Should Children Wear T-Shirts With Profanity On Them?

Should children wear T-Shirts with profanity on them?

I feel a little sick a mother would dress her child in a shirt with this word on it.

What are your thoughts?

Make the most out of your vacation: 7 Helpful Tips

We all save up for them. We all need one. Vacations help breath life back into your routine life and when they arrive, you want to make the most of them. Whether it's a trip across country or state, whether it's taking in the theme park you've been saving for years for, whether it's hanging on the beach. A plan for the day will help ease tensions that may run in the family.

7 Helpful Tips

Breakfast: Eating together first thing in the morning will bring everyone together and bond the day together. Parent's get your morning coffee!

A Morning Sightsee: A stroll through the lobby of your hotel to look at the koi swimming in the fountain, a walk on the beach, or a quick trip to the convenience store for daily snacks for the road trip. Seeing things together provide conversation materials for the day.

A Plan: What are you doing for the day? Prepare for accidents but don't get hung up on it. Things happen and those will be the memories you remember. Don't forget to laugh!

Dinner: Are you cooking out or cooking in? Restaurant? Getting ready for the evening is always a fun part of the day. Dress it up a notch one evening and pretend you are someone famous.

Kids to bed at a reasonable hour: It's their vacation too but as a parent you need your breathing room! If you can afford a suite, Get it! Put the kids in the bedroom and shut the door. It may not be as comfortable as the the bed but the pullout couch will sleep just fine.

Enjoy a nightcap: Sit and relax with a glass of wine or a beer and talk over the day with your loved one.

Remember Life's A Journey: You may not have the perfect day but practice makes perfect and it's vacay! Enjoy! Work will be calling soon enough.

Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery? Devout Religious Man Mel Gibson Breaks A Cardinal Rule While The World Watches

After writing, directing, producing and selling The Passion of the Christ, which grossed 611,899,420 worldwide, Mel Gibson has left his wife Robyn of 28 years and seven children to play around with Oksana Grigorieva. Mel Gibson publicly laughed and acknowledged his girlfriend is pregnant on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. "I guess I'm Octo-Mel."

Without the ink even dry on the divorce papers, Mel Gibson, devout Catholic, has committed adultery and now is expecting a child with another woman. He has also stated when asked by Leno if they would wed, Gibson says: "Why would you get married twice?" Does the Bible in which you promoted in your movie The Passion of the Christ, not state thou shall not commit adultery? Does it not promote marriage? Is the public not supposed to feel an out cry of hypocrisy by the your actions?

It seems to me Mel Gibson has taken a turn in his beliefs. With multiple run-in's with the law dealing with his alcoholism, his actions of adultery that have lead to the creation of a child, and several anti-Semitic statements such as "... Jews... Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?", it seems as if the belief system he promoted and sold in The Passion of the Christ has been eaten away into a different view.

Would you consider Mel Gibson a hypocrite? Could we be sick of listening to how a relationship is supposed to be and maybe how it is?

Would you take advice from a celebrity on how you should live your life especially when it comes to religion?

Has fear ever led you to stop something you enjoy?

I'm a huge sports fan and living with a sports nut, I am surrounded by ESPN, Yes Network (Home of the Yankees), Monday Night Football, Mike and Mike in the morning (Mike Greenberg is a handsome reason to watch), Colin Cowherd and the list goes on. I enjoy sports and have my favorites: I am a die hard Raider fan, I don't care what anybody has to say about them. Silver and Black is where it's at. Maybe this year but that's my slogan every year.

Tony Kornheiser has resigned as an announcer on Monday Night Football. He has been an announcer for Monday night games for the last three years. He cites his legendary fear of flying as the reason behind his resignation. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach John Gruden, who was also the Raiders head coach at one time, will be Kornheiser's replacement.

Okay, okay ladies I have bored you enough with this sports talk I know, but has fear ever stopped you from doing something you enjoy?

