Wanna learn a neat trick? Stand close to a wall and extend your right arm out far enough to touch the wall with your fingertips. Now, rub the inside of your right arm quickly for at least ten seconds. Extend your arm out again and voila! Your arm shrunk! How does this happen? We have no clue - but it's pretty cool!

What happens to the wax when you burn a candle? Where does it go? Up in smoke! When a candle is lit, the fire burns the hard wax and melts it. Then the heat vaporizes the melted wax, sending it up in the smoke.

Here is something you probably won’t hear on the street. A radiologist from a local children's hospital told us this. Did you know that skittles are one of the only foods that show up clearly on an x-ray? Not very useful information, but certainly interesting – and we are sure they see quite a lot of skittles!

Diet Coke and Mentos - the two just go together! This is a simple trick with a huge bang - and if you do this in front of your house, you will instantly be named the coolest parent on the block.

First, purchase a few liter bottles of diet coke and several packs of mint mentos. Then, create a tube out of cardboard, plastic... anything that will hold the mentos in place in a row, one on top of the other. Cut a square of cardboard bigger than the bottle opening, and you are ready to go.
Place your diet coke bottle, unopened, outside where you won't worry about a mess. Put your square over the hole. Position your tube full of mentos on top of it and quickly slide the square out so the mentos drop one by one into the diet coke. Now run!

What is the science behind this? This is called the "surface effect." Diet coke has lots of carbon dioxide, which forms bubbles. The mento surface has holes and bumps. The carbon dioxide fills all the holes and crevices as the mentos fall to the bottom. The rush of bubbles flowing down quickly causes the diet coke explosion.

Here are some frightening statistics to think about.

This gives a whole new meaning to writing in the snow! The next time you have a good snow day, grab a few old squirt bottles and some food coloring. Fill each bottle with water and add about 5 or more drops of food coloring each. You can use squirt guns if you don't have bottles, but only if your kids promise not to squirt each other. Let the kids go out and write in the snow! Be sure they are wearing something that can get stained if they "miss." This "snow paint" can be used on snowmen or can be used as paint for a picture on the ground. Have fun!

OK, this is just plain gross – but we have to admit, it is pretty funny too! We’ve seen silly soaps, and we’ve seen fake doggie doo – but to put them both together! Imagine one of those floating in the bathtub! http://www.nopeitssoap.com/

For a little bit of fun, we have some interesting and funny statistics you can use to amaze your friends:

And now our favorite. A chicken can be hypnotized! Take the closest chicken (ha!) and gently lay it down. Hold the head to the ground. Now, take a piece of chalk and slowly draw a line from the tip of the beak out. Redraw the same line over and over. Now, remove your hands and the chicken will remain in the same position. And there you have it – a hypnotized chicken!

Its Christmas time and I’ve bought gifts for everyone in the family. My friends are done, and the gift for my work party is purchased. And being a mother, all the extra bit of money went to things for my children – it’s just what us mothers do!

Until yesterday, that is. A good friend of mine sent me a surprise check in the mail with a Christmas card. I knew my daughter really wanted Heelys, so I went to Sports Authority to pick up a pair. To my surprise, the Heelys were on sale – and I had a ten dollar off coupon to boot!

But then something caught my eye. A pair of pure white Heelys with pink and white checkered shoelaces. And do you know what size they were? Ladies size eight. They make Heelys for adults! I gingerly took them off the shelf and opened them up. Then I giggled. I took one off and tried it on. Perfect fit!

So guess who tossed a second pair of Heelys in the cart? My children couldn’t believe it when I brought them home. And I caused quite a stir outside of the basketball game amongst my oldest son’s friends. “Miss Katherine, are you wearing HEELIES?!?!”

Yes, I’ll probably shoot my eye out. But they sure are fun. I can actually make it about two feet without killing myself! The lesson is – so many times we do and do for others and never treat ourselves. Take it from me – buying yourself a little something every now and again is OK. There is no need to feel guilt. You work hard – you deserve it.

So while are out shopping for the holidays, sneak a bit of money out of the cookie jar for yourself. It will make your days a little more merry and brighter!

Do you and your co-workers need a break from the daily stress of the job? Do your employees seem to have less energy and even less motivation? Then start your own office war!

Our department just finished our first Q-Tip (cotton swab) war, and our morale is now through the roof! Choose the day of your war and get your supplies together. Every participating employee will be provided a sandwich bag filled with q-tips, small stickers and a straw. They will also need their own list of participating “targets.” Usually, the top manager is worth 40 points, mid-managers 20, and peers are 10.

Q-tips are placed in the straw and blown out at the moving target. The q-tips must be shot below the neck area and q-tips are to be blown with air only – no spit please!

