Out, You Swine!

Behold the tiny bastards that have taken over our lives! Yes, it's none other than H1N1, brought to you today for your viewing pleasure via AJC1 at Flickr. It looks so lovely and lavender doesn't it? But don't be fooled! These fluffy, puffy harbingers of misery and malaise are not so attractive as they appear.
First down was eldest daughter who was sick for four days a couple weeks ago, seemed to recover for a few days, and then took ill again. Then last Sunday, youngest daughter got caught in the clutches of H1N1, seemed to rally mid week, then relapsed and remains unwell. Hopefully she will be well enough to go back to school Monday.
As for me? Well, that heavy feeling in my chest and the nagging headache...I'm doing my best not to acknowledge them. Shoo piggy, shoo!

Hello, World...How Have You Been?

Well, school has started here and once again I find myself with a million things to do and not enough time, money or energy to do them all! The Snail household made it through the first week scathed (I'd like to say unscathed, but that would be a lie!) and we are into the second. Eldest missed 2 days of school last week due to illness. Thought it was swine flu, but she recovered too quickly for it to be that. Then youngest missed monday due to similar-yet-not-as-bad illness.

Eldest is now a senior - with all of the glory and gore that entails! Picture my life going to hell in a handbasket, here.... Those of you who have been through this know of all the extra stuff that goes on senior year. Eldest is taking classes in the morning and looking for an afternoon job. She is also shopping for her first car - which is more than I can take! We were out test driving cars this weekend and if we were cats we'd have lost two lives. Amazing how some TCBY made it all so much better.

Youngest has a reletively calmer life, except for being a seventh grader. Ah, middleschool drama! What special hell it is! Remember all the angst? Blemishes, cliques, what to wear, how to fix your hair, make-up (whether to wear it and how much and what color...), dances (!!) young love, followed by young heartbreak, advice from your ancient parents who don't know anything. Yeah, wouldn't do it again if you paid me.

I think we finally have all of the supplies we need. There's always an item or two that can't be easily found. For example, there is always some teacher who specifies a specific color and type of folder. It must be blue, plastic, with prong fasteners and pockets. You know before you even look that the store will have every color and combination but that one! This year there was a request for marble composition books. No fancy colors or patterns, just the basic black and white. Last year they had mountains of them. This year...well...it took some looking.

So, now that things are (hopefully) calming down a bit I will try to do better about posting here on a more regular basis. I feel so neglectful of my blog lately!

Happy Fall, y'all!

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

We went out for Chinese food last night and at the end of the meal we encountered the following bit of Fortune Cookie Wisdom:

"May the warm winds of heaven blow softly upon your sprint."

What?!

My sprint?


Will this help me run better or keep my calls from dropping? Anyone have any ideas on this? Enlighten me, please!

It Was Just A Short Trip Through Lowe's . .

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I've been thinking about doing some painting lately, you know, to freshen things up at home. Nothing like some fresh paint now and then. There are some problems, however.

The first problem is choosing the color. See, I want to get it right the first time so I don't have to go back to the store for a re-mix and come back home and repaint the section I started. So I agonize over color choice for a long time! The other problem is that I rent and therefore would have to repaint when I move. Which may be next summer, and while I don't hate painting, I really don't want to do it again that soon!

The next problem(s) is/are my daughters. I want to paint the main living area. They want to paint their rooms as well. If we go that far, I may as well paint my room, too! I don't want to do that much painting (yes, they will help) because it's that much more to re-paint before moving. Maybe we could do accent walls . . .

The last problem is . . . . once the paint is on the walls, the rest of everything will look 'unfresh' and I'll want to re-decorate! That, my friends, becomes costly and time consuming! That's not even factoring in the carpet (!!!) which I will certainly want to cover with a decorative rug to go with the fresh paint.

Funny how a short trip through Lowe's turns into a major road trip through my home!

58 Years Ago Today. . .

Fifty-eight years ago today a young man and a young woman embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. Those years have brought many children, grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren their way. There have been ups and downs and trips down many roads, literally and figuratively speaking! I'm sure if you asked, they would tell you it has all gone by quickly. Ok, so the fun parts probably sped by a bit faster than the hard parts, right? I'm sure when they started out they had no idea where this adventure would lead or how long it might go on. Life is just full of surprises, isn't it? I don't think any of us would have it any other way, though.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!

