Homelessness isn't easy to think about. Many homeless are considered lazy, unmotivated people who just don't try hard enough.

What is more accurate is that many homeless people are untreated mentally ill persons who are often discharged from treatment facilities before they are ready or capable to care for themselves. Others are addicts, jobless or victims of domestic violence.

A growing population amount the homeless are homeless women. There is something especially disconcerting about homeless women because so many nowadays have their children with them.

I'm not the kind of animal rights activist who will throw something horrible on a fur coat (although I might throw a look) or leather jacket. People wear animal products all the time, although I do have a distinct dislike for fur because the animals are not used for food - they are simply bred for something unnecessary to wear - all in the name of couture, and their deaths are quite brutal.

The Sandwich Generation are those people who are the middle generation of their living families - often raising children and taking care of their aging parents at the same time.

It can be a rewarding time for a lot of caregivers - letting them 'give back' a little to the parents who raised them, all while getting the opportunity to raise children of their own.

Although it may seem glaringly obvious to us, the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital published a study recently regarding lifestyle and decisions made by women that directly affect how long we live and how well we live.

Five activities and decisions can have a direct effect on our lives.

They are

Smoking
Drinking
Exercise
Diet
Disease History

The extensive study began in 1980 with 80,000 women and lasted 24 years.

X-Files and Californication star David Duchovny recently announced he had entered rehab for sex addiction. He has asked for privacy at this time, for him, his children and actress wife Tea Leoni.

So leaving that aside - what exactly is sexual addiction? Is it even a legitimate disease?

Sexual addiction is described as

"behavior of a person who has an unusually intense sex drive or an obsession with sex. Sex and the thought of sex tend to dominate the sex addict's thinking, making it difficult to work or engage in healthy personal relationships.

I think most of us have heard the expression 'survivor guilt' - that feeling of guilt or some kind of culpability when we survive an accident that killed or badly harmed someone else.

Holocaust and genocides, including the Nazi era and others (Rwanda, Kurdistan, Darfur to name just a few) have also produced much survivor guilt.

I'm pretty shocked by this, since birth control is so highly effective. I suppose I simply assume that if you don't want to get pregnant, you'll make sure to take birth control each and every time! Accidental pregnancies can happen - but most are highly preventable.

12% of all our babies will be born prematurely!

Everyone has always known someone who had a preemie (a baby born prior to 37 weeks in the womb) but at this rate, we all know a lot of someones! The Center for Disease Control studied 7 million babies over a decade, in an effort to understand why so many babies are born prematurely and any adverse affects they may experience.

Let's not forget that in most cases a preemie baby is not anyone's fault and in most instances there is nothing that could be done!

A recent episode of the television show The Secret Lives of Women (seen on We TV @ www.wetv.com), highlighted women of different sizes. Some extremely tall or small and some extremely heavy.

The heavy women called themselves Big Beautiful Women or BBW's - a now common term used by women of size.

The women were gorgeous, smart, happy and successful, running a business devoted to the empowerment of large women.

Part of me really champions them. Why should they conform to the size society (or their doctor) tells them they should be if that's not what they want to do?

We all like a bit of drama in our lives. Nothing like something different, exciting or even scandalous to add interest to our day. Some of us like the adrenaline rush of extreme sports. I have to confess during my mad travels around the globe I have bungee- jumped, skydived and enjoyed hot air ballooning and white water rafting. I hit some dangerously fast speeds on the back of a motor bike too many times to count.