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Mich. Teen Survives Lightning Strike, Then Wins Lottery - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

Talk about lucky!

BreAnna Helsel escaped serious injury after being struck by lightning while inside her house.

The teenager's good fortune continued the next day, in the form of a winning lottery ticket.

Link: FOXNews.com - Mich. Teen Survives Lightning Strike, Then Wins Lottery

Michigan Aaaaksent Pronunciation Guide

I always thought that I've been in New York long enough to have lost my Michigan accent.

Sure, I point  to about an inch below my left thumb to tell you where I'm from, but I don't say "pahp" for soda or vote for members of "cahngress."

After reading the Michigan Accent Pronunciation Guide I realized that I still have a lot of little quirks that are unique to those of us from the big mitten.

When I'm not in front of a microphone I replace my "Ts" with "Ds" -- for example "pruddy" for "pretty" -- and I say "fer" for "for" and the words "marry" "Mary" and "merry" are all pronounced the same outta my mouth (that's true for some other regions, I think).

So, if you play a mean hand of Euchre (I do!), up north means beyond Cadillac, and you'll commit unspeakable acts to get your hands on a coupla cans of Vernor's then you have to check out the Michigan Pronunciation guide.

Link: michigan accent pronunciation guide.

Counting My Blessings

It's my birthday today, and all I can think about is all the wonderful things I'm grateful for. It's like Thanksgiving, but without the turkey!

I'm thankful:

1) For still being here at all.

2)  For having the most amazing group of friends ever whom I consider extended family.

3) For having a wonderful sister and mom, brother-in-law, niece and nephew. And for having had great grandparents and the best dad in the world.

4) For having a very exciting career, and never quite knowing where it will take me.

5) For still having my health.

6) For having studied danced and knowing what flying must feel like.

7) For a delightful childhood and a great education (thanks Mom & Dad!)

8) For being blessed to have known so many different people from all walks of life and different backgrounds.  I'm so honored and grateful for the love and acceptance I received working at LaMega and LaMusica.

9) For the opportunity of living in the greatest city in the planet (New York), but still having grown up with the values and heart (and soul!) of the Motor City.

10) For having faith, hope and a sense of humor.

I wish everyone who reads this love and all good things. Take a moment and count your blessings and you'll see you have a lot to be grateful for too!!!

Adorable Kitty Cat story!

I stumbled on this very funny story while visiting the "getcrafty.com" blog.

I've been so busy with school, Tribeca Film Fest, work in general that I have had very little time left for crafting. Soon, soon, soon I hope to be able to make some time to get my craft on again. In the meantime...enjoy this story!

Going through security to get to the market, the guard remarks "You have a cat." So I sez "Yes, I have a cat at home." So he sez "No, you have a cat under your hood." Eek. I have him open the hood for me, and out he yanks a tiny gray kitten, still alive and well. Thinking that I would rather not let it fry in the engine, I put the kitten on the floor of the car on the passenger side, and drove back home to reunite it with its mother.

Continued at: Blogs - getcrafty.com.

Little Girl Finds New Use For Her Textbook

A six-year-old girl and her toddler brother were in the backseat of their mom's car when a man jumped in the front seat and started driving away. Their mom was outside of the car, and had a tug of war with the man as she tried to keep him from closing the car door, but he quickly threw the car in reverse causing her to fall as he drove away.

What the carjacker didn't account for was gutsy little Brianna's reaction to the situation. Check out this video from my pals at WFOR-TV/CBS 4 in Miami.

You can read more about the story and see another video here.

It's Never Too Late To Return Your Overdue Books

Gee, I thought I was bad about returning books!

When Robert Nuranen checked out Dorothy Clarke Wilson's "Prince of Egypt" from the school library in 9th grade, he probably expected to return it after he was done writing his class paper on that Middle Eastern nation. But, that's not what happened...

Read more here: Source: Detroit News - Book returned to library, but 47 years late .

13 Healthy Habits to Improve Your Life

I just found this article on WebMD listing 13 good health habits. I am doing most of them, but I could improve.  Some of the items are surprising. 

Who knew that flossing daily could add 6 years to your life?  I just do it so I don't have to endure a painful gum cleaning at the dentist. Yes, fear of pain is my incentive.

And I'm happy to see that having a hobby is a healthy habit. That gives me a good excuse to go drop $100 at A.C. Moore...it's for my health!

Check out the list and see how your habits stack up: 13 Healthy Habits to Improve Your Life.

How To Do Absolutely Anything

Or how to tell other people how to do stuff.  WikiHow is a group edited data base of how to do all sorts of things from how to make play dough to how to hold a successful garage sale to how to make a grilled cheese sandwich -- with an iron.

You can even learn how to dance to rap music or perform any number of parlor tricks.

Link: wikiHow - The How-To Manual That Anyone Can Write or Edit.

I Love My Mom

Iris Krasnow, author of "I Am My Mother, Making Peace With Mom -- Before It's Too Late," paid a visit today to the Saturday Early Show on CBS.

Krasnow writes, "Ditching old baggage and learning to love our mothers must come before we learn to love, and know, ourselves." She interviewed dozens of women coping with difficult relationships with their mothers.

Deborah Tannen covers similar territory in her book "You're Wearing That: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation." Tannen, a linguistics professor, focuses on verbal communication, just like she did in her 2001 book "You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men In Conversation."  Tannen observes "Where the daughter sees criticism, the mother sees caring.... Most of the time, both are right."

I have friends that have rocky relationships with their moms.  It makes me sad that they don't have the unconditional love and support I have from my mother.

My mom and I have a great relationship.  In fact, I think we always got along well. She's never been critical or competitive and has always been supportive.

Sure, she sometimes worries too much about her children and grandchildren, but that's in her job description as a Jewish mother.

So, if you have a wonderful mom like mine, make sure to let her know how much you love her on Mother's Day (and every day).  And if your relationship with your mother could use some help, check out Tannen and Krasnow's books.

For more information:

"You're Wearing That?": Random House, Inc.

"I Am My Mother: Making Peace With Mom": The Perseus Books Group.

From Slate: A Dog Man Gets a Cat

Whenever somebody tells me they've seen a mouse or a rat in their home, I always tell them the same thing: get a cat. I have lived in apartment buildings with rodent problems, but as long as I had a kitty on my side of the door the mice would always skip my apartment. Yes, it's true that dogs have a wider range of job opportunities, but that doesn't mean cats are lazy. They've just chosen to focus on one specialty which they do very well.

Author Jonathan Katz writes about his new barn cat, Mother, who taught him that nothing beats a cat when it comes to pest control:

The farmers told me there was nothing much to be done: Rats, naturally drawn to farms, were smart, hardy, and tough to get rid of, especially with other animals around. They had countless holes in stone walls and rotted silos to nest in. They figured out traps. And I couldn't spread poisons around a barnyard full of sheep, donkeys, chickens, and dogs. A farmer friend suggested a barn cat. He was about to weed out his own posse, and had one in mind for me, because she was used to dogs. She was young and scrawny and got her name—Mother—from her habit of caring for kittens, whether they were hers or not.

Read the full story: here.