Thursday Two Questions #16-New Year Superstition

Let's us just celebrate the end of the year, but don't forget to count our blessings.  Though it was a very challenging year for me, I still include myself in the lucky poll. I've accomplished many things, and didn't accomplish some, but who is perfect?

I learn to gently pat myself on back for getting over the hurdles, and put one foot in front of the other to keep marching.  I learn to look for blessings among the chaos.

It's almost time to bring in a New Year, thus I wish everyone a fantastic one!  Thank you all for following, reading, subscribing, and commenting.  You're among my blessings!

1) What kind of superstitious things you do to bring in the New Year?
     (For me, I open the front door to welcome good spirit in, and open the back door to let bad  evils out! Ok, I admit it, I didn't see anything different, just my habit I guess!)

2) Do you go out or celebrate at home?
     (I stay at home with my sparkle drink, warm and snug to wait for the New Year! No driving for me after dark, old age has left its mark, :-)

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Nothing But Black Squirrels

Do you want to see what my sky is like at this time of the year?  Gray and gloomy!  This had been going on for days now.  My sky has no colors, and I'm starting to feel droopy.  However, this morning I saw black squirrels decorated this tree branch.  All the black dots you see are black squirrels!

As a matter of fact, this tree houses at least 10 of them at the same time today.  All in their own spot either napping or taking a rest!  Black squirrels are very aggressive around here, and they think they own the world!

There are at least two black squirrels in between those big branches too.  I long for the sun to come up since it has been a week of gray sky already.  What is your sky like in your part of the world?

Linking this post to Outdoor Wednesday!

Freeze!

It has been cold, very cold around my neck of the woods. So cold and miserable that three members of my family were down with a cold/flu!  There were lots of coughing, and sneezing going on, so what a girl to do?  She went outside looking for things to shoot.

Besides eating chicken rice soup, taking vitamins, rolling inside the blankets, drinking ginger tea, there was nothing anyone can do.  The cold/flu has to take its course!

However, we did have a wonderful Christmas! Hope yours were too!  Now, let's get ready to welcome the New Year..

Thursday Two Questions #15-Christmas Characters

When my children were little, they were scare to see Santa Clause, the Nutcrackers, and many other Holiday characters.  They would refuse to sit on Santa's lap, and wouldn't go near the elves.

I don't have pictures of my children with Santa until they were in school.  Now, when I see children crying at the site of Santa, it took me back to my own experiences with them. Here are my two questions:

1) Would you force your child to sit on Santa's lap anyway, crying and all?

2) What was your child like? Happy to see Santa, or terrified of Santa?

Join others at Thursday Two Questions!

Happy Holidays!

Fresh Pomegranates

These are fresh pomegranates from our local fruit market! Though it is winter here, we still get supplies of fresh fruits.  We love pomegranates in our house even if they are a bit messy when cutting up.

Since pomegranates have plenty of health benefits, it is becoming quite in demand nowadays for the juice, and using the pomegranate themselves to add to salad or other dishes.

Joining Ruby Tuesday, and Rednesday

How to Personalize Christmas Glass Ornaments

These are a few of our Christmas glass ornaments that my children and I made in the past.  It is part of our tradition to make and to personalize our ornaments instead of buying.

This particular ornament above in the picture, we added some fancy wrapping string with the use of hot glue gun, which should not be used by little children.

If you are interested in making these Christmas glass ornaments with your family, I've written a detail article on how to do this:  How To Make Your Own Christmas Glass Ornaments.

Enjoy other entries at Mosaic Monday!

Thurday Two Questions #14-The Effect of Holidays

A staggering numbers of adults are living with ADHD, but not knowing it.  We tend to think that only children have ADD, and yes, the symptoms begin in childhood.  Many children outgrown them, but more than 50% are not.

To find out if you have ADHD read this You, as an Adult Can Have ADHD too or if you want to understand why certain people in your circle behaving radically.

This is the time of year when things seemed to spin in circles with endless errands, and tons of things to do.  Learning to live with ADHD, and managing it naturally, will bring more stability into your world.

