Friday, August 31, 2012

Republican Lawmaker Blames 11-year-old Victim


Republican lawmaker blames 11-year-old victim of alleged gang rape (via Raw Story )
Elected officials should know better than to blame the victim of a sex crime. While it’s a common tactic of abusers, it’s something no one expected of Republican Florida state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo. During debate over a bill that would legislate a dress code for Florida students, Passidomo blamed…

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Review: Summer Daydreams


Summer Daydreams
Summer Daydreams by Carole Matthews

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



WOW! How do I rate a Carole Matthews book???

Anyone who has known me more than a second know she is my absolute favorite author; and this one is no exception!

I love the roller-coaster ride of ups and way-way-downs!

From chippy shop counter girl to international sensation...Nell McNamara is a true chick-lit heroine!!!

No spoilers...just a wonderful 10 star read!!!

5 stars (GoodReads)



View all my reviews

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Whole Living's 50 Ways to Stand Up to Cancer

Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I hate how this book ends!

I guess I understand why Dumbledore has to die...but I absolutely hate that he does!

This book is not my favorite of the series...it tends to drag a bit and Prof. Slughorn irritates me for some reason!

I do like the side stories though..always my favorite part of any H.P. book! Harry & Ginny together...so sweet! Ron & Lavender (seriously?)...Dobby fighting w/Kreacher, etc...BTB: Why does it seem all of the Weasley owe their live to Harry?

I like to think that the Malfoys truly get what is coming too them at the end of the next book...but in this one...all I really want to do is smack Draco!

Fleur shows her true colors at the end and proves even Mrs. Weasley wrong! LOVE!

Not looking forward to the first few chapters of book 7..they are some of the saddest of the series...but onward I soldier!

One more and my summer bucket/reading list is done :c)

That said...this one is a solid 4 stars :c)



View all my reviews

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

How to Use Office Supplies for Quick Fashion Fixes


Sometimes you really do get dressed in the dark.

Or you break your shoe on your way to work, or you bust a button on your blouse as you’re taking off your coat. Wardrobe malfunctions happen, and somehow, they always seem to strike at the most inopportune times—like when you have an important meeting in ten minutes. Even if you don’t have the foresight to keep an emergency garment-repair kit tucked away in your desk, common office supplies can fix your fashion disasters in a pinch.

Stapler
Did your hem come undone or your seam rip? A few quick snaps of a stapler can come to the rescue until you can get to a needle and thread. To avoid ripping the fabric, be sure to use a staple-remover when it comes time to take out the staples.

Erasers
If you lose the back to your earring and simply cannot go without accessories, use a bit of rubber from a pencil eraser as an anchor. Bonus: it won’t irritate your skin like backs that contain nickel.

If the little rubber nub from the heel of your stiletto pops off, exposing the precarious metal pin of the heel, secure a pencil eraser to the bottom of your heel to prevent dangerous and embarrassing slips.

Packing Tape
Just realized that you’re bustin’ out of that oxford? Is your wrap dress coming unwrapped? Simply tear off a couple pieces of clear packing tape, secure them into loops, and use them to temporarily hold the fabric together. If your office is swanky enough to have actual double-sided tape or sturdy mounting dots on hand for presentations, they’re an even better and easier solution.

Sharpie Markers
Markers come in handy when you need to camouflage a scuffed shoe, color in your makeshift pencil-eraser heel, or blend in a staple you’ve used to fix a hem. (It’s okay to get Sharpie on shoes, but be sure to avoid getting the dye on fabric since it can permanently stain.)

Matchbook
When you don’t have a nail file on hand and can’t find a coworker to lend you one, go to the office kitchen and find the matchbook that the office manager stores alongside the birthday candles. The little swatch of sandpaper used for striking will smooth broken nails just enough to make them less annoying.

FedEx or UPS Packing Pouches
If your cat attacks you right before you leave the house, use one of these sticky sleeves to quickly pick up hair or lint. Just rip off the backing to expose the adhesive, put the envelope on your hand like a glove, and go to town.

Graphite Pencils
The soft graphite in a No. 2 pencil can be used to unstick a tricky zipper. Rub the pencil on the offending area, and it will lubricate the teeth enough to make the zipper easier to work with.

