For the List Inclined

Okay, you haven't heard a lot from me lately, but I have a few great ideas coming up. Hang in there!

Tonight we are putting on a church activity. It's "Rubber Chicken Volleyball" and is played kind of like water balloon volleyball, with towels, but this is played inside with a rubber chicken. It's just something fun to do to get together and celebrate the new year. We don't need a reason to celebrate but if one comes up we jump on it!!

So in our pack meeting mentality (My husband--a Bruce Willis look-alike-- and I done a lot of Cub Scout Pack meetings, all of which were legendary in their own way!) we decided it was best to have three elements to this evening's festivities. So there is the Rubber Chicken Volleyball (which could just be a fun game or if we want to get serious, he has printed up the double-elimination tournament grids) and there will be a Rubber Chicken throw (I got a funny chicken picture off the internet and enlarged it onto three cardboard dryer boxes, cut out a hole for the chicken's mouth) and then we found another game we could use. It's "Pass the Chicken Trivia" sort of. You stand everyone in a circle and one person is the moderator/game show host in the middle. Pass the chicken around the circle as fast as possible. When mod says, it stops and the person holding the chicken has a turn. They have to name 10 of something before the chicken gets back to them. SO all the other passers pass fast and the selected person has to shout out 10 of whatever the moderator says. So for example, the mod says "Ten European Countries", the selected person passes the chicken and yells out, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, (which may or may not be disqualified, depending on the anality of the moderator, preferring "The Netherlands"), Germany, Poland. If they do it before the chicken goes around the person holding the chicken when they finish is the new "it". Of course depending on the circle you can change the number of items required. So if the circle is smaller you can ask them to name five, or whatever.
SO of course this made me interested to know if there were lists online of just such a thing!
Yes, Virginia, there are lots of them.
Not what I was looking for but interesting sure enough.
There are trivia query cites online so you can quiz yourself on all kinds of subjects from mythology to biology to horticulture and homemaking. Too fun.
Listverse.com and toptenz.net were just the beginning.
You can sign up for a daily top 10 list. Some of those are dubious. Really, made up by one person is so subjective, what I consider the top movie of the year is probably not shared by even 50% of the population.
So then I go to firmware, as I am referring to my books lately. They're not hard, or soft. Okay. SO I have a Top Ten List of 2006 book put out by an authority, Guinness, the World Record statistic people. I don't dare get it down or I'll be useless the rest of the day. But it's interesting to note the biggest cities in the world (some in Brazil? Really?) and all that.
So I am sticking to these topics for my game tonight. If you need them, here they are!

Cars
Breeds of Dogs
Santa's Reindeer (okay there are only 9 so this is either a bonus question or on a name 5 circle)
CHaracters from Snow White
Sports
Barnyard animals
Musical Instruments
Drinks (milk, OJ, root beer)
Cities
Zoo Animals
Professions
Herbs and Spices
types of pasta
Books in the Bible
Articles of Clothing
Planets (YES we are counting PLUTO! Also fictional planets are fair game! Ceti Alpha 6!)
European Countries
Presidents
Islands
Flowers

We found some more and will put them in the pile in case this is a big hit and we just can't stop!
Fast food restaurant chains
CHildren's books
Countries in South America
Sports teams
Things that grow in the desert
Vegetables
Musical Groups
Cartoon Characters
Cereals
Rivers in the US
Candy Bars made with chocolate
large bodies of water
aquatic animals
capitol cities around the world

I kind of like some of these too. Cereals... In 10 seconds how many can you name?

Call Me Senator - From David Zucker

How important are titles?? At work, I'm the Assistant Administrator. That will still get me no respect or perks on its own. But I'm happy to do my job. What is really important?? Some of us have worked hard... respect is important but calling someone Grand Pooh-Bah every time you address them is redundant and can be insulting in its own way. It's also a way of reinforcing false superiority complexes, and who wants to exacerbate problems like that?

Thought for the day!

I mean, really. The Ipad people got it on the nose. They figured out how to make something nobody had but everyone instantly needed. How cool is that? Even I want one... but I'll wait until the price goes way down!! I love that about technology.
But what's the next thing?
Nobody has a crystal ball but think about what would make your life easier. What would it be? Cups that fly into the dishwasher of their own accord? A button that could pull all the dirt off your floor? (Okay, the roomba is close)... What's your dream invention??

Joanna's Hair Thing!

My friend Joanna has designed these hair scrunchie things. It twists into a heart shape and holds your hair up. When it gets hot and rubber bands just aren't working, these look like a beautiful solution. Just plugging a friend and her new idea!! I hope she sells a million of these!

I have a lot of friends with home based businesses. Keli does Mary Kay and Scentsi, Michelle does Avon, other friends sell things on Etsy and at the Jockey Lot (those hair bows are adorable, too!) Rachel made candles. Whitni is a licensed tax preparer who makes house calls.

It takes a lot of faith to put your money where your dreams are and work on something until you get it right, then put yourself out there to whatever the critics decide! You ladies are AWESOME!!! :)

Counting down to CHristmas

I stole this from Kiddley.com. She has a lot of fabulous ideas, and I was hunting for advent calendars when I found this... A List!! You know I could not resist.

THey were talking about one family activity a day in December to count down to Christmas.

Don't ask me why my Hs are always caps. Okay it's because I use the wrong finger to push the Shift key. But since I am old now I'm pretty stuck with it. But I digress.

So here are Kiddley's activities :)

Here are ours from last year (Some you will see we gleaned from Stephanie and her readers which are all definitely worth checking out):

1. Paint everyone’s toenails
2. Have hot chocolate with all the fixings (we might do milkshakes if it’s too hot)
3. Star gazing
4. Give everyone crazy hairstyles
5. Backyard cricket
6. Go out for sushi
7. Have an indoor picnic
8. Write letters to Father Christmas
9. Use puppets to tell bedtime story
10. Have breakfast for dinner (I am thinking pancakes)
11. Make decorations for the tree
12. Have a camp out around the christmas tree
13. Pack a picnic dinner and have it at a park (or Botanical Gardens)
14. Fancy dress for dinner time
15. Wrap a toy and take it to a charity christmas tree
16. Make handmade gift tags for relatives
17. Fish and Chips for dinner down at the beach
18. Fold origami for the christmas tree
19. Dance like crazy to music
20. Watch a christmas movie with popcorn
21. Go out for gelati
22. Take Grandparents out to see the Christmas lights
23. Have a bubble bath
24. Special christmas Eve treat TBA