A few weeks ago I was informed by several people that the plastic sports bottle that I always drink out of is bad for my health.  The well meaning people were very insistent that it leached dangerous chemicals into my drink and that I could die from cancer from it down the road.  They told me that I could buy insulated stainless steel sports bottles over the Internet, so I went online and found a company that sells insulated stainless steel sports bottles.  I ordered a couple of them, thinking I’d give a few out as gifts as Christmas gifts.  That was really the only way I could justify the exorbitant shipping fee!  It cost me almost as much money to ship one as it did to ship three!

Anyway, they arrived in the mail on Saturday and I gave one a try today.  It was a cold day so I decided to pour some hot chocolate in it this morning before I left for work.  There was a big warning sticker on the box that the bottle came in, warning that the hot liquid would stay “just as hot” for several hours.  Well an hour later my “hot chocolate” was only room temperature chocolate milk.  I guess I’ll try it again tomorrow with pre-warming the bottle with hot water before pouring the hot chocolate in it, and I’ll make sure the hot chocolate is a lot hotter going into the bottle.  I’d hate to think that I’d wasted my money on a bottle that won’t keep my hot chocolate hot for at least an hour!

Well I really wanted to go out today and observe the Veteran’s Day ceremonies but I was hit with some kind of 24 hour (I HOPE it’s only 24 hours!) stomach virus, so I stayed in bed all day and watched television instead.  I felt really guilty about staying in bed, that’s not like me at all - I am always active.  But today I just had to lay low, I felt really bad all day long.  Drank lots of ginger ale, ate lots of jello and toast.  Hoping tomorrow will be a better day.  But I did want to give a shout out to all of the men and women, active and inactive who have served (or are serving) in the military that I appreciate all they have done and will do to defend our country.  You are appreciated.

I sure was glad that I absentee voted last week!  I drove past the polling location several times yesterday, going back and forth between jobs and saw a long line going out and around the building every time I drove past!   The parking lot was full and overflowed a half-mile down the street!  I’ve never seen such a large turnout of voters!  I have to say that I was really impressed with how many people actually seemed to be inspired to come out and vote this time! I think i heard that this was a record turnout, and I believe it.  Not just for our town, but for the nation.  I think that’s a good thing that so many people came out to vote, it would be nice to think that the new President REALLY is representing the country, and not just the 20% or so that bother to vote.

I spent a couple of hours last night carving pumpkins to give to my customers today.  It was so much fun to see their faces when I gave them their own custom carved jack-o-lanterns!  I’ve always enjoyed carving pumpkins; that’s something I used to do with my father when I was a little kid.  My mother used to always roast the pumpkin seeds, too, which I’ve always enjoyed eating later!

I’m really glad that I don’t live in China!  I was just thinking that over the past several months they have had some pretty bad things happening - some major earthquakes, and the many product recalls due to unsafe toxins in the paint on the toys for kids, and now the melamine scandal.  The melamine scandal started quite a while ago with pet food, and now it’s in their milk and spreading throughout their food chain.  I have to wonder if there is ANYTHING safe that comes out of China?