Whew! Everything is working again! It was so strange having it NOT work last night and this morning! That’s the way with computers sometimes, right? Anyway, I’m back, and honestly I can’t guarantee how many of these celebrations I will be able to cover because there are quite a few. Just an FYI, tomorrows post may be strange and possibly non-existent. An unexpected change of plan happened and I will be making a quick trip to my son’s house to pick up my grandkids to come and visit for the weekend. I need to get things ready in the guest room for them tomorrow night, so there may not be time for much writing. I will catch up, I just don’t know exactly when. So let’s enjoy Friday to the fullest and appreciate that tomorrow is the weekend. As for sleeping in on Saturday? *sigh* It isn’t going to happen. The benefit is I get to see my babies! The bad thing is I’ll be on the road by 6:30 in the morning, and we all know kids don’t sleep in on Sundays!
Moments With Moose –
Moose is going to be so protective! Wednesday the septic inspector came and knocked on the door to let me know he was here. Moose went bonkers. I was holding him by the collar, with him barking his deep, throaty bark, and snarling and growling in his throat. I opened the door a few inches and the guy took one look and backed up to the edge of the steps. It was AWESOME! Good boy Moose!
Oct 15th –
Global Handwashing Day – This is always an important and serious one, and I wouldn’t put it so much into the category of celebrating, but necessary to life! Especially lately, this has come to the forefront of our lives though, sadly, it shouldn’t take a horrific epidemic to remind us why it is important to wash our hands – not just wash them . . . but wash them properly! Through proper hygiene – including the use of soap and hot water – the transmission of infections has been reduced. This has been recognized for at least 150 years as being critical to public health, however actual hygienic practices around the world are far behind what should be thought of as a basic safety standard for everyone. The problem is worst for the poorest people of the world who do not have access to safe water, decent sanitation and soap. For these people are exposed to many water borne and hand to mouth pathogens, not only from lack of facilities, but lack of knowledge as well. When medical teams go into those regions, they are racing the same challenges, and sadly often find themselves ill with the very sicknesses they are trying to treat. For those of us who aren’t facing the lack of clean water and soap, it is a matter of overcoming bad habits. Not washing properly endangers each of us and the people around us! How many times do you go to a public restroom and note that people are NOT washing their hands??? That’s seriously disgusting! They are going straight from the bathroom and putting their hands all over shopping carts, products in stores, menus in restaurants! Gross! Even without the threat of illness, that’s utterly gross. I was listening to an educational audio on Natural News awhile back that said the minimum time necessary to clean our hands appropriately is 1-1/2 to 2 minutes with hot water and soap. For crying out loud, at most I’ve heard people just run their hands under cold water and walk away! Please, take note of what is going on in the world. We can’t protect ourselves from everything, but we CAN wash our hands to attempt to NOT spread viral fragments and bacteria everywhere we go! So, wash your hands. Right now! Get up and go wash!
I Love Lucy Day – How many of us have been raised watching, and loving, I Love Lucy? I can’t even guess how many hours I spent growing up laughing at Lucy and her antics with Ethel. Well, today is the 64th anniversary of the much loved “I Love Lucy” TV show. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz broke new ground with their show, which first aired on this day in 1951.
*The show was filmed in front of a live audience in a time when most shows had a “canned” laugh track.
* The show was filmed with three cameras at once, rather than just one. This was so the director didn’t have call for multiple retakes of the same scene – which would have been difficult for a live audience. Even when the actors messed up their lines they didn’t have a retake – they just played off the mistake for extra laughs.
* Desilu (Lucille Ball’s and Desi Arnaz’s production company) pretty much invented the rerun. When Lucille Ball gave birth to their two children, she needed a little time to recover before going back to work, so they showed episodes that had already been aired for a 2nd time and it turned out that they were very popular!
“I Love Lucy” was the most-watched show of its time, and ended its run at the top of the ratings. It won five Emmy Awards, and was nominated many more times. It always appears on “Best TV Shows of All-Time” lists, and is still being rerun all over the world. It is still watched by forty million people in the United States every single year!
