Music Fact #3: The saxophone on Playground Love by Air (on The Virgin Suicides album) sounds very feline (supple, observant and delicate).

You do so many things to ensure your baby’s health during and after pregnancy, by eating right, avoiding drugs and breastfeeding. But have you had your baby’s spine checked for nerve interference?

Often a newborn’s spine can be harmed during the birth process.  A normal, uncomplicated delivery puts 90 lbs. of compressive pressure on a newborn’s delicate spine.  One medical study of 1,250 babies examined 5 days after birth showed that 95% had spinal misalignments related to the birth process, causing lowered immunity, poor digestion, and sleeplessness. 

Babies are gently adjusted using low-force techniques equal to the pressure on a touch-tone phone, reconnecting their nerve system, giving them a great start in life.     

 To learn more about how a safe, gentle and scientific, Chiropractic adjustment could TRANSFORM your health contact your chiropractor.  If you are interested in a complimentary consultation, CALL  The Family Chiropractic Centre, 519-837-1234. 

I’m Dr. Brent Lipke, educating you to help you educate others !

These are reaaallllyyy old – about 4 years! But I like them.

(zzzz)

That is the crazy fog that we have these days.. it’s sooo cold during the day with a bit of rain and nights are just so terrible, you can find me with socks up  to my knees, sweat pants, a sweater I have that seems to be taken from one of the “Golden Girls” and sometimes a knitted hat.

I can’t stand cold weather and when I come out of the house I come out looking like a guerrillera o zapatista.

Maybe not the most flattering look but it keeps me warm

I got some things to show you today… I made a ring for a very special friend of mine :

I like the look of the pearls against the  oxidized flowers, this ring is one piece the back of it was soldered to keep the 2 separate bands in place.. I think is very sweet.

Then I made another of the “Reminder ” Pendants, this one for Magic.

You can see more pictures and more about his pendant over here

These 2 rings that I had to save from the hands of  my best friend saying ” Oh, no wait till you see the one I’m making you for xmas” *Cough* :

The Sakura ring made with little cherry blossom flowers, this ring was going to be oxidized to highlight the detail of the flowers but decided to polish it as much as I could…

Then this custom order that just came out sooo pretty! that last night I started to make some more following the same design.

I have 23 small  turquoises around this size , so I decided is time to do something with them, this weekend I should be able to finish them

Oh and last but not least!

This little one for my mom just because

The other day she mentioned the other day how she likes the red/turquoise contrast:

SO this is what I’ve been up to spending the winter locked under a bunch of scarfs.

You may sometimes notice small holes appearing in your newly washed laundry.  If you’re pretty sure that it’s not just that the material is worn and aged anyway then you might like to know the following:

The enzymes in biological washing powders can attack the natural fibres of especially wool and silk, breaking them down.  (There are usually warnings on washing product packaging but they are not always obvious).  For washing these delicate fabrics therefore, use something gentle that you might use for babies’ clothes, like ‘Dreft’.  I personally have found that 100% cotton can be similarly eaten up by the enzymes in biological powders and the solution for me was to change powder (in my case ‘Persil’ biological powder did the damage while other biological powders seemed OK).

Check the instructions of your washing machine for recommended spin speeds.  Too high a spin speed can loosen and damage fibres.   Below is a general chart to show that certain fabrics need certain maximum spin speeds:

             Cottons: 1400 rpm

             Minimum iron: 1200 rpm

             Delicates: 600 rpm

             Woollens: 1200 rpm

             Silks: 400 rpm

             Shirts: 600 rpm

             Denim: 900 rpm

For me, these two are the most obvious culprits but if you’ve tried altering both of the above it is also worth knowing that deodorant has been implicated and may damage clothing – so changing brand again may help.

Then there are also the most obvious reasons – which I’ve left until last here because I assume you’ve already considered them:

Don’t wash delicate fabrics with clothes that have zips, hooks, or wires.  For washing mixed loads where you are concerned about damage in this way, you may find using special laundry bags useful.   These come in a variety of sizes, some large enough to accommodate things like skirts.  Either place the offending article (with the metal fastening) or the delicate articles in a fine mesh laundry bag and this should help to minimise damage.  Under wire bras should, in any case, really be hand washed.

Where is the damage occurring?  If it’s close to the underarms and you wear under wire bras, is it possible that the wire is snagging on the fabric causing wear? 

If it is across the front or back of the material, around waist height, it’s possible that it’s just wear and tear from leaning against kitchen counter tops.   Apparently granite worktops are particularly abrasive to clothing.

