[Scribbles]

Creative Experiments - Shoutpost Help

Wordless Wednesday: Last Peek at Fall

2007-11-27

Weekend Whimisies: Thanksgiving

2007-11-27

Thanksgiving has come and gone. We stayed home and had our regular crock pot turkey with the fixin's.

On Friday, we met my Dad and brother at a restaurant in between us all. It was a drive.
We also stopped in at a few consignment shops in the area. Fun. The children did not think so, they stayed in the car with their electronic games which entertained them.

Saturday it was just chores and some shopping. My husband took my son out to a tour of local homes that had train set ups in them.
Sunday we got up late because the dogs kept us up. I had to take one out at 2:30 am and she ran around the house. Very creepy considering we live in the wild and things lurk in the woods.

Now we are sort of back to normal. Tomorrow morning, I meet with my son's teacher for a conference and sign off picking up the report card. I hope his report card is a good one since he tries so hard.

1 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21

Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to all.

1 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

The Bored and the Beautiful

2007-11-19

Ok -- a Weekend Whimsey Update --

Saturday was the last day of my computer class! Yeah!
Everything was great and the instructor gave out the evaluations.
I did mine without my glasses on. Big mistake.
I handed it in and she was not suppose to peek at it and said, "Ah ha! You were the one who gave me all ones this time and last time!"

I said yes because you are a most excellent instructor.
Then the gal sitting next to me said, "I think you meant to give her all sixes."
OOPS!!
So I made a big X on the ones, and filled in the sixes and wrote an apology note to the administrators on the evaluation.
Then I laughed till I was crying. I could hardly repeat the story with out cracking up.

Just another comment on college classes with younger people, my god, can't they turn off their cell phones while in class? Some even answered their phones while class was going on. REALLY! My brother is taking classes at another University and he says the same thing PLUS while the Professor is talking, students are talking too instead of listening infringing upon the rights of others who are paying to take the classes. Where are people's manners?

On Sunday my husband wanted to go to a Train Show so we all went.
I was doing fine until I had to deal with the "Bored and Beautiful" teen daughter (what my 9 year old calls her).
We were only gone a few hours but gee, it seemed as though she thought we were gone a whole lifetime.
She had to come with us because that was her punishment for not making her bed several days before getting on her laptop and keeping the door closed.

It is very cold here. Not liking the cold much.

5 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

POW Thursday

2007-11-15

This was the most darlingest thing I have ever ever seen and what talent that lady has!

So cute! Her post inspires me to write about a giraffe I know.

I found a book called "Brave Little Pete of Geranium Street" by Rose Lagercrantz, Samuel Lagercrantz translated by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Eva Eriksson at a yardsale.
What a find! What a treasure!
It is about a four year old red headed boy named Pete who has a toy pet fish and a giraffe he loves. He also wears a band aid on his forehead because he likes too. His conflict in the book is that he is being bullied and how he handles it with the help of Grandma. By the end of the story, Pete is grown and has children of his own who have a beloved pet fish toy and a giraffe toy. The pictures are adorable with detail and the story is in rhyme.

At the time I was expecting #2 child.
Two months before the big event, we were out shopping at TJMaxx and I spied a small giraffe (label: Russ and tag name Jiffy) and laughed.
It was only $5.00 and I still remember so vividly the moment I saw it, it was just so magical.
I was buying this for the baby. (I had suspected it was a boy only because I had so much gas and my feet were sweating heavily all along! Those were my signs.)
My husband and daughter (age 4.5) thought I was crazy but yes, I was and I had an excellent excuse, hormones.
So I bought "Diaper Dolittle", our nickname for the child to be, a toy.

We delivered a red headed son, named him Peter (aka "Pip"), like Pete in the book and his favorite thing to this day, is "JJ", the first thing I ever bought him before he came into this world. "JJ", the first word he said for his giraffe and the first word he kept on repeating because it was the only word he knew. Whenever he said it, he smiled so proudly.

Someday, JJ will be put away, I don't think we can throw him out.
I can only image the wonderful memories my son will have when something forgotten in time and place is found again for a few moments of fond memories.

