If you feel like you are in need of a little entertainment, check this video out. I think it is so cool! It never ceases to amaze me what can be found on the Internet. It also delights me when I think of the creativity that people want to share. Enjoy.
Every year, as I get older, this cold winter weather seems to settle deeper and deeper into my bones. My muscles tense up and my joints sometimes ache when I want them to flex. I’m used to stiffness setting in once in a while and can usually eliminate it with a few stretches or a hot shower. But for some reason, winter stiffness stays with me until the snow melts and the tulips break the ground. I feel it deep in my bones, it goes with me to work and it’s even with me when I crawl into bed at night. The perpetual soreness made me crabby and the stiffness made me want to be sedentary but sitting around only aggravated the soreness so I decided to find a solution short of moving south during the winter months. Turning to the Internet, I soon realized that the problem was not in the fact that I wasn’t putting forth enough effort to improve the problem, but the fact was that most stretching techniques simply don’t work to cure stiffness. Read more »
A friend sent me this clock in an email and as I watched it, I was mesmerized by the numbers. With each tick of the clock, a child is born in China, a traffic accident happens, someone fills their car with gas, someone learns they have cancer, someone is sent to prison and many other life-movements continue to play out across the screen. As the numbers click off and daily activities continue to be tallied up, we can see mother earth in her beauty as it ever turns in its perpetual diurnal roll. Watching our planet spin from a distance it looks like humankind has made very little impact on it and yet watching the numbers ticking away tells us something different. Read more »
This recession that is cutting so deeply into the wallets of people across the nation seems to have spawned a new “Back-to-Basics” movement that has us all tightening our belts. It appears that as the cost of basic necessities continues to increase, nearly everyone is considering opting for a simpler, less complicated life. Thanks to those strained wallets, ever-resourceful Americans are now spending less, searching out bargains and staying closer to home in order to make ends meet. Read more »
Here is a witty look back on what it was like to grow up as a baby boomer. It might explain why we are a generation that will not go silently into retirement but instead choose to be an active life-participant until the day they close the lids on our coffins. It also helps to explain the reasoning behind how our children were raised. Read more »
I found this today in one of my many emails and it touched my heart. I am a teacher by profession and I know all to well that sometimes we get caught up in teaching a subject, meeting curriculum standards, preparing for the state tests and forget that we are really in this profession to teach kids. I would like to share this story with you and hope you get a little inspiration from it.
As Mrs. Thompson stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Read more »
With the changing of the guard in DC, many speculate that January 20th will symbolize the passing of an entire generation: the baby boomer years. However, it’s more than a generational change with Obama being a relatively young president, it is more like a sense that a cultural era is ending. This was a very unique era dominated by the boomers, many of whom came of age in the ’60s and experienced the bitter divisions caused by the Vietnam War and the protests against it, the civil rights struggle, social change, sexual freedoms, and more. The peace sign was our symbol and our slogan was Us Against the Man. It is theorized by many that those experiences, led boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, to become deeply motivated by the need to address all of the social injustices that our country had long ignored. Read more »
The nightly news is a constant reminder that record numbers of homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments and the U.S. economy is losing jobs at an alarming rate with companies big and small slashing their work force. A half-million American jobs disappeared last month, the worst mass layoffs in more than three decades, as the nation spiraled downward in what could be the hardest hit times since the Great Depression. Compound this with the fact that more than 3 million manufacturing jobs have disappeared since 1998, and the Economic Policy Institute estimates 59 percent-or 1.78 million-of these jobs have been lost due to the explosion in the U.S. manufacturing trade deficit over this same period and it is understandable that you and I don’t believe that little things we do can make much of a difference in this financial crisis. But on my weekly trip to the store, I had an epiphany and began to think differently. Read more »
We have accepted the fact that in lieu of a stimulus check in the mail, we should be seeing more money in our paychecks. And that is fine and good. In fact, rumors abound throughout this country that Obama will seek major tax cuts in his stimulus plan, and there are several tax breaks under consideration right now. All this talk makes taxpayers feel like relief is finally on the way. But what can we really expect? One plan is to provide a tax credit that would allow companies to reduce the tax they withhold. However, if that is only $500 for individuals and $1000 for a couple, as proposed on CNN.Money, I don’t see how that is going to impact the way I spend my money. If I break $500 down by 26 paychecks a year, I will only see an increase of about $19 per payday. I do understand the economics behind this but it doesn’t make me feel any better. A mere $19 is not really enough money to increase a credit card payment and it’s not enough money to stash away in a savings account so I probably will spend it without thinking, which is exactly the intention of this tax cut. The problem is, $19 every other week is not going to make me feel very hopeful that the economy is turning around and this feeling will probably lead me to continue living as frugally as possible. I wonder how many others will feel the same way? Read more »
During the winter months, every other Saturnday night, I get together with three other friends, we rent a movie or two, make popcorn and fudge brownies and spend the night in. It’s an inexpensive way to entertain ourselves and a great way to bond with dear old friends. The local video store has a plethora of movies to choose from and we have a chance to enjoy the warmth of each other’s homes thus avoiding the one dank and dreary movie theater our little town has to offer. I have found that the warmth of our friendship staves off the bitter winter cold and makes living in this clime much more bearable. I always look forward to these evenings, but this Saturday night was even more special. Read more »
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