COPYRIGHT BABETTE DE JONG

Delicate Brass Chain with Translucent Bead Clusters

First Romance

A sweet and delicate necklace – with dainty blue-black translucent beads, hung in clusters on a fine brass chain.
Named “First Romance”, I can picture this pretty being given as a first gift between young lovers.

: : : : : : : : : : :

Made for the girl behind this blog http://spontaneousthanks.blogspot.com .. so good reminds us to be grateful for everyday things.. we are lucky to be were we are, with what we have at this time and place

This was a bit of an experiment I wanted to make her something so I thought of  grabbing a stone and making the back of it engraved with “Grateful” but since I don’t have a machine for that I was thinking what to do.. I don’t stamp.. nothing against it I just for some reason don’t stamp letters on metal..

So I was thinking how to do it and I wrote it down and I said to myself ” I wonder if I could cut this..” SO I wrote it in the metal and went for it.. this is my first go..

Now all I have to do is improve my hand writing

I want one that says “dreaming”.. maybe one that says “living”, don’t know any ideas are welcomed! Maybe I’ll do a whole quote..

For now I’m happy with these little charms can be worn as a pendant or a bracelet

She liked it and put it on straight away(which is always a great thing)  sooo I’m very very happy

Have a great weekend!

These last weeks have been all about custom orders..

I am sooo happy people are getting ready for Christmas early and it’s just such a nice feeling to know a person chose something I made thinking of a special person.

I have to begin with this one, made for one of my favorite customers..

Such a beautiful stone with freswater pearls and for the back of it she wanted stars.. so I made this and it looks like the stars going to the planets on the side . She can wear it either way ..

I’m so in love with this pendant that I really want to make me a similar one,  I have several big pieces of turquoise .. She also got this ring with amethyst, flowers and pearls.

There’s 2 tiny balls of silver on each side of the stone, this ring gives the effect of stacked rings but it’s just one piece.

Then I had to make a little twist set :

Oh and these huuuge pearl posts.. 12mm. For earrings like these is better to make handmade earring backs so they are more confortable and can hold the weight of the front..

Look at the difference between the posts bought in a store and the handmade ones..

I am done now with all the custom orders for the week so I have a little time off  aside from the Etsy orders to start making Christmas gifts for my relatives.. I have a HUGE family and this year I’m spending Xmas with them so well everything from Grandmas, aunts, wifes of my uncles, friends it’s a lot so I’m starting earlier

I made this little pinky ring to list sometime this weekend.. turquoise and garnet in a pretty small hammered band. It has kind of an Artisan feel, the alst time I went to Guatemala I kept seeing tiny sterling balls everywhere and people pretty much work and try to adorn the sides of the stones.. giving it a very rustic feel.

Now I’m off to get some coofeeeeee and take the rest of my afternoon off!!

6:30am: Wake up, stretch  attempt to get up , fail and curl back to bed.

7:00am : Get up in a rush, get ready in a rush and start the day

8:00am to 1pm :

Form:

(This was filed and is not so ugly looking )

Make the band for the ring..

Oh and file… fileeee… then file some more…

Solder, get burned, shape, smile when it has the shape I had in my head…

2 pm: Lunch

2:something to 6:00pm: Errands and shopping

6: something on.. : Get home take my shoes off, have a huge bowl of  Ice cream in the couch , answered some emails , a little chat with some friends and passed out..

This ring I’m making it’s going to take a while for me to show you the result but it’s going to be veryyyyy elaborated, it’s a pond… the ring is a pond with leafs,swans water everything . I’ll show you in about a week or 2 when I’m done.

G’nite!

(What a weird title for a post) haaaaaaaa well..

These last 2 weeks have been full of work ( Thank God! ) …between custom orders, Etsy orders and a special order for a shop..

Pretty much been waking up grabbing a massive cup of coffee and  answering emails, making pieces ,packing , shipping .. I run around all day either taking pictures or making a bow in a box  and it’s fun but I don’t get to make many new items which I miss a lot.. and any of my fellow craftsters might agree sometimes you have  a NEED of making something new.

I only have 3 custom orders left and then I sit down can make a whole  batch of jewelry … yesterday I got  my new eyes in the mail and well I am sooooooo happy and have too many ideas..

After a whole day of work I made this :

It’s one ring but it kind of looks like 2 .. This one is mine and I’ve been wearing it all day today and it’s so comfortable, it’s my gift for the hard work of the last couple of weeks..( that and a new big  black paisley hippie  bag *cough*)

Sooooooo I’m happy, I believe in the little rewards and I am in love with my ring ..

This will be available as made to order in the Shop this weekend.

I’m off to keep working! hope you have a lovely day today !

