When did you first see and hear a music box play? I think the first I ever saw was one which had a golden Christmas angel who played 'Silent Night'. My favourite music box was not really a music box, it was Truly Scrumptious (the actress, Sally Ann Howes) in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The music box most people think of is the little girl's jewellry box with the music box and the twirling ballerina inside. I had one of those too. A long time ago. They still sell them in the stores, unchanged in all those years.

A music box produces sound by having a cylinder with bumps/ pins on it revolve around while being swept with a steel comb. My description isn't great. You need to see a real music box at least some time in your life to understand how it works and appreciate how it sounds.

The History of Musical Boxes

In the 15th Century, in Europe, a cylinder with pins was being used to regulate the ringing of bells. But the first known steel comb used for music was a gadget in watches, snuff-boxes and other objects, created by Antoine Favre ( a Swiss clockmaker) in 1796. They were called carillons à musique. Some of those early musical boxes had a tiny drum and a bell as well as the cylinder and steel comb.

The first musical boxes were clockwork, made by watchmakers, most of them in Switzerland. Some musical boxes were as large as a piece of furniture. However, most were smaller, a size meant to sit on a tabletop. The first music box factory was opened there in 1815 by Jérémie Recordon and Samuel Junod. In 1862 they were given removable cylinders so the boxes could play different tunes. Some music boxes were able to play up to three hours at a time.

At the end of the 18th century music boxes were being changed from the cylinders to flat metal discs.

Player pianos were replacing music boxes by the end of the 19th century. The player pianos were more melodious, when kept tuned. Gramophones (able to play back voices) came along then too.

After WWII Japan started making music boxes based on Swiss music mechanisms. In time they began making them in their own style and sometime later they were produced in Taiwan in greater quantities.

Music boxes were produced in North America for awhile but the main producer of music boxes since the 1990s is now China.

I'm the quiet one in a family of people who love to talk. Because of this, I LOVE living alone. I love being alone. When I have the house to myself it's like I bathe in the silence the way some people like to bake themselves in the sun. The world is much lovelier in silence.

I know not everyone likes being or living alone. Of course, the people who talk a lot must find it hard to not have someone to share everything with. But, that's not me.

Sure I talk to myself a bit. It's so seldom I get to speak without being interrupted. I like hearing myself complete a sentence, even a whole thought.

How to be Alone and Like It

Of course, this won't work for everyone. Some people are just social animals, true extroverts who need to have other people around in order for themselves to shine. I don't really and truly understand that but I try to.

• Keep making plans. Have new things to do. Don't put yourself on the shelf just because you don't have someone else around each day.
• Don't slack off. Take up exercising. It's a good way to spend time with a group of people plus it keeps you active.
• Know you are good enough by yourself. You don't need approval or feedback from others to be a complete person - you are a complete person just as you are.
• Put yourself, your opinions, your ideas and your values first. You don't have to ignore all that free advice, but consider your own judgements first, give yourself top priority.
• Become an observer. You don't have to comment on everything, you don't have to participate in everything but you should take an interest to at least learn a bit about everything. Participate in your own life rather than taking a back seat.
• Appreciate the silence. Soak in the delicious soothing calm of life without extra sound bouncing around from wall to wall inside your head and out.
• Enjoy a conversation with just yourself. Don't feel you have to obey some rule about what's normal. It doesn't hurt anyone for you to talk to yourself.
• Be grateful for what you have. Don't fall into becoming a pessimist. See what you have, right in front of you. Look for the good things and that's what you will find/ see.
• Value the people you have in your life and the people you meet just once. Don't be stingy with smiles, waves and hellos.
• Treat yourself. Cook yourself a great dinner at home. Go to bed early or sleep in - just because you can (and you have the whole bed to yourself). Give yourself a spa weekend, in your own place. Do things to please yourself, honour yourself.
• Create your living space to your own taste and style. Give yourself the best reading nook ever, the most luxurious bathroom or well stocked kitchen - make your home suit your personal interests and the person you are.
• Avoid bad habits like smoking, too much drinking, etc. You won't have anyone to notice you're smoking or drinking too much and we tend to make excuses or ignore something like that ourselves.
• Don't stagnate. Rearrange, redecorate and switch things around. It's nice to have something new in your day to day life.
• Don't buy endless stuff. Think about what you really need and want - avoid clutter which could too easily lead to hoarding and having more stuff than you can use or even managed to deal with.
• Be creative. Bring new things into your life, take on fresh projects, learn new crafts and ideas. The nice thing about being creative and alone is doing it all to please yourself, do it all your way.
• Don't become a TV couch potato or someone who only interacts with other people through the Internet. If you keep yourself shut away you could end up being a shut in, someone uncomfortable with being out in the world, meeting new people. Don't let yourself become afraid of life and people outside the safety of your front door.
• Keep track of your own achievements. When you don't have people to give you congratulations or feedback you need to know yourself and feel good about what you have done and done well.
• When you have a plan for the day or the future you can begin right away. Don't delay. You don't need to get the ok from someone else, you don't have to change your plans to suit someone else, so start making them.
• Go out for coffee, go out for a movie and go out for dinner, alone. I like to bring a book and people watch too, especially if I get a seat with a view outside.
• If you don't want to be alone, you don't have to. Volunteer, get together with family and friends. There are always people who will be happy to find a use for any time you can give them.

Book lovers never go to bed alone.

Life coaches help you achieve goals and get past whatever is keeping you from taking action to reach your goals A life coach can help you focus on what really is important to you. It's not therapy or counselling exactly. A life coach doesn't focus on solving issues from your past but on taking action in the here and now.

Is there a life coach for you?

