If I've asked it here once, I've asked it a thousand times: is nothing safe for our children anymore? One week it's toxic baby bottles, the next it's dangerous playgrounds, the next it's finger-amputating strollers, the next it's baby-killing cribs. And, always, the poisonous/choke-hazardous/child-harming toys.Almost makes one want to flee to the hills and take one's chances with the child-eating bears.

Stephanie O'Dea has compiled a list of gift ideas that might help you get some shopping done and help bloggers at the same time. Check out her list, there's something for everyone.

"That's why it's, "Enlightened Work and Mindful Play," because it's incorporating, wrapping up, and interweaving this notion of making a difference through your daily actions, and also infusing your life with style, and throwing really fun parties for good causes."--Kimberly Wilson, author of Tranquilista: Mastering the Art of Enlightened Work and Mindful Play

I want to be done with the glass ceiling. Completely done. I don't want to think about it. I don't want to talk about it. And, I certainly don't want to believe all those rumors on why it exists.

Thanksgiving is, without a doubt, the most meat-focused holiday in modern history. ("Happy Turkey Day!") In anticipation of this annual feast of gratitude, a friend and I visited the closest organic turkey farm we could find: Tedach Ranch, just 30 miles east of Denver in Bennett, Colorado. Gobble, gobble - it was an eye opener.

This morning started with bright sunshine for me and I was reminded that this is the perfect time of year to get those final garden chores done to insure a successful growing season next year. (Please to ignore that this year was a disaster). Whenever it is dry and the soil can be seen and worked, we owe it to ourselves to spend a little time outdoors. What can be done if our gardens are not actively growing?

When you’re standing in the aisle of the supermarket, trying to decide between this and that brand of fried onions for your famous green bean casserole for the Thanksgiving feast, wouldn’t you like to know—without a lot of bother--all that the government knows about it? Such as whether that brand has been subject to recalls because of bacterial infections, or whether the claims the company makes on the label are trustworthy?

Since we're on the cusp of Thanksgiving I thought it would be a fine time to visit the idea of giving thanks for lessons you have learned from all your jobs and businesses along the way. Yes, even those lessons that were learned the hard and unpleasant way. While this exercise is valuable at any time, I think it is particularly valuable during the Thanksgiving holiday and the end of year/start of a new year cycle. The fact that the last two years have been turbulent for many professionally and financially it is even more important to find the gifts (even if they lie amidst some rubble).

Do you like to take the pictures at the holidays so you won’t be in too many? Yeah, me too. It’s a well known fact - if you are BEHIND the camera, you cannot be in FRONT of it.   If you are the self-appointed photographer during family celebrations, you need to document the event without irritating all your friends and family.

As we in the United States approach the Thanksgiving holiday we are mindful of opportunities to express our gratitude for those blessings in our lives big or small. Some among us give thanks for the one thing we all have in common which is both basic and all-encompassing: We are alive.

It is the Austral Summer. It is travel season for those making their ways to Antarctic research stations. There are a number of scientists, students and even an artist or two who have recorded their experiences. Yes, there are bloggers in Antarctica. You think you have a shaky Internet connection? Try blogging from Antarctica. Making the Journey

During my sophomore year of college I became quite smitten with a boy. The day he met me I was wearing a pink plaid button down shirt from American Eagle and over that a pink sweater with a hood from Hollister. He told a mutual friend of mine that I was a) gorgeous and b) I looked amazing in pink. Since then pink has been my color of choice.