My questions are:

1)  How do you approach the holidays without overwhelming yourself?

2) What would you like to change and still keep the spirit of Christmas?

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Fuzzy House Boots

Over 400 schools closed on Monday after a snow storm we had the day before! We are in the single digit temperature, and it reminds me of warm fuzzy house boots that I've purchased for Christmas presents. Well, I'll have to make another trip to the store, but not any time soon when the wind is howling like ghosts out there.

I'm going to live in these house boots; after all they are "Hello Kitty" and girls' best friends.  Really, who needs diamond when your feet are on ice? Have a fun day!

Joining Rednesday and White Wednesday!

Different Colors of Poinsettia

I've mentioned on Blessing Reflections the many different colors of poinsettia flowers. Well, to prove this, here are other colors that I've come across, with added glitter on the leaves!

I'm not sure if the colors were from the dye because when I touched them, there was no residue on my fingers, only the sparkle glitter.  I thought the colors were very festive anyway!

I like the dark color of those leaves sitting right next to the gold ones.  The contrast was awesome, but the lighting in the store was not fit for photographing.

There was blue poinsettia too, but my pictures didn't turn out as good as I've hoped.  It was quite a challenge to take photos inside for me since I don't use flash!  Have yourself a wonderful weekend.

Enjoy other entries at Today Flower, Mosaic Monday!

Photo Challenge-Sweet

Let me begin by tempting you with some lollipop!  They are definitely sweet and scrumptious to linger on.  We wake up with a sheet of snow on the ground today, so after all the huffing puffing from shoveling the snow, a lollipop is what the doctor (not the dentist) orders!

Now let's keep the dentist busy, I'll also serve you a piece of my son's birthday cake!  Fill up those cavity holes with sugar!  Here is a secret that I haven't told my little boy yet and don't know if I should either: the theme in this cake is soccer, and his name on the cake is Joey, but a very "intelligent" cake decorator put "women figurines" all over the cake!!!!!

If you look closely and see many sinking spots on the cake, that's because I had to replace the women soccer players for men players...

The only edit I did in these photos are playing a tad in color curve to get a crisp look of colors. Enjoy your weekend!

Fun Shopping at Pier 1

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 Imports. All opinions are 100% mine.

My friend and I have recently started to take turn hosting a gathering for our two families these last few years. Since our children got along so well with each other and having so much fun together, it has become a tradition.

It is my turn this year to host a simple and short gathering, and I know Pier 1 is the place for me to shop this year.  Why, you might ask?  Well, I really like their merchandises since they are all very different and unique. It seems that this store has something for everyone in any price range starting as low as $3.

My "must haves" for this year are: a fun center piece for my dining table, and candles.  The fun center piece is my number one priority because I want to hear the kids go "ooh ooh aah aah", and watch their face lighting up. It's priceless to see their joyful expressions.
When my friend and I get together, she would bring an appetizer to share, and we would do a small holiday gifts exchange.  We have a price limit so that nobody goes broke after the holidays. If you are on tight budget, you can always find something in the clearance or special values section on this website.

By the way, if you have a Facebook account, be sure to click on the Like button, because they will donate $1 to Toys for Tots for every new fan they have.  It's a worthy cause, and it only takes a push of your finger.

Thursday Two Questions #13-On Endangered Species

You can visit this Nature Center at Belle Isle, and this place is an effort to preserve whatever they could for city dwellers like us.  There were deer feeding time, butterfly area, bird watching area, and plenty of nature to explore.

The kids were quite fascinated with this bee hive.  They spent the longest time watching the bees at work, and looking for the queen.  Bees are in shortage these last few years, so having this bee hive to bring awareness  is a great thing.

Yup, that were lots of bees behind the glass, and it was also educational as there was many signs on the wall the children can read about the bees.

The tube you see is what led the bees inside to outside.  They were quite smart to return to the same place after collecting honey.

Here are my questions:

1) Can you name some endanger species?

2) How important is it to you to preserve these species?

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