Timberland PRO Renova Giveaway

Before I was contacted last month by Timberland to do a review of their shoes I'll admit I was a fan. My husband and I both have owned pairs and not only are they comfortable and good for work and play but they are shoes that will last longer than you will. For many years we've worn Timberlands as we've camped and hiked our way across this great state.

In fact I had a pair of sturdy maroon loafers that I wore so much I finally dissolved the sole and had to get them resoled because they still looked so good and were that comfortable. Then--I think it was at about the seven year mark--I wore out the lacing stitches on the toe and replaced it myself and got another several years of wear out of them. Great pair of shoes. We had some good times, those shoes and I.

Anyway, Timberland asked if I'd try a pair from their PRO Reneva series and I said "I'm your gal." They sent me a complimentary pair like the one you see above and they're terrific. I have particularly high arches and this shoe has a nice, high arch that feels so comfortable I'm tempted to wear them to bed. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating that part a little but I do love the high arch and every indication is that this pair is as well-made and comfortable as the other pairs we've had. Even Andrew was kind of excited to see them on my feet--he's kind of a Timberland groupie.

Their PRO Renova series is designed for people on their feet and they have a whole page of styles to choose from (check out the cute Mary Janes that are on sale). This weekend's winner will get to pick their favorite pair from the Timberland PRO Renova series and will receive it, along with this cute little bag you see below in 100% recycled PET (and I had to look that up, it stands for polyethylene terephthalate. Not pets. Have no fear, no bunnies or kittens were harmed in the making of this bag.)

So do you have a pair of shoes you've lived with forever? A pair that's stood the test of time? Give your best reason why you need a pair like this and then follow the directions below to get your name in the running for the prize. Good luck!

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday morning go to the giveaway entry form on this page and enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

This giveaway is open to all readers! Good luck!

Someone I'd Like You to Meet: Allysha from Bells on Their Toes

This month's Write-Away Contest judge was Allysha from Bells on Their Toes--which I've subscribed to for years and read whenever I want valuable thoughts on motherhood or life. About a year and a half ago she started a second blog, Just an Orange, where she publishes her artistic endeavors. Allysha is the mother of three and I asked her questions about her thoughts on art, writing, blogging and creativity and her answers are wonderful, just take a peak.

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Why did you decide to start your second blog, Just an Orange. What was lacking from Bells on Their Toes that you were looking for in a new blog?

This first question is ironic in that I checked on Just an Orange the other day and realized it has been a year (a year!) since I posted anything there. Bells on Their Toes started out more as a focus on my kids and is more about my domestic life, if you want to call it that, and Just an Orange is more about ideas.

Blogs, like any creative endeavor, can take on their own personality, which is in part why I started a second blog. While I wrote about the humanities some on Bells on Their Toes, I wanted to share more poetry and thoughts on art and music etc. It seemed like more information than could fit onto just one blog. However, as my kids get a bit older I write less about them. I have thought for a long time about starting an entirely new blog that would incorporate some ideas from both blogs, but we'll see. I have a hard time saying goodbye to something and Bells on Their Toes has been a really great outlet for me.

I did get really sick a few months after launching Just an Orange and unfortunately that eventually did me (and it!) in. I have four small children, a husband who teaches at a university full-time while also getting his PhD, so when something had to give, that did. Despite the accidental hiatus, I really love Just an Orange, especially the guest essays I was able to post (check them out!). Hopefully I'll be able to resurrect it in some form or another one of these days.

Which do you feel is more important to you and your creativity?

Bells On Their Toes is more personal than Just an Orange, and it's obviously the blog I am most consistent with, but both are important for me from a creative standpoint. Posts for Just an Orange were more like mini college essays, so they usually took more time to compose. Bells on Their Toes is so much about my life it's easy to just sit down and plunk something out.

I am the first to admit that sometimes my posts are simply a way of saying “I'm still alive!” They aren't all great compositions. But I write for myself and I enjoy the blog format because it gives me an audience, albeit a smallish one. Once upon a time I worried more about building my readership and always having something new for them to read, but with my kids (ages 2-7) I decided I didn't want to spend the kind of time and energy needed to launch that sort of blog right now. It was then I realized that for me the most important thing is my own creative release. I so appreciate my readers and their comments however, because it is really nice to feel like I have connected with someone else. Bells on Their Toes has been a great outlet in that way.

You’ve come from an artistic parentage, do you have siblings and how did they find their creative outlet? What has passed onto your children?

All of my siblings are creative but I don't consider my family really artsy, maybe because most of us have a hefty dose of analytical fervor that keeps us grounded. That said, in the mix are writers, artists, musicians, dancers and designers of all kinds (graphic, interior, and a landscape architect). Everyone does at least one of these. But sports and the outdoors also plays a prominent role. More for some than others.

My kids love art, and books and are very musical. One of my daughters has been putting on her own solo production of the Nutcracker the past few nights and her sister designed the set. So I guess it's just naturally passed on.

You’re interested in so many things: dance, literature, poetry, painting, drawing, music—which is your favorite of the fine arts and why?

Oh, that's hard to answer. It may be that words are my first love, or at least the most accessible, but the fine arts all sort of move around inside each other, don't they? I guess I consider the paintings on the Sistine Chapel a kind of music and the movement of a dancer a kind of poetry, just as the words of a poem laid down on the page is a careful kind of dance, or more particularly, a kind of music. They all give me the same kind of thrill. I'm not sure what it is.

I've been able to participate in some form in all of these things, nothing earth shattering, mind you. The culmination of my musical career was perhaps my experience in the jr high band, but I loved the synergy of performing a piece of music in a big group. Growing up both of my parents, but especially my father, taught me to have a great appreciation for wonderful art in all it's forms. I'm really grateful for that.

What projects are you currently working on? What’s on the workbench now?

I have a few short stories I'm quite fond of (of which I am quite fond? That sounds pretentious) that need to be revised and a book that is in the beginning stages (doesn't everyone?) but these days they sit on the back burner of my consciousness slowly simmering while I finish tiling the backsplash in my kitchen.

What are your favorites: book, poet, composer, painting?

I don't have absolute favorites (too many!) but here is what comes to mind at the moment:

Book: The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone

Writer: Edith Wharton's short stories are what I've been reading lately. She is amazing.

Composer: Ralph Vaughn Williams has some really nice stuff. (Also the standbys Beethoven and Mozart. Really.)

Painting: Hmmm. Let's go with work of art and I'll say Michelangelo's Moses.

How can mothers find time for creativity in their own lives? What are ways they can make time in small ways? What has worked for you?

It's always a trick isn't it? You can't have it all at the same time. Given the ages and needs of my children there are things I'd love to do (regular writing time) but I don't. With my personality and the demands on my time these days most of my creative endeavors are participatory; I read, I watercolor with the kids, I listen to good music in the car while shuttling people around. If I'm lucky I get out to see an art exhibit at the local museum. But honestly, I have simply chosen to not do a lot of things I'd like to do. I trust there will be time in the coming years as my kids get older when my energy level, their demands, and my ability to juggle it all will become, not less demanding because come on, this is motherhood, but maybe more compliant with one another.