Roman Sock -- little crochet animal patterns to make -- patterns on the sidebar

1 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Wordless Wednesday: Friends

2007-11-13

1 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Professor Crumb's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-11-10

Oh how the cookie crumbles! Sad, but I am unable to find them anywhere. I wonder if Prof. Crumb retired?

I only bought them because I liked the name and his picture on the box.
They also tasted pretty good although they were the size of Vanilla Wafers.

While at WalMart, I found their brand of Chocolate Chip Vanilla Cream Cookie Sandwiches, 18 in a package for 97 cents. They were pretty good also.

Tea time will no longer be the same without dear Prof. Crumb.

1 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

POW Thursday

2007-11-08

Yes! Post of the Week -- I surf (BE or BM) -- I read -- and then I pick a post that inspires me to write about what I read. Your post could be next!

The post I found intriguing this week was from Editing Luke's blog about his Dorm Room Christmas Tree. I bet it is up already. He shares a quick film (two thumbs up rating by me) of how he puts his tree together with music and a very dramatic ending. In my house, all family members LOVED this post.

So I will now write about our Christmas trees.
I enjoyed Charlie Brown trees, always buying the wimpiest one ever. Sometimes getting them for FREE -- a savings of $100 of the regular prices around here.
Santa use to bring the tree on Christmas Eve and decorate it so it was also a gift on Christmas day but now that the children are older, it gets put up around the 15th of December. (Hiding the tree before the 24th was getting difficult!)
I do not decorate the tree, that is the job of everyone else. I decorate the front door, the banister and the doorknobs. I also do the major clean up of tree needles when removed.

My husband and son LOVE Christmas, just as much as Luke does.
My children each have small 3 foot trees (yard sale finds for $1.00 each) in their bedrooms also, all decked out.
We have another tree about 5 feet high, that sits in the middle window of the second story since we cannot put our regular Christmas tree in the living room's front windows (safety issue, radiators). We prop this one up a bit for effect.

Last year, we had a fake tree though that belonged to my mother in law.
She gave it up and got a prelit one.
My husband ended up with all the lights (thousands) also but I did not know this until he called me down the cellar and there was a light show down there that has never been removed.
Oh excuse me, the red strings were used at Halloween around the front door.
Last year's Christmas tree stayed in the living room till May 1st 2007. Our cellar walls were being finished (with the draped lights remaining!) so when that was done, we moved it down there where eternal Christmas will always be.
This year he discovered that the Christmas lights are changing over to LEDs and soon the lights that he has, will become obsolete in a few years (need to budget and watch the markdown sales).

My daughter took her tree down at a normal time.
My son's tree got put away at the end of August because he likes it so much. We just put it in the attic covered and will take it out in another month or so. I told him it had to be put away Jan 2nd 2008. I had a time cleaning the cobwebs off it without sucking off some of the ornaments then fishing for them out of the vacuum bag.

My neighbor kept her tree up a very long time also.
I know a woman who has an eternal Christmas theme going in her doll house (expensive hobby). I make her some little presents to put under the tree (box shaped recycled Styrofoam wrapped with paper and mini-bows).

One year we bought a live tree to plant however, it was a very bad winter and we had no spring and the tree suffered so we did not get to plant it. It was really very prickly.

So I guess, a fake tree is easier to maintain. I am happy that with a fake tree, the dogs nap under it on the velvet skirt and don't take drinks of water like they use to.

Christmas is coming and we shall see many vehicles with trees strapped to the top of them soon, usually a week before Thanksgiving as people visiting from distances celebrate early sometimes. Multi-tasking holidays now.

My shopping is all done and my cards are ready to mail the day after Thanksgiving.
Only thing left, is the tree, last on the list.

Happy pre-holidays to everyone!

Fun Facts:
The first National Christmas Tree was lit by President Calvin Coolidge December 24th, 1923 at the White House and has been a tradition since.
Coke-a-Cola's ad campaign with Santa brought the image of Santa Claus all around the world.

Christmas Tree Trivia Quiz -- Test your knowledge!

0 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Wordless Wednesday: A Couple of Jokers

2007-11-07

1 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Weekend Whimsies

2007-11-05

Ok -- a bit of personal catching up to do.

