Sigh, what a way to start the day … three hunky SEALs falling prey to the women the love. It’s true in Lora Leigh‘s Tempting SEAL series, that the bigger you are, the harder you fall. I hope you’ll read more over at Heroes & Heartbreakers.
Be sure to leave a comment while you’re there, and it’d be great if you’d spread the word. Happy reading!
Posted in Heroes & Heartbreakers, on Reading
I enjoyed Victoria Alexander’s newest Victorian romance, My Wicked Little Lies.
But it posed the question to me: is it really worth it to tell a lie?
… or, rather, please LIKE Peggy Noodle, Hula Hoop Queen on Facebook if you get a chance.
That would be just swell!
And go ahead and mark
your calendars for the
Peggy Noodle book launch celebration and HOOPLA!, with special guest judge
Ira David Wood III. 
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Halle Cultural Arts Center
Downtown Apex
2 – 4 pm
Peggy Noodle, Hula Hoop Queen now available for pre-orders.
Just follow this link. Thanks!
Posted in On Parenting, on Reading, Random Interesting Thoughts
Tagged Facebook, LIKE, Peggy Noodle Hula Hoop Queen
I am completely intolerant of drunk drivers.
Could be that since I was nearly killed by one my freshman year in college, my view is a bit skewed. In fact, the bastard longshoreman who smashed into my world at 18 not only counted my accident as his third, but he went on to get at least two more within a year’s time before I just stopped paying attention to him. But I digress …
I have been heartbroken over news this week of a local high school student killed in a drunk driving accident. Not only was she killed instantly, but her driver was a 16-year-old boy.
What the what? Where are his parents? Where did he get the alcohol? Why is his bail only set at $51,000–is that the price of a life?
The families of both of these children … yes, children … are irrevocably changed. Forever. And here I sit, 20 years later, still furious at the continued sad state of drunk driving filling the roadways.
The News & Observer had an interesting article in this morning’s paper with the slug, “Others could be charged in Raleigh girl’s death.” Well, no shit … you think?
What if she didn’t go out with him Saturday night? What if they had just put on their seatbelts? What if his parents knew where he was and what he was doing. What if hers did?
My mother’s great-aunt always said, “if my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle” … meaning that ‘if’ doesn’t really get you anywhere. But in this case, it does: what if that had been my son in the driver’s seat, or in the passenger seat? What if he hasn’t learned through example and conversation the difference between right and wrong? What if he gets in a situation where he’s scared to call home for help, or a ride home?
One thing I’ve learned for certain over the last two decades: drunk drivers never learn. But the people in their lives should. Know where your children are. Know what they’re doing and with whom. Give them a specific time to be home and know how much money they’ve got with them. Know the types of conversations they have on the phone and through social media. Ask them why they might feel the need to sneak out. Parenting is a lifelong job, so don’t give me any grief about your 18-year-old being old enough to be an adult. Parent up! Be involved. Better your children think you’re a tool than for them to be dead. Or to kill someone else.
Rest in peace, Elizabeth Molloy. And to Garrett Lane Prince I say this: now you know the price a person can pay for a bad decision; for a moment of weakness or perceived coolness. May you find some peace in prison. And may both of your families find peace in the days, months and years to come.
And may your friends never have to duplicate the horrendous bad decision you so callously followed last weekend.
“Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
- St. Francis
Posted in Community, On Parenting
I’m always happy to pass on important community information. My son studied Hopkido with Master Michael Macario at the Apex Kidokwan for six years.
Apex Ki Do Kwan is pleased to host a
FREE 4 Hour Rape Prevention Class
January 14, 2012
Open to Females ages 14 & up
Class runs from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
$20 refundable deposit reserves your spot
Advance Registration Required – Class Size is Limited
—> Register at www.lifeprotectionskills.com
(Complete the Seminar Pass) or Submit Check at the
Apex Ki Do Kwan (Put “Rape Prevention Course” in Memo)
Join us for this extraordinary class:
- – - > No strings attached. This class is a free community service. < – - -
Ask about our Women’s Foundations in Ki Bon Sool Class
Starting January 25, 2012!
The class will be held at the Apex Ki Do Kwan, 2172 N. Salem Street, Apex, NC 27523. For more information, call (919) 303-4640 or go to
www.lifeprotectionskills.com.
Download the Flier: Ki Do Kwan – Rape Prevention Course
Posted in Community
So you got an e-reader for Christmas? Check out my post on Heroes & Heartbreakers for a couple of romance suggestions. And as always, leave a comment if you’ve got a minute!
Posted in Heroes & Heartbreakers, on Reading
Tagged Avery Flynn, e-books, e-reader, Elle Kennedy, Heroes & Heartbreakers, J. L. Saint, Julie Garwood, present
If you’re looking for an alternative to the boring, cliched ol’ concept of dieting to, you know, lose weight, you might want to check out my sugar-filled dieting post on Heroes & Heartbreakers.