What can mothers do to inspire this creativity in their children (or husbands?) How have you approached this?

I don't really have a grand plan. I suppose that just as my parents shared different experiences and opportunities with me, I in turn share them with my children. It's not calculated. I have memories of looking though my mom's art books and being fascinated, especially by Van Gogh. My dad always had some interesting classical piece playing on the record player. And he took me to the ballet a lot.

It seems to me that if I truly love something, it will be natural that my children are exposed to it, if I am interacting with them in any meaningful way. And so far, that seems to be working!

How do you see the marriage between technology and creativity? Do they compete or compliment and why?

The trick with technology, especially as involves the internet, is that it makes things so immediate, it almost demands an immediate creative process and I think it's easy for quality to get lost in the bid to get something out there. Also it's very easy for the technology to become The Thing, as opposed to the creative work. Am I blogging? Or am I writing and posting it on a blog? I can tell the difference. Is one better than the other? Depends on what you're going for. However, I have read some rather interesting stories in 140 characters or less.

What is your favorite poem you’ve written (if you don’t mind sharing)

I don't think I'll share my favorite poem, the internet sometimes being a vast black hole into which certain things can fall and never return (too melodramatic?) But I will share a rather facetious poem I wrote at the end of a poetry class in college entitled The End (Someday you can read my work in The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker – ha!)

When the last word has been written
I will take this tired body to the water
and lay it down. Though my fingers rest
upon the shore they will still try
to wrap around pencils the same way
that my mind will spend the next week
walking around on a metaphor, forgetting
that it isn't real.
I’ve wondered if it’s as easy to be creative nowadays—that so much has already been done and what’s often produced is mimicry and not original. What do you think? Have all the best stories been written? Are there great things still left to do?

I'm sure there are still great things left to do. The question is, who will do them? I'm not sure our culture nurtures or even appreciates great art or the process needed to create great art. We saturate ourselves with easy entertainment full of gratuitous sex and violence. We are a culture that tries to avoid consequences and hand out lavish rewards for doing just about anything.

Great art must tell the truth. For a lot of people this means telling only about the dark side of life. But I don't think a great work can wallow in the muck the entire time any more than such art can simply be a didactic morality tale. Great art is about redemption in some form. But we seem to be afraid of saying that we need redemption. Either we are too comfortable in our sad states, or too afraid of the glorious possibilities.

Obviously I am not speaking individually, but collectively. I think there are some wonderfully talented people out there and I expect that they will be able to produce wonderful things if they can see their way to do it.

Sponsored by K & M Studios and photographer Megan Burgess

Most Haunted Houses (Plus a Few Other Haunted Places Too)

I don't really believe in ghosts, that's my youngest son's department (he used to swear that the Loch Ness Monster was out there and it provided hours of family entertainment) and with today's list it's all about places you could go if you wanted to play ghost buster.

And notice that Alaska makes a nice little showing in the rankings? Shows how cool we are.

1. Myrtles Plantation
This historic home was built in the late 18th century and rumors have built up over the years to give it more ghosts than you can shake a stick at *shake shake*. These include a former slave who was hung in the yard for killing two little girls (though evidence that he existed, let alone terrorized in a murderous rage, is tenuous at best).

While he himself spends his holidays haunting the place he's joined, of course, by the the ghosts of the two children he supposedly got rid of. Of course.

However, the only confirmed murder to happen on the premises was that of William Drew Winter, an attorney who lived at Myrtles from 1860 to 1871. He was shot on the side porch by a stranger then staggered into the house and began to climb the stairs to the second floor (isn't this all very dramatic?) but collapsed and died and his dying footsteps can be heard on the staircase to this very day!

The great part about this house though is that besides these happy occurrences it is said that the ghosts of other slaves occasionally show up to mournfully ask if they can do any chores. Can you imagine something so wonderful? I can only guess at how that improves the property value, having built-in maid service. Man, how much would I'd love to have people wafting through my home, saying nothing but "Ma'am, are there any other chores I can do?" Sweet.

In addition to this it's said that the grand piano will sometimes play by itself, repeating one haunting chord. Now that does sound like my house. The piano is going all the time and it's the same stuff over and over and over . . . Bon Jovi, Journey, Green Day, Cold Play . . . definitely haunting and distressing.

Maybe my house is haunted too.

2. The White House
Yes, that White House. Apparently Mr. Obama has house guests that he may not even be aware of. They say (whoever "they" may be) that former president Harrison can be heard digging through the attic--did you even know the White House had an attic?--and the ghost of Abigail Adams has been seen in the hallways. Seems like I remember the Clintons having a hard time saying goodbye to the place as well and hanging around long after the party was over . . .

But the most common ghost is, of course, Mr. Lincoln himself. That's right, get this: Eleanor Roosevelt once said she felt the presence of Lincoln watching her as she worked in the Lincoln bedroom. (That proves he's haunting the place right there). But then a clerk claimed to have seen the ghost of Lincoln sitting on a bed pulling off his boots. But the funniest one is when Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was awakened by a knock on the bedroom door. Answering it, she was allegedly met with the ghost of Abe Lincoln staring at her from the hallway.

Because if you're queen you're used to getting strange knocks on your bedroom door in the middle of the night and it's oh-so-normal to get out of bed and answer it yourself. I can just picture her there in her nighty with night cream on her face and the tiara on her head coming to the bedroom door. Somehow I'm doubting the old girl's story.

But then Calvin Coolidge's wife reported seeing the ghost of Lincoln on several occasions, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, at a window in the Oval Office, staring out in deep contemplation toward the battlefields across the Potomac. So there.

3. The Whaley House
In old town San Diego stands the Whaley House which was converted into a museum after earning the title of "Most Haunted House in America." I guess that fits if you consider that the house was haunted even before it was finished--they had used the property as a site for hanging and a man was executed there in 1852 so it was just asking for trouble to put a house on that spot.

Kind of like building your swimming pool on top of an relocated Indian burial site, huh?

I'd go through the long list of ghosts that make an appearance there but it's not that exciting--the Whaley family lived there so long that all sorts of people ended up dying there so it's kind of obvious that it was voted as "most likely to be a ghost house" but I'm extremely skeptical. They say that a ghost is present when a room has a cold spot. If that were the case then it would seem that Alaska would have more than its fair share of ghosts but we don't seem to get that many around here.

Maybe ghosts don't like snow either.

4. The LaLaurie House
Delphine LaLaurie (and I'll say right here that regardless of what I'm about to reveal about her her name is simply smashing) was twice widowed and she was caught mistreating her slaves which was all it took for rumors to run wild. By all accounts she was a very nasty lady who whipped slave girls for minor infractions (as if it's acceptable to whip slaves for major infractions, or to have slaves at all?) and when neighbors began to complain she ended up fleeing the country, eventually dying in France I believe.

But still, her victims' ghosts remain to remind us of her cruelty and her house remains as a tribute to the times. As an interesting side note Nicholas Cage bought the place and then sold it a year or two ago. Apparently he liked the stories about it too.

