicago and a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association.

Dr. Ed Zimney, the medical director of HealthTalk, a Seattle, Washington-based Web site where a lively debate about the cleanse has flourished, said: "Your gastrointestinal tract does not need to be cleaned out because it is constantly in motion. This whole idea of cleaning out toxins from the colon is a complete myth and unnecessary."

The Master Cleanse was invented 60 years ago by nutrition guru Stanley Burroughs, who wrote the book "The Master Cleanser" in 1976. The formula is purified water, organic lemon juice, cayenne pepper and organic grade B maple syrup, which is less refined than the more commonly used grade A.

It is impossible to know how many people have tried the cleanse. There are enough devotees in the upscale neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, New York, that Perelandra, a health food store, sells more copies of "The Master Cleanser" than any other book and does a brisk business in lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, general manager Allison Nichols said.

According to one Web site that promotes the cleanse, the purpose is "to dissolve and eliminate toxins and congestion; to cleanse the kidneys and digestive system; to purify glands; to eliminate waste and hardened materials in the joints and muscles; to build a healthy bloodstream; to maintain optimal blood pressure; and to what you all are waiting to hear ... to lose weight."

Weight loss was Beyonce's motivation; she told Oprah Winfrey that she dropped 20 pounds on the cleanse to prepare for "Dreamgirls."

Howard Stern's sidekick Robin Quivers told People magazine that she went from 218 to 145 pounds on the cleanse. She said the diet also helped ease joint pain and fatigue.

The diet has fans beyond celebrities and the hip neighborhoods of New York City.

Zoe Cochran, a 52-year-old in Navasota, Texas, is a hard-core master cleanser. She does an annual 30-day cleanse plus periodic shorter ones.
(click for entire article)

A girl at work gave me the book about this a few years ago. I tried it and thought the drink was the most horrendous thing I had ever tried. When she asked me how I liked it I told her how gross it was. Well evidently I wasn't using enough maple syrup. I made another batch and it was really good. I would even go so far as saying that I would be able to drink it as a regular beverage.

I was on the fast about a week and lost 8 pounds. I was pretty happy with that result. I pretty much hate eating so this was convenient. I wasn't hungry on it. That may be because a normal day for me is usually coffee, a Cherry Coke and No-Doz.

I should probably try this again after I get rid of the stuff I bought at my last grocery shopping trip.

Daddy Dearest

Alec Baldwin left an extremely angry voicemail for his and ex-wife Kim Basinger’s 11-year-old daughter Ireland Baldwin when he couldn’t get in touch with her, as reported by TMZ yesterday. Here’s the transcript:

Hey I want to tell you something, okay, and I want to leave a message for you right now, cos again it’s 10:30 her in New York on a Wednesday and once again, I have made an ass of myself trying to get to a phone to call you at a specific time. When the time comes for me to make the phone call, I stop whatever I’m doing and I go and I make that phone call at 11 o’clock in the morning in New York and if you don’t pick up the phone at 10 o’clock at night and you don’t even have that goddamn phone turned on.

I’m tired of playing this game with you. I’m leaving this message for you to tell you that you have insulted me for the last time. You have insulted me. You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being… I don’t give a damn that you’re 12 years old or 11 years old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn’t care about what you do as far as I’m concerned.

You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone and when I come out there next week. I’m going to fly out there for the day just to straighten you out on this issue. I’m going to let you know just how disappointed in you that I am and how angry I am with you that you’ve done this to me again.

You made me feel like s*** and you’ve made me feel like a fool over and over and over again. And this crap you pull on me with this goddamn phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother and you do it to me constantly and over and over again. I am going to get on a plane and I am going to straighten your ass out when I see you.

Do you understand me? I am going to really make sure you get it. That I’m going to get on a plane and I’m gonna turn around and come home. So you better be ready Friday the 20th to meet with me. So I’m going to let you know how I feel, about what a rude little pig you really are. You are a rude thoughtless little pig. Okay?

