How the Zebra Got Its Stripes

As some of you may know, I collect Little Golden Books. I have for years, and I honestly don't even know how many I have right now. Very rarely do I buy them new. In fact, I prefer to find the really old stories at thrift stores. The last new LGBs I bought were the Star Wars ones for Episodes I-VI. Other than that, I usually am on the lookout for older editions. I did find this one the other day. How the Zebra Got Its Stripes was published in 2002, so it's one of the newer ones in my collection.

Professor Linus Pinstripe is at a local watering hole in Africa, and he goes about interviewing various animals on how they feel the zebra got its stripes. Of course, they all have different ideas, from painting themselves with black-and-white striped paint, to tearing off their shadows by running too fast. It's a cute story, and even more so if you're especially fond of zebras. 

Fun Facts about Zebras:

Zebras are members of the horse family.

Zebras can run up to 35 miles per hour.

The lead male zebra is called a stallion, and will stay in the back of the herd.

Zebras have black skin under their hair.

Baby zebras—called foals—can walk within 20 minutes of being born.

Different zebra species have different types of stripes.

Zebras live about 25 years in the wild.

A Treeful of Pigs

I found this 1979 hardcover copy of A Treeful of Pigs at a thrift store yesterday. It's a Children's Choice Book Club version, so it's not an original edition. However, I'm a big fan of Arnold Lobel, and finding one of his books is always a treat. You can buy this book on Amazon for a penny, but you still have to pay for shipping, which is usually around four dollars. I think I got a pretty good deal. Our Salvation Army sells kids' books for a quarter ... can't beat that.

It's a fun story about a farmer and his wife who buy a bunch of pigs. The farmer's wife is the one taking care of the pigs, while the farmer is lazy and spends his days in bed sleeping. Like any good wife, she eventually tricks him into helping her, and he says he will never been lazy again. Uh huh ... yeahrightsure. It's a cute story. Arnold's wife Anita did the illustrations, which really make the book a delight. My favorite one is when all the little pigs are sitting at the kitchen table eating corn pudding and corn muffins with the farmer and his wife. You definitely don't get the impression they bought the pigs to eat them, that's for sure.

My favorites by Arnold Lobel are the Frog and Toad books. I love those, and so do my boys. Neil reads them quite often. Whenever Nathan reads them, they're the funniest thing ever because he reads in this monotone voice. It fits both Frog and Toad's characters perfectly. I've lost track of which books I have by Arnold Lobel. One of these days I'll sort them all out.

MyPurMist ...

A couple of nights ago I saw a commercial for a product called MyPurMist. I barely had a chance to listen to what they were talking about when I blurted out to Rick, "I need this! Go to Target tomorrow on your lunch break and buy it for me." I've battled sinus problems all my life. Whenever I catch a cold, it goes right into my sinuses and I stay sick for weeks, sometimes even months. Just last week I was thinking about buying some sort of humidifier to see if it would help. Then I saw the commercial for this product.

Rick bought me the inhaler like I asked. When he brought it home and I saw the receipt, I was in shock! I had no idea it cost so much. I figured it was one of those cheap "As Seen On TV" gimmicks. I didn't think it would cost much. Had I known, I wouldn't have asked him to get it. Had he told me the price before he bought it, I would have told him no. Rick knows me, so he bought it anyway. I figured if he spent that much money, I better use the darn thing!

I caught a cold back in January, and believe it or not, but I haven't felt right since. I'm okay during the day—aside from headaches—but at night the sinus congestion and pressure is almost unbearable.  I have the Ocean brand saline, which isn't addictive like other nasal sprays, but that has never helped much. My doctor always recommends a neti pot, but that makes my sinuses sting really bad. When something actually hurts to use, you're not inclined to use it. Sudafed helps me breathe at night, but it also makes me feel wide awake, so it isn't a good combination. I decided to give this MyPurMist thing a try, and so far, it seems to be working. I've used it for three days now, and I haven't had to get up in the middle of the night to take Sudafed. I've been able to breathe without any problem at all. Just maybe it is actually worth the money he spent on it!

Trigger Smells ...

Have you ever smelled something that brought back a memory from a long time ago? I've been fighting a cold/sinus thing for a few weeks, and recently I felt so yucky that I spent two days mostly in bed. Because of that, I didn't wear any lipstick or gloss, so my lips got a little chapped. I was waiting in line at Walmart the other day when I saw all the lip products by the mints and gum. I picked up a tube of Carmex because it was the only one that was medicated. Later that night, I was getting ready for bed and put some on my lips. It was weird. I was instantly taken back to snow skiing in the 1970s. My mom didn't ski, so she'd sit on the deck and read while I was on the slopes. I used to get really bad chapped lips while skiing, and often times I'd buy a little tub of Carmex at the ski resorts. As soon as I put it on my lips the other night, it took me back to the slopes of Mammoth Mountain. It was the weirdest feeling.

