Round Up-Part 2

So I think I've found some more commercials that I am totally charmed by. The Starbucks Christmas commercials are running neck and neck with my beloved Tractor Supply Company commercials.

Have money to burn and looking for a unique gift for someone. Check out Cloud 9 Living.

There was a time when I took a lot of cabs (company was paying). Out of the hundreds of cabs I rode in, I only had 1 female cab driver. She was great. First of all, her cab smelled wonderful. As soon as I sat down in the cab, she asked me if I wanted to listed to some music, and if so, what type. That was probably my best cab ride ever. She talked about her kids, she was in school, etc. As opposed to the toothless, garlic-reeking male drivers who had the nerve to try and flirt. Eee gads!!!!! Melissa Plaut is a female cabbie in New York City. Here's her blog and she's a blogger with a book deal.

And speaking of New York, some clever person has created site of movies that have filmed in New York.

I'm not making a gingerbread house this year, but that won't stop me from virtually making a gingerbread house. Here and here. Too cute!!

The gingerbread houses that I have made were pretty standard. I never thought of trying out different architecture. I always wanted to try and make a Victorian gingerbread house, but then would chicken out and go for the standard. Look at this mid-century modern house for sale at Red Envelope. This looks kind of like a 1 level version of my childhood home.

Now for some book news. The 2007 book lists have started. The New York Times is alread out with their 100 Notable Books of 2007. Also, the Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2007.

I was telling A. the other day that I sure would like to get some applewood to burn in the fireplace. We're going to look locally for some, but if all else fails the Internet to the rescue. Firewood.com can send you the wood of your choice. They also carry beautiful birch wood.

Uh-oh. I found another 'opoly.

I have had a thing about castles since I was a kid. I become awed by photographs of them, so I can just imagine how I would be if I ever got to see Neuschwanstein Castle or Dunbeath Castle (Ireland).

There are "castles" in America too. The Richthofen Castle in Denver is a castle with an interesing story behind it. The Castle was built by the uncle and grandfather of the Red Baron, Baron Manfred von Richthofen. His name was Baron Walter von Richthofen. The castle was already built by the time the baron's famouse nephew was flying the skies.

And of course, the castle is supposed to be haunted. (scroll down to the middle of the page to read about the castle-one day I'll learn how to link to other areas on a webpage)

So I found a new online game Picto. I thought oh this is simple. How can it be a game? Silly, silly, me. I can only get up to 15. See how you do smartypants.

Cool dentistry library blog and great tips on what to do with all of that Halloween candy.

Have a nice weekend.


"How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” Dr. Seuss

Round Up 1

I seem to have amassed quite a few sites, so this week I think there might be 2 roundups. (woo-hoo)

I don't know how much energy this would save, but it's a search engine powered by Google that uses a black screen, aptly named Blackle.

I read a few craft blogs and it appears that softies are very popular with the craftsters out there. I have looked at so many of these and I really like Tamar Mogendorff's dolls.

I was looking for some information on St. Michael's Mount and found this list of tidal islands on Wikipedia. Islands have always held a certain mystique to me and tidal islands moreso. These tidal islands also have a bit of mystique to them. The reason that I was looking for information on St. Michael's Mount was because A. and I had a bet (we are always making bets with each other and then reneging on the bet-okay I end up reneging on the bet-There, I've said it) on the name of the castle that is on the BBC America logo. He was right. It's St. Michael's Mount I, who thought I was really up on my castle identification (love castles)guessed something totally different and no I'm not going to tell my ridiculous guess. I think I need castle flash cards.

Have some problems with coyotes? Check out Coyote Bytes. Apparently coyotes are becoming quite a problem in many areas of the country where they never were before.

I just think this would be a fun job. Maureen Taylor is a photo detective. I love when people are able to turn what might have been a hobby into a money-making venture.

I'm a candle nut and I was wondering if anyone has tried the wood wick candles. The Virginia Candle Company makes these and they have a natural wick made from organic wood. The wick makes a crackling sound when lit. I've read some descriptions that say it sounds like a fireplace crackling.

My favorite candles are Votivo, but I also like the Henri Bendel candles, in particular the Firewood. I have had mine for awhile and I just looked on Bath * Body Works website and they don't seem to have this scent anymore. It's amazing. Especially for this time of year. And speaking of Bath & Body Works-if you like scent the Tree scent and the Winter scent are incredible. I could go on and on about home scents. I am obsessed. I always have been. And I still can't believe that I didn't know about Yankee Candle tarts until a work friend told me about them a couple of years ago. Enough about this. I could go on and on.

Library Use Value Calcualator.

Once I finish the 3 knitting projects I've started I think I am going to try this one. Heck, I loved anatomy class back in the day.

Ohio State has a Cartoon Research Library. I seem to be more interesed in cartoons and comics now that I'm a mature lady than when I was an immature lady.

Oh, the money I could have saved on education if I had only known.