Basinger’s publicist Annette Wolfe said, “The voicemail speaks for itself.”
Baldwin’s spokesperson told Extra, “In the best interest of the child, Alec will do what the mother is pathologically incapable of doing … keeping his mouth shut and obeying the court order. The mother and her lawyer leaked this sealed material in violation of a court order. Although Alec acknowledges that he should have used different language in parenting his child, everyone who knows him privately knows what he has been put through for the past six years.”
You can listen to Alec Baldwin’s angry voicemail to Ireland here.

Oh holy hell! What a f**king psycho!! I'm not surprised though. He's been in celebrity news before with his anger issues, but to go off on a little girl, WHO IS HIS KID, damn!!

He always made it out to be that Kim was the bad guy and was unreasonable, making it hard for him to see the girl, well no wonder. And if I was the child no way in hell would I answer the phone and talk to his crazy ass. Actually it's probably not talking but listening to him yell and scream and call her names. You KNOW damn well this isn't the first time he's done this.

I'm glad Kim "leaked" this. Now everyone will know what a freak he really is. Not that we didn't. PR nightmare especially since he has a movie coming out. It will bomb even if it was going to anyway. And I wanted to go see it too.

Other than Joey I like all the rest of the Dancing w/Stars so I don't know who to wish off. Today it was done to Heather (she fell at the end yesterday) and Clive (or is it Clyde?) and of course Clive/Clyde went. I think the problem is that he's too tall. Ma said he's 6'7" or some ungodly height like that. Well hell no he can't dance, his partner is probably 5'5".

Apollo got all 10's so that was good but I HATE, HATE, HATE that Joey. I want him gone.

UGGGGGGGGGGG

Yippee!!! Leeza's gone. Ugg. I just can't stand her. I don't know why she annoys me so much. When she talks on her own, she's actually intelligent and uplifting. For instance, ""I believe just showing up for your life anytime makes you a winner," Gibbons said, adding that her fellow competitors have "nerves of steel and hearts of gold." Doesn't that just make you want to cry. (ok, I haven't taken my anti-depressants but still it's nice. Even with that I JUST CAN'T STAND HER.

So I feel bad for her partner, but they were up against Cliff (from Cheers) and she had to go. Bye-bye. I'm glad because I was tired Monday night so I didn't watch it and thought I could vote today but I waited too long.

Unfortunately, that damn Joey is the judge's favorite. He's my next choice to be gone.

From People (the publist's mouthpiece so of course it's true)


Danny Bonaduce's Wife Files for Divorce
TUESDAY APRIL 10, 2007

Danny Bonaduce's wife of 16 years filed for divorce Tuesday.

Gretchen Bonaduce, 41, who tangled with her husband on their reality show Breaking Bonaduce, cited irreconcilable differences, according to the papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

She is seeking full custody of their daughter, 12, and son, 6, with visitation rights for Bonaduce, in addition to spousal support and legal fees.

Earlier Tuesday, Bonaduce said on radio's syndicated Adam Carolla Show that Gretchen had informed him he'd be served with divorce papers.

"I don't want a divorce," Bonaduce said, adding: "I'm heartbroken at the prospect of getting a divorce."

His rep, Ken Capurso, tells PEOPLE: "Even though they still care about each other and their two children, Gretchen felt it wasn't a great atmosphere to raise the kids."

The couple aired their marital issues and Danny's substance abuse troubles on Breaking Bonaduce, which last was broadcast in 2006 on VH1.

Bonaduce, 47, a former child star from the '70s TV show The Partridge Family, will celebrate one year of sobriety on April 18, Capurso says.

Another celeb marriage hits the bricks. Well she put in a good effort. I think she's crazy. It's one thing to not want to divorce, or to stay together "for the kids" (they were on Dr.Phil) but to subject the kids to his abuse for their entire lives is criminal.

The girl is 12 years old and he's only been sober for the past year. I'm sure she's plenty messed up now for good and I place the entire blame on Gretchen. Yeah, Danny is an addict but she had to have known that in the years BEFORE she had kids.