It's the 1st of the Month . . .

and you know what that means!

RABBIT RABBIT!!

The Turtle

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal it's sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile!

~Ogden Nash~

Another Duh Moment

Well, it's happened twice in two days: headlines that really don't surprise me. I can't quite decide which of the two is more obvious. Is it the news piece about how cats control us? Or could it be the bit about how swearing makes us feel better?

Let's start with cats. Cat's use a specialized meow/purr combo to control us. I can tell you, from my vast cat/human interactive experiences, that it's not just the meow/purr that gets us moving. My cats control me in the kitchen just by sitting and staring at me. That's it. That's all they have to do. I go in the kitchen to fix food. Cat walks in. Cat sits. Cat looks up at me. I see cat looking at me and respond with food. It's that simple. Pay me now for my valuable insight, please!

As for swearing? Well #*!## yeah it makes you feel better! According to what I read some researchers took it upon themselves to study swearing and pain. I'd like to see a video of that experiment.

"Hey Bob! I want you to say the first thing that comes to mind when I smash your thumb with this hammer..."

It seems swearing triggers our 'fight or flight' response, which in turn increases our pain tolerance. When Bob's thumb gets hammered, bad language spews forth from his emotional right brain rather than the language producing left brain. Huh. What do you know. I can just imagine what sort of people these researchers are.

Interestingly, the researcher and his colleagues also made a connection between swearing and aggression. Well, yeah! Hurt me to study my swearing response and I'll get aggressive too!

You know, I could have combined both topics in one bit of research. Cat scratches/bites human. Human swears. Cat gets fed. Everybody feels better.

So, where do I sign up for a research grant?

Change Is Good - You Go First . . .

I saw that little quip on a sign the other day and it gave me a good laugh. I don't think I make changes too easily - little ones, yes. I have made some hairstyle changes on a whim a few times, but hair grows out. You mess up your hair, you regret it for a few weeks and eventually it gets good again. I did cry once after a particularly bad perm, but other than that the hair changes I regretted were not particularly overwhelming. Bored with the color of the towels? Pick a new color and redecorate the bathroom. Buying new dishes? Well, that one took more thought but still nothing too difficult. But the bigger the change, the more time I take about it - I just won't do a thing until I'm darn good and ready. I've got to shop around, think it through, psyche myself into making a change - even when it would be in my best interest to go ahead and just make the change. A big decision can't be made unless I've agonized my way through it. Yeah, I procrastinate on the big stuff.

There are times when changes are forced on us in a hurry and we can't sit back and watch while someone else goes first. Being a middle child you get to see your older siblings grow and change and do things first and that takes away some of the scariness factor of growing and changing. But sometimes we don't have the luxury of thinking things through or waiting to wrap our heads around a new idea. Sometimes we can't wait while someone else goes first because it's our turn to be first. Sometimes we just have to go with the flow or be dragged kicking and screaming to the next destination in life.

Lately I've been thinking about making changes. I've grown complacent in some ways and I need to shake things up, get out of the rut. It's time for something new, like.... dating. Ouch! That one's tough. Here comes the kicking and screaming. I've been single for four years now, so certainly it's time I dipped my toes back in the water. That's no small feat for someone who imagines alligators and poisonous snakes in the water. Various people have been after me from time to time to get out there and start dating but I've successfully ignored them. There's just too much scariness factor and I could spend the rest of my life wrapping my head around the idea of dating again.

Well, I think that's about to change as I've been talking with someone lately that I just can't seem to ignore anymore. Seriously, this guy has been my neighbor for about a year now and it's taken me this long to really talk to him. You know, like having a conversation that lasts more than, say, thirty seconds. In fact, we've gone out walking together a couple of times now and had actual conversations! Really! I'm not even making this up! "Danger Will Robinson!" says the voice in my head. But what do you know, the earth didn't open up and swallow me. I didn't insert my foot in my mouth (that I know of), and I didn't keel over with a heart attack. Somehow I don't seem to have scared him away. Apparently I still know how to make conversation. Ok, so there's a big difference between talking and dating, but talking is a start. Change is on the way...and it looks like I'm up to bat.

