World AIDS Day

December 1st is World AIDS day and I would like to say a few words about HIV/AIDS. For women in poverty exposure to HIV infection is a particular problem. Rather than repeat what I have read elsewhere you can read about this at The AIDS Pandemic Blog. During 2007 many events were organized for World AIDS Day, it's too late to organize something now, but if you are interested you can read about 2007 World AIDS Day events - maybe you'll be inspired to plan something for Womens HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on March 10th 2009.

To show your solidarity regarding AIDS education you might want to get involved in some social networking events today - read about social networking to spread AIDS awareness. Most importantly, be prepared to acknowledge that HIV/AIDS is a significant health issue that women need to recognize, acknowledge with their friends and family members, and be prepared to talk about with their sons and daughters. There is lots of information at the WomensHealth.gov and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Get informed and be aware. Join in and blog if you can.

Related post - World AIDS Day 2008 by Denise at BlogHer.com. Listen to David's podcast on The Power of One. Take a look at shopping with Product Red, which benefits AIDS programs in Africa, and if you visit Starbucks shop Starbucks Red and aid Africa.

Looks Aren't Everything

Sometimes looks are deceiving. I mean, they aren't everything! For instance, last night I decided to bake some delicious Yorkshire Pudding to accompany the roast beef we were having for dinner. Yum! I couldn't wait, and neither could my kids, to bite into that crunchy, golden goodness that tastes so wonderful with beef and gravy! I was even thinking that this might be a nice, simple recipe to share here, a recipe from the old country that others might like to try.

Ah, but looks aren't everything. Don't let this photo fool you; inside those golden Yorkshire puddings is uncooked mush! I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong. So far my conclusion is that the puddings need to be thinner. The first few times I made these they worked just fine, but we loved them so much that I decided they needed to be bigger. So maybe small is beautiful and greed can spoil things! Next time I'll try making them thinner. That way I can even make twice as many, which would be nice :-) Oops, am I being greedy again?

Why isn't my cooking as good as Living in the Kitchen with Puppies? Everything on her blog looks absolutely gorgeous and delectable. I swear my mouth starts to water just looking at the photos, or even thinking about them like I am now!

Let's all remember too that our daughters need to know that looks aren't everything. I mean, where can a girl go these days to see pictures of real women? The media is full of women who've not only been picked as film stars and models, but who on top of that have been Photoshopped to look decidedly waif like and unnatural, as if they had the slimness of a girl in her puberty growth spurt - they're just nothing but legs and arms - but with the hips and other stuff of a woman. Well, more on this later...

Homeschooling Women's Health

Three weeks ago I wrote about what we're doing for homeschooling this year. I'm happy to report that everything is going well.

However, the CyberEd classes through Homeschool Buyers Co-op, which we chose for the core of our science this year, are only just now available. We couldn't sit around doing no science for three weeks while we waited for the deal to complete; we went off and explored some other things.

One of my friends had recommended Our Bodies Ourselves as a reference book to have around the house. We've been using it to study women's health the last few weeks. I love that I have open relationships with my children - it's wonderful when we are able to read together and stop to discuss things at will. I can state that this book is very comprehensive.

In the name of full disclosure, the above book is liberal. I also have an Associate relationship with Amazon.com, which means that if you click on my link then purchase I will get a very tiny amount of $. So far I'm proud to disclose that I've earned a generous $1.80 in referral fees during 2008. Oh boy! This could get me excited! If only I were allowed to purchase my own stuff under the assoiciate agreement it might have been worthwhile already :-)