I know from Al-Anon (at least the group I went to) they encourage you to work on YOU instead of trying to change the addict but I felt then and still do, that you need to GET OUT of the situation sooner rather than later. "But I LOVE him", how the hell do you know who he is? You only know the drunk, high person he lets you see. If I wouldn't have already been away from the alcoholic that sent me to Al-Anon I would have left after hearing the women there and finding out how long they stayed. If I had had kids I wouldn't have needed to be told I wouldn't have been there.

The bad thing is: My pick for next celeb break-up was wrong again!! (BTW--where are all these long-term couples coming from) My money is still on Douglas-CZJ and Cox-Arquette. (What the hell are they waiting for??)

Hee. Another funny as heck drawing from Gallery of the Absurd. Click on the link to see the whole picture. This is just my favorite part.

'Christmas Story' director dies in crash

Film director Robert Clark, best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas Story," was killed with his son Wednesday in a head-on crash with a vehicle steered into the wrong lane by a drunken driver, police and the filmmaker's assistant said.

Clark, 67, and son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed in the accident in Pacific Palisades, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant.

The two men were in an Infiniti that collided head-on with a GMC Yukon around 2:30 a.m. PDT, said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman. The driver of the other car was under the influence of alcohol and was driving without a license, Vernon said.

The driver, Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles, remained hospitalized and will be booked for investigation of gross vehicular manslaughter after being treated, Vernon said. A female passenger in his car also was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and released, police said.

In Clark's most famous film, all 9-year-old Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle.

His mother, teacher and Santa Claus all warn: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."

A school bully named Scut Farkus, a leg lamp, a freezing flagpole mishap and some four-letter defiance helped the movie become a seasonal fixture with "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street."
Scott Schwartz, who played Flick in "A Christmas Story" and kept in touch with Clark, called Clark one of the "nicest, sweetest guys that you'd ever want to come in contact with."

"It's a tragic day for all of us who knew and loved Bob Clark," Schwartz said. "Bob was a fun-loving, jelly-roll kind of guy who will be sorely missed."

Clark specialized in horror movies and thrillers early in his career, directing such 1970s flicks as "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Murder by Decree," "Breaking Point" and "Black Christmas," which was remade last year.

His breakout success came with 1981's sex farce "Porky's," a coming-of-age romp that he followed two years later with "Porky's II: The Next Day."

In 1983, "A Christmas Story" marked a career high for Clark. Darrin McGavin, Melinda Dillon and Peter Billingsley starred in the adaptation of Jean Shepard's childhood memoir of a boy in the 1940s.

The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it.
In 1994, Clark directed a forgettable sequel, "It Runs in the Family," featuring Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen and Kieran Culkin in a continuation of Shepard's memoirs.

In recent years, Clark made family comedies that were savaged by critics, including "Karate Dog," "Baby Geniuses" and its sequel, "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2."

Among Clark's other movies were Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton's "Rhinestone," Timothy Hutton's "Turk 182!", and Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd's "Loose Cannons."

It's still surprising to me, that 27 years after MADD (mothers against drunk driving) was started that people still drink and drive. I'm not against drinking, I drink at times. When I was young, I drank and drove around town--once--but then I smartened up and I've never done it again. I make sure that anywhere I'm at that no one with me leaves and drives if they aren't sober. Most of the time I'm the DD. It's just sad that people are still killing others because of their irresponsibility.

My last newest favorite show, Dirt, has ended it's season. So now I have a new favorite, Dancing w/the Stars. Did you know this is it's 4th season? I didn't know that. I forgot to watch it until last week on Tuesday which is the elimination day. I missed most of it today too, but my two favorite's are: Heather Mills and Billy Ray Cyrus and I got to see them. Billy Ray isn't too good but he's fun to watch and they show a snippet of practice and he's funny.

I saw Heather Mills on Larry King (last week or the week before) and I've decided I really like her. She may or may not be a little touched but she has a great attitude and she's witty. I especially like that she's taking fugly old McCartney to the cleaners.