5. The Queen Mary
This famous ship was permanently docked and made into a hotel which I would very much like to visit because in World War II my grandfather traveled to Europe as a GI, sleeping on its deck, back in 1943.

I'll have to ask him if he saw any ghosts. Supposedly the ghost of a sailor who was crushed while trying to escape a fire haunts regularly and the ghost of a child who drown in the pool makes appearances, as if there'd be any room for ghosts with all those soldiers crawling the place.

6. The Bell House
Somewhere in Tennessee (not sure where) back in the 1860s there lived the Bell family who had their lives inconvenienced by a ghost that came to be known as Kate (why are ghosts never named Lateesha, Zoey or Jasmine?) Claiming she was a witch (not sure how this communication was received or if it was just a given based on circumstances) she began to harass the farmer until he grew so sick he took to his bed.

He eventually died and--get this--next to his bed was a suspicious bottle containing black liquid. Bell's breath also had the same smell as the liquid and when they gave a drop to the cat he died instantly. Potent stuff, no? Anyway, investigators made the completely logical deduction that Bell must have had the bottle of poison administered to him by a spirit--probably that Kate person who'd been haunting him.

Makes sense. A lot more sense than, say, his WIFE tried to get rid of him, right? Because why would she want him dead? It makes so much more sense that it was a mysterious disembodied spirit that had at one time taken the form of a half-rabbit-half-dog creature leaping through the corn fields which he supposedly saw one day. Lots more sense.

Whatever. It makes for a good story I guess because it's been made into books and movies.

7. Eastern State Penitentiary
I bet if you took every state in the country and added up all the ghost stories, Pennsylvania--specifically Philadelphia--would have more ghosts per capita than any other place in the U.S. It's true.

I guess if you're famous enough to have housed Al Capone within your walls then you're due for a few ghosts. Rumor has it that Al Capone was haunted by the ghost of someone he offed during the St. Valentine's Day massacre though somehow I'm doubting this. I have a hard time seeing Capone with a conscience--even with so selective a conscience.

Other apparitions include a shadow-like figure that scoots quickly away when approached, a figure that stands in the guard tower, an evil cackling coming from cellblock 12 and another shadowy figure who has been seen sliding down the wall. Yup, none of those things sound like they fit in in a prison. It must be ghosts.

8. The Anchorage Hotel
I'm including this for hometown sentimentality. This fun little place is in downtown Anchorage (yes I've been there) and in the guest register they have a place where people can share their encounters.

Um, with spirits that is.

The city's first police chief, John Sturgis, was shot in the alleyway outside the hotel and died shortly thereafter and his ghost is said to roam around. There have also been reports of an unnamed female ghost who was jilted at the alter because her fiance left to look for gold. She hanged herself in her wedding dress (so the story goes) and now hangs out at the hotel in an eternal honeymoon.

9. The Congelier House
This used to carry the title of Most Haunted House in America (one has to wonder how the award is given out--and is there a medal or monetary prize that accompanies the title?) and I have to say that if you judged it solely on violence and rumor, this one beats the Whaley House all to pieces.

Built by a Yankee carpetbagger in Pittsburg (see? What did I tell you--it's always Pennsylvania. Maybe because it rhymes with "Transylvania"?) it got its reputation when the lady of the house found the master dabbling with the maid whereupon she got him with a knife and whacked off the poor girl's head. Yes, that's bloody I know. True? I don't know. But it's got ghosts with a vengeance.

It was said Thomas Edison built some kind of contraption to facilitate conversation with the dead (apparently he wanted to one up that dumb Alexander Graham Bell for beating him to the telephone) all because of what he saw on a visit to the Congelier house.

10. The Winchester House
Saving the best for last this is the only house that seems to be actually and legitimately odd for a plausible reason.

Sarah Winchester was the widow of William Winchester of Winchester rifle fame and when her husband and baby daughter died suddenly, leaving her with 40 million dollars and too much time by herself she went west and built this strange 160-room mansion from the depths of her grief.

Rumor was that she was told by a medium or by the ghost of her husband, whichever angle makes you happier, that she was being punished for all the people the Winchester guns had killed and that the house she built needed to be under continual construction or she would die. And anyone who has been through a remodel knows exactly how she feels.

At any rate she took the ghost as his word and the house is this crazy concoction of halls and stairways and tributes to the number thirteen. Chandeliers were modified to hold thirteen candles, some hallways and stairways lead nowhere and there are spiderweb motifs around the grounds. I think I'd be interested in seeing the place just for kicks.

What else are you going to do on Halloween?

Sponsored by Forty Fish Eggs

I'm Out and About Today

I'm on hiatus today, I'll be speaking at the Twitter conference here in Anchorage at 10:15 am so if you happen to be downtown this morning drop on by the Snow Goose restaurant and say hello. But catch me quick because it's also parent-teacher conferences this afternoon so I'll be on the road again by lunch.

Which reminds me . . . if you're not doing anything in February I'll also be speaking at Blissdom 2010 the first week of the month in Nashville--I believe the topic they asked me to hit is "Modern Mommy Blogging" which will be a great one. Never been to Nashville and I cannot wait, I have always wanted to go to Tennessee. See you there!

And besides this, I've got a few items for your attention:

It still hasn't snowed . . . just in case you were wondering, so the snow contest marches on without a winner yet.

What do you think about the new Speed-Writing Craze? (Or should I say "Crazy" and give away my own opinion on the matter?)

Think it's expensive to get married? Check out the list of all-time Most Expensive Weddings. Then laugh.

Check out the instructions on making your own bath tub paint--we used to do this ages ago.

I know it's not anywhere near Christmas yet but I love the simplicity of this wooden block Nativity set. I imagine I could try and make one myself if I had some patience.

Check out this two-in-one desk/bed that I covet.

Make up a batch of this Rhubarb Nut Bread or these Grasshopper Squares . . . thank you . . . don't mind if I do!

Sponsored by Pak Naks--decorate your stuff!

Making Tamales

When Grace was about ten she was into the American Girl books and discovered their line of matching cook books, each one with instructions for making food suitable for each character's heritage. How glad I was that one of the girls had Mexican ancestors because otherwise we would have been stuck eating things like hasty pudding. Hmmmm . . .

But as it was Grace wanted to make all the Mexican food Josephina ate and that meant tamales. I'd never made them before and I had this vague notion that they were really, really hard and time consuming because I'd heard about little old women standing in hot kitchens, making tamales all day long for the evening meal.

Apparently I was misinformed because they're really, really easy. As in pie. Grace makes them up and we slurp them right down and we're all very happy about the situation.

Anyway, all a tamale is is a batch of cornmeal dough, usually a combination of masa, lard and water, wrapped around a bit of slow cooked and savory meat spiced with chilies which is tied up inside a dried corn husk just like a little Christmas package and steamed to perfection.

