Have fun, eat lots, and pass out from too much tryptophane!

I will be doing a major site update soon...it's about time I get the "shop" portion of this site up and running. I have a fair amount of necklaces and deco�page-y goodness to retail via paypal!

Yum.....this link I found today for craft supplies is TASTY !
Such heaven for a decoupage queen like myself.

Make sure you scroll down when you get there to see the goodies.

Visit Somersetstudio.com

Happiness for sure is a late night excursion to Barnes & Noble...

I recommend purchasing a tall peppermint latte with whipped cream & holiday sprinkles on top from Starbucks...it heightens the experience. The well designed cup also doubles as an accessory.

You will find yourself buying things that you don't necessarily need, but in the heightened peppermint mode you can't resist the temptation that books like "stitch & bitch" and "to the other side and back" hold.

You may even find yourself looking through a Sark book. Something so simple, in fact it's written in pen. There you stand angered then enlightened. Why the hell, didn't I think of that?!

Recently, I've taken up knitting.

I started this boucl� scarf back in August, which in the end is being worn as a capelet (inspired by the designs at Anthropologie ).

After many late nights with my fingers madly knitting, half watching/ half listening to movies warm in my bed...it's finished! And I couldn't be happier with the result!

The natural progression here, is to learn a new stitch...this one was made soley using the "knit" one. I should really learn how to purl...or try the garter stitch.

After recently purchasing a really wonderful book called "weekend knitting" I want to buy some funky wool yarn in rainbow colors to knit a small clutch. This book has instructions on how to make a felted one. It looks really easy. You just keep washing the knitted yarn (the ones that warn you not to machine wash) and after all is said and done, you add a zipper, and maybe sew on some rhinestones or beads if you're feeling really snazzy. Next time....

The introduction to Ellen's new book...because it made me laugh...and I want to pass on the joy.

An introduction from the author

Hello, and welcome to my new book. Please make yourself at home while you read it: Take off your shoes, loosen your pants, make those funny at-home faces that we all make. Be comfortable. On the other hand, if you're reading this in a more public place -- a plane, a train, a jurors' box during a trial -- it might serve you better to be a little less comfortable. Oh, and if you're reading this while you're driving, PUT THE BOOK AWAY! YOU'RE DRIVING, FOR PETE'S SAKE! But wherever you're reading this book, please remember to turn off your cell phone and that the taking of flash photographs is strictly forbidden.

Now, you may want to know why I'm writing this book. Well, there are a number of very good reasons, most of which I forgot the moment I sat down to write. I have a vague recollection of losing a bet to Al Roker, so that may be one of the reasons. Also, I don't have anything to do for a year as I wait to start my new talk show. People have suggested that I simply enjoy the time off -- I'll be wishing for this next year. People (different people -- not the same ones) have also suggested I read books.

The fact is, I'd rather write a book than read a book. It's like reading, only you get paid for it. Otherwise, it has all the same elements. I don't know what's on the next page. It's suspenseful, yet I can control where it goes. It's like interactive reading. Besides, I've already read books. A lot of them. Well, definitely more than seven.

One thing that you should know if you ever get tired of reading books and decide to write one on your own (I would suggest doing this only and I mean only after you finish this book): Writing a book is hard work. You can't just sit there staring at the computer screen and wait for words to magically appear. Believe me -- I tried doing that for five months and I didn't get a single word.

Suddenly, all this talk about "writing a book" is making me feel overwhelmed. I need to take a break. Excuse me.

OK, I'm back. I went to brush my teeth (just three of them -- I never do them all at once). That, by the way, is an excellent way to pass the time. Hygiene is important anyway, as we all know. So take your time and brush, then floss. Flossing is key. You must floss. Don't even think for a second that you can get away with not flossing. Always floss. I can't stress it enough. If you get nothing else from this book, I hope you not only think to yourself "I must floss," but pass it along to loved ones and acquaintances -- floss, floss, floss. Now, what was I saying?

Oh yes. Why another book?

Seriously, why? There are so many books already. What could I possibly have to say that needs to be read by millions or at least hundreds of people? Perhaps you're reading this to get never-before-revealed insights into who I am as a person. If so, here's a good one for you, right off the bat: If anyone knows me at all, they know I enjoy the smell of a freshly washed monkey.

Or perhaps you're hoping to learn a thing or two. I have no brand-new words to put out there (unless you count "fuzlart," which between you and me is a made-up word), no insights on the meaning of life or even how to be content most of the time.

I have been interested in some deeper meaning of this existence for a long time. I assume we all are, judging by the sales of books devoted to helping us find the answers. I have all of them, but I haven't found one that says anything very different. They all sort of say the same thing.

I suppose I could put down my own ideas of what I think would be at least a good start for happiness, if you're interested. Oh, you are? OK then.

1. Be nice to everyone, even though you don't want to and you may not like certain people. Be kind, friendly and respectful even if people are not nice to you. That way, you're not dragged down to their level. Also, there's nothing that annoys arrogant jerks more than people being nice to them.

2. Floss, every day floss. As discussed. In addition to aforementioned perks, flossing encourages healthy gums and makes your teeth feel secure when they're eating something difficult like apples or corn on the cob.

