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Friday’s Fresh Five! (4/9/10)

Posted in Gardening, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Recycling, tagged , , , on April 9, 2010| 3 Comments »

My garden is a constant reflection of the saying, “Out with the old and in with the new.” The daffodils are sadly cheerful now, but the freesias have arrived and lend a delicate fragrance to the air. And all that remain of the dangling oak blossoms are the multitude of petals that are chaotically strewn amongst the perfectly formed points of rose buds. Life goes on.

#1 – Your Garden Can Help Others
National Garden Month is sponsored every April by the National Gardening Association (NGA). It is their hope that by encouraging individuals to garden they are making “America a greener, healthier, more livable place.” After reading the article, “Five Ways to Celebrate National Garden Month” these two suggestions stood out as great ways to help others:

Plant a Row For the Hungry
The Garden Writers Association created the “Plant A Row for The Hungry,” campaign that asks garden writers to encourage their readers/listeners to plant an extra row of produce each year and donate their surplus to local food banks, soup kitchens, and other service organizations to help feed America’s hungry. As you plan your vegetable garden, plant a few extra rows that will give you enough bounty to share with your local shelter or soup kitchen. Or, share your garden’s bounty with a neighbor who might need it.

Organize a Flower “Brigade”
Bring fresh-cut flowers to a nursing home, care facility, or a local hospital. If you have some of your own fresh flowers you can bring them or you can buy fresh flowers or see if a local flower grower or florist would be willing to donate to help spread the community spirit!

#2 – Don’t Pour It Out!
If you have a little leftover wine that you just can’t bring yourself to drink, don’t pour it out! Instead, pour it into ice cube trays or very small containers and freeze. When needed, pop these guys out and throw them into sauces, gravies, or stews for added flavor.

#3 – Save Those Tissue Boxes
A while back I wrote in a post about a way to reuse empty tissue boxes. I mentioned that they make great trash boxes for cars. They do, but lately, I’ve been using them on my vanity to throw away used tissues, dental floss, q-tips, cotton pads, etc. Saves me steps to the garbage can.

#4 – Out With the Negative and In With the Positive
I stumbled upon an article on the internet called 18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick that had some good commonsense advice. One tip that I’m going to try is: use the word “but” to change bad thought patterns. For example, “I’m no good at this, but, if I work at it I might get better later.”

#5 – Dreamers and Doers
“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.” Sarah Ban Breathnach

Enjoy the beauty of this day!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (2/26/10)

Posted in Aging, Community, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Recipes, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , , , , on February 26, 2010| 2 Comments »

The Olympics are almost over! It’s still raining! And the month of February is almost history for 2010! Now it’s time to celebrate the promise of Spring!

#1 – A Photo Sharing Idea
Look into using photo sharing services such as Shutterfly, Photobucket, or Snapfish to bridge the generational-technological photo sharing gap. Your children may post photos on their Facebook page, but these photos are normally inaccessible to grandparents. Some of this is on purpose, of course, because some photos just shouldn’t be seen by other generations! There are some photos, however, that grandparents would enjoy viewing. Have your child set up a photo sharing account and post photos he/she would like to share with his/her grandparents and then email the link to the grandparents. An added bonus is that grandparents can order print copies of photos if they wish.

#2 – Rules For Leftovers
These guidelines are from my most recent issue of Nutrition Action and are worth reviewing:

2 Hours from oven to refrigerator.
Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within 2 hours of cooking. Otherwise throw them away.

2 Inches thick to cool it quick.
Store food at a shallow depth – about 2 inches – to speed chilling.

4 Days in the Refrigerator – otherwise freeze it.
Use leftovers from the refrigerator within 4 days. Exception: use stuffing and gravy within 2 days. Reheat solid leftovers to 165 degrees F and liquid leftovers to a rolling boil. Toss what you don’t finish.

#3 – Fashion Trends
I  just watched Fashionair’s spring summer 2010 trend video and I have to say it’s a mixed bag. Here are my comments about the trends:

Sports – Layered tanks and asymmetrical sports bras are on the runway. This look is better left in the gym or on the track.

