Blogging Break

It's time for a blogging break.

I will still visit all my blogging buddies but am taking a hiatus from posting for an unknown length of time.

Happy blogging and see you soon!

"Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can,- there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did"

Five fun facts for Friday

Test your knowledge of the color blue

Give it your best shot then scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.

1. In Australia someone with this color hair is often called blue. What color hair is it?

2. What does blue funk mean?

3. What country do Blue Mountain coffee beans come from?

4. Who composed the classical piece Blue Danube?

5. What makes blue cheese blue?

Did you know?

Coffee was once grown mostly in shaded areas; today many growers are producing higher-yielding “sun coffee.” This practice requires extra pesticides and herbicides, can promote soil erosion, and reduces the habitat available to migratory songbirds including wood thrushes, tanagers, flycatchers, and Honduras orioles.

do your part: To support growers who use sound farming and harvesting practices, look for the USDA Organic and Bird Friendly symbols on the coffee package, or for a clear statement that the coffee is shade-grown.

Interested in more info? click here

P.S. Coffee is the second largest U.S. import after oil. Coffee drinkers have the potential to make a huge impact on the environment and economies of coffee growing nations.

An accident waiting to happen....

are what these signs are!
what we have here is the stop sign symbol placed on a white flag.
then these flags are placed every 20 feet or so in a local strip mall parking lot.
I counted 4 in front of one store.
These flags are a good foot taller than the standard stop sign.
do you know how many cars I observed slamming on their brakes as they realized too late what they were? or those who didn't notice them at all?
somebody's going to get hurt.

Blue Monday

Today is the most depressing day of the year.

That is according to Dr Cliff Arnall who was a researcher at the University of Cardiff. He determined this date using many factors, including: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action. This date typically falls on the Monday of the last full week of January. This would make today, January 21, the Blue Monday of 2008.

Dr Arnall has also calculated the happiest day of the year. This year it will be June 21, 2008. For this he used a formula which uses factors including: the outdoors, nature, social interaction, childhood summers and positive memories, temperature and holidays.

No blues for me though. The sun is shining here and only 59 days remain 'til spring.

Five Fun Facts for Friday

all about the color yellow

give it your best shot then scroll down to the bottom of the page and see the answers.

1.What college has sports teams nicknamed "The Yellow Jackets"?

2. According to the 1967 Beatles hit, "Yellow Submarine", what was the color of the sea that it sailed into?

3. In what country would you find the Yellow River?

4. In the Navy and as a part of International maritime law, colored flags are used to send messages to and from the ships. Each flag represents a letter of the alphabet as well as a specific message. What message is represented by a yellow flag?

5. What does the color yellow mean in Egypt?

Tap those savings

There’s no benefit in letting the water run while you shave, brush your teeth, or wash your hands. Turn off the tap when you don’t need the water and save ten gallons or more each morning.

Leaking faucets as small as 1/16 inch can drip away one hundred gallons very quickly. Replace worn washers and valve seals.

AND, if you keep your shower under five minutes you can save up to one thousand gallons a month. (Hey if you keep it under 5 mins and shower with a friend you've just doubled your savings and your fun.)

No Evil Spirits here!

This is a favorite gift from the Christmas season and hangs in a window at home. Called a Witch Ball, it is Kitras handblown art glass from Canada.

Witch's Balls were very popular in 18th century England, but their actual origin is thought to be much older. The witch's ball is hung in windows to ward off witch's spells, evil spirits and ill fortune.

Hanging these decorative balls in the window is thought to tantalize evil spirits which may be threatening a home's tranquility. The evil spirit is mesmerized by the ball's reflective beauty. When the spirit touches the sphere it is pulled through the hole on the side of the glass and trapped inside the ball.

I now pronounce you.....

brother and sister!



Twins who were separated at birth got married without realizing they were brother and sister, a lawmaker said, urging more information be provided on birth certificates for adopted children.

A court annulled the British couple's union after they discovered their true relationship, Lord David Alton said.

"They were never told that they were twins. They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation."

"Everyone has a right to knowledge about their lineage, genealogy and identity. And if they don't, then it will lead to cases of incest," Alton told The Associated Press during a telephone interview today.

From the Houston Chronicle, Jan. 12

and what about sperm donor babies? seems like there would be potential for similar stories down the road...

5 fun facts for Friday

all about the color Red

give it your best shot then scroll down to the bottom of the page and see the answers.

1. Where would you find The Great Red Spot?

2. What is a Red Admiral?

3. What was Little Red Riding Hood carrying in her basket to give to her Grandmother?

4. What is a Redshank?

5. Who was voice of Clifford in the animated series "Clifford the Big Red Dog"?

Plastic or Paper?

bag that question
Duck the decision altogether by bringing your own reusable basket or mesh bags to the supermarket. If you go grocery shopping once a week, in five years you’ll have kept anywhere from 250 to 1,000 grocery bags out of our landfills.
check out these bags from envirosax

Finish Every Day

Read this and liked it.

Finish Every Day
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.