1.Chocolate Tootsie Pops. How awesome is it that they now make entire bags full of just the chocolate-flavor Tootsie Pops? I found some on clearance after Halloween and grabbed them right up. Honestly, I don’t even know why they make the other flavors.

How many licks does it take to get to the center? I’ll never know, I can’t resist chomping into it halfway through.

2. A women-only trip to sunny Florida with 4,000 of my closest friends. More about that here (if you get the “warning” message, ignore it…it’s safe, trust me!).

3. “Mommy Mantras.” This little book is chocked full of great advice. The cover says it all: “Affirmations and Insights to Keep You From Losing Your Mind.” You can read more about it in this Sunday’s Nov. 22 issue of Her Times magazine in your Erie Times-News.

My favorite Mantra so far? “Within me there is a peacefulness that cannot be disturbed.”

“At any given moment, you have the ability to feel tranquil. Period. While it might seem alien or bizarre to lay aside the anxiety, fear and frustration that we often associate with stressful situations, it’s find to do this.”

“Mommy Mantras” calls this a mega-mantra and says, “if you can really internalize its logic and power, you have the ability to radically alter the way you manage stress in your life.”

Amen.

Three things I’m not loving this week:

1. Holey socks. Seems every pair of trouser socks I own now has holes on both sides (you know how usually you can just put the hole on the bottom..no more…now I have holes on the top and bottom) and it’s driving me insane.

I keep checking the local stores for new ones, but refuse to shell out good money for flimsy, thin, nylon-like trouser socks. I want the thick tights-like trouser socks. Seen any locally? Share and I’m certain that karma will reward you.

2. “Yesterday’s News” cat litter. I’m all about recycling and, of course, I’m all about finding a creative use for old newsprint, but this cat litter is, well, crap. I had to use it when one of my kittens came home from a spay/declaw operation and could only hack about 5 days of it before I tossed the entire lot of it into a bag and took it outside.

First, it’s expensive. Second, you can’t effectively “scoop” it. Third, it does not, ahem, control odors.

I’ll take Fresh Step or Tidy Cat over Yesterday’s News any day.

3. Christmas shopping. Bah humbug. I’m just not in the mood to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on Christmas gifts. Sorry Santa, I’m just not that into you anymore.

The next issue of Her Times publishes this Sunday — Nov. 22.

Theme is “Starting over” and I think it’s one of our best and most inspirational, issues ever.

Stories include:

* How to live a regret-free life

* A review of the “Body Bugg” device you see on “The Biggest Loser” (I tried it out!)

* Heart Disease - the No. 1 killer of women could be attacking you right now

* What kind of damage control you need to do after you blow up at the kids.

* Quick-and-easy holiday recipes

Don’t miss it!

I’ve blogged at great length about the fireball of energy that is my youngest child. She was obnoxious in the womb — always moving to and fro and somersaulting for nine months straight. We joked that as a baby we had to put her down with a mallet.

Not much has changed in six years (except her vocabulary and physical size). She’s a hands-on, can-do girl. She’s hilariously witty and often very wise and honest in her observations….even though she rarely realizes it.

Case in point:

Last week, we were waiting to meet with her 1st grade teacher for our first teacher-conference of the year. As we waited for the teacher to finish up with the conference before us, we leafed through some class “books” the teacher had put together.

One of the books was titled “Our Classroom Hopes.” Inside, on each page, a member of the class had finished the sentence, “I hope to…” and drawn an illustration above the text.

Most hoped to be good at science or math. The teacher hoped to learn more about computers. Some kids hoped to improve their handwriting.

My kid?

“I hope to be still,” complete with an illustration of her sitting ramrod straight in a chair at her desk.

I laughed out loud and said to my husband, “Way to set the bar high there, eh?”

He, too, bust out laughing and then said, in all seriousness, “Hey, that is a pretty high bar for her.”

So, it is.

In fact, being still, is a pretty high bar for most women these days, don’t you think? Leo over at Zen Habits thinks so.

Read what he has to say about the value of being still.

Once again, my happy, high-energy girl has proven that she is wise beyond her years.

We should all hope for a little stillness in our lives.

And, here’s hoping we don’t need a mallet to find it.

AP photo

I’m just going to go ahead and admit this right here and now…my husband was right about something.

I know…I know…I never thought the day would come either, but, alas, the man proved me wrong and came through big time on Sunday when the “big game” (Steelers versus Bengals) was knocked off the local airwaves by the traveling Bills.

For weeks, the husband kept telling me some guy he works with told him he could watch any football game online for free.

