GrannyXpress

If these qualities pretty much describe you– then you may want to make a pressure-free, no-cost, no-risk evaluation of my biz… take a look at my website, fill in the request form after you have watched the flash movie (around 10 minutes) and read some of the other information on the site– then submit the request form. I look forward to hearing from you! If this doesn’t appeal to you but you know someone else who fits the bill, please give them this link…www.positivelyvibrant.me

Mighty Vitamins for Little Kidlets

Here are some vitamins that I believe Grannies should be aware of (for their grand- babies):

KidScents MightyVites provide a superior full-spectrum children’s multivitamin in chewable tablets. The bonus is that each tablet includes essential oils rich in limonene and the immune system strengthening polysaccharides of the NingXia wolfberries.

KidScents MightyZyme chewable tablets address the digestive issues of growing bodies and help with digestion of all foods–proteins, carbohydrates, and fats so prevalent in today’s diets.

Vacuum Cleaner Deals

Last week we had a call from the rug cleaners asking if they could do our rug for free in exchange for some referrals to friends. My husband took the call.

The upshot is that we DID have our rug done, and a fine job it was too (friends out there– please use this service! Call and we’ll give you the information). The guy showed us all the gunk that came from the carpet after we had vacuumed (supposedly??) with our cheap-o little cannister, and also vacuumed the dead skin from our mattress (eeeew). Did we buy the vacuum cleaner they were REALLY SELLING? Well, remember, my husband took the call. He showed the fellow how much the vacuum was selling for on EBay (about 1/5 of their cost– over $2000) and then the unexpected happened. The cleaner/salesman said, “Thank you , thank you! I KNOW this is an excellent vacuum but I really hate trying to strongarm older folks who are either senile or on a fixed income… this gives me a way out!” And he left quite pleased with himself. It was a very weird sort of WIN-WIN situation. Take a look at the brand and when you do your research, you will find that they do get an excellent consumer rating on the internet:

Still Not Too Late for Your New Year’s Resolve

At last night’s Toastmasters’ meeting we had a debate on the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of New Year’s Resolutions. I argued on the “effectiveness” side.

The New Year calendar date is a good reminder of our resolve to better ourselves… hope springs eternal.

My email bin is full of invitations to get my life off on the right foot in 2008. Here are a couple that you might find interesting to explore:

You want to try your hand at e-commerce in 2008? Maybe you already have a profitable business on-line, in which case you might not be interested in this particular proposal. But, maybe you would like to hear what some of the topnotch internet marketing have done or are doing to promote their successful businesses.

To take part in a series of FREE internet tele-calls with wise industry leaders like Greg Cesar (on powerful use of Keywords), Justin Livingston (”Intimate Marketing”), Donna Fox (”Why events are the ideal way to market to women”) and Many More teachers on the leading edge of internet marketing. These calls are a showcase of the speakers at an upcoming 3-day conference. Go here to learn more and register for the calls.

I personally recommend the interNETworking team that I am a part of for anyone who is currently involved in a network marketing venture that is simply not working out to be what you had hoped for when you signed up. If you love the products you sell, but hate pestering friends and relatives to buy those products, you might want to join me to learn a more successful and respectful system. Take a look here to see if this meshes with any of your desires and experiences and download the free report.

In the mood for optimal health and curious about what the best cleanse might be for you? Click here and check out the different programs available to start the year fresh and cleansed! If you sign up for a newsletter you will also have an opportunity to take part in an introductory 21-day e-health program for FREE.

Have fun with your aims for a healthier, wealthier you this year!

~GrannyX/ Healthia Cynthia

Raggedy Ann Revisited

When my eldest son was little his great-grandmother gave him a Raggedy Andy doll. I have no idea what became of that doll. We moved a lot and he must have got left behind… I am finding that that is my legacy having allowed my husband to do a lot of the packing up whenever we moved (while I looked after the children).

In any case, Raggedy Ann (and her twin, Andy) were the brain children of American artist Johnny Gruelle. He was a cartoonist back in the turn of the 20th Century on to his death in 1938. Initially he did cartooning for adults, but eventually he turned his eye to the juvenile market and really enjoyed development of the Raggedy characters. There is a museum to Johnny and his characters in Arcola, Illinois. The legacy of the Raggedys was carried forward through this museum project by his sons, Worth and Richard, and their respective spouses.

Children, and adults, continue to connect with these cheerful-looking dolls. Here are a number of possibilities to introduce Ann or Andy into your doll collection– or to gift your little grandchild or great-grandchild, as my grandma did:

There are many more variations of this theme on eBay…. just click on any of the above pictures to check out what is up for auction or what can be bought directly. Have fun!

The Story of Blythe…

My little granddaughter is spell-bound by the Blythe doll videos on youtube. They are mostly made by Japanese artists, I think, and combine the whimsical, the arty and the innocent in a way that appeals to two-year olds and others who are interested in maintaining the image of ideal woman as all big-eyed, small-featured, and sweetly vacuous.

Most of the Blythe dolls I have seen have round blue eyes or green eyes and hair colors ranging from blond to coppery to turquoise blue. They have long lashes, sometimes ornamented with glitter or maribou. Their eyes open and close and rotate from side to side.

The original Blythe doll was designed by Marvin Glass and manufactured by Kenner toys in 1972. Tonka Toys bought out Kenner and in the mid-80s, Hasbro bought out Tonka Toys. Marvin Glass died in 1974 and was one of the first group inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 1984.

At first children found the Blythe doll rather macabre (the large round eyes changed from green to pin to blue to orange with the pull of the string on the back of her head). As often happens with the avant garde, Blythe was only popular with a small clutch of doll collectors, and after a year she was pulled off the market.

