JabberWocky!

A friend of mine sent me a link a few days ago that I absolutely must share with you.

It is a video about a 12 year old little girl…but not just Any 12 year old little girl, (I realize that all 12 year old little girls and boys are very special), no, this little girl is one of the most talented artists that I have ever seen. Actually she is now 15 as the video is a few years old but the artwork you will see is from when she was 12 and before.

She is a self taught artist that claims her inspiration comes from Above, which is a strange statement considering that her mother was an atheist, and while much of her art is on the spiritual side there is much that is not.

If you are an art lover…and even if you are not, this video is well worth the time it will take to watch it I promise you!

Spiritual Young Artist

And if her amazing art weren’t enough, a few months ago she decided that she was going to learn the piano and now she is beginning to compose her own music!

Well, that’s it for me today and in fact this week, I hope you enjoy the video and your week-end of course and see you back here again soon for some more good old fashioned…

Do you know where Santa is at this very moment?

Well if not you can track him here:

Where’s Santa Now?

That’s all for me today, I’m off to do a bit more tracking!

Happy Holidays from Uni and Sage & see you back again soon for some more…

Well, it’s Christmas Eve! I hope that all of you have all of your shopping done so that you can celebrate the day properly…having fun!

At my house Christmas Eve has always been such a special day! Pre-Christmas party, singing carols around the Christmas tree, opening a couple of presents, (saving the best for last to open on Christmas morning of course)!

So I thought what better way to celebrate the day here at JabberWocky! than with my very favorite Christmas poem!

It was written by Clement Clarke Moore, in 1822, it was called: “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, but has a more common name these days.

So without further ado…I give you…

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Well, that’s it for me today, I’m going off now to have some of that good old fashioned Christmas Eve fun! I hope you all have a wonderful one as well and of course hope to see you back again soon for some more…

Millions of Chinese-made toys for children have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful date rape drug when the beads were ingested.

In the United States, the toy goes by the name Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy distributed by Toronto-based Spin Master Toys. They are called Bindeez in Australia, where they were named toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year.

The toy beads are sold in general merchandise stores and over the Internet for use in arts and crafts projects. They can be arranged into designs and fused together when sprayed with water.

Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate when ingested. The compound is made from common and easily available ingredients can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.

More information can be found at:

Toys Containing Date Rape Drug Pulled

That’s all for me today! Hope to see you back again tomorrow with some better news and more…

Halloween is finally here and each year on this night millions of children dress up in costume and take to the streets for a spooky dose of trick or treat fun.

The Children’s Safety Zone is a great site with Many Halloween Safety Tips for Trick-or-Treaters, Parents and Homeowners. Make sure you check it out Before taking/letting your children go/out Trick-or-Treating tonight!

Halloween Safety Tips

Halloween is an annual celebration, the word Halloween has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from All Hallows Eve which is the day/night before All Hollows Day or All Saints Day. It is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints.

But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.

The people that were still alive did not want to be possessed so on the night of October 31 the villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840’s by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for “soul cakes,” made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul’s passage to heaven.

And the history of the Jack-o-Lantern? Well it probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, there was a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster and to make a long story short! He had tricked the devil so instead of allowing old Jack into Hell the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer!

The Irish originally used turnips as their “Jack’s lanterns”. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember!

Some cults have adopted Halloween as their favorite holiday, but the day did not grow out of evil practices but the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans.

History and Customs of Halloween

Want to know more about Halloween and everything that goes with it? History.com also has a great site about the History of Halloween, Holiday Origins, Halloween Videos, Famous Haunts, Ghost Stories, Around the World and so much more.

And last but not least! What’s Halloween without a few Halloween Costume Pictures? In my opinion these are about the best that I have ever seen and I personally think they all should win a prize for “Best Costume”, goodness knows I’d give them a blue ribbon!

Great Halloween Costumes!

Well, that’s it for me this Very Scary and Spooky Halloween, I need to go and get dressed up in my costume, noisily parade around the ‘hood’ and be as destructive as possible so I can frighten away the spirits that are looking for bodies to possess!

I hope that all of you have a safe and great Halloween and don’t let the ghouls and goblins get ya…BOOOOOOOO!!!!! And assuming that they don’t, then I hope to see you all back again tomorrow for some more…

A lot of kids are preparing to go back to school soon and with that, as we all know, there is a Lot of preparation to be done! It is one of the most stressful and important days of the year to your child. Everything must be Perfect! Everything is shiny and new, and everyone is excited about starting a new year. The impression that you make on your first day is the one that you will carry with you throughout the entire school year…and in some rare instances your entire school life!

So! To make sure your child starts out on the best foot possible this year I have discovered some interesting back to school sites for different school ages. There are a few things thrown in there for parents and teachers out there also!

Kinderkorner Back to School contains resources from a teacher of Kindergarten and 1st grade. Includes first day of school activities and stories, beginning of year assessment, first day checklist and more.

Teens Health Back to School is a site that gives your teen tips on making the transition from those “lazy, crazy, days of summer” to the sound of the alarm bell announcing it’s time for their first class of the new school year to start. There are so many more topics on this site about body, mind, food and fitness, sexual health, drugs & alcohol, staying safe and much more. In fact this is an entire site devoted to Kids Health which not only includes a Teens site but a Kids site and a Parents site as well! This is well worth your time to check it out!

Yahoo!. Events Back To School offers information for the end of summer and going into the fall semester. There is a Summer Guide, Videos, Games, Shopping, Study Tools, Tech gadgets and a Conversion Calculator to name a few. Well worth looking into. I did find it more for a little older child rather than the elementary school age but I would check into it anyway even if you have younger children as you never know what you will find and you might get information that you can use later on!

Off to School Countdown to College talks about everything you need for college from school supplies to dorm decorating tips, everything you need to prepare for college, roommates compatibility, finding money for college, college study habits, things to avoid and anything else you may need or want to know about.

And last but certainly not least USA.gov is a site full of resources for students, parents and educators in preparation for returning to school in the fall. This site not only tells you where to find the different resources that you may need but also has sections on problem areas that plague children such as bullying, food safety, mental health, preventing drug abuse, vaccinations and more!

That’s it for me today, I hope that this has been informative and helpful for students, parents and teachers alike and when you do go back to school…Have a Great & Productive Year!

Hope to see you back again tomorrow for some more…