It has been busy and all of us had a bug one at a time over a week. I did not think we were going to make it to the big Halloween costume party (10/27) but we dragged ourselves there and naturally we won again and it was stormy out again, second year in a row.

So here is the revelation -- My husband and children were the Three Blind Mice named EenyMeany, Miney, and Moe (had name tags). I was the Farmers wife, Mrs. Farm-ah-dell-phia (wife of the Farmer in the Dell but still the Farmer's wife who cut off the tails with the carving knife). So we incorporated three nursery rhymes into our theme plus the beauty queen who smelled of manure after sweeping the barn, joking.

The costumes:
The mice had on basic gray sweats, a gray cap hat with mouse ears I made, cool sunglasses and we got yard decoration candy canes and sprayed them black.

I had on a 1930's style dress, an apron, a lovely paper sash with "Mrs. Farm-ah-dell-phia" on it held together with a clothes pin, a lovely crown (from my Miss America days LOL), a cow printed purse (something my Mom had and I kept) with the carving knife and three pink tails (painted upholstery cording).

What we bought: cording (painted it pink), plastic knife (glows in the dark!), sunglasses, gray caps, fabric for ears (most expensive item: felt), and the candy canes. This cost approx $20, most from the dollar store.
The sweats for three people were around $45 at WalMart. We got them in early September before the rush. However, they can be worn anyways so it was not a huge expense.
My costume was stuff I found around the "museum", our house.

This year they gave out four new prizes to best decorated house in town. Our neighbor won that. She was hoping for a gift certificate to the electric company. LOL

Trick or Treating
Not many people came down the big hill to our spookily decorated house (Ideas from Martha we are building on yearly.)
My daughter dressed as a "lawyer" to pass out the candy. She "objected" a few kids she knew and gave more candy to the ones she thought were good kids. Little kids always got something.
My son went out as Mr. Conductor of the Ghost Train. He gets to wear two costumes a year, one for the contests we enter and the other for the neighborhood.

I was inspired by a costume I saw on the Today Show.
White shirt, vest
Suit coat (double breasted navy blue Christian Dior wool jacket I got at a rummage sale)
hat I put gold cording on, tag on the hat that said "Ghost Train"
name tag: Mr. Conductor
gold pocket watch (borrowed from Dad)
an electronic device that had train sound effects on it
a painted can of a ghost face (recycled from the Ghostbuster outfits a few years ago),
and a huge Mylar ghost balloon (approx 3 1/2 feet high), which was tied to the can handle and followed him.
He opted out of wearing white face makeup to look like a ghost.
Most people were impressed with the Christian Dior double breasted blazer. LOL

My son won a seat on the Student Council!
Eight students in his 4th classroom were running and the top two votes would win the seats.
First we had to sign forms, a new concept here and a good one.
They were allowed one 18 by 24 poster. I saw a scrapbook page that would work so we did that. It looked great!
I also made him a clip on tag that said "Vote for Pip" to wear. I had him wear a white shirt, tie (that killed him he said), vest, and blue suit coat (wore this as Mr. Conductor costume also).
They were allowed a short speech of four sentences and then they voted.
My son read his speech and after it did that hip hop nation thing, pound his chest with his fist twice and then did the peace sign, which I was told, made everyone laugh.
I hope this helps him be more organized and responsible.
I overheard him being corrupt at the Halloween party bragging he was a member.
I put the kibosh on that with a lesson.

Ballroom Dancing Lessons
Yes, my son (age 9) and I are taking five lessons. He is doing really well and we have fun although it is tiring on both of us. Only two more lessons and we are done.
When it is nice out, we practice in our driveway.

My daughter has done nothing significant to report (except her lawyer stint) and she would be happy for you to know that.
I did find this new word: ephebiphobia meaning the fear of teenagers.
I laughed.

My husband is on odd shifts making life around here a bit more difficult. So be it.

Then there was all the other stuff -- open house at the schools, personal business, decision making, scrapbook store visits, cleaning the house, laundry, raking leaves, walking the dogs . . .

