September is...

September is, now the ninth month of the year, was named because it fell as the seventh month in the Roman calendar. The Dutch call it "fish month," and the Saxons, "Gerst-monath" (barley-month), or Hærfest-monath (harvest month), the Irish called it "the month of plenty", and the Welsh, "the month of reaping." In Slovakia September is "the time when the goats rut," and in Russia September is "the gloomy month or the month of dirt," but I think the Polish say it best when they call it "Old Women's Summer."

The weather traditions for September are:

• "If it be fair on the first day of September, it will remain so at least to the beginning of October."
• If the squirrels are burying lots of nuts in September, we'll have a hard winter

The full moon names for September are:

• Full Harvest Moon
• Full Corn Moon
• Full Barley Moon
• Wine Moon
  
• Singing Moon
  
• Sturgeon Moon
  
• Haligmonath (Holy Month)
• Witumanoth (Wood Month)
  
• Moon When Deer Paw the Earth

In September, Jupiter is something you should look for in the night sky. Other than the Moon, Jupiter shines brighter than anything. Jupiter is so bright because it is at opposition. This is a position similar to when we view a full Moon and like a full Moon, Jupiter will rise in the east at sunset, which makes it cconvenient to plan your night viewing trips. Don't forget the binoculars or a small telescope, because with them you can easily see the four big moons of Jupiter.

The Fall Equinox will be on September 23, 12:03 A.M. EDT. More about that as it approaches, but put it on your calendar now so you don't miss it!

September is...

Fall Hat Month, Be Kind to Editors & Writers Month (Check the link for ways to be kind.), Library Card Sign-Up Month, Metaphysical Awareness Month, Read-A-New-Book Month, Sea Cadet Month, National Literacy Month, Children's Eye Health And Safety Month, Children's Good Manners Month, Marrow Donor Awareness Month, Modern Rock Month, National Chicken Month, National Cholesterol Education Month, National Coupon Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Honey Month, National Little League Month, National Mushroom Month, National Organic Harvest Month, National Piano Month, Wild Rice Month, National School Success Month, National Sickle Cell Month, National Sight Saving Month, Save the Tiger Month, Southern Gospel Music Month, Stop The Violence And Save Our Kids Month, National Sight Saving Month, National Youth Activities Month, National Rehabilitation Month, Great American Breakfast Month, National Gum Care Month, Baby Safety Month, College Savings Month, Hug a Texas Chef Month (Can Texans be more annoying?), Self Awareness Month, Internet Safety Month, Biscuit Month, Childhood Injury Month, National Sewing Month, National Youth Pastors Appreciation Month, National Ovarian Cancer Month, National Please Your Mate Month or Pleasure Your Mate Month, Update Your Resume Month, Healthy Aging Month, Childhood Cancer Month, Pediculosis Prevention Month, Potato Month, Pain Awareness Month, Self-Improvement Month, United Planet Month, National Shameless Promotions Month, National Subliminal Marketing Month, Humor in Business Month, Classical Music Month, Civics Awareness Month, International People Skills Month, International Square Dancing Month, International Gay Square Dance Month, Blueberry Popsicle Month, Cable TV Month (Do not celebrate this- celebrate Read-A-New-Book-Month!), and Reunion Planning Month (Perfect timing for all those people moving away... plan now when you are to come back!)

National Toasted Marshmallow Day, August 30th

National Toasted Marshmallow Day

Say good-bye to summer with a toasted marshmallow.

That's all I can write because I am still at work, in a meeting, and I am supposed to be taking minutes.

(Please, someone send me a text message that I have an emergency at home!)

Lemon Juice Day, August 29th

Lemon Juice Day

Lemon juice. Love it! Love it sweet, love it savory, love it fresh squeezed on calamari... um, um, there is nothing better!

There are so many things that we can do with lemon juice. We can write secret messages with it. (Just take a cotton swab and dip it in lemon juice and write your message on white paper. When you are ready for your message to be revealed... hold the paper up to a lamp or other heat source. Voila! Secret message revealed!)

We also can use lemon juice for many, many different beauty routines. It can lighten discolored elbows; exfoliate dead skin; diminish the appearance of freckles and age spots; lighten and condition your hair, or as a dandruff treatment; or it can be used as an astringent toner for oily skin. Who knew lemon juice was so versatile!

But perhaps the best use for lemons is for food. Yummy, yummy, food. One of my favorite uses for a lemon is to squish it have to death and the stick it in the butt of a chicken or a Cornish Game Hen before baking it. With a little sprinkling of herbs and olive oil on the top, you have a lemon infused chicken when you are done. Yummy!

My Favorite Lemon Cake:

Grandmother's Pound Cake

1 Cup Butter
2 Cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups sifted flour
6 eggs
Juice of one lemon
1 Tablespoon of lemon rind finely chopped
3 teaspoons of vanilla or 1 teaspoon lemon extract (your choice)
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Optional: 1/4 cup poppy seeds

Use mixer and cream together butter and sugar. Add flour and eggs alternately, one at a time to creamed mixture. Add lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Bake one hour and 20 minutes in creased and floured angel food cake pan at 325 degrees F. Let cool for 10 minutes then turn out on cake rack. Serve plain or with summer fruits.

(This recipe has been modified to make me happy from the A Taste of Oregon Cookbook)

So, everyone, take a second and have something with lemon juice today! It's so yummy!

Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day

Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day

It's Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day, and if you have time at work to do that, here are some fun, time-wasting games that you can use your mouse for today: Big Red Button, Wordspell, Kill Mosquito, Newton's Nightmare, Little Man, The Urinal Game

Enjoy!

Make Your Own Lucky Day Day, Women's Equality Day, August 26th

Make Your Own Lucky Day Day

I stalled my post about Make Your Own Lucky Day Day, because I just had a feeling about today. Yeah. Today has not really been a lucky day. Apparently, all the oasis in the north Utah County area has been bought out by people doing weddings and stuff, so normal people who just want to arrange flowers for a birthday present... can't. (I have the flowers, and the container... and now what do I do?)

So, now, I have three hours to make a black veil to wear for my costume (All those Utah wedding people are really missing out on the Gothic wedding market.) And figure out how to arrange flowers without oasis. Any ideas would be helpful... or if anyone knows where there might be some extra Felix Felicis lying around...

I, know, I know, this is all my own fault for leaving it to the last minute. What can I say... I'm not only absent-minded, I'm a procrastinator.

Women's Equality Day

This day was created by a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1971 to commemorate the passage of the 19th Amendment, (which passed on August 26, 1920). The 19th Amendment granted all women in the United States the right to vote. Check out this U.S. Census page for some interesting facts about American Women.

My two favorite facts were:

1. 31 percent of women ages 25 to 29 years who had attained a bachelor's degree or higher in 2004, which exceeded that of men in this age range (26 percent). 88 percent of women and 85 percent of men in this same age range had completed high school.
2. 77 cents- The amount women age 15 and older, who worked full time, year-round, earned for every $1 their male counterparts earned in 2004. This amount is up from 76 cents for every dollar in 2003.

Which just goes to show- we still have a ways to go for that equality.

