Tag Inspire

Warning, California Prop 65 – Cancer and Reproductive Harm… on EVERYTHING?

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Have you noticed this issue lately? You look at something, want to buy it, and when you take it out of the package or turn dish around on the bottom you see the CA Prop 65 Cancer and Reproductive Harm Warning.

I ask you, “Why are companies even allowed to make the product if they put that warning label on it?”

Take this flashlight. I found it over the holidays. An outdoor shop had a sample to test. I tried it out. I measured it, so you could see, it’s small, but powerful. I thought it was great. Well, I get home, I pull the NEW flashlight out of the box and THERE is the CANCER WARNING.

It’s funny. As soon as I saw the WARNING, I almost dropped the flashlight on the floor. You know, like if you suddenly saw a spider on your hand. Fling it away. What does that warning really mean? If I keep holding that flashlight I could get cancer?

This is maddening. I was in a furniture store the other day. I saw a leather recliner. Nice looking blue color. I went to look at the tag. It said, “CA Prop 65 – Cancer, etc. WARNING.” Really, a recliner too? Now, who in their right mind would buy this leather recliner? Do you want to sit in your expensive chair with the constant thought of cancer on your mind?. I saw some dishes at the store. Guess what, turned them around and on the bottom — the cancer warning.

I’ve seen the warning in the past, but lately, I seem to see it constantly. No wonder there are so many people sick with cancer. It seems to be everywhere. Did you hear the egg one now? Fried eggs could cause bladder cancer, but boiled eggs are Ok.

So, opinions — What do I do with the flashlight? Take the risk of getting cancer or return it?

Best Snowman of the Year!

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This past weekend Chicago was hit with a lot of snow. It was fun to see a father with his child building a snowman. The hat is so perfect and the green scarf lovely – the perfect photograph!

It’s an artistic snowman. I like how the bottom spreads out, but somehow they made the stomach area look really round. Look at those sticks for arms/hands. This snowman makes me smile.

For me, so far, this is the Snowman of the Year! UNLESS, we get another snow storm, then let’s see what happens.

GUESS WHAT – Feb 2nd is Groundhog Day. Will Phil Punxsutawaney, the groundhog, see his shadow??? It’s a silly tradition. Has anyone ever checked to see if the yearly predictions were true?

A Coincidence…. What was at work here?

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A few months ago I wanted to trace a photo and paint it. I needed tracing paper, so I went to the art store. The sales clerk was doing a flyer for the store, and happened to be tracing an old flyer. He showed me how to do it and exactly what I needed.

He armed me with tracing paper, graphite paper and media paper for the painting part. I had all of this in a shopping bag. I went home ready for my project. Something came up and there sat my shopping bag. Over time, I kept moving that shopping bag to different places in my office.

Since I am not an artist, I was afraid if I took those supplies out of the bag, I would forget what he showed me and how to use them. I know, it’s a basic technique, easy peasy, but for a non-artist until I’ve done it once, it was going to be a challenge.

Fast forward to yesterday. A funny coincidence happened. I decided, “that’s it,” I’m tracing that photo!! I looked in my office and couldn’t find the shopping bag. I didn’t have time to do a thorough search, but I kept thinking ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT. Where could that shopping bag be?

Last night, I happened to need a blanket. It’s cold, snow again, so went to this storage container I have. As I lifted up the blanket, there was a surprise. My shopping bag with the art supplies was there. I smiled, because I would never have looked there for the shopping bag. I remembered vacuuming one day and moving the shopping bag into this storage container. A blanket ended up on top of it.

So, WHAT was at work here?

The Universe, St. Anthony or my Guardian Angel? I’m not sure, but when I saw that shopping bag I was overcome by feelings of “Wow – I can’t believe it. I would NEVER have checked in the storage container. Thank goodness it snowed, I got cold and needed the blanket!”

How about YOU, I’m sure something like this has happened to you too. Share your story.

A sign from a loved one in Heaven…

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Signs from loved ones in Heaven are powerful. We know without a doubt exactly “who” the message is from! We are overcome with emotion. I received a sign. I’m still in awe of how this occurred.

