What's Coming

It's Halloween week and our house is all abuzz with the spirit of the holiday. Dave and Mason got the house, inside and out, all decked out with tombstones, skeletons, and pumpkins. As we wind down the month of October, we're gearing up for a great November.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, it's a natural time to slow down and look around at all we have to be thankful for. Not only as we see 2008 come to a close, we can look ahead to an abundant and prosperous new year. It all starts with a feeling and the best way to feel good is to acknowledge all the good that surrounds you. That's all I'll say for now, but get ready to join me is creating a feeling of gratitude bigger than one you can create all by yourself!

Sign Up Now!

I've got something fun planned for the month of November so subscribe to this blog today. Go to the bottom of the page and click the "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" link (maybe it will work if you click it right here) and have an e-mail automatically sent to you every time I update the blog. For the month of November you'll want to be in the loop.

Fun, sharing, a contest, and prizes...you won't want to miss a beat!

Decisions, Decisions.

There's so much going on in life right now with a difficult economy, people struggling with personal finances and that can certainly lead to relationships being stressed. With that in mind, I have something special planned for the IWIL blog and the month of November. Next week I'll tell you what we're going to do and how you can participate and actually win some prizes.

November 1st is my one-year IWIL blog anniversary and I think we should celebrate together. Not only is this a great opportunity to (hopefully) make some announcements, but also to look ahead to the new year and see if we can't make some plans to apply the intentional winning concepts and ideas to the new year and maybe a new you! Start thinking about how you can adjust your life (job, family, business, finances) to this changing economy to take some stress off and start to get back to basics. If you haven't already, subscribe to this blog so you won't miss a beat!

Finally, I've not received many photos for the Creative and Memorable Ways to Keep in Touch book so if you want to be included, send me happy pictures of you with the people you most want to (or would want to) keep in touch with. You don't need a story, we only need to be able to have all people pictured be willing to sign a photo release if I use the shot. E-mail me at Kdpartak@yahoo.com with your picture. This is a picture of our gorgeous Japanese maple welcoming you to our back yard. It's not quite this vibrant yet, but I'm excited to see the changes starting.

Glove Update

Hi Friends,

So what's new? We're getting back in the swing of things here at home and I'm feeling much better. After two surgeries (all the meds) and a ten day vacation (eating on the road), my body was begging for a break. I put myself on a ten day system cleanse, I'm eating lots of fruits and vegetables, drinking plenty of water, and getting back to intentional exercise. It's amazing how fast we bounce back when we take care to put the good stuff in. The finger is healing but until the pin comes out, I'm having to be be very careful with everything I do with my left hand.

On the glove front, we got the second round of prototypes on Saturday. They look good, but still need work. The thumb is in the wrong place (too far in the palm of the hand), and the zipper isn't right. We really need to have a high quality zipper, higher quality than came in this new proto. I sent the changes back and will hopefully have an appointment to talk with our people this week.

Happy Friday!

So what do you think, has this been fun not rambling on about the same topic all month? I don't know, I like having one specific thing we're talking about, but in light of my injured hand, it's been good to do smaller posts and less research.

On the hand (or more specifically, finger), I saw Dr. C on Wednesday to have the stitches taken out and it was another traumatic office visit. It started out okay, but the last two sutures were healed over so on came the nausea, heavy sweat, and near fainting. No kidding! I ended up leaving the office weak and in tears. The pin has to stay in for another four weeks but for the most part, in my day to day activities, it doesn't really hurt. Oddly enough, when I left the docs office crying it wasn't because of pain, it was more a release of the intensely painful experience I'd just had. It's all very weird to me.

So an update and I'll see you Monday!

Silly Stuff Answers

Why do cowboys wear their pants too long? Cowboys wear their pants too long so when they're sitting in the saddle with their legs bent, their pants aren't too short.

And why do young children only want to eat bland or simple tasting foods? Because they're born with more than 10,000 taste buds as a defense mechanism to help them survive. Since they have such hyper-tasters, they prefer the hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and generally milder flavored foods. As we get older (and wiser knowing not to eat poison), those taste bud numbers decrease and we can then tolerate and enjoy bolder flavors.

Why Do People Cross Their Fingers For Luck?

Sandy asked this question and I found an answer at ask Yahoo.

There are a number of curious gestures and sayings in our modern society that leave us scratching our heads. Apparently, we have superstitious folk in merry old England to thank for the peculiar practice of crossing our fingers for luck.

Witches, ghosts, and other supernatural ghouls were very real to people living in the 16th century. Illnesses and bad luck were blamed on these evil forces. Faith in the power of the Christian cross, therefore, was strong. A cough, a sneeze, or even a mention of a cold (thought to be a sign of the plague) was reason enough to cross yourself. The proper way to make the sign of the cross involves four steps -- touch the forehead, heart, left shoulder, then right shoulder with you right hand.

When a suspected witch crossed your path, you could make a cross shortcut by crossing your index and second finger or the index fingers of both hands. This would provide protection and ward off the evil influence. Just like in Dracula movies, it was believed the power of the cross or any religious talisman would combat the forces of darkness. People also wore crosses or carried their Bibles in case they happened upon a nefarious being. A clove of garlic worn around the neck was ammunition against werewolves and bad spirits, and both peasants and nobles attached bells known as "bezants" to their garments, hoping the sound would scare away evil spirits.

Though many of these beliefs have slowly died, the gestures they inspired have lived on. Let's face it, in today's scary world, we need all the luck we can get. If crossing your fingers, carrying a rabbit's foot, hanging a horseshoe, or rubbing a lucky penny helps you through the day, more power to you!