I hate Joey Fontone & Leeza Gibbons. I didn't get to see Cliff from Cheers dance this week but I like him too. He was picked up late as a replacement for some fat guy from the Sopranos that was a pain in the ass on Celebrity Fat Club. He was an ass on that show and quit it too but after it started.

I think this is an important example of why it's important to have working smoking alarms in your home and not to smoke in bed or while dozing.

Man, child die in house fire

A man and a 10-year-old girl died in a house fire overnight, and the girl's mother was clinging to life this morning.

Donald Jones, Patricia Lawhorn and Kim Lawhorn, 10, were overcome by smoke as they slept in an upstairs apartment at 1301 Fourth St., Jackson Fire Chief Larry Bosell said at the scene.

Foote Hospital officials confirmed Jones and Kim died of apparent smoke inhalation.

A University of Michigan Hospital spokeswoman said Patricia Lawhorn was in critical condition this morning.

Bosell said the fire appears to have started in a couch in the second-floor apartment.

"It looks like careless use of smoking material," Bosell said. "The sad thing is that this could have been prevented with a working smoke alarm."

The alarm had been disabled or was broken, he said.

Jackson firefighters found the victims in a bedroom on the home's second floor and carried them on stretchers into ambulances that took them to Foote Hospital. None could be seen moving as they were taken outside.

"It's going to be rough on these guys," Bosell said of the firefighters who found the victims. "It's nothing you can ever prepare for."

Update #1--Donald C. Jones was smoking on a couch when he apparently fell asleep, starting a fire that killed him and a 10-year-old girl early Friday morning, a fire marshal said.

Update #2-- A third person, 43-year-old Patricia Lawhorn, has died in the fire that started on Friday.

How sad! The whole family wiped out because the smoke alarm wasn't working. Here are some on Amazon.com just as an example for price comparison. The least expensive is under $7. Not counting tax, each of these people are dead over $2.33, that's terrible. I'm sure now, their family would gladly pay that to have them back, but it's too late.

Plus I'm pretty sure that the Fire Department gives out free detectors if you can't afford to buy them. I'm not sure if it was a certain program or if it's all the time. Any which way, there is no excuse for not having one, especially if you smoke in the house. And if you smoke and sleep. Of course everyone thinks it won't happen to them, but it can. I'm sure this man didn't think he was going to kill himself and murder two other people. But he did.

I feel bad because I still haven't bought a carbon monoxcide alarm. I should get one this week so I can have the guys working on the basement put it up for me. Tomorrow I'll test my smoke alarms too. Most times it's recommended to change the batteries during Daylight Savings but I don't do that. They last longer than 6 months.

Not that it's a surprise, but I hate stupid people. Which is most everyone.

I'm in a computer class of 11 people. It's pretty much assigned seating. Sometimes a person's computer won't work. I don't know if it's the actual computer or the operator, so that person will move to a different spot.

Today, I got to class 15 minutes early and some chick is in my seat!! Luckily all we were doing today was taking a test. I at first thought she was from a different class like on a different day, but then she asked a question and I realized she's in our class and sits at the end of my row. Well there's only 4 in a row so she skipped a computer and sat in mine. Why she didn't use the empty one behind her's?? I don't know. So rather than me displacing someone else, I just sat way in the back, which because it was a test that was fine. But if it was actually a class I wouldn't have been able to see the board, I'm practically blind.

Some people are stupid, rude or oblivious and need to be shot.

(walked 2.6 miles today at Cascades)

So there is this stupid new sitcom on Mondays with David Spade in it. I only watch it because I like "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and 1/2 Men" and it's on between it.

But anyway, it also has David Puddy from Seinfeld and he had a bunch of T-Shirts that his wife wanted to throw out but he wanted to keep them. So about a week later he came home and she had a surprise for him. It was a T-Shirt Quilt!!! How funny. He was mad at first but then he loved it. He took pictures of it with his camera phone and was showing strangers in the bar. And reliving how he got each T-Shirt and what was going on in his life at that time.

The quilt was really nice too. I hope mine turns out as well. If I ever finish it.