Once you get looking at life coaching you will find there are life coaches in various niches. I have a friend who is a life coach for writers. Most life coaches do have a focus on career, business, entrepreneur, leadership, small business and career orientated goals. It makes sense when most people feel successful when they are meeting their goals and finding success financially - of course, most people work at something to make that money to become successful financially. It's all a big circle.

However, you can find a life coach to help you with your life beyond the career, business or executive parts of it. Life coaches include: health and wellness, youth and parenting, diet and nutrition, spiritual, cultural, grief and loss, dating and of course, sports coaching. You can find a life coach in any niche you need someone to help you.

Does it matter if a life coach is certified?

A life coach is not someone with a university degree or certification, necessarily. If you need something on paper then you might stick with the more traditional and official counsellors and therapists.

Life coaches can be certified by coaching associations (The International Coach Federation) but you should not think of them as a trained professional, like a psychiatrist, or psychologist. Don't go into a life coach if you just think you can save money or get help sooner than being on someone's waiting list. For instance, a life coach can not prescribe medication or determine that you have a mental illness. A life coach is for generally healthy people who want some extra inspiration or encouragement - a coach.

How important is it for a life coach to be certified? That is a personal decision for you to make really. It will depend on your own values.

Meet the life coach, see how they speak and what they say. What do they have to offer? Most of all, you need a life coach who makes you feel good. Even hours later when you think about what was said and the ideas they gave you. The purpose of a life coach is to help you. A lot of people can help you, but you need someone you have faith in, someone you will listen to and someone you trust to listen to you too.

Certification may not mean that much to you, if you find a personal life coach you can count on. One thing you can do is ask for references or testimonials from past clients. Ask if you can contact any of the people who gave a testimonial.

• International Coach Federation
• Certified Coaches Federation

Silver Polishing Made Easy

Polishing silver is easier than you might think. You don't need to buy silver polish or rub and rub and rub. Baking soda, boiling water and aluminum foil will get the job done.

Use a deep pan, deep enough for all the silver you want to polish to fit in the pan and be covered by water. Don't overload the pan. Too much silver to be cleaned at once will give you little result.

Cover the pan with silver foil (aluminum foil). You need the silver, shiny side facing out. In the bottom of the pan pour baking soda. I have even used older baking soda which had been open in the fridge for awhile. I used more of it but I was going to throw out the whole box so this was another way to recycle it and give it one more use.

You need at least two tablespoons of baking soda. More for a bigger pan or a larger load of silver. Don't worry about using too much baking soda - but make sure you spread it around over the whole bottom.

Boil water - you need enough to cover all the silver you want to clean. Load the silver into the pan. Let it make contact with the baking soda and the silver foil. If your pan looks cluttered, hold back and split it into two lots. It's worth only cleaning just a few at a time and having to do it over again rather than trying to get it all done at once.

The cleaning really happens in that first second when contact occurs as you pour in the bolling water. Always pour the boiling water in last and have enough to cover all the silver you are cleaning.

Have a cloth handy to dry the silver. Don't wait for the water to cool down. If you give it a wipe off you won't get spots from leaving the water to dry itself. The work is really done in the first minute. Rinse the silver in clean water to make sure all the baking soda is washed off.

If you did not get GREAT results try it again with just one piece of silver and a fresh package of baking soda or use more baking soda and make sure your water is still boiling when you pour it over. Or, I have had better results using a thicker silver foil paper versus the cheap, thin stuff you can buy in the dollar stores.

Always cover your pan with the aluminum foil This will save you from having to clean it afterwards. The tarnish will be on the foil which you can throw away.

Last note, there is a smell from this process. It will smell strongly of sulfur. Open a window or run a fan if you are sensitive to it. Tea Service Presented to John Leeming, 1851. Source: National Gallery of Canada

I like old fashioned things for young women. I'm also a history buff, a bit traditional with a cultural slant. So, charm bracelets are one of the things I have always liked. I have one.

My Mother bought me the bracelet and gave me the first few charms which I added to the chain. Later, my Dad brought me back a few more charms from his business travels. I have one which came as an oval picture frame and we had a photo of my sisters and myself inside the charm. But, that photo faded to almost nothing and now I can only see an outline of my sisters and I really. But, I know it's there.

That's another aspect to the charm bracelet. Each charm is a preserved memory. Something representing a moment in your life. An event, like a wedding or your first big trip overseas. A person, like the charm your Grandmother gave you one Christmas with the thistles of Scotland, her home country. Or, something just special to yourself, like a flying saucer charm because you really love science fiction and hope all your dreams of aliens from space aren't just wishful thinking.

Some Charming History

Charm bracelets may have started as an amulet to ward off bad luck or evil spirits.

In prehistoric times charms were made from clay, shells, and animal-bones. Gems, rocks and wood would have been used later, as tools evolved. As people and charms evolved they were also protection from spirits and in battle. Charms were also used to identify affiliation with religious and other types of groups.

The first charm bracelets (versus charms kept individually or worn in other ways) appeared 600 – 400 BC.with the Babylonians and some time later the Assyrians, Persians, and Hittites.

Queen Victoria brought new popularity to charm bracelets when she designed her own charm bracelet to mourn the death of her husband, Albert.

The Industrial Revolution brought changes all over but it meant items like jewelry became easier and cheaper to produce, thus they became available for the common people, not just those who were able to afford the more exclusive and valuable jewels.

In 1889, at the Paris Exposition, Tiffany & Co launched a chain link bracelet with a single dangling heart pendent. The charm bracelet became fashionable.

Soldiers from World War II brought charms/ trinkets home as souvenirs from local craftspeople in the areas they had visited during the fighting.

In the 1950's and 1960's charm bracelets were created to reflect life events. Movie stars, like Elizabeth Taylor, wore charm bracelets which brought more interest for teenagers to have charm bracelets of their own.