Did you know your child's MP3 player or ipod could cause him or her permanent hearing loss? Research now shows that if you play a song at the maximum volume for as little as five minutes, it can cause hearing loss that can never be repaired. Apple.Com offers a volume control that you can download for free which will keep the sound at 60%. Unfortunately, there will probably be hacks created that your child can download to override this plug-in, so be sure to check every week or so to be sure the Ipod retains the volume control.

You get stung by a bee and what is the first thing you instinctively do? Either pick the stinger out with your fingers or run for the tweezers. What you may not know is this actually pushes more venom into your system! Think of the stinger as a syringe. If you squeeze it, the venom will flow out into your body. So the next unfortunate time you are stung by a bee or wasp, take a credit card or something flat and hard and push the stinger out. To do this, place the card against your skin and gently push the stinger out. Do not put pressure on top of the stinger - simply flick it out with the card.

Here are some frightening statistics to think about.

A recent study found obese mice lived longer after ingesting a compound found in red wine - and not only that, it reduced the negative health effects of eating a high-calorie diet. This compound found in the red wine is called resveratrol.

Losing weight brings many benefits to your health. Resveratrol provides the same benefits without dieting in the rodents. Of course, these are mice - it may be years before it is even tested on humans. But the possibilities are exciting. Can resveratrol help to treat age related illnesses like Alzheimer's and heart disease? Only time, and lots of research, will tell. But in the meantime, why don't you pour yourself a nice glass of red wine for dinner!

The next time you throw a dinner party, serve white wine rather than red. If there are any spills, you won't be regretting your choice! And if you do have to face a red wine stain, our favorite way to remove the stain is to combine Dawn liquid dish soap with hydrogen peroxide. Pour this on your stain and let it sit before laundering. If you don't have these two ingredients handy, then remove the red wine stain by covering the stain with salt. Let it dry and then brush the salt off of the stain. Launder normally.

Do you have a small scratch on your car that you would love to get rid of? Then do what the pro's do. Car dealerships encounter small marks on new paint jobs quite often. How do they remove them? Take silly putty and wet it. Then rub back and forth over the scratch! If it is a very superficial scratch, you can actually remove it from the car's paint. Deeper scratches may not disappear, but can certainly be reduced.

This gives a whole new meaning to writing in the snow! The next time you have a good snow day, grab a few old squirt bottles and some food coloring. Fill each bottle with water and add about 5 or more drops of food coloring each. You can use squirt guns if you don't have bottles, but only if your kids promise not to squirt each other. Let the kids go out and write in the snow! Be sure they are wearing something that can get stained if they "miss." This "snow paint" can be used on snowmen or can be used as paint for a picture on the ground. Have fun!

OK, this is just plain gross – but we have to admit, it is pretty funny too! We’ve seen silly soaps, and we’ve seen fake doggie doo – but to put them both together! Imagine one of those floating in the bathtub! http://www.nopeitssoap.com/

Did you know you probably carry two things every day that are absolutely covered in unhealthy bacteria? Not only that, you put them on your counter, your kitchen table, and even hold one up to your mouth! You guessed it! Your cell phone and your purse. But read on to hear the whole scoop!

This year, microbiologists tested the bottoms of many women’s purses – from leather to vinyl. The results astounded even them. One out of four purses carried E Coli. Fecal matter was also found, as well as thousands of other germs, some of which cause colds and diarrhea. Think about where you put your purse, ladies… the kitchen countertop, the baby’s bed, the table… the thought is, well, unthinkable!

Purses can be cleaned with antibacterial wipes – and especially pay attention to leather purses, which carry the greatest amount of germs. Also, keep your purse off of the floors, particularly bathroom stalls.

Cell phones are just as bad in the germ department. Believe it or not, cell phones carry more germs than toilet seats! As you talk into the cell phone, germs are dispersed onto the phone. The heat of the phone is a bacterial breeding ground wonderland – so please, wipe down your phones every few days with alcohol wipes – you won’t be sorry!