A couple of years ago, my husband and I went on a boating trip with some friends. I just knew that I was going to show everyone up on my kneeboarding skills but forgetting that my body had aged since the last time I was on one, I was shocked when I flew off it the first time. Nosedived into the water after hitting a wave wrong, the next morning I woke up with the worst pain in my neck. I could barely move. I suffered from whiplash for the next week. Laid up on the couch in tremendous pain, I vowed I would never put myself in harms way again. To this day, I sit on the boat. Never behind it.The pain I felt the day after my accident warrants my fear.Has fear of something real or imagined stopped you from doing something you once enjoyed?

Religious Freedoms in Health Care: When Government Steps In For Children

What would you do if you were forced with dealing with a diagnosis your child has cancer? This is one item that parenting classes may never be able to help you with. You have a baby and they are supposed to be healthy and live longer than you, but this is not always the case.

In Sleepy Eye, Minnesota a family of ten who claim Catholicism and adherence to the Nemenhah Band religion refuse to allow their 13 year old son to get the medical treatment necessary to shrink the tumor in the boy's body. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Feburary and after one chemotherapy treatment stopped going. The are seeking alternative treatments such as herbal remedies.

According to court documents the boy suffers from a learning disabilty and is unable to read.

Child services accused Daniel's parents of medical neglect; but in court, his mother insisted the boy wouldn't submit to chemotherapy for religious reasons. She vowed she wouldn't comply if the court orders it.

Today in Minneapolis, Minnesota Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg ruled Daniel Hauser has been "medically neglected."Judge John Rodenberg also wrote: Daniel has only a "rudimentary understanding at best of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy. ... he does not believe he is ill currently. The fact is that he is very ill currently."

The Hauser's belief in The Nemenhah Band seems to be a reason behind stopping routine treatments in the case of cancers. The Nemenhah Band was founded in the 1990s by Philip Cloudpiler Landis, who said Thursday he once served four months in prison in Idaho for fraud related to advocating natural remedies.

If the Hauser's beliefs in The Nemenhah Band are so great and the use of western medicine is a no-no, why was is used once?

Would you base your religious beliefs on a fraudulent leader and adhere to these beliefs when your child's life is on the line?

Are Catholics against the use of western medicine when it comes to routine treatments used in the treatment of chemotherapy?

Do you think the government has no place in the decisions of this family matter?

Strawberry Festival: Matthew Whaley Pictures

Some pictures from last weekends Strawberry Festival at Matthew Whaley School.

Water Country Opens This Saturday!

Since my family just moved here last August we have not gotten over to Water Country yet! That's a changing this weekend! With a season pass to Busch Gardens and Water Country we are ready for some fun this summer! The kids are ready to get wet.

What's you favorite ride at Water Country?

Hope to see you out there.

Wedding Rings: Why Not Wear Them?

Last night on Larry King, Elizabeth Edwards was the guest. Promoting her book, Resilience, she sat behind the table on set giving her story behind why she would write a book discussing her cancer, marriage, and infidelity of her husband John. Towards the end of the interview, Larry King asked about her not wearing her wedding ring.

Larry King: "You told our friend Oprah that you didn't wear your wedding ring becauseyou jammed your finger..."

Elizabeth Edwards: "I really jammed it. This is actually sort of a funny story.When John was running for the Senate, he runs and when he runs he usedto run with his ring and he would sweat and he lost the first weddingring that we ever had, he ever had and he'll take it off in the shower,for the shower or something so one time he went to an event and he wasn't wearing his ring, very early.

And this ring - so I went to a place where they sell rings, I said I'dlike to see your size nine wedding rings and she said, well, we havefive of them and I said, I'll take them all.

"I really did jam my finger."

I was slightly confused in her answer because much of it made no sense. The sentences were run ons and how often she repeated things were baffling.

Okay so he lost the first ring running and sometimes he takes it off when he is in the shower? Who out there takes off their wedding ring in the shower? I know I don't. I know my husband doesn't. I'd be afraid it would wash down the drain (maybe he wanted it to wash down the drain.)

I do know there are people who do, but how do you feel without it on your finger? Do you feel any different?