3. Try to have some quiet time every day. I know it's hard, don't tell me. It's getting to be near impossible to find silence, what with the TV, radio, kids, leaf blowers, helicopters, traffic, birds, dogs barking, your grammy yelling from the back of the car, "Stop flossing, you're going to get us all killed!!!" (Seriously, when I told you not to read while you were driving, I didn't mean you should floss instead.) But try to put time aside to listen to you. It's easy to forget what you want, who you are, with all the noise. Check in with you every day (or at least on New Year's Eve).

4. Exercise. Any form of movement will do. Stretching keeps you limber, young and energized. My favorite exercise is walking a block and a half to the corner store to buy fudge. Then I call a cab to get back home. (There's never a need to overdo anything.)

5. Drink lots of water. I can't function unless I drink a lot of water. My favorite way to drink water is to put it in a tray, make ice cubes, then put one of those cubes into a big ol' glass of scotch. Let's have some now, shall we?
Thinking back (a good thing to do while drinking scotch), I knew I wanted to write this book because I've always loved writing, especially cursive. It's so pretty, all the loops and whatnot. I thought about having this entire book printed in capital letters, so, as the narrator, IT WOULD SEEM LIKE I'M SHOUTING THE WHOLE TIME. I LIKE THE IDEA OF ME SHOUTING INSIDE OTHER PEOPLE'S HEADS. IT MAKES ME FEEL POWERFUL.
You know, it's hard work to write a book. I can't tell you how many times I really get going on an idea, then my quill breaks. Or I spill ink all over my writing tunic. No wonder I drink so much! Then I get so drunk, I can barely feed the baby.
That's what I call myself when I'm drunk, "The Baby."
OK, I'm putting the drink down. Back to the happiness list ...

6. Know you are special. How do you know that? Because you bought this book. You are already two steps ahead of the losers who didn't buy this book. They aren't special. When they finally do buy this book, then they too will be special because they have chosen this book, but you will still be two or three or even more steps ahead. Just know when you buy this book, you're ahead.
Imagine being the last person to buy this book. I pray that doesn't happen to anyone. If word keeps spreading about the magical powers of this book, the joy it gives, the wonders, the life-affirming, life-changing results of reading this book, no one will ever be last. It will be sold forever and ever, and that will make me happy.

7. The key to life is balance. Think of a seesaw. On one side is Give, the other side Take. If you just give and give and give, you've got nothing left. You're empty. Which means you don't weigh anything, because empty equals weightless; so Take is just sitting on the ground bored out of its mind saying, "I'm bored, I can't take anymore of this," which is a pretty strong statement since that's what Take's job is. It is to take. And if Take can't take anymore, then well, I think you see my point.
And the same goes for taking too much. If you keep taking and taking and taking, you get loaded down. Taking equals heavy. So Give is stranded way up in the air saying, "Hey, I'm way up in the air." And then Take is like, "So?" And Give is like, "I hate you. All you do is take." And Take is like, "You're the stupid poopoohead for giving all the time." And Take gets off the seesaw to leave and Give goes crashing to the ground and then Take feels bad and rushes over to see if Give is OK, and then they hug and start crying and both apologize for being so selfish. So you see, it needs to be balanced.

8. Minimize stress. When I'm stressed out, I get so stressed. When I'm relaxed, it's a whole different story. I find that life can be difficult. Also, when certain events occur, it can bring on stress. Small things -- a car accident, let's say -- can change your whole mood. Everything can be going just fine. You're at home feeling cozy, watching TV. You suddenly remember you're running low on ice cream, jump in your Cutlass Supreme, and you're singing along to some classic Hall & Oates song, and Bam! Right into the back of some idiot's car. What are they doing stopped there anyway? It's a stop sign, not a red light. You're not supposed to sit there forever. And all the questions start flying at you. Do you have insurance? Have you been drinking? Why are you in your pajamas? Wow, people are nosy. No wonder I rarely leave the house. It's a jungle out there.

9. Start thinking positively. You will notice a difference. Instead of "I think I'm a loser," try "I definitely am a loser." Stop being wishy-washy about things! How much more of a loser can you be if you don't even know you are one? Either you are a loser or you are not. Which is it, stupid?

10. Don't look in the mirror ... ever.

11. Work, but have playtime. Recess. We lose our play, our fun, all of our joy. We used to say, "Mom, I'm going out to play." Now it's, "Honey, I'm going off to work." We don't see a 45-year-old man saying, "I'm going out to play." If he did, his girlfriend or boyfriend would say, "What the heck does that mean? No you won't." You don't see a grown-up squatting on the ground with a stick poking at ants. If you do, you cross the street. You walk far away from them. You don't see adults lying in the grass staring at the sky saying, "I see bunny rabbits." That is, unless they're on drugs.
So there you have it, your very own book on the keys to happiness, courtesy of me.
Whew, it's a relief that's over. I tell you, writing a book is a bear! Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. But before I say "good-night," let me -- Oh, excuse me, that's the phone. Let me get it, in case it's important. So, I'm putting you on hold ... now.

