321 - 331 Fun Fairy Garden Things to Do!

321 – Explore the idea of fairy gardening! When we were young, there came a time when we began to suspect the reality of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. No matter what conclusions we came to, we probably never doubted the existence of fairies and fairy gardens. As a child, whenever I saw a place with moss, tiny flowers, acorns or other evidence of fairy homes, I knew that the fairies lived there. You can see the fairies of my childhood that are still often the main images of fairies depicted at www.flowerfairies.com

These beautiful fairies, as portrayed by Cicely Mary Barker, only confirmed what I had suspected all along – that there were all kinds of fairies, more than we will ever meet in our lifetimes. I even read that fairies turned themselves into crows when they want to get into mischief!


322 - Make a fairy garden using common materials. Creating a fairy garden is not only fun, but once you have gathered your materials is definitely a meditative process. Some of the things commonly used in fairy garden are: acorns, buckeyes, small mirrors, moss, coral, stones, pine cones, marbles, shells, glass discs, and rocks – with or without words. Dried or silk flowers, and anything else you find that will work will be fun to gather. Making a fairy garden is simply creating an environment that fairies would love to visit.


323 - Activate a fairy garden with glitter so fairies know it is time to start visiting. If you put a coin in the fairy garden when you are finished, you will be able to tell if the fairies have been there because they will always take the coin.

324 – Make a secret fairy garden in someone’s yard when they are not home! Then you can tell them that there is a fairy garden in their yard and they have to find it. I made one for my daughter, Maribeth, and she was happily surprised to find her fairy garden in a corner of her patio on a little hilly area.

325 – Plant bulbs around your fairy garden. One time I snuck over when my daughter was gone, and planted daffodil bulbs all over her yard. Then at Christmas, I told her that one of her gifts was going to bloom in the Spring. Since she lives right across the street, it was extra fun to see her yard burst forth with bright yellow daffodil beauties. I planted some of the bulbs around her fairy garden. Good bulbs to plant for fairy gardens: grape hyacinth, snowdrops, miniature daffodils, crocuses – anything that strikes your fancy!


326 – For your indoor fairy garden, you can put floral foam in the bottom of a basket, bowl, or dish, cover it with dried moss, and delight yourself with a moveable fairy garden. These are also great for gifts. You can also make a fairy garden on a shelf or windowsill, etc. A dear friend had a close relative pass away, and I had made a fairy garden for her just before that happened. They took the fairy garden to the funeral home, along with other flowers. I had put a penny in it, and told everyone that if the coin ever disappeared, it meant that the fairies had come to visit. I snuck over and with the fairies’ help, I removed the penny. After the funeral service, my friend’s granddaughter started yelling as she ran across the room – “The fairies have been to visit! The fairies have been to visit.” It was the first time I ever witnessed sheer joy in the midst of so much sorrow.

327 - Make a fairy garden for someone with materials gathered from their yard. When my neighbors, Art and Peggy, moved away after they had become like family to us, I made a fairy garden using pine needles, pine cones, little stones from their garden, and a twig for a tree with a tiny teddy bear with angel wings perched on it. I added some other fairy materials. I put the fairy garden in a beautiful coppery bowl that reminded me of Peggy’s flamboyant red hair and personality. Unfortunately, Art died soon after they moved, and I put a stone with Art’s name and a heart into the fairy garden, which made it all the more treasured to Peggy. Sadly, Peggy died within a year of Art, and I put some of the rose petals from her casket into the fairy garden. The journey of that fairy garden ended with one of her son’s keeping it.


328 – Once you have become a fairy gardener, you can get business cards made to give to people who might be interested in learning to make fairy gardens also. (that email address is not correct - it should be carolbaileyfloyd@gmail.com) I got mine at 123print.com – enormous selection and low prices. I have shared the idea and techniques of fairy gardening all over N.E. Ohio at garden club meetings, libraries, and other groups. Doing that is one of the most fun ways I have ever earned money.