Now begins the war. Every target must walk through the halls at least once every hour. You can only hit each target once. When you hit a target, that person will tell you to place a sticker next to his or her name. As a player, your goal is to shoot everyone on your list to accumulate the most points.

Sound silly? Yes it is, but it is loads of fun. Imagine people in business dress lurking through halls and laying in wait around corners. Then, when a target walks by, the q-tips go flying! To end your war, stage a battle between two teams and try to take over a particular office space.

This exercise is sure to make even the most business like employee giggle like a little kid. And you will be surprised to see one or two of them make double barrel straws with matching viewfinders. So let’s go to war and de-stress at work!

Anyone who has eaten an ice cream or slurped a Tropical Smoothie or Slurpee a bit too fast probably knows what an "ice cream headache" is.  But what actually causes an ice cream headache or "brain freeze?" 

Apparently, when the cold touches the roof of your mouth it causes a bundle of nerves called the sphenopalantine ganglion to spasm.  This in turn causes the blood vessels around the brain to dilate or enlarge.  When the blood vessels are dilated you experience a shooting pain, usually in the front of your head.  This chilling sensation is often referred to as an "ice cream headache" or a "brain freeze."
 
There are several quick "cures" for an ice cream headache - some of which may work for you.  The most common cure for an ice cream headache is to firmly push your tongue to the roof of your mouth and hold it there.  Some have  found that pressing the bottom of the tongue rather than the top works best.  Another is to press the pad of your thumb against the same area.  Some find a drink of warm water will quickly cure an ice cream headache while others stand by putting a pinch of salt in their mouths.  You can try pressing your thumb against the inside of you wrist, as some do - or bend down so your head is below your heart.
 
Either way, it almost makes you want to purposely give yourself an ice cream headache to see which method relieves it the best!

Have you ever glanced at a food advertisement and stopped short, completely mesmerized by the depiction of such a savory, juicy meal?  Now let me ask you.  Did you visit the advertised restaurant and find yourself disappointed at the almost complete difference between the picture and the real food?
 
What you may not realize is the food depicted in the picture was probably fake, glued or frozen!  For the one moment you glanced at the picture, a talented photographer probably spent hours to days setting up the tantalizing treat. 
 
The next time you follow a truck advertising a deliciously depicted bowl of ice cream, take a closer look.  Do you see any dribbles?  Of course not!  Because you are probably looking at a picture of dyed mashed potatoes.  And what about the picture showing off a huge slice of juicy steak?  That steak might be coated with a glaze of water and glycerin.  As a matter of fact, glycerin, water and paintbrushes are the key to making fruit, vegetables and meats appear juicy.  Glycerin and water is also sprayed on items that appear frosty and cool.
 
Indeed, taking pictures of food is a difficult task, with only an hour or two in between fresh and funky.  For years photographers have been mastering the art of food photography.  The next time you look at a picture of hot and steaming food, remember that steam only lasts a short while.  You are probably looking at dry ice or smoke pellets rather than steam.  And is that turkey in the picture golden brown?  Try shoe polish and a blow torch.
 
Food items such as ice are often fake since the heat of the lights will quickly melt real ice.  Drinks are usually dyed water with back lighting.  Modeling clay and toothpicks are used to hold food on the plate.  And those pesky onion pieces that keep sliding off the food?  Glue!

When we were little, my brother and I didn’t have video games, hours of television or anything else electronic. We had to create our own fun. Looking back, there were “standard toys” that all the kids used to make that I bet my own children have never even heard of! See if you remember these:

-Take your mother’s bobby pin and bend it into a U shape. Find a rubber band and thread a button on to it. Then place each end of the rubber band on either end of the bobby pin. Wind up the rubber band and carefully place your new contraption into an envelope. Give the envelope to your little sister and tell her she has mail. When she opens the envelope, the button spins quickly, making a loud noise in the envelope. Eeek – a rattle snake!

-Use a pencil to draw all around the edge of a penny. Tell your friend you bet he can’t roll the penny off of his nose and have it land in a circle you draw on paper. Let your friend try several times, until he has plenty of streaks going down his nose. The same can be done with the eye piece of binoculars!

-Remember making “paper trees?” Put a sheet of newspaper on the ground. Starting at the short edge, roll it up. When you have two inches left to roll, place another sheet down on it and keep rolling. Continue until you have about 8 sheets of newspaper rolled up. Then hold your tube upright. Take some scissors and starting at the top of the tube, cut down about six inches. Rotate the tube a bit and cut another line six inches down. Do a total of four cuts. Now, fold the cuts back so you can get to the inside of the tube. Carefully hold the inside paper in the tube and gently pull out. You will have a long paper tree that has lots of play value!