When you unwrap them the cornmeal dough has cooked around the meat and it's oh so tasty. I cook them in my vegetable steamer but you can use any kind of steamer to do the job. I've seen all sorts of recipe variations too--some using mushrooms and some using vegetables--I've actually got this theory that you could make sweet versions, maybe with a bit of cinnamon sprinkled in the dough and a bit of caramel or jam or sliced apples in the middle. I don't see why you'd be limited to just beef and chilies--cornmeal has a certain amount of sweetness as it is so putting applesauce or even some chocolate in there shouldn't be too off-putting.

Anyway, here's Grace's recipe.

For the dough:
6 cups masa harina
5 cups warm water or chicken broth
2 cups lard or shortening
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix masa with water or broth and let set for 20 minutes to soften. Then with mixer mix in the rest of the ingredients until it's a dough consistency.

For filling:
3 cups shredded beef
8 large roasted chiles- skin, seeds and veins removed and coarsely chopped.
1 white onion- peeled and coarsely chopped.
6 cloves of garlic- peeled and crushed.
1 jalapeno- seeded and diced
1 cup homemade chile sauce or store bought.

Roast the above ingredients in a casserole dish at about 300 degrees for several hours until nice and fragrant.

To prepare the tamales, soak dried corn husks (you can get them at the Mexican section of the supermarket) in warm water for about ten minutes. Then dry them and put a couple tablespoons of the masa dough in the husk. Spread it out a bit then put a spoonful of filling in the middle and cover it with the dough. Wrap the corn husk around the package as you see here and tie with a strip of corn husk.

Steam them for about 90 minutes. To eat, you unwrap them and enjoy the treat inside. Serve with a bit of reserved sauce or you can freeze them for later.

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I had this awful moment yesterday when I realized that I completely spaced drawing a winner for last weekend's Sugarhouse Ink giveaway. So today I've got two winners to announce. First, Norma was the winner of the $50 gift certificate to Sugarhouse Ink and then Sondra was the winner of the $60 Mikarose gift certificate. So sorry to have slacked off.

Sponsored by Beau-Coup for unique baby shower favors.

Brought to You by the Trolls of the World

Two and a half years ago my nephew Alex who was autistic ran away from his home and drowned in a lake in his neighborhood. I've mentioned in two different posts that he passed away but I didn't really talk about it out of respect to my sister, Carinne, and her family's privacy.

But I'm afraid my wanting to spare her further pain wasn't shared by everyone here in our little community--the local media covered the tragedy by leaving out important facts and then using words which hinted at parental negligence. They even went so far as to say that police were investigating and were thinking of pressing charges--none of it true.

Of course those of us who knew the family were shocked. The news didn't mention that he was severely autistic and generally incapable of communication, that he was a very strong and large seven year old boy who was attracted to water and repeatedly escaped from his house so he wore an electronic monitoring bracelet because of his parents' fears of just such an event occurring. Anyone who knew them knew of their love and care, it was an accident and the family deserved compassion and comfort but instead they were being accused of being bad parents.

No one from the media made any attempt to find out their story, reports kept being broadcast that hinted that there was some kind of a police investigation going on. Of course it was all untrue, it was just a high-tech rumor mill, but then the letters to the editor started coming. People who had heard the news reports made assumptions and judgments then began making accusations. A few wrote scathing letters demanding that the police press charges and saying horrible things which we desperately tried to keep from my sister and her family while they were planning for Alex's funeral.

It was bad enough that the newspaper printed these inflammatory letters in an effort to sell papers (which is one of the main reasons I cannot tolerate the Anchorage Daily News and will hold a vicious grudge against them until the day I die) but we were completely shocked that people in our community would say such horrid things and jump to such conclusions without giving another human being the benefit of the doubt.

I've seen this happen a couple of times to other unfortunate families, my sister's situation wasn't an isolated case. A single African American mother who worked full time reported her two sons missing. People thought they knew all about her, some started pointing fingers, making suggestions about what had happened until the two little boys were found in a nearby pond and it was determined it had all been an accident. About the same time Alex died a single father dropped his teenage daughter off at a party where she was shot and killed. Again, letters to the editor came out condemning this man for his bad parenting and holding him responsible for what had happened to his daughter.

I've been thinking about these things after the post I wrote last Monday. I had worried that writing about my son and our worries was a little too personal but then I thought that it might be a good thing to share if it helped others going through the same thing and to let people know we're certainly not perfect over here and I have all sorts of struggles. So I published and held my breath and I was touched by how kind the responses were.

But then I got a comment that was like a sock in the gut. Instead of merely disagreeing with my points on parenting an anonymous commenter attacked my son and then us as parents. At first I let the comment stand for a while out of shock and there were some of you who were very kind about supporting us (thanks Carinne for sticking up for me) but I finally decided it was better to take the post down. I didn't want my son to read what had been written about him and I decided that maybe I'd been too open with things--that by being too open I was now being punished.

Carinne and I spoke about the experience and we both wondered why people do this kind of thing? Even if people think these nasty things what propels them to put pen to paper and air their opinions to the world? I've never been attacked face-to-face so why is it that people feel free to write things that they'd never say in person?

My personal opinion is that somewhere in them is a bit of common decency that holds them back from saying things like this to someone's face but once that face-to-face contact is removed the person on the other end is just an anonymous, amorphous entity without feelings and suddenly they're free to take their best shot. It's like being in a car, separated from the other cars you are free to say things to the other drivers you'd never say to them if they were standing in front of you though even that bit of social courtesy is being eroded as well.

Of course I still think there's a bit of something there that tells them that what they're doing is wrong because why else would they be so cowardly as to remain anonymous? If they thought that they were helping or serving or constructively criticizing they'd leave their name as proof but none of them ever do. They leave the note and slink away, finding satisfaction in throwing the rock then hiding like some truant schoolchild.

What is wrong with people that they can't feel sympathy for another person, especially one who is struggling with a child or who has lost a child? Are they so scared that something might happen to their own children that they search around for ways to show how the other parents did something wrong that caused events to turn out badly? Maybe they think that if they can find a reason why another mother messed up, that it's somehow her fault, then it can't happen to them.

I've had plenty of nasty comments here over the years and each one kind of shocks me. Being judgmental and critical may be a natural human trait but how did we come so far as to lose that little voice inside that says, "Keep your feelings to yourself. Not only is that other person a human being with feelings who deserves compassion but it's wrong to say hurtful things. It doesn't matter that you think you're right."

Well whatever prompts these people to act that way, the problem is just getting worse. There are so many online venues available now that trolls don't need to hide under bridges any more, they're coming out into the daylight to feed which means that it's just going to be that much more important for the rest of us to do everything we can to make sure courtesy and compassion still have a place in the world--it's going to be up to us to make the difference.

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Ragu a la Bolognese

My very favorite food in the whole entire world is spaghetti. I love pasta of any kind, but if I had to choose which pasta I loved the most it would be spaghetti--or at least what we Americans call "spaghetti." In actuality what I'm talking about is probably this dish. Ragu bolognese.