329 – Choose a special spot for your outdoor fairy garden. I have two right now that are in plain sight, and one that is yet to be refurbished around the corner of my house between bushes and our house in a more hidden area. The children in the neighborhood love to visit my fairy gardens, and one day a painted stone ladybug appeared mysteriously. I found out that Andrea, one of my neighbors’ granddaughters, put it in my fairy garden because she enjoyed visiting it so much. I try to keep making changes to the outdoor fairy gardens, so the kids will have some fun and keep visiting.

330 – Make a fairy garden with a child! This is one of the best fairy garden adventures ever! A child’s creativity is usually wide open. All you have to do is encourage them to gather some natural materials, give them other fairy gardening supplies, and they will delight you with their fairy garden assembling techniques! Then have them put a coin in the fairy garden for the fairies to take, and sprinkle the fairy garden with glitter to activate it so the fairies will know it’s time to visit. The son of a friend of mine made his fairy garden using little cars around his basement. One way he knew that the fairies had come to visit was if the cars had moved in the night!

331 – Have a fairy garden making birthday party for your child. The supplies are inexpensive, and anything you gather in the woods or neighborhood is free. I carry a sandwich bag with me when I walk for treasures that appear on the sidewalk. I don’t go into people’s yards (well, hardly ever!). Once your friends know that you are a fairy gardener, they will probably started giving you gifts from their yards.

317 - 320 Fun Things to Do!

317 - Take advantage of the bonus day in Leap Year - February 29th - and do anything you want, as much as possible, all day long! I wrote "anything I want" on my calendar for that day a long time ago. It's always fun to have something to look forward to, and I am enjoying wondering if I am going to schedule my day, just let it unfold, or a combination of both. I know for sure that it is going to be a day to remember! Maybe I will go out of town, cajole a friend into joining me for an adventure, try something I've never tried before, write a poem, visit someone I haven't seen in a long time -- a lot of the fun has been in the speculation. I do have a jar that is filled with strips with suggestions for day long fun ideas, so maybe I will try one of those and let the jar decide part of my day! All I know for sure is that February 29 is going to be one fun day! If you do something unusual on Leap Year Day, I would love it if you would share it here in the "comments".

318 - Sleep in and wake up whenever you feel like it. This is especially appealing if you have to get up with an alarm clock day after day. It's always good to pick a day when doing this will not disrupt anything else you might have planned. This might even be the start of that leisurely day you have been dreaming about!

319 - Set the alarm one hour early and give yourself a whole hour to do whatever you want without worrying about any responsibilities. Whenever I am up really really early or late, I feel like I am operating on stolen time, and there is a little bit of a thrill element, as if that time is mine, and absolutely no one else's.

320 - Treat yourself to some flowers that are out of season. Many of us live in a climate with four seasons, so the sight of tulips at the grocery store is a happy and welcome sight. Soon they will be growing profusely all over town, but for now we can enjoy cut flowers in all their glory. As of today, there are only 28 days until Spring! Hooray!

Your comments and ideas are always welcome. We are almost 1/3 of the way to the 1,000 Fun Things to Do Challenge goal!

312 - 316 Fun Things to Do!

312 - Do a portrait of yourself in chalk on cement! This is my 8 year old grandson, Nate, who loves basketball. This self-portrait is now covered by snow, but it was so fun to watch him bring it to life! I am so glad I was there to document this exciting chalk art event.

313 - Do a portrait of someone else in chalk on cement! My grandson, Drew, who is 6, did a portrait of his Grandpa Tom, who is my husband. Then he asked what else he could do, and I said, "You could write -- G-Ma is beautiful!" That's a running joke with us -- that not only am I G-Ma, but that I'm beautiful, too! So he decided to have Tom say I'm beautiful, so he made a little cartoon balloon, and wrote in the word "beautiful". What could be more fun that making a portrait in chalk that talks, too?

314 - Take some time and read all kinds of different magazines at your local library. Explore some magazines you wouldn't normally read. I love to read interviews, and after I browsed through some of the other magazines, I settled in for a good long time with "Interview" magazine. Now I can save some money on magazine subscriptions and still have a lot of fun.