Oh blah de oh blah dah Life goes on la la la la life goes on . . .

More of my winning Halloween costumes of the past.

1 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Oprah: Dr. Mehment Oz 10.29

2007-11-05

This show aired on October 29, 2007. It was Medical Intervention Day with Dr. Oz.

Nate was on the Men's Edition with a question for Dr. Oz about being checked for colon cancer since his brother died at the age of 35. Dr. Oz said he would not answer that question until Nate got a colonoscopy. Nate's chances were 50/50 since African Americans get colon cancer earlier and it is more aggressive.

Nate then was filmed checking in, preparing and having his colonoscopy.
He had to drink lots of special fluid, was given a mild sedative and then had his procedure.
They showed how they "lasso" the polyps and remove them.
It was mentioned that polyps can be stagnant for 10-15 years before becoming cancerous. If you have a colonoscopy, and they are removed, you decrease your chances of having colon cancer.

Nate's removed cells were tested and he was found to have no cancer.

If there is a history get checked every three years and if you are normal, every 10 years.

Polyps left unchecked grow to lima bean size and can invade surrounding walls then spread cancer to other parts of your body.

Colon cancer affects 40% of woman, 10% under age 50, and 70% with no family history.
If found early, 95% of cases are curable.

Serial Tanning Booth Addict, "Tanorexic" Poster Child Peggy age 42.
Peggy tanned for 23 years five times a week.
She said she had no idea what her skin color really was.
She was taken on her first skin cancer screening as she recently noticed some changes in spots on her arm and foot. She admits to ignoring some signs.

At the doctor's office -- they grafted and lifted the concerned areas and sent them out for tests.

Skin Testing 101
Examine your skin naked by looking into a mirror.
Take pictures of concerned spots with a dime to compare size.

Basal cell cancer is more curable than melanoma which spreads.
Skin cancer if found more prevalent and common in light skin light eyed people.
Skin cancer is also found more on the left side of the body (USA) because of driving.

The ABC's of Skin Cancer
A - Asymmetry
B - Border irregularity
C - Color - many shades
D - Diameter - size of the an eraser head spots, be concerned

Check your moles.

Dr. Oz noted that Peggy was still in danger and needs to change her habits immediately.

Dr. Oz also mentioned that cells always replenish themselves every 7 years, so there is always hope if you change your habits.

Next, they brought Jennifer on who was 40 and a confirmed sun worshiper.
She said she used baby oil and not sun tan oil with SPF over the years.
It turns out that she had skin cancer and went into surgery. They showed a picture of her face after surgery to remove her cancer. It was not pretty and she is still scared.
She spoke to Peggy and mentioned that she was there as a warning to save her life and prevent her from what she went through. "You don't need a tan." she firmly told Peggy.

Sandra, age 43 had never gone for a mammogram despite the fact that she lost her Mom when she was 16 to breast cancer. She went in for her first exam.
Past baseline exams help with future exams since they can compare the x rays.
The milk ducts are most affected which can spread to the lymph glands and elsewhere.

Keep a check on yourself. Early detection means more options and an early cure.

#1 killer is heart disease in more countries than breast cancer.

Jason, age 35, had trouble breathing and was overweight. His wife was very concerned.
He went in for a check up and found that he had hypertension (149/72) and was diabetic.
They also found a cancerous tumor on his palette which was removed.

That was 11 months ago, he has since lost 70 lbs with 50-60 more to lose.
He said healthy changes in his lifestyle has made a dramatic difference.
He read You on a Diet, changed from white bread to wheat or whole grain, cut out the candy and substituted fruit. He now has no more diabetes or hypertension.

Heart Disease -- the #1 killer
Denise, age 36 is a single parent and takes care of herself last. Her days are 17 hours long.
She has high cholesterol, feels anxious a lot. When feeling out of control, she has an irregular heart beat and breathing problems.

50% of the stress is environmental however your thoughts and emotions are what rule your body chemistry.

Dr. Oz suggested a change in diet to lower her cholesterol and more exercise rather than taking pills to relieve all her symptoms.
He also said to value herself and accept and love yourself first, and spend two minutes smiling into your heart.

