Tag Archives: eyes

Protecting Your Eyes

One of my favorite journalists – heck, who am I kidding? – my favorite journalist, Anderson Cooper, suffered temporary blindness this past week. Did he have some genetic condition that caused this blindness?  Did he splash something in his eye?  No, Cooper sunburned his eyes while in Portugal. Sunburned his eyes?  Just the mere thought of that makes my eyes squint in horror! Awakened by pain, Cooper originally dismissed it as sand in his eyes.  But, he realized when he was blind that it was something more serious.  Cooper lost his eyesight for 36 hours. That must have been pretty … Continue reading →

Preparing Your Home for the Colder Months

Depending on where you live in the United States, you may be starting to think about preparing your home for the colder months to come. I live in Wisconsin and by September we are already thinking of snow. It has been known to snow in October so you can never be too prepared. This is the time when we like to take advantage of what could be the last month or so of decent weather. By the middle of September we are packing away most of our outdoor furniture and making sure the snow blower and shovels are handy. There … Continue reading →

Learning from Reality Shows

If you have ever watched the television show “Wife Swap” you know that its based on taking two completely different types of families and swapping wives for two weeks. It can be pretty interesting to watch the collision of very different viewpoints. For the first week the visiting mom has to follow that family’s rules but then the second week she gets to change the rules. Many times the rules have to do with parenting issues but they also tend to be about the way the household is run. You get all kinds of families. You get families who believe … Continue reading →

Chores for Children

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The other day, a mother told me that she doesn’t have her children do household chores. Her philosophy is that children are only young once, and she does not want to burden their childhoods with having to cook and clean. My children do perform chores. My three-year-old does what he can (putting his plate in the sink, helping his sister feed the pets, etc.). My daughter is responsible for feeding our pets twice each day, cleaning her own room, tidying up other areas of the house, and other chores that I sometimes ask of her. She is also learning how … Continue reading →

Where Do Eye Boogers Come From?

Sleepies. Crusties. Eye boogers. They’re a common (if minor) part of just about everybody’s day. So where do they come from? My parents always told me that the Sandman came around and helped people fall asleep… and the stuff attached to your eyelashes the next morning was extra sand. Thank goodness I never tried to save Sandman sand up for sleepless nights! One official name for eye boogers is rheum. Rheum is the natural discharge of the eye, formed from a combination of mucus, tears, dust, and even skin cells from the eyelids. The eye produces rheum all day… so … Continue reading →

Beneath Your Eyes

I was watching The Colbert Report the other day, and caught a segment on an FDA-approved mini-laser that is designed to treat wrinkles around the eyes at home. I’m not so sure I like the idea of trying to use a laser anywhere on my own face… let alone around the eyes. The skin around the eyes is very delicate — some say the most fragile skin on the entire body. Lots of things can contribute to wrinkles, dark circles, and other damage to the skin beneath your eyes: Sun exposure. UV rays are a major contributor to the development … Continue reading →

Do You Protect Your Eyes When You Exercise?

I once doled out $120 for a pair of sunglasses designed specifically for runners. I wore them once during a marathon and haven’t used them since. I bought them after reading several articles about the importance of eyewear for long distance runners. I worried about my cornea’s being burned while running in sunny conditions and the increase risk of cancer associated with lack of proper eyewear, so I bought the sunglasses… and now I barely use them partially because I can never find them when I need them and partially because I don’t enjoy having to constantly fiddle with them … Continue reading →

Baby Blog Week in Review: June 23rd Through June 29th

Having you been following along on the issue of tricking a spouse into parenthood? I’ll reveal what I did in my own situation and how it all turned out. If you missed that article or any other, you should check out this past week’s review. June 23rd Baby Blog Week in Review: June 16th Through June 22nd June 16th was a very special day for me. That is the day that my first baby was born. And while he is now an active seven-year-old with a younger brother and sister, I still remember the days when it was just the … Continue reading →

Cleaning With or Without Children?

Unfortunately, housework is a fact of family life. I know there are some of you who claim to actually enjoy it and while I love the look and feel of a clean house, I am not in love with the process of getting it that way. Yesterday I even went so far as to suggest ways that a single parent can hire household help to free up more time to spend on other things. For those of us who do our own housework, I am curious as to whether you find it easier and better to clean house WITH your … Continue reading →

More Ways to Look Fabulous in Under a Minute

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Don’t think you have to spend hours primping in order to look fabulous — here are more tricks to help you look gorgeous in less than sixty seconds. Tired of tweezing your eyebrows? You can use a highlighting pencil to give your eyebrows a groomed look without the pinching and pulling. Draw a thin line under your brows to make them look defined and lifted. Make your eye color stand out — line the inner rims of your eyelids with a sapphire blue eyeliner. This will make the whites of your eyes look brighter and make the color of your … Continue reading →