Flu Season is Upon Us

Have you received your flu shot? I have.

Last year's round of vaccinations worked well and kept H1N1 from getting as serious as was predicted. This year the H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu vaccine are in one needle.

If the reason you have been avoiding getting the shot is because you are afraid of needles or are sensitive to the pain, here's some news you may be interested in.

According to a recent Canadian survey, up to one in four consumers experienced anxiety when shown the traditional 2.5 cm flu vaccine needle. 1

Intanza Vaccine

This flu season there are vaccination options available that make the shot more comfortable. You may have heard about a new one called INTANZA.

"It is the only seasonal influenza vaccine administered by a microneedle — more than 10 times smaller than traditional needles — which is proven to reduce pain. INTANZA has also shown to be at least as effective in preventing season flu as vaccines given with traditional syringes."

Some More Facts About Canadians and the Flu:

· There are more than 13,600 hospitalizations attributed to influenza each year, with approximately 3,600 of these among adults aged 20 to 64. 2
· In 2008, less than one-third of Canadians aged 12 and over had a seasonal flu shot in the previous year. 3
· Influenza and pneumonia is the seventh leading cause of death in Canada, with approximately 4,000 to 8,000 Canadians dying each year of pneumonia related to flu, most of them seniors. 4

Here's a video about Intanza:

Sanofi Pasteur introduces new option for flu vaccination - tiny needle, same effectiveness as traditional flu shots

¹ Ipsos Health. Flu Vaccination Study. December 2008.
² Schanzer DL, et al. Influenza and Other Resp Viruses. 2008;2:1-8.
³ Statistics Canada. Influenza Immunization 2008. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-221-x/2009001/tblstructure/3sp/3ay/aces3ii-eng.htm. Last accessed October 14, 2010.
⁴ Health Canada. Its Your Health – Influenza.  Oct 2009.  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/alt_formats/pacrb-dgapcr/pdf/iyh-vsv/diseases-maladies/flu-grippe-eng.pdf.  Last accessed October 14, 2010.
   

Review: Python Printables Games

Python Printable Games has tons of paper puzzles, games, trivia, colouring pages and read-aloud stories on many different themes for a small price.

Here are just some of the themes: Holidays (Halloween, Christmas, Mother's Day, Valetine's etc..), Vampires, music, 30th birthday, 40th birthday, 50th birthday, camping, BBQ, picnic, slumber party, TV trivia, superbowl and more.

I reviewed the Halloween Party Games (50+ printables). Although it's called Halloween, it has some Thanksgiving ones too. I got them just in time for the Canadian Thanksgiving last weekend. We did some of the trivia at our family dinner. I was glad that they weren't country specific. In fact, one trivia quiz had a question about 4 different countries that celebrate Thanksgiving.

There was two Stephen King Trivia Quizzes too that I gave to my mother and brother.

The ones designed for kids and teens will be great for my nieces and the Girl Guides that I work with. I plan to use one of the Left-Right Halloween games at our Girl Guide Halloween meeting. We will pass out goodie-bags that are all a bit different and then read the story. Every time left is said, you pass your bag left. Every time right is said, you pass it right. At the end of the story, you open your bag.

My preschoolers will love the Halloween colouring pages. I think the puzzles and games are great. There is even a newlywed Halloween game that looks pretty fun.

They come in PDF format and you can print as many copies as you like. They can be downloaded instantly as soon as you've checked out your cart. The puzzles are better quality then the free ones around the net too.

You can follow Python on Twitter.

FREEBIE!
They have some free Halloween colouring pages available that come with a $5 voucher towards your next purchase from Python (good till November 30)

* I recieved a set of games to review from Python in conjunction with Tomoson. All opinions are honest.
This Product Was a Free Giveaway

Review/Giveaway: Make 5 Dinners in One Hour!

Michelle at 5 Dinners in One Hour has made a plan to prepare and cook 5 different family friendly meals that will feed 4-6 people. You don't freeze them, but keep them fresh in your fridge until you are ready to heat and serve them. At least one meal for each week can be freezable so if you want to create something for later, you can.

When you subscribe you will receive an email at the beginning of each month with menu, grocery list, cooking directions and heating directions. The meal plans contain suggestions for side dishes which you can swap out as you like.

You can get a whole month's worth of plans for only $5 a month, paid via paypal. You can also get a free trial week to see if you like the plan by emailing Michelle from her blog.

Check out her FAQ for more information.

Her blog also has tips and hints, recipes and more.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

Thanks to Michelle I have TWO October plans to give away. The menu isn't date specific so you can use them whenever you want or whenever you receive the plan, even though October is almost half way through. It's basically just one month of menu plans.

Since the plan is emailed to you, this is open internationally.

Mandatory Entry:
1. To enter, leave a comment. Make sure to include an email address or make sure it's visible in your blogger profile if you have one.

Extra Entries: (leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each entry or it won't count.)
2. Give me a recipe to try. Type it out or copy and paste it into the comments. If it's not your own, please leave credit to where it's from.
3. Check out Michelle's blog and come back and tell me about a post you found interesting and why. 
4. Tweet, blog or post on facebook about the giveaway. If tweeting, include @callista83 in the tweet. If posting, leave the link to the post or to your blog. If posting on facebook, include link to your page if it's a fan page. If it's your personal page, please just be honest and tell me you linked to this post.

Open till October 20th, at 11:59 PM EST