I got a lava lamp!

Friend and super-fan Sean came over with a new pink lava lamp a few days ago! Wow! I hope I don't burn my house down, as I worried about in my other post! :)

We had seen these lamps before, of course, but never brand new. It takes almost two hours for the lamp to get going the first time. We took photos every few minutes until the lava lamp started working normally, to show how it got started from factory to real lava!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Lava Lamps are ALWAYS magical

I never had a lava lamp as a kid. My mom told me if they fell over and broke, it would make too big a mess, and probably burn the house down to boot.

So my fascination with them led me to add them to Jinnie Wishmaker. When Jinnie first comes to a Trouble Tweens meeting, she has no idea why pink lava lamps are lighting the room.

She won't understand how important they are until very late in the story, when Mr. Kent, the school counselor, turns their power up to purple.

Here's a great video of a lava lamp. I could watch it all day. Maybe it's time for me to buy one. Of course, I'll probably knock it over, make a big mess, and burn down the house.

Mood Rings and Jinnie Wishmaker

Elizabeth's mood rings are purple--she's HAPPY!

Ever since I started writing Jinnie, I've been collecting mood rings. I loved mood rings when I was a kid, so when I first decided what objects would be made magical in the book, this was a clear choice!

If you've read Jinnie, you'll know exactly which one of these rings is the one I used in the book!

Mood rings work when the metal in the ring takes the heat from your fingers to change the color crystals.

Here is how to read a mood ring:

Black: Angry or stressed
Red: Excited
Blue: Calm, peaceful
Purple: Happy, creative
Green: Normal, at ease
Gray: Anxious
Amber: Mixed Up, strange, unsettled

What happens if all the color goes away and the ring goes clear? That's what happens to Jinnie, and only the Troubled Tweens know!