Creative Every Day

Did you see the new image on my blog sidebar? On my travels over the internet I stumbled across an interesting place... the Creative Every Day challenge. I had unofficially decided that this would be the year for me to explore and indulge my creative side, so it sounded like just the challenge for me. The cool thing is that it's not about any particular medium, just about creativity. Art, writing, cooking, anything goes as long as it's creative. (Hmmm, I wonder if designing new experiments at work counts? LOL)

There is a monthly theme, and February's theme is "Words". An interesting coincidence since I've been having fun all month painting ACEO "Inspiration Cards", based on words or phrases. Today's cards are, in the spirit of Creative Every Day, inspired by creativity.

Another fun thing. If you click your way to the Creative Every Day, you'll find links to participants pages and to a flickr album with lots of great art! I've been having fun browsing, you might too!

What's in a name?

My name that is. Linda carol. My mom's sister is Linda, my dad's sister is Carol. I was the first born grandchild on both sides, and was named Linda Carol. According to Mom I wasn't actually named after my aunts, but that they just liked the names. Regardless, I like the idea of being named after my aunts. I've always thought it was silly to have a middle name that never really gets used, so when I started my little bead business I decided I wanted to embrace and use both my names.

Last week at work a tech from another lab, was interested in my jewelry. She asked me if I was familiar with Etsy, and I told her I had an shop and gave her my Etsy ID. Later that day she stopped my office laughing and said, "Guess what my name is?" Well, it turns out she's another Linda Carol. What a small world.

Fast forward to today. I checked my email tonight, and find a messsage titled "I am Linda Carol too!!!" I didn't recognize the address, but with a title like that I had to open the email to see what it was about.

The message:

Hi, this is not a spam, I am just very pleased to have found another namesake who is also creatively gifted. I found you in an odd way, but I am so happy because the other 2 Linda Carol people that I found were artists too! I hope you get this, I am on facebook and I my birthday is 12/11, what's yours?

What a fun email to receive. Another Linda Carol and a fellow Sagitarian to boot. I definitely will respond.

Even more interesting to me, this Linda Carol is a spiritual healer type person (my words not hers) who practices various types of therapies. For some odd reason (is there a reason?) during this last year I keep encountering people who are following spiritual, metaphysical paths. I became acquainted, long distance, with a Reiki master, and a few of my friends started studying shamanism. I've become familiar with terms like "energy work" and chakras. Being the scientific type, I'm never really sure what I think of these metaphysical, spiritual things, but I know I'm fascinated by coincidence, and find it very interesting that yet another spiritual person has popped into my life. I wonder if this is a hint, that perhaps I should be opening my mind to these new and different ways of looking at things.

Happy Valentines Day!

I've been playing around with some new artys-fartsy stuff lately. Paint/mixed media/collage. Paulette Insall, a lampwork beadmaker (former?) who's beads I always admired, started painting mixed media pictures that I really liked. I may not have great drawing/painting skills, but I bet I may be able to have fun learning to paint similar abstrast, colorful backrounds. I've been thinking about trying this for a while, then a few months ago I received the "signs" that it was time to try painting. First, Sarah wanted to paint a picture for a friend. Then I stumbled upon the book Taking Flight: Inspiration + Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings (on sale!), by Kelly Rae Roberts, which looked pretty promising as an instructional book. So, I bought the book and more paints and started playing around.

I like to work small, so I've been making inspiration cards in ACEO size. For some odd reason, perhaps because I like reds?, some of my first few were heart themed, so It seems appropriate to show them on Valentine's day,(or as the day is known to some of us, Singles Awareness Day! (S.A.D.)). Single or not, love is always a good sentiment, so I am posting these as my cyber-Valentines to all my cyber friends!!!!

Happy Darwin Day!!!!

Today is Darwins 200th birthday!!! Scientists around the world have turned this into a holiday. According to the Darwin Day website there are 670 planned celebrations around the world. I bet that doesn't even count the ones in my world. Here in my personal nerdland his birthday is sparking a few parties. We get a treat at coffee hour today, a birthday cake for Darwin, and tomorrow one of the professors in the department is throwing a Darwin's Birthday Bash. Who said scientists aren't any fun?

I'd love to credit the artist who painted this picture, as it's an image so fitting for all the computer nerds in the world, unfortunately it's one of the images that has been floating around the web for so long the creator's identity is long lost. It's especially appropriate for me right now, as my latest assignment at work is to assemble all the known rhinovirus RNA sequences to aid in the start of an evolutionary study of the common cold. I'm definitely becoming the guy on the right!!!