And now I had better get back to my black veil making... but I do have to give a big thank-you to Soccer Dad for the links from his blog. Thanks!

Kiss and Make Up Day, August 25th

Kiss and Make Up Day

Or, if one didn't have anyone to Kiss and Make Up with, one could, if one were getting an MRI today, Kiss and Make Out with a cute doctor. Right?

Can someone make sure that Dr. Gregory House is at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center supervising the MRI staff today? I need some lip action!

Waffle Day, August 24th

Waffle Day

Hmm, waffles. Little squares of syrupy yumminess. Mr.Breakfast.com takes us through all the confusion about what day is officially Waffle Day. We celebrate Waffle Day because:

"National Waffle Day (August 24) is the anniversary of the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron. Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York received his patent for a "device to bake waffles" in 1869. His early waffle iron was used in conjunction with coal stoves, consisted of a griddle and a cover and required flipping of the device to cook both sides of the waffle. At present, National Waffle Day is at best a "bizarre" or "unique" holiday" - the fluff stuff of radio DJ commentary. Waffle promotions at some restaurant chains have helped to keep the holiday alive, if only barely." (Mr.Breakfast.com)

If I were still speaking to the former not-favorite roommate that forever borrowed my favorite perfectly-weighted and finished Belgian waffle maker, perhaps I would make my favorite waffles for dinner. I should just go out and buy another one, but I have been really indecisive lately, and I haven't yet fixated on what will be my new perfect waffle maker. I guess I need a training waffle maker. A transitional waffle maker.

Well, if I buy a transitional waffle maker today, I will make these waffles. And if you make them too, please do not pronounce Willamette like will-a-met-tae; it is pronounced will-AM-it (like damn-it). We from the the Pacific Northwest like our localities pronounced correctly. (And don't you even get an Oregonian started on you weirdos that say Or-e-gone.)

Anyway, the best waffles ever:

Willamette Valley Waffles

1/2 cup butter
1 Tablespoon sugar
Dash of salt
2 egg yolks
1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk plus 1 Tablespoon lemon juice till curdled)
2 egg whites
1/2 Tablespoon hazelnut, almond, or vanilla extract
2/3 cup very finely chopped filberts (hazelnuts are called filberts by old-time Oregonians)

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add the egg yolks and blend.
   
3. In a separate container mix flour, salt, and baking powder.
   
4. Using low speed on mixer, alternately add the buttermilk and flour to the egg yolk mixture.
   
5. Add the flavoring, of which I prefer vanilla, and then double it, but hazelnut is also very nice, but do not double it.
   
6. Beat the egg whites in separate bowl until stiff, and then fold into batter (very important step).
   
7. Lightly fold filberts into the mixture.
   
8. Spoon batter onto a preheated waffle iron, spread out the batter and cook according to directions on waffle iron.
9. Eat!

(This recipe has been modified to make me happy from the A Taste of Oregon Cookbook)

Twosies Days, August 22nd

Twosies Days

Okay, I totally admit that I am making this day up. But, I think that I need to celebrate the rash of twos that have invaded my life in the past two days. Some of these pairings have been delightful; some have not been delightful. Whatever fates there are out there that have decided that I need two of everything... well, let's stop with the sharp objects already!

• Two knives dropped on my toes
  
• Two sushi band-aids on my toes
  
• Two places where I realized that perhaps I was a bit wrong and perhaps a bit emotional and reactionary the first time I read Harry Potter V
  
• Two very unusual symptoms to my M.S. treatment (That's it, I'm done- I'm really done. Don't tell me that I'm being emotional, or illogical, or stupid about my treatment... I really, really, really don't ever want to stick that needle in my leg ever again!)
  
• Two compliments by complete strangers about the color of my eyes
  
• Two times my right earring fell out of my ear and right down my shirt to an embarrassing place in front of important people
• Two times where I had to say "Excuse me" and step out of the room to fish out the stupid earring
  
• Two thought-stopping comments from important people about embarrassing earring incident
• Two false fire alarms
  
• Two free meals
  
• Two compliments about my latest hair color
  
• Two boys who took me to a movie
  
• Two times where I blabbered on too much about work in front of the boys (When am I ever going to learn not to do this? Nobody wants to hear the boring stories of a mid-level manager at a local-quazi-governmental agency. And speaking of that... I am not a secretary anymore. Should I change my blog name? Thoughts anyone?)
  
• Two curiously intriguing, but possibly life-threatening invitations for future activities with the boys... (Hmm, how much do I want to spend time with the boys? Enough time to get my eyebrows burnt off?)
  

Poet's Day, Spumoni Day, August 21st

Poets Day & Spumoni Day

In order to combine a celebration of Poet's Day and Spumoni Day, I only needed to look as far as John Berryman, and his poem "Dream Song 4". But, only read it if you want a famous poet to mention spumoni on your Poet's and Spumoni Day. If you are okay with obscure poets poeting about spumoni, scroll on down to the next poem, which is more about food, and less about lusting after married women.

Dream Song 4: Filling her compact & delicious body
by John Berryman

Filling her compact & delicious body
with chicken paprika, she glanced at me
twice.
Fainting with interest, I hungered back
and only the fact of her husband & four other people
kept me from springing on her

or falling at her little feet and crying
'You are the hottest one for years of night
Henry's dazed eyes
have enjoyed, Brilliance.' I advanced upon
(despairing) my spumoni. —Sir Bones: is stuffed,
de world, wif feeding girls.

—-Black hair, complexion Latin, jewelled eyes
downcast ... The slob beside her feasts ... What wonders is
she sitting on, over there?
The restaurant buzzes. She might as well be on Mars.
Where did it all go wrong? There ought to be a law against Henry.
-—Mr. Bones: there is.

For lighter poets poeting about spumoni, we can check out Ken Wanamaker, and his poem "Song of My Supper". Warning: it will make you want to eat!

Song Of My Supper
after Whitman (by Ken Wanamaker)

I sing linguini
capped with marinara
twirled on silver tines.

I sing this fine cabernet
squeezed from grapes
plumping in the Tuscan sun.

I sing warm crusted bread
drenched in oil
sprinkled with parmesan
grated by rough hands and smooth whistle.

I sing spumoni filled with cherries,
the waiter who hands me the spoon,
slender hands pouring cappucino
in my waiting cup.

I sing candles on every table
Alfredo sauce spilt on ties
toddler'’s cheeks full of pasta
mantillas nodding quietly.

I sing that famous boot
treading the Mediterranean
desert tray in tow
the wandering tenor's O Solo Mio.

If that is all we have, perhaps we need to challenge other poets to write about spumoni. Or perhaps, we need to resign ourselves to the fact that spumoni is not the stuff that poets are inspired by.

Bad Poetry Day, August 18th

Bad Poetry Day

I always knew that there were some bad poems written by good poets, and some good poems written by bad poets.

I also knew that there were some really bad poets who wrote a lot of bad poems.