Elizabeth Edwards went to a place that sells rings and bought all five of the rings in his size? That seems a little wacky to me. I guess when you live in that 28,000 square foot mansion you can afford to scoop up five wedding rings for your loved one so they choose the one to wear by the outfit they are wearing for the evening.

Do you take off your ring when you shower?

Purposely take it off before going in public?

Have you ever worn your ring to hurt your spouse? If you have so, how did it make you feel? Your spouse?

Should you ever take off your wedding ring?

Recognition is a Great Thing!!! Thank You, Thank You!

Okay readers, my blog here is relatively new. I'm extremely excited to be a part of The Virginia Gazette but up until recently I blogged only on Shine under the pseudonym of Apple. Shine a community site will ties to Yahoo! Since last October I have been posting writings on the site and love it because the community is so large and the feedback is wonderful. Who doesn't want to write when someone is listening?

This afternoon I was checking the site and ran across two blogs written by editors on that site and was pleasantly surprised at what was written about me. You can follow the links: Shine Readers We Love: Love + Sex and Shine Readers We Love: Fashion and Beauty or follow on below.

Here are a couple of excerpts of what was written: I'm so proud!

• Have you met Apple? If not, you really really should. She's been writing prolifically on Shine since last October and her stuff is exceptionally strong. Apple has posted on everything from the scary laziness of sweatpants to our weird relationship with makeup, but I especially love her weekly celeb-style stories "It's a Miss!" which (quite hilariously) highlight "Looks I loathe." Jennifer Romolini


• "There are so many user blogs that catch my attention on Shine, but over here in Love + Sex, Apple's posts are amongst my favorites. Per her profile, Apple, aka Leigh Ann Fisher, is a married mother of three girls, living in Williamsburg, Virgina and blogging up a storm. How she finds the time to blog for Shine nearly as frequently and as thoughtfully as one of our own editors is awe-inspiring." Joanna Douglas


• "I've noticed that not only is Apple a fun and talented blogger, but she also comments on other stories, offering up advice or her own anecdotes that also enhance the Shine user experience for others." Joanna Douglas

Heidi and Seal Renew Vows for Fourth Time: Popular New Trend?

Over the weekend Heidi Klum and Seal renewed their vows for the fourth time. With a "white trash" theme, Heidi's hair was done in cornrows and Seal wore an American Flag themed jacket and a mullet wig. The preacher was dressed as Elvis.

"We're going to get married again," Seal tells Oprah. "So this is going to be the fourth time, our fourth anniversary. The fifth time, and I'm not quite sure what the theme is.

"You know what my wife's like," he continues. "She's always got some trick up her sleeve, but it's going to be a good get-together, you know, lots of friends." [us magazine]

When did renewing your vows every year become so popular? How many times would you renew your vows? Could this become a new trend?

How about moving in with a suspected murderer? You up for it?

Drew Peterson, the Bolingbrook, Illinois police sergeant who has been suspected of killing his third and fourth wives, Kathleen Savio and Stacy Peterson, has been arrested in the case surrounding his third wife's death. Kathleen Savio was found dead in a dry bathtub just before all of the marital assets were finalized in their divorce. At first the thought was an accidental drowning. Seems a little odd she drowned in a dry tub? This was the theory and Peterson was let off until his fourth wife came up missing. I'm sure his being a police sergeant in the police department in Bolingbrook didn't have pull on letting him of the hook so easy, do you?

With the investigation into Stacy Peterson's disappearance on October 28th, 2007 renewed interest in Savio's death. Authorities then exhumed the body and her death was ruled "homicide staged to look like an accident."

All the while Drew Peterson has been suspected in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, and the murder of his third wife, Savio, a 24 year old mother of two, Christina Raines, has been living under the same roof as a suspected "madman." In February, the two made and appearance on NBC's Today Show. When asked by Amy Robach why she is with him she responded with "I love him, he makes me laugh," and claims to have no concern for her safety.