For a little bit of fun, we have some interesting and funny statistics you can use to amaze your friends:

And now our favorite. A chicken can be hypnotized! Take the closest chicken (ha!) and gently lay it down. Hold the head to the ground. Now, take a piece of chalk and slowly draw a line from the tip of the beak out. Redraw the same line over and over. Now, remove your hands and the chicken will remain in the same position. And there you have it – a hypnotized chicken!

With the holidays around the corner, you will probably be asked within the next month to come to a party and “bring a little something” for the buffet. With time so short, we have an award winning dip that is fast, easy and amazingly delicious. When you read the recipe, you won’t believe how good this can be. But trust us – there won’t be a drop left to take home after the party!

Buy two large containers of sour cream and a box of brown sugar. Scoop the sour cream into a bowl and add about a half cup of brown sugar. Stir and taste. After you pick yourself off of the floor, add more sugar if you feel it needs it. You want enough sugar in it to hide the taste of the sour cream without being sickeningly sweet. When you have the right balance, you won't be able to tell what ingredients make this rich flavor.

This is one of those recipes that is truly, “add to your taste.” Now if you think you can handle another wonderful test – dip in a piece of pineapple. Then apple. Then a grape. Now the best – a strawberry! This dip is creamy, rich and tastes of vanilla.

Place the bowl of sour cream fruit dip in the middle of a dish and arrange fresh fruit around it. Don’t be surprised if many people ask you for the recipe to this dip – and think you are joking when you tell them the two ingredients. Although this is a simple recipe, the taste is full and beautifully complicated. It must be magic!

I remember making homemade playdough with my mother as a child. Looking back, there was no internet at the time – so I wonder how she got the recipe! Here are two fun homemade playdough recipes that you and your children can enjoy together on a cold rainy day. Have fun!

Non-Edible Playdough: Mix together 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon powdered alum and one half cup salt. Place the dry ingredients in a pot and add 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon oil, and two tablespoons of a nice smelling extract such as peppermint or vanilla. Cook on medium until the playdough looks a bit like mashed potatoes. Let cool. You can add food coloring if you like.

Edible Playdough: Be sure you and your child wash hands since this is edible. Stir together one cup of peanut butter, one cup of powdered milk, one cup of honey and one cup of oatmeal. Play and then eat!

This science project has not been around the block several times like many have. It is a fresh idea and has won awards at science fairs. Not only that, it can truly give you important information about the safety of your house.

This project will tell about lead poisoning and will show items that test positive for lead. We first tried this project on cans purchased at various oriental food markets. These markets carry imported cans – some of which are sealed with lead. Fortunately for the food industry, none of the cans contained lead. (Lead cans have a thick, prominent seal down the side.) Unfortunately for us, we had no experiment with lead containing cans.

We switched gears and chose to test items in the house. The results were surprising and a bit frightening. We purchased home lead testing kits similar to the ones found at http://www.leadinspector.com/. They look like small cardboard tubes with cotton on the end. You squeeze the tube to release the testing chemical and then rub the tip on whatever you are testing.

For the experiment, we went through the house and tested fishing equipment, children’s jewelry, paint, picture frames and more. There was an antique picture frame with led and of course, the fishing lures had lead. We also found the weights that kept the live plants on the bottom of our fish tank had lead – so those came out right away.

The most frightening thing we found were lead pipes under our kitchen sink. Fortunately, the water department in our city tests water for free. They actually dropped a test kit off at our house, we took a sample and then they picked it up. Although the pipes were lead, there was no lead leaking into our water supply.

The science project display gave information about lead and lead poisoning. We attached objects that tested both negative and positive, as well as an unused test strip and one that was used and positive. This science project won an award, an A grade and helped us to find dangerous lead in our home.

If you are trying to sync your palm with Microsoft's Outlook, you will need a third party software such as Chapura's Pocket Mirror. However, when you sync for the first time you may encounter a common problem between the palm and your Outlook calendar - duplicate appointments. Nothing can be more frustrating - especially if you have a full date book! There is no easy way to fix this problem, but there are ways to minimize the cleanup you will need to do.

