STUFF YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS

For some strange reason, Awesome Anna Cade from herding cats & burning soup
and I usually end up spending some portion of Christmas together, and it's always fun.  And every year she'll tell me about an unexpected x-rated event received via her blog, or on one of her social media pages. Then I'll giggle - very loudly, because she really knows how to tell an outrageously humorous story about how it happened. This time it was all about candy canes, and I'll never look at them the same way again. (lol) 

The other thing that happens is we get kicked out of the restaurant because we lose track of time by talking too much and people just wanna close up and go home. 

While there she gave me this really wonderful cookbook for Christmas.

Speaking of porn, here's a really neat recipe for breakfast or a snack. 

OAT PORN WITH DRAGONFRUIT & BERRIES

Okay, so I chose this recipe because it has a pretty creative title, but it actually looks quite yummy.  This is perfect for those who may be a little iffy about eating oatmeal.

Combine 3/4 cups each of old-fashioned oats and unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of salt.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  When you're ready to serve, top with 3 slices star fruit or blood orange, 1/4 cup each blackberries and raspberries, 5 apple slices, 5 balls or cubes of dragonfruit and 1 tablespoon toasted unsweetened  coconut flakes.  Feel free to add strawberries or bananas too.

YOUTUBE WINNERS
Almost everyone suggests visiting youtube to get instructions, but there's so much more going on there.  It was surprising to see how much money that people actually make for doing fun stuff every day, and some aren't even adults yet. I wish I could find a way to read all day on my couch, or show people's opinion on what to read next from my massive TBR pile and get millions of dollars, but that's a pretty slim market. How much do they make you ask?

Ryan Toysreview is a 6 year old kid who just happens to love toys, with a subscriber count of over 10 million and growing.  Ranked #8 on Forbes Youtube Entrepreneur's list, he's raked in just over $11 million dollars for reviewing toys, and he can't even drive yet.

This is sort of unbelievable, but Evan Fong (some may know him as VanossGaming) plays games like Grand Theft Auto, etc. with other gamers, and gets paid for it. 

Evan has over 21 million subscribers, is the 13th most subscribed, earns a little over $450,000 a month, and is just 25 years old!

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE
Remember that tip I mentioned the other day about revving up your metabolism by standing in the cold for 15 minutes? And remember me telling you that I love the cold weather. Well, it's hard to just stand in the cold and do nothing, so I went out this morning in 25 degree weather and walked around the block - a few times. Yes, a heart will get moving, and it felt like I did a 1 hour workout.  Now I just want to celebrate by eating a cheeseburger and getting my breath back.

FUN NEWS
If you've been reading this blog, you've seen how obsessed I am with pop culture and trivia, so before we end 2017, here's some cool stuff that I can tell you really wanted to hear about. (lol)

You may be surprised to know that the highest grossing movie was one of my faves - Beauty and the Beast.

Ed Sheeran did it again by having his hit The Shape of You streamed and listened to 6.3 million times on Spotify!  I still love that song.

CAN YOU FIGURE THEM OUT?
Do you ever work on crossword puzzles?  Some aren't that easy to finish, but the challenge is fun.   The first one was actually published in 1913 in the New York World , and they quickly became popular throughout the world. One would think that a person who creates this puzzle makes big bucks, but not really.  On average, the New York Times will pay a Constructor in the range of $200 - $1000 per puzzle.

MAKING MONEY MOVES
GET PAID TO SAVE
Many people focus on being more healthy or losing weight as a resolution, but others want to make the effort to save money.  What' better way to make sure you stay on target than to get paid when you succeed.  Head on over to www.stickK.com, fill in your Commitment Contract with your specific goal, and you're pretty much set to start earning.

GET PAID TO LOSE

If you do want to take the leap to lose more weight AND get paid, check out www.dietbet.com.  When you succeed, split the moola with other winners, and get your share via Paypal.  Statistically, lots of people reach their goals AND get unexpected cash.

GET PAID TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS

Yes, you can make money by taking surveys, but they have to be the right ones that won't take up all your time, or don't pay as advertised.  The best ones to use?

www.mintvine.com

www.swagbucks.com

www.paidviewpoint.com

www.bzzagent.com 

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Have you seen Lady Bird?  It's a great movie about a senior in high school who anxiously needs to exert her independence, and we soon see that she's very much like her opinionated mother.   

One of the things you may notice right away is Christine's desire to be called Lady Bird, and not by her given name.  That changes however, once she leaves home to attend college in New York and gets drunk enough to end up in the hospital.

Actors and authors frequently change their given names for various reasons, and it works, but have you ever wanted to change your own name to something creative or crazy?  

It's always neat to find out how different someone's real name is.  For example, Norma Jean Mortenson legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe in 1956, even though she was already publicly known that way 10 years earlier.

As a kid, my dad gave me a really outlandish nickname that stuck with me until I met this guy in the Air Force that I really liked.  He told me that I needed to get rid of my ridiculous nickname, and use what was on my birth certificate. So I did. 

Then back in the day, I knew a lot of erotic romance authors, so to ensure they never knew I was reviewing their work, I came up with these quirky pseudonyms.

I strictly stick to interviewing now, and after years of my name being butchered (lol), I changed it up to just RO.  That's pretty hard to screw up, and a lot easier to type.