Why in the world does a woman put her life and the lives of her children in a home with a man suspected of murdering two of the women he married and pledged to love and cherish until death do them part? Well, I guess Mr. Peterson was tired of loving these women and helped death find his mates a little quicker than letting nature take its course. Christina Raines is lucky she made it this far alive. Sometimes I think the state should take a more active role in the lives of children where the mother seems to have a death wish for herself. She knew Drew Peterson had a history of abuse. She knew he was suspected of killing his last two wives and she purposely put her life and her children's lives in the path of a oncoming truck. She should be ashamed of herself.

Why do women do this? If you can't do a healthy relationship for you, do it for the kids. Tell the truth, would you move your children into a home with a suspected murderer?

Do you think your kids are better off with the same sex doctor as they are?

It's that time of year, or you are one of those organized mothers who have already done this but as I can be a procrastinator I'm a tad slow, for immunizations to enter school. My "baby" will be entering kindergarten this coming up year and she needs to have their immunizations up to date. I confess, my family and I moved last year in August and I have still not found a pediatrician for my three daughters. Oh- the horror! I know, I know... but they've been well and when I did make some phone calls last year, no pediatricians were accepting new patients. What? That's a story for another day....

I tried again today to make an appointment for my daughters and all I get are voicemails. What's up with that? I guess the health industry is not having any backlash in this economy? I promise they will have their immunizations up to date by next school year: I'm trying!

Before we moved my children went to the pediatrician I went to. Dr. K is a male. Now that I have a new option of finding a pediatrician, I'm thinking maybe they would feel more comfortable with a woman. I mean, we are of the same kind. My oldest will be eleven this year and I can remember going to my male doctor and being a little freaked out about him checking me out in certain places. Maybe she'll feel more comfortable with a woman?

Are your children's doctor's the same sex as they are? Should it matter?

What Scares Me Most: Food Phobias

I'm scared of mayonnaise. There, I've said it. The smell, the texture, the color... it makes me cringe. Once when I was pregnant with my second child, my husband and I were headed to the park. On the way there, we stopped at Burger King. I ordered the chicken sandwich plain as I normally do and was excited about my little snack. Once we had the bag in the car and pulled away from the drive-thru window, I opened the wrapper and... no, no, no... I freaked out! The sandwich was swimming in mayo. Literally, I started bawling (it could have been pregnancy hormones) and started trembling. I just knew that someone was out to get me by slathering mayonnaise on my chicken sandwich. A speck of the mayo then touched my skin and my body became stiff as a board. The sandwich then fell on the floorboard and was unedible.

There are times in your life you learn never to pull away from the drive-thru without looking in the bag first.

What food phobias do you have?

What's the wackiest thing to happen when you have been faced with your phobia food(s)?

I can't hardly look at the pic I put up...

When your significant other is gloomy, does it make you that way too?

My husband works from home with me. We share the same office and at this moment I am typing listening to him try and fix a problem that is occuring with a sales issue that has reared it's ugly head.

I was in sales once. I was a kitchen designer. I drew up plans on the computer for kitchen and bath remodels. I assigned electrical blueprints to the floorplans. Redesigned for the client "taste" of the moment... redesigned again when Sally Sue down the street had the pot filler installed above her stove and of course that must be in their kitchen also... redesigned again when "We just have to have two dishwashers." (oh, did I mention they order take out every night?)

Then came the installation process. Did everything come in right? Do the cabinets fit? No... something was measured wrong... back orders... manufacturers problems...strike at the plant... on and on... Needless to say, when the company had to downsize because builders couldn't get construction loans in this economy, I raised my hand and walked out the door with a huge smile on my face and never looked back.

This week has been doom and gloom in the office (I think my writing is suffering from it) and yes, as my husband just said it "It's only Tuesday."

When your significant other is in a gloomy state, do you tend to fall into his/her mindset? Does the tidal wave of goop fall on your shoulders too?

With the gloom of overcast skies and rain falling every hour or so, I think I'm ready for a new week.

Elizabeth Edwards Stayed: Should You Stay After the Affair?

As seen in the upcoming episode to air this Thursday on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Elizabeth Edwards sheds light into what it's like to be the betrayed. Promoting her book Resilience, Elizabeth Edwards talks about overcoming the woes of a partner who has stepped out in a marriage and tasted the forbidden fruit that lies on the other side.