Learn Something New Everyday...

Monday has become bagel day here in the lab. One of our students who left the lab(and science all together) works at Einsteins bagels. If she closes on the Sundays she saves the end of the day bagels and brings them to the lab on Monday.

Whenever she can, she tries to remember to bring me a pumpernickel bagel, as she knows it's one of my favorites. (Must be that German ancestry of mine!) Today when she walked into the lab with her big bag of bagels and announced: "I brought you a pumpernickel!", and a question crossed my mind. What does pumpernickel mean anyway? All these years of enjoying pumpernickel and I had never once wondered where the name came from. Through the wonders of Google the answer was quickly at hand.

I won't recap the entire history and etymology of pumpernickel here, as all that information is available on Wikipedia where I found it, but apparently pumpernickel comes from the High German word "Pumpen" which means flatulent and "Nickel", which was a form of the name Nicholas, and the name Nicholas was once associated with demons. So the meaning of pumpernickel is, well, "devil's fart". Who'd have thought? So how about some "devils fart" for breakfast? My bagel maker friend promises to have a laugh every time some one orders a pumpernickel, er "devil's fart" bagel!

More on dressing like an artist.

One of my favorite Christmas presents this year has helped my quest to dress like an artist. The item? A cape! A beautiful black polar fleece cape. This gift did of course, come with a back story.
Last fall my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. My sibs and I hatched a plan for an anniversary gift; a scrapbook, full of pictures, remembrances and stories from our childhood. One of the scrapbook pages I made was about my mom and what a good seamstress she was, and how she made us costumes and dresses and whatnot. When we were small she made us Easter dresses every spring, and in a few of those cold early Easter years she made us capes to go with our dresses. On my scrapbook page I wrote about how much I really liked those capes, and how I still like capes and wished I had one.

Fast forward to Christmas. I open a big box from my mom and find something made of black polar fleece. At first I though it was a robe, or throw, but low and behold I pulled it out of the box and discovered it was a cape. A full black flowing cape, with a single button at the neck, and a built in scarf that I can dramatically toss around my neck. It is perfect, just my style and I was so thrilled my mom found it for me. I never would have dreamed that Mom would have read what I wrote and go on a mission to find me a cape.

My kids, and probably others as well, think it's really weird, and I have no idea if it's at all fashionable or not, but I love it. It has such a nice swoop to it and feels artsy. I definitely feel like I've dressed like an artist when I wear it, which is nearly everyday. I don't care if other people laugh and think I'm weird or a caped crusader wannabe, to me, it just feels like me.

A picture is worth a thousand words ...

I went skiing yesterday, and for the first time ever brought a camera with me. This is the view from the top of Snake Creek lift at Brighton. Even after living here more than 20 years I still think I'm so very, very, lucky to be able to enjoy this.

If this picture isn't worth a thousand words, head over to Watch Me Create. I have a few words over there today..... A bit of a follow up to my despacho experience!

Dressing Like an Artist

A couple of weeks ago my friend Lori Greenberg posted an interesting Wikihow article on how to dress like an artist. I never consider myself an artist, but I certainly have a artsy-farsty side that I spend alot of time indulging. From time to time I've contemplated the "dressing like an artist" issue. I'm a little schizo about my dress. On one hand I'm not the type to want to call attention to myself, and on the other hand I do like cool, fun interesting clothes. But heck, I work as a lab tech, a mostly jeans and t-shirt sort of world which suits me as I'm all about comfortable clothes. But deep down I really like the idea of dressing like an artist.

So how do I measure up to the Wikihow article? Apparently something should be different about my hair. Does the big gray streak fit the bill? I bet that's not what they have in mind! Accessories are good. Does wearing my lampwork jewelery count? Anthropologie is suggested as a great place to shop... I do love to shop there, but I never buy anything. Same for thrift and vintage shops, where I shop with my daughter, but never for myself. My favorite place to buy artsy clothes is the huge flea market where my mom lives in Florida. Many of my favorite artsy skirts have come from the flea market. I also love tye-dye. Does that make me artsy?

