Do Not Recycle These

Ribbons, bows, Styrofoam and the glue that sticks them to the gift are not to go in the recycling bin.

You cannot recycle wrapping paper that has metallic, glossy, glitter, or velvety flocking on it.

Plastic bags, twine, and anything else that is long and stringy cannot be recycled.

Shiny Christmas cards printed on photo paper, have metallic embossing, or glitter cannot be recycled.

Disposable plates, cups, plastic tableware, napkins, and paper towels should not be recycled. Some plastic cups may be recyclable, but read the bottom for recycle symbol. (Many people think that rounded arrow symbol means it is recyclable, but that is the resin code. Different municipalities can recycle different resins, but only number one and two plastics are recyclable in most places.)

Do not recycle candy wrappers or the bags that coffee comes in.

Pizza boxes and fast food carryout bags may include the additional message, “Recycle if Clean & Dry,” since pizza boxes and bags dirtied by a significant amount of grease or food residue are often not accepted for recycling.

Chip bags cannot go into the recycle bin, since most chip bags are made from aluminum laminated with polypropylene.

The popular K-Cup® pod as a whole cannot be recycled.

All is not lost as cardboard boxes are great to recycle, even with some tape on them.

Pantone

Pantone is the self-proclaimed global color authority. It has released its 2018 color of the year. The color is Ultra Violet 18-3838, a dark blue violet, halfway between cobalt and periwinkle. I do not understand why they cannot just call it purple.

2017 Word of the Year

The field is crowded, and the fight for Word of the Year will be fierce. The American Dialect Society will chose the winner during January 2018. For 2016, the word was 'dumpster fire'. Here are some contenders for 2017:
    Fake news
    Alternative facts
    Collusion
    Nothingburger
    Normalize
    Antifa
    Resistance
    Persisterhood
    Dotard
    Reclaiming my time
    Taking a knee
     Covfefe

According to the Oxford University Press, use of the word "Trump" has increased 839 percent. It analyzed over 100,000 short stories written by British children for a competition, and has already declared "Trump" to be the Children's Word of the Year 2017.

Feminism ranks as Merriam-Webster’s 2017 word of the year. It is defined by Merriam-Webster as: “the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes” and “organized activity in support of women’s rights and interests.”

'Complicit' is Dictionary.com's word of the year - "Choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having complicity."

Recent past Words of the Year were not so overtly political: The American Dialect Society gave us "Dumpster fire" for 2016, An emoji was used during 2015, and 2012 brought us "hashtag." Back in 2009, "tweet" was word of the year.

During 2016 snollygoster was voted the first Haggard Hawks Word of the Year. It is a word for an unscrupulous politician

'Whatever' was voted the most annoying word of the year for the ninth year in a row.

Six Benefits of Parsley

Parsley is full of vitamin C, an essential nutrient and best known for giving the immune system a boost.

Parsley can actually improve kidney functionality by helping the human body do away with excess fluids. It is a diuretic and according to Livestrong.com, it plays an important role in the process of removing unnecessary fluids from the body.

Parsley contains ample amounts of folic acid and research from Harvard Medical School shows that foods high in folic acid can help the body regulate blood pressure and produce and maintain new cells.

Parsley Contains Vitamin K an important nutrient in helping the body respond to injuries. It helps in the clotting process, giving the body a chance to stop the damage and begin the healing process. Vitamin K has also been shown to help reduce the risk of bone damage and build bone durability.

Parsley contains compounds that can aid in digestion, according to research from WebMD,

Parsley contains anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce inflammation around the joints and ease the pain associated with conditions like osteoarthritis.

Wordology, Obdormition

It is pronounced ob-dor-MISH-uhn. It means numbness in a limb, usually caused by pressure on a nerve. Also known as falling asleep. From Latin obdormire (to fall asleep), from dormire (to sleep). Earliest documented use: 1634.

Incidentally, there is a good word that comes after obdormition: paresthesia, known as pins and needles.

Cord Cutters

Cord cutters are people who have decided to give up cable TV and find another way to watch TV and movies. The main alternatives have been streaming TV over the internet (OTT) and subscribing to services, such as NETFLIX, YouTube, Amazon Video, etc.

Another alternative gaining a growing following is using a TV antenna. The antenna technology is much better than the traditional antenna service and is extremely cheap, with no monthly fees. Recent studies have shown that over 90% of the US population is within range to stream free over-the-air HD television. Antennas do not lose stations like satellite subscribers suffer from during bad weather. In addition the signal is not compressed, so there is a noticeable improvement in picture quality vs. cable and satellite. In addition, usually there are 30 to 60 free channels available. Many find that an indoor antenna is sufficient, so no need to climb up on the roof for installation.

As of November, the latest analysis by Kagan indicates that another 1.2 million Americans cut the TV cord during the past quarter, lured away from expensive traditional cable TV bundles and by the rising availability of cheaper, more flexible streaming alternatives. The losses once again broke records for the industry, contributing to a net loss of 2.9 million traditional pay TV subscribers so far during 2017, after a loss of another 2 million during 2016.

Since 2015, TV watching growth has been in the number of antenna-equipped homes with broadband access. These increased 36 percent.

Quick Food Tip

It is safe to eat the stickers on fruit, both the paper and glue are food grade.

Free TV Trials

Now you can try some of the streaming deals for free, before or after you cut the cable cord. Sign up for any or all of the following. Some require a credit card, but do not bill unless you go past the trial period. Many begin to automatically bill at end of trial, so it pays to be diligent and watch the end date of your trial period.

Amazon Prime Video: 30 days (Movies and TV shows)
Amazon Channels - As a Prime member, Amazon Channels has additional services with free trials from 7 to 30 days (includes HBO, Showtime, and Dove Family Films)
CuriosityStream: 7 days (Documentaries & Educational)
DIRECTV NOW: 7 days (Live TV)
Fubo TV: 7 days (Live TV with sports)
HBO NOW: 30 days (Movies & TV shows)
Hulu: 30 days (Movies and TV shows)
NETFLIX: 30 days (Movies and TV shows)
PlayStation Vue: 5 days (Live TV)
PureFlix: 30 days (Family-friendly Movies & TV shows)
Showtime Anytime: 30 day (Movies & TV shows)
Shudder: 7 days (Horror movies)
Sling TV: 7 days (Live TV)
Sundance Now: 7 days (Independent movies)

Browser Honey

Honey is sweet, especially when it can save you money. Honey is a browser add-on that automatically applies coupon codes at checkout, and now it also finds better prices on Amazon immediately.

Honey brings the best final prices to the forefront after automatically comparing every top-rated seller in the Amazon marketplace.

It also lets you know if you can save money just by waiting a couple of days for delivery. Quick shipping is awesome, but so is having options, especially if those options save you money.

Shop on Amazon as usual. If Honey finds a better deal, a little tag will appear showing you how much you could save by buying the same item from a different seller. It takes into account the final price of the item (including sales tax and shipping), seller rating, delivery time, and Prime status , so you can still get Prime deals. Here is the link to add it to Firefox. LINK  and Chrome LINK.