The Flu
February 26, 2009
Healthy me, sick in bed with the flu. Just last week I was smugly telling myself in the mirror that I was so strong and healthy and had beat this winter’s illnesses. Whack! Take that, Ms. Spear. Pride is an illness and I’ll never smile at the flu again, I promise.
Perhaps taking Oscillococcinum at the first sign of illness helped lessen the severity of my symptoms, but I’ve still been down for 5 days and don’t think I’ll be out dancing tomorrow. I also consistently took Elderberry syrup until I finished the bottle, yummy, sweet and sticky. Vitamin C, an expectorant cough syrup for my unproductive, hacking cough and lots of water, tea. Hot baths with epsom salt felt great on those achey joints. Beautiful essential oils for congestion and breathing easy. Nikken’s Greenzymes and lactoferrin for my digestion. And, I’m still here in bed. Boohoo.
A friend commented that maybe I’m supposed to be goofing off for a few days. Well, I’ve caught up on Lost and MadMen, what else do you suggest? I welcome your comments and well wishes.
Misfiring Guns Recalled
February 25, 2009
Clearly guns can kill. Frighteningly, some guns can go off accidentally. Associated Press reports:
Smith & Wesson recalls guns that could misfire
02.24.09, 06:37 PM EST
Smith & Wesson Corp. is recalling certain pistols that could fire without
the trigger being pulled.
The gun maker said it was recalling all Walther PPK and PPK/S pistols that
it manufactured from March 21, 2002, until Feb. 3, 2009. Smith & Wesson posted a recall notice Friday on its Web site and offered additional details in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday.
The filing cited a problem in the affected pistol models that “may permit a
round to be discharged without the trigger being pulled.” The Springfield-based company said it was issuing the recall “because any unintended discharge of a firearm has the potential for causing injury.”
Well, I say get those 7 years worth of faulty guns back and fast. OMG. A gun that fires at will. Maybe don’t fix them, maybe turn the metal into PF Flyer lil red wagons!
Via: Arthur Greenwald
Lolcats- whoz dem?
February 24, 2009
I’m sick in bed with the flu or something that is lingering and not changing. Feeling crummy. The kitties are lying around taking up too much of my precious space. What kind of caption would I give that?? It’s lolcat time.
There is nothing like a lil lolcat action to brighten up my otherwise miserable afternoon. U wants to know whatza lolcat? If you didn’t click the previous link then I’ll tell you, briefly, a lolcat is a funny, captioned photograph, usually of a cat or other animal being a quintessential, yet human-like animal. The caption is usually in a special slang that my kids have used for years- obviously they knew about lolcats way before I did. The slang or patois is said to be internet slang. Whatevah u sez. Urban dictionary sez dis.
To learn lolcat is more complex than one might think. It’s probably easier to just read it for awhile and listen to your kids speak it and then you’d know instinctively to do exactly what the instructions say on Icanhascheezeburger.com:
1) Mis-decline verbs, especially misuse the verb “to be”
2) Misuse gerunds
3) Overuse prepositional phrases
4) Blatant rearrangement of syntax
5) Incorrect plurals and past-tense verbs
6) “noun” your adjectives. (For instance, the adjective “blue” can become the noun “blueness”)
7) Improper pronouns
8 ) Drop the articles (”a”, “and”, “the”) in favor of adding “-age” to the end of a noun
9) Use “younger” words (”kitty” versus “cat”, “fuzzy” versus “furry”, etc.)
10) Use the word “with” inappropriately.
11) If you really can’t wrap your head around the concepts behind “Engrish”, try this: Go tobabelfish.altavista.com, type your desired comment in, hit “english-to-Japanese”, then re-translate back to English. You have to be able to view special characters (the kanji). If you can’t get that to work, try translating to a different, european-text language, like German.
AND, keeping all that in mind: From wikipedia: “Common themes include jokes of the form “Im in ur noun, verb-ing ur related noun.” Many lolcat images capture cats performing characteristically human actions or using modern technology, such as computers.”
Then u enz upz wid diz:
Gud lol kittehs, go ketch dinneh.
Proud Mom
February 20, 2009
What can I say, I am so proud of my boys and all they contribute in the world. Josh encouraged me to start blogging and I hope this weekend he will give me some tips on how to improve JoanSpear.com.
Here is a link to a new interview with Josh (Josh Spear) at DesignGlut.com. He says about his family:
“I came from a brand savvy, product savvy, never “settling” household. My dad is a designer. He’s a feng shui expert. When I grew up he was designing hotels and private residences, working with people like Karim Rashid. In grade school I always had Muji notepads and pencils that my dad brought me back from trips. There was always some thought put into a purchase, and what brands stood for, and what values they had. But it took a long time for me to realize how interested I was in brands. I just knew that I liked some of them.”
