THE MIGHTY MONARCHS
They begin to appear in Pacific Grove, CA, in October. These golden winged butterflies called Monarchs travel up to 2500 miles to get to the coastal areas of California and Mexico to winter over in ancient eucalyptus and pine groves. Now, as the temperatures rise, they begin to leave their warm clusters to mate and then begin their northern migration again, leaving their eggs on milkweed plants along the way.
I took my children to see the butterflies a couple of times. It is a magical thing to see. They cluster so thickly on the trees in some areas that the tree looks like it is made of their satiny wings. Their mating ritual causes them to fall to the ground, so the areas where they gather are protected to save them from being trampled by crowds of people. They seem to be otherwise unaware of our presence while under the influence of their driven life cycle.
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THE FEBRUARY BLUES
So I am dashing to the car through a thick rain of juicy drops, holding my green reusable shopping bags over my head, balancing my hot tea, purse and tote. I leap over the gutter that has become a wide stream – hoping that I didn’t lock the car because having to pull out my keys would throw me into the downpour.
I manage to get settled into the car, wipers going, radio on and the news tells me that the East Coast is being hit by snow and ice. My daughter is in school in Philadelphia. At first when she went East, being a California girl, she would call me at the
first sign of a snow flake. Now she is not so amused by it.
But I left a message on her cell phone to tell her to stay warm and have a nice weekend, that it was storming here, too, and that Spring will come.
Right?
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KYLE
Today is Kyle’s birthday! We will have a little lunch celebration with cake. Chocolate, of course. Her favorite thing.
She also loves to read so I am giving her a book I know she will like. It is called “The Female Brain.” Anyone with daughters, mothers, sisters or wives should read this fascinating book.
Kyle will also do one of her favorite things today and that is work, work, work to make her business even better for her customers!
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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
This year has not been a great one for me so far. I managed to catch the 30 day 
cold, the 24 hour stomach flu, I had to have gum surgery and now I have pink eye (compliments of my daughter.) I am not happy. I am usually the one who rises above all this germiness. But, as someone pointed out sooo nicely, I am getting older and, well…
As soo
n as I can chew and run around and see out of non-itchy eyes again – I am going on a health binge. Back to the gym, take vitamins, eat more veggies watch the fat, wash, wash, wash my hands and go for a walk every night.
Enough is enough.
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PRESIDENTS AND SYMBOLIC CHERRIES
We have a 3 day weekend to celebrate President’s Day. And it is also National Ch
erry Month. We all know the story of George Washington and the cherry tree, so it is appropriate that the cherry is celebrated during the month of his birth, even though they are not ripe and ready to eat for several months. But the story isn’t really about the cherries anyway.
When we think of our presidents, some are definitely more memorable than others, but even the memorable ones don’t necessarily have an iconic symbol of their life and achievements or personalities. We don’t have National Stovepipe Hat Day for Lincoln or National Jelly Bean Day for Reagan. Now it seems we remember the foibles more than the historic moments.
The media intrusion into the presidency has stolen away the opportunity for those old fashion stories and fables to develop. I am sorry that my kids won’t see our country through the eyes I had in my childhood – Kennedy was a war hero and his Presidency was like a modern Camelot. It was so uplifting and positive. And FDR before him was beloved and saved our country from ruin.
It may not have been completely true, but neither was the cherry tree story. And in the long run, which story has been better for our country?
WEAR A CONDOM FOR YOUR VALENTINE
For good reason the American Social Health Association (ASHA) has named February 14 “National Condom Day.” According to ASHA there are 19 million new cases of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), and half of those are found in people under 25.
“Research continues to demonstrate that condoms, used consistently and correctly, are one of the best tools in the prevention of STDs, including HIV,” asserts James R. Allen, MD, MPH, ASHA’s President & CEO.
The best prevention tool of all is education: “We believe in honest, frank discussions about sexual health, and have developed an array of materials to help people make informed decisions. One of the biggest reported hurdles to safer sex is negotiating condom use with partners, and says ASHA’s Web site has a special page with tips on talking with partners.
Many other family planning and health organizations are also promoting the Valentine’s Day tie-in, urging lovers of all ages to ‘say it with flowers, do it with condoms’. I have been very open with my children about condom use, and have made them conscious of the very real and life long damage that “just one time” can cause. My twins (in their 2o’s) have personalized condom cases which I gave to them.
So have a Happy VD-less Valentine’s Day!
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MORE MUSIC THAN THE GRAMMIES
My husband is a musical guy. He can play piano by ear and read music and is a guitar
enthusiast. Meaning he owns and plays multitudes of guitars, has amps, pick-ups, peddles and all kids of other guitar stuff. He buys guitars, plays them, fixes them up and then sells them to buy more guitars with which he follows the same routine. Right now we have 5 guitars hanging on the wall and 2 on stands on the floor and one in the garage in pieces. He listens to a lot of music and watches music videos and downloads “tabs” which are sheet music for guitar. He especially likes the style of John Mayer and always looks for his performances. We saw him on the Grammy Awards last night.
