Christmas at Eastertime ...

Dragon Mood? -- enjoying shiny new things

Christmas at Eastertime ... or what's the Easter Bunny doing in a Santa suit? Actually, my stepson, Mark, and his wife Lindsey and Toddler Preston gave me a very generous gift certificate to a national bookstore at Christmas. This past weekend, S and I were tired of doing the I'm-unemployed-we-must-be-frugal thing and took ourselves to this store and SPLURGED!

Here's what I got:

• A copy of the book, Prediabetes What You Need to Know to Keep Diabetes Away by Gretchen Becker


• A copy of the book, The First Year Type 2 Diabetes by Gretchen Becker


• The DVD Qigong Beginning Practice which will hopefully enable me to relearn the qigong I began several years ago

I'm excited about my gifts and am looking forward to reading them and watching them here in the weeks to come.

... in the face of parsimony

Dragon Mood? -- snorting, steaming and revelling


What with losing my job, the meagerness of funds especially right after the holidays and the general grayness and darkness of January, what is there to uplift my spirits?

Well, one thing that helps me feel better is this little essential oil burner. One of our kids gave it to us for Christmas a year ago ... and oh, how we have used it! It is two pieces, the bowl on top and the base which holds a tealight for heat. Made of some stone, perhaps alabaster, it is rather translucent and highly functional.

Whether we're burning peppermint oil, lemongrass oil, lavender or some combination of oils, it puts out the loveliest fragrances .... and it costs us virtually nothing; essential oils (which we had in the cupboard anyway) and cheap little tealights.

Who could imagine that such a simple thing could give me such pleasure?