National Cake Decorating Day – Up until a few years ago, I couldn’t bake a cake that didn’t fall or look like I’d mauled it, to save my life. I dreaded events that would require a cake because I knew how badly it would turn out. I couldn’t even make a mix cake without problems! I know! How sad is THAT? Well, one day I decided that I was going to take one of those cake decorating classes offered at Michaels. I loved it! I took two more classes and loved them too! The advice offered by my instructor – since they didn’t actually have us bake a cake – turned things around completely. I haven’t had a cake fall since then, and I’ve discovered how much I love creating beautiful cakes and cupcakes – mostly cupcakes though. I even was blessed with the chance to bake the wedding cakes for my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding! If you feel like you are death to decorating cakes, maybe take a class, or even look for a tutorial online – there are some pretty great ones out there! Standing back and seeing something beautiful that you did yourself is truly very satisfying. Happy Decorating!
National Grouch Day – I know for a fact that we all have a grouch in our lives. You just smiled as you thought of them, didn’t you? They drive us crazy with their perpetually irritated mood, but at the same time they give us something to laugh about . . . behind their backs of course. If you don’t have a grouch in your life, you may wish to look in the mirror because it is entirely possibly YOU are the grouch! Do the smallest glitches in life put you in a bad mood? Do people often accuse you have having gotten up on the wrong side of the bed? If your name often included in the phrase “______the Grouch?” Does everything just seem to go wrong in your life, leaving you in a sulky, grouchy mood? If that’s the case, you really MIGHT be the grouch in your life. If so, well, today is your lucky day because you can feel free to grouch about whatever you want since today is National Grouch Day! It is the one day of the year that you can be as grouchy as you want and everyone else just has to deal with it. So grouch on my gloomy friends!
National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day – Sadly, one in four women experience a miscarriage in their lives, and many experience multiple miscarriages. How many women do you know who actually talk about it though? Probably not very many. Did you know that every single day in the United States, 2,000 women lose a baby to pregnancy/infant loss? That’s 700,000 each year, a quarter of all females in this country. The loss of a child is something that has become a “hush-hush” subject in our society, and women often feel forced to suffer in silence. Alone. Today, breaking the silence could be the first step towards the healing that so many women never get. I had a miscarriage years ago. My daughter was two years old when I found out I was going to have another baby. Like most women, when they find out they are pregnant, they immediately begin to envision that child in their lives. Plans are made, and the excitement begins. That’s the way it was with me anyway. A few months into my pregnancy I went in for my regular appointment, and was looking forward to hearing the heartbeat and possibly getting the first ultrasound. The moment I saw the doctor’s face, I knew something was wrong. He kept trying to find the heartbeat, but never did. We had the ultrasound, but my baby was no longer alive. There isn’t a way to express the feelings I had, knowing that this little life that I’d been celebrating was gone already, and in heaven. I didn’t know grief could feel that way. There are still days, all these years later that I think about my baby and wonder whether it was a girl or a boy, and what would he or she have looked like. My story isn’t dramatic, or even any different than so many other women, and I know that there are countless grieving mothers who lost many babies through miscarriage, and many who lose their little ones soon after they are born. Today, know that if you have lost a child, you do not have to feel alone. All of those people who offered you platitudes until you were ready to scream in their faces, they don’t get it. They can’t, unless they’ve been through the same loss. That empty feeling? That is something that you felt to your very core, and today by breaking the silence and talking to other mother’s who have gone through the same loss, you can heal from the pain, and fill the emptiness with healing. From one mother to other mothers – God bless you and know that you truly are not alone.
White Cane Safety Day – This is an interesting one because very few of us have had the opportunity to see what it is like to be blind when we aren’t. My daughter’s ex-husband is visually impaired – he lost an eye when he was shot in the face in Iraq. Occasionally she would attend events with him where wounded warriors with either blindness, or limited sight, get together to compete in athletic events. She went, in part, to cheer him on, and in part to offer her assistance with the people who are completely blind. On one such occasion they were at a college campus where an event was being held, and the people she was helping wanted her to see what it was like for them, so they blindfolded her, handed her a cane after a quick tutorial, and following behind her to make sure she didn’t get into any trouble, she made her way from one side of the campus to the other. She said that the experience was one she will not only never forget, but that really gave her a perspective she never had before – not only what it was like to walk with the cane, but how other people perceive the blind, how the hearing is enhanced in that situation, and how incredibly challenging every day life must be. This is an important awareness day, and one that I hope everyone gives some thought. On October 6, 1964, Congress signed a law authorizing the President of the United States to proclaim October 15th each year as White Cane Safety Day. The day is intended to raise awareness for the everyday safety challenges that the blind face every day and commend them for the extraordinary way they have met those challenges. The white cane is such valuable tool for the blind, giving them the freedom of moment that they may not have otherwise. If you know someone who is blind or visually impaired, celebrate this day with him or her! Here are some interesting facts about blindness: Worldwide, someone goes blind every five seconds; 80% of all blindness is preventable or curable; By age 65, 33% of all Americans will have some sort of vision-impairing eye disease. You can celebrate this day by scheduling your next eye exam for yourself and your family members.
Oct 16th –
Boss’s Day – If you have a boss that means you are employed. If you are employed, then you are blessed. In this economy I’d hope that none of you take that for granted, and that you appreciate not only your job – which allows you to provide for yourself and your family – but the boss that you work with every day. If you are TRULY blessed, then you can also call your boss your friend. I do. Don’t get me wrong. I am fully aware that she is my boss, and that I answer to her on the job, but at the same time she allows me my voice . . . and I tend to use that voice a LOT. (at this particular moment my boss is nodding, may have laughed out loud just a little bit, and completely agreed with that statement) Usually Boss’s Day is on Wednesdays so I am not always able to say anything to her on the actual day, but this year it happens to be on a Friday! I can at least wish her a Happy Boss’s Day today! Today let your boss know that you are grateful for them, and for your job. Even if you don’t get along with them, or if you have issues that you don’t see eye to eye about, let that go. You are employed, you are able to provide for your family, and your boss is a big part of that blessing in your life. Bosses are people too and they deserve to be shown that they are special. If WE as employees wish to be shown appreciation by our bosses – and let’s face it, a lot of bosses don’t bother – then we need to show them appreciation too. Anything else would just be hypocritical.
Department Store Day – We live in a world where retail competition is very fierce, especially around the holidays. By the time we reach this time of the year the plans and preparations have been in the works for months. National Department Store Day marks the calm before the storm of the holiday season. Large retailers like Macy’s are making tradition-breaking decisions in the face of growing pressure from rival stores that promote holiday shopping earlier and earlier. The question always comes up – how early is TOO early? According to the National Retail Federation, department stores saw nearly 24% of their total revenue during the months of November and December in 2012, making the holiday season the top spending event of their year. Because of the economy shoppers like to start shopping early so they can spread out spending. We started in on ours last weekend! Each year, about 40% of shoppers begin their holiday shopping before Halloween, and another 40% begin in November. Personally I would love to see ONE holiday at a time in the stores. Right now? I want to see Halloween and Harvest themed décor and products. In about 2 weeks I want to see Thanksgiving, and the day after Thanksgiving I like to walk into the stores and be blown away by Christmas. Unfortunately that’s not what typically happens. When I was working in Seattle years ago, it was magical. I’d go home from work the last work day before Thanksgiving to normal store windows, and I’d come back to work AFTER Thanksgiving to the most amazing, incredible and breathtaking store window displays. It was literally the start of the Christmas season. Twinkle lights lined the streets and parks, Westlake Center had the traditional Christmas carousel, complete with Christmas music, and the Christmas winter wonderland just took my breath away and filled me with childlike excitement every day when I headed home from work. The sun went down before I left work, and my walk to the ferry was a lovely stroll through the brightly lit trees. The other commuters were happier and lighter hearted too. The entire experience was amazing. In the smaller town where I live, now that I no longer commute to the city, we don’t see that. Everything is just muddled up together and we don’t get the separation of the special holidays. How do YOU like it to be? Do you like it very early, or would you prefer the holiday decorations be separated by actual holiday?
Dictionary Day – Today we honor Noah Webster, who is considered to be the Father of the American Dictionary. Noah Webster was born on October 16, 1758, so it stands to reason we would celebrate him today! The idea of this day is to emphasize the importance of being able to use a dictionary, and to improve your vocabulary. It actually stuns me a little – I learned not long ago that kids don’t know how to use a dictionary any more – at least not many of them! That shocks me! When I was in school I kept a little dictionary with me all the time! I realize that many people use the online dictionary now, but still, the skill of using an actual dictionary in BOOK form is so important! It is such an important resource! Sorry, I got off on a tangent. I can’t help myself sometimes. Webster began writing his dictionary at the age of 43, and it took him 27 years to finish it. It not only had the traditional English vocabulary, it had uniquely American words included in it as well. Today, celebrate this day by dusting off your dictionary and actually USE it! If you have a child in school who doesn’t know how to use one, spend a few minutes explaining it to them. It is a skill they will be able to use to enhance their lives forever.
Mammography Day – In 1993 Bill Clinton proclaimed the 1st National Mammography Day, an annual observance that encourages women across the country to schedule their annual mammograms. According to a report by the American Cancer Society, that though breast cancer rates in the U.S. have dropped 34% since 1990, it is estimated that over 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed this year and nearly 40,000 American women will die from the disease. Men can get breast cancer too. It always surprises me how few people know that! Granted, it isn’t as common, but it still happens. The estimate is that 1,900 new cases of breast cancer in men will be diagnosed this year. Screening and early detection saves lives, so in honor of National Mammography Day, women across the nation are encouraged to schedule a mammography appointment. Do it for yourself, do it for your family.
National Feral Cat Day – In 2001 “Alley Cat Allies” started this annual event to raise awareness of the plight of feral cats and build support for humane solutions to dealing with them. Veterinarians agree that the best place for a cat is indoors with a loving family. That is not always possible for a cat that isn’t used to living with people. There are groups that are doing something wonderful! Volunteers and community organizations are coming together to trap, spay or neuter, and place feral cats where they can live out their lives as working cats. There is a program called “Barn Cats R Us” where these cats are re-homed to barns and garages, and local businesses, where they work as rodent hunters. In those positions, outdoor cats provide totally natural, organic mouse and rat control. Barn cats tend to hide from humans, and except for the occasional dead rodent they leave behind, you’ll rarely see any evidence of them. Barn Cats R Us isn’t just re-homing these cats to barns and garages, they have also found them “work” at golf courses, a winery, plant nurseries and a water treatment plant. The cats are placed in small colonies, usually groups of three or four, all of them spayed or neutered, vaccinated, ear-tipped for identification and tested for feline diseases. What a wonderful program! If you have feral cats you aren’t sure what to do with in your neighborhood, call your local humane society to see if there is a program like this one in your area. The lives you save could benefit not just the cats, but the businesses and farms where they get to live and work.
World Food Day – 165 million children in the world under the age of five are so malnourished they will never reach their full physical and cognitive potential. These numbers come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. About 2 billion people in the world lack vitamins and minerals that are essential for good health, and around the world 1.4 billion people are overweight, about 1/3 of them obese. Children born to parents who suffer from these forms of malnutrition start out with a higher risk of impairment at birth and illness later on in life. Making a difference in your community, and around the world, isn’t that difficult. If you have a few spare dollars, when you are shopping pick up a couple extra items to donate to your local food bank. In today’s economy more and more people are depending on the food banks to put meals on the table for their families. Perhaps begin donating through an organization such as World Vision. By sponsoring a child you can make a HUGE difference in their lives, and the lives of their family. The funds donated to these children translates into helping provide them with food and water in their villages. One thing I learned when researching this one, that I didn’t know, was that about 2.6-4.4 TRILLION pounds of all food produced on the planet is lost before reaching the human stomach. There are lot of reasons for this, including large portions of edible crops that are rejected because they are not physically attractive enough, problems in the supply chain and inefficient harvesting. If you have the ability to grow a garden and donate the extras, even the extras that aren’t PERFECT in appearance, please do. It is still nutritious food, and can be cut up and utilized in many different ways. Waste on those levels is absolutely intolerable!
This Day In History –
Oct 15, 1951 – “I Love Lucy” premiered on television.
Oct 15, 1966 – U.S. Department of Transportation was created.
Oct 16, 1793 – Marie Antoinette was guillotined for treason.
Oct 16, 1962 – Cuban Missile crisis begins.
Food Celebration of the Day –
Oct 15th – National Cacciatore Day – The term “alla cacciatora” is Italian for “in the manner of hunters.” Real-life translation: a delectable dish of braised chicken with saucy tomatoes, herbs and veggies.
Baked Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken Cacciatore Risotto
Chicken Cacciatore Casserole
Classic Chicken Cacciatore
Mexican Chicken Cacciatore
Ospidillo Cafe Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken Cacciatore With a Moroccan Twist
Oct 16th – National Liqueur Day – Liqueur, liquor, what’s the big difference? Both are alcohol that you can infuse with various flavors, but liqueurs are distinctly sweet and syrupy.
Amaretto Almond Liqueur
Skittles Vodka
Limoncello
Cranberry Liqueur
Real Irish Cream Liqueur
Jerez Cherry Liqueur
Fruit Punch Liqueur
It is time to get this Friday started, for tomorrow I get Grandbaby time! Actually this is the 1st of 3 weekends in a row I get to spend with them! How awesome is THAT??? I know I’ll be celebrating with lots of pictures and fun with the littles. May your weekend be just as awesome! God Bless You and I’ll see you tomorrow!