My First Blogiversary!

Well what do you know, it's been a year since my first post on Significant Snail! Last year I was a Blogutante, making my debut. Today, after a trip around the block, I'm still something of a newbie. Amazingly, I am still posting, though not always as often as I would like or have planned.

Let me take a minute to give credit where due, to my younger daughter. You see, I was looking for a template to begin my blog and had found two that I liked. One was a relaxing scene of a hilltop at sunset with a large shade tree and a bench. I thought it looked like a suitable place to sit and talk and tell a story each day. Kind of predictable.

The other template was a snail. A rather attractive looking snail, I thought, but I wasn't sure what a snail had to do with storytelling, or anything else for that matter. Enter my daughter, who immediately said I had to choose the snail. I flipped back and forth between the templates for a while, and with her urging chose the snail. But still, I wasn't sure what a snail had to do with anything. This isn't a nature blog. I'm no biologist for Pete's sake. What could be significant about a snail? Turns out the snail was significant in his own right, and so a blog was born. I'm so glad my daughter forced convinced me to go for the snail.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

~Robert Frost~

This blog has certainly proven to be an enjoyable hobby for me, and as such has made a difference to me. It has been a place to share and a place to take a break from the complications that crop up in life. I'm looking forward to another year of the same and I hope you'll all tag along for the ride!

Road Games

I love a good road trip now and then, and my children do as well. It's always an adventure, even if the destination is someplace we've been before. The subject of road trips came up recently, more particularly the subject of avoiding boredom on a road trip. Years ago, my brother joined me on a road trip that spanned southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. At one point he began to keep a 'journal' of road kill. Pavement pizza, if you will. The journal read something like this:

3:10 p.m., November 11th, 1986, great tufts of fur sprouting from the pavement in the right-hand, southbound lane of I-10. The next entry was perhaps a deer pizza, bunny biscuits, or some other flattened beast.

When the girls and I travel we, a) bring stuff to entertain ourselves or, b) make up games to entertain ourselves. When all else fails there's always sleep. Well, unless you are driving. At any rate, my girls are old enough to be good at road trips. The first couple of hours aren't a problem: music, sleep, nintendo, toys, conversation. It's after those first hours, and especially as more time goes by, that things get difficult. Counting games are always good. Sometimes we count how many times we hear a particular song during our drive, like Poker Face, by Lady Gaga (if you are young or have teens you know this song). A few years ago we were driving through a particular county in Mississippi and we kept seeing red trucks. Everywhere. So we began counting red trucks. We stopped counting after 200. Seems everyone in southern Mississippi had a red truck. After that we always referred to that region as Red Truck Country.

Sometimes things get downright interesting. In the not-too-distant past one of my daughters brought a couple of beanie babies along. She also brought some clothes for them to wear and various accessories. You haven't lived until you've seen cross dressed beanie babies taking part in a shotgun wedding. Ahem. Yeah, that'll make time fly!

On our most recent trip the girls and I invented a new game which we simply refer to as, "The Cat". I don't know how it even started but the idea is that one person begins by making a statement involving 'The Cat', and then each of us takes turns coming up with new 'things' regarding 'The Cat'. The statements can be random or can be linked by a common thread, such as the cat's emotional state: 'The Cat' is sad, perturbed, elated etc; or each statement has to use a verb: 'The Cat' is jumping, playing parcheesi, eating kibble etc. Eventually 'The Cat' became unstable and condensed, and there was a deflagration. Of course the statements become more ridiculous as you go, with each person trying to think of something more obtuse than the last. The game went on for over an hour. I don't know how we thought of so many statements to make about 'The Cat', but we did.

How about you? Got any road games?

By the way, how do you wake up Lady Gaga? Poker face....

O'er the Land of the Free. . .

This is a photo of the actual flag that Francis Scott Key saw flying over Ft. McHenry. This flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes and originally measured 30x42 feet. Damage from the battle that Francis Scott Key witnessed reduced the flag to 30x34 feet. It has been kept since 1912 at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

It is a tradition that when a new flag is designed for use by the United States, it is first flown over Fort McHenry, over the same ramparts referred to in the National Anthem. Our anthem began as a poem entitled Defense of Fort McHenry, and was eventually set to music. The song quickly became accepted as our National Anthem. During the World Series of Baseball in 1917 it was sung in honor of our armed forces fighting in the Great War, and was so moving that it was repeated for every game thereafter. The Star Spangled Banner was officially declared our National Anthem in 1931.