315 - Treat yourself to beautiful orchids, which are much easier to care for than you could ever imagine! I spent many years thinking I had to have some special orchid juju to take care of these gorgeous orchids. Imagine my surprise when I saw a sign at a local store that said -- Orchids - just 3 ice cubes weekly! Since they were only $10, I thought I would take a chance. That was three months ago, and my purple orchid is still wonderfully glorious! Last week I got a double white one that has a tag for justaddiceorchids.com. I registered for reminders of what day to add my 3 ice cubes, and you can even take pictures of yourself with your orchid and send it into their website! Talk about hilarious orchid fun! They are my indoor Winter garden.


316 - If you have friends who are in warm and sunny climates during the Winter, it is important to send them photographic reminders of what they are missing. They already know they are smart, but it's good to bring an extra smile to their faces!

306 - 309 - Fun Things to Do!

306 - If you are feeling challenged financially, make a list of all the great things you already have. When I get myself into a quandry over financial issues, I remember I have a car, a house, food, a wonderful family, terrific friends, great neighbors, interesting activities, a meaningful job, and lots of things that don't cost me one single penny. Sometimes I even make a list in my journal to remind myself. Then I can move forward to make some changes or adjustments in a much better mood! Hooray!

307 - Make your own magnetic words for the refrigerator. You can get adhesive magnetic strips in a roll at the craft store, and type or print out any words you want, put them on the magnets, cut them apart, and have some fun. This is great for kids or adults as magnetic poetry or for just plain word silliness!

308 - Draw a "cartoon bubble" for a face or an animal in a photograph and add some humor for a card or a gift. You might look at the daily newspaper's comic section to get some ideas. Regular white labels can be cut to the right size to make the bubble shape. This is a great way to use some of those extra photographs you have around the house.

309 - Browse through the dictionary looking for words you don't know when you have extra time on your hands. If you find one that intrigues you, practice using it conversationally in a sentence until it feels natural to you. Increasing your vocabulary is a fun way to improve your word power! You might want to try this expeditiously, before you get out of the mood.

305 - Fun Things to Do!

It's a tradition at my church, Unity Chapel of Light, to choose a word to use as inspiration throughout the year. Since I had already chosen my theme, "Exploring Possibilities", I thought I was all set. But people kept talking about their words, what their words meant to them, and what they were going to do with their words, and I got hit with "one word fever"! I considered all kinds of words, and even made a spontaneous list of words that mean a lot to me, which I made into a word cloud that you can see in the last post. I typed "love" onto that list three times, which is why it came up larger than the other words. I drive a car with a LOVE decal on the back, and I believe that when all else fails, love always wins. We had a wonderful sermon recently entitled, "What Would Love Do Now?" which I just loved and have incorporated into my thought process. My personal symbol ever since I was in high school has been a heart. So finally, after encountering my love reminders at every turn, I declare 2012 to be the year of LOVE for me! Then, like a miracle, I found Fly Tribe Word Hop (click on that), where people have chosen their words for the year and are sharing in a blog hop from all over the country! And you can share your word in your blog, or in their comments section.

Since love will be my word, that opens up all kinds of possibilities to go right along with my "Exploring Possibilities" theme. This Saturday in Zentangle Club, my friend April is going to demonstrate Zentangle hearts -- that will be a great start for my theme year. And conveniently, Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so my theme already has a holiday for me to celebrate rambunctiously! Hooray! I wear a diamond heart necklace in memory of my beloved sister Barbara, so she will help me carry out my theme for this year, too. Now everywhere I turn, I see reasons to think of love, which is going to be a terrific way to conduct 2012.

I hope you will think of a word to power your 2012 and even consider sharing it here in the comments below. When you pick a word, you can do writing projects around it, creative manifestations of it, and think of all kinds of way to have it be present for you all year long. Or you can simply choose a word, and let it gently be there and see what happens. Love, Carol

302 - 304 - Fun Things to Do!

302 - Make at word cloud at Wordle.org It's free and you can use any words you want! This is my first one -- I didn't coordinate the colors exactly the way I wanted them, but I did play with moving the words around. I put the words "sock monkey" in, so I had to keep changing everything until sock and monkey ended up together. If you want, you can post your "wordle" to an internet gallery! Thanks to Just Mary Designs for passing along this very fun idea! You could make fun birthday cards, or even frame word clouds with just the right words as a gift, or use them on invitations, or make cool posters -- oh my!