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

That probably won't be the last major unveiling on the steps of the Capitol. But now that it's all put together — watch it all get picked apart.

Among the consequence of building two separate (shaky) houses from the bottom is that it leaves twice as many parts for opponents (or even allies) to try to take out.

And in this instance, you have to move one of the houses to the left, and the other one to the right, while keeping everyone inside.

In the broader political landscape, add in a tight calendar, an intervening Election Day, united Republicans, deep splits inside the Democratic caucus, and various other political challenges ranging from war strategy to economic unease. (And don't forget to check the math on the stimulus jobs report coming Friday.)

Add to that new ethics revelations — showing far broader inquiries than previously known, though not a lot of actual action out of them — and maybe this isn't the best of days in the halls of Congress.

But having actual, real-life health care legislation ready for a vote means it's decision time, at last:

“So should progressives get behind this plan? Yes. And they probably will,” Paul Krugman writes in his New York Times column. “The people who really have to make up their minds, then, are those in between, the self-proclaimed centrists. . . . History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they're on.”

There's a broad case to be made, but this remains a bill defined by its particulars.

Even beyond the $1 trillion price tag and the public option, you've got the PhRMA deal, abortion issues, the “Cadillac plan” tax, coverage for undocumented immigrants, hospitals' and doctors' rates, and 1,990 pages of goodies and not-so-goodies.

The critics' round-up: “Doctors complained that lawmakers removed a provision that staved off deep cuts to physicians' Medicare payments. Hospitals fretted the new public plan would underpay them, despite increases in reimbursement rates,” The Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy writes. “The sharpest criticism came from employers, who say it will saddle them with higher taxes, and insurance companies, which say a new public insurance plan will drive them out of business.”

The Washington Times cobbles together some talking points: “House Democrats' health care bill runs to 1,990 pages, costs $1.06 trillion, covers 96 percent of eligible Americans and demands the production of 42 studies on everything from whether post-partum screening should be required to using student loan programs to help recruit doctors.”

A lot of noise for a small player: “An analysis of the House bill released late Thursday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 6 million people would choose a public plan, making it a relatively small player, despite the issue's outsize role in the health-care debate,” The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery report.

Just a bit over that magic — while randomly chosen — number: “Throughout Thursday, news accounts, including our own, focused on $894 billion – which was the total cost given out by aides to the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, before the official cost analysis was released by the Congressional Budget Office,” David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear write for The New York Times. “But a closer look at the budget office report suggests that the number everyone should have reported was $1.055 trillion – which is the gross cost of the insurance coverage provisions in the bill before taking account of certain new revenues, including penalties by individuals and employers who fail to meet new insurance requirements in the bill.”

Plus: “None of the cost estimates of the bill included provisions to increase Medicare payments to doctors. Those provisions, which would cost more than $200 billion over 10 years, were put into a separate bill, also introduced Thursday.”

Getting more interesting in the Senate: Asked whether he's ready to join a Republican filibuster to sink the entire health care bill, Sen. Joe Lieberman tells ABC's Jonathan Karl: “Yes, that's right. . . . Bottom line: I'm saying this public option is so unnecessary to genuine health care reform and so bad for our Country and the people of our country that I would vote to stop final vote on this health care reform bill if the public option is part of it.”

Also in the interview, the latest installment of Karl's “Subway Series”: “I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them.” (Look for more online at ABCNews.com, and with a clip on the “Top Line” political Webcast at noon ET.)

Lieberman also thinks it's time for Obama to make up his mind on Afghanistan. Plus, he's supporting his old friend, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.: “I believe Sen. Dodd will get re-elected, but it's not going to be easy. This is going to be a tough year for incumbents.”

But Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., join a growing caucus of we-won't-filibuster-health-care Democrats, per The New Republic. http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/bayh-backing-his-threat

In the House: “What I think everybody in the caucus sticks by is the notion that they understand how important it is to have healthcare reform,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson, D-Conn., said on ABCNews.com's “Top Line”. “We're going to pass health care reform, and we've got the votes to do it.”

“I'm not big on showing weakness. It's not my thing,” Speaker Pelosi tells Politico's David Rogers.

From a memo to House Republicans going out Friday from the office of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va.: “The Pelosi Bill: It's still the same flawed bill. It is still a government takeover of health care. Totaling 1,990 pages, the bill completely rewrites nearly 1/6th of the nation's economy. Health care costs will go up, and the bill raises taxes, cuts seniors benefits, and doesn't come close to fulfilling the promise that if you like what you have you can keep it.”

Annals of diplomacy:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, to a Pakistani newspaper, Dawn: “Al Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002,” she said. “I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to.”