White Out – Fresh and clean looking with different whites together, but why not pop the white with some pretty spring color?

Utility and Khaki – This style is really in right now. Cargo pants and military and utility-looking tops. Style is okay, but color is drab, drab, drab.

Lingerie – Corsets, bustiers, and lace. I’ve never been a fan of wearing undergarments on the outside.

Trouser Gown – A  fashion hybrid that I actually thought was well done.

Digi Prints – These printed fabrics could be colorful and interesting.

YouthQuake – Mini and madcap – not for this over fifty chick!

Trench – Not new, but everywhere. One of the few trends I like because of the dress-up or dress-down ability.

#4 – No Sour Cream or Buttermilk?
Your recipe calls for a cup of sour cream, but you don’t have any? Just substitute cottage cheese. To 1 cup of cottage cheese add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/3 cup of butter milk and blend until smooth.  If you don’t have buttermilk just add one tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk.

#5 – A Positive Quote
“How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself. So always think positively.”
Norman Vincent Peale

Enjoy the last few days of February!

Note: The opening photo of a Peace rosebud is for my friend Michelle, an aspiring painter of roses!

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Walls Have Doors

Posted in Art and Crafts, Helping Others, inspiration, Jewelry, tagged , , , , , on February 25, 2010| 1 Comment »

Building walls to exclude others is something people do to protect themselves. Emotional walls are constructed the same way as physical walls: brick by brick, slat by slat, or incident after incident. To protect our hearts from further hurt or abuse, we build up emotional walls and once erected they can be very hard to tear down.

Rejection is a tough emotion to deal with, especially if it is repeated throughout life. I have a friend who has dealt with these issues and builds walls as a result. Thinking about my friend and her upcoming birthday, I thought, “What about designing an affirmation necklace for her?” In January I wrote a post about affirmations and the making of affirmation necklaces for my nieces for Christmas.

The most difficult aspect of designing these necklaces occurs before I pick up a single silversmithing tool. It requires a lot of brainstorming to distill the feelings into thoughts and then to transform the thoughts into three little words.

For my friend I chose these words, “Walls Have Doors.” Although she may build walls, she must remember that walls have doors, too. She ultimately holds the keys to her doors; she chooses who she shuts out and who she lets in.

I designed her necklace to allow her to wear this affirmation with a modicum of privacy.

I placed a sterling silver leaf over the affirmation word charm. This way, she can wear the necklace without a lot of people questioning the meaning of the words. A wonderful thing about the leaf charm is that stamped on the reverse side of it are the words, “Love Life.”

I don’t know if she will ever wear the necklace or not, but I think it has given her food for thought and a bit of joy. For me, the whole thought process gave me pause to reflect. Have I built any emotional walls and if I have, do my walls have doors?

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (2/5/10)

Posted in Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Recipes, Recycling, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2010| 2 Comments »

Despite the soggy weather, my daffodils are beginning to bloom. These beacons of cheer brighten the dreary landscape. Read about how your gift of daffodils can help brighten other people’s lives.

#1 – Daffodil Days
Proceeds from the American Cancer Society’s Daffodil Days program not only raise funds, but give hope to people facing cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, Daffodil Days “is about more than just giving beautiful flowers: it is everyone’s opportunity to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays where cancer never steals another year from anyone’s life.” Please give a gift of hope by donating to this worthwhile event.

#2 – My Most Requested Recipe Update
This information just in from one of my co-workers! A few months before I posted My Most Requested Recipe in September, a co-worker asked me for it so she could prepare it for her husband. He’s been eating steel cut oatmeal for breakfast every morning since then. Says my co-worker of her husband, “He was waving his lab report around like it was a medal.” The eighteen point drop in his cholesterol was quite significant. His current cholesterol levels have gone back down to his 2006 levels!

#3 – A Produce Tip from Bob
When buying bananas, look for medium-sized ones without any bruises. Avoid those that have a greenish-purple tinge as those will never ripen to a golden yellow. The greenish-purple tinge indicates that they have been refrigerated at some point in time. They are okay to eat, but will not taste as good.

