Today and Tomorrow's Deals

Have you ever had a day so special that you hated to see it end? Maybe you’ve wished for two back-to-back Saturdays. Who wouldn’t enjoy that a few times per year? Someone’s getting that kind of wish this week. Based on the TV commercials, it sounds like we’re having at least two Black Fridays. It’s a retailer’s dream.  Hope your Thanksgiving meal wasn’t derailed by guests leaving to catch the store sales. We’re not likely to see two days repeated, but this is close:

                                         http://youtu.be/ndlQNicOeso

On certain days during the Arctic summer, sunlight can last for twenty-four hours. Over time the sun bobs just above the horizon, floats up and down in the sky, but never allows night to settle in. Think about all the shopping that could be finished during that time—if there were places to shop in the Arctic. 

Some people say twenty-four hours in a day should be enough time to accomplish our to-do lists, but no one mentions how half of those hours are at nighttime. If you could transport the Arctic’s midnight sun phenomenon to your neighborhood, how and where would you spend your extra daylight hours?    

           

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The Christmas List

Trapped! We’re caught between wanting to hear Christmas carols and not wanting to dive into the shopping season this early. It may be too late. Decorations grace the mall’s halls and traffic’s already building. On Thanksgiving Day some of us will have one eye on the pumpkin pie and the other eye on the clock, counting down the hours to the first pre-Black Friday purchase. Let’s pace ourselves. Celebrate Thanksgiving and savor the turkey without peeking at your Christmas shopping list. We’ll be inside the stores soon enough. Will your Christmas shopping experience resemble this one?

                                          http://youtu.be/kXh8-aiPjxA

You don’t shop like the first guy, do you? He shopped for a charity, which explains the haphazard gift decisions, huge quantities, and lo-o-o-n-n-g-g receipt. Hopefully, your Christmas shopping list is much shorter. Before the shopping frenzy goes full tilt, what suggestions would you offer for creating a meaningful holiday? 

      

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Surprise!

My cat had a nightmare, I think. Our cat usually sleeps through the many noises around her. Despite the blaring television and rattling dishes, she keeps on snoozing. One day during nap time, she jumped up into the scary hunched back position. She stared at us, jumped to the floor, and ambled away as if nothing happened. Maybe she dreamed about an encounter with the neighborhood dog. Cats are full of surprises.   

There are pleasant surprises and downright awful ones. Here’s a surprise this young man didn’t anticipate:

                                              http://youtu.be/n4mznkHDMGk

 Active military soldiers and their families deserve heartwarming surprise reunions, and much more. What sorts of surprises have you experienced?     

 

 

 

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Survivor

When do talcum powder and goldfish go together? Never! Several years ago I opened our child’s bedroom door and discovered one little person pouring powder into the gold fish bowl.  What a cloudy mess!  I never learned the reason for that experiment, but the fish survived and lived to swim again. Have you ever purchased a goldfish that expired the next day? Not ours. I had grown tired of changing the stinky water in the huge snack bowl-turned-filterless-fishbowl. Week after week I poured out the dirty water and poured in clean water and that little goldfish lived on and on and on…. Our fish was a survivor, much like this girl:

                                              http://youtu.be/6C3CJX1-d_8

She identified the oncoming tsunami and survived it. It does pay to listen in class. Not only did Tilly save herself, but her quick thinking saved her family and several other vacationers. If you were to wear a T-shirt that read, “I survived (blank), how would you fill-in the blank? What did you learned from the experience?    

 

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A Swarmy Day

Watch out! They may be hovering outside your window—and they’re carnivorous!  I posted a warning sign on a door in our house that read Beware: Ladybug. About twelve ladybugs clung to our window screen and we trapped one in the bathroom. “Trapped” means one of the kids placed the bug there for safekeeping. Who doesn’t like a few ladybugs? When temperatures drop they seek out warm places to hibernate. I just hope they don’t settle for our house. Several ladybugs are cute, but when the number swells to several hundred, cute becomes unsettling. Check out this swarm:  

                                         http://youtu.be/PnywhC36UVY

 I can think of several words to describe the dark cloud—amazing, mesmerizing, and eerie.  It reminded me of the famous movie about birds; they were a naughty flock. A large quantity of anything often amounts to more than you want or need. On the other hand, how would you finish this sentence? I can never get enough ______________ because______________.     

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