(Short post today, not feeling too well)

Inspiration

Karen Swim has a great post about how you should Embrace your Obstacles to help you to succeed!

Kids and Parenting

ModernMami is looking for some tips on getting her 2 year old to eat more: Feeding My Toddler. Any ideas?

Health

Pain relief - Christina Lasich, MD has a post on her blog about how Hobbies Relieve Pain. When my back hurts its seems at least part of it is due to sitting too long and I’ve found when I spend time doing gardening my back feels much better.

Anita Bruzzese shares some great tips for reducing stress at work: Ten Rules Guaranteed to Cause You Less Stress.

InDenialHealth discusses 5 food myths.

Interesting

A group of people in the Amazon called the Piraha apparently don’t use numbers, at least not like we do. They just have words for relative amounts of things: People Found Who Don’t Use Numbers

Food

Just looking at the pictures of the chicken in this post makes me really hungry - Fry-Baked Chicken! Too bad I’m not much of a cook. I wonder if I can talk my husband into making this?

Fun for the weekend

Judy Haley always seems to get such nice pictures - this week she posted some of a woodpecker feeding its babies: How to Feed a Baby Woodpecker

Have a great weekend!

This week I’ve read Chapter 9 of ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ by Barbara Stanny.

This chapter starts section 3 and is the second last chapter of the book.

“Your Game Plan”

“Think big. Act small. And never, ever stop until you attain your goal, no matter what.”

Barbara reminds us that overcoming underearning is a gradual, long term process that involves following her 5 steps:

1) Tell the truth about what’s not working, and what is.
2) Make a firm decision about what you truly want.
3) Look for opportunities to stretch by doing what you think you can’t do.
4) Surround yourself with a supportive community.
5) Respect and appreciate money by taking good care of it.

The Overcoming Underearning Promise

Small steps consistently taken lead to remarkable results.

She also suggests a plan to help you get in the habit of respecting money:
1) Every day, read something about money.
2) Every week, have a conversation about money.
3) Every month, save.

Next are some exercises where you write out your earnings goal, list your next steps, write a contract with yourself and a couple more.

Next time - Chapter 10 - the last of the book.

Time for my favorite quote from this chapter:

“Thoughts become words. Words become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become character. Character becomes destiny.”

– unknown

(See whole ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ review series here)

HerProBlog.COM was created to “help women bloggers from all walks of life, all levels of blog publishing understanding, and desired income earning goals, create and maintain professional blogs”.

Why am I so excited about it? Well, for one its going to be a great resource and community for women to help each other to create successful blogs! Another reason is - I’m one of the Promotion Period co-authors! I’m writing in the Blogging Basics section. I only have one post up so far - plus my bio page, if you want to know more about me.

The site was started by Mona Weathers and has lots of great women authors contributing to it: Gaida Rodgers, Desi Musolino, Amber Stevens, Cynthia Wright and Natasha Vincent!

I haven’t even had time to read all the posts there yet - I spent a good part of the day at the mall today. But glancing through it - I see lots of good posts. I’ll be reading through as much as I can tonight.

Please stop by and say ‘Hello!’ and read the great posts at HerProBlog.COM!

Last time I was there I noticed there were quite a few stores vacant - this time it was much worse! I was tempted to count because at first glance it seemed like maybe only half the stores were actually open. My short term memory is really bad though so I didn’t try. I know what it would have been - maybe a third way through the mall I’d lose count and have to walk all the way back to the other end and start over. And that would have happened at least 3 or 4 times. I would have got quite a bit of exercise in though.

Bad sign of the state of the economy when that many stores are closed. A few looked like they were just closed for the day - and are probably open on evenings and weekends. But many were just vacant. In general, very few people at the mall at all too. Now, it was daytime on a weekday but it shouldn’t be that bad. Even considering that I think they are trying to reduce the number of teenagers hanging out at the mall there still should have been more people.

And I bought a swimming suit today! I know this is pathetic, but its been at least 20 years since I’ve bought one! I think its pretty cool the way the 2 piece suits are sold separately now. And the bottom parts have options of shorts like things and ones that are sort of like skirts. This time of year I didn’t have many options - but everything was reduced in price which was nice.

Most of the ones I liked the best weren’t in my size. But I found one that was not too bad. It was the shorts type. Black mostly, with some blue in it. I thought afterward that maybe a light colored one would have been better - dark might just make me look even more pale.

I’m skinny but I’m having a hard time feeling comfortable walking around in public in a swimming suit anymore. Maybe I’m getting old. It feels like walking around in underpants and a bra. My legs are skinny and flabby at the same time. I need to work on that! At least with the bottom part like shorts I don’t have to feel so self conscious about my pubic hair showing. I hate that. And the top part I got covers me up quite a bit too. And I also bought a cover up thing to wear over it all.

Hopefully I won’t look too ridiculous wearing it.

And what did buying a swimming suit have to do with the economy? Nothing at all, just thought I’d mention it.