Dry-Erase-Board Cleaner
Dry-erase-board cleaner is made mostly of isopropyl alcohol (aka rubbing alcohol), so when used carefully, it can be helpful in removing residues and simple stains. If you’re left with sticky gunk after removing a Band-Aid, brushing some dry-erase-board cleaner on the area can help dissolve the adhesive and wash it away. If you get pen marks, beverage stains, or other marks on clothes, blotting gently with some dry-erase-board cleaner can help treat the stains quickly and remove them. Just be sure not to get the stuff anywhere near your eyes, and if you’re using it on clothes, test it on a hidden area first to make sure the fabric is colorfast.

Paper Clips
If your bra straps insist on bagging and falling off your shoulders, use a standard paper clip to cinch them tight. Just grab the slack in the strap, fold it over onto itself, and secure with a clip or two. Just be sure not to make any drastic movements for the rest of the day.

Most of these aren’t permanent solutions, of course, but these simple tricks can help you stay cool, calm, and collected when your clothes let you down.

Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



**Please disregard my previous review of this book...Goodreads posted it before I was done...**

This is one of my least favorite Harry Potter books! I love the DA & all...but Umbridge makes me want to smack her!

That said...there are several important points in this book that tie into the rest of the series.

We have the introduction of Luna Lovegood, who will become very important in later books.

Also, the "gang" finds out about Neville's parents...very important since Neville could have been in Harry's shoes, had "Lord-Thingy" chosen differently!

There is so much more I could say about it...it's Harry Potter after all...that alone earns it 4 stars :c)...but, at the risk of boring you to tears...I will stop & say...

4 stars :c)



View all my reviews

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

89 Useless Facts


1.) Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
2.) Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
3.) The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses. No one in Greece has memorized all 158 verses.
4.) There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
5.) The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.
6.) A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
7.) There are more chickens than people in the world.
8.) Two-thirds of the world’s eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
9.) The longest one-syllable word in the English language is “screeched.”
10.) On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is an American flag.
11.) All of the clocks in the movie “Pulp Fiction” are stuck on 4:20.
12.) No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
13.) “Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt.”
14.) All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
15.) Almonds are a member of the peach family.
16.) Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.
17.) Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
18.) There are only four words in the English language which end in “-dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
19.) Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula”-and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: “L.A.”
20.) A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
21.) An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
22.) Tigers have stripped skin, not just stripped fur.
23.) In most advertisements, including newspapers,the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
24.) Al Capone’s business card said he was a usedfurniture dealer.
25.) The only real person to be a Pez head was Betsy Ross.
26.) When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home, the stadium becomes the state’s third largest city.
27.) The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s “Its A Wonderful Life.”
28.) A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
29.) A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
30.) A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
31.) On an American one dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left hand corner of the “1″ encased in the “shield” and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
32.) It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. (DON’T try this at home!)
33.) The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
34.) Who’s that playing the piano on the “Mad About You” theme? Paul Reiser himself.
35.) In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
36.) The name for Oz in the “Wizard of Oz” was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence “Oz”
37.) The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
38.) Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
39.) John Lennon’s first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.
40.) There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball
41) Every day more money is printed for Monopoloy than the US Treasury.
42) It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.
43) Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.
44) Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
45) Amount American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served first class: $40,000
46) City with the most Rolls Royce’s per capita: Hong Kong.
47) State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
48) Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%.
49) Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.
50) Barbie’s measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
51) Average number of days that a West German goes without washing his underwear: 7.
52) Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again: 80%.
53) Percentage of American women who say they’d marry the same man: 50%.
54) Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400.
55) Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.
56) Percentage of Americans who have visited Disneyland/Disney World: 70%.
57) Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
58) Only President to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy for Profiles in Courage.
59) Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
60) The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
61) The youngest pope was 11 years old.
62) Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
63) First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
64) The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
65) The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable.”
66) “Hang On Snoopy” is the official rock song of Ohio.
67) The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
68) When opossums are playing ‘possum, they are not “playing.” They actually pass out from sheer terror.
69) Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades – King David, Clubs – Alexander the Great, Hearts – Charlemagne, and Diamonds – Julius Caesar.
70) 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321.
71) If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
72) Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them would burn their houses down – hence the expression “to get fired.”
73) Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn’t added until 5 years later.
74) The term “the whole 9 yards” came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got “the whole 9 yards.”
75) Hershey’s Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it’s kissing the conveyor belt.
76) The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
77) The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
78) In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
79) The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the “General Purpose” vehicle, G.P.
80) The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation.
81) The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
82) The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
83) Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
84) If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
85) No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl.
86) The first toilet ever seen on television was on “Leave It To Beaver.”
87) The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League all-stars Game.
88) Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
89) The name Wendy was made up for the book “Peter Pan.”