#4 – Recycling: By the Numbers
I read an article on the Planet Green site called Recycling: By the Numbers and was impressed with the information. Here are the numbers as stated in the article:

* 544,000: Trees saved if every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100 percent recycled ones.

* 20 million: Tons of electronic waste thrown away each year. One ton of scrap from discarded computers contains more gold than can be produced from 17 tons of gold ore.

* 9 cubic yards: Amount of landfill space saved by recycling one ton of cardboard.

* $160 billion: Value of the global recycling industry that employs over 1.5 million people.

* 79 million tons: Amount of waste material diverted away from disposal in 2005 through recycling and composting.

* 5 percent: Fraction of the energy it takes to recycle aluminum versus mining and refining new aluminum.

* 315 kg: Amount of carbon dioxide not released into the atmosphere each time a metric ton of glass is used to create new glass products.

* 98 percent: Percentage of glass bottles in Denmark that are refillable. 98 percent of those are returned by consumers for reuse.

* 51.5 percent: Percentage of the paper consumed in the U.S. that was recovered for recycling in 2005.

#5 – A Quote on Hope
Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.
Lin Yutang

Bring cheer to someone’s life this weekend!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! ( 1/29/10)

Posted in Community, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Recycling, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2010| 1 Comment »


The sun has been struggling to break through the clouds for days now. Is this the day that it will actually happen? Metaphorically speaking, is today the day that each of us breaks through our own set of clouds? Will each of us choose to make selfless or selfish decisions today?

#1 – Blog4Change
In my quest for providing my readers with helpful information, I came across Blog4Change.org. Here’s its theory:
It has been said that people start their lives with equal parts of both selfishness and selflessness. Everyday, with every decision we make, there is an internal struggle between these two polar opposite sides of ourselves. The one that grows is the one that we choose to feed.

Do we let the car in with his blinker on beside us, or do we move up quickly because we do not want to lose the space? Do we lend an ear to the unhappy man behind the counter, or do we overlook his sadness because we are in a rush and must move on with our day?

Over the last thirty or so years we believe many people have been taken over by their selfish side. Look around, our world is full with people who drive nice cars but seek something faster, who live in nice homes but want something bigger, who have the latest TV, computer, phone, boat, or other toy, but are still not satisfied.

We believe it is vitally important to now, today, begin to retrain our bodies and rewire our brains to help make our selfless side stronger. We must feed our selfless desires, nurture them, help them to grow, and eventually, hopefully, our selfless side will once again dominate our selfish selves.

If a new visitor signs up to be a blogger at Blog4Change.org, writes three posts per week, and leaves three comments on other articles per week, it is our hypothesis that these visitors will be transformed from feeling generally empty, to feeling definitively fulfilled, from feeling generally down, to assuredly happy.

The idea is this: if the more you feed something the stronger it gets, which side of yourself do you want to be feeding?

With every blog post we will learn together how to live simple, expect little, and give much. The end result might just be something significant.

#2 – Recycling Towels
If you have bath or beach towels that you are no longer using, call your local veterinarian or SPCA to see if they can use them. Why donate to the SPCA versus the ASPCA? The ASPCA is a national organization headquartered in New York City. Its commercials feature photos of sad looking animals with Sarah McLachlan singing in the background. According to a customer of mine who is on the board of a local SPCA, if you donate to the ASPCA you may be helping animals, but your local SPCA will not receive any funding to continue its services.

#3 – A Kitchen Tip
Try using your kitchen scissors to snip your fresh herbs into little bits. It’s easier and faster this way. Hold herbs by their stems and start snipping at the other end. The herbs will look fresher and won’t have the bruising and dark coloration that chopped herbs can have.

#4 – Tips for Driving in the Fog
Courtesy of my local newspaper, here are tips for driving in the fog that I thought everyone should be reminded of:

A. Watch your speed. Fog creates the illusion that you’re going slower than you really are. Turn off the stereo and roll a window down a little to listen to trouble. If you hear voices or slamming doors, that’s reason for caution.

B. Use low-beam headlights, not high beams. If you can’t see the road ahead, concentrate on lane lines. If you have fog lights, use those, too – they help light up lane markers.