So - I hesitate to ask for fear of looking like a fool if no one answers - is there anyone else out there who worries about the same swim suit things as me? Or worries about their pubic hair showing? Or hasn’t bought a swimming suit in like a million years and is amazed by the short and skirt bottom styles?

I guess I need to get out more often.

Breast asymmetry after cancer treatment affects quality of life, U-M study finds

Young women’s breast cancers tend to be more aggressive and less responsive to treatment than the cancers that arise in older women

The gene HER2 that is overexpressed in 20% of breast cancers increases the number of cancer stem cells, the cells that fuel a tumor’s growth and spread, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Herceptin - a drug used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer - targets and destroys the cancer stem cells.

According to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences breast cancer cells secrete a common inflammatory protein, IL-8. When the the protein was blocked with an antibody, it completely stopped the spread of breast cancer to the lungs (this was in mice). They also found that the protein produced by the gene DACH1 blocks the production of IL-8 - DACH1 is commonly missing or inactive in invasive breast cancer

Pregnancy

Children born from frozen embryos weigh more and do better than those born after fresh transfer

IVF does not increase risk of developmental disorders in children

Other

In a study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry data is presented that suggests a particular variant of a gene involved in endorphin metabolism may result in women with this variant to be more susceptible to alcoholism.

Early-life nutrition may be associated with adult intellectual functioning

Announcements

Wendy Piersall of Sparkplugging launched a new project this week called SparkplugU which offers classes to “help you make money from home and start or market your business”!

Sally of InDenialHealth.com announced the launch of two new blogs to her network: InDenialMoney.com and InDenialEarth.com.

Congratulations Wendy and Sally!

An Apology

Mary Robbins from the National Women’s Law Center emailed me earlier about a new national campaign that’s launched: Health Care for America Now - a “$40 million coalition effort to push for quality, affordable health care for every American”. And I completely forgot to blog about it! Sorry about that. Please visit Why Reform Matters for more information.

Health

Liz and Liberty of Healthbolt Carnival posted another edition of the blog carnival this week - lots of good information here - please visit! (They even included a post from me!)

I was also interviewed this week by Hsien-Hsien Lei: What does DNA mean to you? - thanks Hsien!

Work and Business

Anita Bruzzese discussed whether or not is always a good idea to take a promotion that’s been offered to you: You’re Such a Total Dumb**s for Not Taking That Promotion….Or Maybe Not….

Sharon Hurley Hall asks: When Last Did You Pay Yourself?.

Rebecca Leaman shared 4 Ways to Put a PowerPoint Presentation on Your Web Site.

Productivity

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein started a series of posts about ‘Time Perception Tips’ - the first went up this week: The Dog Ate My Blog, or 5 Time Perception Tips, part 1

Writing and Blogging

Arachne Jericho had some Thoughts on Greatness and Blogging this week.

Kristen King asks: Professional Development for Writers: What Organizations Do You Recommend?.

Some Quickies

7 phrases you can’t say in conflict resolution

SPOT-Light HER2 CISH: New Breast Cancer Genetic Test, FDA-Approved

Why Was This Woman Separated from Her Baby?

Breasts In Youth and Age

Autism in Babies: Early Detection By Tracking Eye Movements?

Do schools today kill creativity?

The importance of prenatal vitamins - and a give away

Resveratrol Fights Aging

Female College Grads Expect Less

Fun Stuff to end your week with!

Judy Haley at Coffee Jitters has some cute pictures of ducks feeding.

Baby Panda video from National Geographic

Have a great weekend!

In this chapter Barbara goes through step 5 of the 5 steps to make you a ‘doer’.

Step 5: Respect and Appreciate Money

The name of this step pretty much describes what this chapter is about. Now, personally, I don’t have a problem with taking care of the money I have, my problem is figuring out how to make more of it. But given the rate of savings in the U.S. and how much the average person is in debt, this chapter is probably pretty valuable to a lot of people out there.

“If you want it to last, you’ve got to take care of it.”

Barbara says that she met many people while researching this book and that “the ones with the highest net worth were not necessarily the ones who made the most money“.

Next she lists the Four Rules of Money:

1) Spend less

2) Save more

3) Invest wisely

4) Give generously

She also discusses how you need to shift your mindset from whatever it is now to that of a wealth builder.

From my own experience I can say that, yes, at times it was difficult to go without something I wanted - but I keep a close eye on my savings account. And it felt really, really, good to see that number get bigger and bigger over time. Sure, it takes a while. You have to be patient. If you can only save a little bit each month it takes a while, but it does all add up. And once I had a decent amount saved I was able to think about actually investing some in mutual funds. I ended up buying the ‘Mutual Funds for Dummies’ book and that really helped me a lot to understand what I needed to do.

Anyway, back to the book:

This chapter includes a 2 part exercise also:

Part 1: Track your Spending
Part 2: Spending Review

These are really important. I used to keep a notebook where I would write down everything I bought, all my expenses, etc. And see where I could cut back so I could save as much as possible.

Barbara is really giving some good advice in this chapter - do what she says and in a few years you will be very happy that you did!