303 - Notice the power of two word combinations. You can even play around and see if you can put two words together to create some of your own power and magic! Here are some of my favorite examples. In parentheses, I have acknowledged their origins where I know them. Creative Electricity (Jill Badonsky) - Regal Thinking - Courageous Patience - Wild Calm (Traci from Zentangle Club) - Joyful Preparation - Reclaiming Discipline (James) - Practice Bravery (Rae) - and some of the ones I have created (although other people may use them, too) - Calm Energy - Happy Trouble - Solidly Hopeful. If you have any two word combinations that you like, please add them by clicking on "comments".



304 - If you say something silly, back it up with more silliness! Recently I sent Winter photos of N.E. Ohio to a friend of mine who has the good sense to spend lots of time in Florida during the cold and snowy weather in an email attachment. I signed it -- from your Snow Bunny friend. He emailed back and wanted to know where the Snow Bunny photo was, so here it is!

Comments are much appreciated! Thanks.

301 - Fun Things to Do!

301 - A young woman out in Texas is naming a different song as her theme for each day for 2012, and you can do it too! Or you can pick a theme song for any chosen day, week, or month. You can use old favorites, or explore new territory -- check out what the library has to offer, explore iTunes, listen to the radio, or borrow some friend's music -- this can be a wonderful way to liven up your year. Thanks to Mary Ellen, my laughing friend, for passing this great idea along.

300 - Fun Things to Do!

300 - Instead of making New Year's Resolutions this year, declare a theme for your year! My theme for 2012 is going to be "Exploring Possibilities". I thought of "Health and Wellness", but that sounded a little boring, so I decided that if I explore lots of possibilities, that can include health, fun, nutrition, adventures -- just about anything. And if I want to declare a theme for each month, or even week, or day, then I will. Themes are very flexible, while resolutions just beg to get broken and often end up to be disappointing. Who wants to start out a brand new year like that? If you do come up with your own theme, please do share by clicking on the comments section.

Since I want to eat more happy foods this year, and I was looking for a New Year's greeting, the above sign that I found at our local health food store was just perfect synchronicity.

I have always liked the term "possibilitarian", which was coined by Norman Vincent Peale to mean a person who sees the possibilities in almost any situation. So I will be a possibilitarian for the year of 2012 for sure!


My daughter gave me this calendar for Christmas before I had even told her of my 2012 theme. Hooray!

"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible." - Arthur C. Clarke

Wishing you a wonderful year of good health, fun adventures, and lots of possibilities!

299 - Fun Things to Do!

299 - Start a "Fun Adventure Journal"! This does not have to be like scrapbooking, with fancy papers, and amazing lettering. The simpler the approach the better, because you want to be able to come home from some event with some ticket stubs, a program, perhaps some photographs, and just tape or glue them into a notebook quickly. I chose a bright, flowered holographic three ring notebook, so I can add lots of pages. I have only been doing this for less than a week, and I have already chronicled four adventures! I can only imagine how much fun it will be to look at in six months. It will be a great way to lift my spirits if I am feeling a little low -- a reminder that fun things do happen, and will happen again!


My friend Jean and I had a great adventure going to downtown Akron's Holiday Fest at Lock 3. Our friend from Zentangle Club, Bob Williams, has a cottage there and is selling wonderful ornaments, jewelry, and switchplate covers through the holidays. One of my friends is going to get a wonderful surprise soon!


I had a wonderful mystery evening with my son Kevin. He surprised me with dinner and a trip to a local play, called "It's a Wonderful Life; A Radio Play". It was so fun not to know what was going to happen, and to have the evening unfold. One of our friend's sons was in the cast, so that made it even extra interesting. Now that he's married and has his own children, I really value time spent alone with him. This was the evening that gave me the idea for a fun adventure book -- I just looked at our tickets and our program and couldn't bear to think of throwing them away!


Before I even got the idea for the "Fun Adventure Journal", I took my grandsons, Nate and Andrew, to see "The Muppets" movie on the first day it was released. We had a really hilarious time. They are 6 and 8 years old, and half the fun of watching a movie with them is watching them watch the movie. Then I recently went to see the movie again with my dear friend, Owen, who is in his older youth, like me. I think we laughed even harder than the boys did!