C. Avoid changing lanes.

D. Slow down. But if possible don’t stop, because you could be rear-ended.

E. If you must stop, the best option is to leave the highway using a designated exit. If you must pull onto the shoulder, get as far off the roadway as possible.

#5 – A Quote
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved on stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Pericles

Have a good weekend! Has the sun come out, yet?

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (1/15/10)

Posted in Community, Handcrafted Cards, Health, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , on January 15, 2010| 1 Comment »

Try something new. Change your routine. Challenge yourself to find different ways to help others.

#1 – Helping Others
Looking for a way to make a difference? Here’s a link to VolunteerMatch. The description on the site reads, “VolunteerMatch strengthens communities by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect. The organization offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement. Our popular service welcomes millions of visitors a year and has become the preferred internet recruiting tool for more than 74,000 nonprofit organizations.” The site was easy to use. I typed in my city and a list of organizations in my area looking for volunteers came up.

#2 – A Beauty Tip
Instead of buying expensive facial scrubs, try reaching into your pantry instead. Here are a couple of ideas: Baking soda mixed in with your favorite facial cleanser acts as a physical exfoliant by removing dead skin cells. Whirl oatmeal flakes in your blender with a little baking soda and water and you got a great soothing scrub. Or mix together 1 cup of granulated sugar with a 1/2 cup of oil (preferably almond oil) for a gentle moisturizing exfoliant. Try one tonight!

#3 – A Nutrition Tip
Which do you enjoy more – a wedge of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese on it or a Caesar salad? Did you know that romaine lettuce is far more nutritious than iceberg? According to e-Cookbooks, romaine “has three times as much Vitamin C and six times as much Vitamin A.”

#4 – Style Tips
Fashion designer Bradley Bayou’s top 5 reasons to pay more attention to accessories:
1. They change an outfit from formal to casual (and vice versa) in just a few seconds.
2. They’re more affordable than clothes.
3. They play up your sexiest assets.
4. They’re a great diversion from your flaws.
5. They can add a trendy touch to your neutral basics.

#5 – A Quote to Think About
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Mother Teresa

Enjoy your weekend!

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Friday’s Fresh Five! (1/08/10)

Posted in Helping Others, inspiration, Organization, Recycling, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , , on January 8, 2010| 2 Comments »

Holiday decorations are once again stored away and the New Year brings a fresh start in many ways. Lately, I’ve heard numerous conversations that contain three little words that manage to bring out the best and the worst in all of us, “Clean my closet.”

#1 – Organizing Your Closet
Have you ever gone clothes shopping and purchased an item very similar to one you already have or have you even purchased the exact same item again? I hear this all the time at work when clothes are being returned. One way to prevent this is to organize your closet by type and by color. For example, hang all blouses together. Then sort by sleeve length – group all long-sleeved ones together, short-sleeved ones together, and sleeveless ones together. Then within each sleeve length group, sort by color. Blacks with blacks, blues with blues, etc. By organizing this way you will always be able to take a quick visual inventory of what you have before you shop. After doing this myself I found out that I have seven white blouses!

#2 – Donate Clothes to a Cause
After cleaning out your closet consider donating the discards. Your donated clothes can make a difference in someone’s life. Here are a few organizations that will make good use of your clothes:

Dress for Success – Suits to Self-Sufficiency
“The mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.” www.dressforsuccess.org

The Women’s Alliance – Someone’s Future Is In Your Closet
“The Women’s Alliance is a national organization of independent, community based members who provide professional attire and career skills training to low income women and their families seeking self sufficiency.”
www.thewomensalliance.org

The Princess Project
“The Princess Project promotes self-confidence and individual beauty by providing free prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who cannot otherwise afford them. Our effort is made possible through invaluable volunteer, donor and community support.”
http://www.princessproject.org

Brides Against Breast Cancer
“To provide an opportunity for metastatic breast cancer patients’ dream or wish to be fulfilled by providing a special time of ‘Making Memories’ together with their families, a chance that might not have become a reality without the assistance of the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation.”
http://makingmemories.org

#3 – Organizing Necklaces
If your necklaces are in a tangled heap in a box or in a drawer, here’s a suggestion for you. In my closet I’ve hung one of those accordion-style wooden mug racks that has 13 pegs. Not only can I sort my necklaces by lengths, I can keep them tangle-free. Another advantage to this system is that I can see all of my necklaces at a glance – which makes it easier to select the right one.

