ADHD
Just read an article about five foods that
should be avoided by people with ADHD.
Truthfully, it seems like these five foods should be avoided by
They are: sugar, salt, caffeine, hydrogenated oils, and additives.
Important
Information for Parents
I think this is worth being aware of. The Snopes article
explaining the truth of the "dust off" story.
Fun Stuff
Totally cool video of underwater marvels.
This is just a fun clip of a golden retriever puppy learning to
enjoy snow.
Here
are two heart-warming videos of reunions.
The first is the reunion of a lion with the two men who
raised him as a cub. Here's a webpage with the story. And the second one is a reunion of a lion with the lady
found a wounded and malnourished lion on the verge of dying in the forest. She
took him to her house and nursed him back to health. When the lion recovered,
the woman sent him to his new home, an animal sanctuary. This video was filmed when the woman went to
visit the lion six years later.
And five ragdoll
kittens playing on a cat structure. (Not as heart-warming as lion love but still
entertaining.)
Helpful
Stuff for Beaders
Here are two links I think some people may want
to bookmark. This one has all kinds of charts
and tables on measurement conversions, etc.
And this one has a great glossary and useful charts
and tables.
Some News
That is Actually Uplifting
Just one more reason (like we needed more… ha!)
to love Johnny Depp. (Yes, if it's red,
underlined, and bold… click on it J)
A
POEM ABOUT OUR GIRLFRIENDS
Someone will always be prettier.
Someone will always be smarter.
Some of their houses will be bigger.
Some will drive a better car.
Their children will do better in school.
And their husband will fix more things
around the house.
So let it go, and love you and your
circumstances.
Think about it!
The prettiest woman in the world can have
hell in her heart.
And the most highly favored woman on your
job may be unable to have children.
And the richest woman you know, she's got the
car, the house, the clothes~~~~ might be lonely.
And the word says, 'If I have not Love, I
am nothing.'
So, again, love you.
Love who you are.
Look in the mirror in the morning and smile and
say,
'I am too Blessed to be
Stressed and too Anointed to be Disappointed!'
'Winners make things happen~~ Losers let things
happen.'
Be 'Blessed' Ladies~~~~~ and pass this on
to encourage another woman.
'To the world you might be one person, but
to the one person you just sent this to, it could mean so much.'
(Thanks L!)
Check it Out
I
recently happened to catch a small post on the SRAJD forum about one of our
members having a sale. Wow, I am SO GLAD
I went to check it out. I just got the
goodies in the mail today and WOW!!! Let
me share her with you now: Crafts by Chris
Wanna see a couple of other really cool sites? This person paints on maps… you must see their
work. And this one does paper cut-outs.
Upcoming Project
Oh,
I'm totally excited about receiving an email from someone I sent a note to the
other day (although he sounds as busy as I am).
I mentioned to you that I wanted to do a series of jewelry based on the
paintings of Lady Frieda Harris. Well,
this guy, Claas Hoffmann, wrote an article and posted
it to the internet. It's: Projective Synthetic Geometry in
Lady Frieda Harris' Tarot Paintings and in Aleister
Crowley's Book of the Law. Boy, after reading that I'm even MORE excited
about starting this project. Of course,
holding and looking at the cards, I feel a smidge intimidated. I mean, I'm used to being an intuitive
artist/creator… I'm not used to following any kind of pre-thoughtout
ideas, plans, or designs. Keep your
fingers crossed!
Feng Shui
So
I'm reading another book on the subject (did I already mention that?). And there's an interesting part about
teens. One, the book says if they want
to surround themselves with the color black, let 'em. Black is an introspective color and it
probably means they're trying to learn about themselves. The other thing I found interesting in light
of the fact that most if not all of Feng Shui is about rules and certain ways things need to be,
etc. It said let teens arrange their
furniture and their surroundings any way they like, regardless of good Feng Shui placement and order.