Right now, I'm still ironing on interfacing to Jodie's shirts. I have to finish up a few for Brian's and make another column for mine.

Pet food maker expands recall push

Canadian supplier of 'cuts and gravy' style dog and cat food tied to 10 animal deaths

March 19 2007: 9:09 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A pet food producer announced Monday that it has beefed up its call center and Web site after a massive recall of its "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food found in 90 private-label store brands linked to pet deaths and illness.

Some 10 animals - one dog and nine cats - have died in the U.S. after eating the food, with several others having been sickened, said the Food and Drug Administration.

Ontario-based Menu Foods (Charts) Friday launched the precautionary recall of food produced between last Dec. 3 and March 6, based on feedback in the United States about the food's impact of pets' kidneys.

More than 60 million cans of dog and cat food have been recalled by the company, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The food is packaged in cans and pouches under different names and sold nationwide by retailers including Kroger (Charts), Safeway (Charts), Wal-Mart (Charts), PetSmart (Charts) and Pet Valu (Charts), according to the FDA.

Menu listed the affected brands on its Web site at http://menufoods.com/recall/

The company said consumers who have any of the listed products should immediately stop feeding them to their pets.

But despite testing the food in question, the company remained unclear about what had caused the problems.

The food was all produced at Menu's facility in Emporia, Kan., but the products are sold across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Menu said the complaints coincided with the introduction of wheat gluten from a new supplier.
The FDA says it has launched an investigation as well as working with Menu to ensure the recall is effective.

"We take these complaints very seriously and, while we are still looking for a specific cause, we are acting to err on the side of caution" said Paul K. Henderson, CEO of Menu Foods, in a statement.

I had been thinking about making a T-Shirt quilt for a long time. I can't remember where I first even heard about one. In the summer I enter 5k races and almost everyone you get a T-Shirt with registration. I also have a bunch of Hard Rock Cafe shirts. Last March my mom & I took a class at Country Stitches. They should have put in the class sheet that you get before hand to cut the shirts ahead of time, because the majority of the 4 hour class was just cutting the shirts and ironing on the interfacing. Then probably about 6 months later we took another class after all our T-Shirts were cut & ironed and learned how to sew them together in the columns. Thats mine above. I changed my mind on 3 shirts so I need more interfacing for those. They are having another class in April that I'm going to try to get to so I'll know what to do next.

In the meantime, Jodie wants one now. She brought over 39 T-Shirts! Saturday I cut them. I ironed 9 of them and already ran out of interfacing because her designs are HUGE!

I'm helping my mom with hers too. I have 3 of her columns done and need interfacing to finish up some more.

I'm thinking that my quilt is going to be front and back T-Shirts instead of a solid color on the back. I'll get at least 5-8 shirts this season in the 5k's plus I have some golf shirts and a sweatshirt I forgot about.

I think that when I go to JoAnn Fabrics today I'll see if they have a new bolt of interfacing and I'll just buy that. I'm sure we'll use it all.

Jade & I went to Cascade's yesterday. I wanted to walk around twice which is 3 miles but there were a couple of dogs we passed and I think Jade gained weight and got even stronger, so she was pulling hard on the leash when we passed them. It was nice out but kinda windy so after going around once I was tired. Also we don't stay on the path, to avoid other dogs, so it's harder to walk on the grass on the hills. And I'm so out of shape.

I wanted to go again today but I got up early, to try to get used to it, since I should be going back to work next week. Then Dennis came over to look at everything I need done, after he left Pat came over to clean, then it was 4pm and Jade was going to get picked up and she wasn't feeling too well, her temperature was 103 degrees and she was laying on Jodie's t-shirts that were on the floor that I'm making into a quilt for her.

Ugg. I'm getting fat. It's so cold here that all I want to do is sit on the couch with my laptop and a heating pad on my feet and watch TV and surf the internet.

I went to Walgreen's to get some Easter M&M's because Meijer didn't have any and bought a bag of Snicker mini's. Well guess what I had for dinner? The WHOLE damn bag of Snickers! Who the hell does that? That's insane. I've got to start running again. Already two months into this year and I've paid for my membership to the YMCA and haven't been in probably 18 months. But I keep paying because I know the minute I stop paying then I'll want to go.

