Safety testing legislation and it's impact on small business

New safety testing legislation going into effect in February is great
... but will have a negative impact on small business at a time when we
need them the most.

Follow this link to read more and maybe help:
http://onegoodie.com/blog/2008/12/30/not-goodie-not-goodie-at-all-but-th
ere-is-a-giveaway/

Horoscope for the week

I asked the cards: what can I expect this week

The card represents the critical factor for the issue at hand. The High Priest: Mercy. Kindness. Goodness. Forgiveness. Inspiration. Compassion. Servitude. Overt reserve. Captivity to one's own ideas. Tendency to cling to ideas and principles even if outdated. A person to whom one has recourse. Conformity. A religious r spiritual leader. A person with a sense of historical importance.

Also, I figure I'm using http://www.facade.com/tarot to ask the cards, so here is a little info about the spread I used and how you can get your own set.

The One Card spread is the most concise of all spreads, intended to provide a quick take on a situation, or to reduce it to a single point of meditation. The Cat People Tarot paints a picture of faraway lands trod by mystical archetypes and their feline companions. This deck is a perfect tool for dreamers and idealists, and is a great choice for divining the nature of human imagination. If you would like your own copy of the Cat People Tarot, you can buy it now!

Horoscope for 12/26/2008

Scary how this was right on today...


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December 26, 2008 Daily Libra horoscope:
You are normally very good at concentrating and getting your chores done, even when chaos reigns around you. This will likely not be the case today, though, dear Libra. Even you will come under the influence of the erratic. It's simply too hard to get much done with all the commotion and confusion. Don't fret about your lack of productivity. This is merely one day. You may as well give in to it. Relax, have some fun. Tomorrow you can get down to work.

Horoscope for 12/25/2008

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December 25, 2008 Daily Libra horoscope:
Tension may be running high today as things come to a great emotional climax. It may seem as if everyone is out to get you, dear Libra, but more than likely, this paranoia is simply a figment of your imagination. Don't get carried away with crazy scenarios that have no basis in reality. People are apt to be acting out in an animalistic manner, so don't be surprised if reason and logic are nowhere to be found.

Wil Wheaton's Greatest Hits...

Amusing Article... www.nerve.com -Wil Wheaton's Greatest Hits

Tarot for the day...

I asked the cards what today held for me...

The card represents the critical factor for the issue at hand. Queen of Swords: Sharp, quick-witted, keen person. Intense perceptions. A subtle person. May signify a widow or woman of sadness. Mourning. Privation. Absence. Loneliness. Separation. One who has savored great happiness but who presently knows the anxiety of misfortune and reversal.

RIP Grams

Remedios Herrera Quintanilla

02/26/1934 to 12/16/2008

Rest in Peace Grams, no more pain.

I had a rude awakening this morning...

and I just hope that this conviction stays with me. The "rude
awakening"? Well, I opened my closets (which is filled with clothes) to
find something to wear to work this morning. NOTHING fit me, and some of
the clothes are recent additions and so are larger sizes than what I
used to be. That right there tells me that I've let my weight get out of
control and enough is enough.

Tarot for the week...

The card represents the critical factor for the issue at hand. Ace of Wands: Creation. Beginning. Invention. Start of an undertaking. Fortune. Enterprise. Gain. Inheritance. Birth of a child. Beginning of a meaningful experience. An adventure. Escapade.

Humor: Christmas Story

So that's where it came from!! :)

I received this as an email at work. I decided to share.

*~*~*~*~*
When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce
toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the
Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which
stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were
about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out,
Heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked,
the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot
of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank
all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally
dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces
all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice
had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door,
yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big
Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa.
Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would
you like me to stick it?'

...And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the
Christmas tree.

Face Memory Test

Face Memory Test: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/tmt/

My results:

Recognition score (if you saw it) 

Your score: 100%
Average score: 92%

This is a measure of your ability to remember the photos you've seen,
regardless of the part in which you saw them. From all 24 photos shown
in Parts 1 & 2, you recognized: 24 photo(s).

Temporal memory score (when you saw it) 

Your score: 95%
Average score: 68%

This is a measure of how often you recognized a photo and matched it to
the correct part, instead of just remembering which ones you'd seen.
From all the photos you recognized, you matched: 23 photo(s) to the
correct part.

Sleep scientists say that:
- Recognition memory for faces is unaffected by sleep loss. A person who
has not slept for as much as 35 hours can perform as well as someone who
is not sleep deprived.
- The area of the brain that controls temporal memory can be affected by
prolonged sleep loss and/or ageing. So a healthy 65 year old who sleeps
normally would be able to perform this test similarly to a 20 year old
who has gone without sleep for 36 hours.