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

~Francis Scott Key~

Rabbit-Rabbit

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DON'T FORGET! TOMORROW IS THE 1ST, SO BE PREPARED - RABBIT, RABBIT...

Sunday Drive of A Different Sort

We were driving along the highway on our way to a family gathering a couple weeks back when what do we see but this fellow, driving down the road in total comfort. Well, I guess it was comfortable because I can't imagine any other reason that you would drive with a foot out the window!

It took me a couple tries to get this shot because just as I was about to click, the traffic changed and he pulled his foot in and put his hand back on the steering wheel. Luckily it wasn't long before traffic eased up and the hand and foot came back out. Notice that I didn't get a shot of the lovely wildflowers earlier in the day, or the field of goats. Or a city skyline we passed. Nope. Nothing like that. Just some guy's foot. Oh, and my daughter was driving - I try not to take pictures while I'm behind the wheel, although it has happened a time or two...

A Miscellaneous Adventure With the Snail Household

A few weeks ago we Snail ladies did some summer shopping. While I was at the checkout making a purchase, my daughter's were wandering about the store. When I was finished at the checkout my older daughter began to rush me out the door. I figured she was bored with my store and wanted to move on to one of her choice. When we stopped a couple shops down to browse jewelry she told me she had accidentally broken off a mannequin hand in the store we just left. I asked her what she had done with the hand and she said she had set it on top of the other hand, hoping no one would notice.
I spent a number of years working in retail and knew that it probably wasn't broken. I also remembered that I had my camera along and, much to her embarrassment, I went back to the previous shop to take a look. This is the sight that greeted me. As you can see, our lovely mannequin friend is sporting two hands on one side. I realized right away that the hand wasn't really broken and showed my daughter how the hand fits into the wrist and twists back together. But not before getting a couple shots of her 'handy work'.






A couple of quick pictures (and a lot of laughter) and we were on our way, but not before a salesperson noticed. Thankfully the store personnel were good natured!

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Hobo Joe, Mutant Killer Veggies and Baby-Love

My daughters and I just got back from a trip up to Virginia for a family gathering. While we were away my daughter's boyfriend looked after our cats, so we wanted to do something nice for him in return. We pulled off I-95 at Walterboro, S.C. for the night and the next morning we headed to breakfast at the nearby Waffle House. Just across from us was this:
What better gift to give her boyfriend than a bag full of fireworks? This shop was great: there was a video running that shows you what all the bigger rockets look like so you know what you're getting, and the owner was very helpful, with detailed descriptions and recommendations - sometimes steering us to less expensive things that he thought we'd enjoy more than some we had chosen. He even threw in a few freebies. It helps that this was a Friday morning and we were the only customers in the store. Did I mention that it was quite hot out and that his storefront provided great shade for me to park in while we had breakfast? Yeah, we like Hobo Joe's. (Special thanks to Lance McCord for sharing this photo on Flickr).

After our Fireworks shopping spree we took a side trip down to Charleston, S.C. I wanted to take a break from Interstate driving and scout out Charleston for a future trip. On our way out of Charleston we came across this building:
Looks like a lovely place doesn't it? What caught my eye and had us laughing was the sign in front of the building (you know, the sign I didn't get a picture of...) We were short on time and I didn't turn back to get a photo, so I found this one online when we got home. This is the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory. That's right - a lab for veggies. You know what that means - Mutant Killer Veggies!!

"The mission of the Laboratory since its beginning has been to obtain, through fundamental research, basic information requisite to efficient and orderly breeding of improved vegetable crops for the southern region, and to produce new and improved vegetable cultivars and breeding stocks."

Sure, that's what they want you to think. I bet they're working on some of the greatest biological weapons ever! Things like beets that live up to their name. Artichoke grenades. Water-board-melons. Ears of corn that eavesdrop while the eyes of your potatoes spy on you! Yeah, we had fun with that one for several miles. Anything to liven up a long road trip.