The one spot were I may actually pass the arty test is piercings. Apparently artist are supposed to have piercings. To be honest, I've never really been into piercings. I have nothing against them, I did let my daughter pierce her nose, but other than the standard ear piercings I've never been interested in having any others. That is, until a little over a year ago, when I needed to consult a divorce lawyer. She had an unusual piercing that caught my eye. A gentle loop that seemed to be inside her ear. I asked her about it and she told me if was called a daith. Fast forward a few months. I'm at the piercing salon with my daughter, who needed to buy a new nose ring, when I spied the black rubber sample ear that shows piercing possibilities. As I looked it over, my daughter said "Come on Mom, you know you want to", and she was right and so I did it, a single daith piercing in my left ear. I really like it!

People say that piercing is addicting. Maybe it is. A few months after my daith I notice my daughter is sporting a new piercing, one way up high on her earlobe. It turns out she did it herself. I probably should have been mad at her for self piercing, but to be honest it looked so darn cute on her I couldn't get mad. Instead I decided I needed one too, after all, she and I have the same shaped ear. So a couple months later (I wanted to wait until after my bwach vacation) I went to the piercing salon and voile, I sport another new piercing.

So now I have both ears pierced the ordinary way, and my left ear has my "divorce piercing", the daith, and my "Bond with my daughter", piercing, the upper lobe. So does this mean I can now dress like an artist?

New Years again...

Today is Chinese New Year...a good excuse for me to write an about my new year and to share the unusual way I started it. This is my interpretation/recollection of an interesting evening, so I may not have all my "facts" about the ceremony totally correct. The pictures are courtesy of Val's daughter.

Two of my neighbors have been studying Peruvian stype shamanisn, and on New years night hosted a despacho. My rather uneducated lay description of a despacho is a ceremony where you essentially make a package of gifts and blessings to offer to mother earth (Pachamama) as thanks or as a celebration, or to seek good fortune or cast away evil spirits.

We started the evening with a lovely dinner and wine, then headed downstairs to a big table where the the paper wrapper was laid out and surrounded by the offerings.

The purchased kit is layed out on the brown paper. Rancid llama fat is smelly!

The gifts include an assortment of plant materials; seeds and leaves and fresh flower petals, sea shells and starfish, items that represent animal life, such as animal crackers and gummi bears and stickers, things that represent the earth like soil, and items that represent the heavens like rainbow strings and cotton clouds and stars. Kits can actually by purchased that contain appropriate offerings. My friends had quite a variety of items in addition to the kit which contained a few rare (for us) items like peruvian soil and llama fat and placenta. We were all invited to bring our own offerings as well.

Patty blowing smoke.



With these items we created a mandala on the paper. There was of course an order to the laying of the gifts, and their orientation and layers, all dictated to us by my friends, the shaman in training. We all sipped from a glass of wine, which was then offered to the god, my friends blew (organic) tobbacco smoke onto the pile (which seemed odd as neither of them smoke), and we all took a turn blowing a mist of Florida water over the offerings. The wine and the smoke and the Florida water where all things that the gods "like". The water was interesting as it was a more or less an alcohol (strong) extract of flowers. It wasn't meant to be swallowed, but taken into the mouth then misted over the package. I think fire water would have been a better name! More important than all the actual items were our intentions as we mantthe offerings.


The package was neatly tied up, bundled in a cloth and we took turns passed the package over each other. I think this was supposed to balance or release personal energy. I was rather surprised by the odd sensation I felt as the package was passed over me.

Val and Patti, our shaman.



After this was done we moved outside where we had a bondfire and burned the despacho, offering all of our intentions to the spirits. There was ceremony to this as well, incense oriented to the 4 coordinants, more smoke and Florida water. We watched the fire until our despacho we incinerated, looking for glimpses of the various items in the smoldering embers.

While I'm not sure I necessarily believe in this sort of mystisism, it was a very interesting way to bring in the new year. Learning the believes of other cultures is always fascinating. Besides, how can you go wrong with a ceremony that is all about thankfullness and good intentions?

The despacho burns... see the starfish?

Dancing With Coincidence

I had a little e-chat with an on-line friend last week. I can't remember why exactly, but we were talking about dancing. I told him that I'm lousy dancer, that I swear that I'm rhythmically impaired and that admitedly, I'm kind of dance phobic, but that the one kind of dancing I do really like is square dancing, because someone else tells me what to do. I hope my new friend didn't think it was too weird that I like square dancing. I'll be the first to admit that there's not too much "cool, hip factor" in that. Also, not much opportunity either, I don't think I'd square danced in about 20 years.