The holidays can be a roller coaster of feelings/memories. After Christmas, where we had below zero temps, I was anxious for a walk and fresh air. I decided to go downtown, it was still festive with the lights up. The display in a toy store window caught my attention. My desire to go in was strong.

It was joyful, families shopping for deals. As I continued to the back of the store, I saw the puzzle area. I enjoy puzzles, so stopped to explore. I sighed, the usual puzzles of flowers, Monet, etc. Disappointing.

However, on the bottom shelf, behind another puzzle, I found FLORENCE. I smiled -> F-L-O-R-E-N-C-E. My mother’s home town in Italy. Of course, I had to have it. I clutched it close, it was mine!

Walking home, I kept thinking how strange it was to find this puzzle. Why, what was the meaning? I was overcome with memories of visiting my grandmother in Florence. I thought, perfect timing. Long weekend for New Year’s Eve, I would do the puzzle.

I started with the Duomo. Proud when it was done. As I continued, I found yellow and green pieces. Putting them together, I looked down and got teary-eyed. What a memory! Take a look at the photo. The pieces of this particular puzzle area, looked exactly like my grandmother’s building. Amazing!

Back then, we did not have cell phones. When I would go out my grandmother and grandfather would rush to open the window. I would hear the green shutters crackling as they opened them. They would yell down to me in Italian (they didn’t speak English), Ciao, baci (kisses), a presto (see you soon). I felt so much love every time they did this. There are more memories, of course.

So, a sign indeed!

Don’t forget Nonnina and Nonno!

We are with you. We LOVE you! Go back!

Holiday Health — The Pharmacy! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Happy New Year — almost! It’s the holidays and with that comes stomach issues. Eating foods we don’t normally eat. Visiting friends who say, “Come on, it’s Christmas, have some!” Our brain says, “NO, don’t do it, you will suffer for it! However, we cave in to the festivities and end up in stomach pain.

For me, lately, espresso coffee/alcohol does not agree with me. I spoke to my mother. She’s been having stomach issues too. In fact, 83 years old, she had terrible stomach pains and ended up in the hospital having her gallbladder out. We both talked about having the same kind of pain. Interesting, right!

THIS IS FUNNY — I went to the pharmacy. They didn’t have what I needed on the shelf. The pharmacist said I needed to press the Customer Service button, then someone would come to assist me.

I innocently pressed the button. I thought a light would flash and someone would come over. NO, worse, I hear on the loud speaker, “CUSTOMER SERVICE NEEDED AT STOMACH REMEDIES – repeat – Customer Service needed at stomach remedies.”

Why is this funny? Imagine if I was in the tampon or condom isle and the loud speaker goes off. Certainly, no privacy in trying to make a purchase. A teenager would be mortified that’s for sure.

I could see this as a comedy skit on Seinfeld. Miss that show.

So, moral of the story… Be careful what you eat / drink on New Year’s Eve. Don’t over indulge; otherwise, you will be pressing that Customer Service button.

I wish you a blessed and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas – The Holiday Puzzle!

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It’s the Christmas holiday, it’s cold and snowy. Time for a holiday puzzle, right! I found this one with the vintage red van, made me think of California, surfers, and Lake Tahoe.

At first, I wasn’t enjoying this puzzle. A few things… The puzzle pieces are small, they don’t stick together, so if you want to move a group of them, they all fall apart. Then they have some strange shapes that don’t click in place, they just sit side by side. Some pieces had me fooled, they looked like they were for the border, but NO, they go in the middle somewhere. Chuckling, I guess that’s why we do puzzles, we want to be challenged, right.

There was a huge surprise. I found three special pieces. The cardinal, the snowman and a reindeer!

A special THANK YOU to fellow blogger, Danny Watts: Chronicles of a Fountain Pen for recommending the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. I’ve been listening to the audio of the first book in the series.The narrator, Orlagh Cassidy is fabulous! What a wonderful story!!

Five more days, then Christmas Eve!

Got to focus, get the puzzle done. I might be on book 2 at this rate.

Happy Holidays!