I scoffed and snorted….yeah, right. And, we’ll probably be part of some class-action suit someday, too. Ever heard of Napster, big guy?

But…desperate times call for desperate measure (and maybe a bit of rule bending/breaking) so we surfed over to www.channelsurfing.net and they had all kinds of live streaming video — anything you could ever want to watch.

I still didn’t think we’d get to watch the game. Surely the NFL powers-that-be would have shut this site down already.

Nope. We watched the whole game Online Sunday afternoon on my laptop computer.

Sure, it was small and not the best resolution — when we chose the “full screen” mode it was really fuzzy — but it was better than radio or spending a beautiful day in some dark bar.

My husband got excited scrolling through the site at all the hockey games and other sporting events available for your FREE viewing pleasure. He’s going to have to fight me for the laptop though because I noticed the TLC channel — one of the things I actually miss about cable.

Michael’s craft store is offering some cute (and FREE) holiday craft workshops in the next few weeks.

Tomorrow, Nov. 14 from 1 to 3 p.m., they’ll be showing you how to make a festive Holiday Countdown Calendar.

I just love it because you can put a little treat in each of the tins. How cute is that?

In Erie, Michael’s is located in the Old Navy/Borders plaza to the west of the Millcreek Mall.

Can’t make it to the free demo?

I am giving away a DVD CD that I received from Michael’s that includes a complete demo video of how to make the countdown calendar (and a few of the other crafts). First one to email (heather.cass@timesnews.com) me (be sure to include your address), gets it.

UPDATE: Melissa Lasky won the DVD!

1. Kohl’s. It’s hit-or-miss with me at Kohl’s, sometimes I find nothing … other times, I buy bags worth of stuff. Unfortunately for my bank account, last time I was there, it was a big hit — they’ve got some great sweaters and winter tops…and don’t even get me started on the shoes and boots.

2. My Blackberry. I’ll just admit it…I love my phone. I couldn’t imagine life without it. It completes me.

3. Finishing a book. It’s good to finally finish something — even if it’s a little 130-page lighthearted paperback I’ve been trying to finish for 6 months.

Three things I’m not loving this week:

1.Bankers hours. I’ve been trying to close an account at a local credit union (not the Times’ C.U. or any of the other “big” C.U.’s in town) and can’t even get there to close the account because they are open from 8:30 to 5 and aren’t open on Saturdays or any legal holidays that I have off.  My one window of opportunity — Friday when they are open until 6 p.m. (which will mean racing across town to get there before 6).

2. Keeping kittens “calm” and “quiet.” Kitten Bella got her splint off last Friday, but the vet told me to be sure she doesn’t jump or run or do anything that could injure the foot for two week because…now that it’s weak, it could be easily hurt again.  Kitten Zoe was spayed yesterday and I was instructed to keep her “calm” and “quiet” for two weeks as well.

Riiiggghhhtttt…might as well ask me to paint the Bicentennial Tower on my lunch hour or put an end to world hunger. Keeping kittens down….hmmm….I don’t think that’s possible without sedatives.

3. The Buffalo Bills. They’re on the road this week and are playing at the same time as the Steelers AND since we’re designated a “Bills market,” the network is FORCED to air the Bills game. This is a big game for the Steelers this week (Steelers vs. Bengals) and it irks me that we’ll have to either listen to it on the radio, or spend $30 to watch it at some cold, crowded bar.

Todd the Eastern Box Turtle paints a picture at the Erie Zoo on Nov. 15, 2008. File photo by Ryan Randolph/Erie Times-News

This weekend, the Erie Zoo is hosting it’s annual animal art show with pieces created by the resident critters available for purchase.

If you’ve never seen a real snakeskin print or an authentic turtle trail…you don’t know what you’re missing.

These works of art are very cool conversation pieces that come in just about every color and size you could imagine. There will be a variety of pieces for sale priced from $15-$150, depending on the size of the art. All artwork will include a picture of the artist in action, too.

The show will be held on the Erie Zoo stage on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from Noon to 4 p.m. Demonstrations will be held in the classroom during the day and there will also be crafts and face painting for the kids.

P.S. If you are a Zoo Member, don’t forget your membership card for a 10% discount!

More information can be found here.

Michael’s craft store is offering some cute (and FREE) holiday craft workshops in the next few weeks.

Tomorrow, Nov. 7 from 1 to 3 p.m., they’ll be showing you how to make a festive Clay Pot Snowman.

In Erie, Michael’s is located in the Old Navy/Borders plaza to the west of the Millcreek Mall.

Just look for her big, colorful bus!

Some of Brett’s most popular books include:

See a full list of her books at her Web site.