I hope you consider making a "Fun Adventure Journal" to record all the fun adventures you will be having in 2012!

Please click on "comments" to add your ideas for fun things to do, or to leave a message. It's great to hear from you.

295 - Fun Things to Do!

295 - Watch an incredible YouTube on gratitude -- Louie Schwartzberg - Gratitude. If you pass this along, you will be giving an incredible gift! One of the quotes from it is -- "May everyone you meet today be blessed by you." And the cinematography is unbelievable!

291 - 293 Fun Things to Do!

291 - Introduce your flowering friends to your real friends with a photograph! Here's Amanda, my fabulous red amaryllis for the holiday season. Amos is still in bud form, but it is fun watching him grow -- amaryllises grow so fast that you if you leave the house, when you come back, there will be some exciting progress made in your absence. My previous amaryllis was Amy and she gave us nine blossoms!

292 - Create art journal entries. You can add little doodles and pictures to your journal entries that pertain to the topic or not. It's fun to also add some color and texture with different art materials. One year I kept a collage journal. In the evenings, I would paste in tickets, images, and things of interest from the day, and the next morning I would write around everything. It was fun and the most interesting and lively journal I ever kept.

293 - Have a word of the day exchange with a friend by email. You can send the word with or without an explanation and with a response being optional.

Thanks to Janet from janetlaird.blogspot.com for these last two terrific ideas!

290 - Another Fun Thing to Do!

290 – Name your teams! I realized recently, as my dentist was carefully adjusting my new front tooth, that I have many teams that help keep me up and running.

1. The family team – always loving me, having fun with me, around for all the holidays, steady in adversity, the best team ever!

2. The friendship team – wow and wowee! what a magnificent group of all different kinds of people! Fun, serious, silly, loving, some are even very carefully chosen family.

3. The church team – what would I do in this life without my amazing church family at Unity Chapel of Light? The first time I attended, I knew I had found my spiritual home! Hooray!

4. The plumbing team – bless the plumbers who do maintenance around our house and sometimes rescue us during emergencies!

5. The electrician’s team – what would we do without light? Thank you to all the electricians, who have helped keep us in the light over the years, and safe, too!

6. The yard team — it is such a relief to know that this wonderful group descends on our yard during the Spring, Summer, and Fall, to keep it well groomed, while I get to do the fun gardening and flowers part!

7. The postal team — through rain, snow, and sleet they come with our packages and mail! Our regular mail carrier is cheerful and fun, and we are grateful for his substitutes, too!

8. The retail team – what would we be without the places we go to get the things we need like food, clothes, office supplies (I would be bereft without office supplies!), home maintenance needs, etc.?

9. The online team — my ability to do keyword searches and emails! and everything else! and all the wonderful blogs and websites that help keep me up and running. Yippee!

10. The automotive team — thank heavens there are people who know about the mechanics of car engines! I would have to buy a new car every six months if I were in charge of repairing my own car. And when you find an honest and reasonable mechanic — hallejuah!

11. The dental team — thank you for the teeth that you have kept presentable and operational. To all the dental assistants, hygienists, dentists, oral surgeons — I extend deep gratitude for your care.

12. The health team — for all the years, since birth, of tests, operations, check-ups, eye-exams, conversations, prescriptions, encouragement — I wouldn’t have made it this far without you!

I have just mentioned a few of the teams that are such essential parts of my life. Just thinking of them is amazing to me. I bet you have lots of teams, too!

268 Fun Things to Do!

268 - Make a collage candle. Rae Payne, from "The Art of Collecting Yourself" - http://collectingyourself.wordpress.com started an Illuminata Intentional Art Circle for the holiday season. Check out the website for detailed information. The basic idea is to do little art projects throughout the holidays to keep in happy spirits. The first project was a collage candle, with a theme of whatever intention you might have for the holidays. My two basic intentions are LOVE and CALM ENERGY -- if I can manage those two, I know I will have terrific results! I think my family and friends will benefit, too. I made the collage into a cylinder so I can put it on another candle later.


