It’s Valentine’s Day, the day of love–and so I have to ask: do you love your toes, your eyes, your brows, your butt, your belly, your intestines, your femors, your ribcage, your waist, your spleen, your skin (which in some kids’ lexicon refers as well to chesty bits)? What about
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A Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: I Am A Snout
“Mommy, you’re the core of the family. It’s like, you’re the snout, and Dad is the nostrils. And us, we’re the eyes.” Filed under: Fun, Personal Tagged: family life
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
Another blogger recommended this book, and as usual I can’t remember who it was! So please remind me in the comments. I wanted to re-read your review after I finished it. Excellent Women, written in the early 50′s, is almost excellent and certainly very good. The narrator, Mildred Lathbury, is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Competitive Carbon Footprint: GreenPocket
A German company had created a ‘game’ called GreenPocket that aims to make shrinking your carbon footprint competitive and fun. I’m quite curious how this will actually work, but I’m happy to see that the idea of making energy conservation entertaining is gaining steam. Based in Cologne, GreenPocket is a
Continue readingThings Are Good: Board Game Jam 2012
Board Game Jam is happening in Toronto February 25-26! If you’ve ever wanted to make a game then this is a place to start! Here’s a special challenge to Things Are Good readers: make a game that is designed to educate or empower people to make the world a better
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Hilarity
The other day I wanted to watch Antiques Roadshow on PBS. What you have to realize is that we have one TV, in my bedroom, and that it’s 12 years old. I got a converter box so it can receive a digital signal, and the box is hooked up to
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Snow Crow
Filed under: Fun Tagged: animal videos
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Momo by Emile Ajar
I loved this book so much I made my husband read it, which was no trial for him as he is still quoting it. I first heard about Momo and its author, Emile Ajar (a pen name of Romain Gary’s), in Litlove’s book blog. The storyline intrigued me: Momo, an
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: God and Resisting Temptation
God references slipped into tests decreased student’s belief that they controlled their own destiny, researchers report, but made them more resistant to junk food temptation. via God’s Situational Effects « The Situationist. The studies were done at a Canadian university (University of Waterloo) with engineering students, and the results were
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
Impressionist Jim Meskimen performs Clarence’s speech from William Shakespeare’s Richard III as a number of different celebrities. Enjoy! *Thanks to my brother Jon for the video link*
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Wall Mural: Joy of Creation
Have mercy! I’m not an artist (at least not with paint) but I had so much fun with this. It was a challenge to photograph because the hallway is so narrow, but here goes: Click on any photo to enlarge. H's penguins M's view of Toronto my dragons You have
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: A Day of Painting
The last couple of days I’ve had the best fun I’ve had in ages. Years ago, my kids and I painted a mural in the long narrow hallway between living room and kitchen. They’ve been wanting to re-paint and I promised that we would do so this holiday. First we
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Decluttering 365–Day 1
Actually I lie, I started a couple of days ago. And I can’t promise a post a day about decluttering. I can’t even promise to declutter every day because Web of Angels will be out in 2 months and there are guest blogs and interviews in the works with, I
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Happy Hanukah!
I’ve been writing posts in my head–somehow there is a gap between head and fingers though, so none of them have been posted. It is winter solstice (though technically the solstice occurs this year at 5:30 am tomorrow) and the first full day of Chanukah, which began yesterday evening after
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Bookstores Comeback
Whoo-hoo! Sales are up 10% over last year in brick and mortar bookstores! Facing economic gloom and competition from cheap e-readers, brick-and-mortar booksellers entered this holiday season with the humblest of expectations. But the initial weeks of Christmas shopping, a boom time for the book business, have yielded surprisingly strong
Continue readingThings Are Good: Help Santa Keep His Home This Christmas
The David Suzuki Foundation has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the lack of ice coverage at the North Pole. Where Will Santa Live? is a fun spin on a serious issue and looks like a good way to talk about ice coverage while keeping the conversation entertaining. “We’re
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Teddies Make People Share
Feeling as though we belong is important for our mental and physical wellbeing. Social exclusion hurts and it darkens our mood. Unfortunately, this sets up a vicious circle because we’re then less likely to engage in friendly, prosocial acts, and so less likely to form new bonds with others. A
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Congratulations Tessa Bonhomme and David Pelletier
Picture this: tiny figure skater and hulking hockey pro paired up to dance music on ice. That is Battle of the Blades, a Canadian reality tv show with the prize money going to charity. Only this season there was another twist. In one of the pairs, the hockey player came from the gold winning Canadian […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Translate Chinese Lady Gaga
And if you’re curious about what they were singing in my previous post… LAO LAI QIAO GAGA – “Old Folks Going Gaga” Oh, oh oh…. beloved son… Oh, oh, oh… ‘go Gaga’ & perform a song… Lalala… ‘go Gaga’ Lala…lalala We’re performing, don’t [pass it off as unimportant] (? Hunanese) (x2) Your working days are […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Only in China: retirees singing Lady Gaga
Filed under: Fun Tagged: China and Lady Gaga
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