Ginny Diezel Studios

As I was reading news on my homepage this morning, I came across an article on the new look for the board game Monopoly.  How many of you grew up with this fab pasttime?  I spent hours playing with my friends as a child, then in college, then with adult friends, and then with my son and his friends.  Well, folks, the look is changing.  Follow this link to see what is happening to an icon in games! A round board??????????   What gives here!  What happened to those great stops along the way?   Bring back the oldies!  They were good enough for me!

I live by these words - I firmly believe that one person always has, always can, and always will make a difference.  Do you think kids are too young to help?  Do you think kids are too tuned in and then tuned out to know what’s going on in the world?  Take a look at this wonderful article, and I guarantee you that you will not soon forget Charlie Simpson in London, England.  He is an adorable little boy - only seven years old - and wow!  Has he made an impact on the world community!   Charlie was so very upset about the plight of the Haitian people that he decided to do something about it.  Have a read, and think about what you can do to make a difference.  You really can, you know.  You can!

A friend of mine just emailed this to me, and I thought I would share it with all of you.  Some interesting food for thought……..

Subject: Fw: Protect yourself

If you don’t have a gun, here’s a more humane way to wreck someone’s evil
plans for you. Did you know this? I didn’t. I never really thought of it
before. I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat.

A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was
concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when
they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department
about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of
wasp spray instead.

The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a
lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close
to you and could overpower you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an
attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can
on her desk in the office and it doesn’t attract attention from people
like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for
home protection. Thought this was interesting and might be of use.

On the heels of a break in and beating that left an elderly woman in
Toledo dead, self defense experts have a tip that could save your life.
Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at Sylvania Southview High
School . For decades, he’s suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet
spray near your door or bed. Glinka says, “This is better than anything I
can teach them.”

Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than
mace or pepper spray. The cans typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if
someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says “spray the culprit in
the eyes”. It’s a tip he’s given to students for decades. It’s also one he
wants everyone to hear. If you’re looking for protection, Glinka says look
to the spray.

“That’s going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out.”
Maybe even save a life. Please share this with all the people in your life

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with The Innocence Project, and with what the work involves.  Essentially, this group was founded in 1992 to exonerate wrongfully accused individuals through DNA testing and reforming public policy.  This  story was on my homepage this afternoon.  What a wonderful read!  How many of us could survive 35 years of imprisonment and depart incarceration with an open heart!  Please read, and also look for a link to The Innocence Project on my blog roll under Places you should know about.

I wouldn’t be true to myself, and to my son, if I didn’t post something about show biz and upcoming awards for film.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know about my son, Matthew, and his fiancee, Joan, and their careers in Hollywood in the film industry.  Well, critics and award nomination associations are beginning the annual rites for the season, and this morning, the Golden Globes announced their offerings.  Follow the link and catch up on all the buzz!  Enjoy!  And, there’s George Clooney!!!!!!!!!!!!    Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I came across this interesting article online and thought you might enjoy reading.   Have a peaceful, quiet day, and reflect on the true meaning of this day.  Although I am a Christmas lover at heart, Thanksgiving has always had a special significance for me because there is no runup to it with vast amounts of pre-holiday hype.  It is a time for family and being grateful for what you do have.  Today, and every day, I am thankful for my family, my friends, and my health.  I hope you feel the same way!

I hope that my previous entry stirs a lot of you to think about the state of health care in this country.  I have had two responses so far, and I have replied to a lengthy one.  I encourage everyone to THINK!  What do we want as a nation?  Do we want to continue to pour money into a broken system or do we want to begin to make real change?  I have no silver bullet for the solution, but if we do nothing, I feel we are doomed.  Please read the comments from my previous entry and let me hear from you!    G.

Where do I come in the debate about health care?  Firmly on the side of everyone in this country having it.  I believe it is a national shame that we have 45 million people without health care.  There are many nations ahead of us who devote part of their national revenues for this very purpose.  Please don’t get me started on some of the stories people sling about long lines, not getting care, not getting operations, etc.  Because they live in Canada or England or France.  Just read this story about medical care in this country - a two-door policy for those who have insurance and those who don’t. Good grief! How elitist; how demeaning!

Imagine that you are someone without care, or perhaps you already are.  This is a situation which I find intolerable and steps must be taken to change.  Change, yes, is always difficult.   I have long since grown tired of the feeling which seems to exist with some individuals that they have what they want and need, and it’s just too bad if others don’t.  I don’t believe we are in this life to take and take.  LIfe is so much more than acquisition.  You can live on little - I know, because I have in my lifetime.  I am fortunate today to have what I need, without extravagance.  My parents brought me up with the belief that we help, not hinder, one another.  I think they had the right idea.

OK, another soapbox day for me.  We received a letter in the mail a couple of days ago, and then I read this article on my homepage this morning.  My husband and I have flawless credit - we always pay our bills on time, don’t carry any debt on credit cards.  Well, it seems that we and others like us are being punished for not providing banks a way to charge us for something.  So, annual fees are perhaps going to be exacted upon us weary taxpayers who have played by the rules and met our obligations.  Follow this link to the article, and if it affects you the same way it has affected me - SPEAK OUT!  The big banks will find out that we won’t take it anymore if we let them know.  Haven’t we all had enough????????

OK - not my choice of words.  I would use pumpkin goop, but whatever you choose to call it,  here’s a handy and informative article I found online today.

Follow this link to find out what to do with all of that stuff inside the pumpkin - you know, the pulp, the seeds, etc.  And, you’ll find out how really nutritious it is for you.  Here’s a hint from little old me - every morning, I cook oatmeal.  Now, this is not the handy dandy packaged stuff.   Get the oats in the big containers, please!  Cook according to your directions, and I always use milk!  Then, when you remove it from the heating surface, stir in some brown sugar, cinnamon, and about three tablespoons of canned pumpkin which you can get all through the year in your grocery store.   (Store the remainder of the pumpkin in a container in the  refrigerator.)  Voila!  It’s as if you were having a slice of pumpkin pie every day!  Yummy! And there is a giganto amount of Vitamin A in pumpkin.  I have not had a cold or anything like it in many, many years - great antioxidant!  I guarantee it is a healthy, tasty way to begin your day, and it is the sort of meal which sticks with you for hours.  I don’t get hungry mid-morning.  There are times when I even go way past the normal lunchtime, because I am busily creating, and my stomach isn’t telling me to eat!   That’s a major accomplishment for me!  Hope you find some useful tips from the article, and that you try out my breakfast suggestion!  Enjoy!