Special Christmas Gift — Tea time!

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Every year, my sister and I send each other a little Christmas present. This year, she sent me some tea cups. They are so pretty. By chance, at the Antique Shop, I found this tea pot. I loved the bright colors.

The shop owner was a good saleswoman. She happened to walk by and saw me analyzing the tea pot and said, “You are the second person who was looking at that tea pot.”

I smiled and thought, maybe she saw me 10 minutes ago holding it, and didn’t realize it was me. Of course, MAYBE another person WAS looking at MY tea pot. She sold me on it. I couldn’t let someone else have it, I would be thinking and thinking about it on my long 3 hour drive.

Don’t they always say, “Someone else’s junk is another person’s treasure!”

Since the weather is so dreary now, wet and rainy, when I look at the tea cups and tea pot, I smile. My sister is the greatest! Those tea cups are beautiful, they remind me of Spring time.

Time to make tea!

Holiday Decorations – Great marketing idea!

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This was an interesting Christmas display. I had a funny marketing idea. The only one missing from this photo is Goldilocks. They could put these three bears in the bedding department with each bear standing by a mattress. The baby bear could still be hiding behind the Xmas tree and find Goldilocks in HIS bed.

The marketing message would read…??

I have to say, I would probably try out the three beds!

We need some humor in sales!

Do you NEED that much cheese?

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Ever since I can remember, I’ve bought this parmigiano reggiano (parmesan) cheese from Costco. We’re Italian, it lasts a long time and we like to have it on hand. So, my daughters grew up thinking nothing of it. Doesn’t every house have parmesan?

UNTIL… my daughter’s boyfriend opened her fridge and saw this HUGE hunk of cheese and acted horrified. Why do you need that big piece of cheese, it’s ONLY you? What are you doing with that?

My daughter said her first reaction was to become defensive. Grab the parmesan. YES, protect the parmesan! She started to explain, than thought, “WAIT, it’s normal, what’s HIS problem! Why shouldn’t I have this?”

I didn’t know this happened until the other day. I was heading to Costco and asked my daughter if she needed some parmigiano reggiano cheese. It used to be around $12.99, now it is $17.99. We need to treat it like GOLD. Inflation is real.

That’s when she said, “I have a funny story to tell you about my hunk of cheese.”

We both laughed!! I said I was PROUD of her for defending the parmesan.

Lately, I’ve been in a pasta mood. I found this pasta noodle, I love it. It’s called, “Fusilli Corti Bucati.” If I go for a different noodle, other than spaghetti, I go for the bow ties or orecchiette. THESE are so wiggly, just a fun noodle shape.

If I had this noodle when I was young, I could see myself flinging one of the noodles at my twin brother. When he would get angry, I’d say, “It’s not my fault, the noodle flew off my fork!” Now, that would be FUNNY! We did goofy stuff like that.

So, here’s to pasta, Italian heritage and defending parmesan!!

We ALL have our pantry staples, right! What do you have that we might laugh at?

You find something… Return it… Expect a reward?

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This was an interesting story in the news. Did you hear about it? A man found a check at a train station addressed to HARIBO for 4.8 million in Germany. He called to tell them. They told him it was a cross check, tear it up. Then as a “thank you,” sent him six bags of gummi candies.

Now, people are rushing to judge the reward. Technically, it wasn’t a reward, because to Haribo, check could not be cashed; however, as an “Appreciate the call, they sent some gummi candies.”

This made me think. WHAT should a reward be for doing a good deed? Should anything be expected?

Since there was no reward, will this discourage people from doing the “right thing” in the future? Being kind, trying to return something takes effort.

My daughter has found things, returned them. No reward, a big “thank you!” One was a driver’s license, the address on it, wasn’t far away, so drove it to the person’s home. The lady said, “Thank you.” A year later, she still had my daughter’s email. She wrote to her, saying, “It’s the holidays, thinking of you, wanted to thank you again for returning my driver’s license.” No reward or gift, a thank you.

Curious, what do other people think? If someone found something of YOURS, returned it, would you give them something OR just express great gratitude?