Fast forward a few days. One of the guys in the lab invites me to ... guess what?... a square dance! His wife plays the banjo and started playing with a band started by the husband of another biology person. The Bueno Avenue String Band. This guy is a woodworker and has his shop in a warehousey sort of place across town. Once a month he's been clearing a space in the middle of the studio and hosting a dance, square dance caller and all. So, last night was my first ho-down in a long, long long time. It was a great fun! I felt a little silly, because, as often seems to happen in my life, agewise, I was probably a little out of place, but the 20 somethings let me join right in. I feel really lucky that my student friends let me come play with them. I'm looking forward to next months dance. Yee-ha!!!

Inversion Time...

The weather outside is frightful.... well, maybe not the weather itself, but the thick pollution that mires the valley due to the high pressure weather pattern is really frightful. Health advisory frightful. This is the one bad thing about living in Salt Lake Valley.

So, with dreary in the air, why not focus on the positive... indoors. One of the perks of working in a biology building is having a green house on the roof. Here and there throughout the public areas of the department there are big planters filled with houseplants. Mostly your "standard" sort of houseplants, except when something interesting flowers in the greenhouse and our greenhouse manager puts them out in the planters, like this planter with not one, put two beautiful orchids! How positively beautiful!!!!! A real treat for this girl who studied botany in college!



The ugly air downtown today...

Today's Adventure...

My girlfriend, her daughter and a friend and I went on a fun adventure today. We headed up to Farmington Bay to look for bald eagles, which should be starting to migrate through en-mass. We're having a pretty nasty temperature inversion (pea soup level pollution - ugh) right now, but all that fog made beautiful ice crystals everywhere. It was beautiful despite the pollution and fact that we only saw one eagle. I took my good camera and borrowed my daughters new fisheye lens(my Christmas present to her), and quite by accident got some really neat shots... the accident was a wrong camera setting. I completely forgot to change the light setting from tungten (which I use for my bead pictures) to daylight, so all my pictures, except where I used the macro setting, came out in hues of blue. Pretty blues, which really worked with all the ice. Maybe not "realistic" but pretty cool. Of course when everything is already distorted from the fish eye effect, a little color alteration seems acceptable. The fisheye lens is fun to play with... I'm starting to wish I had one too.

It's Done!

As you can see, I did it. Finally. It did take a few days to get up the motivation. I did tell you I had the lazy girl blues didn't I? What you see here is the end of Christmas. The last of my Christmas tree the rest is chopped to bits and put in a box. Yeah, that's my weird way of disposing of the. Put away all the lights and decoration, then cut off all the branches, and put them in a box. The box goes out in the garage, and the branches eventually become kindling for my fire place. The tree trunk goes out in the backyard, and some day in the summer when I'm feeling motivated I'll cut it up for firewood. Pretty efficient huh? Maybe I'm not that unmotivated after all.

It's nice to reclaim all that space in my living room, and it's amazing how much more light streams through the window without the tree standing in the way. But, the thing I really miss, is the smell. The aroma of the tree has been downright intoxicating this last month, it's one of my favorite aspects of Christmas.

Motivate me!!!!

Somebody, please? I really need some motivation. Is this the January blues? Post holiday blues? Kids are back in school blues? Or is it just the "I need to take down my Christmas tree and decorations" blues? I think I'm betting on the last. Why is putting up decorations fun and exciting, but putting them all away such a huge chore? All week I've been telling myself it needs to get done, and have succeeded at procrastinating all week. Procrastinating is a very special skill I have. So will tonight be the night? Guess I'll decide later.

It would certainly be good to get it done tonight, so I don't have to waste a perfectly good three day weekend doing chores. I used to think it was silly to have a holiday so soon after the holidays. But now I feel like I need a holiday to recover from my holiday!

Cake Update....

A short update to the tale of too many birthday cakes at my home this weekend. Yesterday afternoon Sarah and I went off to run a short errand. When I returned a spied a large piece of fool on the floor. I'm sure I didn't leave it there! On the counter stood the well bitten remains of the rasta cake. It appears Daisy put her paws up on the counter and bit off as much as her furry muzzle could reach. Fortunately, the chocolate layer cake I made was still safe under the metal cake lid, and she hadn't yet made her way to the other foil covered confection. Tragic yes, I for one and glad to have less cake in the house. I'm hoping Sarah and her friends finish off the others today at lunch.

