Hey NFL! What IF?

Just imagine what if the NFL just used 10% of what they got for ads, admissions, concession stand profits and the players, refs, coaches only kept 10% (or less) of their salaries and gave the rest to World Vision or Samaritan's Purse to really make a difference in the world! Now THAT would be awesome! Oooh, what if the NBA and MLB, and NHL ALL did that?

I think it's sinful how much money is spent on just one football game when there is so much more productive and helpful, compassionate things that could be done with that kind of money. It always gets me riled up that our nation's priorities are SO out of whack. I just think of all the starving people in the world living in poverty conditions that this money could really go a long way in helping--whole communities could certainly be changed for the better and maybe living standards throughout the world could be improved.

I know, it's easy to tell others how to spend their money, but I'm just sayin' What If? WOW!

Here's a business that is making a difference: Tomorrow is IHOP's National Pancake Day and to celebrate, they are giving away a FREE short stack of buttermilk pancakes.  In return, they are  asking their customers to make a donation to charity instead. They hope to raise $3 million for charity by doing this! Since they started doing this in 2006, they have raised over $10 million for charity!

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Christmas Ideas I Picked Up From Women of Wonder

I won this edible tree!!

Thursday I attended the Women of Wonder meeting at our church and WOW!  They really outdid themselves this time.  First off, I won a door prize!  I candy Christmas tree surrounded by Hershey kisses.  I already ate the top layer before I remembered to take this picture of it.

We had a full meal from Antonios including salad, rigatoni, chicken, pizza and three dessert choices!  What a great way to start a meeting!  Then, instead of sitting the whole time, we had three stations:  (1) ornament making; (2) hospitality tips, (3) Christmas traditions.

The Cinnamon Ornament

The dough was already made for us ahead (1 cup applesauce mixed with 1 cup of cinnamon). Roll it out 1/4" thick, use cookie cutters to make little ornaments, use a toothpick to make a hole for hanging with ribbon/string and then over a week, let it dry out remembering to flip it over every day. They smell good and also work for a package decoration.

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I Like Scavenger Hunts--What About You?

Go Tribe!

When I was walking along reading on my break outside of where I work a couple weeks ago, a group of about 8-10 people with blue "iCleveland" came up to me and asked if they could take my picture because someone wearing Indians apparel was on their scavenger hunt list. I had the hat on in this picture. I wear it because when I read outside it keeps the sun out of my eyes. I was happy to help them out and it brought back a lot of fun memories.

I think scavenger hunts are fun. There are several different kinds you can do: a list of items to get, just trying to find something bigger or better than the other groups get, a video one or a photo one when you have to get video or pictures of things on a list. With the video or photo one you can give extra points if the whole group gets in the picture. When I was youth director at our former church, we used Polaroid cameras so we had the pictures right away. The harder things on the list counted for more points. The most fun picture we got was of our whole group in some one's bathtub (it was a neighbor of someone in our group!

Over at Make and Takes, Marie suggested a scavenger hunt to occupy her young children in her post: Summer Camp For Kids: Photo Scavenger Hunt. I thought this was a wonderful idea!

Did you ever go on a scavenger hunt?  What do you think of them.  Which kind do you prefer?  Would you let a bunch of people you didn't know in your house to help them with their scavenger hunt?

6 Things I Learned in Week 12 of 2009

Great Ideas

I found a whole list of activity suggestions to keep the romance alive for us old married couples--or those in a dating relationship at The Zoo Crew. The blogger there went to a marriage retreat and is sharing things she learned there on her blog. Some of the things listed that we will try include eating at a new restaurant, having breakfast at the part, making a list of places we'd like to go, maybe learn a new activity together, look at our videos or photo albums and a whole lot more. I bookmarked this list so I could find it again. I also printed it out so we can mark the things we want to do! click here to go to the list.

Technology

Remember Topps baseball cards? Now they come in 3-D. The players actually come to life! Check out the video at ScienceJunkies.com. This blog has lots of interesting things.

Cats and Dogs

On the Misadventures of Me blog, I found a story about a guy who hated cats but did a favor for his son and took care of his cat which had kittens. Naturally he became attached to them but had to move from his condo so bought a trailer on a large piece of land and took in more and more cats which now has become Caboodle Ranch, a cat sanctuary. He is asking for donations for a fence to keep out the coyotes. He also has a blog at A Day At The Ranch. (My dad would have liked this guy and I'm sure would have made a donation!)

Companion dogs are used to help children with allergies and seizures and people with bipolar disorder, wounded veterans and people with psychiatric or memory conditions stay stable and safe. I found this out from an article in USA TODAY on March 25, 2009 titled "4 Paws and a tail at your service." Two sites that were given were www.angelservicedogs.com and www.cci.org(Canine Companions for Independence).

Love Language Test

Thanks to Firefly 1824 in the Women Speak Shelfari discussion group, I found the "Love Language Test." I was having a hard time determining my primary language so this test helped. Go to http://www.afo.net/hftw-lovetest.asp to take the short quiz and find out your primary love language. (Be sure to let your spouse know!)

Cold Remedy

At Spicy Bugz this week I found out that drinking hot lemonade (the kind made with real lemons) will help you feel better when you have a cold! Click here to see the entire post and let her know if you ever heard of this before!