Clinton, to ABC's Jim Sciutto, in Pakistan Friday: “Trust is a two-way street. There is a trust deficit…it would be a missed opportunity and lack of recognition of full extent of the threat, if they did not realize that any safe haven, anywhere, for terrorists, threatens them, threatens us and has to be addressed.”

Is the US losing the war in Afghanistan? “No I don't think so… [But] the Taliban has some momentum.”

(And on the David Plouffe book — did her husband cost her the vice presidency? [Big laugh.] “I have no idea, but I really am satisfied and happy to be doing what I'm doing… I'm not somebody who looks backward — I look forward.”)

ABC's Kirit Radia: “Clinton made her sharpest comments during a three day diplomatic offensive in Pakistan, a U.S ally where she has generally praised Pakistan and its military for its willingness to take on the Taliban along its rugged frontier with Afghanistan.”

“Clinton's three-day visit is her first to Pakistan since she became secretary of State, and its principal goal is to improve strained relations. On the first day of her visit, in Islamabad, she declared that she wanted to ‘turn a page' in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship,” Paul Richter reports for the Los Angeles Times.

Will this help drain any swamps?

“House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July,” Ellen Nakashima and Paul Kane write in The Washington Post. “The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.”

“Watchdog groups have accused the committee of not actively pursuing inquiries; the newly disclosed document indicates the panel is conducting far more investigations than it had revealed,” they write.

(But doesn't this confirm longstanding criticism that the process is broken? This is a whole bunch of open investigations that are leading to not a whole lot of conclusion, or discipline.)

Based on the document obtained by the Post: “House investigators are looking into whether seven members of a powerful government-spending committee violated congressional ethics rules in their dealings with a lobbying firm that secured earmarks from the committee,” Brody Mullins writes for The Wall Street Journal. “The document indicates the House Ethics Committee is looking into whether the lawmakers on the defense-spending subpanel of the House Appropriations Committee ran afoul of House rules by trading earmarks for campaign contributions, according to the newspaper.”

Bad news for Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y.? “Though the probe has not yet found any of these House members guilty of wrongdoing, this episode will place pressure on Pelosi and her colleagues to show they're not a party of sleaze. Consequently, Rangel is more vulnerable to the Republican's campaign against him,” David Corn writes.

New from the earmarks war: “As it turns out, President Obama's proposed spending cuts aren't entirely the kind of change Congress can believe in,” the Los Angeles Times' Richard Simon writes. “A determination to protect the power over the purse — something Congress has fiercely guarded since the earliest days of the republic — was on display Thursday as the House and Senate approved a bill preserving funding for a number of programs the White House had sought to cut. It was the latest move by lawmakers in both parties to support projects they consider important to their states — and perhaps to their reelection prospects.”

The president's Friday, per ABC's Sunlen Miller: “This morning, President Obama will sign the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, providing funding for low-income people with HIV/AIDS. … Later the president will hold his seventh formal meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan and sit down with his Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Situation Room.”

The new stimulus jobs report is out Friday afternoon: “Obama administration officials expect new reports Friday to show that the government's fiscal stimulus program helped create or save about 650,000 jobs, a figure officials are prepared to tout as a significant sign of stimulus success,” The Wall Street Journal's Maya Jackson Randall reports.

A senior administration official e-mails Politico's Mike Allen: “We anticipate that these reports will credit the Recovery Act with directly creating or saving about 650,000 jobs. Because these reports show that less than half of the spending through that date created or saved about 650,000 jobs, they confirm government and private forecaster's estimates that overall Recovery Act spending has created and saved at least 1 million jobs.”

Pre-buttal statement from House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, as provided to The Note: “The trillion dollar ‘stimulus' isn't working, and no amount of phony statistics can change that. The President and his economic team promised the ‘stimulus' would create jobs ‘immediately' and unemployment would stay below eight percent But America has lost more than three million jobs since then, and the unemployment rate is nearing double digits. While Washington keeps spending and piling more debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren, out-of-work families keep asking, ‘where are the jobs?' ”

A balancing act, on the economy: “Tugged in different political directions, the White House is seeking credit for good economic news and trying to escape blame for the bad stuff,” the AP's Tom Raum writes. “President Barack Obama greeted as “obviously welcome news” a government report showing the economy grew 3.5 percent from July through September after four quarters of declines. That's unofficial confirmation that the long, harsh recession has ended. But he had to serve it up with a dose of political reality.”