Britney's Night in the Valley

I love David Spade. This video is funny.

Oscar Fashion Round-Up

The Fugly

Ivana Baquero & Mari Belverdu--I have no idea who these two are but they get my worst most fugliest of the night. WTF?? The one on the left looks about 12 with gross eyebrows and what looks like an ice-skaters outfit on, including the skates.

The one on the right has some kind of 1920's flapper dress in Purple??

Cameron Diaz--I'm not sure if I hate this dress as much as I do, because I just hate her or if it's just the dress. But I hate her messy dress, the Indian jewelry earrings and the wrinkly wedding dress. Maybe she bought this hoping Justin Timberlake would ask her to marry him and when he broke up with her instead, she decided she might as well get one wearing out of it.



Eva Green--I hate the flesh color, the mummy wrapping around the chest, her hair with the huge part and her bad Mortica Adams make-up.



Gwynth Paltrow--Get this bitch some scissors. Her hair is way too long. I'm not liking the color of this dress.



Jessica Biel--I like the color of this dress, it's unexpected. But the dress itself is unremarkable. I don't like her hair. And why is she walking like there is something shoved hard up her bum??


JHo--She NEVER has good hair on the red carpet. And why always with the pregnant woman dresses? You know she's sterile. Not liking this at all. And don't like her.



Keisha Whitaker--Love this dress from the front. Nice hair, make-up, love the hair. Then I saw the back. Why is the plant from Little Shop of Horrors climbing on her?



Rashida Jones--Poor thing. She's so pretty and I love her on my favorite show, "The Office". Did her dad, Quincy Jones, ask her to come with him at the last minute? And she was lounging around in this fugly thing? WTF??? There. Are. No. Words.

Now on to better things...

The Good

Reese Witherspoon--Love this dark blue dress and it gets lighter at the bottom. It's basically the same dress she wore to the Golden Globes and an award show before that just long. But I still like it. She always looks sad, you know she cries herself to sleep.


Nicole Kidman--The BEST dressed on the red carpet. Love this dress. I love that it's fire engine red while everyone else is wearing either light colors or blue or black. I like her hair straight. The bow is done right, not like that hideous thing ScarJo wore last year. And she's as thin as Portia.


Rachel Weisz--kinda looks like her chest is going to pull her top down, but I like the color.

Portia Di Rossi--I love anything blue so of course that's a plus, and she's so slim. Looks great.

Naomi Watts--Love it. I like the purple sash with the yellow. I like her hair.

Maggie Gyllenhaal--Another blue, this time with black. She had some feathers or some crap in her hair, but overall it was nice.

Kirsten Dunst--I love this dress. Maybe she could have done her hair and make-up better but I love it.

Kate Winslet--I'm liking this mint green and the criss-cross at the chest.

Helen Mirren--Couldn't really find a good picture but this dress is really nice. Her hair is not too young, not too old. Very elegant.


Madonna--She wasn't at the Oscar's just the Vanity Fair after party but she's my best dressed. Love the dress, the hair, the body.



Cate Blanchett--I'm really liking this steel colored dress. Of course, only Cate can pull it off, her hair and make-up is perfect.


Abigail Breslin--She is so cute. Another reason I like her is that her parents dress her in age appropriate clothes, unlike Dakota Fanning who dresses like a trampy 15 year old. This dress reminds me of Barbie.

So once again I missed the cutoff time to enter the Oscar contest through our newspaper. Ugg.

Well I did enter on two websites so we'll see if I'm lucky on those. Probably not, because they are both very popular.