I've already started getting excited about the Christmas commercials that are already being aired. My favorites from last year were from the Tractor Supply Company (TSC). I was watching DIY over the holiday and they air TSC commercials a lot. I don't know who the creative genius is behind their advertising,but I hope they keep this team on. I still love my California Cows, but TSC is awesome.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” Mary Lou Cook

Round Up

Cool architecture-The Flowerbox Building

Jen, from Brooklyn, photographs her breakfast everyday. The photography is beautiful. Check out Simply Breakfast.

You have probably heard of Tiny URl, but what about Decent URL?

K. sent me this list of Medical Wikis. Thanks K.

Have you heard of Veropedia? Veropedia is a collaborative effort by a group of Wikipedians to collect the best of Wikipedia's content, clean it up, vet it, and save it for all time. These articles are stable and cannot be edited, The result is a quality stable version that can be trusted by students, teachers, and anyone else who is looking for top-notch, reliable information .

The squeamish might want to move past this, but MedlinePlus has videos of surgeries and other medical procedures.

Wellcome Images contains over 40,000 biomedical images from the Wellcome Library"s collections. Lots to feast your eyes upon here.

Check out this catalog card generator.

Garden-opoly, Dog-opoly, Birdopoly, Mayberryopoly, Canadaopoly, Strippopoly (obviously for adults),Collegeopoly,Cocktailopoly, ,Dino-Opoly, Horse-opoly, Wine-opoly, Cat-opoly and finally the one that I one that I yearn for Bookopoly. I probably shouldn't even think about this, but wouldn't it be fun to collect all of the 'opoly games? Hmmmmmm

I have always like magicians. I mean really liked them. I never actually wanted to be a magician, but I was always fascinated by them. I came across the name Fetaque (pronounced Fee-Take) Sanders and now I am searching for information on him. Fetaque Sanders was an American of African descent magician who toured with the USO during WWII. He performed for the black troops in the then segregated Armed Forces. After WWII he made his living by performing at black schools. Here are some posters featuring him. Some more information on Mr. Sanders.

I leave you with a bit of autumnal splendor.



Have a good weekend and a wonderful holiday.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." John F. Kennedy

Round Up

Yesterday I learned that if you type in a URL and place a question mark at the end of the URL you will get the most updated version of that webpage. I had to do this for my blog. I updated the entire blog with new colors,etc., but it wasn't showing. Hopefully it will be okay today.

For all of you cereal lovers out there here is a very cool quiz from the folks at Mental Floss magazine. I didn't do so well, but I didn't really expect to since I'm not now or ever have been a cereal eater.

Very good Wikipedia page on placeholder names.

Another Wikipedia offering: Parliament Street, Exeter, England-the world's narrowest street.

And yes, one more from Wikipedia. School bus yellow . And since I'm speaking about color how about Golden Gate International Orange?

Okay, I have a confession to make. My heart has strayed. I'm a cheater. I am lusting in my heart for another. You want a name; I'll give you a name. I must atone for my sin in some way. The name, the name is Ranunculus. I know, I'm nothing but a hussey, cheating on my beloved peonies that way, but I can't help myself. I just can't .

ACLU Surveillance Society Clock.

Shhh....The State Department has a blog.

Oh how I love, love, love Anthropologie. If I ever won a contest where I could go crazy in a store for 10 minutes and gather everything I want and not pay-this would be one of the stores where I would want to do that. The clothes, housewares, just everything. And look at this adorable ornament.

Are the weeds in your yard driving you mad? Are they out of control? You may want to rent-a-goat.

Since I seem to be Wikipedia nuts today here's another entry. Subtropolis. I had never heard of this, but it's fascinating. Here's there official website.

I found another cool online store (they are also brick and mortar). American Harvest. They have lots of wonderful folklore items. They also have a blog. I had to laugh when I just linked to their blog. The first thing I saw is an angel tree topper. Is tree topper one word or two? That's another thing that drives me nuts. Yesterday I posted about my problem with "K's"; well I also have a problem with the cutesy way we combine words that should be "unto themselves", but we turn into 1 word.

I digress. At first I thought it was one of my favorites-an Infant of Prague. How I became so attached to the Infant of Prague I have no idea. I'm not even a religious person and the faces never freak me out the way doll faces and angel tree toppers do. The angel tree topper photo scared the hell out of me. I have such problems with them. We had one on the tree for years that we finally had to give to the thrift store because I swear she was following me around the room with her eyes. Just me, not A.

That's all for now. Have a good weekend and those of us that are lucky enough to be off on Monday-enjoy that as well. I will be thinking about my dear, sweet Dad. He will be 83 on Thursday(15th) and is a WWII vet. Love you Daddy!!!

"Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative." - Maurice-Auguste Chevalier

"K"

What the hell is it with all of these "K's"? I am so sick of seeing words that are generally spelled with a "C" spelled with a "K". It seems like this inappropriate use of "k" has krept (crept) into all walks of life.