Drawing close to Election Day — and maybe getting a little bit nervous:

“One of President Barack Obama's key political advisers has become the central strategist in New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's bruising campaign for re-election, a race the White House desperately wants to win to avert the consequences for its own agenda of a Republican winning in a traditionally Democratic state,” Politico's Ben Smith reports.

“The White House was so concerned about Corzine's chances during the summer that Corzine's aides feared the first-term governor was being pressured to step aside for a stronger candidate. Those fears turned out to be groundless, but were part of the reason Corzine hired Joel Benenson, who has helped impose discipline on a struggling campaign and crystallize Corzine's aggressive attacks on the character of his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie,” he writes. “For the White House, it's a crucial symbolic prize.”

Don't read too much into the Big Three contests, Charlie Cook warns: “The most likely outcome this year is a split decision,” he writes for National Journal. “Whatever the outcome of this year's New Jersey and Virginia governor's races, the results will depend on conflicting factors that are unlikely to be replicated in many contests next year. Beware, then, of drawing sweeping conclusions.”

“No matter how they are spun, rerun and overdone, the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races are not national referenda,” writes Walter Shapiro, at Politics Daily. “But if you are stubbornly determined to try to find lasting answers in the 2009 results, then ignore the macro (counting up what party won what) and concentrate instead on the micro (small trends buried in the exit polls and the actual returns).”

Pre-game spin from the Democratic side: “I think you are seeing play out this fight that's going on within the Republican Party nationally between those who believe that the Republican Party is not ideologically pure enough yet, that they're not holding to their ideals, and those who believe there should be greater pragmatism and breadth of opinion within the Republican Party,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor Breakfast, per ABC's David Chalian.

Profiles in courage, in NY-23: “The House Republican leadership is prepared to welcome Doug Hoffman into its ranks, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said Thursday, a sign that the GOP establishment is recalibrating its approach toward the contentious New York special election and the Conservative Party nominee whose candidacy has divided the party,” Alex Isenstadt and Josh Kraushaar write for Politico.

The debate tells the story: “Now that Hoffman has emerged as the GOP's best bet for holding the Republican seat, the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, used a Thursday debate to tie Hoffman to the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group which has backed Hoffman, and ignored the Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava,” ABC's Teddy Davis writes.

How to become a celebrity in Congress without really trying (or, by trying just a little): “In today's Congress, the propriety of a gentleman and $5 will get you lots of committee work and a ham sandwich. Embrace the new media landscape, however, and you can break out in the national media fun house as an Internet and cable-news populist. Fame and campaign cash await,” Time's Michael Scherer and Jay Newton-Small write. “Just take a look at this year's two great breakout stars of partisanship: Florida Democrat Alan Grayson and Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann.”

Coming up on “This Week” Sunday: Presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett. And on the roundtable: George Will, former Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, Ron Brownstein of National Journal, and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The Kicker:

“MyCongressmanisNuts.com was formed due to outrage and embarrassment within Central Florida over Alan Grayson's liberal positions and childish approach in Washington, D.C.” — Press release announcing the new PAC, MyCongressmanIsNuts, based in Grayson's Central Florida district.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note's blog . . . all day every day:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

That probably won't be the last major unveiling on the steps of the Capitol. But now that it's all put together — watch it all get picked apart.

Among the consequence of building two separate (shaky) houses from the bottom is that it leaves twice as many parts for opponents (or even allies) to try to take out.

And in this instance, you have to move one of the houses to the left, and the other one to the right, while keeping everyone inside.

In the broader political landscape, add in a tight calendar, an intervening Election Day, united Republicans, deep splits inside the Democratic caucus, and various other political challenges ranging from war strategy to economic unease. (And don't forget to check the math on the stimulus jobs report coming Friday.)

Add to that new ethics revelations — showing far broader inquiries than previously known, though not a lot of actual action out of them — and maybe this isn't the best of days in the halls of Congress.

But having actual, real-life health care legislation ready for a vote means it's decision time, at last:

“So should progressives get behind this plan? Yes. And they probably will,” Paul Krugman writes in his New York Times column. “The people who really have to make up their minds, then, are those in between, the self-proclaimed centrists. . . . History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they're on.”

There's a broad case to be made, but this remains a bill defined by its particulars.

Even beyond the $1 trillion price tag and the public option, you've got the PhRMA deal, abortion issues, the “Cadillac plan” tax, coverage for undocumented immigrants, hospitals' and doctors' rates, and 1,990 pages of goodies and not-so-goodies.

The critics' round-up: “Doctors complained that lawmakers removed a provision that staved off deep cuts to physicians' Medicare payments. Hospitals fretted the new public plan would underpay them, despite increases in reimbursement rates,” The Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy writes. “The sharpest criticism came from employers, who say it will saddle them with higher taxes, and insurance companies, which say a new public insurance plan will drive them out of business.”