Today, while doing a quick "bad poetry internet research session" I learned aboutJulia A. Moore. Julia just might be the one of the top bad poets of all time. She has been called "a mile post in the history of bad poetry," and America's "greatest super-comic poet." Apparently, she read some of the critical reviews of her poems, because she wrote these emotional lines:

Some Editors of the papers
They thought it would be wise
To write a column about me,
So they filled it up with lies. "To My Friends and Critics" Julia A. Moore

Boy, did she fry their hides. Note to self: when trying to write an "angry" poem, don't let it rhyme.

I have to say that my favorite bad poem of the day is: "The Early Frogs" by Harry Edward Mills

The Early Frogs

O, I love to hear the frogs
When they first begin to sing;
How they vocalize the bogs,
And vociferate the Spring.
How they carrol as they croak,
How they mingle jest and joke
With their solemn chant and dirge
On the river's slimy verge.

O, I love to hear the frogs,
For their monotone uncouth
Is the music of the cogs
Of the mill wheel of my youth.
And I listen half asleep,
And the eyes of mem'ry peep
Through the bars that hold me fast,
From the pleasures of the past.

O, I love to hear the frogs,
For their melody is health
To the heart that worry flogs
With the lash of want or wealth.
And the cares of life take wing,
And its pleasures lose their sting,
And love's channel way unclogs
In the croaking of the frogs.

Can I just repeat those last two lines for you all who didn't really pay attention... "And love's channel way unclogs; In the croaking of the frogs."

Yes, yes it does. I can see that clearly now since I have frogs.

Pink Toenail Month, Admit That You Are Happy Month

1. I am happy because I have pink toenails.
2. I am happy because I bought Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! for an eight-year-old's birthday present, and have decided against it because I want to maintain my position as favorite faux-aunt. Now I have a new book! Happiness! (Okay, maybe I did just buy it for myself. Shut-up.)
3. I am happy because I can can list much more than "internet search engine" under "Proficient Computer Programs" on my resume. (Yes, this is an "I am better than someone" item. I have never claimed to ooze inner peace.)

National Relaxation Day, World Day of Reiki, Best Friend's Day, August 15th

National Relaxation Day, World Day of Reiki, Best Friend's Day

It's time to take a little time to relax, spend some time with your BFF, and go try out some Reiki Therapy. Personally, I think that I am going to fudge the therapy a bit and get me some of that Cranio Sacral Therapy instead. And I will probably do it by myself, because I don't think that I can convince any of my BFFs (Boy Version, Girl Version, Former-Roommate Version, or The-Only-Still-Single Version) at the last minute that they should play with me all afternoon.

Oh, well. I probably won't be able to convince my boss that I need an afternoon off to take a massage anyway. I suppose that I will just compose an Ode to Bestest Friends to celebrate.

(Please, no-one hold your breath on that one. I would hate to loose any one of my readers because they died waiting for an Ode.)

Left-Hander's Day, August 13th

Left Hander's Day

It all started with Ehud, son of Gera. Then Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Ramses II, Aristotle, and Nietzsche joined up too. Matt Groening is one, which is probably why Ned Flanders and Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Montgomery Burns, Moe Szyslak, Martin Prince, Nelson Muntz, and Krusty the Clown are too. So are Nancy Drew, Joe Hardy, Tom Riddle, Homestar Runner (yes he has no arms, but he plays the bass left handed) and Big Bird. Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Eudora Welty and H.G. Wells-all part of the club. As was Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Ringo Starr, Billy Corgan, David Byrne, and Robert Plant. And what would a left-hander's page be without homage to Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, and Tommy Lasorda.

Yes, left-handedness is a gift. It should be celebrated. Only 10% of the world's population are left-handed, and scientists don't know why. They think it might be genetic, but they haven't found proof. In my family we are pretty sure that it is. My Grandma's uncle was left handed. She is left handed. Two her sons are left handed, and two of her grandchildren are left-handed. It's great. At Christmas dinner, half of the table is left-handed.

We left-handers confuse baseball pitchers, give our friends hours of enjoyment at the bowling alley. Some people say that left-handers are the next step in human evolution. Others say that left-handers have been oppressed by years of linguistic abuse, are more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, have Crohn's disease, mental disabilities, get into accidents, or die young, and have problems with kissing right-handed people. I must say, I have never had a kissing coordination problem, but I often have hugging-head-bonking problems. I thought that was normal, now I am totally blaming it on my left-handedness!

And next time I am in Las Vegas, I am totally visiting the Left Handed Liberation Society.

Left-handers Unite!

LL and Absent's Silly Party

There might be some video... there might... but there might have to be some bribes to get it posted since there is singing involved.

Presidential Joke Day, August 11th

Presidential Joke Day

Before we get all excited about the piles and piles of jokes we can tell today, it turns out that Presidential Joke Day was declared by congress after a press boo boo made by Ronald Reagan.

It is a day set aside for U.S. Presidents to make jokes. This is how it all began. On August 11, 1984, President Ronald Reagan was testing a microphone before his regular Saturday radio speech, and did not realize the feed was live. He spoke into the microphone, "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes." A bit of surprise for the radio listening public.

Since Presidential Joke Day was started by a few mis-spoken words ... let's review a few words that our current president might have wished he hadn't said.
___________________________________________________________________

• "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." -Yes, him or she can, because literacy is not much more than reading, right? Source: United Press International, "Bush Proposes Increase in Education Funds," Mark Kukis, Feb. 21, 2002


• "So for the students here, take heart in this concept. He gets a Ph.D. I get Cs. I'm the President and he's the advisor."-While on a college campus, Bush makes note of the education gap between himself and a professor. (White House, "President Discusses Strengthening Social Security in Iowa", March 30, 2005)

• "See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. See, free nations do not develop weapons of mass destruction."-Like nuclear weapons? So W., does this mean the U.S. is not a free nation? Source: The Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 13, 2003

• "We need to thin our forests in America." -Yeah, those darn trees are ruining our air quality with all that pollen. Trees harbor too many animal species that cost the government money when we clean their carcasses off of our freeways. Trees reduce soil erosion. How are we supposed to turn the rest of the U.S. into Texas if we don't have more soil erosion? Yep, let's get rid of those horrible, awful trees. Aug. 11, 2003 Source: The Arizona Republic, "In Arizona, Bush Touts His Idea to Thin Forests," Aug. 12, 2003.

• "I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things."—Bush, reassuring us that the wartime president of the most powerful nation on earth does not think too much. Source: Federal Document Clearing House, "Roundtable Interview of the President by White House Press Pool," June 4, 2003

• "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." There are so many times he makes this comment...Kindaa makes one wonder... Source: Business Week Online, "A Gentleman's "C" for W," Richard S. Dunham, July 30, 2001

• "First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." -Bush, speaking about poverty, attempting to show open mindedness toward the plight of low-income citizens. Source: Public Papers of the Presidents, "The President's News Conference With President Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines," May 26, 2003

• "There's an old saying in Tennessee-I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee-—that says: Fool me once, shame on [pause] shame on you. [Pause] Fool me [long, uncomfortable, agonizing pause] you can't get fooled again." Isn't this taking not wanting to admit guilt a little too far? Source: The Washington Post, "The Reliable Source," Lloyd Grove,septat. 18, 2002

• "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."-—Bush finally explains his political strategy. (Washington Post, "The Ostrich Approach," Dan Froomkin, May 25, 2005)

• "I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves."-—[Emphasis added] Probably. Thanks for keeping up with your nation's issues. ( Washington, D.C.,septt. 21, 2003)

• "We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."-Yes, because the American people need encouragement to consume more than their fair share of the world's resources. Source: Trenton, N.J.,septt. 23, 2002

• "And so, in my State of the —my State of the Union -or state my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation, I asked Americans to give 4,000 years- —4,000 hours- over the next -the rest of your life- —of service to America. That's what I asked 4,000 hours." -I guess we can be happy he's not really asking for 55 lifetimes of servitude. (Bridgeport,connn., April 9, 2002)

National S'mores Day, August 10th

National S'mores Day

Everyone loves S'mores.