Finding the Balance Tips
Preventative medicine is taking care of yourself through diet, exercise, mediation/prayer and having lots of sex since they produce helpful chemicals. Avoid drugs, alcohol, and sugars.

Check out my other Dr. Oz postings on the sidebar index.

0 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Oprah: Suze Ormand

2007-11-02

This show aired on October 18th. Suze Ormand was the guest.

Felice was a stay at home mom with six children. She had maxed out the credit cards and was spending $300-400 per month at Starbucks. She would go on shopping sprees and then become depressed. She spent tons of money on her hair, nails, hair extensions. She hid receipts from her husband. In a shopping spree to WalMart, she spent approximately $110 on candy, glasses, jewelry and an outfit. She lied about her spending and had her kids lying for her too.

Felice said she did not want to feel like a failure and said that she had an overbearing Mom and husband and that she felt good making decisions.

Jana, Felice's friend wrote in the show to get help for her.
The husband had not a real clue and was finger pointing however, the kicker is that although the husband makes $5-6K a month, it seems to be disappearing fast PLUS they have NO health/dental insurance for their children or themselves.
Suze pointed out to the husband that not providing essentials with his income was shameful and selfish. She also said that Felice spending so much money on herself was equivalent to the husband's dilemma.

As Oprah pointed out, it seems as though they were sleepwalking through life, and "living outside of themselves" and were "spiritually disconnected and living a lie, in denial" and what were they teaching their children?
Suze said they needed to get real and be honest about their situation if they were to get out of it.

A taped piece revealed more of Felice's behavior.
In her house, she showed custom painted murals that she spent thousands of dollars on, silk plants costing $6-7K total. The kids closets showed that they had hardly any clothing at all, the closets were nearly empty with but a few items and plenty of hangers. She said that they buy clothing, they wear it a few times then it goes into her garage sale room to sell off. She said that if she paid $50. for something, it would sell for a dollar.

They also showed how she spent money on the children's birthday parties:
$1500.00 for a beauty party of nails. Her daughter and friends went in a limo.
$1500-2000.00 for a zoo animal party
$2000.00 for a snow party (they had to order the snow, they live in CA)
$4000.00 for a party in Las Vegas

Felice and her husband Phillip, thought they were $50K in debt but it turns out they were in $100K in debt. They had not a clue this was the reality.

Suze dispensed the following advice:
Save yourselves by knowing all info and to control your destiny.
It is evident you don't know who you are and you need to define yourself.
This is dysfunctional.
Start now and fix the future by changing behaviors to save yourself.

Suze said that on a scale of 1-10, how bad is this? It is off the scale and 1000 times bad.

She looked at their finances:
They took cash advances with high interest rates.
They had three cars although they said they were trying to sell one with no luck. ($1700. payments per month).
Mortgage ($658K)
Other loans ($135K total)

Mention was made on the type of mortgage they had which meant they had no equity in their house at all so they had nothing and would make nothing if they sold it.

Drastic measures must be taken.
Felice must get a job with health insurance.
It was suggested she work at Starbucks at 20 hours per week (nights and weekends) and after 90 days she would qualify for full health insurance which would cost $150-300 per month.
Get life insurance 10 year term insurance for a value of $100-600K.
Sell their house (Felice was against this) and move to Seattle WA where it would be less expensive than in CA. and they can pay down their debt. WA has no income tax and they can pay down debt faster.
It was also suggested that Felice return to work as a mortgage broker and work in that field part time.
Her husband is a computer contractor and works independently so the area is ripe for him to find a job.

Suze pointed out that CA is too expensive for them and starting over fresh would do them wonders.
It was also mentioned that they NOT take any money from their parents to help them out as this is a situation they created and their problem they must solve.

The Doyles, Cory and Shauna -- a young NYC couple expecting a baby.
Income: $146K per year combined but will be down to one income.
Student loans: $230K
Credit Cards: $60K
Luxury car payments: $1300. per month

Shauna likes to shop: purses and shoes are her weakness.
Cory has a massive DVD collection which he said he can live without now.
Student loans have not been paid and they get 6-8 calls a day.

Five years ago, they were debt free now they are "struggling because of poor choices".

