Did You Know

Smoking And Our Kids

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Marlene Dietrich! She looks so sexy, even with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

Sex and the cigarette.

As an ex-smoker I have very little tolerance for smoking.  You know what they say about ex-smokers.  I smoked for 40 years. Wow, this is the first time I ever wrote that number down.

I smoked alot of cigarettes.

I don’t want to talk about my smoking, or my ex-smoking.  I want to talk about kids smoking.  I was taken aback when I heard that smoking amoung teenagers is on the rise.  What!  I thought that the kids of today are hipper and smarter than we ever were.  Are they not the generation that can access  information with their fingertips, but sometimes it is not about being well informed, it is also about not falling into the trappings of the advertising market.

Did you know that tobacco companies are specifically targeting kids? How is the tobacco industry marketing to kids today? Four recent trends in youth tobacco marketing include:

  • Heavy advertising and discounting of tobacco products in stores frequented by kids:  Such marketing makes tobacco products appealing and affordable to teens, two-thirds of whom visit a convenience store at least once a week. Since the 1998 tobacco settlement, tobacco advertising and promotions have soared in convenience stores and other retail outlets.
  • Increased marketing of smokeless tobacco products, and introduction of new products that look, taste and are packaged like candy.  With smoking on the decline and restricted in most public places, tobacco companies have nearly tripled smokeless tobacco marketing since 1998 and introduced new candy-like products that appeal to kids.
  • Proliferation of cheap, sweet-flavored “little cigars”: The tobacco industry has introduced a growing number of cigarette-sized cigars with sweet flavors, colorful packaging and cheap prices, which makes them appealing to children.
  • Brand extensions of cigarette brands most popular with kids: More than 80 percent of youth smokers prefer Marlboro, Newport and Camel, the three most heavily advertised cigarette brands. Tobacco companies have introduced numerous cigarette brand extensions and even smokeless tobacco products that carry these same brand names. 
Warn your children and grandchildren.  Let them know that they are IRREPLACEABLE.
We all have to make choices, teaching our kids to make the right choice is our RESPONSIBILITY.

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/what_we_do/industry_watch/warning_to_parents/

LET’S KICK BUTT!

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recipe, Time of the Season, Video

Peeps S’mores – Cooking For Sandra

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Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmellow – yes please. One, two, maybe three – so good. These s’mores are perfect for Spring/Easter, while the new peeps are all over town, in every color and shape. We made ours with cookies n’ cream chocolate and dark chocolate. You get to make them with your favorite chocolate – make them your way. 20-22 seconds in the microwave. Warning: be sure to make plenty – because you just can’t eat one.

Family

Saint Patty’s Day and Croxley’s

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The celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day for my family is simple, we celebrate it with the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage meal, my mom does all the cooking.  Yet, this year my daughter-in-law suggested that we have a beer at our favorite ale house, Croxley’s, before we go to eat with the family.  According to Erin it would not be Saint Patty’s Day without having a beer at the pub.

 Here is Erin  (not Erin-go-bragh, but Erin Moran -Brennan),  happily enjoying a beer along with Bill, her father-in-law.  I don’t know why, but Erin kept pointing out that she, and my husband, are the true Irish in the family.  Doesn’t she know that everyone is Irish on St. Patty’s Day, regardless of where they come from.

Now Croxley’s Ale House is not an Irish bar.  It is more like an English Tavern.

This may explain why it was not as crowded as we thought it would be.

My family frequents Croxley’s more than any other bar-restaurant in the neighborhood.  Why? Because Croxley’s offers a large selection of tap beer,  60 ales and lager on draught, and 10 cents wing  Mondays thru Wednesdays.  

 We are so hooked on their wings.  But, on this day we did not go for the wings, we went for the ale.

Erin had a Belgium Kiss, I had a Blue Moon, and Billy had his Croxley Blonde

(Ya think that this is wishful thinking)

All, in all, the people at Croxley’s did wear green, and we even got an Irish shamrock to hang around our necks.  Like I said, on St. Patty’s Day everyone is Irish.  Croxley’s even had complimentary trays of Corned Beef and Cabbage, and the best Irish Soda Bread I ever tasted.

I hope we remember to head on back to Croxley’s next year , and not bother making our own Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Erin, you were right.  We should celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day being served cold beer, along with CB&C, and maybe, if we get really festive, begin singing our favorite Irish melody’s.