The Washington Times cobbles together some talking points: “House Democrats' health care bill runs to 1,990 pages, costs $1.06 trillion, covers 96 percent of eligible Americans and demands the production of 42 studies on everything from whether post-partum screening should be required to using student loan programs to help recruit doctors.”

A lot of noise for a small player: “An analysis of the House bill released late Thursday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 6 million people would choose a public plan, making it a relatively small player, despite the issue's outsize role in the health-care debate,” The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery report.

Just a bit over that magic — while randomly chosen — number: “Throughout Thursday, news accounts, including our own, focused on $894 billion – which was the total cost given out by aides to the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, before the official cost analysis was released by the Congressional Budget Office,” David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear write for The New York Times. “But a closer look at the budget office report suggests that the number everyone should have reported was $1.055 trillion – which is the gross cost of the insurance coverage provisions in the bill before taking account of certain new revenues, including penalties by individuals and employers who fail to meet new insurance requirements in the bill.”

Plus: “None of the cost estimates of the bill included provisions to increase Medicare payments to doctors. Those provisions, which would cost more than $200 billion over 10 years, were put into a separate bill, also introduced Thursday.”

Getting more interesting in the Senate: Asked whether he's ready to join a Republican filibuster to sink the entire health care bill, Sen. Joe Lieberman tells ABC's Jonathan Karl: “Yes, that's right. . . . Bottom line: I'm saying this public option is so unnecessary to genuine health care reform and so bad for our Country and the people of our country that I would vote to stop final vote on this health care reform bill if the public option is part of it.”

Also in the interview, the latest installment of Karl's “Subway Series”: “I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them.” (Look for more online at ABCNews.com, and with a clip on the “Top Line” political Webcast at noon ET.)

Lieberman also thinks it's time for Obama to make up his mind on Afghanistan. Plus, he's supporting his old friend, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.: “I believe Sen. Dodd will get re-elected, but it's not going to be easy. This is going to be a tough year for incumbents.”

But Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., join a growing caucus of we-won't-filibuster-health-care Democrats, per The New Republic. http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/bayh-backing-his-threat

In the House: “What I think everybody in the caucus sticks by is the notion that they understand how important it is to have healthcare reform,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson, D-Conn., said on ABCNews.com's “Top Line”. “We're going to pass health care reform, and we've got the votes to do it.”

“I'm not big on showing weakness. It's not my thing,” Speaker Pelosi tells Politico's David Rogers.

From a memo to House Republicans going out Friday from the office of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va.: “The Pelosi Bill: It's still the same flawed bill. It is still a government takeover of health care. Totaling 1,990 pages, the bill completely rewrites nearly 1/6th of the nation's economy. Health care costs will go up, and the bill raises taxes, cuts seniors benefits, and doesn't come close to fulfilling the promise that if you like what you have you can keep it.”

Annals of diplomacy:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, to a Pakistani newspaper, Dawn: “Al Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002,” she said. “I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to.”

Clinton, to ABC's Jim Sciutto, in Pakistan Friday: “Trust is a two-way street. There is a trust deficit…it would be a missed opportunity and lack of recognition of full extent of the threat, if they did not realize that any safe haven, anywhere, for terrorists, threatens them, threatens us and has to be addressed.”

Is the US losing the war in Afghanistan? “No I don't think so… [But] the Taliban has some momentum.”

(And on the David Plouffe book — did her husband cost her the vice presidency? [Big laugh.] “I have no idea, but I really am satisfied and happy to be doing what I'm doing… I'm not somebody who looks backward — I look forward.”)

ABC's Kirit Radia: “Clinton made her sharpest comments during a three day diplomatic offensive in Pakistan, a U.S ally where she has generally praised Pakistan and its military for its willingness to take on the Taliban along its rugged frontier with Afghanistan.”

“Clinton's three-day visit is her first to Pakistan since she became secretary of State, and its principal goal is to improve strained relations. On the first day of her visit, in Islamabad, she declared that she wanted to ‘turn a page' in the U.S.-Pakistani relationship,” Paul Richter reports for the Los Angeles Times.

Will this help drain any swamps?

“House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July,” Ellen Nakashima and Paul Kane write in The Washington Post. “The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.”

“Watchdog groups have accused the committee of not actively pursuing inquiries; the newly disclosed document indicates the panel is conducting far more investigations than it had revealed,” they write.

(But doesn't this confirm longstanding criticism that the process is broken? This is a whole bunch of open investigations that are leading to not a whole lot of conclusion, or discipline.)