There is an image of one of the men from the Blue Man Group, drumming into hot pink paint -- that's for fun energy, and a big purple bubble, a kaleidoscope image, and the words at the bottom are: "Using your spare time to pursue what gratifies you can be as rewarding as any dream job." (It is my opinion that even a dream job can get dreamier when we do creative and fun things, too!)


The poem in the middle is by Brian Andreas - AWAKENING In those days, we finally chose to walk like giants & hold the world in arms grown strong with love & there may be many things we forget in the days to come, but this will not be one of them.


I was happy to include Mary Engelbreit from my page-a-days - "A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place" since I just moved my art studio and office back home and I am dealing with temporary chaos! Also appearing are some of the cast from "The Muppet Movie" for more fun.

Thank you, Rae, for a wonderful start to the 2011 holidays!

262 - 267 Fun Things to Do!

262 - Take photographs while you're moving. I love the memory of my sofa sitting on our front lawn during the process of the moving of my art studio and office back home. There was a book of photographs once about a red sofa where it was taken all over the world and put in unusual places, like on the tops of mountains, in the middle of streams, on the tops of roofs -- it was hilarious. This is as close as I could come!

263 - Wake up to music. Lately, I have added music to my morning routine. (See #117 if you want to see more about my very unusual wake-up ritual!) It's fun to stay under the covers, and just appreciate some lively music for a while. It seems to get into my system and energize me a bit and make me feel a little cheerful. Right now, I am listening to Alternative music, but that could change at my whim!

264 - Try a wild new flavor of ice cream! For many of you, that might seem like a simple thing, but I spent many years of my life with chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate chip -- only! I even worked at an ice cream parlor in high school, but even that didn't make me more daring. In the last few years, I have been exploring the miracles of all kinds of ice cream. A while back, I had Butterfinger™ ice cream with Butterfinger™ sprinkles! Does it get better than that? I am willing to do more exploration in the name of happiness ice cream research!

265 - Try counting your blessings on a beaded bracelet. This would be a great thing to do any time, but if you were having a rough day, you could silently count some of your blessings on your bracelet, and I am betting that you would feel a lot better in a hurry.


266 - If you see a quotation you really like, take a photograph of it. I am developing a new presentation on "The Power of Quotations" -- on walls, church signs, bumper stickers, in books, everywhere. I even write down quotations sometimes from people when they are being interviewed on talk shows.

267 - When some big change is happening in your life, try introducing other little changes that are fun. Sometimes the big changes are not fully our choice, but we can coordinate to do other things that will amuse and empower us.

253 - 261 Fun Things to Do!

253 - Take photographs of people you love with their pets. Here are Andrew and Nate, our grandsons, with their beloved boxer, Woody, who is a gentle and wonderful dog.

254 - Combine fun things to do! If two of your fun things are to take a walk and you also like to go to the movies -- walk to the movies! If you love to have a cup of tea, and you also enjoy talking to a friend, make a cup of tea and call a friend on the phone. Better yet, make arrangements in advance so your friend can make a cup of tea, too!

255 - Listen closely when children speak and write those priceless gems down! Often when a child says something memorable, we think we will remember it all our lives, and then two weeks later, we can only remember fragments, if anything at all. Recently, Nate and Andrew were working on a Zentangle project (see zentangle.com), and Nate yelled out, "Yippee Yo Yo YO!" I was really excited because I have been sticking with hooray, yippee, and yahoo for years now and thanks to Nate, I have a new happy exclamation. Of course, I was very casual and didn't let him know that I going to be blatantly stealing his phrase in the future.

256 - Give a new Mom or Dad a blank book so they can record all the amazing baby triumphs along the way. This could turn out to be the most priceless possession of their baby's childhood.



257 - If you are going to be making changes in your house or apartment, or before you move in, take some before and after photographs. Here is a photograph of part of my second floor where I will be creating my new art studio. Soon it will be a hub of creative activity and fun!

258 - Buy tickets for someone you love. A friend of mine just bought tickets for his wife's birthday to "Jersey Boys". I hope he put "from your Ohio boy" on the birthday card! There are free and low cost tickets available everywhere if you pay attention to the newspaper and local bulletin boards. Community theaters, local libraries and art museums have lots events that are fun, interesting, and either free or very low cost. Taking someone out for an adventure is a VERY fun thing to do, and if there are not exactly tickets for the event, like a lecture at the library, you could design your own and present them.