Also,
I don't have the book on me at the moment (and I'm not the best paraphraser), but I wanted to mention a part that really
Oh, Sharon Peters posted some funny YouTube links in Lampwork Etc today. I jotted them down and added a couple other
ones, but don't recall which are which…
Make sure your volume is on for these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqiw-Kqtlr0&feature=bz302
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=964uCtgsDoE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYuX1rFOMvM&feature=bz303
Musing
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): The 19th-century German philosopher is renowned for his pessimistic view of life as defined by needless suffering and the primacy of human desire over the intellect. But he saw the possibility for salvation from this miserable existence through ascetic living, an appreciation of art, and charity for fellow man ("loving kindness", in his words). The two enemies of human happiness are "pain and boredom", he wrote. The symptom of unhappiness is the pursuit of wealth, he believed.
Neat Stuff Pointed Out
to Me By Other Internet People
Totally awesome mural! (çclick there)
This mural was unveiled last week at the Cochrane Ranche House. Each tile is 1 foot square, is it's own individual picture and each is by a different
artist. All of them together form this huge mural. You can click on each of the
tiles to see them in detail. Check out the horse's eye.
Lazy Cat (çclick there)
Not Lazy Cats (çclick there)
Hilarious
Cats on Treadmills
In the News
I
tell ya, I can't fathom a 7.7 earthquake. And yet, there was just one in
Yesterday
I heard that more Veterans committed suicide in 2005 than all U.S. Soldiers had
been killed in the
And
just so you don't think all news is bad news, here is some good news in the
news: An Albuquerque hospital and several of its
surgeons donated life-saving surgery to a Kosovo toddler. Now, the 2-year-old
and her mom are heading home.
Hey,
here's one that's serendipitous (because I purchased from them a few months
ago): Poor Ugandan women who were living on the streets begging for food, have
now turned their lives around after joining BeadForLife,
a small Colorado-based nonprofit group dedicated to eliminating poverty through
handcrafts.
In
a beautiful story, an unnamed 'friend' gives $100 million to the struggling old
industrial city of
A
surfer in
The
producers of MythBusters said they plan to present Julian Shaw with merchandise
in a "hero pack" to honor his good deed." The 14-year-old punk
rocker used what he had learned from the TV series MythBusters to save a
54-year-old from a freight train (link).
Okay,
off to do other things now. Will try to
talk more soon!
Dove's Perception of Beauty Video
Now,
have a look at some popular "before and after" photos and you'll see
that without the make-up, the air-brushing, and the expensive outfits… most of
today's celebs look very much like people you see
every day.
Dove's Perception of Beauty Video
Now,
have a look at some popular "before and after" photos and you'll see
that without the make-up, the air-brushing, and the expensive outfits… most of
today's celebs look very much like people you see
every day.
1.
Added more hair
2.
Got rid of her crow's feet
3.
Thinned out the cheeks
4.
Decreased the depth of mouth lines
5.
Removed shadows and lines from neck
6.
Removed part of her back
7.
Removed clavicle
8.
Removed the fat from under her armpit
9.
Added an arm
10.
Chopped her butt from the photo
11.
Skinnied up her arm, removed her tan, and removed the
moles from her upper arm
Are
we having fun yet?
Wouldn't
it be sinful to let men think women are SUPPOSED to have pores?
Heaven forbid anyone find out this gorgeous beauty has the teeniest,
tiniest bags under her eyes. Eek!
She's
14. Did she need virtual implants?
Hey look! Real
women!!!
So please, women and girls, feel
good about yourself and do not try to reach a non-existent standard. Don't worry about
what men think or feel regarding women's looks; worry about what YOU think and
feel regarding women's looks.
Oh,
and I found this great website for pregnant women or women who ever were
pregnant or anyone else who just wants to be ejamacated
to reality.
I
have to share some photos from a link on one of the threads about odd
animals...
Leafy seadragon
Komondor Dog
Angora Rabbit
Red Panda (I totally want
one!!!)
Emperor Tamarin
Star-nosed Mole
Axolotl
Aye-aye
Tarsier
Dumbo Octopus
Sucker-footed Bat
Blobfish
Yeti Crab
Those
of you who know me well, know that I study Buddhist
philosophies. And I said
"philosophies" because I just can't come to grips with the idea of
"religion"... any religion.
There are so many that have philosophies that I agree with, but what I
see put into practice that is supposed to represent these organized
religions... well, it's nothing that "clicks" with me. I tend to be a very "gut-level"
person—do things mostly by intuition, and so if something doesn't feel precisely
right to me, I'm not that interested in it.
