If I can figure out my new (used) digital camera and If I can figure out how to upload them to tblog, I will take photos and post them...until then, know that I am loving my Pooh Bear Christmas tree : )

In the meantime, know that April is doing well, and as much as she says she is mad at Christmas, she is baking this year!  We will have some (lots) of her yummy cookies to enjoy and know that we all made her happy pitching in : )

All is right in the world.

Merry Christmas, Y'All!!!!

xoxox

for the third time in 10 years I put up my christmas tree!  my christmas tree is one of the "fiber optic" trees, about 5 1/2 ft. tall.  it is a great place to hang my 100+ pooh bear ornaments : )  i also have an "apple ladder" that i put my little stuffed guys on, climbing up to reach the top!  it is adorable and i love my ornaments.  a holiday dressed eeyore crowns the top and my various and sundry pooh stocking hangers now are displayed on my tv amoire because i don't have a fireplace any more.  but they are still great and i want to look at them.  my beautiful pooh music box is also displayed on an end table where i can easily access it, wind it up and listen to the tune.  i also have pooh and tigger in a sleigh being pulled by eeyore and they sing two different holiday songs.  i love having a child-like heart that gets tickled with stuff like that!

xoxo

PETA has uncovered gruesome evidence that candy giant Mars has paid for and supported deadly experiments on mice, rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits. We're launching a worldwide boycott of Snickers, M&M's, Twix, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Starburst, Dove, Skittles, and other Mars-made candy and snack foods until the company has a heart and stops hurting animals.

Mars is currently funding a deadly experiment on rats to determine the effects of chocolate ingredients on their blood vessels. Experimenters at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) force-feed the rats by shoving plastic tubes down their throats and then cut open the rats' legs to expose an artery, which is clamped shut to block blood flow. After the experiment, the animals are killed.

Visit MarsCandyKills.com for more details about Mars' heartless animal experiments.

What You Can Do

• Spread the word! Let friends and family know how animals suffer in laboratories in experiments like those funded and supported by Mars. Show them PETA's anti-vivisection PSA "Testing ... One, Two, Three" video.   
• Call Mars' headquarters at 1-800-627-7852 and let the company know that you refuse to spend any money on Mars products until it agrees to stop funding and supporting animal experiments for its candy and snack foods.
• You can also e-mail Mars—and encourage everyone you know to do the same—to voice your concerns about the company's unnecessary and cruel experiments on animals.
• Return or send back any Mars candy you may have along with a note explaining that you refuse to purchase any more Mars candy until the company agrees to stop funding and supporting animal experiments for its candy and snack foods.
• Distribute PETA's anti-Mars stickers and cards. Hand them out outside grocery stores, drugstores, or anywhere else Mars candy is sold. Send your mailing address to JasonU@peta.org, and we'll send you as many as you can use.

Please check out MarsCandyKills.com for more ways to help!

Thank you for everything you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Jason Ullman
Anti-Vivisection Campaigner
JasonU@peta.org

Have you ever had such a good day that it carried you through the next day and into the rest of the week smiling and remembering how good that one day was.  I don't often experience this, but Tuesday of this week was a day as described! 

I was assisting my best girlfriend/co-worker with catering a manager's retreat to be held at a state park nearby my home.  On Monday we shopped.  Tuesday morning I had to get up at 5:30 am, which is not my favorite thing to do, but the alarm went off, I did get up and out the door, stopping only to pick up a bag of ice on the way.  I arrived on time and we got started.  We provided a continental breakfast in the meeting hall and then she and I moved to the dining hall.  The weather was absolutely perfect, so we opened all of the windows and turned on the fans and we got started preparing the lunch menu.  She and I have known one another for about 13 years and we laugh and play and talk and work together much like the hands of a clock.  I let her lead and I gladly follow. 

While the folks got their meals, we went to the meeting room, cleaned it up and made fresh coffee...then back to the dining hall to start on that clean up.  We did take a short break walking about looking for deer and just enjoying being outside is such glorious weather. 

We really worked hard but it was a great day and I still smile remembering it.  Florida in the winter months can be a great place!