If you’re not already a fan of Janet Evanovich’s long-running Stephanie Plum series, I can guarantee this’ll change your mind. Now, where’s my bacon?
Posted in Heroes & Heartbreakers
Tagged bacon, calories, dieting, Heroes & Heartbreakers, Morelli, Ranger, Stephanie Plum
Medical professionals and safer sex educators are facing an interesting phenomenon referred to as “condom fatigue”—the decreased use of condoms. For years, prevention education efforts have been anchored by the importance of using condoms when sexually active. Could that be why new infections continue to occur in such consistently high numbers? Possibly.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that “1.2 million people in the United States (US) are living with HIV infection. One in five (20%) of those people are unaware of their infection. Despite increases in the total number of people in the US living with HIV infection in recent years, the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. However, new infections continue at far too high of a level, with approximately 50,000 Americans becoming infected with HIV each year.”
But most likely one of the culprits is the better offering of HIV and AIDS prescriptions allowing individuals to have a better quality, longer lasting life that have contributed to the laissez-faire attitude of the community. Better medicine is most optimal when taken regularly, along with good nutrition, stable housing and healthy lifestyles. Better medicine can also be a deceptive façade, because it can mask the truth behind the curtain.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “HIV/AIDS remains one of the world’s most significant public health challenges.” It seems a little silly to consider that there would be anyone in the United States who would not have their HIV/AIDS facts straight, but in light of the continued rate of new infections, the condom fatigue, young people who are just becoming sexually active, and everyone else who may have tuned out the important facts, here’s a little HIV/AIDS 101.
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) infects cells of the immune system and destroys or impairs their function. Infection results in the progressive deterioration of the immune system, breaking down the body’s ability to fend off infections and diseases. (World Health Organization)
AIDS (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome) refers to the most advanced stages of HIV infection, defined by the occurrence of any of more than 20 opportunistic infections or related cancers. (World Health Organization)
HIV can be transmitted five ways: through unprotected vaginal or anal sex; oral sex with an individual living with HIV; during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding from mother to baby; sharing needles; or transfusions of contaminated blood.
If more than 33.3 million people in the United States have died from AIDS-related illness, it’s significant to remember that 1.2 million are still living with HIV infection. And their lives are healthier, longer and happier than ever before. If you are living with HIV, you need to know how to NOT transmit it. If you are not living with HIV, you need to know how to NOT get it.
We may have not won the war on HIV or AIDS, but we, as an industry, are standing strong and making huge strides in the battle. There IS hope. Did you know that combination antiretroviral therapy prevents the HIV virus from multiplying in the body, which means the body’s immune cells are able to live longer and provide the body with protection from infections? And that mother-to-child transmissions are almost entirely avoidable with the correct medication administered during childbirth?
Carlotta McNeill, Director of Prevention Education for the Alliance of AIDS Services – Carolina (AAS-C) in Raleigh, recently attended the Fifteenth Annual United States Conference on AIDS. This year’s theme is “Make Change Real: Unite. Speak. Act.” She will be working with AAS-C to Unite, by building local, state and national support networks; exchanging the latest information and learning cutting edge tools to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS; and enabling staff to attend conferences and trainings; Speak to legislators across the state to ensure that the importance of reducing the incidence of HIV/AIDS is not lost in the surge to cut spending and reduce the deficit; and Act by substantially improving North Carolina and the nation’s public health infrastructure.
So on this red-letter, or rather Red Ribbon 30 year anniversary of World AIDS Day, remember that millions of people are living with HIV disease, and each year fewer AIDS-related deaths are occurring. Be smart, be safe and be aware … for yourself, for your partner, for your family, for your life.
__________________________________________________
Dolly is the former grants manager and public affair officer for the
Alliance of AIDS Services – Carolina. She currently consults with
them on community affairs and grants.
Posted in Random Interesting Thoughts
I forgot to post this when it ran on November 9, but thought if the post-Thanksgiving turkey leftover blues were pitching you over the edge, you might like a different flavor.
I read a call for family dinner stories and recipes a couple weeks ago from the News & Observer, and wrote in. I’m pretty certain that, aside from my obvious wit and charisma and kick-ass recipe, they liked the tagline I added to my salutation: “Kickin’ it old school as N&O subscribers.” Who could have ignored that clever closing?
I had no idea they were going to print it, and my M-I-L called from Charlotte, laughing, telling us that she was reading the paper after dinner (the day it ran, Nov. 9) and saw “The Sickles Family” and thought, I know the Sickles family … turns out the piece ran in the Charlotte and the Raleigh editions.
It’s cool to see my vetted pizza recipe on the N&O, with a callout link to the actual recipe. Check it out when you get a chance: All Together for Dinner.
Posted in Recipes
For all the breaths I take, for every sunrise and sunset, I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends. Hope your day is filled with love and laughter, safety and warmth, companionship and hope.
Posted in Random Interesting Thoughts
