Chocolate Price Fixing?

Did you feel ripped off yesterday when you slapped down your hard-earned cash for that heart-shaped box of chocolates? It seems others feel you're getting ripped off too. The German Federal Cartel Office have raided the offices of seven of leading chocolate companies including Mars, Kraft Foods and Nestle. Canada's Competition Bureau searched the offices of several companies, many of the same ones as in Germany. There has also been American lawsuits accusing chocolate companies of violating antitrust laws. The German Cartel Office says if they find evidence of collaboration, the companies face possible fines of up to 10% of their annual income. To read the entire article from USA Today, click here.

Valentine's Day Recipes

Looking to make a special meal for your sweetheart? The good people at FoodTV has an entire section of their website dedicated to Valentine's recipes for two. They've got it broken down into several sections, including Recipes for Romance, Kids Corner, Five Valentine's Cookies from One Simple Dough, Our Romantic Valentine's Dinner for Two, and more. There's also videos you can watch, including The Freaky Deaky Love Potion.

Are you making your spouse a special dinner for Valentine's Day? Click here to go to the FoodTV page.

Special Podcast for Valentine's Day

If you're not a regular listener to our podcast, now's the time to start. For the first time, we have a special podcast in the middle of the week. Dr. Trina Read, our Sexpert, was kind enough to give us a few minutes of her time to explain how couples can use Valentine's Day to initiate fun and play into your sex life. The entire podcast is less than 10 minutes and well worth it. Who knows, you might even become a regular listener. Here's looking forward to a Happy Valentine's Day. Click here to go to and listen to the podcast.

Buying the Best Chocolate for Your Valentine

Yahoo! Personals has an article about how to buy the best chocolate. The author defines five characteristics to keep an eye on. The first and noted most important is the freshness of the chocolate. To avoid months old chocolate, the author recommends avoiding supermarkets and instead patronizing specialty chocolate shops. Another item of note is to not worry about any diet! Well, unless your spouse is a diabetic, in which case he says there are few low-glycemic index chocolates. Finally, another item to look out for is flavor. Make sure you get a flavor that your spouse likes.

What's wrong with pure dark chocolate? Hitched says not a thing.

Nitpicking in Marriage is Normal

A new study published in LiveScience and authored by Kira Birditt, a research fellow at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research says that nitpicking or frequent demands that once triggered just a mild chafe develops into a major pain. They also say that within marriage, it's normal. However, couples with kids don't experience the effects as much and different age groups deal with the nitpicking differently. The study was conducted by questioning 800 couples and highlights the point that when couples have problems with their spouse, the problems don't go away.

This is why we're here. To help you recognize and deal with issues. To read the full article, click here.

Get Stuck With Needles, Get Pregnant

The University of Maryland School of Medicine published a study in the British medical journal, BMJ which says acupuncture may help women get pregnant. To be most effective, they say acupuncture should be done right before or after embryos are placed in the womb. The study was based on 1,366 women in the U.S., Germany, Australia and Denmark who are having in vitro fertilization. The article from USA Today says this:

Individually, only three of the studies found acupuncture beneficial, three found a trend toward benefit and one found no benefit. When results of these smaller studies were pooled, researchers found that the odds of conceiving went up about 65% for women given acupuncture.

Experts say that there is still a lot of research that needs to be done, but also say that while the benefit of acupuncture still needs more studying, there's never been anything to show that it's harmful--so why not give it a try? Have any of you ever done acupuncture in hopes of getting pregnant? Did it work?

Best Cities for Couples

Forbes.com has released their Best Cities for Couples, which is based on marriage and divorce rates for the 20- to 34-year-olds, the affordability of a starter home there, the area's income disparity and the availability of family counseling. The list is limited to the largest 40 metropolitan areas. No. 1 on their list is Dallas. For long-term couples, however, Salt Lake City, UT was tops with 885 married couples per 1,000 households, while Buffalo, NY was at the bottom with 573 married couples per 1,000 households. Indianapolis, IN had the highest rate of divorce, with 143 divorces per 1,000 households, New York City had the fewest divorces with 43.

Makeup for Men

Click on over to the Nordstrom website and you'll see that Clinique is now selling makeup for men. Nope, we're not making this up. They are marketing it to cover up dark circles under the eyes and to hide shaving nicks. They also say that it's water and sweat resistant. I guess New England Patriot fans won't have to worry about their makeup running. Anywho, this is probably going a little too metro, what do you think? Would you be concerned if your husband told you he's decided to wear makeup? Speaking of metro. Have you read our article on wives wanting their husbands to be more metro. It's an oldie but goodie. Click here to read it. To view the makeup, click here.

Pack Cash if You Pack A Second Bag

The No. 2 airline in the U.S. has announced that fliers will have to pay to pack a second bag. Beginning May 5, passengers on United flights will have to pay $25 each way for a second bag and $100 if they want to check a third bag. A United spokesperson said a major reason for the new charge is due to the rise in gas prices. However, members of United's Mileage Plus frequent-flier program and those who book non-refundable economy-class tickets for trips within the US and between the US and Canada are exempt. To be a frequent flier, you need to fly at least 25,000 miles a year. Read the full article here.

Confessions Report

The 2008 Harlequin Romance Report has just been released and this year's focus is on confessions. For the survey, over 2,000 men and women confessed throughout the U.S. and Canada. This report does include some non-married related information, but it's still good information and offers something for the married folks. For example, 42 percent of men and 41 percent of women say their anniversary is the most important date of the year.

We thought that was surprising, more men saying the anniversary was more important than women. It must be the other 58 percent of men who forget the anniversary. Another survey result found that 61 percent of men and 50 percent of women agreed that it's okay to lie when your significant other asks, "Do I look fat in this?"

The survey also includes non-relationship information within the confession theme. As an example, 16 percent of men and 28 percent of women say they would undergo cosmetic surgery if no one ever found out about it.

To read the complete report, click here.