While I am not a big fan of hot tea, I do enjoy iced blueberry, green tea all year long, so a day to celebrate tea sounds like a good idea to me. Tea, of course has been around for a very long time, so a great way to celebrate tomorrow - along with drinking some tasty tea - is to learn some interesting facts about tea - did you know . . .  The main types include black, green, white, herbal, oolong, and pu’erh.  Legend has it that tea was first discovered over 4000 years ago in China by Emperor Nun Shen. On one of his visits to a remote region, the leaves of a nearby tree blew into ..read more

It is reasonably safe to say by now I've established I LOVE Christmas! It is also reasonably safe to say you all likely know I enjoy making ornaments . . . and if there is a snowman involved I will be very happy! So, when I was browsing on Pinterest and saw some cute, easy ornaments with snowmen options, well . . . I had to share them with you! Just follow this link and you will find easy-to-follow directions, supply lists and lots of photos to give you ideas for making your own ornaments! These ornaments would be a great project to involve your grandchildren in as the ..read more

Today is National Cocoa Day so I thought I'd share some fun cocoa facts with you. Did you know . . . Long before people nibbled on bars and brownies, chocolate was consumed in liquid form. Historians credit the Olmec civilization of southern Mexico as being the first to roast the fruit from the cacao tree, then grind it down and mix it with water and other ingredients. Archaeologists have discovered Olmec pottery with trace amounts of chocolate dating back to around 1700 BCE. The Mayans and Aztecs, who picked up the habit from the Olmecs, drank a bitter brew they called “x ..read more

By the way, did you know today is National Ice Cream Day?! I do enjoy a nice bowl of ice cream, but since I've been focused on losing weight (I've lost 100lbs since the start of 2020!), I rarely eat this sweet treat. I have found, however; sorbetto on a stick - especially the mini-size only has 50 calories per serving! Hooray!  But back to ice cream - let's look at some ice cream fun facts - did you know . . . When town leaders in Evanston, WY, made it illegal to sell ice cream sodas on Sundays, shop owners invented the ice cream sundae. They replaced the soda with syrup to get around ..read more

Yes, while Poinsettias are a beautiful plant and something which brightens any day, today is the day to especially appreciate and celebrate them. I would love to have Poinsettias at my house, but I have the black thumbs of death and have been grounded forever by my grown children and grandchildren from every having plants again - they all say I am "cruel and unusual punishment - for the plants." So, instead I very happily enjoy Poinsettias at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park as they have so many of them as part of their Holiday Traditions exhibit! I'm happy to share with you some ..read more

      Miracle Mobility sent me their unique and award-winning 4N1 to review so I am able to try it out in a variety of settings and let you know all about it. If you or someone you love is experiencing mobility challenges, the 4N1 may be the perfect resource for you/them as it combines a rollator, electric wheelchair, a wheelchair others are able to push someone in, and a power assist chair into one amazing item! Today I will share a few of my observations about it so you are able to consider it for yourself or someone you love - it would make a fantastic Christmas g ..read more

    From time to time I post about my Life on the Goldilocks Planet books as they make fantastic books for the entire family to enjoy. Today I am very happy to let you know while you are able to get these books as paperback books, the entire series is also available as Kindle ebooks on Amazon! Since I am older, I enjoy books in their printed form, but I know many people really like being able to get their books in a digital format, so if this is you, or someone you love, you are able to get the Life on the Goldilocks Planet books in their very portable ebook format! &nbs ..read more

Today I'm remembering when my grands were little - from time to time we had "monsters" which "invaded" my home - of course I'm NOT talking about my sweet grands, but "monsters"! I remember one day twelve years ago when I was fixing lunch in the kitchen and my grand ran into the kitchen and told me there were "monsters in the hall!" I asked if they were teeny, tiny or ginormous, humongous! He said they were the "most ginormous, humongous, EVER!" I asked if they were nice or cranky. He said they were "the most cranky monsters, EVER!!!" He said they were going to eat me - I asked whatev ..read more

For nearly the past week I wrote about ENLIGHTEN at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park and how tickets to go experience it is a fantastic experiential Christmas gift you could give the ones you love. Today I want to write about how giving a membership to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is the most wonderful gift you could give yourself and the ones you love for Christmas. I used to think it didn't make sense to get a membership at Meijer Gardens - why would anyone visit there enough to make a membership "worth" it? But, then two years ago my husband and I heard about ho ..read more

Years ago I found a crochet pattern for a nativity set. This pattern used regular yarn and was designed to have most of the pieces fit over soda bottles . . . so, the finished set would be fairly large.  When I looked at it, I thought maybe I could use very small hooks (9mm or 10mm) and crochet thread to make a small set which would fit nestled among the branches of my tree each year. Since I like to keep the focus of Christmas on Jesus . . . it is, after all, His birthday . . . I liked the idea of nestling a Nativity set among the branches, so it was the focus of my tree. I set abou ..read more