Doesn't mean I won't be interested in it at a later date, though. I embrace the idea that any of us can change
how we think and/or feel about anything at any given time.
So
anyway, I decided to read a bit about Taoism.
And from the little bit that I've read so far, it seems pretty "up
my alley", so to speak.
I
think I'm going to have to (soon or eventually) decide, however, if I believe
in the randomness of the universe (chaos?) or if I believe in
Fate/destiny. Can there be something in
between those?
It's
really pretty depressing to believe in a random universe, and yet that is
currently what my heart/head tells me makes the most sense.
At
the other end of the scale is Fate or destiny.
I can't wrap my logic around the idea that "things happen because
they're supposed to happen". Not to
an extreme extent, anyway.
I
think, perhaps, I'm searching for the middle ground. Something that states that the universe is
not as chaotic as I believe it is, but our lives also are not plotted out for
us either. Instead, it'd be more like:
there is an underlying order to the universe, not as in Fate or destiny, but
more like puzzle pieces that fit together well.
And when you go WITH the flow, things work out better for you; and when
you go AGAINST the flow, life is harder for you.
I
don't know. I guess I just have to keep
studying, musing, and living. Don't know
if I'll ever know... the answers to my questions. I am not even convinced I'll have any answers
when I die. I mean, if I can't
comprehend what a soul is and/or how our thoughts are related to anything that
lives on beyond this life, then maybe all this musing is beyond retarded. And yet, at that point I have to ask myself:
Why would we HAVE the ability to muse like this if not for a reason? Wha IS man's purpose?
The
whole Tao thing, though, seems a bit in contrast to Nietzsche and maybe even
Darwinism (but I guess that would be a little more on how one interprets
"survival of the fittest").
By
the way, Mom, that section you had me listen to on the
cassette tape is Taoist through and through: Winning a fight by giving in.
Now
here's something from the Tao that I (personally) believe is true and very
important: Rigid behavior will kill you.
When
alive, the body is supple, yielding. In death, the body becomes hard,
unyielding.
Living plants are flexible; in death, they become dry and brittle.
Stubborn
people are disciples of death, but flexible people are disciples of life.
In
the same way, inflexible soldiers cannot win (a victory).
And the hardest trees are readiest for an axe to chop them down.
Oh,
now here's a Taoist thought that I really need to embrace: One should plan in
advance and consider carefully each action before making it.
I
thought I'd share a couple of really cool internet resources with my friends. These are things I find very handy; maybe you
will too:
Beads Per Inch Chart: Tells you how many beads
there are in a strand. Very helpful for quick "price per bead" calculations. Example: 8mm beads in a 16" stand = 51
beads. So if I'm considering buying a
16" strand of 8mm Smoky Quartz beads at $40, I now know that each bead
costs about 78 cents ($40 divided by 51 beads).
And that can help me comparison shop.
Shape Chart: Shows diagrams and
photos of various common bead shapes.
Swarovski Shape Chart: Shows diagrams and photos of various Swarovski
bead shapes.
Gemstone
Information: Although the internet has a plethora of sites dedicated to
gemstone information, this one by Rings-Things is comprehensive and easy to use.
Some
information on Metals: Articles on solder, base metal, precious
metals, allergies, plating, and more.
Stringing
and Threads: Articles on wire, cord, elastic, and more.
Swarovski Color Chart: Again, there are many
Swarovski color charts available via the internet, but this is one of my
favorites.
So, I'm listening to John Madden
on KCBS the other day (okay, probably more like a few weeks ago). They were discussing that ref in basketball
who was found out to be betting on games and therefore making calls that might
really have had nothing to do with reality, but more to do with his
wallet. Anyway, I'm thinking, if an
athlete knew ahead of time that the outcome of the game was already
determined... if he knew for a fact that it was decided ahead of time who would
win and who would lose, would he still be interested in playing the game?
And THAT brought me to the thought
of: How is this different from those who believe (strongly) in fate and/or
destiny? What is the fun of playing the
game if your actions really have no affect on the outcome?