All right, I'm sure that there are whole websites devoted to the hatred of S'mores, and secret societies that meet in the darkness behind boy and girl scout camps all around the country to tell their horrific S'more stories.

If you do have a story about toasty-hot marshmallow and melted chocolate from your formative years that is still traumatizing you, perhaps you shouldn't read the rest of this post.

I love S'mores. I love them cooked over the campfire, over the burner of my kitchen stove, in the microwave, and I love, love, love the indoor bar version made with Golden Grahams. I have been known to request it instead of birthday cake.

Now, what makes the S'more so great is that you can have just a regular old S'more, with a graham cracker, a marshmallow, and plain chocolate, and it tastes good. But you also can get all Martha Stewart-y and make your own marshmallow (which I have never done, and probably won't ever do), or you can get fancy with the chocolate [My favorite chocolate to use is a Nestle Crunch Peanut Butter Mini. Which, honestly, makes the best S'more ever! (How can you top melted chocolate, marshmallow, and peanut butter... mmmm!)], or you can do special combinations of chocolate-graham-cookie thing, or you can add extra ingredients. (Edgy won't like that one). But, there are lots of extra ingredients that you can add to a S'more and not mess up the flavor thing. I have seen people wrap their toasted marshmallows in M&Ms before squishing the whole mess between the graham cracker shell, and I have to say, it took talent and creativity to pull it off.

So, everyone, have a very happy National S'more Day!

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Book Lovers Day, August 9th

Book Lovers Day

So, I really, really like books. I think that the invention of the printing press was the most important invention in the history of the world, except for maybe soap. Okay, so soap was a really good invention, and so was deodorant. And scented candles are really nice too, but not quite as nice as the printed word, and binding... as in book binding, not feet.

But, I am really, really tired, and LL is coming to visit me tomorrow, so I need to go to bed now so we can stay up all night tomorrow night giggling, and talking about boys, and psychology, and movies, and fashion, and maybe if we go onto a really random tangent, rocket science, because she knows lots of really cool stuff like that. Woo hoo! LL!

Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night, August 8th

Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night

Most of us might consider zucchini a vegetable, but biologically, zucchini is actually a fruit. And since it is a fruit, zucchini should go well with chocolate, right? Of course right. Well, at least here are a lot of Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipes to try out if your neighbor leaves a bunch of zucchini on your doorstep tonight.

If Chocolate Zucchini Cake isn't your thing, you can try Zucchini Pancakes, Cheese and Sausage Stuffed Zucchini, or *yummy yum* Zucchini and Yellow Squash Tian.

Sigh. I don't think that anyone I know is growing zucchini. I think if I want to be surprised tomorrow morning, I will have to go buy some to put on my own doorstep.

August's Sky Watch

August 8th- N. Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. Faint, medium speed meteor shower. July 15 - August 25, with a radiant in central Aquarius. Possibly not visable at all due to the full moon.

August 9th - Full Moon

August 10th - Neptune at Opposition. The blue planet will be at its closest approach to Earth. This is the best time to view Neptune, although it will only appear as a tiny blue dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

August 12th - Perseids Meteor Shower. The Perseids is one of the best meteor showers to observe, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at their peak. The shower will peak this year on Saturday, August 12, but you should be able to see some meteors for most of the month of August. On the 12th, the light from the nearly-full moon will cause some problems for viewing the smaller meteors. The radiant point for this shower will be in the constellation of Perseus. Best view will be to the northeast between 2am-4am.

August 23rd - New Moon

The Weeks of August

The Weeks of August

August 1st-7th
Simplify Your Life Week; World Breastfeeding Week; National Fraud Awareness Week;

August 4th-14th
Smile Week; Exhibitor Appreciation Week; Psychic Week; Don't Wait! Celebrate! Week; Hosiery Week; Elvis Presley Week;

August 13th-21st
Thanks For all Gifts Week; Volvo Car's "Buckle Up" Week; Knights of Columbus Family Week; Aviation Week; Resurrect Romance Week; Weird Contest Week;

August 20st-28th
Friendship Week; Religious Software Week; Save Your Smile Week;

August 27th- September 3rd
Be Kind To Humankind Week; Sobriety Checkpoint Week

August is... Month

August is... the eighth month of the year and (according to Wikipedia) "was named in honor of Augustus [Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus]. The month reputedly has 31 days because Augustus wanted as many days as Julius Caesar's July." The full moon in August is called the Sturgeon Moon, Full Red Moon, Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

These old English weather proverbs about August leads me to believe that British weather is a bit different from weather in Utah. (Fog in August?) (Wilson's Almanac)

• "A fog in August means a severe Winter and plenty of snow."
• "For every fog in August, there will be a snowfall in Winter."
• "If a cold August follows a hot July,
  It foretells a Winter hard and dry."
• "A halo around August moon presages rain."
• "Pale moon doth rain, red moon doth blow,
  White moon doth neither rain nor snow."

Brownies at Brunch Month; Happiness Happens Month; Family Meal Month; National Win with Civility Month; National Immunization Awareness Month; National Inventor's Month; Get Ready for Kindergarten Month; Children's Eye Health and Safety Month; Children's Vision and Learning Month; Spinal Muscular Atrophy Month; National Catfish Month; National Golf Month; National Eye Exam Month; National Water Quality Month; Romance Awareness Month; National Peach Month; Foot Health Month; Pink Toenail Month; American Artists Appreciation Month; Admit You're Happy Month; Beauty Pageant Month; Clown Month; Eye Exam Month; Family Fun Month; Peace for Our World Month;

Birthstone: Sardonyx or Peridot, symbol of happiness
Flower: Poppy or Gladiolus

August 1st, Day of the Storm

I had decided not to blog about the weather today. Talking about the weather can be so tedious. But, when I saw that our little Provo storm made it into the Washington Post, making it quite famous, I had to comment about my experience, because I am a blogger, and something that I personally experienced made it to the Post!

But, first the Post:

(Washingtonpost.com) Storm Damages Utah Airport; Cuts Power Tuesday, August 1, 2006; 11:22 PM

PROVO, Utah -- A storm packing rain, hail and 80-mph gusts of wind Tuesday ruined roofs, destroyed trees and cut power to thousands of people as it raged across northern Utah.No deaths or serious injuries were reported.