And that Daisy dog of mine... I'm always amazed at the look of sheer embarassment and guilt she has as she lowers her head in shame when I exclaim "Daisy! What did you do?" Guilt, on one hand yes, but on the other I can't help but wonder if she spent the last two days impatiently wondering: "When, oh when, will both of them leave so I can have a snack?"

Happy Birthday Sarah!

I was in the kitchen Friday night when I heard kids come in the door. I thought it was Sarah and her friend, but instead it was four of her other girlfriends, who came to deliver a surprise birthday cake. (Saturday was Sarah's 17th birthday). One of them called Sarah who told them she was almost home, and as she pulled in the driveway they ran back to the kitchen, giggling as they turned off lights and start lighting candles. Sarah walked in the door, and exclaimed "Where's Ann?" (Ann's car was in the driveway). The girls all pop out and present Sarah with the triple layer Rasta colored birthday cake they made her. The room was full of giggles and laughter and hugs and I was thrilled to be there to share in the merriment. There isn't much that's nicer that a kitchen full of happy teenagers. I'm a lucky mom!

On Saturday a second cake arrived, courtesy of two other friends. I had planned to make Sarah a cake, her favorite chocolate cake that I make every year for her birthday. I thought two cakes might be sufficient so I asked if she still wanted her chocolate cake. She grinned and said "Yes!", and said she'd "spent the whole week looking forward to her chocolate cake". So I wasn't off the hook after all, and by Saturday night not one but three birthday cakes adorned my kitchen counters. I guess my daughters a lucky girl! I guess that's what birthdays are all about!

The News...

So where do you get your news from?
I don't watch much TV news, other than sometines turning on the Today show in the morning while getting dressed. In the car I'm an NPR junkie. And then there's the internet. My number one place for catching up with what's going on in the world has to be the Lampwork Etc. forum. If there's a natural disaster, tragedy, recall, happy story, news of the weird... you name it... chances are someone on the forum will have heard the story and will post a link before I ever hear about it through the real news sources. Yesterday for instance, someone posted about the family that didn't report their kid missing for 10 years . Another person posted about the ski lift incident that left some poor man dangling half naked from the chair lift. Sure enough, I learned of these stories last night through my bead forum friends, and this morning both stories were the Today show.

The lampwork forum may be an unusual way to get the news, and you may laugh at me for considering it a "news source" but it is suprisingly efficient!

Another place for "news", one I should remember to read more often is The Onion. One of my new years resolutions was to remember to read The Onion more regularly. So yesterday I logged on and found that one of their daily must have been written about me (or woman like me):

Online dating for Women.

Enjoy!

Watch Me Create!

Saturday's walk through Canyon Rim Park


Today you can find me at Watch Me Create!


Enjoy!

Even the snowmen have been partying ...

This is what you get when the college age kids decide to make a snowman. I love having a snowman in the yard, even if he is a drunk.

I actually took a walk on the wild side and had a New Years Party this year. I'm not usually a big fan of New Years parties, but one of my "lab babies", (a girl who spent over 4 years working in my lab and is now off at grad school) was back in town and wanted someone to have a party, so I said "what the heck" and volunteered. So I had nice little party with my friends, neighbors and the folks from the lab. My kids and their friends wandered in and out, mostly to raid the chili pot before going off to their own parties.

Have you ever noticed how people congregate at parties? I don't really have a great party house. My house only has small rooms. A small living room and tiny den which are kind of connected by small dining room. I never think my living room is really big enough for a party, especially when there's a huge Christmas tree in it. The funny thing is that while I lament the size small size of my living room, when ever I have party it's hardly used. My New Years eve bash was no exception. Every one sat around the dining room table, or hung out in the kitchen (which is also small), and for a while a group stood in the hallway area between the loveseat and the stairs. Not once all night did anyone go in and sit on my couches... I guess I don't really need to worry about my house being to small for a party. When friends gather no space is too small!

Happy New Year!!!!

Do you suppose Daisy and Oreo made a New Years resolution this year? One that said "I will be better friends with my 4 legged sibling!" They normally get along fine. Daisy is not a cat chaser and she's not exactly a alpha dog, so she leaves Oreo alone. Even so, every once in a while Oreo walks up to Daisy and gives her a random swat. I suppose he does that just to reinforce that he was here first and that is the "boss". While they have really gotten along great for seven years, they have never really been playful or cuddly together.

So I was actually surprised when I walked into the living room this afternoon that where both sleeping together on the couch. Definitely a rare sight. When I walked up with the camera Daisy's tail started wagging, alternatively thumping on the couch and Oreo's face. Oreo just sat there and smiled. I wonder if their resolution was to be nicer to each other this year!