Whenever I had a birthday I'd ask Mom to make spaghetti and on the few times we went out to dinner I'd find it on the menu and eagerly anticipate. Of course I never found it to be quite as good as the homemade variety (darn Denny's) and I'd always go home every-so-slightly disappointed.

It surprises me how few people make homemade sauce because it is so easy and such a staple in our house.

The trick is low temperatures. You never want to cook onions on high heat, that makes them bitter, you want it low to medium, slow cooking makes all the flavors meld better. And if you're like me you want those pieces of celery and carrot chopped very fine. Flavor is good but pieces of celery staring up at you from your fork isn't.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup minced onion
1 finely minced celery
½ cup finely minced carrot
1 pound mild Italian sausage
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken broth
1 10 oz can tomato puree
3 tablespoons capers

Saute onion, celery and carrot in oil on medium-low heat for 8 min. Remove, then add sausage and cook until brown and broken up. Add the nest six ingredients through bay leaf, simmer for fifteen minutes, then add the onion/celery/carrot mix, broth and tomato puree and capers, simmer 1 hour. Discard bay leaf, toss with pasta and top with freshly grated parmesan.

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Mikarose Giveaway

I've reviewed Mikarose before and gave it glowing reports, in fact I liked it so much I ended up buying a dress there for my daughter (loved it) and now they're back again to offer another gift certificate to another winner this weekend.

Since my first review they've added more dresses like this Asian inspired "Christine" dress and a small children's line, an example of which you see below. And I still think they're one of the best deals in dresses you're going to find.

Grace loved her pink dress--and they didn't pay me to say that--which you can now find on the clearance page of their site. You should check out the deals there, the one Grace has is marked down to $12.99. You can't beat a deal like that, not with a stick.

Mikarose is providing a $60 gift certificate for this weekend's winner and if you can use what's on the clearance page you could get two dresses for that price.

And good news for everyone--you can enter "scribbit" at checkout and receive a 10% discount off your order.

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday morning go to the giveaway entry form on this page and enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

This giveaway is open to all readers! Good luck!

Our Fearsome Write-Away Winner

Thank you to Allysha at Bells on Their Toes for judging this month's Halloweenish writing contest (you'll get to hear more about her next week) and thank you to jaC Jewelry for providing the gorgeous Chocolate Cherry Swirl pendant as the prize for the best entry on the topic of "Fear."

If you didn't win this gorgeous pendant don't worry, jaC has giveaways here and there and to find out when sign up for the newsletter which will give you all the upcoming events.

And of course thank you to all who entered, there's nothing so fearful as putting up your writing for someone else to judge!

Anyone want to suggest a topic for next month's contest? I'm wide open . . .

. . . And the winner is:

Wonder Years with Fear a la Edgar Allan Poe

Sonja is a wonderful writer, photographer and mother with a house full of beautiful little blondies. I've subscribed to her blog for about a year now and highly recommend it--you'll love this creative post. I do believe it's the first time a poem has won the Write-Away Contest.

Honorable Mentions

Stories to Cheer People Up with To Catch a Thief
My Neurotic Spot with Description of a Night Terror
Glacier Racing with Floyd the Coward

***

Here are a list of the entries in the order they were received:

1. Babysteps with Flying Away
Last night Zaya said, “Mom, I don't want to ever fly a kite again, because it might fly away.”
He said this with tears barely restrained and his voice cracking a bit, as if we were discussing something truly terrifying, like tornadoes or spiders or newborn babies. (Hey, we're all afraid of something.)

2. All Stace, All the Time with Childhood Phobias That Linger On
Okay so I know nothing is sleeping under my bed. I never have to check the closet for the boogie man. These are things that I outgrew YEARS ago. I'm not afraid of the dark. Thunderstorms don't scare me. I can watch a scary movie, most of the time, without lingering effects.

3. Warm Chocolate Milk with I'm Back
It took going away last weekend, driving up north to my friend Sarah's remote cabin in the woods where there was no Internet access, and I could only get a signal on my phone by standing on my tiptoes in the middle of a field with my arms reached out high above my head, removing myself from my life was required, for me to see the possibilities in the center of it.

4. Flea's World with Posthumously
Many a book and screenplay are written by shrinks – excuse me, licensed therapists – who think they’ve cornered the market on crazy. I’ve read quite a few – in my profession I’d go nuts if I couldn’t laugh at myself. They’d lock me away if I couldn’t laugh at my patients. Privately, of course.

5. Momish with Home Base
Our house was one of the few row homes left that still had a wall separating the living room from the staircase. In most of the houses, the wall was taken down so the staircase stood open, overlooking the living room. But not our house, our house still had the wall. And boy do I remember that wall.

6. I Most Definitely Control the Spice with Tortoiseshell
I am typing this currently in very small, very unassuming font into a Word document at work. After lunch, after the morning tumult and the relaxing walk outside after sharing a packed lunch at the library with Gary, my stomach begins this horrible decline, this needful feeling of want and regret and envy. Of lonesome feeling for my son.

7. Flip Flop Mama with Conquering Half Dome
Yosemite has to be one of my all time favorite places--right up there with the Big Sur coast and North Shore, Oahu. The first time I visited Yosemite was about 11 years ago. My family--with the exception of my sister who was on her mission in Spain--and another family from my home town took a vacation there. We went in August and our plan was to backpack throughout the valley.

8. Fear Realized with Fear #045 Drown Deep
For a long time, I couldn’t swim. There were a myriad of reasons why and they varied in legend: I couldn’t get my hair wet (I’m black. It’s a long story.); my eyes couldn’t take the chlorine; my mother never continued lessons for me as a baby since, back in those days, they threw you in and said “swim”, and it freaked her out. This is how the legends go. Some I’m told, some I’ve lived.

9. Confessions of a Narcoleptic with Faith
Let me start at the beginning. Being pregnant, all of my emotions are heightened. A lot. I am normally a worrier, and lately, I think my worrying has kind of gotten out of control. Mostly about my children. I worry that something, anything, will happen to them. I would lie awake at night, my stomach twisting in knots over the thousands of ways my children can be harmed.

10. Wonder Years with Fear a la Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over all the fears that make me tremble to my core.
(I thought of wars, I pondered needles and those freaky little beetles,
that I hear will nearly always crawl by hundreds on the floor.)

11.Emzeegee and the Hungry Three with Don't Let Go
The spokes of my new $99 blue Sears bike gleam in the sunshine as they wobble back and forth. "Dad?" "Dad?! You're still holding on, right Dad?" I asked with a waver in my voice. "I don't want to fall off! I'm scared!" "I'm holding, I'm holding!" he pants, as he runs along behind me, one hand on the back of the bike and the other helping him keep his balance.

12. Warm Chocolate Milk with Calming His Greatest Fear and Mine
My son Weston screams out in the night. Visions of hungry wolves terrorize him as he sleeps. I leap out of bed when I hear his panic-stricken cry, I come running from down the hall and into his room to hold him, to awaken him from his nightmare and bring him back to the warm, tranquil setting of his bedroom. "You're safe," I whisper as we rock.