At Provo Airport, several small planes were flipped over and the roof of a fire station collapsed on a fire truck.

About 4,000 homes and businesses were without power in Provo, and some outages could last as long as three days, Mayor Lewis Billings said. Rocky Mountain Power reported 22,000 homes or businesses without electricity in the Salt Lake City area, and 1,200 outages in Park City.

Hours after the midday storm had passed, there were still 6-inch piles of hail in shaded areas.

At a Sizzler restaurant, waitresses served food despite a wind-blown gap in the roof.

"We just told our customers that we would get their food to them as soon as possible," Akasha Francom told the Daily Herald. "We had to help our cooks with flashlights because it just left them completely in the dark."

Another server, Ashlee Warren, witnessed the sudden alteration to the restaurant.

"Something went flying past and I said, 'I think that was our roof,'" she said.
© 2006 The Associated Press

This article is a very bland description. If you want better more colorful details with pictures and charts go here or here.

My personal experience. Whoa. I have never seen rain fall in sheets like that before. Ever. And I am from the land of big rain clouds. There were sheets blowing in two directions. We couldn't see from our front office window to the end of the sidewalk. The rain gutters couldn't handle all the water, so they just stopped trying. The water just poured off of the roof and totally beat the living hell out of the poor plants that just happened to be planted in the flower beds below. And then the hail came. And it came sideways. I didn't know that hail came sideways. It piled up like snow, and stayed with us long after the sun came back to visit. Then it melted into the back hallway and made our carpet squishy.

At the office we didn't have power for about four hours, from about 11:20 to 3:15. Thank goodness for battery backups on computers, and cell phones, or we would have been completely bored, sitting in the dark, braiding each other's hair waiting for the power to come back on.

(I'm kidding, we were plenty busy helping clean up yards and calm down our tenants... especially the ones with powerlines down in their front yards- see above picture.)

What is the most amazing thing to me was as I drove home tonight to Pleasant Grove, where I live, not too far away from Provo, Pleasant Grove didn't have a single leaf or branch on the ground. The pavement was dry. Southwest Provo looks like it got a visit from a hormonal cave ogre, and Pleasant Grove just 14 miles up the road, has a nice cool breeze.

Sometimes my life is so schizophrenic.

Harry Potter's Birthday, July 31st

Last year, Harry was remembered with cupcakes decorated in Gryffindor colors. This year, he just gets four sentences on my blog. Poor Harry. Getting older sucks.

July 27th is...

This website and this website say that it's Take Your Plant for A Walk Day. But, this website and this website say that it's Take Your Pants for A Walk Day.

I'm so confused. I just don't know if I should walk with my pants or with my plants?

On the road to health...

Thoughts after being sick and watching too much television:

• TLC is going downhill, HGTV and the Food Network have all the cool shows
• The Dean Boys are really cute, and one of them is single
  
• Too much Food Network and I think I can cook things like "Roasted Rack of Silverton Lamb 'en Crepinette' with Oregon Hazelnuts, Morels and Wild Nettles with Organic Wheat Berry Pilaf", but I haven't any idea where to buy nettles, or why I would really want to eat them
• It's a really, really bad idea to watch six episodes of House, M.D. when you are sick. It makes you think that you should have an allergic reaction to at least one of your medications, and if you don't, they must not be working.
• Also, all the deathly ill women have seemed to remember to get pedicures and their legs waxed before their hospital visits-- I'm a slacker, I would never remember to do such things if I had a seizure and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
  
• And, I do have to protest the scary green glowing light in the MRI room at House's hospital- completely unnecessary. I've had MRIs and the light is normal. Unless the green glowing light is supposed to make people go into cardiac arrest.
  
• Commercials can make the easiest things look so hard... like sewing on a button ("Why spend a fortune on a seamstress, or go cross-eyed threading a needle when you can have the Buttoneer?" [Why not just throw the damn shirt out if it's that hard to replace the button?])
• Why, why, why, would anyone need a 15-inch, cable-ready television in their refrigerator door?
  
• The sleep timer makes my tv say "Goodnight." How friendly.
  

Pipe Dreams Day, July 25th

Pipe Dreams Day

According to the above link, opium

"was widely used in some literary circles in England. The opium was smoked in a pipe and usually produced strange visions. The creative writers called these visions "pipe dreams". Today the term is used for farfetched ideas that probably aren't going to happen."

So, let's remember what came from some good pipe dreams! (But, I am not, and would not ever advocate the pipe!) Without these pipe dreams we would not have Xanadu! (I would love to see how James Burke would draw the connections between Coleridge and Newton-John, beyond the obvious that is.)

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced;
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves:
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 't would win me
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Marvin the Martian's Birthday, Drive-Thru Day, Pioneer Day, July 24th

Marvin the Martian's Birthday

This insignificant planetoid has been found guilty of crimes against the universe, namely, forgetting to blog about one of the most significant birthdays in cartoonland. What does Mr. Martian have to say:"I do believe you are right!" "That wasn't a bit nice." "You have made me very angry - very angry indeed!" "Brace yourself for immediate disintegration."

Drive-Thru Day

Since it's hot all over, it's the perfect day not to cook. Take a trip through the drive-thru. And if you can talk your mom into it get a milkshake with Snickers chopped up inside for dinner. The caramel gets all half frozen-y and yummy. Hmmm, milkshakes.

Pioneer Day

If you are not from, nor ever have lived in Utah during July, you probably will not know about Pioneer Day. Pioneer Day is the celebration of the Mormon Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.

The important part of this day is, it's a paid holiday for me, and for most City and State employees, (Yeah!) but, not for Federal employees. Like, the mail still continues to run on Pioneer Day, but City offices are closed. In the private sector things get all messed up. If you have a die-hard Pioneer Day Celebrator for a boss, you get the day off, but if you work in an office that has clients outside of the state, and you have a boss that cares about such things, you stay open. There are sales and fireworks, like the Fourth of July, but doctor's offices are closed, so you had better not have a bottle-rocket go off in your hair, or trip on the escalator at the mall and need stitches, or you will have to go to the emergency room. It's a hard holiday to explain to out-of-state-rs

So, sorry to everyone who had to work yesterday. I didn't work, but I didn't shop the sales either. I was sick and had to go to an emergency clinic to see a doctor, (because the doctors offices are closed, because of the holiday). But, now I have mega-strength antibiotics, an inhaler pump, a nasal spray, (both which leave a horrible metal taste in my mouth) and a decongestant. (This may sound like overkill for a summer cold, but when you have M.S. like I do, doctors don't mess around with the possibility of developing pneumonia. And to be perfectly honest, right now I feel like death warmed over... wait, no, that would just be death.)

So, Happy Pioneer Day to me! (And to you, and if you prefer to call it Mormon Pride, go for it!) But, happiness of happiness, before I got sick, I did get to see Edgy's new living room all painted, and he is right, it is hot!

Ernest Hemingway's Birthday, Make a Scarecrow Day, July 21st

Ernest Hemingway's Birthday, or Make A Scarecrow Day... two very important days. I don't know which one to celebrate.

