Choice Morsels

Mama Kat's Writing Prompt for this week is a fun one:  " Put together a holiday outfit you'd love to wear at a holiday party should a holiday party ever be on your list of things to do." This concept requires 2 things: #1)  First, imagining I have an unlimited budget and can buy whatever I want. #2) Second, also imagining I might  actually have someplace fancy to go that requires such an outfit, like, for example, an upscale Christmas party at a plush Destin hotel. Now that we have the ground rules settled, we can look at the clothing catalog photos I selected for my "ideal party outfit." Now I love a lot of things I see on those oh-too-skinny models in on-line catalog photos, but I'm not a long-waisted, hipless, bustless, skinny-minny like they are. I have more of what I prefer to call a "voluptuous hour-glass" shape. I simply look ridiculous in short-short skirts, straight shift dresses, the clingy knits, the fluffy-around the hip j

      It happened at a small, 2 year college in southern Indiana. I was at the Student Union building. It was morning. I had to go to the the bathroom. Now the thing to understand about this Student Union building is it had 2 sets of restroom facilities, one on either side. However, they were juxtaposed. On one side, the Ladies Room was first; on the other the Mens Room was first. I normally went in and out on the side where the Ladies room was first, but this particular day, I was on the opposite side of the building and forgot to think of that when I chose a restroom. I just blatantly walked into the nearest without even thinking where I was. It was empty.  I just walked into a stall. When I came out, I went to the sink to wash my hands. Still, I saw no one else. Lifting my eyes to the mirror to check my hair, I suddenly observed a row of urinals lining the wall behind me and thought, "That's funny, I never noticed those in the Ladies Room before." Then it dawned on me

Since it's winter, I thought a few suggestions on how to keep that "good mood" hormone vigorous might be helpful, especially for those not living in more sunny regions of the U.S. I located this list on-line under the topic of "raising sertonin levels naturally" and was originally inspired to look this up to send to a friend who's been under lengthy stress, since long-term stress tends to deplete serotonin. So here it is:        1)   Sleep well. Sleep longer if you can or go to bed a tad earlier.        2)   Eat regular meals including plenty of leafy green veggies, whole grains, calcium and protein. Slow digesting fibers, like oatmeal, are particularly helpful to restoring serotonin.       3)   Try to get 20 to 30 minutes of sunlight a day. This can be a challenge in the northern climates, yet there are sunny, clear days sometimes---try to find a sunny window. Or, to compensate for a lack of sun, take a daily vitamin D supplement , at least 1000 IU. (If

Of Mama Kat's selection of writing prompts for this week, I've chosen the "Share a favorite Christmas Ornament," option:   My Favorite Christmas Tree Ornament:   My yearly Christmas tree is, of course, festooned with ornaments full of memories.However, my ultimate favorite ornament is a little pair of Santa Claus's I made from a pin-ornament kit back in 1976. They're simple really: just a Santa "stuck" in a fireplace chimney waving a tiny Christmas tree. It was an easy kit: the chimney being just a small square of styrofoam that I pinned shiny brick-shaped sequin squares around, then glued the little Santa body on. Tiny star-shaped sequins had to be glued onto the tiny tree he holds and red sequins & beads pinned through the "suit" area, then finally batting was glued around the "chimney" top to form "snow." They remind me of a place and a time when I was on my own, my very first Christmas away from my famil

I hit upon a great design the other day. I was actually trying to see if I could design something to put up next to the blog title here.  I was using a photo of a mug and 2 donuts I'd taken and had on file. However, the arrangement wasn't quite right, so I cloned the mug and the donuts into a better arrangement using a photo shop. Then I tried an effect that split it into squares and gave it such a hi-style artish look, I thought it'd make a great mug and card for my Zazzle store! So, that's what I did. I did a full wrap for a mug with the design and a card that can be 2 sizes. It's a lovely picture. It's in the "All things coffee" file at my store or you may even see it scroll buy on the flash panel. Mugs are on sale today 50% off, by the way, if you're still looking for a gift. (Today only.)  And even if you want to put your own photo a mug, go ahead and do that. One thing I've learned is that every product has a specific pixel size req

The Mama Kat prompt challenge this past week was to write "5 things people don't know about me, 5 things I'm knowledgeable about, 5 things I know nothing about and 5 things I believe": 5 Things People Probably Don't Know About Me: 1)  That I have a terrible hatred for talking on the phone. 2)  That I generally dislike being hugged by huggers. 3)  That I'm impatient when information is being told me as a long, long story. 4)  That I hate Facebook. 5)  That I prefer to stay home in my house. 5 Things I'm Knowledgeable About: 1)  The Bible 2)  Sewing 3)  Graphic Design 4)  What flowers & veggies do best my hot deep south. 5)  Cooking 5 Things I know NOTHING About: 1)  Soccer 2)  Reading Blueprints 3)  Flying aircraft 4)  Karate 5)  Chemistry (I'll never be MacGyver!) 5 Things I believe: 1)  That Jesus lived, died and was resurrected to life & everything associated with that. 2)  That I have family who loves me 3)