A Funny...


Saturday, August 4, 2012

Celtic Commandments



Give thou thine heart to the wild magic,
To the Lord and the Lady of Nature,
Beyond any consideration of this world.

Do not covet large or small,
Do not despise weakling or poor,
Semblance of evil allow not near thee,
Never give nor earn thou shame.

The Ancient Harmonies are given thee,
Understand them early and prove,
Be one with the power of the elements,
Put behind thee dishonour and lies.

Be loyal to the Lord of the Wild Wood,
Be true to the Lady of the Stars,
Be true to thine own self besides,
True to the magic of Nature above all else.

Do not thou curse anyone,
Lest thou threefold cursed shouldst be,
And shouldst thou travel ocean and earth,
Follow the very step of the ancient trackways.

--From the carmina gadelica, ancient celtic oral tradition

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Hompohobia

This pretty much says it all!


Chick-fil-A


Why?

Do you know what gets me? All of this bru-ha-ha about Chick-fil-A being against same-sex marriage...and their supporters screaming about "Freedom of Speech", and their "right to their opinion"...If the President of Chick-fil-A had said "We oppose mixed race marriage."...Would anyone be supporting them? Why is it still socially acceptable to discriminate against LGBT folks? Why would a racist comment turn the whole nation against them...but a homophobic one started this whole "movement"?

There are 2 social groups that it is still ok to discriminate against/insult/oppose...LGBT's and fat people!

Why is that?

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

10 Ways to Make Your Relationship Magically Romantic


by Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D.

Creating magical moments in your relationship is something everyone thinks about, but few people do. Perhaps it's because they actually can't think of exactly what to do. Here are ten "acts of love" that you can do with and for your partner to bring a little more romance into your relationship.


1. Make your morning time special by bringing your partner a cup of coffee while he or she is still in bed. If you're willing and able you can also serve them breakfast in bed. It will make your partner feel cherished and the kindness will be returned.

2. Make the time at the end of the work-day when you first see one another extra special by giving each other a 10 second hug and kiss. You will both feel more deeply connected throughout the evening. Also remember to touch your partner affectionately throughout the day, not just when you want to be romantic.


3. Make time to make-time. Plan a romantic rendezvous during the week. You can get a room at a local hotel or plan to have the house all to yourselves. Just the anticipation of being together in this way will add spark to your romantic life.

4. Whenever you can, take the time to give your partner 100% of your attention when they want to talk to you. Put down the remote control or whatever you're reading, face your partner and say "What would you like to talk about?" It will make your partner feel loved and important to you.


5. Take the time to tell your partner that they look wonderful, beautiful, sexy or great. We all have doubts about our looks and hearing that we are attractive to our partners is a very important part of creating a romantic relationship.


6. Before you leave in the morning tell your partner that you are looking forward to seeing them when you return. Never leave the house without acknowledging your partner or saying, "I love you."


7. Next time you are shopping alone, get a couple of little "surprise gifts" for your partner. The next time he or she is feeling down, give them one of the gifts. This is a wonderful and uplifting act of love and it will be remembered for a very long time.


8. If your partner is having a rough day offer to take them out or make dinner for them. If they are the one usually doing the cooking this will be a welcome change and a sign of your appreciation. If they are experiencing stress at work, it will be a great way for them to unwind from a tough day.


9. Be spontaneous and rent a convertible and kidnap your partner for a drive up the coast for lunch or dinner. This is a wonderfully romantic and very simple thing to do. If you want to be a little more extravagant, you can choose to spend the night at a Bed & Breakfast and drive home the next day.


10. This one is terribly romantic, so don't try it unless you're ready for a passionate evening. Get your partner two or more roses. Take one of them and pull off the petals. Drop the petals on the floor leading to the bedroom and place several petals on the bed. Put the other roses in a vase on the nightstand. Your partner will never forget your thoughtfulness.

Don't try to do everything on this list in the same weekend, one a month is plenty. These ideas are just a little help to get you started. Once you get going, more ideas will come to you on their own.

Taking the time to create romance in your relationship is paramount to creating a fulfilling love life. Even if you think your ideas are silly, your partner will be thrilled that you took the time to do something loving for them. Remember, it's the thought that counts.