In 1997 photographer Gina Garan was introduced to Blythe by a friend. Gina “got” Blythe right away and channeled her fascination into thousands of photos of the little doll. She began to take at least one of her Blythe dolls with her on her many assignments around the globe.

Gina showed some of her Blythe photos to the founder of CWC (Creative World Connections) who intuited that a modified Blythe would be a big hit with Japanese young women. Parco Toys introduced a TV commercial in 2000 and neo- Blythe took off in Japan.

On eBay you can find everything from vintage Blythe dolls to all the accessories (and then some) for the fashionista neo-Blythe dolls…. teeny-tiny shoes, wigs, etc. Have a look, try a bid:

Merry Christmas! (Cheap Cheap)

Wow, what’s with all these supposedly “exclusive” gifts at escalated prices all over the web? Would you pay $36. for a dozen banana muffins? Come on! Wouldn’t you like to give something that has much more REAL value than muffins and that will be around as an heirloom? For less than $36?

If you didn’t get to all your gifts before Christmas and aren’t happy with hanging out at Walmart just because it’s open 24 hours a day, click below for some real wonderful dreams-come-true for prices that match:

Granny’s Fave Gifts

I know that this is a bit of a cliche, but I really treasure gifts that are created by someone I know. You want to give your grandmother a gift she will cherish forever? Forgo the fancy nighties and the expensive perfume and chocolates… give Granny something you crafted or painted or wrote for her.

Below are some beautiful examples that my friends have done this year.

Eva Cote is our Pastor’s wife. She has cross stitch on the go all the time it seems. It’s a labor-intensive art, but something that people keep and hand down through the generations. Here are the pictures that she made for my daughter-in-law.

Mary Lou Johnson lives on Hornby Island and every Christmas she paints (usually a watercolor) a picture for her ‘Country Mouse Cards’– the Christmas card replication of her Christmas painting. I bought this year’s painting and fancy that these little missies are my granddaughters in a future snowy Christmas scene.

If you have a spare day (haha) before Christmas I suggest that you might want to do something creative for someone you know. Another great gift for Grandma? How about some of her favorite homemade goodies, made lovingly by you?

**If you want more information about contacting Eva Cote (cross-stitch) or Mary Lou Johnson (watercolors), contact me by clicking right here. (Your email address is not revealed on-site and I hate spam as much as you do).

Kindness Remembered…

This is a most appropriate time of the year to focus on kindnesses… to practice them, and to recall the kindnesses of others…

Today bloggers worldwide are blogging on the topic of “Acts of Kindness”… you are encouraged to fill your ‘love cup’ by reading lots of blogs today!

*I remember how kind my friend’s mom was when I was growing up. It was surely annoying to have me over so often, on weekends when I was staying with my grandparents, but I never heard her complain or tell me to go home. A particular kind act is engraved in my memory. We were getting ready to go to a dance. I had made a botchy job of hemming up a tweed skirt (mini skirts were all the rage and this particular one was probably ‘to the knee’ in length). Mil took the skirt and undid the crappy threads and did her very professional hemming magic on it, pressed it, and voila! I was ready to dance.

*In Grade 12 I had menstrual cramps every month (endometriosis I diagnosed myself several years later). One day I bit the bullet in class and told the teacher I had “the flu”. I’m sure she wasn’t fooled. She asked the Principal to drive me home and he did. They were very kind, I thought. This stands in stark contrast to what I heard on the news today wherein an aboriginal woman, about my age, recalls only being allowed to use the washroom 3X a day when she was at boarding school.

*Two years ago our family moved to this beautiful valley on Vancouver Island. There are poor people here, just as there are everywhere, and in some cases, this is a magnet because the climate makes it easier to endure a winter “living rough”. Shortly after we moved here a notice in the paper called for volunteers to help with the annual Christmas Day dinner for the poor. We’ve been helping out with that for a couple of years now and plan to do so again this year, or at least the men in the family will. Our Church has a dinner on the 22nd to which we invite families from along the highways and bi-ways. Starting in January we make sandwiches for the Red Cross to distribute to the hungry on Sundays.

I have been the recipient of so much kindness in my life that it behooves me to “pay it forward”. My heart is for little children who haven’t known the love of a grandparent, something that I grew up rich in. That is my focus for kind acts… taking a few minutes to speak to an overwhelmed mom in a store, helping out with expenses for some of the single moms I know who are hard-pressed all year long, not just at Christmas, etc.

May you know and show kindness today and over the year to come!

Looking for a Gift for Grandma?

Or a Gift for Grandpa, as far as that goes? Here are some ideas that you might not have considered:

Techie Treats
Many of the Grandmothers I talk to complain that they don’t use the computer because they don’t know much about it, and are, often, afraid of doing something really awful to it. They know that a 12-year old knows much more than they do around the computer. I know that. We all know that. If you are a tech-savvy 12-year old or teenager or 20-something with a grandmother who expresses some interest in learning about using the computer, how about schedule some lessons? Either sign Gran up for a set of lessons at the nearby YWCA (an example) or, better yet, offer to spend an hour a week teaching something of what you know. Remember to KEEP IT SIMPLE. Don’t launch into program languages, but do:
~ go over some basics of e-mail.
~Show them how easy it is to journal on Blogger.
~Give them a tour of eBay– maybe they have some stuff they want to make money on, or a collection they would like to expand. Help them set up an account.
~Have fun! Explain about “cookies” during one session… talk about ways to avoid spam at another session.
~Take Granny on a Facebook jaunt… show her how many Groups there are started by people who love and adore their Grannies! Let them see all the groups for people over 50. Invite Granny to be one of your FB Friends.

These are just some ideas! If Granny is not into the computer in the least, then finding other ways to spend time with her will be just as valuable!