In honor of the 10th Anniversary of V-Day and BlogHer's exclusive interview with the writer of "The Vagina Monologues" Eve Ensler, I was asked to focus this week's post on "The Vagina Monologues" on YouTube.

Recap: as part of the Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Wallet series, I'm talking about recycling and thrifty ways to feed our art/craft habits and pointing out the benefits of doing so. I've discussed the money-making recyclers at Etsy, the communities where recycling habits regularly happen and some of the interesting discussion there.

I was cruising around BlogHer the other day and happened upon MC's spring reading list. Wait a minute? It's really almost spring? I mean, I know that I've complained that this winter is unending (repeatedly) but it's really almost spring? Seriously? A new season it a good time to reassess any reading goals you made at the beginning of the year or set some new ones.

Do you stress over money? I do. With the way the economy is going, if you're not stressing over money now, you sure could be in the near future. Gas prices are going up, home values are going down, and what money we do have is buying less and less. The thing about stressing over money is...It doesn't pay the bills. What it can do, is make you sick.

Quick--what have you learned today? And what kind of effort did you make to learn? Ends up these are important questions. Over at SharpBrains, Dr. Pascale Michelon has written a fascinating piece about "cognitive reserves":

Are gay and lesbian relationships healthier and happier than straight ones? Recent studies indicate this may be the case. What are the differences between gay couples and straight ones, and do gay couples hold the keys to happy long lasting love? Research done by psychologist Robert-Jay Green, executive director of Rockway Institute, finds there are two key factors which promote healthier relationships in gay and lesbian couples: greater flexibility in gender roles and more equal division of parenting and household tasks.

Candles, music, lingerie... Sure, there's the traditionals. But the other night I was wearing a stretchy dance top, the kind that's cut across the top ala "Flashdance," and some oversized Calvin Klein drawstring shorts that may be guys shorts for all I know (both the top and the shorts are from clothing exchanges with friends), and I was thinking about how I always feel so sexy in this most schlubby of outfits. It's just something about how the top stretches across me and the way the shorts sit loosely on my hips like they could just fall down at any moment.

Back in the old days, when I was a kid, a teacher who handed out a word search puzzle or a crossword puzzle (for credit or for fun) was considered a cool teacher. I loved those things and almost all of my friends did too. I'd fight with my brother over which of us was going to do the puzzles in the Highlights magazine or Cricket or whatever kid magazine my parents had subscribed us to. I'd beg my mom to buy me a word search "magazine" when we went to the grocery store or the book store.

When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. ~Alexander Graham Bell

Last Friday was one of those days where I was about ready to quit everything to live a life as a vagabond (never, ever the circus) or perhaps curl up n the fetal position and live with one of my parents. There was more on my ‘to-do list’ than there were actual hours in the day. And by 5:30 it was either quit my job or get a pedicure and because I enjoy eating and paying my rent, I opted for the latter.

My beloved and I didn’t do one of those premarital questionnaire things. We didn’t take a parenting class together before we had the little angel. We didn’t even talk all that much about how we were parented until after we became parents ourselves. Like many parents, we muddled through once we were already in the middle of the exhaustion and responsibility of parenthood. Fortunately for us, by the time we became parents, we’d already learned how to argue as a couple, and sometimes I think that’s the only reason we’re still together: We know how to argue.

Everyone expects mommy bloggers to write about their kids. In fact, many women who write a so-called mommy blog are only too happy to transcribe every detail of Junior's life -- first steps, first words, and every occurrence in-between and beyond. Share and share some more seems to be the order of the day when it comes to talking about our kids.