Halloween is a great time to totally gross out everyone around you. A new line of liquid candy dispensers will help you get the job done. Yuckers Icky Licky Sticks replicate oozing body parts. You can slurp on the body part of your choice: a slimy eyeball, a green foot, a gooey ear or a broken and bandaged runny nose. The candy sells for about $2 a piece in department and toy stores.

Wake-up call

You're not the only one who feels sleepy all the time. According to the National Sleep Foundation, most teenagers need to catch a lot more ZZZZs. Studies show that teens need 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night, but only 15 percent are getting it. The National Sleep Foundation offers these sleep tips for teens:

Calculate when you need to go to sleep in order to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

After noon, stay away from caffeine, which is found in soda and coffee. Caffeine is a stimulant that disrupts sleep.

Avoid heavy reading, studying and computer games one hour before going to bed. Don't fall asleep with the television on, either. The TV's flickering light can inhibit restful sleep.

Get into bright light as soon as you can in the morning. Light helps to signal the brain when it should wake up.

How Harry changed her life

A Crystal River teen recently beat out 10,000 other kids to win a national Harry Potter essay contest. For writing about how the Harry Potter books changed her life, Ashley Rhodes-Courter, 14, won the chance to have breakfast in New York with Potter author J.K. Rowling. While there, Ashley will appear on NBC's Today Show sometime after 8 a.m. Friday.

Round 'em up, cowboy

To promote the video release of Toy Story 2, local Radio Disney station WWMI-AM 1380 is holding "roundups" at two area Wal-Mart stores. The radio station's Fun Squad will host horse shoe tosses, stick horse obstacle course races and other cowboy games. Winners will receive the Toy Story 2 video, and everyone who participates gets a prize.

Radio Disney will be at the St. Petersburg Wal-Mart, 3993 Tyrone Blvd., from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. The station will be at the Wal-Mart on 19910 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Tampa on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information, call Radio Disney at (727) 577-4500.

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright