Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, January 29th

Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Whoot whoo! It's Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day again! That means we get to spend all day playing pop the bubble wrap games.

This one is fun because all the bubbles come back after you pop them.

This one has different playing levels.

This one looks like real bubble wrap, and

and this one has a cardboard frame around the bubble wrap, and I don't know why you would really want that, but everyone has their preferences.

Happy popping!

Burns Night

Burns Night

Burns Night is a very popular celebration to honor the birth of Robert Burns, (the Scottish poet-) on January 25, 1759. It is traditional on Burns Night to eat haggis, and to recite the appropriate Robert Burns poem (Address to a Haggis) while consuming. The poem is quite long, so if you have a hard time eating haggis, you will have plenty of time figure out to hide your portion in a napkin.

Before eating you should say the traditional Burns blessing on the haggis-

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.

because, you wouldn't want to ungrateful for your haggis, even if you hide it in your napkin.

There are lots of different ways to conduct a Burns Night, but mostly you need to eat Scottish food, read lots of Robert Burns poetry, and end the evening by singing Auld Lang Syne.

Mar sin leibh!

National Pie Day, January 23rd

National Pie Day
I didn't make pie for national pie day. I made Cranberry-Pumpkin bread. And, I only made bread to fill my hours before my next lunch period because I forgot my book at work. At a very inconvenient spot to forget a book I might add. Especially a book that I haven't skipped ahead and finished the ending already, so that I might leisurely enjoy the middle. No, this was a book that I was going to zoom all the way through from beginning to the end. And now I am in a dither, all worried about Princess Anidori-Kiladra, because she is in quite a tight spot. And she is stuck in my desk draw at work until lunch-time tomorrow, where I do suspect that I will read the ending just in case the book gets forgotten at work again. No need to put myself through this torture again.

My worries over Princess Ani made me forget to put salt and lemon peel in the bread. And now the bread is a little bland. It's especially bland for a Pie Day celebration food.

I suspect that all this proves that I am lame.

National Popcorn Day, January 19th

It's National Popcorn Day! And what better way to keep your fingers warm during a Friday night movie, than in a bowl of freshly popped popcorn. Okay, okay, I can think of a few better ways to keep my fingers warm, but I'm single, I have to have a back-up plan.

Speaking of singleness, if you are a single woman, ponder deeply before seeing Notes on a Scandal. It will make you think twice about getting a cat, or a diary, or gold stars highlight the diary. Crap. Is this a diary? Am I on the path to stalkerdom? (By the way, today was a negative 1 gold star day. I found a spreadsheet problem, and it's too cold outside to go home, so I might stay the weekend and work on numbers.)

Back to popcorn. My favorite kind of popcorn is blue. I highly recommend it. If you haven't tried it, I guess you haven't really missed too much, it is just kinda a really soft texture, so that it melts on your tongue... and yellow popcorn will just taste bland after you try it. So, maybe you shouldn't. I don't want you to blame me when normal yellow popcorn is no longer good enough for you.

Winnie the Pooh Day, January 18th

For Winnie the Pooh Day, something to delight you, or if you are having a really bad day, something to delightfully annoy you.



Happy Pooh Day!

Appreciate A Dragon Day, January 16th

Appreciate A Dragon Day

I think that the best way to appreciate a dragon is marinated, or fried, or at least barbequed, or with dip, or as a cake, or as chili, or pickled, but that is for the egg part of the dragon.

If eggs aren't your thing, you can try Dragon's Blood. Another dragon fluid to appreciate today would be Dragon Snot.

The way that I will be appreciating dragon today will be with the ribs, marinated. And I might have an Evil Princess or maybe a Merlin's Treat, to wash it all down.

Yes, I think that the local dragons are going to feel very appreciated today... or at least we will feel very appreciative of them. Umm, Umm, Yum!

Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day, January 12th

Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day

I am sure that I remember blogging about this last year. I didn't. I must have just talked about blogging about it, or pondered about how to blog about it, or maybe tried to research it to blog about it, or maybe I just celebrated it.

Anyway, I don't think this is a real holiday. I have found lots of websites that mention this holiday, but none that explain this holiday.

I don't know about everyone else, but I get weird mixed images from the title of this day. Let's look at the key words here: feast, fabulous, wild, men.

So we have Wild Feasting,




and Fabulous Men,




and Wild Men...




So, this is where my brain jumps...



A Fabulous and Wild Man About to be Feasted On.

Wintertime Resolutions,

Wintertime Resolutions- To be reassessed in the Spring

1. I am going to brainwash my niece into thinking that I am the most amazing Auntie ever. To do this, I think that I am going to have to spend some time learning to appreciate the intricate nuances of princessness.

So this goal is a two parter: I will call and talk to my niece at least once a week, and I will do something extra girly at least once a week. The girly-girl stuff that I will focus on are taking fragrant bubble baths, trying body glitter, or wearing my tiara while watching football.

2. I will get Edgy and Dec's Christmas presents to them before St. Patrick's Day. And maybe even before President's Day, or even maybe, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But, I shouldn't get my hope up too high. Edgy and Dec are very busy and social people, they might not have time to open Christmas presents.

3. I will read all of my Christmas books, and I will keep up with Edgy's Book Club. And I might even read even more books. And I might even blog about them, even though that doesn't fit the scope of my blog.

4. I will bring lunch to my office at least three days a week, and I will cook my own dinner at least three days a week. Along with this, I will cook one completely new recipe every week. And maybe I will try ingredients that I have never eaten before. I am still not sure about this rule yet.

5. I will do yoga at least three times a week. This is a continued goal.

6. I will be more aware of my footprint on the planet, and I will study more and implement lifestyle changes to reduce my footprint.

7. I will study more and seriously consider the 100 Mile Diet. But I will have to adjust for my need for omega 3 fatty acid rich seafood, that I need to eat because of my Multiple Sclerosis.

8. I will study for the GRE so I can take it and get into that other graduate school program, the one at the rival university.

9. I will learn how to watch a movie by myself without feeling guilty. Movies aren't always social opportunities. It is okay for one person to be entertained. Therefore, it is okay to watch a movie by myself. (Side goal: This weekend I must see a movie in a theater, there are about six that I want to see, I should be able to find someone to go with me...)

10. I will learn how to knit so I can make a sweater so when I have a boyfriend this year (the silent, unspoken goal) he will look as good as Tristan did when he was dashing in and out of the cold North Atlantic waters.

Carmentalia, January 11th

Carmentalia

Today we celebrate the the goddess Carmenta. She might be better known to you as Metis, the Titaness of Wisdom, and inventor the 15-letter Latin alphabet. But, again, she might not be familiar.

Carmenta is one of the many goddesses of childbirth, and so her holiday is mainly observed by midwives, and women of childbirthing age, but she has a really cool power of being able to see backward into the past and forward into the future at the same time, so I think that everyone should should take a moment to ponder how cool that would be.

Carmenta is also credited for naming the Caryae, which are walnut trees, and the Carytids, the nut nymphs, and really, what would we do without walnut trees.

The correct way to celebrate this holiday is to not wear animal skins, (dang, I am wearing leather shoes today) to offer rice, (I'm not sure where) and to eat pastries (but, since this is a PG-ish blog, I won't share the shape of the traditional pastries).

Happy Carmentalia-ing!

National Cut Your Energy Costs Day, January 10th

National Cut Your Energy Costs Day

Did you know that the average PC uses two times the energy than the average Mac? Today is National Cut Your Energy Costs Day. It's a good day to know stuff like that. Of course that means that I need a new computer. You know, for the environment.

For all of us here in Utah, we are going to want to learn how to save energy durning the next cold snap... coming on Friday! This is going to be a scary one folks. Thursday's high is going to be 31 degrees and the low is to be 13 degrees, and then on Friday we are going to have a high of 18 degrees and a low of 4 degrees. I am having problems getting my brain to wrap around how it's going to get that cold so fast. And then on Friday, Zero degrees. Woo, that is cold.

5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 84601
Wednesday
44° F | 28° F
7° C | -2° C
Mostly Cloudy

Thursday
31° F | 13° F
-1° C | -11° C
90% Chance of Snow

Friday
18° F | 4° F
-8° C | -16° C
50% Chance of Snow

Saturday
15° F | 0° F
-9° C | -18° C
Partly Cloudy

Sunday
16° F | 8° F
-9° C | -13° C
60% chance of precipitation

So how are we to prepare for this mini ice age? We could set our thermostats at 50 degrees to cut our energy costs, and then practice bundling with our friends and neighbors to keep warm enough to survive the cold snap.

This also might be a good time to wander through these sites: ( Easy Free Energy Saving Habits, Home Energy Saver, and Flex Your Power. )

Do it, read some facts about saving energy and you will be the coolest cold person around.

Someday We'll Laugh About This Week, January 2nd -8th

Someday We'll Laugh About This Week

So, let's recap. Absent lost her cell phone on Christmas Day. Absent got a new phone. So we think that everything is going well for Absent. But then, driving home from the best Twelfth Night party ever where she participated in the coolest Wassiling ceremony ever, Absent's battery light comes on, right about Draper.

So, Absent, remembering that her brother had a similar problem (with his alternator) once about at the point of the mountain, and that it wasn't fun to be pulled over on the side of the road there, starts fooling around with buttons on her dashboard and starts her car alarm, which causes the headlights to flash on and off and the horn to honk, while she is driving. While she fumbles to turn the alarm off, she realizes that the car in front of her is a Utah State Trooper.

So, the Trooper follows Absent for a while before he pulls her over. He just wanted to check to see that everything was okay. Absent couldn't find her proof of insurance but the trooper was pretty nice about it. He looked at her battery and told her that it probably was her alternator, and that she should go straight home. That was already the plan.

Saturday, there wasn't a battery light. Then Sunday night, when driving home from Orem, Absent's interior lights begin to freak out... and then go out. And then shortlyh, Absent was driving without headlights, for about five miles. As she pulled into her parking lot, her steering froze up, and she could no longer turn, so she just parked, and pushed the defective vehicle into a proper parking spot.

Which brings us to today. Absent woke up with a head cold. Blah. But, she was able to get the car towed to a dealership. But, Absent was absent from her office of employment all day while trying to get car situation in line, and her head drained of all mucus. Actually, neither is accomplished. Absent's car is absent still, and her head is still full of gross green stuff. And her head is bleeding from the nose a lot. But, that is probably TMI.

And then, while Absent was intent on the scary part of Heroes where the cheerleader was getting levitated and bloody and gross, my lampshade broke. The shade just fell straigh off of its wire frame. It scared Absent because it made a horrible noise, and it made her sad because she loves her lamp. Poor lamp.

It's a good thing that it's Someday We'll Laugh About This Week. And it's a good thing this week ends today. Because other than the car and the lamp, and I probably can't count the cell phone, but I will, I can't loose anything else. This is getting expensive.

Not a snob

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Once I was called a literary snob... but see, I'm not. I am a literate good citizen.

Twelfth Night

You paid attention during 100% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

It's a good thing that I paid attention in high school, because I sure am not paying attention at work today. Let's just say that today I have earned my nym. But, I still know how to calculate the area of a triangle. (Thank goodness, because I just ran into my eight-grade math teacher when I walked into a meeting late and boy did he give me the eye for being tardy, and now I don't feel as guilty, because I am sure that lateness can be forgiven, but forgetting that (1/2)(b)(h)=area of a triange, I am sure that would have been unforgivable.

Woot Woo! It's Twelfth Night!