National Lollipop Day, Ugly Truck Contest Day, Moon Day, July 20th

Ugly Truck Contest Day

I think that the men in my family can probably win this contest.

My dad taught me how to drive on a red and white, 1965 International Scout. The bed was almost completely rusted out, and we didn't need a key to start it... we just turned the ignition by itself, but I wasn't allowed to tell my brothers that, it was a secret between me and my dad.

Sometime the following the year that I learned how to drive, that truck died, and my dad got his next- a retired forestry truck. When I lived at home, between terms of college, that was my source of transportation. The clutch pedal and the gas pedal were about three feet apart. Perfect for driving in heels and a skirt. I loved it!

My brother, the River Rafter, drives an old rusted Jeep with a neverending carburetor problem, not because he has too, but for ambiance, because we all know that River Raft Guides must drive big buckets of bolts and rust. I think that I lost a few brain cells to gas fumes last time I was his passenger. But it was way cool, because we were going kayaking down a river that was closed to all but professional guides. My brother trusted my kayaking skills enough to let me on a river wild! I felt so cool! I would show a picture of that, because it was one of the most fun experiences of my life... but I can't find them. Sad. That will be my next project- find the cool rafting photos.

Yes, I must say that I love my family's ugly trucks. They make me feel cool.

Moon Day

Because on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon, we can now celebrate Moon Day. One website recommends watching Apollo 13. But that doesn't seem right to me, because it's not a movie about the original moon landing, which is what we are supposed to be celebrating.

National Lollipop Day

The very best lollipop is the Tootsie Pop. Probably because it had the best commercial campaign from the 70s-- ever. Because of that campaign I learned that owls are smart. No other birds can count, right? One... two... three! Licks to the center!

Flitch Day, Stick your Tongue Out Day, National Raspberry Cake Day, July 19th

The days we missed on July 19th

Flitch Day

On this day, a slab of bacon was given to any couple who could prove that they had lived the previous year "in perfect harmony and fidelity." (I, for one, would like to know how they prove the harmony. Even from a musical view, a lack of dissonance does not mean that a chord is harmonious.)

Stick Your Tongue Out Day

To all the couples who flaunt that they have the perfect relationships by "taking home the bacon" we can stick out our tongues in their general direction, and we can feel justified, because it is "Stick Your Tongue Out Day."

National Raspberry Cake Day

Do we need more of a reason to eat fresh raspberries? Yum! Yum!

Hot

And this is when the air conditioning broke, and all air flow in the office stopped. And the Executive Assistant who had sat through a two hour meeting discussing how unprepared everyone is for the Bird Flu, could now hear everyone coughing and sniffling throughout the entire office because of the lack of the blowing air. The stale, stagnant, disease-ridden public air.

And this is when the Executive Assistant began to feel feverish, and her throat ticklish, but eventually she convinced herself that it's just plain hot.

National Ice Cream Day, July 16th

National Ice Cream Day

And for all of you ice cream lovers, or just those of you trying to think of some good reason to eat ice cream, the 3rd Sunday in July is always National Ice Cream Day, declared so by President Reagan- see the following proclamation.

Proclamation 5219 -- National Ice Cream Month and National Ice Cream Day, 1984

July 9, 1984; By the President of the United States of America-A Proclamation

Ice cream is a nutritious and wholesome food, enjoyed by over ninety percent of the people in the United States. It enjoys a reputation as the perfect dessert and snack food. Over eight hundred and eighty-seven million gallons of ice cream were consumed in the United States in 1983.

The ice cream industry generates approximately $3.5 billion in annual sales and provides jobs for thousands of citizens. Indeed, nearly ten percent of all the milk produced by the United States dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream, thereby contributing substantially to the economic well-being of the Nation's dairy industry.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 298, has designated July 1984 as "National Ice Cream Month," and July 15, 1984, as "National Ice Cream Day," and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of these events.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim July 1984 as National Ice Cream Month and July 15, 1984, as National Ice Cream Day, and I call upon the people of the United States to observe these events with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and ninth.

Ronald Reagan

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:32 a.m., July 10, 1984]

So, there it is. A national proclamation to enjoy ice cream. We had better not ignore this. We need to prepare to enjoy this "perfect snack food" on this official holiday and need to "observe these events with appropriate ceremonies and activities." Forget those diets, this is a matter of national importance!

Middle of July "What is there to do?" July 15th

July 15th

I remember summer vacations... wow, summer vacations, almost makes me want to switch occupations, anyway, right about now I would be bored stiff. Swimming lessons would be over, and the last little must-do-everything-before-school-starts-frenzy had not begun. Right about now it would be hot and boring, and my poor mother would be asked about 697 times a day "What is there to do?" The poor woman didn't know about all these daily holidays that she could have entertained me and my three brothers with.

Winnie the Pooh Day, Go Hug a Cow Day, Tapioca Pudding Day, Respect Canada Day, Toss Away the Could Haves and Should Haves Day, Gummi Worm Day, or Personal Chef's Day, Shark Awareness Day, Woodie Wagon Day, Ice Cream Cone Day

That's right, ten days to celebrate today, if you can't find anything else to do. If you get really creative you can celebrate all ten... like sticking gummi worms and tapioca pudding in your ice cream cone while sneaking out to go cow tipping on your way to the aquarium to learn about sharks in your woodie wagon while reading Winnie the Pooh, and calling your personal chef on the way to order a Canadian meal to be ready when you get back so you don't worry about any could haves or should haves today.

But, that's not what I am doing today. I'm meeting some friends for Thai food, and we might go to a movie after dinner. Ya' see, adult summers are like that. We do pretty much what we do in the winter. Cow tipping sounds so much more fun.

A Week Full of Days, July 13th

There are seven holidays to celebrate today, so I am positive that you can find the perfect one for you.

Gruntled Workers Day
I can't celebrate this one because at this moment, I am disgruntled. Over a brochure. Stupid work. I need to find some gruntled people to hang out with, and maybe some the their gruntledness will rub off on me.

Embrace Your Geekness Day
I read encyclopedias for fun.

Feast of Lanterns, or the Festival of the Oban, Day of the Dead. To celebrate you will need to float colorful paper lanterns lit by candles down a river to guide the spirits of loved ones passed on safely back to the land of the dead, because we don't them haunting us. Perhaps just eat some Japanese food to honor the dead.

Fool's Paradise Day somehow fits in with Go West Day and the fact that Disneyland is celebrating some fun stuff this year. But if you don't go to Disneyland perhaps barbers Music Appreciation Day can take you to your fools paradise.

National French Fry Day That one should be easy. Just don't call them Freedom Fries, or you will be Embracing Your Geekness

Different Colored Eyes Day, Pecan Pie Day, July 12th

Different Colored Eyes Day

If you are like me, you have always wanted a different color for your eyes. Yes, I want deep dark teddy bear brown eyes, with blonde hair. God really disappointed me.

I have tried out brown contacts, and the new eyes staring back at me just felt right, until I noticed that anyone looking at me from the side could see the blue underneath. Harumph!

