MaggieMoo’s Ice Cream and Treatery “E-cone-omic” Relief Package on April 15th from 3-7PM; Participating MaggieMoo’s Treateries will give away free slices of its new MaggieMia’s Ice Cream Pizza; click here for more information and to find a location near you.

There are SO many great blogs in the blogosphere that offer giveaways.  At times it can be overwhelming to keep track of them all.  Well, lucky for us all, in the midst of my blog surfing, I ran across Blog Giveways.  Maria the author makes a list almost daily of some of tons of giveaways all across the web.  You have got to go check it out.  It is so nice to have all that information in one place.

I have been torn.  I live in a part of the U.S. where winter seems to be everlasting.  My poor car resides outside in the snow throughout the winter, which means my poor kids have to join it there when we head to school in the morning.  How I would love to not have to scrape the windows in the freezing cold when we’re already running late!  However, adding a garage to our house would cost us an arm and a leg that we don’t seem to have.  So, I’ve been considering a carport.

Carports got their start in Illinois in 1909.  Architect Walter Buckly Griffin used them in his design for the Sloan House in Elmhurst, Illinois. They quickly spread throughout the Midwest. They were originally called autospaces, however Frank Lloyd Wright coined the term carport in 1939 when he used it in the design of one of his houses, and the name stuck.

These days carports are used in many different ways. Traditionally they’re attached to permanent structures such as homes and are built with wood to match the structure. They usually come with built in storage, and are used mainly for the purpose of keeping cars out of the elements. However carports are now much more flexible. They come in multiple types of materials including wood, metal, and PVC. They also have many kinds of roofs: shingles, steel, aluminum, tarps, etc. Best of all, they’re not permanent anymore. Now they come in a wide variety of portable options. There are carports that are so easy to setup and take down that they only need one person to assemble them. Also because of their portability they can be setup anywhere they’re needed, not just right next to the house. They don’t even have to be anywhere near a house! Which means you can offer your vehicle the same protection on a camping trip as it would get parked safely at home.

Valentine’s day is fast approaching, and I am sure many men out there are panicking atthe thought, but I thought I would help out with a little v-day insight.  Women love jewelry.  A few years my husband bought me a set of diamond earings and a matching necklace.  I loved the thought, but they were itty-bitty.  Then a few months later, I was cleaning out our coat closet and found the reciept for the set.  I almost died when I found out how much he spent!

Needless to say, this year I am redirecting his attention to something that is just as beautiful, a little more elegant, and a smidgen more classic, but best of all, more affordable.  I am talking about pearls.

Pearls use to only be available at the whims of nature. However, now there are methods which allow people to cultivate, or culture, them. The culturing process is one with a long history behind it that actually begins in Australia. William Saville-Kent actually discovered the methods behind pearl culturing, but it is actually two men from Japan, Tokichi Nishikawa and Tatsuhei Mise, who are responsible for its true beginning as a commercial process.

They were awarded the patent in Japan for culturing pearls in 1916, and Nishikawa’s Father-in-law then began to apply this technology to akoya pearl oysters. This technology was then applied to the south sea oyster in 1917 however it took another 11 years before a commercial crop of pearls was produced.

The method for culturing pearls is pretty simple. The oyster is brought up out of the water, and a small irritant is inserted into it.  The oyster than activates its natural defense system and starts to coat the irritant with a layer of nacre. It keeps doing this until a full pearl is formed. This process, depending on the oyster and size of pearl desired, can take anywhere from 2 to 7 years.

A common misconception of this process is that a grain of sand is used to “seed” the oyster. While sand can cause a pearl to be formed it is much more likely that a bead, piece of shell, or chunk of tissue was used. These provide more reliable pearls, and pearl shapes, great for pearl necklaces and pearl earrings.

The culturing of pearls has provided a unique opportunity for those who seek after this jewel. They are able to have a real pearl made through the same process as natural pearls however they don’t have to wait for the rare natural pearl to found. It also provides the chance to have longer strands of matching pearls. Whatever the case may be, the culturing of pearls has truly made the jewelry world a better place, and hopefully your home on Valentine’s day a happier home.

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Happy New Year to all of you!  I hope you have a happy, safe, and wonderful holiday.  Here’s to a new year!

This cute little dolly is available on Amazon for only $11.99

Right now you can get Uno Attack on Amazon.com for only $9.99.  Originally $24.99!