Suze said:
"You create your own problems by creating the circumstances."
"Credit card debt is present day desires but you are paying for them in the future."

Cory admits buying a car to impress people.
Loss of one salary means you have to stop buying stuff.
Sell some of it to get some money back and pay down debt.
Never miss a loan payment.
Bankruptcy does not wipe out any student loan balances.

Financial Check Up RX
Never spend to impress others. (Who cares and isn't that shallow?)

Is it kind?
Is it necessary (do you need it?)?
Is it true (do you have the cash to pay it)?
Then don't spend.

You own the power to control your destiny.
Spend wisely.

My comments/opinions: These shows are good to educate people about money. It seems many people don't know how to manage money because of lack of financial education. Suze and many other financial gurus say that the system is set up to take advantage of people. People don't read the fine print and when things go wrong, they find out it is worse than they thought and are surprised.
They are surprised because they did not read the fine print or understand what they got into in the first place but signed on the dotted line.

Now Oprah has plenty of example people on with large incomes and money issues. However, what about people who make under $50K and are trying to survive on that? It seems that a large segment of the population is left out and they are the average people who watch her show.

Oprah needs to get with the reality of most people, not the ones who make great incomes and have no common sense on how to spend and save.

0 Comments | Link to This | Back to top

Oprah: Woman Over 35 Dr. Christine Northrup

2007-11-02

This show aired on October 16th. Dr. Christine Northrop was the guest.

Oprah described how busy she was this summer and how she felt very tired and worn out.
She went in to be checked and they found her thyroid was "blown out". She got meds.

25% of perimenopausal/menopausal woman encounter thyroid problems and most do not know this. Ask your doctor for a blood test to determine if you suspect thyroid issues.

When your body feels like it is breaking down, it is a break through revelation that something is wrong, as stated, you are in labor with yourself.

If you have not been taking care of yourself but everyone else, your body is speaking to you to take notice and care of yourself. If you don't, then it shows up in your body functions, they don't work so well and you begin to develop other issues.

By the time a woman reaches 35-40, she can express who she is and possesses the skills to "reinvent herself".

Rachel, a mother of two and a 40 year old was suffering from insomnia, massive headaches, was angry most of the time, had backaches, had bouts of vertigo, experienced weight gain, had lots of resentment and envy, was stressed and tense all the time and lost passion and compassion.

It was discussed that Rachel was putting herself last and had hidden feelings of anger which is the jet fuel of feeling repressed and she had to get rid of it.

Moms should be the source of the joy of life which is a gift to their children.
Good blood circulation equals the circulation of joy.

Five Things Everyone Deserves
1. Eat a good breakfast (bars, shakes, proteins) to keep your sugar levels low for the day.
2. Cut out carbs as you get older.
3. Increase your intake of Omega 3s.
4. Eat less desserts, decrease sugar intake.
5. Put more calm in your life especially before bedtime: no computer, no TV (get TV out of the bedroom), no music.

If you are a coffee drinker and on pills or medications -- this can increase your weight.
The coffee intake needs to be adjusted.

Take a daily multi-vitamin.

Cut out eating in the evening, have a cut off time (6 pm). This will help you lose weight.
(I have also heard that cut off time needs to be at least 3 hours before you go to bed.)

Exercise everyday -- take ten minute walks three times a day.

At this age time frame: You are no longer children and need to put away the toys.

Luana suffered from night sweats and lack of a sex drive.
Nothing decreases a sex drive, just heaps of other buried unresolved issues.
It was suggested that Luana take time for herself on a regular basis. (Everyone must do this.)
Dr. Northrup mentioned that the brain is the biggest sex organ and suggested some "clitlit"/romance novels/soft porn (80% of the market are woman buying this stuff).
She said just a little exposure to this can help rekindle some hot romance that has fizzled.

Give up the idea of being perfect because it is stressful.
1. Find normal support.
2. Deal with anger one issue at a time as well as pleasure.
3. Practice self cultivation to make yourself feel good and give you unlimited power.
4. Update yourself/image and practice being kind to yourself.
5. Learn to receive and surrender to pleasure.