13. Stories to Cheer People Up with To Catch a Thief
We had just gone out and had one last family dinner and were now stopping to buy some groceries to decorate our empty cupboards and refrigerator with. It had been a long day and I had decided to stay in the car at this last stop so I wouldn’t have to hurt my back any more by stooping and bending to get in and out of the vehicle.

14. Gritty City Woman with Hapuna Drowning: Reflections, Revelations and Respect
Hapuna Beach on the Big Island is a life altering experience. Fantastic waves, warm waters, cool, soft sand, whales breaching on the horizon, and warm tropical sun ease the body, mind, and soul. My family and I have been coming to this beach for years and we eagerly anticipated our homecoming, Sunday morning, February 8th. Little did we understand that our beach routine would change dramatically this day and that our eyes would see too much.

15. Short Stop with Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie
The day my first son was born, I was sitting in my hospital bed blissfully staring at the tiny wonder that was my new baby when my husband returned to our room from dinner. All smiles. “Guess what? Mom and Dad wanna go to our house and clean it for us while we’re here in the hospital. Cool, huh?”

16. I'm (Not) Crazy Mommy with Waking Nightmare
When I was in high school, one of my best friends (we'll call him Skippy) was the son of a rose grower. His dad and grandfather owned a huge compound of greenhouses that grew the most beautiful and fragrant of flowers in every variety and color imaginable. The facility was composed of two long rows of greenhouses, stacked like the rungs of a ladder with access at the ends.

17. Parent Club with Mourning a Baby
I wasn't going to write this. I thought it too raw, too personal, too painful to put out into the blogosphere...but it was actually my prince who said I should blog about it. We have both received so much support from friends (twitter & non-twits alike), family and co-workers.

18. Baby Makin(g) Machine with The Selfish Fear
This is a very difficult, extremely sensitive topic to blog about. I'm almost ashamed to write it. It's something I've been thinking about, pondering over, dwelling on for the last couple of years.

19. Notes of Jubilee with I Was Ratted out by My Five Year-old Son
My kids' love the library. Whirling Dervish and I haunt the library frequently during the school week. With all the neat toys, story time, and enough picture books to claim sensory overload as a medical condition, it's a big draw.

20. Glacier Racing with Floyd the Coward
Foolhardy, that's what it was. We were stopped at the light on Old Lake Road behind a whiny piped pickup full of side-hatted teenagers when a wadded Lota-Burger bag flew from the truck window. Floyd muttered from my passenger seat. He threw his door open, strode purposefully to the opposite lane, gathered the grease stained paper, and tossed it back into the truck bed.

21. Ad Libitum with False Evidence Appearing Real
I read somewhere once that FEAR stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real”. I have to agree with that, in retrospect, that is. But when you are lying on your bed, staring at the ceiling, heart pounding at the very thought of that awful thing you fear so much, the evidence you dig up from the recesses of your mind seem anything but false…. You know what I mean, right?

22. My Neurotic Spot with Description of a Night Terror
Her sleep is a portal. She’s not known a full night’s peaceful sleep since that moment in childhood when they first found her and filled her with visions of her bed crawling with spiders and other such creepy crawlies to taunt a small girls mind. She’s an adult now, but that doesn’t mean she’s any less immune to them when they choose to approach. When she sleeps, somewhere within a dusty window into another dimension opens, and things cross over.

23. Life with Boys with A Fright in the Night
It was a quarter 'til midnight and I was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep. Then I heard it ... the sound that could be innocuous, or could be the beginning of a long, scary night. I waited with baited breath for more clues as to what my night would hold. The rustling continued, but on its own that was still innocuous.

24. Just Mom's Musings with In Which I Owe My Newfound Courage to Pooh
I have a theory. You know those cute little stories we read at bedtime to our children? I think they're actually written for "grown-ups." No, don't laugh. You see, just recently I was plagued with making a decision that would have life altering consequences based on what I decided.

25. Adventures of Howler and Toad with Fear
Growing up, I was afraid of the dark. My sister, brother, and cousins made fun of me. There was nothing that was more terrifying to me than the deep darkness that was bedtime at my house.

26. Shelly Munro with Fear
Fear–it’s the gut-wrenching anxiety that strikes us all in moments of extreme stress, when our limbs tremble, our face goes pale, and we scream until we’re hoarse.

27. My Left Hook with He's Gay or Weird or Weirdly Gay or Whatever
The Pterodactyl wants me to buy him a purse. Obviously he’s gay. Which would explain his fascination with the hair dryer, his weird attachment to anything fuzzy, and his tendency to sing along to Taylor Swift songs. He’s almost five years old and he loves rainbows. Can there possibly be a gayer sign?

28. Army Wife Quilter with Fear
OK! So here is the thing. "Fear!" It is the time of year when we pull out all the stuff that makes us scream, laugh, and say wow how did they do that. It's Halloween the one time of year when the fears of others are displayed on the lawn to scare us all. I have one big huge fear that drives my family crazy all summer. I don't need to go to a haunted house to be scared.

29. Mozi Esmé with Filling the Gap: Time
I am not a fearful person, I don't think. I like heights, I'm fascinated with snakes, and I still want to skydive some day. Even goblin masks and pumpkin guts don't scare me. But I fear one significant thing.

30. Divergent Pathways with The Bogeyman of Edingurgh
The idea came to us in the hallowed halls of Cambridge, where I totally imagined Fagin to be collecting orphan boys, and Macbeth lurking in the next cloister. Just as our semester was coming to a close, my friend Dottie and I stuffed our Sidney Sussex towels into our duffels, and conspired to tour the UK for a few weeks on a Brit-Rail pass. (It’s a great way to travel when you’re young and foolish.)

31. Just Mom's Musings with The Night I Saw a Spookable
JS asked me the other day if ghosts are real. I knew it was only a matter time before I was asked that question. After all, it is almost Halloween and we have been watching Winnie-the-Pooh's "Heffalump Halloween," complete with "spookables." But I didn't know how to answer and simply came back with, "Well, what do you think?"

32. Dancing with the Daffodils with Fear Is Just a Bad Dream
I’ve had my share of bad dreams. As a child, I remember having dreams of a steamroller overtaking me - leaving me flat as Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons. (No doubt that’s where that dream originated!) Later my bad dreams were not of falling or monsters or things that go BUMP in the night.

33. Lifepoint with Beverly Dru with False Evidence Appearing Real
Fear is a thief; stealing your energy and creativity and leaving you despondent. Conversely, it can be the tool that sharpens your perception and propels you to success as you use the edge of fear to sharpen the blade of faith.

34. Merge with My Best Friend's Dog
My best friend, Nova and I met in college. We weren't exactly friends from the start, rather our friendship evolved over time once we realized how much we had in common. We both had birthdays in June, this made us Cancers, which, we both agreed, was the best astrological sign out there. We both also agreed that anyone who wasn't a Cancer was not someone to be mocked, but rather pitied.

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Craziest Deaths in History

Maybe this is a little morbid but honestly? It's really kind of fascinating. And while I'm doing a month of Halloween lists it fits right in with the general theme.