Based on the document obtained by the Post: “House investigators are looking into whether seven members of a powerful government-spending committee violated congressional ethics rules in their dealings with a lobbying firm that secured earmarks from the committee,” Brody Mullins writes for The Wall Street Journal. “The document indicates the House Ethics Committee is looking into whether the lawmakers on the defense-spending subpanel of the House Appropriations Committee ran afoul of House rules by trading earmarks for campaign contributions, according to the newspaper.”

Bad news for Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y.? “Though the probe has not yet found any of these House members guilty of wrongdoing, this episode will place pressure on Pelosi and her colleagues to show they're not a party of sleaze. Consequently, Rangel is more vulnerable to the Republican's campaign against him,” David Corn writes.

New from the earmarks war: “As it turns out, President Obama's proposed spending cuts aren't entirely the kind of change Congress can believe in,” the Los Angeles Times' Richard Simon writes. “A determination to protect the power over the purse — something Congress has fiercely guarded since the earliest days of the republic — was on display Thursday as the House and Senate approved a bill preserving funding for a number of programs the White House had sought to cut. It was the latest move by lawmakers in both parties to support projects they consider important to their states — and perhaps to their reelection prospects.”

The president's Friday, per ABC's Sunlen Miller: “This morning, President Obama will sign the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, providing funding for low-income people with HIV/AIDS. … Later the president will hold his seventh formal meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan and sit down with his Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Situation Room.”

The new stimulus jobs report is out Friday afternoon: “Obama administration officials expect new reports Friday to show that the government's fiscal stimulus program helped create or save about 650,000 jobs, a figure officials are prepared to tout as a significant sign of stimulus success,” The Wall Street Journal's Maya Jackson Randall reports.

A senior administration official e-mails Politico's Mike Allen: “We anticipate that these reports will credit the Recovery Act with directly creating or saving about 650,000 jobs. Because these reports show that less than half of the spending through that date created or saved about 650,000 jobs, they confirm government and private forecaster's estimates that overall Recovery Act spending has created and saved at least 1 million jobs.”

Pre-buttal statement from House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, as provided to The Note: “The trillion dollar ‘stimulus' isn't working, and no amount of phony statistics can change that. The President and his economic team promised the ‘stimulus' would create jobs ‘immediately' and unemployment would stay below eight percent But America has lost more than three million jobs since then, and the unemployment rate is nearing double digits. While Washington keeps spending and piling more debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren, out-of-work families keep asking, ‘where are the jobs?' ”

A balancing act, on the economy: “Tugged in different political directions, the White House is seeking credit for good economic news and trying to escape blame for the bad stuff,” the AP's Tom Raum writes. “President Barack Obama greeted as “obviously welcome news” a government report showing the economy grew 3.5 percent from July through September after four quarters of declines. That's unofficial confirmation that the long, harsh recession has ended. But he had to serve it up with a dose of political reality.”

Drawing close to Election Day — and maybe getting a little bit nervous:

“One of President Barack Obama's key political advisers has become the central strategist in New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's bruising campaign for re-election, a race the White House desperately wants to win to avert the consequences for its own agenda of a Republican winning in a traditionally Democratic state,” Politico's Ben Smith reports.

“The White House was so concerned about Corzine's chances during the summer that Corzine's aides feared the first-term governor was being pressured to step aside for a stronger candidate. Those fears turned out to be groundless, but were part of the reason Corzine hired Joel Benenson, who has helped impose discipline on a struggling campaign and crystallize Corzine's aggressive attacks on the character of his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie,” he writes. “For the White House, it's a crucial symbolic prize.”

Don't read too much into the Big Three contests, Charlie Cook warns: “The most likely outcome this year is a split decision,” he writes for National Journal. “Whatever the outcome of this year's New Jersey and Virginia governor's races, the results will depend on conflicting factors that are unlikely to be replicated in many contests next year. Beware, then, of drawing sweeping conclusions.”

“No matter how they are spun, rerun and overdone, the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races are not national referenda,” writes Walter Shapiro, at Politics Daily. “But if you are stubbornly determined to try to find lasting answers in the 2009 results, then ignore the macro (counting up what party won what) and concentrate instead on the micro (small trends buried in the exit polls and the actual returns).”

Pre-game spin from the Democratic side: “I think you are seeing play out this fight that's going on within the Republican Party nationally between those who believe that the Republican Party is not ideologically pure enough yet, that they're not holding to their ideals, and those who believe there should be greater pragmatism and breadth of opinion within the Republican Party,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor Breakfast, per ABC's David Chalian.