Well, if you want to try out some colored lenses, for cosmetic reasons, this website is offering a free set, if you purchase two other sets. I wonder if they have any the shade of pecan pie? That shade might not be so clashy with my blue... No, I have done too many dramatic things to my coloring today, my hair was brown this morning. Now it is black.

Pecan Pie Day

Have some Pecan Pie y'all!

7-Eleven Day, July 11th

7-Eleven Day

Rumor has it that on July 11th, you can get a free Slurpee at any 7-Eleven C-store... Why? Because it is 7-11 silly one! There are conditions, for instance, the free size is 7.11 oz, and each participating store only has 1,000 of the 7.11 oz promotional cups. And unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an official press release from 7-11 promoting the event, or even any publicity on their web page. Even this page devoted to Slurpees states that they anticipate the tradition of the last four years will be continued. (But, that means they don't know for sure that it is happening. Oh the agony of not knowing!)

So, please, if you go to 7-11 today, and don't get a free Slurpee, please don't get all mad at me. I might cry.

Hopefully, there will be free Slurpees, but if there are not, and if you are disappointed beyond hope at the lack of free Slurpees, this list of 7-11 facts will make up for the machinations of the 7-11 marketing department, well maybe not completely, but the "Fun Facts & Trivia" made me laugh.

July 11 (7/11) is the official birthday of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain.

In 1927, convenience retailing began simply enough when an employee of Southland Ice Company in Dallas started selling milk, eggs and bread from the ice dock. Soon, the convenience store was born and became known as 7-Eleven to reflect the 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. hours of operation.

With approximately 5,800 stores in the United States and Canada and more than 27,900 worldwide, 7-Eleven is the largest convenience retailer in the world.

7-Eleven was the first to … operate 24 hours a day … sell fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups ... have a self-serve soda fountain … and offer super-size drinks.

7-Eleven took the No. 1 spot in Restaurants & Institutions magazine's convenience store concept category in the publication'’s 37th annual ranking of the top 400 restaurant concepts by sales. 7-Eleven ranked No. 15 overall in the survey.

7-Eleven has the largest ATM network of any retailer in United States.

First television advertising by any convenience store; the animated commercial featured a singing owl and rooster ran in 1949.

7-Eleven was the first c-store retailer to give customers freedom of choice by offering all major soft drink brands at the fountain.

7-Eleven was the first convenience store to sell pre-paid phone cards.

Of all U.S. retailers, 7-Eleven sells the most USA Today newspapers, Sports Illustrated magazines, cold beer, cold single-serve bottled water, cold Gatorade, fresh-grilled hot dogs, single-serve chips and money orders.

In a four-week period, customers visit a 7-Eleven store an average of 17 times, 80 percent of their total trips to any convenience store.

Nearly one-third of the 6 million people who stop by a 7-Eleven store each day purchase immediately consumable food.

7-Eleven is America's favorite beverage destination. More than half the customers each day purchase a non-alcoholic beverage.

A typical 7-Eleven store is between 2,400 and 3,000 square feet, and carries about 2,500 different items.

Who? What? Where? Who's buying the most 7-Eleven stuff? The answer is the most Slurpee beverages in the world are purchased in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; and for the United States, it's Detroit; hot dogs in Washington, D.C., coffee on Long Island, nachos in Colorado, Big Gulp drinks in Las Vegas and Utah. [What's up with all the other top consumers just being cities and Utah the state gets a distinction of being a top guzzler?]

California has more 7-Eleven stores than any other state close to 1,200.

Of all its proprietary products, 7-Eleven sells more fresh-brewed coffee than anything else more than 1 million cups each day. That's more than 10,000 pots of coffee an hour every hour of every day of the year. In fact, 7-Eleven could serve a cup of coffee to every person in its hometown of Dallas every single day now that's a Texas-sized coffee break!

7-Eleven sells close to 100 million fresh-grilled hot dogs every year, more than any other retailer in America, and could feed every person in hot dog-loving Chicago a Big Bite hot dog each day for a month.

7-Eleven was the first retailer to offer fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups, introducing it in their Northeast stores in 1964.

Beverages biggest & best: 7-Eleven was the first retailer to introduce self-serve fountain drinks. When the 32-ounce Big Gulp was introduced in 1980, it was the biggest cup on the market. In 1988, 7-Eleven introduced the giant 64-ounce Double Gulp, the biggest soft drink on the market.

Last year 7-Eleven stores sold almost 33 million gallons of fountain drinks enough to fill 75 Olympic-size swimming pools.

7-Eleven customers sip and slurp 11.6 million Slurpee beverages each month. Favorite flavors are Coca-Cola and Minute Maid Cherry. Since its introduction in 1966, close to 6 billion Slurpee drinks have been sold, just about enough for every person on the planet to have slurped.

7-Eleven registered the term brainfreeze in 1994 to communicate the painful joy of drinking a frozen Slurpee beverage.

7-Eleven sells 60 million fresh-baked donuts and pastries per year enough to feed every person in the state of Virginia a dozen donuts!

If you lined up all the World Ovens bakery items made for 7-Eleven in a year, they would extend almost 6,000 miles from Boston to San Diego and back again.

How sweet it is! 7-Eleven uses 365,000 pounds of glaze each month on its donuts, fritters and other pastries.

Most customers want a beverage with their favorite donut; 70 percent choose a cup of 7-Eleven coffee.

Blueberry is at the top of the hill as the best-selling World Ovens muffin across the country. World Ovens Bakery is 7-Eleven stores proprietary line of fresh-baked items.

7-Eleven sells 41 million gallons of milk each year enough for lots of milk mustaches! And enough to pour more than two glasses of milk for every man, woman and child in the United States. (7-Eleven Newsroom)

Enjoy!

Don't Step On A Bee Day, Clerihew Day, Teddy Bear Picnic Day, July 10th

Don't Step On A Bee Day

Please don't step on a bee. You really don't want to. It really hurts. and especially today, it might hurt more... apparently. Not much more to say on that matter. Except that I got stung by a bee on my last birthday, and I have to say it wasn't my favorite present.

Clerihew Day

First created by Edmund Clerihew Bentley, a clerihew is "a humorous, pseudo-biographical verse of four lines of uneven length, with the rhyming scheme AABB, and the first line containing the name of the subject." (Wordsmith.org)

The first clerihew ever written was this:

Sir Humphry Davy
Detested gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered Sodium.
-- Edmund Clerihew Bentley

I might try to write my own later, but now, it's time for bed, and I am not thinking cleverly.

Teddy Bear Picnic Day

I love the Teddy Bear Picnic song. I especially love the Jerry Garcia version, and the fact that he did a childrens book with the song.

Last year I discovered that my dad had never heard Jerry sing about the teddy bears picnicing. So, on our whirlwind tour of the national parks in Wyoming and Montana, and we must not forgetDinosaur, we listened to The Teddy Bear Picnic over and over again, until he believed it was Jerry Garcia. (I also made him listen to four different versions of the Rainbow Connection and and Somewhere Over the Rainbow sung by Israel Kamakawiwo`ole... to improve his education.) It made up for the horrid book on tape that we were also listening to.

