I Solved The NPR Puzzle for 3/1/9

I soved the puzzle rather quickly so thought I would give hints as to the location of the two cities instead of saying outright:

1. Junior a.k.a. ?
2. Bigger
3. Ex's

NPR Sunday Puzzle (3/1/09)

My Green Thumb Sunday will be late because it's raining outside and, as you know, sugar melts so I can't go out there! LOL

I got last week's puzzle right. Yea! Now here's this week's puzzle:

Take the words Atlas Of The World, exchange the "e" for an "r", and rearrange the letters to form two related cities.

I haven't worked on it yet but stay tuned, I am determined to do the puzzle every week. I've given up sweets for Lent so this is my dessert!

NPR Sunday Puzzle ***Spoiler Alert***

This puzzle.....

Name an item often found on a desk. It's a hyphenated word. Add an 'S' to the beginning of each part, and you'll get two synonyms. What's the item?

.....has been bugging me all week. I even went online to find out if anyone else was blogging about it. They were and they weren't giving up the answer! I finally figured it out tonight and I am willing to share but then again, I could be wrong. I sent in my answer feeling about 80% sure I am right.

IN - TRAY = SIN + STRAY

Chloe Update

It's such a beautiful day today I am almost hesitant to mention it. With all the bad weather other people have had I feel a bit guilty. I'm sitting on the screen porch in my bare feet, a tee shirt, and sweat pants sipping a Coke Zero listening to classical music on NPR "playing" on my laptop. I don't know what the temperature is but it is absolutely perfect.

Here's a photo of little Chloe. She's well enough now to where she wants to be where I am and even well enough to make that desire known. She BARKS and BARKS until I move her. Luckily we have dog beds in everyroom of the house and even outside. Here she is on the screen porch soaking in some rays. What I've read about Vistibular Syndrome says to expose her to bright light. She's actually in dappled light so maybe she'll turn into an orchid! LOL

*update* I checked the temperature and it is 74. Perfect for being lazy on the porch. Also, in case anyone is thinking I am looney for having plants that unable to live outside in the winter, most of the orchids would do just fine in the screen porch during the very few cold days we have here in central Florida. In fact, many are native orchids. The problem is I don't remember which ones are the tender ones and most labels are long lost so I just bring them all in.

I Learned The Coolest Thing On NPR Yesterday

Where was this information when I was in 2nd grade?!?!?!

Yesterday as I was driving home from work, I heard someone describe a shortcut to calculating the 9 times table using his fingers. I would have posted this yesterday but I had to hold auditions first to find just the perfect hand model, LOL.

Let's get started!

OK, you start with all your fingers outstretched and work from left to right - just like you read. For 1 times 9 you would bend your first finger (your little finger on your left hand) to represent one and you are left with 9 fingers (1 x 9 = 9). Now that may not sound impressive but loook below as we do other calculations from the 9 times multiplication table.

Now let's do 9 x 2 which we all know is 18. So, you bend finger #2 (ring finger on left hand because we are going left to right) and see what is left. You have a 1 to the left of the bent finger and 8 to the right. Put them together and you have 18. (Nine times two is 18. )

The next example is 9 x 3. Again starting at left side, bend down finger #3. This leaves 2 on the left of the bent finger and 7 to the right or 27. Three times nine is twenty seven. This is cool, eh?

Bending 4 and leaving 3 and 6 or 36 for nine times four.............

And bending finger #5 leaves 4 and 5 or 45. You can continue this exercise with 6, 7, 8, & 9 and it works everytime. I just may be the last person in the world to learn this but I think it is just the coolest thing!

A round of applause for my Dad's hand modeling performance. {{{clap, clap}}} I believe he may have missed his calling. Ot, who knows, he may have found a second career!

Saturday

I had a great night's sleep last night. I believe I was in bed by 11 and slept until 7:30 this morning. Seems on too many weekends I stay up late and then wake up early and I am tired all day - not today! And look what I saw in the pond this morning....

Wood Stocks! They aren't rare in Florida but I don't seem them in the pond very often. Usually it's ibis, ducks, roseate spoonbills, and a variety of herons.


Below is a photo of me just before I went ot bed last night. I was thinking how thanksful I am to Sarah Palin for popularizing the up-do, because I love to wear my hair up, and for wearing glasses - which I do most of the time. Thanks for making my status quo fashionable!
So I had to clean up a mess at my sewing/craft table because Annie had some sort of cat fit and knocked everything over. I took the opportunity to go through my drawers and shelves and reorganize EVERYTHING and throw out projects I have carried around for years and never completed. I considered if there was a web site where someone else might want them but I was in the "mood" then and afraid that waiting would prevent me from purging.

Then I put out my fall decorations. It doesn't feel like fall here in central Florida but my heart says time to change the wreaths on the front door and drag out my leaf garlands, fabric pumpkins, scarecrow, bale of hay, black cats, etc. Abut a week before Halloween I will add some scary stuff and then remove that and add my Thanksgiving. I guess I actually have 3 stages of fall decorations. Can you believe I am even talking about Thanksgiving?!?!?!

Went to dinner at Sam Seltzer' tonight with the moms. Filet mignon and steamed veggies - yummy. Tonight I might sew in my newly organized work station but for now I am just admiring it in all it's clean and organized glory! I even cleaned all my Omnigrid rulers. I don't believe I've ever done that before, LOL. In an hour it will be time to listen to my radio program "This American Life" - I hope it is not a rerun again this week, or at least that it is not one I have already heard. Oh well, I do have a book................

Another 1 down, 2 to go!

It's Sunday night at 12:43 and I just posted the last individual paper for my online class and have also met all my posting requirements for the week. Whew...all that is left is the team paper. I turned in my portion yesterday but we were stalled for another team mate :( Oh well, I scheduled tomorrow off work purposely because it is the last day of class (Quality Management and Productivity). All that's needed now is a good edit tomorrow and I can think about other things....like my upcoming weekend with aunt H & mom.

Typical Sunday for me. Writing academic papers, listening to Prarie Home Companion on NPR, and dinner with hubby. Lots of calls back and forth with mon & Auntie but we finally have a decision - we're going to Naples. I am booking a spa package there that includes a massage, a scrub, and a facial. I finally had a pedicure so why not finally have a facial! I have had a massage once before (on my birthday a couple years ago) so I know what to expect and am sure it will be much more relaxing.

I just love this photo of my Dad. I took it about a year ago when we went to the Kennedy Space Center. He really like the place. It's nice to find good father-daughter, multi generational things to do together. If anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them because I am thinking I can get my Dad down to Florida at least once year.