Grab Bag Good Tips:

The heat of a hair dryer loosens stubborn stickers

WD-40 takes crayon off the wall

Grab Bag M….ohmmmmment:

Deepak Chopra and Oprah (love saying these names together… wish they got married!) have teamed up for another (I know they’ve done this at least once before) free, 21 Day Meditation challenge.

Deepak offers a different guided meditation each day. There’s still a week left… I have done a few of these and if you’re anything like me, you might benefit from this structure that gets you into a quiet place for 15 minutes while Deepak lulls you into lala land. It feels great.

Give it an ohhmmmm and see how you feel 🙂

Grab Bag Food Faux Pas:

7 Foods Even the Experts Won’t Eat

About a year ago Prevention magazine published this list, with background information (full article here).

Read, weep, then shop and eat smart/clean/organic:

We decided to take a fresh look at food through the eyes of the people who spend their lives uncovering what’s safe–or not–to eat. We asked them a simple question: “What foods do you avoid?”:

1. The Endocrinologist Won’t Eat: Canned Tomatoes

Note from LK: Acidity of tomatoes is quite high. For the cans not to degrade in the presence of that acidity, cans must be lined…. with a plastic liner containing the nasty endocrine-disruptor chemical, BPA. Unfortunately the acidity also helps release that BPA into the contents of the can. This isn’t conjecture. It’s measurable.

Get tomatoes in glass jars or Tetra Pak boxes.

2. The Farmer Won’t Eat: Corn-Fed Beef

Buy grass-fed beef.

3. The Toxicologist Won’t Eat: Microwave Popcorn

Note from LK: Those bags have gross chemical liners. Pop your kernels (be sure to buy certified organic, which by definition will be non-GMO) the old fashioned way.

4. The Farm Director Won’t Eat: Nonorganic Potatoes

Note from LK: Have you noticed that old potatoes these days don’t grow “eyes”? Wonder why? Root vegetables absorb more pesticides than veggies above ground. Potatoes are.  Buy organic.

5. The Fisheries Expert Won’t Eat: Farmed Salmon

All farmed salmon is lower in vitamin D and higher in contaminants, including carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides such as dioxin and DDT.

If it is Atlantic salmon, it is farmed. Buy wild Alaskan salmon. Save $$...Most canned salmon is wild Alaskan, and affordable.

6. The Cancer Researcher Won’t Drink: Milk Produced With Artificial Hormones

Commercial dairies practice a domino-effect list of hormones and antibiotics. The artificial growth hormone is banned in most industrialized countries.

Shop organic milk.

7. The Organic-Foods Expert Won’t Eat: Conventional Apples

Because apples are carefully grafted and bred to retain specific characteristics, they have a low resistance to disease and pests. LOTS of pesticides are used to avoid losing large amounts of the harvest. The photo above also shows how much larger a conventional apple may grow opposed to organic. It’s just not natural!

Buy organic.

Grab Bag Stocking Stuff:

Just some ideas….

Nostalgia… the chewing gum of yesteryear

Great to tuck in the car or purse for those messy moments…

What a great little compact toothbrush/toothpaste package on the go…

Love these balsa wood planes…

Who wouldn’t love a YoYo?

This keeps Mrs. Claus’ cleavage covered …. say that fast three times 😉

Just a little portable portion to let your loved one know they’re always HOT…

Grab Bag Brain Game:

Balance… always a good thing…

Grab Bag Funny Stuff:

Thanks to Pat M. for sending this to me!