June, 2008:

0605081223.jpg, originally uploaded by lalagirl.

I bought a package of these at Costco the other day and damned if they aren’t the tastiest EVER! They come in a package similar to a pork tenderloin and you can throw it on the grill for twenty minutes or so and it comes out delicious. I chopped ours up for salads, but you could probably just serve it with rice or whatever. Even the kids liked it!

And, it’s Gluten Free! Not that we’re following that diet now or anything, but I know some of my autism mama friends do, so there ya go. Yum!

I am fascinated by the idea of hair transplants. While we were driving around LA last week, I actually saw several different billboards for restorative hair loss treatments. Of course, LA does seem to be the land of the billboard – I guess it’s because everybody spends half their lives driving on the freeways! What a great time to be bald, though, right? I used to work with this guy at my very first “real” job – he was almost bald, fairly hot, very charming – and I kept hearing from everyone, poor guy, too bad about his hair! That was in 1990. And now, everybody’s shaving their heads so they can be bald on purpose! Baldness. It’s the new black.

However, embracing the whole hair loss thing isn’t for everyone. Like, say for instance, WOMEN. I can’t see taking a Bic to my head any time soon as part of a new trend. But believe me, hair loss has been on my mind in a major way. Ever since I had Nikki and Lexi, I’ve been losing a ton of hair – and it’s really noticable right up front! Ugh! I’ve been reading on the Nu/Hart Hair Clinics site about how they do hair transplant stuff nowadays, and it’s pretty cool. They remove a strip of “donor hair” from the back and sides of your head, where your hair is “genetically designed” to not fall out, and surgically graft it to the area where hair is thinning. Uh, OUCH? The results look amazing, though! I would absolutely be open to the idea of it, if my hair got to the level I’ve seen in some of the before pictures. Women shouldn’t have to go around with hair you can see through, y’know?

For now, I’m trying to up my protein and take vitamins. I think I’m going to try that Nioxin stuff too.

I bought some stuff from B&N online a month or two ago (they take Paypal! Yay!) and since then, I’ve had coupons in my email inbox almost every week! They really want their customers to become repeat customers. Right now, you can save 15% on one item online using coupon code N4X8E8D. It’s good until June 15th. And then YOU can get all kinds of offers from them in your email every week!

You may have read a few months ago that I decided to limit the amount of sugar my kids eat. They eat a ton of cereal, and I was buying those huge generic bags of “fruit rings” and “corn pops” every week. (Ha. I typed “corn poops” right now. Irony?) It occurred to me one day that I NEVER got to eat sugar cereal when I was a kid, so why should my kids get to have it? They already have seven thousand cartoon channels on cable. Out with the sugary crap. Oddly enough, they didn’t fight the change one bit. They’ve been perfectly happy eating less sugar! I’ve been reading labels on all the cereal I buy and I look for cereal with less than 10 grams of sugar per serving. (Ideally, even less than that!)

Recently, I had a chance to sample a new line of EnviroKidz cereals from Nature’s Path – Leapin’ Lemurs and Penguin Puffs. Both are organic, lower sugar, whole grain cereals, and the Leapin Lemurs is Gluten Free! Both have 8 grams of sugar per serving.

Here’s what the press release had to say:

With Leapin’ Lemurs – a delicious gluten-free pairing of peanut butter balls and chocolate balls, and Penguin Puffs – a crunchy blend of kamut, quinoa and corn – kids will be eating healthy, organic, non-GMO ingredients, consuming less sugar, fat and sodium, and getting more whole grains into their cereal bowls, while still enjoying a great tasting breakfast.

EnviroKidz also teaches kids about the environment, habitat conservation and endangered species – 1% of yearly sales are donated to organizations such as The Lemur Conservation Foundation and The Defenders of Wildlife.

More importantly, here’s what my kids had to say:

“Yummy!”

“Tastes like chocolate!”

“I yike this cereal! I taste peanuts!”

“I ate all of it! I want more!”

I had a bowl of each kind, and they’re both really good. The Leapin’ Lemurs really isn’t all that sweet – if you’re used to Cap’n Crunch, it may take some getting used to. But if you eat lower sugar cereals anyway, you’ll probably like it a lot. The Penguin Puffs was actually my favorite. I think these will probably be making a regular appearance on our pantry shelf. We were all pretty pleased with them!

Would you like to try out these cereals for free? I’m giving away a box of each cereal right here, and all you need to do to win it is leave a comment on this entry. Entries accepted through June 21st.