Who Would Have Thunk It?

Today's post is a bit of lagniappe - a good old word that I first met in a Cajun cookbook.  Its meaning in that book was "a little extra."  It can also mean a little gift thrown in for free to someone or something given over and above, like the Baker's Dozen.  For Hot-Flashed Funk today, it means a bit of this and that thrown together to brighten your day.

My first little "extra" that I found as I was reading the paper this morning was a short article on the most popular baby names in 2009.  Top choices for girls were Olivia and Isabella and for boys were Jacob and Michael.  To see the entire list of the top 10 names for both boys and girls, you can go here.  Strangely, if you look to the right on that page, you'll see a link that takes you to a short video of Chubby Checkers counting down the top 5 boys' and girls' names for the decade 2000 - 2009.  I must say, Chubby is still looking pretty good for someone whose music I used to twist to back in the 60's.

My second "extra" of the day is the news from Great Britain in a recent survey.  The folks there were asked to rank the top 100 inventions in their opinion.  Well, would you believe that they put their iPhones above their flushing toilets?  It kind of boggles my mind.  If you'd like to see how the rankings went, you can do so here.

Do you enjoy free things?  There is a website that lists all sorts of things and services you can get for free and it is sorted by category, which makes it easy to browse through.  It's at thefreesite.com which you can access by clicking here.  They even have a page of listings of free things for bloggers.  Who knew?

Have a favorite coffee travel mug that has gotten stained and grungy-looking inside?  I know that mine looks terrible inside but yet it is shaped in such a way that it is hard to get my whole hand inside to really scrub it.  Well, here is a tip I've read and I think I'll try.  Moisten a sponge with white vinegar and pour some table salt on it.  Then rub the inside of your mug with the sponge.  The stains should come off as the salt will act as an abrasive.  You can rinse everything with warm water and repeat the process as needed to get it clean.  The vinegar should really make the inside sparkle.  I might give this a try this afternoon.  If I do, I'll report back here to let you know how it goes.  You'll definitely need to wash out the mug afterwards, though, to get rid of the vinegar and salt taste.


Well, that's it for today.  I'm off to high tea at a new tea shoppe where a group of us will be celebrating a friend's retirement.  Pictures and a report tomorrow, I hope.  In the meantime, I'll leave you with a graphic from my family collection that you can use for your scrapbooking.  It's a little calling card featuring a dove and roses that someone gave my grandmother when she was a girl.  Enjoy!