Dear Readers:

12/5/07
Healing News My hand is finally cast free from my accident in August. My orthopedic doctor told me today that my scaphoid bone is healing nicely and gave me hand exercises to do at home. I’m already writing left handed again and hope to be designing new jewelry very soon. I’m naturally ambidextrous; however, writing and eating right handed have been challenging for me.

Hot Jewelry News! Linda’s gemstone & glass jewelry designs are in a store in Elgin.
After Thanksgiving, I paid a visit to Vicki at Lily Falls in downtown Elgin. She purchased some of my original jewelry designs, so please visit her new store and ask to see them and her other gift items.

Though December 9, my original artisan crafted Linda B’s gemstone jewelry is on display in two locations in Elgin. The second location is the Hanukkah Bazaar on December 2nd and December 9th at Congregation Shirat Shalom, www.CongregationShiratShalom.org, in Elgin. I will be donating a percentage of sales to the congregation.

Previously this year, I donated 20% of LinorStore sales to help refugees in Darfur, who are starving and/or subjected to violence and genocide.

Chocolate
A co-worker keeps Dove chocolates at her desk. Inside are Promises® messages. I thought I’d share a few with you.
-Discover yourself.
-Nature always wears colors of the spirit.
-Happiness is its own reward.
-Challenge yourself and see inward peace.

Friends and I hope to visit an Ethel’s chocolate lounge. Ethel is part of the M&M Mars company and has opened locations in Chicago and Las Vegas. Come back for more details of this experience after 12/22.

Environmental Holiday Lights
Check out Home Depot for LED Lights.
Twinkling lights on trees and houses are an icon of the holiday season, but their energy consumption might put a damper on your celebratory mood: this year’s holiday lights could generate as much global warming pollution as about 250,000 cars, according to UCS research. Most of this electricity is needlessly wasted, because the mini and C-7 incandescent lights used by most homeowners are only about 10 percent efficient.

There are a variety of ways to decorate the home without using electricity, but families who enjoy the look or tradition of holiday lights can save money and help protect the environment by switching to LED (light-emitting diode) holiday lights. LEDs employ semiconductor technology to convert electricity into light directly, resulting in significant energy savings. An LED uses approximately 0.04 watt of electricity, compared with 0.45 watt for a mini incandescent light bulb and 7 watts for a C-7 incandescent bulb.

LEDs provide several other benefits as well:
• Safety— LEDs stay cool to the touch, posing less of a fire hazard compared with incandescent lights. In addition, their low energy consumption allows you to connect up to 25 strands of lights end to end without overloading a circuit.  
• Durability— The small size and solid construction of LED bulbs make them less likely to break.  
• Long Life— LED bulbs can last up to 100,000 hours or more, which is equivalent to more than 10 years of continuous indoor use. If a single bulb in an LED strand does happen to fail, the remaining bulbs will continue to work.

While they have a higher purchase price (they cost about two to three times more than incandescent lights), LED holiday lights quickly pay for themselves through energy savings. Using the national average residential rate of 11.06 cents per kilowatt-hour, it costs only 32 cents to use 300 LED lights for five hours per day for 45 days. In comparison, using incandescent mini lights or C-7 lights for the same amount of time would cost $3.36 and $52.25, respectively. This does not include replacement costs for incandescent light strands, which do not last as long as LED strands. You can reduce your energy costs even further by using solar-powered LED lights, which can be used indoors or out.

Regardless of which bulbs you use to light up your holiday, you can maximize their efficiency by plugging them into an automatic timer and using mirrors and tinsel around indoor lights to increase the lighting effects.

Source: http://www.esw.org/news/archives/2007/11/earth_saving_tips_led_lights_m.php

Speaking of holiday decorating, it seems normal that holiday decorating is done in stages. I’ll pass by a house and see the first stage and watch more lights and/or decorations being added. It reminds me of building a house.  But, I will say that I did see Santa on some houses before Halloween, which seemed way too early.

Home Remedies – Honey for a Cough
A teaspoon of honey before bed seems to calm children's coughs and help them sleep better, according to a new study that relied on parents' reports of their children's symptoms.

The folk remedy did better than cough medicine or no treatment in a three-way comparison. Honey may work by coating and soothing an irritated throat, the study authors said.

"Many families are going to relate to these findings and say that grandma was right," said lead author Dr. Ian Paul of Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine. The research appears in December's Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Source: http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/health/2007/12/03/Honey.For.Cough/
Snow
In the Chicagoland area, we have about 3 inches of snow with more to come today, the first day of Hanukkah. It was a little messy driving home from work, but most of the streets are cleared this morning. It is beautiful to look at.

LinorStore.com news on Web site
I’ve been updating the News page at www.LinorStore.com/news.htm more frequently than sending out newsletters. So, please look there too to read news.

Do your holiday shopping with us and save time and money! Send me an email at linor06@comcast.net with the words “20% December” and you’ll get 20% off your order. Offer expires 12/28/07.

Happy Hanukkah!

Linda Blatchford
Etailer, Jewelry Wizard www.LinorStore.com