WebMD Symptoms Check

Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.
Knowledge is power. Francis Bacon

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Here's a great website for those who know they don't feel well, but haven't any idea of what might be wrong. WebMD offers this website free to anyone who wants to know more about what's physically troubling them, and it's simple to use.

You just start here, then click on Male or Female to begin. Select the part of your body which is having problems, and just continue answering questions and narrowing it down.

There's many more interesting topics on this medical website, so browse a bit and see if any are helpful to you.

And in a completely different direction, thought you'd all laugh at this photo below as much as I did!

Words of Wisdom.

With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you....idiots!

With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you....idiots!



So not every driver is a rocket scientist, and these New Yorkers were having an especially bad day.

Not only did someone do something really dumb, but this fellow is now trapped in his car until the tow truck pulls him out. (See the tow line attached to the front of his car??)

He also knows that the state trooper standing 20 yards behind him is waiting to have a conversation with him . . . as soon as he can get out of his car.

Oooops!

Cleaning for the Holidays??

Having spent a whole lot of time cleaning for the Thanksgiving weekend, I didn't spend much time on my computer. Wish I had. Today I tripped across this site on How to Clean Anything, and wonder now if I could have saved a lot of effort and time by reading up on how to clean stuff.

Well, better later than never, so I'll take a few moments to peruse what other cleaning ideas might come in handy from this site. Already I see sections on cleaning bathrooms, using abrasive cleaners, how to clean walls, and - quite important since the flu is raging through our family as I speak - how to clean my computer keyboard.

I even found a really nifty article on polishing your antique Airstream trailer!!

Before Polishing	Buffed and ready to go!

Maybe this site will get me going on all those cleaning projects I've been procrastinating on?

Antiques Make Great Christmas Gifts

Since Monday, November 27th, will be the biggest on-line shopping day of the year, today's blog is dedicated to all those who enjoy shopping for Christmas gifts on-line.

Need some ideas for your Christmas list? Think antiques, and try these:

Mom: Vintage jewelry, old and pretty picture frames for family photos, interesting vintage desktop accessories - an inkwell, perhaps, or a small tray to hold pens . . .

Sisters and Female friends: all of the above, also Christmas ornaments, souvenirs from places they've been, pretty decorative perfumes, decorative old kitchen items, vintage sewing items, white ironstone bowls or pitchers . . .

Fathers, Brothers and Male friends: antique tools, a Western bolo tie, antique pocket knife, folk art, books, antique hand tools, watch chains for their pocket watch, stoneware, vintage cufflinks . . .

Of course, you can find many of these different antiques in my antiques webshop on Ruby Lane.

Take a quick spin through my shop, forgive my shameless self-promotion, and enjoy a browse through Memory Lane!

Free Anti-Virus Software - AVG 7.5

Quite a while back, I posted in this blog that I was using AVG anti-virus software that I'd downloaded free. I've been using it for the past year with no problems, and it's caught a few viruses before they could do damage. It's a simple program to down-load, and doesn't take much space (like Norton), plus it adds automatic updates so you don't even have to think about whether yours is current or not.

Recently, AVG announced that the free version 7.1 will be discontinued.
Does that mean that you now have to pay? Nope - they still have a free version for personal use, and you can get it here.

This is the new 7.5 version, and you can easily download it. It's a large file, so it may take a few minutes if you are on dial-up. If you are using Firefox, choose "save to disk" so the file will end up on your desktop, which will allow you to double-click the icon to install it. If you are using Internet Explorer, you'll click on "Run" to install.

If you already have the 7.1 version of AVG, you do not have to remove it first before installing the 7.5 version.

When installing, just leave all the boxes unchecked under "Component Selection."

When it's finished downloading, you'll have to re-start your computer to install AVG. (Remember to save all your open files before you re-start!!)

Old Souvenir Collectibles

Sometimes, it's just fun to collect something really whimsical, maybe something that brings back special memories of a place you've been to and want to enjoy remembering. I have friends who collect souvenir collectibles from a particular location that they enjoy visiting each year. They have a great time hunting for the handpainted souvenirs made during the 1920s and 1930s, and it's quite inexpensive to buy.

Sometimes it's china, but they also look for non-china pieces, and have found many different forms of souvenirs showing their favorite vacation spot. They have wonderful memories of this place, and have a small collection - 20 to 25 pieces - of all sorts of items, including china plates, small pitchers, plates they display on their wall, tablecloths, etc.

They've found them all over the country as they travel, and rarely spend a lot of money as they add to their collection. They've only been collecting for the past couple of years, and have been quite successful in locating some very different and interesting pieces, all of which fit into just a couple shelves in their family room. Most of all, they've had great fun hunting, and are making more memories as they hunt!

This tiny doll-sized cup (above) was made during the 1920s, and is a souvenir of Hot Springs, Arkansas. It shows the "new" Arlington Hotel, one of the spa hotels so well known in Hot Springs. The Arlington Hotel was new three different times - it burned down twice during it's first fifty years of existence, and this little cup commemorated it's newly-rebuilt state in 1924.

I have a customer who searches only for World's Fair souvenirs, like this 1904 St, Louis World's Fair cup. He has a special personal connection to St. Louis, and his collection has been acquired over several years. This cup was made of a base metal, and then brass-colored, showing off it's wonderful molded details from the World's Fair.

There are thousands of souvenir items out there - some quite popular, like the Statue of Liberty, and others a bit less well-known, like many of the small towns across America. If you have special memories of a certain location, souvenir collecting can be a fun challenge to hunt down, and you won't break the bank buying them!

Getting Young

I've been bad at blogging lately, and I apologize to those reading my blogs and only getting old stuff. Between moving back to Michigan as I do each Fall, then travelling 6000 miles doing a series of antiques shows across the country from Sept until last week, it just didn't seem like I had enough hours in the day to do all the stuff I wanted to do, like write on my blog.

But now I'm home, and am getting somewhat back to normal (whatever that is), so I'm back into blogging again. Thought I'd share a favorite email with you, sent to me by a friend:

I think the life cycle is all backwards.
You should start out dead, get it out of the way.
You wake up in an old age home, feeling better every day.
You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, then,
when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day.
You work 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement.
You drink alcohol, you party, you're generally promiscuous and you get ready
for High School. You go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, you
have no responsibilities, you become a baby, then, you spend your last 9
months floating peacefully with luxuries like central heating, spa, room
service on tap, larger quarters everyday, and then you finish off as an
orgasm.
It's got to be better this way 'cause this getting old sucks.