OK, I'm back. That was my editor. Apparently they want this book to be more than eight pages. I guess I've got a little work to do. Suddenly I'm not so happy anymore. I'd better reread this chapter.

And perchance, floss.

Copyright (c) 2003 by Crazy Monkey, Inc. This text was excerpted with the permission of the publisher.

Heather Champ of Harrumph proposed a badge swap awhile back, and today the gallery is up!

You can find my contribution here. (top left corner) Taken from my "world of ideas" painting...or you can just call her "the girl with a lampshade over her head", if you like. She's sort of become my personal icon.

It'll be interesting to see which one of these arrives in my mailbox!

Really good news for those of us who fill our "idle" time with crafts/arts/hobbies.

In the magazine Real Simple there's an article on keeping up your brain power as you age.

First, the article says that classic games like chess, checkers, and backgammon, are "brain food" -- they force you to think ahead, see the big picture, strategize, consider multiple options, etc. Other games that work your brain -- solitaire, Scrabble, Stratego.
Games like pinball, Nintendo, and juggling are great right brain activities (the creative side) bc they force you to act on instinct, rather than planning and thinking. So video games actually have a benefit. ha...I guess I shouldn't of hid that playstation from Shawn afterall!

Albert Einstein College of medicine just published a study that showed that elderly people who played games once a week cut their risk of developing dementia by at least half. And those odds improved the more days a week they played games. Those who worked on crossword puzzles also had a 50% lower risk of developing dementia.

Stress reduction is vital for brain power. Especially in our modern world, where even without "stress" we are all suffering from information overload. Stress produces a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol starves brain cells of fuel, esp in the hippocampus (memory center). Chronic cortisol elevation kills brain cells. So, stress and information overload kills your brain. This may explain my minds recent attack and full mental shut down -- I call it "brain freeze". The remedy? Downtime. Meditation. Laying about with eyes half closed, drifting...and hobbies!

Cross stitch, needlework, playing an instrument, etc cultivate fine motor skills and can establish new circuits thru the brain. Scrapbooking is a great right-brain, creative activity and also develops the planning and motor skills parts of the brain. Listening to music that relaxes you activates parts of the brain's frontal lobes and limbic areas on both sides of the brain, bringing it into harmony.

See...it's not a waste of money or time, nor is it "selfish" to spend time or money on these activities (or my favorite activity -- lounging around!) because they actually keep your brain in tip-top shape. Even laying about doing nothing reduces your cortisol levels in the hippocampus and keeps your brain from shrinking over time.

Now, do you feel somewhat validated? ...I sure do.

Excuse the totally boring, but informative post!

I found a thread this week discussing how to make bath salts:

"The biggest cost will be your essential oils. Even if you just do one scent, such as lavender, you're still looking at $6 to $10 to 1/3 or 1/2 oz. of oil. Still the salts you make from scratch will undoubtedly be better quality than the ones you'd make in a kit. Don't use a fragrance oil instead of an essential oil-- unless it's a scent like rose, jasmine or vanilla, where the EO is very strong and very precious and the fragrance oil is just a carrier oil with some EO in it-- that's okay.
Anyway, making your own bath salts is easy. To one 4 lb. carton of epsom salts add 2 cups of baking soda and mix well. I highly recommend also adding 1/2 cup of Malto Dextrin, which can be purchased for $1.50/lb. at www.brewsource.com or at a local beer brewing supply store. Malto Dextrin, when used in bath salts, is an anti clumping agent that I believe to be better on the skin than borax.
To this mixture add about 80 to 100 drops of *EOs, depending on what oils you are using. The stronger the scent of the oil, the less you should use.
Shake the salts well, seal the container you mixed them in and let them set for a few days to let the scent fully permeate all the salts. Then package into separate pretty containers. This recipe makes about ten cups."

(*EOs = essential oils)

A friend of mine told me that all I needed was some salt, essential oils, and coloring. Now I'm afraid everything's going to get all clumpy. So, I just bought the Malto Dextrin from here. (Whatever that is!)
At least it only cost me $1.50. Afterward I'll use the leftovers to make beer...not!

Although, beer is not such a bad idea either. I'll have my corona and lime and make bath salts too! Oh geez, I'm just brimming with sarcasam tonight. Ok...alright...it wasn't sarcasm at all.

I've been taking a bit of a hiatus on myself! So long in fact, I couldn't remember any of my passwords. It finally has all come back to me. I've decided to keep to the crafty-artsy side of my doings in this blog from now on, so things will be updated less frequently.

Hang in there...I've got some brilliant ideas brewing for the holidays.

First on my list (hopefully, no relatives or friends are reading this...if so go away!) is making some gifts for Christmas.

I went on ebay and purchased a bunch of vintage blue glass "ball" jars for storing home-made lavender bath salts in. Those finally came, and now I've accumulated most of the other supplies as well: the dried lavender, essential oil, and coloring...I'm just down to needing the rock salt. Grocery stores are on stike here so that's a bit tough. I'm waiting until I really HAVE TO go. When I get down to the gritty of putting all of these things together I'll add it to my projects page. For now, enjoy looking at the supplies. Aren't they pretty???!!!