Are they all legit? As far as I can tell they're as real as imagination and urban legend meeting with the 6 o'clock news can be real but you never know . . . and if you notice, you get more entries as the years roll by, I'm not sure if that means as a race we're getting stupider or just unluckier?

I hereby present the oddest and strangest deaths in history . . .

1. 430 B.C. - Empedocles
According to the legends this Greek philosopher jumped into Mt. Etna, an active volcano, to let people think he'd been taken up by the gods. Right. I have to think this is probably just a legend because really, there are so many better ways to make people think you've been carried off . . . like pretending you were caught up in a hot air balloon when you were really hiding in the garage. Just hypothetically speaking of course.

2. 892 A.D. - Sigurd the Mighty
Sigurd Eysteinsson of Orkney killed one of his enemies then strapped the guy's head to his leg (it was all the rage with the Viking raiders that year). However, one of the teeth jabbed him as he rode along on his horse, infecting his leg and eventually killing him.

Which is why the fashion of strapping vanquished foes' head to one's leg went out of fashion the next year.

3. 1219 - Inalchuk
This Muslim governor of the Central Asian town of Otrar was captured and killed by the invading Mongols, who poured molten silver in his eyes, ears, and throat. Ew. But boy isn't that a vivid picture? Ew again. As I said, it's a bit of a legend so I don't know that it really happened, sometimes all it takes is a really fierce PR campaign where some good and bloody myths about public executions get circulated and other countries start to steer clear of your borders. This could have been such a move.

Maybe Obama ought to consider such a tactic. Forget nuclear warheads, just spread rumors that Noreiga was drowned in a giant-sized bowl of molé and suddenly Chavez is minding his Ps and Qs.

4. 1794 - John Kendrick
This American sea captain and explorer was killed in the Hawaiian Islands when a British ship accidentally used a loaded cannon to fire a salute to Kendrick's vessel.

They weren't supposed to have done that. I'm guessing they felt really, really stupid once they did--how's that going too look in the log book? "Met The Lady Washington. Fired happy salute. Accidentally took out captain."

5. 1862 Jim Creighton
The professional ballplayer who threw the first fastball, completed the first recorded triple play and is generally considered to be the game's first star player but he died when he swung a bat too hard and ruptured his bladder. What a way to go. I didn't know rupturing a bladder was even possible.

6. 1871 - Clement Vallandigham
This U.S. Congressman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in court while representing the defendant in a murder case. Demonstrating how the murder victim could have inadvertently shot himself he fired the gun, thinking it was unloaded, and it discharged and mortally wounded him.

His demonstration was so successful the defendant was acquitted. Tough way to win a case.

7. 1912 - Franz Reichelt
Known as "The Flying Tailor," (which really should be amended) he was the inventor of the "coat parachute" which was supposed to float its wearer gently to the ground.

To demonstrate, he jumped 60 meters from the first deck of the Eiffel Tower. The uh . . . parachute . . . didn't work. The jump was recorded by the cameras of the gathered press which must have been truly horrifying.

I can't help but think of all the times that as a kid I jumped off of things with my open umbrella expecting it to catch me like Mary Poppins. Obviously we are kindred spirits.

8. 1923 - George Herbert
The Fifth Earl of Carnarvon became the first person to die from King Tut's Curse after a mosquito bit his face and the bite became infected with erysipelas which he then cut while shaving, leading to blood poisoning and eventually pneumonia. Holy highly improbable! That's a vicious chain of events that could never possibly be duplicated.

You open a tomb, then get bit by a crazy rabid mosquito which gives you some rare disease and you accidntally open the wound while shaving which leads to poisoning and death. You can't write stuff like that, it has to be true.

9. 1930 - William Kogut
This death-row prisoner at San Quentin decided to commit suicide using what he had on hand--and let me say here you must admire his determination and resourcefulness. If only he'd used his super powers for good . . .

He tore up several packs of playing cards, saving pieces with red ink (at the time, the ink in red playing cards contained nitrocellulose, which is flammable when wet) and stuffed them into a pipe. He plugged the end with a broom handle then poured water into the other end to soak the card pieces. Then he put the pipe on a heater next to his bed and placed the open end firmly against his head. The heat turned the water to steam and the resulting pressure burst the pipe, shooting out bits of playing cards with enough force to kill him. Now that's determination.

It sounds like something from CSI.

10. 1947 - The Collyer brothers
Homer and Langley Collyer were compulsive hoarders who were found dead in their home in New York. The younger brother, Langley, died from a booby trap he'd set up, causing an avalanche of stuff to crush him to death. His blind brother, Homer, who had depended on Langley for care, died of starvation a few days later. Authorities found their bodies when they tried to remove the debris. Wow.

11. 1959 - the Dyatlov Pass incident
Nine skiing hikers in the Ural Mountains abandoned their camp in the middle of the night, some wearing only their underwear despite freezing temperatures. Six died of hypothermia and three by unexplained injuries. Though the bodies showed no signs of struggle, one victim had a fatal skull fracture, two had major chest fractures, and one was missing her tongue. Their clothing also contained high levels of radiation.

Soviet investigators ruled that "a compelling unknown force" had caused the deaths, barring entry to the area for years thereafter. D'uh. Not funny, just spooky. As in X-files spooky. Maybe they were all KGB agents or something.

12. 1978 - Janet Parker
The last person to have died of smallpox, ten months after it was officially eradicated. A coworker at the lab where she worked accidentally released some of the home-grown virus into the air of the lab and she caught it. Horrible, isn't it? What are the odds?

13. 1979 - Robert Williams
This Ford Motor Co.worker was the first known human to be killed by a robot after the arm of a one-ton factory robot hit him in the head. You know you're thinking of 2001: a Space Odyssey. They're organizing I tell you.

14. 1981 - David Allen Kirwan
This is really sad, but it's so unusual . . . this 24 year-old male (and right there that's going to set up the story) apparently jumped into the Celestine Pool at Yellowstone National Park when his friend's dog fell into the water.

He jumped in head first to save the dog and the 200-degree temperature of the water overcame him, killing both the dog and Mr. Kirwan. The only time someone has jumped in on purpose though a few have fallen in accidentally.

You feel so sorry for the guy when he was trying to be so heroic. Stupid, but heroic.

15. 1981 - Jeff Dailey
This 19 year-old male (Again with the young males. How many accidents involve males under the age of 25?) scored 16,660 in Berzerk (as in the arcade game) then promptly had a heart attack and died.

Ironically enough a year later, an 18-year-old gamer died after high scores in the same game. And that, my friends, is only one of the many reasons I don't have video games.

16. 1982 - James Joseph Suchochi
I don't know how old this guy was but my money is on the door that says "under 25." After firing several shots at an eight-foot tall saguaro cactus with his shotgun at extremely close range, a four-foot limb detached and fell on him with enough force to cause lethal injuries.

I swear I saw that same thing happen to Wile E. Coyote.