Here's my picks:

Best Picture--Little Miss Sunshine

Actor--Forest Whitaker

Actress--Helen Mirren

Supporting Actor--Eddie Murphy

Supporting Actress--Jennifer Hudson

Director--Martin Scorsese

Animated Film--Happy Feet

Original Screenplay--Babel

Adapted Screenplay--Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Foreign Language--Pan's Labyrinth

Documentary--An Inconvenient Truth

Original Song--"Our Town" from Cars

Cinematography--The Illusionist

Art Direction--Pan's Labyrinth

Visual Effects--Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Costume--Marie Antoinette

Short Documentary--Recycled Life

Film Editing--Blood Diamond

Makeup--Pan's Labyrinth

Original Score--The Queen

Sound Mixing--Dreamgirls

Animated Short--Little Matchgirl

Sound Editing--Blood Diamond

Live Action Short--West Bank Story

Of course, some of these are just out and out guesses. Like Short Doc, Live Action Short, Foreign Language but we'll see.

There was talk that Alan Arkin was getting some hype for Supporting Actor and that Eddie Murphy might not get as many votes because of some movie that was released of him dressed as a big fat woman but I only heard that during the weekend of that release. I still think he'll win.

Also for Director, I've heard Eastwood SHOULD win but since Scorsese has been nominated five times with no wins they'll give it to him.

Then I heard that instead of starting out with Best Actress and Supporting they are pushing that to the end. Ugg I hate when they tinker with stuff.

Liv Tyler: 'I've Been on a Diet my Whole Life'

Liv Tyler says she spent years worrying about her weight – until she became a mom.

"I've been a model and actress since I was 14, so I've been on a diet my whole life," the actress, 29, says in the March issue of Glamour. "But once I gave birth, I didn't want to think about myself or feel insecure about my career; I wanted to think about my child. So I stopped worrying about diets."

Still, the mom of 2-year-old Milo (with husband Royston Langdon, 34) says she recently lost 10 pounds without even trying while filming the thriller The Strangers in South Carolina. Filming was also incredibly intense: We were supposed to be out of breath in every scene, so I would run around the stage to achieve that.

I just went to Marc Jacobs and I bought a red dress in a size 4. I've never been a size 4 in my entire life!"

She also weighs in on the debate over super-thin actresses and models. "I definitely think the girls look too skinny now," she says. "I'm friends with Helena Christensen and Linda Evangelista, and I remember Linda telling me that when she was a model [in the '90s], a sample size was a 6 or an 8. Now a sample dress size is a 0 or a 2. That's pretty alarming. There's a lot of pressure on [the models].

I love Liv Tyler, but I'm not a model or actress and I've been on a diet since I was eleven. Big deal what girl hasn't?

I'm already getting tired of this new trend towards "being happy with your size". Bullshit, the U.S. has more obesity, more diabetics, heart attacks and other diseases all caused by over eating. Detroit is the fattest city in the United States. How many HUGE people do you see on a daily basis? I work with people who are so fat they can't breathe, use wheelchairs or crutches to get around. They redid the parking lot and added MORE handicapped spaces and there still aren't enough.

Of course, Liv's sister was on Celebrity Fit Club. She's a mean, gutter-talking heifer. I'm not sure if she's older or younger but looking at her mess growing up, no wonder Liv was always dieting. I wouldn't want to look like the sister either.

So yeah I like Liv but you aren't different from us regular girls.

Madonna is, of course, my #1 favorite. But probably only because I've liked her since forever. Then Angelina but they are practically tied. And there is only ONE man and that's Joaquin.

I love H&M's new ads. There's another picture but I didn't like it very much so I didn't bother to post it. My favorite here is the corset. I love the slim silhouette. Then I like her hair in the middle one and the crop. Reminds me of the Confessions tour. The last pic is ok but not a favorite.

We used to have a tiny little store called "Little Wishes" at the mall. Probably 28 years ago when I was 10. It had all Hello Kitty and Sanrio stuff. It was so cool. Little tiny pencils, paper, stampers. I loved it.

I found this website yesterday, Hello Kitty Hell. Oh my gosh, this man is funny. His wife LOVES Hello Kitty and she has an eBay store. So evidently she buys stuff for her store but also for herself. I think they lived in the U.S. but are now in Japan. That is the place to be for Kitty stuff. His stories are hilarious.