Next time - Chapter 9.

Time for my favorite quote from this chapter:

“My advice to you is if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.”

– Warren Buffett

(See whole ‘Overcoming UnderEarning’ review series here)

There are many important and necessary components to being healthy, but the one I want to focus on today is general fitness.

I searched the blogosphere for the best fitness blogs written by women that I could find - I’m sure I missed some though - so don’t hate me if I don’t include you here! Many of them also took time from their busy days to answer some interview questions from me over the last couple of weeks.

The following blogs - in no particular order - are written by women who we can all learn from. They all write from an unique perspective that is both realistic (at least for some of us) and not based on fear, fads or fantasy. Please take some time and visit their blogs:

• Crabby McSlacker of Cranky Fitness

- who understands that fitness isn’t always fun! Her tagline cracks me up: “Because most health and fitness advice is too damn cheerful”. Read Crabby’s interview.

• Lauren of laurensfitness.com

- who wants to give people quality information about fitness and to help them avoid all the nonsense out there, some of which can be harmful to your health. Read Lauren’s interview.

• Sally of InDenialHealth.com

- who tries to motivate and encourage ‘change with good humor and sound advice’. Read Sally’s interview.

• Spin Diva of Family In Shape

- who is “passionate about teaching others how to reach their fitness goals and bring the kids along with them”. Read Spin Diva’s interview.

• Monica Shaw of SmarterFitter

- whose tagline is “Less diet, more brain” and wants her web site to “help people make smart fitness decisions based on hard data”. Read Monica’s interview.

• JoLynn of The Fit Shack

- who believes the mind, body and spirit are all involved with making the change to a healthy lifestyle. Read JoLynn’s interview.

• Kelly Mills of Fitness Fixation

- who writes about fitness realistically and with a sense of humor! Read Kelly’s interview.

• Angie Schumacher of Women’s Diet and Fitness

- whose blogging comes from the heart and her passion of providing women to build a long and healthy life! Read Angie’s interview.

• Sally Parrott Ashbrook of Aprovechar

- who writes about a combination of self-care issues with an undercurrent of how to “embrace your life to find or create joy, pleasure, comfort, and meaning within it”. Read Sally’s interview.

There are lots of great women fitness bloggers around! Here are a few more that I wasn’t able to interview:

The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl, Half of me, Amelia Burton, Fitarella and Losing it - Getting fit

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Please enjoy and visit their blogs too!

After quite a bit of soul-searching I’ve come to the realization of just how much I’m bothered by the fact that women are still underrepresented in politics, science and many other fields. I would like to do what I can to help change that. Examining my domain name more closely I decided that I would like to create an environment - a community - where women can Inspire, Dare and Educate each other to Achieve and Succeed.

When more women around the world are in positions of power we will be better able to make sure there is more equality in housing, health care, nutrition, education, etc. - and not just for women, for everyone on the planet.

I hope to someday add more blogs to this site too - blogs about topics that Inspire, Dare and Educate women to Achieve and Succeed. Some ideas are:

Ideas for Health: - We need to take care of our health so that we will have more energy and strength to be able to make a difference in the world. We need to learn about health and how to be healthy - based on real evidence based science - not on fear, fads or fantasy.

Ideas for Parenting: - Women are still the primary caregivers to children around the world and we have so much influence on the adults they will become that we need to learn all we can to be the best parents we can be.

Ideas for Money: Women still tend to make less money than men and have more financial problems if they are widowed or a single parent. If we can learn how to better manage the money we have we’ll be in a better position to change what we see around us.

Ideas for Change: This blog would educate and encourage involvement in global issues, like the environment, women’s issues and politics.

Ideas for Careers and Business: This would give information about developing a new career or tips for a business.

Ideas to Inspire and Dare: An inspirational blog.

Ideas for Fun : Hey, we need to relax and have fun too!

When I’ll be able to add more blogs, I don’t know. But meanwhile I hope to have some guest posters writing about various topics that Inspire, Dare or Educate women to Achieve and Succeed!

Have any ideas to suggest for a guest post?

Some supercomputing experts at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory have helped to developed bone density “measurements with a large-scale mechanical analysis of the inner-bone microstructure” - ETH Zurich and IBM improve diagnosis of osteoporosis.

Menopause

Sleep problems associated with menopause vary among ethnic groups: “Compared with other ethnic groups, Caucasian women were more likely to report difficulty staying asleep”.

Pregnancy

I’m pretty sure we’re all aware of this by now - Eating junk while pregnant can harm your baby. Apparently some new research “suggests that poor diet may also cause long-lasting, irreversible damage in offspring from heart disease to diabetes”.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Finally, a better understanding of SIDS: New research sheds light on the molecular basis of crib death - possibly there are alterations in brainstem neurons that communicate using serotonin.

Children

Seizures in newborns can be detected with small, portable brain activity monitors

Resuscitation technique after brain injury may do more harm than good: “The current standard practice of giving infants and children 100 percent oxygen to prevent brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation may actually inflict additional harm”.