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My daughter Nicole, who is a big Miley Cyrus fan, heard about a project Miley was supporting called Get UR Good On.  As soon as she heard about it, she wanted to get involved.  The idea was to do something good in your community, video it, and then upload it onto the Get UR Good On website to encourage others to do the same.

Nicole loves to cook Thanksgiving dinner, so she decided she wanted to cook a holiday dinner for women and children in need, so that’s what we did.

We contacted the Daytona women’s shelter and they were very excited about Nicole’s idea for a holiday dinner and toy give-away for the children.  Then the work began.

Publix donated $50.00 and helped us get good deals on the food.  Even so, that didn’t nearly cover the cost of the food, but a  few friends and family pitched in to help with the rest.  Then Nicole decided to use her own money (that she received for getting straight A’s in school) to buy the children toys.  She bought — dolls, puppets, stuffed bears, coloring books, crayons, toy trucks and cars, pom-poms, magic tricks, books, play-dough, and more.

You can see her video (set to the music of Miley Cyrus) below.  Or you can go to the Get UR Good On site and also give it a rating and comment.

Nicole’s Get UR Good On Holiday Dinner…

Nicole also blogs about things she loves at NicoleBlogs.com

Catherine’s 8 Tips For Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain – cross-posted at BlogHer Health & Wellness

Will you be trying to avoid gaining weight this holiday season?  If so, you’re not alone.  But this is a tough time of year to be watching your weight.

So…What can you do to avoid the dreaded holiday weight gain?

Well, its NOT diet (save that for your New Year’s resolution).

Until then, here are my top 8 tips for avoiding weight gain this holiday season…

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The CDC estimates that there are 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses each year, and of that number more than 300,000 will be hospitalized and 5,000 will die.  Those are high numbers, especially considering these types of illnesses are very preventable.

On Thursday we will all be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, and some of us will even contract one of these food-borne illnesses.  But there are things we can do to reduce our risk of of food-borne illness.

To start, here is a great video on Holiday Food Safety from the FDA website…

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Are women just too emotional for mammograms before 50?

Unless you’ve been under a rock all week, you have probably heard about the government task force that has recommended new guidelines for breast cancer prevention.  It goes something like this…

If you’re younger than 50 or older than 75, you no longer have to worry your pretty little head about breast cancer, or getting those pesky boob squishing mammograms.

Hallelujah!  I wonder how long it will be before we go back to giving women Valium for chest pain?  Who needs preventative care when it’s not 100% effective anyway?  Hell, just go ahead and give us anti-anxiety meds for all of our ills…I’ll betcha we save a bundle on healthcare costs. Women already outlive men by a bunch of years, maybe this will even things out a bit…Isn’t equality what we’ve been cryin about all these years?

OK, I know, I went a little too far with my analogy.  But seriously, this is what’s going on…

From Kaiser Health News – Guidelines on Cancer Screening Spark Debate…

On Monday, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that routine mammograms start at age 50 instead of 40, that women receive the test every two years as opposed to annually, and that physicians no longer train women to perform breast self-examination.

Imaging centers saw cancellations for mammograms more than double since the news of these “recommendations” were announced.  I wonder how many of those women may actually have breast cancer right now and will miss the opportunity for early detection and treatment?

I have to admit, I’ve been having a lot of cynical thoughts running through my head since I heard this disturbing news.  Like…

I can’t help but think that if the pharmaceutical companies were profiting from mammograms these recommendations would be suggesting that they begin ten years earlier rather than later.

And then there’s this one…

If a healthcare reform bill is going to benefit the insurance industry (and it must – considering all their lobbying dollars), then insurance companies need guidelines that will allow them to reduce the amount of money they shell out for quality health care.

I know these are just thoughts, but when government panels are established to become corporate bean counters of women’s health policy, it makes me a little angry.

The thing is, when it comes to healthcare for women – I want to see more choices for women, not less.

Check out this video, it really does a nice job of addressing the problems associated with these new guidelines…

Is healthcare for women under attack?

Was I the only one who was completely shocked to find out that this so called panel of experts had three representatives from insurance companies, but no experts in oncology or breast cancer?

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Today the blogging community is praying for Anissa Mayhew, a loving mother of three, who blogs at Free Anissa and Hope 4 Peyton.   Anissa suffered a stroke yesterday afternoon, and we are all hoping and praying that she will make a full recovery.

*If you would like to add the paypal donation widget to your blog, the code can be found at Aiming Low.

Below are updates on Anissa’s condition and information on how you can help her family.

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The Great American Smokeout happens every year on the third Thursday in November, and it has been going on each year since 1977.  This is a day that smokers all across the country are encouraged to not smoke, or at least cut back on their smoking for one day.  Each year millions of smokers participate in the smokeout in the hope that this one step will be the catalyst to their quitting permanently.

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It’s so important to eat health even when you’re on a budget.  And in today’s economy many of us will find ourselves looking for ways to make our holiday meals without breaking the bank.  Thankfully, there are many women blogging about just that.  Here is a quick blog round-up that can help you have a wonderfully frugal holiday.

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In honor of Word Diabetes Day I’ve decided to do a blog roundup of women blogging diabetes.  Most are blogs by women who are living with diabetes, and others are women blogging about parenting a child with diabetes.  I’ve also included several informative links and resources at the end of this post.

If you blog about living with diabetes or World Diabetes Day, please leave your link in comments.

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Do you know someone who suffers with Alzheimer’s disease?  Or someone who is a caregiver to a loved one with this devastating disease?  If so, you understand the heartache associated with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Who are we without our memories of past experiences?  For most of us, the though of losing our memories to Alzheimer’s disease is horrifying.  But there is much more to Alzheimer’s than memory loss.

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Did you know that one in four Americans living with HIV are women?   It’s true.   HIV/AIDS is affecting more and more women, specifically African American women.  It’s actually become the leading cause of death in African American women between the ages of 25-34.

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