Adela Garcia took home her second title of 2012 and her fifth Fitness International title in her career. Adela was the odds on favorite to leave Columbus with the title and she delivered. The more surprising story line of this years events were the placings of the others in the top spots. There were more than a few surprises when the results were read off on Friday night at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

It was pretty clear that Adela was the winner of the physique round as she typically has been in the past five years. She was noticeably improved from her showing at the FLEX PRO two weeks prior to this event.

Read full article…

Butter and baby oil were Amanda Moore’s introduction to the joys of tanning—and turning her pale complexion bronze during her teen years.

Moore’s mother was adamantly against tanning beds, so the young woman would meet her friends in secret at her grandmother’s house to bathe in the sunshine, completely slathered in butter, baby oil or “anything that would attract the sun.” “I absolutely hated being pale, so the day I turned 18 I went and bought an unlimited tanning pass. I went just about every day for years,” she recalls. “It was so relaxing to just lie there in the peace and quiet.”  Then, at the age of 27 and a new mother of infant twin boys, she noticed that a questionable mole had appeared on her chest. A visit to her

Read full article…

As you can see from the picture above, we’ve equipped the farm with a couple of ferocious guard dogs to keep predators away.  We named them Coco and Misha as the result of several hours of intense negotiations between Sara and Alana, who started out with little common ground (Alana’s first choice was “Lulu,” which Sara hated) but eventually worked through a list of possible names using a rating system developed by Alana and came to an agreement.

Sara is a major dog-lover, a trait she inherited from her father.  When we lived in a subdivision, anytime she spotted a neighbor walking a dog, she dropped whatever she was doing and ran outside.  I’d eventually have to go outside and say, “Sara, the nice lady would probably like to go home now.  Get the dog off your lap and say thank you.”  Chareva’s brother has a big ol’ pit bull named Henry, and whenever we visit her family in Chicago, Henry is the main attraction for Sara.  As we drove away after our Christmas visit in 2010, Sara was in tears.

“Don’t cry, Honey,” I said.  “You’ll see Grandma again soon enough.”

“I don’t miss Grandma (sob, sob).  I miss Henryyyyy!”

She has of course been begging us to buy a dog for years, but we always had to give the same answer: someday, when we own our own house with a decent-sized yard, we’ll get you a dog.

Well, we’re in the house and the yard certainly qualifies as “decent-sized,” so it was time.  Besides, a farm without a dog just feels wrong somehow.  On a purely practical level, we wanted a dog that’s big enough and scary enough to ward off any predators once we start raising chickens and sheep.  Coco and Misha aren’t big and scary now, but they’re rottweilers and will grow into the role. (That’s Misha below, demonstrating her escape and evasion ta

Read full article…

The next time you shop at the grocery store, you may see something new– nutrition labels on meat. The same types of labels you already find on other foods.

In 1993, the U.S. Department of Agriculture made nutrition labeling voluntary for many types of raw meats. The labeling becomes mandatory on Thursday.

The new rule affects all ground meat and poultry and 40 of the most popular cuts of meat in the United States such as chicken breasts, steaks, pork chops, roasts, lamb and veal. Read full article…