She tells Oprah that in terms of loving John "it's complicated." Though the two remain living together in their 28,000 sq. ft. home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina it remains unclear if the two will remain that way. Elizabeth says she is taking it "month by month."

Reille Hunter was the videographer who was hired by Edwards campaign to produce a series of webisodes for the campaign. After meeting up with John one night in a hotel bar and telling him "You are so hot." the two embarked on with an affair. A child was born around the time this affair was taking place. It is still unclear in the media if John did father the baby who was born to Reille Hunter as the father's name on the birth certificate was left blank.

How easy is it to leave after an affair, especially when children are involved?

Does being in the public eye make it harder? Easier?

Do you feel Elizabeth Edwards still loves her husband or is she staying for the kids?

Rihanna: Can't help you out in that one!

Living Lovely in this outfit? Never. Rihanna in her debut since the attack from her then boyfriend, Chris Brown, suffered a major setback in this Dolce and Gabbana nightmare!

Ladies: we say No!

Poll: Are you recycling?

Yes, you know you should but are you?

Did you know in the Williamsburg last year, the city collected 12,166,490 lbs. of recyclables from city operations and residents. That is a whole lot waste that can be remade into other materials. Way to go Williamsburg!

Here are some tips on recycling:

• Be sure to rinse food residue from your cans and bottles.
• On windy days, place heavier items on top of lighter, paper items to hold them securely in the bin.
• Let it get wet on rainy days, wet materials are acceptable.
• Please only recycle bottle-shaped #1 and #2 plastics. Remember to remove caps. Other types of plastic containers, such as flower pots and clear "clamshell" containers are not acceptable.

For further information regarding your county you can visit:

Williamsburg City: here

James City County: here

York County: here

So, are you recycling? Why or why not?

Matthew Whaley's Strawberry Festival: Friday May 8th,4-7 pm

It's that time of year again in Williamsburg! The Historic Matthew Whaley School located at 301 Scotland Street in Downtown Williamsburg hosts this festival annually. With food, carnival games, arts and crafts, a petting zoo, this festival is guaranteed fun for the entire family. I will be there with my family and hope to see you soon!

Games to Include:

Treasure Hunt

Duck Pond

Lollipop Tree

Strawberry Toss

Go Fish

Basketball

Golf

Cake Walk

Book Walk

Rock Climbing

Candy Land Moonwalk

Titanic slide

Obstacle Course

Trackless Train

Sea Dragon Maze

Dunking Booth

Dance Dance Revolution

Arts and Crafts

Face Painting

Tattoos

Locker Signs

Visors

Canvas Bags

More...

Concessions

Ice Cream

Strawberry Sundae

Strawberries

Pizza

Candy

Popcorn

Lemonade

Soda

Sno-Cones

Rotisserie Chicken

Hotdogs

Sign Up for the Strawberry Festival Raffle too. With prizes from a $100 VISA gift card to a 24' White Quest Bicycle (includes a new helmet and a gift certificate for a free tune up at Dick's Sporting Goods)

The Floppy Hat and Your Skin: Classy or Tacky?

As you may know, the Kentucky Derby was this weekend. Women all around dressed in their "racing best." I'm liking this look. It's classy and skin protecting.

Recently I have ran out of contacts and being slow to making my eye doctor appointment, I have been sporting my eyeglasses. The thing about eyeglasses, especially the ones that do not transistion in the sunlight, is you squint while outside. Squinting to me is one of the main reasons for wrinkles when we age, other than the sunlight is allowed through the unprotected glass. Mainly I wear huge sunglasses while outside to protect the sensitive skin around my eyes but lately I have been faltering on this. This has lead me to purchase a huge floppy hat to protect my face from the sun.

What do you think, even if you wear sunglasses outside, will you be wearing a large floppy this summer? They are cute, protective and when the economy falters accessories seem to pop up more. I'm sporting mine.

How about you? Are hats classy or tacky?