Renaissance Festival cometh

Hear Ye, hear ye, Lords and Ladies
The 17th Annual Florida Renaissance Festival and Artisan Village returns to Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach. For 5 weekends, February 7 - March 8, you can browse the village, cheer battling knights, applaud performers, feast on hearty food, and play games of chance! It's always a good time, and when you visit their site you can print tickets from home! Huzzah!

Miami is most popular

A Pew Research Center survey has found that more than 1 in 4 Americans would like to live in Miami. The numero uno reason Miami was picked by more than 1 in 4... the weather! Go figure.

In fact, even now as I look at the current temperatures in these United States, we still have the best weather around. Enjoy your sunny, cool weekend and know you are the envy of more than 1 in 4 Americans; well, at least for where you live!

The Cult of Snuggie-ality

You've seen the commercials, it's a blanket with sleeves known as the 'Snuggie'. Since Snuggies went on sale in August, over 4 million have been sold. But wait, that's not all - there seems to be a risin', a cult following for the fleece blanket; from Facebook postings, to countless You Tube parodies, to Snuggie drinking games, to a site dedicated to Snuggie sightings! You can purchase Snuggies online or in stores that have an "as seen on TV" section, such as Walgreens.



We are easily amused, aren't we?
If you have one of these, let me know if they're really all that. It would seem that without something to fasten the Snuggie in back, the thing would keep slipping off your shoulders; and constantly having to scrunch it back up would get really annoying after a while. Am I wrong?

Presidential products

Never... never ever do I remember a Presidential family so marketed with products. First there's the President Obama plates and coins, then the Chia Obama; now, the Ty Co. has come up with two new Beanie Babies - Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia - not due to any resemblance to the first family says the company, but because they're beautiful names... riiiight!
Turns out our first lady is none too pleased with the dolls. “We believe it is inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes,” Ms. Obama’s spokeswoman said.
What do you think?

There's even a R-rated President Obama product. So naughty, in fact, that I can't put the link to it here.

And then there's the Ashford and Simpson remake of "Solid (As A Rock)" into "Solid As Barack"!
Yes, you can see the video, and you can purchase the song for 99 cents!

Fun with roman numerals

If there can be such a thing! Every time the Olympics and/or Super Bowl comes around, it's a trip to the far crevasse of your cranial matter - the section that was taught about roman numerals.... or do you just wait for the sportscaster to translate what the Games of the XXIX Olympiad or Super Bowl XLIII mean?
As long as you have a basic knowledge of which letter represents which number, it's cake! Lower number in front of higher number you subtract, lower number behind, you add.
VIII = 5+3 = 8
IX = 10-1 = 9
XL = 50-10 = 40
XC = 100-10 = 90
MCMLXXXIV = 1000+(1000-100)+50+30+(5-1) = 1984
It's really not a hard as it may appear, and by the way, it's the 29th Olympiad and
Super Bowl 43.

Now pass the quesadillas, please.

Kudos, Claudine Ryce!

Claudine Ryce. Many of us knew of her but did not know her. What I remember was her overwhelming sorrow, grace and strength after the disappearance and, ultimately, murder of her son Jimmy at the hands of a predator. She suffered a 9/11 before any of us could fathom the term; it was on that date in 1995 her 9-year old son went missing. After Jimmy's death, both Claudine and Don Ryce have worked tirelessly for children's rights. The Ryce's helped get sex predator legislation passed, worked with law enforcement agencies to use bloodhounds to search for missing kids, urged then-President Clinton to sign an executive order to allow photos of missing children to be posted, and opened the Jimmy Ryce Center, which helps teach kids how to escape from predators.

Claudine passed away last week from an apparent heart attack. She was only 66-years old. Yesterday, she was laid to rest next to Jimmy, at Woodlawn Park South Cemetery.


If you'd like to leave a message on Claudine Ryce's guestbook....
If you'd like to make a donation to the cause in Claudine's name...

Girl Scout peanut butter okay!

Girl Scout cookies are on sale and two of the flavors, Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs, are made with peanut butter. The Girl Scouts want you to know that both flavors are okay to eat - the peanut butter used has no connection to the recalled stuff! Use the cookie locator to find a Thin Mint near you!

Custom made trail mix

You know how that goes... you buy a bag of trail mix and you like everything except that (throwing out sound effect) and that (ditto). Wouldn't it be great if you could have your granola and eat it all, too? For instance, maybe dried strawberries and raspberries, pistachios, organic peanuts, sesame sticks, honey smacks, peanut butter pretzel bites, and none of the stuff you don't like? Well, thanks to 2 guys in Miami, you can mix your mix any way you like! Mix My Granola offers a veritable potpourri of delectable options, all the while tallying the carbs, protein, and overall nutrition of your mix.
They also have pre-mixed options, including the Mega Superbowl Granola mix. There is a $4.99 flat fee for shipping, which is a pretty good deal.