259 - If you are trying to decide whether to donate something or not, take a photograph of it and send it on it's way. That way someone else can have the full benefit of it, and you will still have the memory of it, but it won't take up any more room and get in your way!



260 - Take a photograph out of an airplane window. I just missed a sky sunset with this one, but it's still beautiful.

261 - Go to the library, look through some cookbooks, and pick out an interesting recipe. Make out a list of ingredients you need, and go directly to the grocery store and get them. Then go home immediately and try out the recipe. This is great good fun, especially for those of us who collect recipes and then forget them. It is important to do the library, grocery store, cooking part all together so you can have the full blast of new recipe excitement. It would be acceptable to get the recipe at home and then proceed, but maybe not quite as exciting.

247 - 252 Fun Things to Do!

247 - Keep your eyes on the sky! The other day I was heading into a local library to teach a Zentangle class when I looked up and saw a big Z formed by clouds in the sky. I knew that I meant I was going to have a great time, and even brought the coordinating librarian out to take a look. I think it is amazing that no matter what is going on in our lives, we often have the beauty of the sky, which is often like free performance art!

248 - Read Dr. Seuss books out loud very loud, with an audience or not! Dr. Seuss books are not just for children and can cheer up anyone, any time. This is especially effective if you are alone and can just let loose. If you don't have any Dr. Seuss books, the library has plenty to share with you.



249 - Have a little silliness in your environment. I got my flamingo with sunglasses at a very high end art show. I was not distracted by the more serious art, because I knew when I saw this, that she would brighten my world. Dare I tell you that parts of her glow in the dark?

250 - Wake up to music. I have been listening to a boring alarm for many years, when I recently remembered that the alarm also has a music feature. Now I wake in a much more friendly way and feel a lot more motivated to get into my morning routine. You can have a gentle classical music wake up or burst out of bed dancing to some rock and roll or electronica -- whatever you like!

251 - Decorate your envelope when you write a letter. There are artists who really go to extravagant lengths to send out amazing envelopes. Magazines even sponsor contests for art envelopes. You can use stamps, stickers, drawings, words -- whatever you like to create a little buzz for your envelope as it makes it's way from your location onward.

252 - Send postcards for no reason. My friend Martha likes to send art post cards every now and again. It's fun to see one appear in the midst of my regular mail with her friendly note. Thank you, Martha!

241 - 246 Fun Things to Do!

241 - Donate to a worthy cause! Back in 1985, Peter Toth carved a magnificent Native American image, Chief Rotaynah, in Akron, Ohio. It is right on one of our major streets in front of a school. It is a beloved landmark in our area. Because of natural causes, it is starting to disintegrate, and the 3,000 lb. feathers recently had to be removed for safety reasons. Other repairs are being made. There is a fund drive to get enough money to get stronger wood for Peter to carve, so it will last longer next time. Peter Toth has carved "Gentle Giants" in all 50 states, and in some states, more than one. There are all kinds of worthy causes, and it is fun to think that you can make a difference with even a small donation, and by educating others in hopes that they will join your venture!



242 - Have an "even though" day. If you are feeling a little low energy, or not in a very good mood, try this: "Even though I don't feel like working in the yard, I am going out there for one hour." "Even though I don't feel like writing those thank you notes, I am going to write just two." "Even though my boss was snippy to me this morning, I am going to do a great job on this project." When I have an "even though" day, it usually energizes me, and lifts my spirits. I don't have to say "even though" very many times to get myself back in the groove.

243 - Try a day without a watch. There are plenty of ways to find out what time it is -- on your computer, on your cell phone, in your car. You can even ask a stranger -- who knows, you might strike up an interesting conversation. It's fun to pretend that you don't have any deadlines. I find that I often work more effectively when I am not checking my watch frequently and I always manage to get my work done and where I am supposed to be on time. If you can believe this -- there are actually people out there who never ever wear a watch! Oh my!