Profiles in courage, in NY-23: “The House Republican leadership is prepared to welcome Doug Hoffman into its ranks, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said Thursday, a sign that the GOP establishment is recalibrating its approach toward the contentious New York special election and the Conservative Party nominee whose candidacy has divided the party,” Alex Isenstadt and Josh Kraushaar write for Politico.

The debate tells the story: “Now that Hoffman has emerged as the GOP's best bet for holding the Republican seat, the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, used a Thursday debate to tie Hoffman to the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group which has backed Hoffman, and ignored the Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava,” ABC's Teddy Davis writes.

How to become a celebrity in Congress without really trying (or, by trying just a little): “In today's Congress, the propriety of a gentleman and $5 will get you lots of committee work and a ham sandwich. Embrace the new media landscape, however, and you can break out in the national media fun house as an Internet and cable-news populist. Fame and campaign cash await,” Time's Michael Scherer and Jay Newton-Small write. “Just take a look at this year's two great breakout stars of partisanship: Florida Democrat Alan Grayson and Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann.”

Coming up on “This Week” Sunday: Presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett. And on the roundtable: George Will, former Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, Ron Brownstein of National Journal, and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The Kicker:

“MyCongressmanisNuts.com was formed due to outrage and embarrassment within Central Florida over Alan Grayson's liberal positions and childish approach in Washington, D.C.” — Press release announcing the new PAC, MyCongressmanIsNuts, based in Grayson's Central Florida district.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note's blog . . . all day every day:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/

So, I finally got to see the new Anthropologie store on Regent Street and in just a short visit, I managed to compile a pretty extensive Christmas wish list.

I first came across Anthropologie on a trip to New York about six years ago and I remember being in awe of their Snow Queen-style silk dresses and embellished homeware. 

This is Anthropologie’s first European store out of America, which will be followed by another store on the King’s Road, housed in a former gentlemen’s club.  All of the Anthropologie stores are unique and the three-floor Regent Street branch is pretty spectacular, with a wall tapestry of over 200 sq. metres of living plants, sustained by the rain-water collected on the roof.

Inside, it is a wonderland of bobo, Amélie-style patterned dresses, rustic Americana bed linen and velvet embroidered cushions and good, old-fashioned crockery with a modern twist.

Some of the clothes can be a bit on the twee side, but the collections have clearly been picked because of their excellent quality and fine details, like felt patchwork hearts sewn on the inside. 

It’s great to finally have access to Anthropologie’s designer labels like Leifsdottir and Moulinette Soeurs, as well as New York-based Mise en Scene by Ruffian and Eva Franco and high-end pieces from Sara Berman.  I am currently lusting after a Mise en Scene by Ruffian black velvet cocktail dress with a white silk collar – think Eva Green wearing YSL and smoking a cigarette in The Dreamers, that’s how fabulous it is!

Anthropologie’s buyers have scoured the world to source some of the most beautiful things for your home. I recognised some of the stationary that is stocked in Selfridges, but they also have an enormous collection of jewelled, wooden and ceramic drawer handles, hand-painted china cups and saucers and exquisite bold striped and patchwork quilts.

I had serious envy on their amazingly-styled in-store bedroom and had the store assistant not being restocking the drawers, I would have been tempted to curl up among the cushions.  While I already have a gorgeous handmade patchwork quilt in my room at home, I can’t help feeling that this bedroom would make me into the organised, serene and breezy person I’ve always wanted to be (must make storage notes).

The greatest addition to Anthropologie’s Regent Street store would be a cafe (see Avoca, Belfast’s adorable lifestyle store) where you could have afternoon tea, as judging by Style Bubble and disneyrollergirl’s mouthwatering pics from the press day, they have some real cakemaking talents.  If you’re reading, Anthropologie, grab some of those tea pots and cake stands and get a pop-up shop going, we’ll be in there all day!

Anthropologie, 158 Regent Street, London, W1B 5SW

New image in the red flower photoshop contest

Worked with the surface blur tool in order to get a smooth effect on the skin. Blurry brushes where useful for blushing some parts of the skin. The fl …
Delicate photoshop picture

my first time at salmon i thought it would be a very strong fish so i wrapped it up in tin foil and placed sundried tomatos fetta cheese and spring onions on top baked it for about 30 mintues .. omg .. i couldnt belive how delicate and light it was ….. while it isnt the cheapest of fish .. we will be buying it again …… this was good ….

The hand that holds a stone for throwing, knows not of receiving.

How delicate the little child, standing next to the adult – and yet, none is braver.

The breath of blasphemy asphyxiates only the weak who lack.

Tall grass is meant for watching; cut grass, for walking.