12 Lords a Leaping!

One of my favorite holiday traditions is exchanging gifts with Richard. For the past few years I have sent him giftsto open each night of Hanukkah and he has sent me gifts to open for the 12 days of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas usually begin AFTER Christmas but seeing as that is way too long to wait to open presents, I get to open one each day for 11 days prior to Christmas and end the last gift on Christmas day.

This year he outdid himself on the fun and creativity scale.

Here are the 12 days received:

Day 1: a partridge and pear ornament

Day 2: Turtle candies and Dove raspberry chocolates

Day 3: a flock of chicks from Heifer.org

Day 4: a cd of calling birds

Day 5: 5 golden napkin rings

Day 6: down filled slippers

Day 7: a giant inflatable swan for riding on the river and 3 baby swans

Day 8: chocolate milk powder from Max Brenner

Day 9: a drum from Indonesia

Day 10: 10 frosting tips and piping bags

Day 11: a cd of 11 dance songs from divas

Day 12: 12 Lords (frogs) a leapin! (as seen above)

Thanks Richard! I am already looking forward to next year :-)

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Five fun facts for the holidays!

1. Who was the first president to decorate the White House Christmas tree?

2. In Mexico, what should you wear on New Year's Eve to bring new love in the upcoming year?

3. What was the first state to officially recognize the Christmas holiday?

4. What Christmas plant is poisonous?

5. What do you have in December that you don't have in any other month?

scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers....

Snowflakes

It's that time of year again!

How creative can you be?

Try your hand at making some virtual snowflakes.

Click here to make a snowflake

Optical Illusion?

Yesterday I took some photos of a christmas spider ornament hanging on our tree. This morning, as I am looking through my photos to find a photo for my photoblog, I see this.

Two shots of the spider, next to the moon ornament. But look at the moon ornament. In one shot the moon appears to be awake, in the other shot the moon appears to be sleeping.

I think it's a little freaky.

Manic Monday Ornament

These little critters came to mind when I saw the Manic Monday word for today - ornament.



The Legend of the Christmas Spiders

Many years ago, on the night before Christmas, a woman prepared for the next day's celebration. She cleaned and scrubbed her home, making sure every nook and cranny sparkled. To escape her broom, the household spiders fled to the attic. They listened to the excitement below as the family decorated the Christmas tree. After everyone went to sleep, and the house grew quiet, the spiders crept back downstairs and saw the beautiful tree. They were amazed and crawled along every branch admiring each ornament. Soon the whole tree was covered with their webs. Father Christmas arrived that night and he smiled as he looked at the webs the spiders had spun. He knew, however, the woman would be upset when she saw the mess completely covering her tree. With one touch, he turned the webs into strands of silver and gold. Now the Christmas tree sparkled and shimmered even more beautifully than before. Thus began the tradition of hanging tinsel, and a spider ornament, while trimming the tree.

You can get your very own Christmas Spider made to order. Just email Bev or Bren at lil_somethin_or_others@yahoo.com
Send them the colors you like and away they go! They make awesome gifts!

check out the other ornament posts at Mo's It's blog eat blog world

5 Fun (Snowy) Facts for Friday

Make your best guess!

1. How many cars would equal the weight of one loaded snowplow?

2. What was the coldest temperature ever recorded in North America?

3. What's a snowblink?

4. What's a musher?

5. What do these three things have in common? Champagne Powder, Mashed Potatoes, and Corduroy.


Scroll down to the bottom of the page for answers.

The dentist

I love my dentist. well, not really my dentist (although he is kinda cute) but my dentist's office and they way they do things there. Here are the top 10 reasons I now enjoy going to the dentist.

1. They greet you when you walk in the door "HEY, Lisa's here!" Just like in Cheers, everyone knows your name.

2. They serve coffee, tea, and hot cocoa. This is especially nice at 7:30 am on a cold, snowy morning.

3. They show funny dentist related movies on a flat screen tv while you're waiting. Yes, funny and dentist in the same sentence and without laughing gas! WC Fields and Three Stooges funny.

4. They give you headphones and music so you don't have to hear those big ol nasty drill sounds.

5. They let you hold their hand when the foot long needle makes an appearance and let you squeeze the hand until their fingers go numb.

6. They never tell you "oh it's fine you big baby"

7. They accept a payment plan. Hey 4 kids had braces, there better be a payment plan.

8. They don't say "tsk tsk" when your 15 year old loses his retainer for the 3rd time. They call him into the office and say "do you think your mom and dad's money grows on trees? do NOT lose this retainer again or we will install it permanently in your mouth"

9. They do pro bono work when you ask if they could provide a Bosnian refuge with dental work.

10. Bottom line? They give great customer service.

and it's worth every penny of the beautiful corvette convertible my dentist now drives.

The 12 Days of Christmas

My friend Roby sent this over. Enjoy!

Manic Monday - Ship

Manic Monday word for today is ship.

One thing and one thing only comes to mind when I see the word ship. All the ships we see on the St. Lawrence River each summer. The 1000 Island region is an amazing place. We can see the shipping channel from our cottage. It's fun to spot a ship and get close enough to find out where it's coming from.

This one is from Amsterdam:

This one is from Lake Michigan:

and this one?

This one is from Chippewa Bay:

Named "Ship of Fools", it's a 1973 pontoon boat that came with our cottage. It is the oldest pontoon boat in the bay, virtually indestructable, great for carting stuff to and from the island, and on many occasions lives up to it's name.

Go visit Mo at It's a Blog Eat Blog World to see more Manic Monday posts.