Episode 15 (Video) December 31, 2010

Hello, and welcome to CoffeeKlatsch! I’m your hostess, Eppinese Estelle. I hope you are well. This is the last CoffeeKlatsch of the year. And I think like most people I am still recovering from the madness that was the holiday shopping frenzy. Just to do regular errands was a lesson in patience. I managed to get through it with only about two really bad episodes of claustrophobia and “Bah Humbug!” This one will be a short episode as it is New Years Eve…so I want to tell you about a few dates that are coming up in January….so here goes. The vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring; which arrives on March 20, 7:21 P.M. EDT Eye on the Sky: Venus, a morning star, rises 3 hours before the Sun at a dazzling magnitude –4.7, its brightest of the year. It now reaches its highest point of 2011. Venus attains its greatest separation from the Sun, 47 degrees, on the 8th. Mercury is a morning star, too, visible at the lower left of Venus during the first 20 days of the month. Mars, however, lurks on the far side of the Sun, lost in its glare. In the evening sky, Jupiter is the brightest “star” at nightfall, in the southwest. Binoculars easily reveal blue-green Uranus just above it during the first week of the month. The Moon is near Mercury on the 2nd and Jupiter on the 9th. Saturn, in Virgo, rises at midnight. Earth reaches perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, on the 3rd. Full Moon is on the 19th day 16th hour 21st minute Best Days to: Quit Smoking: January 22,23,26,27 Begin Diet to lose weight: Jan 22, 23, 26, 27 Diet to Gain Weight: January 8, 9, 13, 14 Cut hair to encourage growth: Jan. 13, 14 Cut hair to discourage growth: Jan 24, 25 Have dental care: Jan 22, 23 Start Projects: January 5, 6 End Projects: Jan. 2, 3 Special thanks to the Old Farmer’s Almanac http://www.almanac.com Some winter tips for skin care: Your lips feel dry, cracked or chapped, so you grab the commercial lip balm...maybe you should think twice...That camphor that is in some actually works as a drying agent - which means you end up using more of the lip balm...consider instead bees wax - it seals moisture in and is also safer to ingest. If you are like me I have terribly dry skin in the winter. I remember years ago when one could buy Lanolin, (which is the oil from wool) and it worked wonderfully...unless of course you became sensitive to it...which I did...So a wonderful product that you can use and probably have on hand is olive or sunflower oil. At night when you go to bed just spread some on your hands and get yourself some white cotton gloves and put them on - for extremely dry hands you can wrap saran wrap around your hands. Olive oil and sunflower oil are both natural products and are readily absorbed by the skin. (I personally prefer olive oil.) Yes, I know, you are probably saying, "Petroleum jelly works good too!" Well, yes it waterproofs your hands but the name tells you exactly what it is...a petroleum product and your skin cannot absorb it because it is not a natural product. You mothers out there know what petroleum jelly does…it waterproofs your child’s behind when you change their diaper. Just some things to consider.... I wish you and yours a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year! Take care and I hope to see you next year at the next CoffeeKlatsch!