I went to the orthodontist this week for my kids, and while I was there, I inquired about myself. I’ve got a tooth that should be pulled, but I’m concerned about losing any teeth…it’s one thing to be 8 and lose a tooth, it’s another matter when you’re 30. While I was there, I noticed a flyer on dental implants. If you’re missing a tooth, you can have an implant put in, and no one will ever know the difference. The implant is a small metal pin placed in your jawbone - just like the root of a natural tooth. The top of it is made to look like a tooth.

Why get an implant? Well, you avoid looking like a character on Hee-Haw, and the implants are easier to eat with than dentures or a bridge. It can be used to anchor a crown also. If you’ve ever seen the show Extreme Makeover, you’ve probably seen dental implants used there.

I’m adding another name to my sidebar of donations right now. This time it’s a big fat $50 donation from Eric and the gang over at Executive Gaming Monthly. I’m less than $700 from my $2200 goal right now, thanks to all of you!

If you want to be listed in my sidebar for donations, it’s easy - just donate $20 to my 3-Day walk, and I’ll hook you up! You can make your donation online at http://www.the3day.org/tampabay07/colleenc

Worrying about money always stresses me out. I’m a worrier by nature, so I worry about it even when I don’t need to be worrying about it. Make sense?

For instance, this month we have a lot of expenses. We’ve got 2 kids having laser surgery, we’ve got to pay a $500 deductible for car repairs, and we’re going out of town for a weekend. We can handle all of it, but it doesn’t stop me from worrying about handling it all!

One of the things that’s really helped us is free cash from those credit card offers arriving in the mail. What free cash, you say? Well, we have a few 0% credit cards we keep for emergencies. And because there’s no interest rate, it’s basically a free loan. If we have crazy bills like this month, we could use the card if things got tight, and pay it off next month, or in 2 months, without paying any interest. Interest free credit cards are great, if you remain disciplined when using them! If you’re not getting enough credit card offers in the mail, you can go online to compare credit cards and find a few that work for you. Just make sure you pay attention to the terms and rates - some cards will up your APR if you’re late with a payment, so read the fine print!

Do you remember a magazine called “Rosie” that was published a few years ago? It was some kind of tie in with Rosie O’Donnell, and it was one of my favorites, while it was still being published. I was on vacation with my kids in a beach house on the Jersey shore, and there were a few issues of Rosie in the house, so I started reading it. The very first issue I picked up was all about Rosie O’ Donnell’s hospital stay, and a nasty staph infection she caught in the hospital. I hadn’t ever heard of such a thing, and I read with great interest how this staph infection caused Rosie to almost lose her HAND!

Staph infections are big deal, because they are resistant and hard to cure. It used to be that you found them in hospitals, but they moved out of hospitals and recently, some pro football players have been found to be infected by staph. Ick! There’s a new over the counter wound care treatment called StaphAseptic, which can be used to prevent community acquired staph infections. You can find it at most major drug stores and online as well.

I need to show a little self control. It’s girl scout cookie time, and between my husband and I, we bought 20 boxes. That’s not the self control issue though…because the cookies DO freeze well, and we’ll be eating them for a long time. The problem is with me. I can sit down and eat a whole sleeve of thin mints in a sitting. Eek! Yes, I have a great metabolism and won’t see any weight gain from that, but the sugar alone is enough to give me pause. And it’s hard to tell me kids they can only have 3 cookies when I’m eating 5 times that many!

I wanted to share with you all what I learned about Accutane, and the changes made to how it is dispensed. It’s been 4 years since I was last on it, and at that time, it was pretty strictly regulated. You had to get blood work done monthly. No bloodwork? No refill. You had to be on 2 forms of birth control, because Accutane does cause birth defects. I had to sign a waiver saying I knew the risks and I wouldn’t hold my doctor or the drug maker liable if anything happened.

The US government thought that by doing all of that, they wouldn’t see any more birth defects due to Accutane. They were wrong. Unfortunately, women STILL got pregnant on the drug. I went to the March of Dimes website and learned that some of the birth defects are:

hydrocephaly (enlargement of the fluid-filled spaces in the brain)
microcephaly (small head and brain)
mental retardation; heart defects
ear and eye abnormalities
cleft lip and palate
and other facial abnormalities

The damage is done in the first few WEEKS of conception. I can’t even begin to say how serious this is….if you are on Accutane, you can’t just tell your doctor you’re using two forms of birth control…you MUST DO IT!

Due to the number of Accutane births, it is even harder to get the medication now, which is why my doctor wants me to try something else first this time around. If, after that, I choose to go on Accutane, I will be asked to register with iPledge before receiving treatment. I have to test negative to two pregnancy tests before going on the medication, and then I must have monthly tests while on the medication. I am willing to do all of it.

Are you once of those people who bounces from diet to diet, fad to fad, trying to find the best diet for yourself? You’ve tried Atkins, you’ve tried South Beach, you’ve tried eating nothing but cabbage soup. Bleah! Wouldn’t it be great if someone had a site that honestly reviewed all of the diet plans out there, and gave you the real scoop, and REAL results on how each diet worked?

Ask and ye shall receive…you can now find diet reviews for countless diet plans, all in one place! The site is new, so there’s only one review so far, but check back, because a new review will go up every week! The current review is on the Best Life Diet, developed by Bob Greene. You may recognize him from the Oprah show!

I went to the dermatologist this morning for an appointment. It’s been about 4 years since I’ve seen one, and I went to a new doctor this time since we’ve moved. The reason? Let’s see…I’m 30, I have grey hair, but my face still breaks out. And it annoys me to no end! I was on Accutane in 2003 and it worked beautifully, but for now, I’m going to try a new oral antibiotic to see if I can get things to shape up over the next 4 weeks. If I don’t see results, well, I’ll be taking the Accutane plunge once again.

My sister has done a few garage sales to help her with fundraising, and I’m debating doing the same. We’ve got a few items of furniture, dishes, clothes, videos, and toys we could stand to get rid of. What I’d really like to do is see if any of my neighbors are interested in having a garage sale at their own houses that same day. That way, it can be advertised as a community / neighborhood yard sale and we’ll attract a lot more traffic. If I do this, I’m also going to be a donation bucket out, maybe people will donate even if they don’t buy

I have, thankfully, never experience the pain of infertility. That’s not to say I haven’t cried right along with my friends when they got a negative test result on a pregnancy test. Something that my friends who have issues conceiving have all found to be a big help is the information found online at sites like Fertility Facts. I looked over the site tonight and found it to be a well balanced offering of almost any topic you could think of related to fertility. The articles are varied and well written, and I think it would be a great resource for anyone going through infertility or anyone who has a friend of family member dealing with it. The site debunks common fertility myths (how many times have you heard men should wear boxers to help make a baby? False!) as well as give you an idea of the type of tests you’ll be subjected to in your visitors to a fertility specialist. I really enjoyed this piece on when to seek help for fertility issues. I know a lot of women worry about this - when is too soon? Did you wait too long? You can use a lot of the info found at Fertility Facts to prompt conversation between you and your spouse or OB/GYN as well.