Anyway, while you all are out and about on your teddy bear picnics, remember to try not to step on a bee.

Video Game Day, Kilt Day, July 8th

Video Games Day

I hate video games. I never win.

Kilt Day

Did you wear your kilt today?

Today, I went to the Payson Scottish Festival. I love bagpipes, and shortbread, and men in kilts, and so I had a very good time. And it was sort of like a video game.






We sampled some Scottish food that I have never tried before, mostly meat products wrapped in pastry, but it was quite tasty. And we had shortbread. They never have shortbread in video games, but sometimes they have food.



We saw some things for sale in the booths that should never be sold. Not ever. Because although video game women might look good in things like that, real women don't.






Many cabers were tossed, which I found much more impressive than reaching level three of Super Mario Brothers. There was even a girl tossing a few about. And hers broke. Scottish women are pretty strong.







And there were a few medieval people roaming around, looking like they crawled out of a castle-themed video game. I was okay with that, because it was fun to watch the sword fights. But, I wasn't quite sure why they were wandering around at the Scottish Fest.





I could post a bunch of video of the bagpipe competition... but I am not sure if everyone enjoys that sort of thing. I do, which is why I have one whole memory card of bagpipe video. I think I will just send it off to my dad. He will like it.



Okay. Call me a nerd. Here are the bagpipes.

Talk Like A Pirate Day, September 19th

Because Anonymous requested that I post a year in advance, I decided to go and check out that new piratey movie thing in preparation for Talk Like A Pirate Day, on September 19th.

So, I lost one of my earrings while standing in a really long line. Just one of my earrings, so I looked like a pirate and didn't even know it.

I don't know how long it was missing from my ear, because the two very cute very well dressed boys standing behind me gave it back to me after we had been in line for at least an hour. Apparently, they noticed that I was missing one of my earrings, (yes, they did and I didn't notice that I was missing an earring, how lame am I?) and they looked around until they found it.

But, the movie was good. I am going to completely agree with Nemesis's opinion of the flick: Specifically, I too, enjoyed it, but not as much as the first one. I probably might have enjoyed it more if we didn't have people sitting behind us with the breath of death, and an unfortunate seat kicking habit. Stony looks did not settle the legs of these high school kids. With the smelly breath and twitchy legs going on, it almost wasn't worth it to sit through the long, long credits for the final extra scene. It wasn't a spectacular extra scene.

But, do go see Pirates of the Caribbean to prepare for Talk Like A Pirate Day! (It's only 72 days away!) I promise that you probably won't lose your earring.

Other Holidays...

July 6th is... National Fried Chicken Day

July 5th was... Workaholics Day

July 4th was (other than Independence Day)... National Country Music Day, Sidewalk Egg Frying Day, and Tom Sawyer Fence-Painting Day (How did I miss Tom Sawyer Fence-Painting Day?!?!?!)

July 2nd was... International Joke Day, and I Forgot Day

July 1st was... Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day and Build a Scarecrow Day

June 30th was... Superman's Birthday (though I have found other days that claim that fame) and Meteor Day

June 29th was... Camera Day

June 28th was... PAUL BUNYAN DAY AND I MISSED IT!!!!!


Happy late Paul Bunyan Day to my favorite little kiddittles (Sweetpea, FF&AHYO, & Squishy Checks) who have made Paul Bunyan a regular visitor to my little apartment.

The Weeks of July

July 1st-8th

National Unassisted Homebirth Week (I was an unassisted homebirth- I don't think my parents would recommend it); Special Recreation Week; Freedom From Fear of Speaking Week; Be Nice to New Jersey Week; Freedom Week;

July 10th-16th

Nude Recreation Weekend

July 9th-15th

Take Charge of Change Week; National Farriers Week; National Therapeutic Recreation Week; Sports Cliche Week; Nude Beach Week;

July 15th-22st

Rabbit Week; Captive Nations Week; National Independent Retailers' Week; National Baby Food Week;

July 23rd-31st

Make up your own week!

July Is.... Month

July is the seventh month of the year, named for Julius Caesar. In the northern hemisphere, July is usually the warmest part of the summer, and sometimes is called the dog days of summer, because of the rising of Sirius, the "dog" star. The full moon during July can have many names, Buck Moon, Blood Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Hay Moon, or the Full Thunder Moon. (My favorite is the Full Thunder Moon.)

Most of July's monthly celebrations seem to involve picnic-food. Maybe that means that we should all quit work and go on picnics every afternoon. Sweet! Anyone want to dare me?

National American Beer Month; Anti-Boredom Month; National Baked Bean Month; Blueberries Month; National Boredom Month; Cell Phone Courtesy Month; National Corn Month; National Doghouse Repairs Month; Family Reunion Month; National Grilling Month; Herbal Remedy Month; Hitchhiking Month (not safe); National Home Inspector Appreciation Month; National Horseradish Month; National Hot Dog Month; National Hyperhidrosis Education Month; National Ice Cream Month; National Purposeful Parenting Month; National Picnic Month; National Parks and Recreation Month; Prescription Awareness Month; National Read An Almanac Month; Roots and Branches Month; Smart Irrigation Month; Social Wellness Month; National Voluntary Blood Donation Month (so tell the mosquitoes to go away, you are not volunteering); National Tennis Month; National UV Safety Month; National Wheelchair Beautification Month; Women's Motorcycle Month

Air Conditioning Appreciation Days, Stay Out Of The Sun Day, Disobedience Day, July 3rd

Air Conditioning Appreciation Days and Stay Out Of The Sun Day

I feel conflicted. I don't feel that I can fully appreciate air conditioning unless I stand out under the heat of the sun for some part of the day, and then go into the enveloping coolness of the air conditioning But, then I would be violating the second holiday. Oh, the agony of making decisions! Perhaps you will be better able to manage your celebratory method.

Disobedience Day

So there isn't just a whole bunch of chaos on Disobedience Day, maybe we should focus on civil disobedience. Thoreau wrote an essay titled Civil Disobedience. My favorite quote from that essay is,

"No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day."

That is still true today. We have problems, and no-one has solutions. We get hopeful when new leaders run for election, but then they all just turn out weird.

Anyway, today is a perfect day to read Civil Disobedience, perhaps plan a rally of your own. Tomorrow will be a perfect day to exercise your freedoms with a little civil disobedience. Just make sure it's for a good cause.

Sunday Bliss

Sitting in church with my favorite four and a half year old

FF&AHYO: Draw a house
AMS: Okay
FF&AHYO: Now a tree
AMS: **scratches on paper**
FF&AHYO: Now a cat
AMS: With whiskers?
FF&AHYO: Yeah!
AMS: There!
FF&AHYO: Now a dog
AMS: Uh... okay
FF&AHYO: That doesn't look like a dog
AMS: I know. I'm a bad draw-er
FF&AHYO: It looks like a dinosaur
AMS: Yep, you're right. It looks like a Brontosaurus
FF&AHYO: Can you draw a dog now?
AMS: I don't think that I can. Sometimes when we ask for a dog, we get a Brontosaurus.