#4 – A Restyling Tip
According to Deborah Mitchell, Senior Editor of Environmental Protections, “Collectively, Americans discard two quadrillion pounds (that’s a two with fifteen zeroes) of used clothing and textiles into the landfills each year.” Clothing made of quality fabrics can be restyled or recycled for you with the help of a seamstress. Often times a few changes can give an article of clothing a new look. Take it in, shorten it, take off the sleeves, make a top out of a dress. Be creative!

#5 – Einstein on Clothes
If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies. It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.
Albert Einstein

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Friday’s Fresh Five (12/11/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Gift Ideas, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, tagged , , , , , on December 11, 2009| 2 Comments »

The spirit of sharing and giving can be found everywhere.

#1 – Free Printable Gift Tags
There are many websites that provide free printable gift tags for all occasions. Just do a Google search for free printable gift tags and select the page that you want to print. Insert white card stock into your color printer, print, and cut out! Here’s a site that had cute Christmas tags.

#2 – Baking Tip
With holiday baking in full swing, consider this tip: Cookies will spread during baking if you’ve allowed the butter to get too soft, so refrigerate your dough for a couple of hours before baking. Bottom line: When putting a sheet of cookies into the oven to bake, the cooler the cookie dough, the less it will spread.

#3 – Looking for a Unique Gift That Gives Back?
My cousin Laurie is a high school principal. She, along with her daughters Alison and Kelly, and friend Nancy, an intervention specialist, have started a project called BeBuddies. Laurie and her team create one-of-a-kind, handmade BeBuddies. They are asking people to, “Please adopt one this holiday season and support youth who are finding ways to develop their skills and avoid further contact with the juvenile justice system. Every dollar from the sale of BeBuddies will bring resources to teens from 14-18 who are on probation.” Suggested adoption fee for a very cute and unique BeBuddy is $20.00. For more information email BeBuddies@gmail.com. Adopt a BeBuddy and help high-risk youth!

#4 – Christmas Tree Trivia – True or False
A. Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
B. It is considered bad luck to put up your Christmas tree before the 1st of December.
C. In the first week, a tree in your home will consume as much as a quart of water per day.
D. Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.
E. Thomas Edison’s assistants came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees.
F. Christmas trees generally take 6-8 years to mature.
G. You should never burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace. It can contribute to creosote buildup.

Answers: All true!

#5 – Perspectives on Stress From Catherine Pulsifer
When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter in 5 years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go.

Things could be a lot worse, the stress of the situation always could be worse, but I am alive and I have a lot to be thankful for – so I shall not waste my days with stress and frustrations – Life is too short!

I’m in a holidaze, but hope your holiday season is stress free!

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Friday’s Fresh Five (11/20/09)

Posted in Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Kids, Organization, Parenting, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The crisp air and clear blue skies were enough to lure me outside to enjoy the fall weather. This past weekend my husband and I paid visits to two of our favorite local produce haunts. Struble Ranch has just opened for the season with a bumper crop of mandarins and is located on one of the prettiest pieces of property around. Otow’s Orchard grows a multitude of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, but right now is selling fresh persimmons, hoshigaki (their famous dried persimmons), and winter squash. Wherever you live, please support your local growers.

#1 – Mandarin Oranges
According to Peggy Trowbridge Fillippone of About.com:
“Mandarin oranges” is a term that applies to an entire group of citrus fruits. This group, botanically classified as Citrus reticulata, includes such varieties as Satsuma, Clementine, Dancy, Honey, Pixie, and tangerines in general. Most are sweeter than their other citrus cousins (yet there are some tart varieties), have a bright orange skin that is easy to peel, and inner segments that are easily separated. There are seeded and seedless varieties.

