The FDA issued a recall on certain products that contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein, including products such as McCormick & Company Onion Gravy Mix, two flavors of Pringles (Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger & Family Faves Taco Night), and many more well known products that contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) paste and powder distributed by Basic Food Flavors, Inc.

For a complete listing of products included in the HVP recall visit the FDA website.

I have determined that the best thing for a stress eater is the Wii Sports game that comes bundled with the Wii game system. When I feel stressed out during the day I go back to my room and play tennis on the Wii. Last night I hit Pro level on tennis. I’m getting in some good exercise too, since I set myself a rule that if I am going to play a video game, I am going to use the cleared area in front of the set to move around in. So I get in there and step into the swings and stuff.

I have a new commitment for my efforts to lose weight. Rather than grab munchies when I am feeling stressed out, I am going to try to go play a round of Wii tennis. I have a bag of oranges on hand for when that is not possible, but so far I have managed to play tennis with reasonable success when I am getting stressed out. We’ll see how it is working when I find where my bathroom scale vanished to back around Thanksgiving.

Zenni Optical would like to invite you to stop by their website and take a look at the Zenni brand eyeglasses they manufacture. Rather than selling name brand eyeglasses, which can for some brands get quite expensive, Zenni Optical keeps the prices of their eyeglasses affordable enough for nearly anyone to be able to afford stylish looking eyeglasses.

Stop by the Zenni Optical website and look at the eyeglasses they offer, then compare their prices to other optical sites. They feel you will agree that they offer very high quality eyeglasses at affordable prices.

For many of us eyeglasses can be a very expensive investment, and our budgets limit us to only the most inexpensive frames available in our local discount eyeglass store. The prices that Zenni Optical eyeglasses are priced at, however, make it an affordable enough option to allow for a much wider choice of frames selection than even the most inexpensive of local optical shops (at least for the ones near where I live).

Make sure that you check out their returns page before you order, so that you are familiar with their return policy, which is to offer a 50% refund on the custom made eyeglasses if returned within four weeks.

For more information check out the Zenni Optical website at the above link, or the article at Examiner.com that has more information on Zenni Optical as well as how to get inexpensive eye exams.

This post was sponsored by Zenni Optical.

Wishing you a very happy Valentine’s Day, whether you are in a relationship and looking forward to an evening of romance, or are one of many singles this year that will be taking advantage of a day made for self indulgence and pampering yourself like you never take the time for throughout the rest of the year.

Today is the day when all of us singles should take a few hours to indulge our desire to be pampered. To give ourselves an excuse to relax and not stress. To soak in a hot tub with candles and aromatherapy.

Gain is a bad thing when one is dieting, but when you have invested in stocks it is a good thing. For a few weeks now I have been doing a bit of dabbling in the stock market, which is a bit unnerving given no more than I can afford to invest.

Now, I admit that it is fun to look into the different companies I can buy shares in, but there is one weighty one investment I am particularly interested in adding to my portfolio; precious metals.

The trouble has been, I was not sure that you could buy gold bullion the same as you can buy stock in a company.

After doing a bit of research I have discovered that not only is it possible to invest in precious metals, but there are several different kinds of metals, including platinum and palladium, in which I can chose to invest in the same way I would invest in stock – buying and selling on the stock market.

If you are looking to find out more about the precious metals platinum and palladium as an investment possibility then you should look into the recently launched Securities Physical Platinum Shares (PPLT) and Physical Palladium Shares (PALL). These are physically backed exchange-traded funds that allow investors to invest in physically backed holdings that are equal to one share equals one tenth of an ounce of metal.

This post was sponsored by USGoldBureau.com

Well, there it is. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Hearts and flowers and candy and all the other fluff fill the aisles of the stores. And those of us that are not in a relationship look for some redeeming quality to a holiday made for couples.

Yeah. I don’t see one either.

I say that the days before and after Valentine’s Day should be National Single’s Week. Which highly amused me until I did a Google search and discovered there actually *IS* a National Single’s Week – in September.

Ah well.

I have a new diet plan. I am going to drop back on the Weight Watchers plan. When I was in town the other night I bought ten assorted Smart Ones meals so I can track my meals with the plan, although, had I realized they were microwave cooked meals I would have skipped that. I hate microwaves.

I made a Chicken Marinara with Mozzarella Cheese flatbread sandwich last night, it was not too bad, but I hated to have to microwave it. Considered cooking in oven, and ended up needing to put in oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese that had not fully melted in my rarely used microwave.

Now I just have to ditch the stress so I can stick to the diet.

If after weeks or months of dieting, getting ready for this one perfect day of romance on Valentine’s Day, you daydream of escaping to white sand beaches on the Riviera Maya, then post sponsor Karisma Hotels wants to invite you to escape to one of their five luxury hotels on the Riviera Maya.

Their five resorts include the El Dorado Seaside Suites. An adults only resort on the Riviera Maya. Just one of the five romantic vacation riviera maya luxury hotels that is offered by Karisma Hotels, the El Dorado Seaside Suites is located on the white sand beaches of Kantenah.

Two hours of waiting in the doctor’s office is roughly equal to a dozen packets of sugar in small cups of complimentary coffee.

That is what I estimate I had in coffees while trying to stay awake in waiting room when I took my dad to the doctor yesterday. Would not be so bad, except he was waiting that two hours as well, then a third hour in back waiting for the doctor to get around to seeing him.

Doctor waiting rooms are bad for diets.