Ahhhh the Trampoline...

If you have a trampoline in your yard, which I think could be easily referred to as the "West Virginia front lawn ornament", you know the scoop. Every time we mow, we have to move the trampoline. During the fall, all of the leaves, sticks and nuts fall off of the trees and land on the trampoline. The debris gets up under the edges of the spring cover.... The spring covers do not last long on trampolines. Ours would get saturated with water and then we you got up onto the trampoline, your clothes and body would get wet from the wet cover and then when you proceed to jump, the water runs to the center, where you are. The top of the legs rust. When you move the trampoline, straining and twisting your body to get JUST the right leverage to move it, sometimes the legs fall off... It's simply not worth the few times it gets used. So, Saturday, I took the monster apart, with my dog watching me, and wheeled it down to the trash. Looks like someone has already come by and picked up the top piece to it. I am glad they got it before the trash company did.

Hopi Crepe Myrtle

If you love crepe myrtles, but live in a cooler climate, you may want to check out the Hopi Crepe Myrtle. I purchased 2 crepe myrtles several years ago... a not so hardy purple one and this Hopi. The wind blew my purple one over and it uprooted, but my Hopi has survived hard winds and cold weather. They are fast growing and offer gorgeous white blooms in August.

Primitive Wooden Christmas Signs

With fall quickly approaching and vendors stocking their booths and shops with Christmas items, now is the time to list and sell Christmas items at prices affordable to move your merchandise. These cute signs were just listed today in my eBay store, for only 3.99 plus shipping, each. This is practically wholesale cost. See my eBay store for details.

Pretty Christmas Homespun Fabric Strips

It's time to stock your stores with Christmas items, if you haven't already. I have several green and red, Christmas fabric strips. I have already sold a couple, so come in and get them while they are in stock. HO HO HO!

Oh My Gosh What Next??

A friend sent this email to me and I wanted to share. I have to warn you, it is very disgusting, but has been verified by snopes.com:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/hairband.asp

BEIJING (AFP) - Used condoms are being recycled into hair bands in southern China threatening to spread sexually-transmittable diseases they were originally meant to prevent, state media reported Tuesday

In the latest example of potentially harmful Chinese-made products, rubber hair bands have been found in local markets and beauty salons in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in southern Guangdong province, China Daily newspaper said.

'These cheap and colorful rubber bands and hair ties sell well ..... threatening the health of local people,' it said. Despite being recycled, the hair bands could still contain bacteria and viruses, it said.

'People could be infected with AIDS, (genital) warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while waving their hair into plaits or buns,' the paper quoted a local dermatologist who gave only his surname, Dong, as saying that a bag of ten of the recycled bands sells for just three cents, much cheaper than others on the market, accounting for their popularity, the paper said.

A government official was quoted as saying recycling condoms was illegal. China's manufacturing industry has been repeatedly tarnished this year by a string of scandals involving shoddy or dangerous goods made for both domestic and foreign markets.

In response, it launched a public relations blitz this summer aimed at playing up efforts to strengthen monitoring systems.

Check your kids hair bands and make sure they do not put them in their mouth while trying to plait or tie their hair