...

Winterborn, by Crüxshadows

"In the fury of this darkest hour,
I will be your light.
You've asked me for my sacrifice,
And I am Winter Born.

Another "interesting" Internet related news article

What's next?

This article was @ SacBee.com's website:
http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/1445792.html
The title? "Internet "terms of service" may open cyberspace can of
worms"

It was sparked after the story of Lori Drew who was accused of posing as
a teen on MySpace and being part of a "hoax" that led to the
suicide-death of Megan Meier back in 2006. If you don't know anything
about this ... just google either person.

Oh, and as the above article on SacBee's website suggests, if you're a
minor, don't listen to me. :)

Things do eventually get easier over time...

I was thinking this morning as I was taking my supplements, they're a
lot easier to take now then they were when I first started.

I remember when I first started taking these herbal supplements; I used
to gag most of the time. A couple times, I'd even chock on them. I've
never been a pill taker, I used to actually have to put them down my
throat and then hurry and drink water to make them go down. Growing up,
my mom used to crush them on a spoon for me.

What makes these herbal supplements a little more difficult to take is
that a couple of them have a weird taste when activated by my saliva,
it's almost like they warm up. (Not sure how else to explain what
happens).

Well, now I don't find I'm having any problems. I toss the pill in my
mouth and drink some water and BAMPH! I've taken the pill.

And it's a good thing too because I've increased the number of pills I'm
taking. One of the supplements from Herbal Life I'm taking is "Cell
Activator". One of the main things it's supposed to do is give me
increased energy. Before, I was only taking 1 pill 3 times a day
(actually, usually only two times because I tend to forget to take them
at dinner). I remember that I'd find myself so tired during the day and
couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Well, the bottle suggests 1 to 3 pills 3 times a day. I'm going to start
out taking 3 in the morning and afternoon and 1 at dinner. We'll see how
it goes for a week or two and go from there. I don't want to take all
three at dinner because I'm afraid I'll have too much energy and not be
able to fall asleep. I've already held back on adding protein because I
sometimes have a hard time staying on track and eating breakfast and/or
lunch because I'm just not hungry.

the only downside...

...to this diet is that I drink A LOT of liquids. There are my two
shakes (breakfast and lunch), the eight glasses of water I have to drink
at a minimum, and then anything else I may drink during the day.
Generally, this is just coffee in the morning and one can of diet,
non-caffeinated soda at night. I could give up the coffee and soda, but
then where is the fun in that?

Trying again...

It starts again today... even though I feel like the boy who cried wolf.
I stepped on my Wii Fit and was happily surprised to see that while I
wasn't drinking my shakes and taking my supplements, I was still doing
well enough that I lost weight over the last time I stepped on the
scale. This after the Thanksgiving Holiday! :)

So I'm down 3.6lbs from the last time I weighed in (yes, over a month
ago). I started a new goal today, and the plan is to drop under the 300
mark in a month. I set my goal for 15lbs even though I'm currently only
less than 14lbs over the mark. I figure it's a nice round number. :)

Kitties and lolipops

As most of you know, after many years as a smoker, and a couple tries already, my husband has once again tried to quit smoking. We actually went to a "Quit Smoking Seminar" and he's trying something other than the patch right now. He has moments where he REALLY wants a cig, but he's doing good. So, to try and help him out, just before Halloween I bought a large bag of lolipops. Their the "dum dum" kind because they're small and conceivably, he can talk with one in his mouth. He got tired of the lolipops quick, and generally chews gum when he has a craving attack. So the bag sat on the counter since halloween. He'd take a couple a week to work just in case, but about half the bag is still there. So I started noticing random lolipops around the apartment, and at one point, Monster was playing with one under my husband's computer. She'd even found a way to unwrap a couple (but they didn't look like she'd licked them or anything). It was now obvious what was going on, but he bag look undisturbed so we were sure exactly what was going on. So yesterday I placed the bag on top of the fridge while cleaning (the cleaning part actually as an explanation, which I will share in another post). While I was taking a break and upstairs, my husband was downstairs snacking on leftovers. He comes back up and says to me "The top of the fridge isn't a safe place for the lolipops." I looked at him like "What?" and asked if they had fallen off. He said no, that Monster had jumped up to the top of the fridge, very carefully pulled ONE lolipop out of the bag, dropped it to the ground and hopped down after it.