Depending on the variety, mandarin oranges are in season from November through June in the Northern hemisphere, with peak season being December and January.

Select fruits that are unblemished and heavy for their size. Avoid those with cuts, soft spots, or mold. Bright color is not necessarily an indication of quality as some are dyed and some naturally have green patches even when fully ripe.

They may be stored in a cool, dark spot for a few days, but ideally should be refrigerated to extend shelf life up to two weeks.

#2 – Identifying Drinking Glasses
My kids are coming home for the Thanksgiving holidays, so the rubber bands are coming out of the kitchen drawer. Years ago I figured out a system to prevent my kids from reaching for new glasses every time they were thirsty. I purchased wide, colorful rubber bands and wrote my children’s names on the rubber bands. As soon as he/she took a glass out of the cabinet, his/her rubber band was slipped onto the glass immediately. This little trick continues to save me a lot of needless dishwashing!

#3 – Wearing Red This Holiday?
Here’s a tip straight from stylists Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, “We love red with silver as opposed to red and gold. The latter combo can look a little too much like a Christmas ornament. An alternative to metallic accessories would be another bright color; accents of violet or light blue look spectacular with a red dress . . . !”

#4 – Consider This
If a man has a talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know. Thomas Wolfe

#5 – Random Act of Kindness
Each of us must do our part to make the world a better place, so how about carrying out a little random act of kindness this weekend? It could be as simple as giving someone a complement. Here’s something I’ve done before: I’ve wrapped up cookies in cellophane, tied them with a ribbon, included a brief note of thanks and stuck them in my mailbox for my letter carrier to pick up.

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather and have a great weekend!

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Friday’s Fresh Five (11/6/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Community, Creativity, Handcrafted Cards, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, Kids, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2009| 2 Comments »

P1090106_1

#1 – Making Peace, Cards That Is
P1090113_1Being a flower child of the ’70s, I decided to make birthday cards for my sister-in-law and for a friend utilizing paper punches and scraps again, but this time designing them to be in the shape of peace signs. The heart-shaped peace sign was made by stacking large and small, flower-shaped punch-outs from Astrobright paper. The round traditional peace sign consisted of stars punched out of an outdated Hawaiian calender, then color grouped and mounted onto pearlized cream and lustrous aquamarine papers.

#2 – Leftover Halloween Candy Needed
I read an article in my local newspaper about different uses for leftover Halloween candy. The one suggestion that caught my eye was sending the candy to Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude will take the candy and put them together with other items to make care packages for American troops. Checking out the website: http://www.OperationGratitude.com, I found that not only did OG need our candy, but it also pleaded, “At this time, our most urgent need is for personal letters, hand-made scarves, Beanie Babies and financial donations to pay for postage.” If you send your candy to OG, why not include a few personal notes? The holidays are coming up for our soldiers, too.

The newspaper article mentions to ship candy by December 5th to:
Operation Gratitude/California
Army National Guard
17330 Victory Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Attn: Charlie Othold

#3 – Bet You Didn’t Know This?
I’m just a fountain of information today, but did you know that Ralph Macchio, the Karate Kid, turned 48 this week! This makes me feel old! My sons used to watch his movies and mimicked his famous “crane” move over and over again. And who could ever forget Mr. Miyagi’s “Wax on, wax off” martial arts lesson? Using that strategy didn’t help me back then, when I tried to get my sons to wash our car!

#4 – Are Store Brands As Good As Name Brands? – Bob’s Market Tip
Most of the time, yes. Generally, the quality is the same, but items are just labeled differently. Store brand items are packed by the same companies that pack major brands and store brands cost less because no promotion is needed and they come directly to the store from a warehouse, therefore requiring no middleman. Do not be afraid to experiment. If you find the product meets your standards, you can save a significant amount of money off of your annual grocery bill. Try performing blind taste tests at home to see if store brands taste better than the name brand products. Even Best Foods Real Mayonnaise is packed by a company that packs for private labels.

#5 – A Peace Quote by Jimi Hendrix

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

Peace to all this weekend.

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