17. 1983 - Tennessee Williams
Surely you remember the famous playwright? Well he died from an eye drops bottle cap. No information on which brand. Apparently he put the cap in his mouth while he tilted his head back to administer the drops . . . and it was gone. He choked to death, possibly from the contents of other bottles in the room slowing his gag reflex, if you know what I mean. Aye carumba!

What a way to go. You get to the other side and everyone asks, "So how did you die?" and you have to say, "Uh, I choked on the cap to my eye drops." Not cool.

18. 1993 - Garry Hoy
This 38-year old lawyer fell to his death after he threw himself against a window on the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre in an attempt to prove to some visiting law students that the glass was unbreakable. His first try did nothing so he pushed again and the glass didn't break but it popped out of the frame and he fell.

Great. I guess he made his point. Second lawyer on the list who died trying to prove he was right. That says something.

19. 2007 - Jennifer Strange
One of only three women to make this list, she died while trying to win a Nintendo Wii game on a radio station's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest, which involved drinking large quantities of water without urinating.

I'm kidding, right? Nope. I'm totally serious. They called it death by "water intoxication" or "water poisoning." Who knew? I thought males had cornered the market on this kind of thing. Again with the video games.

20. 2009 - Diana Durre
Died after a 75-foot high Taco Bell sign fell on top of the truck she was in. Diana was meeting a Wyoming couple to sell them some dogs and official reports said they had agreed to meet “right underneath the big Taco Bell sign.” Now I know that's really, really sad and I'm obviously an ogre but that line jerked a chuckle from me and I'm ashamed.

I hope it was quick and painless because that's just horrible. Who says there's no such thing as bad PR? Poor woman.

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Homemade Halloween Window Clings

Here's a terrific Halloween craft idea in plenty of time for the holidays and credit goes to my sister Carinne for the picture and for the idea.

That is her front porch you see, her pumpkins and her homemade Halloween window clings, don't they look great?

I love the spooky, ghosty look.

Here's how you do it: take a packet of those SunShade Travel Clings (that's the brand name for those removable tinted plastic pieces you can put in your car windows for shade) and with an Exacto knife and a fun Halloween pattern underneath you cut the film out and *poof* you have a wonderfully spooky Halloween decoration.

Here's a piece of clip art I pulled off the internet which would work well, just do a search for "Halloween Clip Art" and find a template you like and you're set.

The window cling film can also be purchased in solid white which would make fun snowflakes or white ghosts, you could change it to fit all sorts of occasions.

Sponsored by Forty Fish Eggs

Leaping Leipzig!

It's been a while since I've hosted any guest posters, but today I'm taking you to Leipzig, Germany where our host will be Michelle from Circles and Dots and Other Distractions who (in her own words) "wrote a thesis on American mommy blogs, speaks German, is learning to live healthier, reads lots of books and blogs, plays the piano, fights her never-ending to-do list, cooks, rides her junky but charming 30-Euro bike over cobblestones, makes random trips, writes and sleeps." A frequent contributor to the Write-Away Contest with excellent entries (hint, hint--have you entered yet?) make her feel welcome.

***

Although when most people think of visiting Germany, they think of either the big cities like Berlin or Münich or the tiny towns with tudor-style chalets tucked into green hills and dark forests, I’m here today to tell you about one of my favorite cities in Germany: Leipzig. I also happen to live there.

Leipzig is an old city, boasting nearly a thousand years of recorded history. As a fairly small city with a compact but charming city center, it has a surprising amount of famous figures, historical events, and places of interest.

So let me tell you about some of my favorites. The very first place I would take you if you came to visit would be the St. Thomas Church, or the Thomaskirche. Not only do European churches inspire awe in Americans, this church has two things to make it especially dazzling. The first is that Bach was the cantor there for years (and the city records show that when they were looking for a new cantor, they were a little put-out that the best man for the job took a different job, so they settled with Bach), and what are thought to be his remains are buried in the church.

The other reason this church needs a visit is because the famous Thomas Boys’ Choir sings there twice a week. These boys have a knowledge of music that I could never measure up to as they go to a special school for music. Hearing them sing with the acoustics of a historical church is simply not to be passed up. Plus, entrance to one of their concerts, held on Fridays at 6 PM and Saturdays at 3 PM is only 2 Euros.

You can also visit the nearby Bach Museum, which presents his life with 20 children (10 survived to adulthood) and the responsibility to write weekly new music for the two main churches of Leipzig. Some of his handwritten music is on display.

Bach isn’t the only one who gives Leipzig its reputation as “The City of Music.” Leipzig is also famous because Mendelssohn and Schumann lived here. The city has a famous opera, many orchestra concerts at the Gewandhaus, and smaller independent concerts spread out all over the city.

Walking over cobblestone streets and past the impressive old city hall would take us to our next stop: The Forum of Contemporary History. This is a free museum with one of the best exhibits I’ve ever seen. It is a collection of the simplest facts and the most interesting occurrences in the history of East Germany, with videos, postcards sent across the wall, the famous “Trabi” car, etc.

To come to a more local level in the history of East Germany, our next stop would be the St. Nicholas Church, or the Nikolaikirche. This church, though also really old and very pretty inside, is most famous for the peace prayers offered there before the Berlin Wall came down. After ten years of these prayers, more and more people began to gather until 100,000 people crowded the streets of Leipzig, peacefully holding candles and signs protesting the government that was holding them back. Though a protest behind the wall was dangerous and could prove fatal to some, a miracle occurred and no one was harmed. A month later, the Wall fell.

For those who are still thirsting to hear about East Germany, the free Stasi Museum is a place where you can see how the government spied on people. Fascinating and unbelievable.

Another detail that makes me love Leipzig is the varied architecture. I love to see classy old buildings next to modern glass and steel buildings. The University of Leipzig, which turns 600 years old this year, has many of these lovely contrasting buildings, especially in the area of the main library, the Bibliotheca Albertina. You also won’t want to miss the enormous Hauptbahnhof, or train station, which acts as the city’s main shopping center.

From there, you can take the tram to one of Leipzig’s many green areas. Unlike where I am originally from, plants grow by themselves in Germany, and here the attitude is that natural growth is beautiful, unlike the well-trimmed parks of the U.S. And beautiful it is with a special kind of green only to be found in Germany. I would suggest going to the park where you can find the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, known as the Völkerschlachtdenkmal in German. This monument is the largest in Europe and was built for the 100th anniversary of a battle where many nationalities joined together against Napoleon, with upwards of 100,000 deaths. Although the monument was supposed to symbolize peace and brotherhood, its massive freemason design made it a prime spot for Hitler’s misuse; he gave several speeches there about the expanding power of Germany. Don’t miss out on climbing the stairs to see the view from the top and the exciting headphones tour.

There are many other museums of interest in the Leipzig area, and if you’re lucky, your trip will coincide with the annual Museum Night, where you can pay 5 Euros to have access to all the museums until midnight.

And finally, if you're thinking of a Christmas trip, December is especially charming in Leipzig because of the Christmas market, with lights and decorations and hand-carved toys, and amazing food . . . a perfect place for the holidays.

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