But what he might not remember is the grief he gave me having to buy the “right” Northface jacket or the “perfect shoes”. Josh always had a sixth sense about what he wanted to wear, use, be around. He does not settle. He holds out for the perfect product. Hear it from him.
Green Tips for Ovens
February 19, 2009
GreenerTrends.com shared some important reminders on ovens today:
The tips that jump out:
Keep your oven clean-no one likes the smell of food burning on the oven floor, an we don’t need to waste energy cooking extra bits of food, either. That goes for toaster ovens, too. Last week some tahini drips of some toast and started a small fire on the heating element of the toaster oven. Not good- need a new toaster and the house smelled for days of burnt tahini…
Don’t preheat your oven except for baking- this is intriguing because I always preheat. apparently most foods can start at room temperature and ride up through the pre-heat until optimum oven temp is reached!
You can turn your oven off a few minutes early – great idea, because your oven holds heat a long time and will not cool down right away, especially if you:
Do not open the oven door- every time you open the door the temperature drops and the oven has to work to heat up again.
And check out Best Green Home Tips for more energy saving ideas for cooking as well as living!
Write What You Know
February 15, 2009
It’s a familiar encouragement from mentor, coach or English teacher: “Write what you know”. What? I should write about my boring day at school? Or my weird piano teacher’s obsession with not letting her husband smoke? How about the goings on across the street with the woodpile falling over? sounds interesting, huh? But excuse my rambling, this amusing and heart-warming video frames it all just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s a wonderful and creative piece about the birth of the Star Wars story.
Via: Micah
Green is the New Red for Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2009
I love the green suggestions for Valentine’s Day from GreenerTrends.com‘s Green Tips. They include skipping the card-sending and reciting your poetry or witty card quip (I like this one), reducing your carbon footprint by staying in instead of eating out, and drinking some fair trade wine, instead of buying a gift, be the gift- do some long outstanding chore that you’ve been putting off or iron someone’s shirts- you can make a list of helpful things and romantic things! I also would include reaching out to those I love and sharing my heart with them through email and phone. Calling my boys now!
Forgetting to Remember
February 11, 2009
I have never been good at the master list. In the past when I went food shopping I’d see what we needed and I’d buy it. I’d remember that we were out of something by seeing it, or would take a list of the important things. Once, way back, we had a typed list of the basic supplies, if I ever remembered to bring it along….Lately, I go to the store for something and come home with something else we needed but not necessarily what I went for. Does that happen to you?
Well thank goodness for the ALL OUT OF Pad. I think every household like mine needs one.
And for all your other needs- KnockKnock.com has it on hand. Choose from a category of gifts for Annoying People or how about The Bitch Kit, which include stickers and post-its, Bitch list and pin? Maybe you need The Medical ORganizer and The Take-Out Menu Organizer? I mean, why look any further?
via: Ittybits.com
Hip and Kitsch-Jerrie Thills
February 10, 2009
“Hey, Jerrie” (Jerrie Thills) is a new music video by Allee Willis- superstar-award-winning songwriter, whose songs have sold over 50 MILLION copies and include some of my favorites, how about, “September” for Earth, Wind and Fire, The Color Purple, the soundtrack to Beverly Hills Cop (only heard it a zillion times with my boys) and that’s nothing, read about it: she is a prolific songwriter, artist, techno-kitsch phenomenon.
Jerrie, whom she met at her local block party, is a hip, 91 year-old drummer. Watch their new music video on youtube.
About Jerrie’s oxygen, Allee says, “It’s slowed her down some, just for the sheer pain in the ass of having a tank as a third arm. Not to mention those tubes that connect it to your nose. But I’m so into the quirkiness of a 91 year old drummer, female no less, that the oxygen just becomes an interesting fashion accessory and makes the overall intensity of what I’m seeing and hearing even better.”
I want to be making music when I’m 91. Check out Jerrie Thill, playing in time with the bursts of oxygen from her tank. You go!
Your Pocket Guide to Ocean -Friendly Seafood
February 5, 2009
This week’s Organic Consumers Newlsetter has a handy little safe and ocean-friendly guide that you can print out and carry in your wallet. “The increasing popularity of sushi cuisine has created a massive and often unsustainable demand for multiple species of fish that most Americans didn’t even know existed. So, how is the green-minded consumer supposed to know which of these exotic fish are sustainably harvested and safe to eat? Scientists at Monterey Bay Aquarium recently analyzed the data and put together a handy and practical “Seafood Watch Sushi Pocket Guide” that helps you order seafood that’s sustainable and healthy.”
Organic Bytes, OCA’s twice-per-month email newsletter, offers useful news tibdbits, tips and information for the green-minded consumer. Read past issues of Organic Bytes here. Or watch for my occasional posts covering my choices of “Bytes”.
Joan Spear's Authentic Adventure 