Disconnect your palm handheld device. Go into Outlook and open your calendar. You need to arrange your calendar view to display by appointments. The instructions for this can vary depending on your version of outlook - but you can probably find your way with Outlook 2003 instructions.

With your calendar open, click View, Arrange By and then Current View. Select Active Appointments. Your appointments will be in an easier format to view, and you can sort them by "starting date" by clicking on the column heading labeled Date or Starting Date. If you want to sort by a field that is not shown, you can right click the column heading, select field chooser and then select All Items. A box will come up with items you can drag up to your column heading and sort by.

Now you can easily delete duplicate calendar items. To select some but not all, hold down your CTRL key and click on the ones you want to delete. If you would like to easily view duplicate recurring appointments, you can click on View, Arrange By and then Current View. Select Recurring Appointments.

Once you have deleted all of your duplicate appointments, look up at your toolbar. You will see an icon that looks like a palm pilot. Click on that and you will see the options for your hotsync with Outlook. (Another way to find this is click Start and look under programs for Chapura's Pocket Mirror and go into the settings from there.) Select your calendar and set the settings to "desktop overwrites handheld" one time only. Do not make this the default. Close out of Outlook.

Connect your Palm and sync it. Your desktop will now overwrite your palm calendar, wiping out the duplicates. When you are done, go back into Outlook and into the Pocket Mirror settings to check that you now have "synchronize" rather than "desktop overwrites handheld" for your default selection.

Again, if you have a Palm Pilot and are trying to sync with Microsoft's Outlook, you will need a third party software such as Pocket Mirror http://www.chapura.com/pm_standard.php.

I’ve bought Avon several times over the year. Some things I’ve liked and some things I could have lived without. But after starting Avon’s Anew Clinical Deep Crease Concentrate, I’m hooked and won’t go back. This product can be used both in the morning and at night. Smooth it over your face and pay special attention to deep creases.

I noticed a difference in my face immediately. This product does exactly what it says it will do. It fills in the lines, making your face appear younger and smoother almost instantly. After a few weeks, I honestly see fewer and less defined wrinkles.

Do I look less like a mother of three? Probably not. But I do have smoother and healthier skin. Thanks to Deep Crease Concentrate!

I have curly hair. Well, with the right product, that is. But when I’m right out of the shower, look out. Dry, frizzy and out in a million directions. I’ve tried every product on the shelves that claim to tame curly hair. None of them have worked. And I mean none!

That is, until I read about Joico’s Joiwhip Mousse, formerly called I.C.E Whip. This product is a must for curly hair. My curls hold together neatly and the frizz is at an absolute minimum. As a matter of fact, strangers with curly hair ask me what I use. For the first time, my curls are actually defined.

If I add too much there is a small bit of “crunch” – but only if I apply too much. After putting JoiWhip in my hair I’ll add a bit of water over it to form the curls. But after that, it is drip, dry and curl. So from one curly head to another – try Joico’s JoiWhip and enjoy a wonderful head of enviable curls!

Want a fantastic planter in your front yard that will certainly be the first of its kind on your block? It’s easy to make and inexpensive to boot!

Purchase four clay flower pots and a long garden stake. Place the stake in a large planter that has already been established with flowers. Now, lower one of the clay flower pots onto the garden stake and tilt it. Lower the next and let it rest on the first pot, tilted in the opposite direction. Continue in the same manner until all four are on. Fill each with dirt and flowers.

Pictures can tell a thousand words. This planter is unique, beautiful and inexpensive too!

Just try this before you think it is "over the top" cleaning. The next time you use your can opener, take a moment to clean it. Simply run a paper towel through it, cranking the handle of the can opener as if you were opening a can. Take a look at the paper towel. Black, greasy gunk that you have been grinding into your food.

Now aren't you glad you cleaned it?