The holidays...

It seems I've taken yet another blogging break, which is silly because the holidays are always rife with interesting goings on that I could be blogging about. Matt came home from college the Sunday before Christmas. His finals were over at the end of the week, but he stayed in Durango for a few days, partially to do some skiing and hang out with friends, but mostly because all the passes leaving Durango were closed due to snow. I'm always relieved when I know he's made that winter drive safe and sound.

On Monday we went in search of tree... there aren't many left two days before Christmas. We where lucky to find one and happy that the $70 tree was half off. We decorated that night assisted by Sarah's Persian friend who's family doesn't do a tree. Once again the kids claimed we have too many ornaments, and lobbied not to hang them all. Once again I insisted on hanging every last one, after all, how do you choose, when there are memories attached to all of them? Actually, every year I suggest that we skip the pink and white Power Ranger ornaments (or at least hang them in the back), and every year they get hung front and center, along side my most treasured ornament, a shredded wheat wreath that encircles pictures of my kids that was made at day care many years ago.

Despite that my kids are 16 and 19 years old or perhaps because of it, Christmas morning was still magical. First the magic of everyone getting to sleep in until 9:30. Then the magic of my waking up to the giggles of Matt and Sarah opening all the trinkets in their Christmas stockings, from their laughter I could tell they were just as happy as they were when they were 6 and 9. Then there was the magic around the tree. An especially magic moment for me, as the kids priority was to first give me my gift, and then give each other their gifts, before even looking at what lay under the tree. What better gift than to see my kids relishing in the giving, rather than the receiving aspect of the moment! I think I'm truly blessed.

Shopping...

Sarah likes looking for treasures at consignment shops, so on Saturdays we often do a little thrift store shopping. On Saturday we headed down 33rd South to a little place called the Consignment Closet. I was browsing a rack of fancy vintage dresses when I spied this treasure. It looked to me like a 1970's hostess dress, and I really liked the pattern on the skirt. I think it might make some great bead inspiration. Upon closer inspection I realized that there was something weird about this dress... Chickens! The waist and neckline of the dress were adorned with chickens... so much for it being a pretty dress!

We also stopped at Thrifttown, which is located in a little shopping center that also houses a Dollar Store, Dollar General, Big Lots and a couple of other shops... I call it my favorite "slum shopping" spot. I guess it's a sign of Christmas mixed with a huge dose of the bad economy, but I have never in my life seen the parking lot there so crowded. It was like Christmas shopping at the mall the weekend before Christmas, you could hardly find a parking spot. I guess people really have changed their shopping habits this year.

Music and Horoscopes..

Sarah's and my favorite hiphop artist, Grieves, was in town over the weekend. She went to his concert at Kilby Court on Saturday night. I was forbidden to go go because she didn't want to be embarrassed again. She bought his new CD, 88 Keys & Counting, and made a copy for me to listen to in the car. So this morning, rather than listening to my normal NPR, I listened to his new CD. When I got to work I decided to pop the CD out and take it to my lab so I could listen some more. As I would expect from Grieves, it is an excellent CD. Later in the day I was playing it once again when a couple of the 20 something year old guys in my lab asked me who it was that was playing. They were laughing, because they thought it was so funny that someone like me... an old person... was actually listening to a hip hop CD.

Imagine my amusement when I checked out my horoscope today:

Music will bring you a lot of joy today, so put one of your favorite CDs in the stereo and give it a listen while you are getting ready in the morning. Take it with you during your day if you can and groove to the tunes while you're running errands, cooking, cleaning, or doing some other type of semi-mindless activity. And singing at the top of you lungs is not only advised, it might just be required to keep a smile on your face -- and on the faces of onlookers!

Hmmm... maybe there is something to horoscopes after all!!! It sure seemed to predict my day today!

Black Friday!

If you are like me you had no plans to join in the Black Friday shopping madness, but in case you are feeling left out I have just the thing that should get you reaching for the car keys!

I have found the thing I'm sure EVERYONE is looking for this year - the traditional pink tinsel Christmas Pig!!!!

Can't you see him frolicking in the snow with Frosty, riding shotgun in the sled with Santa, lounging in the manger with Mary and Joseph???

Run don't walk, to your local Big Lots store. I'm sure these are the hot item this year. A bargain at only $25!!!! Be the envy of your friends and neighbors, get your Christmas pig today!