There is actually a name for this. It's called "odor-evoked autobiographical memory". It is also known as the Proust phenomenon, named after a French writer, Marcel Proust. Apparently, it has something to do with smells going through your olfactory bulb, which is the smell-analyzing region in your brain. It's very close to the region in your brain that keeps track of memories and emotions. That's why certain smells might trigger past memories easier than other senses, such as vision, hearing, or touch. Below is an interesting article about this, which explains is better than I can ...

Why Sense of Smells Can Trigger Strong Memories

Although the smell of the Carmex triggered a good memory of my old skiing days, this same phenomenon can trigger bad memories for some people. I was just reading about a study where a man had a negative experience smelling diesel gasoline, which brought up memories of his time in Vietnam. I haven't looked it up yet, but I've had the same thing happen with taste. I only drink nut milks now, such as almond or cashew, but I used to drink cow's milk. Every once and awhile, I'd take a sip of milk and would be reminded of being in a nursery school I went to in California. The milk had to be just the right temperature to trigger it, and it probably had to be whole milk, which I haven't had in years. But anyway ... the Carmex is helping heal my lips, so that's a good thing. This is how I remember it looking back when I used it regularly ...

Together Again ...

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today is the 112th birthday of one of my all-time favorite author/illustrators, Theodor Seuss Geisel ... aka Dr. Seuss. I've been a fan since as long as I can remember. We have a large collection of his books, although I know we don't have them all. I am not sure what it is exactly that draws me to his books ... whether it be the stories, the rhymes, the unique characters and illustrations, or just a combination of everything. The latter is probably the case. One thing I loved about his stories is that they often included a moral. It seems that preaching morals is frowned upon more and more in today's publishing world. Dr. Seuss was also political in his stories, which often gets overlooked. I have so many favorite books, but I don't think I could pick one over another. Some of my favorites—in no particular order—would include:

Are You My Mother?

Green Eggs & Ham

Horton Hears A Who

I Wish I Had Duck Feet

The Cat in the Hat

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

The Sneetches

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Go, Dog, Go!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Hop on Pop

Fox in Socks

There's A Wocket in my Pocket!

Okay ... you get the idea. I could go on and on. One of my absolute favorites that I didn't mention above is the Cat in the Hat Dictionary. I used to look at that one for hours as a kid. I absolutely loved that one. The illustrations are amazing and I literally studied them. When What Pet Should I Get was released last year, I went out and bought it on the very first day. I have to admit, I still need to buy Horton and the Kwuggerbug, but that's definitely on my list to get. I think later today (once this nasty sinus headache lets up), I'll get out all of our Dr. Seuss books and see just exactly which ones we have, as well as which ones we need to add to our collection. I hope you can read one of his books today in celebration of the 112th birthday of this amazing children's author/illustrator. Don't forget to check out his site too ...

Dr. Seuss' Seussville

Cool Beans ...

Last night I decided to sort through my vanity table. My make-up has been taking over, so I needed to get it organized better. Even after ripping out some section dividers in my vanity, I still didn't have enough room for all my junk. So, this morning I looked on Amazon for cosmetic organizers. I didn't see anything I really liked, and a lot of the reviews said the products were smaller than they had hoped. Then I thought of officer organizers, so I looked at a few of those, but didn't see anything I liked all that much.

We went up to town today, so we stopped at Staples to see if they had anything. I was getting pretty discouraged when we walked around a section in the very back of the store and I saw this desk organizer on clearance. It was exactly what I was looking for. And the best part ... it was only $6! They had three designs to choose from, so I went with the leaves. Had we not walked around the very back of the aisle, I wouldn't have seen this. It holds a ton of stuff.

I also got my wall candle sconces fixed up today. For my birthday, Rick had given me some of those battery-operated candles. I loved these sconces, but they're designed poorly because when you light the candle, it heats the one above it. We only light them when the power goes out. Once we found out how hot they get and how they melt the candles above them, we stopped doing it. So, the battery candles were a better choice. Of course, they don't really light up the room all that well, but at least they'll show us where the wall is so we don't run into it. They look kind of cool, and they flicker too. I have three more wall sconces downstairs, so I'm going to change them over also.