As a completely unmusical person, I had hope that this musicality would pass on to our children. Not the obsession with tearing instruments into pieces, but the playing music part. Our oldest daughter showed a lot of 
interest in the piano until we bought one. She showed some spark of interest in playing the guitar until we bought her one. Her dad says she keeps it for boy bait. Our son wanted to learn bass guitar and practiced and practiced but managed to learn part of one song. He was invited to practice with a friend’s band once – and that was that. I think he sold it to buy a bike.
Our youngest daughter was a maniac about music. We bought her a little purple guitar but her hands weren’t big enough to play. She wanted piano lessons from the time she was very little. We talked a teacher into taking her on a trial basis when she was 6 – and she did great. The teacher expressed so much happiness at having such a bright
, motivated student. She practiced without complaint, ran through the lesson books with great speed and skill. After 4 years when it started to get harder and harder, she lost patience and interest in learning more. She decided she knew enough and stopped the lessons.
A couple of years later we moved to a smaller house and gave the piano to my sister. Her 3 girls are taking lessons. I hope that one of them sticks with it. I have a nephew who has been playing the viola for some years but he seems to be the only one who has gone into high school playing an instrument.
Funny that so man
y kids given the opportunity don’t want to put the time and energy into playing, and so many adults find so much pleasure in musical instruments. My husband has a new friend and they have bonded through music. His friend has a very fancy drum set, but wanted to learn guitar. They talk and e-mail all the time about music. I think it’s great that he finally found someone to share this love and knowledge with.
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GIFTS FOR THE VALENTINE IMPAIRED
We all have different ways of expressing our love. Some people can write and speak with eloquence. They pen a lovely card or poem. Some people are artistic, they craft a lacey handmade valentine, knit a cashmere sweater or draw a perfect likeness of their beloved. Some people have a great talent for romance, they strew rose petals and peel grapes and I don’t want to say what else.
Me? None of the above. The best I ever come up with is a heart shaped meatloaf with catchup frosting.
So here are some Valentine Gift ideas for people like me.
HOW DO I MEASURE MY LOVE?
We have some great little measuring tapes – you can choose from nearly 200 designs and they can be engraved. 
We also have some rulers which have a jaunty tassels.
I AM HOT FOR YOU!
Our flames design can be added to everything from a key tag to a flask. Engrave something spicy on an item with our chili pepper design. Or maybe the sun design is the 
one to express the burning hotness of your love?
My new favorite is the fireworks theme – remember when they faded to fireworks when things started to get hot on film? Or waves crashing on the beach…
THE KING OF THE CASTLE – THE QUEEN OF MY HEART
You can never go wrong by dubbing your beloved as royalty. We have a lovely crown design that works well for kings, queens, princes and princesses of all sorts. We even have a poker design for all the royal suits.
IF I COULD I WOULD
You know – If I could give you (fill in the blank) I would kinds of gifts – little tokens to represent the big thought. I would give you the world, I would fly us to the stars, I would sail the seven seas.
I would shower you with diamonds, I would buy you the car of your dreams. We would run away to a tropical vacation.
You get the picture – Just cruise around the web site and let your imagination run a little wild and you will be able to come up with the right loving gift for the right person.
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BEATLES MESSAGE OF PEACE BEAMED THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE
At first I thought it was too late to post about this event- then I realized that I have 431 light years before the event is actually over. NASA was convinced to stop their monotonous attempts to contact alien life by a Beatles fan. “At the moment we are sending up Morse code as a way of contacting aliens,” Martin Lewis told BBC radio. “Maybe we should send them something a little more cheery.”
So at midnight Monday February 4, the Beatles peace anthem
“Across the Universe” was beamed at the North Star and will travel at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Fans were asked to play the song at the same moment to create a harmonic convergence around planet Earth and the Universe. That part I missed, but you can see the website here.
Check out our gifts related to the universe, peace and harmony. Aslo see ideas for the aliens and those who love them.
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NEW ADVENTURES IN EYEWEAR
That would have been the end of it, but she pointed out that we never did replace 
her glasses when she switched to contacts. She got them when she was 9. She is now 14. They are little oval pink glasses with the Barbie logo. She declared that she will not go to school in those glasses.
Being a cruel, uncaring (budget strapped) mother I didn’t care that the little pink glasses looked ridiculous. However, being a kind, conscientious (budget strapped) mother, I realized that we had not replaced her glasses through 2 prescription changes and she wouldn’t be able to make it through a week of school with such reduced vision.
Next stop, the optometrist. She was again lectured about sleeping in contacts and given 
her new correction. We proceeded to choose the new glasses. I could not believe the cost of the frames!! There didn’t seem to be anything under $150.00 except the on the discount shelf and even I couldn’t find anything remotely passable there. But she found some frames she really likes and they look good and I got a discount on the lenses due to our AAA membership. She got together with some friends and they all thought her glasses were cool – at least I think that’s what it means when they say she looked “very Starbucks”. So she went off to school in her pink and black glasses with a Ralph Lauren logo. All grown up.
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See our Squidoo page for more eyewear gifts and ideas.
My Art Filled Life 