The Left Lane
Your 'Chicken Soup'
Too many cooks apparently do not spoil the chicken soup — as in the mega-bestselling "Chicken Soup for the Soul" and its many, many successors. Next up is "Chicken Soup for the Soul of Home," for which submissions are now being accepted.
They're looking for essays about being home, leaving home, building a home, searching for a home, moving into a first home, remodeling a home (with all its trials and tribulations), getting home for the holidays, dream homes ... You get the idea. Stories must be 1,000 words or fewer, in English, filed via e-mail to submissions@soulofhome.com (for complete details, go to GO-scape.com). And if it's published, besides the glory, you get $300.
— Wanda A. Adams, Advertiser Books Editor
Smells like a rose
For the man who would rather spend money on roses that won't die, and for the woman who would die without roses, there is an alternative this Valentine's Day: rose-scented nail polish that comes in a bottle shaped like a rose.
Image Beauty Emporium and Salon, 126 Queen St., Suite 101, sells the polish for $6.50 a bottle, or $8 in a gift box. You can even buy a bouquet. Rose International makes 10 colors, four glitters and a clear coat of the fast-drying, chip-resistant polish. The salon is selling the the rose polish for Valentine's Day and expects to keep it in stock for Secretary's Day and Mother's Day.
— Tanya Bricking, Advertiser Staff Writer
Cozy up to the car
So, maybe your loved one stays in the garage and weighs a couple of tons. Maybe you wax on about your beloved ... or maybe you just rub Turtle Wax on it. According to a nationwide survey of 657 drivers by Progressive Auto Insurance, 78 percent admit to loving their car and 37 percent say they've given their car a name.
• Sixty-three percent admit they talk to their car.
• Forty-three percent consider the car to be part of their family.
• Drivers were 50 times more likely to say they'd rather wash and polish their car than spend time with their in-laws on a Saturday afternoon.
• Men (17 percent) were two times more likely than women (8 percent) to say that their cars are the most important things in their lives.
— Tanya Bricking, Advertiser Staff Writer
Love in bloom
As an alternative to roses, consider a dozen fire-engine red anthuriums, a patented variety called Tropic Fire. (Vroom, vroom!) Experts at University of Hawai'i's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources have developed another variety, rich pink and named Pink Champagne, but it's not yet available for sale. However, Tropic Fire is: A potted plant costs $9.99 and cut flowers are 75 cents each, at garden shops.
— Advertiser Staff