The rest of the drive home was filled with my daughter's sighs and exclamations of how much she missed her boyfriend. You know, the guy she said would miss her more than she would miss him while we were away... Yeah. She has a lot of ooey-gooey nicknames for him. One of her favorites is Baby-Love. The sighing and fretting went like this, "Awwwwww, I miss my Baby-Love!" Repeat that, or a variation of it, every few miles and you too can relive the experience! Occasionally she would doze off and give me a break.

Baby-Love was going to take her out to dinner when we arrived home. Except that life has a way of getting in the way of big plans. Like us taking longer than expected in Charleston, and road construction slow downs. Then things got worse: Baby-Love's grandmother fell and sustained a head injury and he and his dad were possibly going to leave before we arrived back in town. This led to much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth by my daughter. Ok, not really but sort of...Anyhow, this certainly led to more texting and calling. So much so that my phone started ringing because my daughter's battery was dying. How convenient that she told him to call/text my phone. Luckily the grandmother is expected to recover. Unluckily, we arrived home too late for dinner out. Not to worry though, they are dining out tonight. My daughter and Baby-Love will still have to endure the agony of separation though, as he is leaving tomorrow for a week. I say it's good for them to have some time apart.

Oh, and he loves the fireworks...beats a T-shirt any day. You know, the one that says, "My girlfriend went on vacation and all I got was this lousy shirt . . . and cat duty."

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Teenagers

This is me. I look like this because I am the mother of teenagers. Well, technically only one of them is a teenager - the other will gain that status over the summer. If you have teens or you've ever had teens you can relate to this picture. This woman looks like she's slightly amused but the hand-over-face expression could easily be changed to exasperation, anger, shock...well, you know.

Teens are an interesting species. Those of you who have parented or worked with teens know that it's possible to reach the peaks of joy and the pits of despair, sometimes within moments of each other. It's some sort of temporary (well, for a few years) bi-polar experience. Yes, they are continually amazing.

Sometimes they really surprise us. For example, this morning my oldest is taking the ACT. That's not the surprise. Her boyfriend is as well. Also not the surprise. Since they had to be up early they decided to stay in and 'chill' last night and get to bed early. Early turned out to be just past midnight. My idea of early and hers are obviously two different things. So, in order to chill they needed a movie to watch. Boyfriend kindly provided the evening's entertainment, which turned out to be.....THE NEVER ENDING STORY. Yes, that was the surprise part. I expected some science fiction, or murder and intrigue or a comedy. But Never Ending Story? My eldest remembers this childhood movie fondly. Her boyfriend was creeped out by it as a child, but apparently not too badly since he owns it. My younger daughter doesn't recall ever seeing it so she watched too and they all had a great time. Who would have thought?

Old Mr. Umph Had a Puncture in His Tire. . .

. . . and he fixed it with a wad of chewing gum.

We used to sing that song as children, does anyone else remember it? I think the 'real' version was Old Mr. Ford had a puncture in his tire. I believe the 'umph' part comes from singing the song and replacing words one at a time with the word umph. You know, like when you sing rounds of B-I-N-G-O and gradually replace each letter with a hand-clap. It's right up there with, "On Top of Spaghetti" and "John Jacob Jinkleheimer Schmidt".

There's a word for this sort of improvised repair: jerry-rigging. The term comes from either a) jury-rigging, a sailing term; or b) the WWII slang for German engineering on the fly. When I was young and first heard this term I thought it referred to my uncle Jerry. It's plausible! He did farming and construction, so of course he would know how to rig things. Then again, my dad, grandfather and other uncles had the same abilities so the term could have been named for any one of them. I didn't really stop to wonder.

Well, just like Mr. Umph, we've all had occasion to make a repair to something using less than ideal materials. There's glue, duct tape and twine. And then there's the more unusual remedies. In early May I was driving to south Florida for my nephew's wedding when a piece of plastic trim around my front windshield came loose. It wasn't a hazard so much as a nuisance, as it kept flapping up in the wind. I pulled off for a rest break and began to search my car for tape. All I could could come up with was . . . a band-aid. Yep, I fixed my car's boo-boo with a band-aid. Got some funny looks but it worked.