244 - Declare a holiday for yourself with a theme! Every once in a while, I wish I could have a whole day to do some of things I hardly ever get a chance to do. I think I will get a jar and put strips of paper in it so I can reward myself once in a while with a whole day of things like: reading, putting my CDs into iTunes, having a Spa day, a day of complete freedom to do whatever I want, looking through old photographs, taking an aimless drive, going out of town to an unusual event, etc. Then when I can manage a day to myself, I will pull a strip of paper and have a blast!



245 - Enter a contest! My friends and I went to the movies recently and afterwards, just to be really wild, we went out to Friendly's to get ice cream. They have a "High Five" contest now. If you send them a photo of your high five, they will give you a coupon for a free sundae. Now that's my idea of a really terrific contest, where you automatically win just by entering! My friend Maria took a picture of Jean and me in high five position over the remnants of our ice cream orgy!



246 - Choose a mascot for a project! - I am moving my art studio and office back home, and it is quite an adventure. My friend Mary Ellen gave me this wonderful crow because she knows I love crows and she said it looks like it is poised for action! When I look at it, I not only feel the power of a crow ready for flight, but also the power of friendship. Thank you, Mary Ellen!

236 - 240 Fun Things to Do!

236 - Take a hike with a child or children. I recently took a rambunctious hike with Andrew and Nate, my two lively grandsons, and hiking will never be the same for me again! My daughter, Maribeth, thought of a scavenger hunt for them, which made observing things along the trail even fun. She even had a backpack filled with snacks and drinks. Everything is better when viewed through the eyes of a child. If you don't have a child handy, perhaps you could borrow a friends' or a neighbors' child -- if you like hiking, you will like it even better in the company of a kid or kids!

237 - Go to the movies where all you know is the title and a vague recollection that it is a good movie.

238 - Dance in the shower! My friend Christine happily reported this idea and being a fun tester, I am here to report that it is hilarious and energizing! If you need to watch your balance, I would suggest hanging onto something with one hand though!

239 - Take your shower with your eyes closed. This is a fun way to really appreciate the feeling of the water spraying down on your and all the soapy motions. Again, hold on to something if you lose your balance easily.



240 - Take pictures of people in a silly cutout. I never miss an opportunity to take advantage of painted cutouts -- the resulting pictures are always terrific. Andrew is on the left, Maribeth - center, and Nate is on the right.

234 - 235 Fun Things to Do!

234 - I recently met a delightful college student who told me that she does Origami, and when she is taking a class that is a little challenging, she hides an Origami paper crane somewhere in the classroom so she can see it every time she arrives. I wanted to hug her and jump up and down when she told me that, because it is one of the most original and creative fun things to do I have ever come across in my 1,000 Fun Things to Do challenge! It wouldn't have to be a college classroom either, you could put a paper crane in all kinds of places. Paper cranes signify peace and hope. Hooray!

235 - Take up bricking! I had a wonderful conversation with a gentleman recently who collects bricks, and he calls that "bricking". He has been collecting for years, and he and his wife have a 3 foot wide walkway paved with the bricks he has collected. He told me all kinds of interesting information about bricks. For example, bricks on a street are vitrified to stand the heavy use. Vitrified means that the brick is exposed to extra heat to give it a glasslike substance. He also said that you can tell really old bricks because they are have raised lettering on them, while newer ones are engraved. Buildings are usually made with regular bricks, but sometimes with vitrified bricks. I always enjoyed bricks, but now I enjoy them even more!

If you have any fun things to add or any remarks, please click on comments. I would love to hear from you!

231 - 232 Fun Things to Do!

231 - Make a foamie house -- with a child, or by yourself! Usually foamie houses come with lots of little pieces, and no directions except a couple of pictures, so they can be a little challenging. Where's the fun in that, you might ask. The big fun comes when you finally figure out what odd part goes where, and the house is finally standing on it's own, ready to decorate with foam stickers, and foam pieces that need to be glued on! Here are our grandsons, Nate and Andrew, with our triumphant Happy Halloween House. There was another fun part -- the house was on sale half price! Hooray!

231 - Do bunny ears behind someone's head when they're getting their picture taken! If you look closely in this picture, Andrew (on the right) is doing bunny ears behind Nate's head, and his own head, too. If you even more closely, you will see that Nate is doing bunny ears behind the Halloween house!