Everyone I know has been going to McDonald’s for weeks trying to collect the Monopoly game pieces that come on Big Macs, large fries and large drinks. We all have a game board tacked on the wall at our workstations or at home in our kitchens. Today when I order my large fries, the box had no game piece on it - so it looks like the game is over. I don’t know a single person who won anything at all in this Monopoly game. Do you know of anyone?

The end of October always means that we buy some punkins from the farmer’s market and take them home to carve them up. We like to make scary faces and set candles inside so that when it gets dark the people who drive by our house see the scary faces glowing.

I want to make a punkin totem pole next year. I have seen some really cute ideas on the morning TV show and in some magazines. I didn’t see those until it was too late and we already had our punkins carved this year. Ours are really cute though - we did a good job carving them up this time.

Everyone knows how important a good breakfast is to your health. Your body needs fuel to get your day started. Even if you just have a bowl of cold cereal with fruit. at least you are giving your heart, muscles and brain something to work with.

My favorite breakfast cereal is Special K with strawberries. The strawberries are dehydrated and they plump up when you add milk to the bowl. Sometimes I will add more fresh fruit to the bowl, like banana slices or a handful of blueberries.

The best part of summer and autumn is having all the fresh fruit to cook with or add to cereal, salads and snacks.

We just returned home from our wonderful trip up to Michigan. We had a great time. The weather was wonderful (you never know what to expect in Michigan). Everything was great I could have stayed there another month. One great thing that came of this vacation was realizing how much I missed my free time. I never realized it until I had some during this vacation. After some long thought I went into my job today and gave my notice.

I know it sounds like a rash decision but it has been on my mind for a while now. In between working two jobs and keeping up with the house I had no free time whatsoever. I think I just got to a point where the money wasn’t all that important anymore. My next adventure is going to be getting back into shape. Now I have no excuse for not working out and taking care of myself.

Usually when you think of heart disease you picture old, fragile men and women in their late 70’s or early 80’s.  Today new research has shown that heart problems can begin in children as young as 8 years-old.  Doctors in Chicago are suggesting cholesterol medication to children if they have to much LDL, or bad cholesterol, in their blood.

Obviously trying other methods first such as losing weight and increasing activity would be the best choice.  But when children as young as 8 are suffering from obesity sometimes medication is the only option.  Unfortunately obesity has become an epidemic for adults as well as children.  With over a third of U.S. children overweight and 17% obese; prescribing medication to young children may start sooner than we would like.