I've heard of people filling small nail holes in the wall with toothpaste (basic white, not gel!). My parents once used dental floss to rig the windshield wiper on their RV when it gave out during a rainy drive. I believe they had to thread it back through the side window and give a pull now and then. Once my ex super-glued some small parts together in our car engine when we got stuck on the road somewhere and it held up quite well. I'll bet you can all think of plenty more examples, so tell me about your inner MacGyver - what's one of your creative fixes?

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Happy Tuesday everyone.

Rabbit Rabbit

Are you familiar with this harbinger of good luck? On the first of every month, when you awake, you must say the words,"rabbit rabbit" so that you will have good luck the rest of the month. I read somewhere that if you forget, you'll still get good luck if "tibbar, tibbar" are the last words out of your mouth as you fall asleep that night. Apparently it's extra good luck if it's the first day of your birth month. The two rabbits at left (created by Tom Claassen) were on display in Regents park, London, where they were photographed and placed on Flickr by Baronvonhorne. I love Flickr because you can find everything there, including a nice pair of rabbits.

There are variations on this superstition tradition and I'm not sure where it all started. Years ago (high school) I learned "rabbit rabbit" from one of my aunts (thanks, C*****)! I dutifully repeated the words each month and I even went so far as to wear a pair of rabbit earrings. Over the years I'd forgotten about "rabbit rabbit" until I came across it on a blog called Old Horsetail Snake. The fellow who posted on that blog used to keep up the "rabbit rabbit" tradition on the first of each month. Old Horsetail was an elderly gentleman who was busy surviving beyond his doctor's prognosis. His blog was full of humor and always a pleasure to read. Old Horestail moved on to that great rabbit warren in the sky a couple of months ago, so in his honor I am sharing "rabbit rabbit" with you today.

The Royal Goat

Lance Corporal William Windsor retired from military life last week. "Billy" served as a member of the 1st Battalion o the Royal Welsh. What? A regimental goat? Well who knew? Look at that fine fellow. He's even sporting full ceremonial dress! See that headpiece? It's a silver plaque,a gift from the Queen, a tradition started back in 1884 when Queen Victoria presented one to the first royal goat.

Lance Corporal "Billy" Windsor served for eight years, getting stripped of rank once for "..trying to head butt a drummer’s backside during a parade to mark the Queen’s birthday.." After making amends through exceptional performance at another event he was restored full privileges - including the right to be saluted.

Speaking of salutes, here's Billy giving the Royal Salute. Smartly done, Billy! According to one account I read, the tradition of the 'regimental' goat began back during America's fight for independence from Britain. Seems a wild goat wandered onto a battle field and wound up leading the regiment at the end of a battle. Soon a replacement will be chosen and trained to carry on the tradition. I don't know about you, but I think he's adorable and if I'm ever in England I plan to stop by the Whipsnade Zoo and meet the old goat myself.

Pay It Forward

I'm sure you have all heard of random acts of kindness and the idea of 'paying it forward'. Annie of Blue Gables had a post on April 30th called Pay it Forward and I decided to try it myself. I enjoy making all sorts of things, so this ought to be fun. Here are the rules for those of you who wish to join in:

I will make and send a surprise to the first 5 bloggers who leave a comment and agree to join in. If you aren't a blogger - start a blog! Or you could arrange a Pay it Forward with your co-workers, neighbors or ??? This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. This is an adventure!

2. What I create will be just for you with love and good wishes. It will be made of actual materials, not of cyberspace.

3. It will be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be! Well, I may ask a question or two about your tastes etc, depending on what I make.

5. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your Blog and create five things for the first 5 people to respond to your post.

6. Send your mailing address after I contact you.

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if you do not post on your own blog to pay this forward.

Think you're not crafty enough? If you are feeling a little skittish don't worry! There are many things that can be made, whether you sew, craft, cook, write etc. Your gift could be a poem, a recipe and the makings (like cookie mix or soup ingredieants in a jar), homemade soap or candles, a cd with some music you made or songs you think the person will like. I'll tell you what, if you want to join in and you're having trouble thinking of something, let me know and I'll brainstorm with you, ok?

I think this is going to be lots of fun and I hope you will give it a shot!