During the 60's there was the creative use of "k" in Kanada and Amerika. There are all of these kutesy (cutesy) names like Kathy's Kut and Kurls and Kwik Kuts. Businesses that have intentionally spelled their names incorrectly drives me bonkers. Some more oh so cutesy names of businesses: Kopy Korner, Kandy's Kandies, Krazy Customs and Katy's Cookies.

And what about Krazy Kat.

Or Krazy Glue.

I could go on and on, and you are probably thinking, she's left out the biggest "K" abuser of all. Krispy Kreme. So, even though Krispy Kreme has given me many moments of sugary bliss, many moments when everything was indeed right with the world; to be fair I must include them in the Inappropriate Use of the Letter K Klub, I mean Club.


"...simplified spelling is all right, but, like chastity, you can carry it too far." - Mark Twain, The Alphabet and Simplified Spelling speech, December 9, 1907

Children's Book Week

Next week is Children's Book Week.

As I've noted many times in this blog I love children's literature. I don't particuarly like calling it children's literature because it's really just good literature that all ages can enjoy. Yes, of course Pat the Bunny and Good Night Moon is obviously written for the wee ones,but I know I will never get to old to enjoy Clement Hurd's wonderful illustrations or Margaret Wise Brown's words.

When I was a teenage I volunteered at our town library. It was also our school library and was located in the high school. The wonders of small town living. And I mean wonders. I miss small town living more and more each day. One of my duties as a volunteer was to read to the children during storytime, which was every Saturday morning. I really enjoyed it.

Most of the books I read to the kids I had at home or they had been read to me when I was a little girl. I would generally just get the book out for the next week and look through it quickly and that was it. Except for this memorable time. I was supposed to read The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.

Since I had never read this book and was totally unfamiliar with it I should have read it first. But I didn't. When reading to the kids I tried to be extra expressive and I would do different voices for different characters. I took my story book reading very seriously. At the age of 16, I took everything seriously.

So the next Saturday I sat on my little stool and started to read the story. The more I read aloud the more it was like I was reading it just to myself and the children weren't even there. The next thing I knew I just burst into tears. This beautiful story about how toys become real had moved me that much. I was so embarrassed. One of the more vocal children came up to me and said don't kigh/ Miss L., don't kigh. That just made it worse.

When I think of that little boy now, and I can still see his sweet face, but I can't recall his name, I still can feel how I felt in that moment. I'm welling up typing this with the memory so near. That little boy probably has children of his own and I hope that he spent some time reading The Velveteen Rabbit to them.

I hope that everyone has a book from their childhood that means that much. After all, the books from childhood have the power to forever change you, and they seem to be the ones that we remember the most.

Here is a list, not in any particular order, of some of my favorite "children's literature. And it's just a partial list, there's far too many to list.

1.The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

3. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron.

4. The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

5.Charlotte's Web by E.(Elwyn)B.(Brooks) White

6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

7.The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

8. The Nancy Drew Series by Mildren Wirt Benson(Carolyn Keene)

9. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

10. 365 Bedtime Stories by Mildred Gilbertson (Nan Gilbert). I adored this book and wish I could find a copy of it. For awhile there I was bidding like crazy for it on eBay, but the prices were just too high for this favorite. I had the one at top.

As you can see most of these were childhood favorites. There are so many new titles that I have come to love: The Harry Potter series, The Library by Sarah Stewart and The Herman Tantamoq Series by Michael Hoeye.

So, next week read a book to a child, purchase a book and drop it in a bin for kids that can't afford a book or maybe re-read one of your childhood favorites.

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ~ Madeleine L'Engle

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” ~Maya Angelou

Round Up

Minimum wage laws in the United States. It's heartbreaking that the minimum wage is so paltry. In a wealthy country like this the lowest salary should be $50,000 a year.

Check out all of the cool packing tape. I was excited when I found Christmas packing tape a couple of years ago.

The Turkel House located in Palmer Woods in Detroit, Michigan was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was originally built for Mrs. Dorothy Turkel. The house built 52 years ago has been suffering from neglect. The house has been purchased and is being restored. Flickr has photographs of some of the restoration.

21 amazing facts about pigeons (yes, pigeons)

I've fallen in love with yet another china maker, Johnson Brothers. I particuarly like their village scenes and castles.

I am starting to like more and more things with villages on them. I don't know what it is, or how someone's tastes can change so much. I would have never liked anything like this sort of busy china or anything villagey, but now I do. I may have to go and get a jigsaw puzzle that has a village. Yes, I do jigsaw puzzles. I used to do a couple every year at Thanksgiving. I haven't done one in awhile because I just don't seem to have the requisite patience it requires, but I might have to try anyway.

Martha Stewart has a blog and it's updated everyday. Say what you will about this woman, but I can't have a lot of bad feelings for anyone who loves Halloween the way this woman does.

I am not even going to say anything about this, but look at this forest swastika.

AbeBooks has a list of literature's scariest characters. Can you think of any others?

I am a mushroom lover. I keep thinking maybe I should attempt to cultivate my own. Look at this video about growing mushrooms in a laundry basket with straw?

Have a good weekend.

"Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike." - Madame De Stael