Somebody emailed this to me, and I love it so I thought I'd share it with y'all...

> HOLIDAY EATING TIPS
>
> 1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet
> table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots,
> leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving fudge.
>
> 2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You cannot
> find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has
> 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an
> eggnog-oholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it.
>
> 3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy.
> Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed
> potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
>
> 4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or
> whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car
> with an automatic transmission.
>
> 5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control
> your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other
> people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
>
> 6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's.
> You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the
> time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table
> while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
>
> 7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like
> frosted Holiday cookies, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have
> as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a
> beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to
> see them again.
>
> 8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if
> you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have
> three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day??
>
> 9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory
> celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some
> standards.
>
> 10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or
> get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips;
> start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this
> motto to live by:
>
>
> "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
> arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to
> skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally
> worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

I know it's been an age-and-a-half since I posted anything. I've been busy getting things made (and by things, I mean jewelry) for holiday sales. My first (and likely only) craft fair of the year was rather dismal, but sales have been brisk elsewhere. I think that although people are holding on to their pennies a little more tightly this season, there is still a desire to give one-of-a-kind hand-made items to loved ones as special holiday gifts.

On a related note, one of the stores that I sell through featured some rings that I had made in an advertisement. This ad ran in the North Bridge Magazine, winter 2008/2009 edition...




The store owner tells me that the ad has already generated some new foot traffic into her store, and I'll be doing a custom piece for a lady that responded to the ad too. I like it when things work out :)

I guess I'm not the only one that's noticed all of the extra mushroom activity this summer...

'shrooms

My husband and I spent yesterday, a beautiful sunny Sunday, doing a little hiking and enjoying nature. Seems like this was one of the few non-rainy Sundays we've had in a long time, so we had to take advantage of the weather. We headed to the Acorn Trail in Carlisle, MA to try someplace we hadn't been before.

Besides one small climb, the hike was fairly flat and relatively easy, which was good since neither of us was feeling overly ambitious. The path took us a first through sunny corn fields. The corn stalks were tall and laden with ears of corn, although most seemed too small for picking yet. But that farmer is going to have his work cut out for him when harvest time comes around soon.

From the fields we walked on to a forested section of the path. The shade was nice, but the downside was that this is when the mosquitoes really started to swarm. Carlisle is known for their mosquitos (their newspaper is the Carlisle Mosquito) and I'm sure the extra rain we've had this year has helped the bug population grow even more. Fortunately, my husband had remember the bug spray.

Another thing that the rain has produced this year is a large crop of mushrooms. We found tons of different types in the woods. There were 'shrooms with bright red tops, moist and slimy milky white-purple ones that almost glowed with ghostly luminance, giant brown ones with six inch crowns that were toppled over by their own weight, groups of honeycombed tan ones, cream-colored mushrooms with upturned tops, pink 'shrooms, purple 'shrooms, blue 'shooms, ruffled 'shrooms... you get the idea. I wished I'd brought a camera, although photographing all of those mushrooms would have added at least another hour to our hike :-)

After our hike, we walked on a little further to the ice cream stand located near the trail head (I suspect that this is why my husband might have suggested this particular hike, but I'm not complaining!). My cup of mocha chip was tasty and I thought well-deserved after working up a hiking appetite. The stand is sourced by the working dairy farm on the premises. You can view the milking room though glass from the ice cream stand. Young heifer cows can be patted in the nearby enclosure. The farm aslo has pigs and sheep and goats that can be fed with pellets that can be purchased for a quarter. I think my husband and I had as much fun feeding the animals as the kids from other visiting families. My favorite animal was a loudmouthed sheep that would bay and run towards you when she realized you had food. She kept pushing the other sheep out of the way so she could get more feed and then say a giant "baaaaaa" to beg for more. She was hysterical.

It was a nice Sunday and I slept well last night after all of that fun!

Finally, proof is forthcoming...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/bigfoot.body/index.html?iref=newssearch

I'd write something snarky here, but heck, there's nothing I could say that's funnier than this story all on it's own.