But he's taught me a bunch already. I'll share: She was born in London, England when her father, George, was on transfer there with his company. Her last name is White. She's 5 apples tall and weighs 3 apples. She has a twin sister Mimmy. Kitty wears her hairbow on the left while Mimmy's is on the right. Her mom's name is Mary.


This is Anthony & Margaret White. Kitty's grandparents.

Here's a link to pictures of mom, dad and Mimmy.

Anna Nicole Smith (November 28, 1967 -- February 8, 2007)

RIP Anna.

Man charged with murder in wife's 140-foot fall at Pictured Rocks
2/6/2007, 5:40 p.m. ET
The Associated Press


MUNISING, Mich. (AP) — A man whose wife fell 140 feet to her death last summer at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was charged Tuesday with killing her.

Thomas Richardson, of McBain, was arraigned in Alger County District Court on an open murder charge and a manslaughter charge, Prosecutor Karen Bahrman said in a statement.

The charges resulted from an investigation involving sheriff's deputies in Alger and Missaukee counties, state police and the FBI, Bahrman said. They determined local authorities had primary jurisdiction and the case would be prosecuted on the county level.

Defense attorney Jason Elmore said Richardson, a delivery trucker, was innocent.

"Tom did not kill his wife," Elmore told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "We believe that after a trial, he will be vindicated. There is no physical evidence of any wrongdoing. The case, we expect, will largely be based on rumor and speculation."

Juanita L. Richardson, 43, died June 22 in the plunge about a quarter-mile south of Miners Castle, a popular overlook at the federally protected shoreline on Lake Superior.

Her husband ran to a visitor center to report her fall. Her body was found face down and barefoot at the base of a 140-foot-high cliff.

Juanita Richardon, a school athletic department secretary, was the mother of three adult children.

Police used a search warrant to confiscate computers from the Richardson home. They have said Thomas Richardson's inconsistent accounts of what happened led them to investigate the death as a homicide rather than an accident.

Richardson initially told police he did not see his wife fall, having left the place on the cliff the couple reportedly referred to as their "honeymoon spot" to relieve himself, The Mining Journal of Marquette reported. He said he did not hear any screams, the newspaper said.

UPDATE: A man accused of pushing his wife to her death from a cliff at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was expecting her to seek a divorce and had been having an affair, according to a police affidavit.
The document, filed in Alger County District Court, says Thomas David Richardson killed Juanita L. Richardson to cash in on a life insurance policy and gain freedom to pursue his illicit relationship.

This sounded fishy from the get. What is up with these men murdering their wives? Why not just leave?

Some one had a People magazine at work with a murdered wife who was pregnant. No official suspects. No sign of forced entry. Money problems. Beaten to death. You know the husband did it.

Entwistle hasn't gone to trial yet. It'll probably be a bit before this joker goes to trial. Weird. I should look up what's going on with Lori Hacking's (?) husband. I think that's the name.

Makes you not even want to date.

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow yesterday so we should have an early Spring. Yippee!!!

The last time Phil didn’t see his shadow was 1999.

According to German folklore, if a hibernating animal cast a shadow on the holiday of Candlemas (February 2) winter would last another six weeks. No shadow means Spring would come early.

In Howell, Michigan Woody the Woodchuck also predicted Spring is coming soon. If Woody comes out of her shelter and goes right back in, Winter will hang around. This year she came out for 30 seconds indicating an early Spring. She’s correctly predicted the season changing 6 out of the last 8 years.

Either way for right now, temperatures in Michigan are at or below zero at night and barely reaching double digits through the day.

Candlemas—February 2 is one of the great cross-quarter days which make up the wheel of the year. If falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring Equinox and in many traditions is considered the beginning of Spring.

Since Candlemas is a time of new beginnings, this is a good day to ritually celebrate all things new. Plan a ceremony to name a new baby, officially welcome a new person into a family or plight your troth to your beloved. (wtf?) Make a commitment to a goal. (Yeah that’s going to happen); this would be an especially powerful thing to do in a group. (or coven)