Well, another year has passed since my last check in here. Apologies to those who check in here regularly looking for silly statements of fact and or fiction.

I don't know why I let so much time go by between postings, I do really enjoy emptying my brain pan out and sharing with strangers, acquaintances and friends.

Originally, this page was to celebrate a special day on the calendar.  Today is December 3rd and I was reminded that Carol Burnett is having a 50th anniversary special on tonight. I can't believe that it has been so long since my family began watching this grand woman make us laugh. Good luck on the showing tonight, Carol. No worries, it can't be bad!!!!

Hope everyone watches tonight (or tomorrow, if you DVR) and enjoys.

If you like, Comment below with your favorite skit, character. or laugh. I would love to read it!

Beautiful Blurt

Had a nice drive to take my nephew to an orthodontist appointment. 45 minutes there, 45 minutes back. The appointment was a noon, so after we stopped at a Sonic to pick up some food.  Chicken for Nicholas and Mom and a burger for me.


The gal came to deliver the food. We traded a box, a bag and the cups for cash.

Then, suddenly, out of the blue, to the shock of all in the car...I know, I think I am going a bit overboard but it was CRAZY.  She looks at Mom and says.

"Ma'am, You're Beautiful."

WOW! What? Who Me? Mom was flabbergasted. She went on to say basically the same sentiment for a few more minutes, and Mom finally stopped protesting and accepted the compliment.

Those three words made Mom feel good. They made her feel beautiful. Made her feel noticed.

That girl does not know my mother, nor me. I don't think that she does that to everyone she delivers lunch to. Where ever you are Sonic Server, Thanks. Here's to you. You are Beautiful. You are celebrated today!
Patti

BONUS CELEBRATE: Actually, not for me...Although Had I known that it was National Frappe Day, we would have gotten Blasts, or shakes or something similar!

Today I celebrate my old friend Grace.  She started a blog here and helped me realize that I really missed writing something almost every day. I have lost my followers here and hope maybe I can get all four of them back again...maybe a few more to boot.

Grace and I met when we were in elementary school...Marumsco Hills. She was a grade below me she mostly hung out with my sister, Debi, and I was friends with her sister, Kristina. It is funny how time and distance change things.

In the early 1970s the kids in our neighborhood were nearly inseparable. Skating, Biking, Red Light-Green-Light, Red Rover, cookies (thanks, Mom). Back then we used to walk to school, well, at least until we moved up to the middle school and then, at least for Kristina and I, the High School. (Man, did that terrify me!!!)

Anyway, thanks Grace for starting a blog and as soon as I figure out how to follow your blog I will!

Patti

PS...Didn't know it until I finished this post that today is

National Good Neighbor Day....

I think I am a fair current neighbor and let's ask Grace what kind of past neighbor I was.   ;) 

Warm Spring

Today I am celebrating a beautiful warm spring day spent with lovely family members.  Hours of Scrabble on the back deck with Mom and a luscious dinner at a local restaurant with Mom and Sister. A good steak, Mac and Cheese and green beans with a follow up of Deep Chocolate Brownie and homemade vanilla ice cream.  That's all I have to say....Celebrate Today with ME!

April 15th

I went through all of my research material and decided to leave them behind and not celebrate the Carpathia saving so many people who survived the sinking of the Titanic. Or, I could have focused on any one of the scores of 'famous' people who were born or died on this day including Leonardo Di Vinci (Mona Lisa, etc); Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched); and Roy Clark (Thank God and Greyhound She's Gone). But I have decided to celebrate the end of worrying about Filling out those DREADFUL federal forms known as 1040s.

Many people fill out their forms in February, shortly after receiving their W2s, 1099s and other forms that summarize their previous year's income. I usually like to do mine the first part of March. This year I waited until the beginning of April because of many extracurricular influences, real or imaginary. 

It took me a little over 3 hours to fill out the form using a computer program. I can't tell you how long it took me prior to sitting down at the keyboard to gather all the paperwork required to answer the questions. I don't know if that is high or low for filers similar to me, but I don't feel too badly about the time. I know that once I hit the file button I felt relief that it was over.

Monday, I went online to "find out where your return is", and discovered that it hadn't filed. OH NO. I opened my program and discovered that it had not been e-filed. I quickly hit the red button and filed. I am so glad I checked before the deadline. But talk about a stomach turn! Shortly after pressing that submit button, I received an email confirming my submission and the next day, an email notifying me that my form was accepted. 

So, today, I celebrate not worrying about filling out another IRS 1040 for at least 9 months. Hope you can celebrate with me.

Aventure, Courage, Celebration

45 years ago today three American astronauts became the center of the world almost 200 miles from home.

Many people experienced this first hand and even more watched the movie starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton as the ill-fated astronauts.  If you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it. And if you have no idea of the story, stop reading now and watch the movie or read your favorite history book.

Really, you can stop, I won't be angry.....




Approximately 3 days, 15 hours later the crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean where they were picked up by the USS Iwo Jima after 45 minutes of floating. The three men in good spirits and mostly good health.

I ask that we Celebrate Today

1-the adventurous spirits of humans who wish to explore unknowns;
2-the courage of those who work through seemingly unbeatable problems;
3-the quick-to-celebrate nature we have when finally fear and anxiety have passed. 

Celebrate Today. Celebrate Everyday.

Sixty is the New Forty

Today marks the 65th Birth Anniversary of David Cassidy.

When you finish catching your breath, picking yourself up off the floor and cleaning up your spilt iced tea, go ahead and start counting on your fingers to make sure that I'm not wrong. Sorry, I'm not.

David Cassidy was one of my all time heartthrobs back in the day. I wanted so badly to live next door to the Partridge Family. Although I probably would have been pestered day and night by that dreaded Danny!

Until this Celebrate Today Post, I hadn't realized he was that much older than me. I suppose that is the magic of TV and the fact that the phrase "Sixty is the new Forty" going around it stands to reason that looking younger now had to start decades ago, say a twenty year old playing a high school student.

So, Celebrate today, the 65th Birthday of David Cassidy and look in the mirror and realize that you still look good for your age and Celebrate that as well.

End of American Civil War

Today, April 9, 2015, marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the nearly 4 year long War Between the States (aka the American Civil War).

In this little slice of my opinion I am not going to celebrate the war itself or even the ending of the war. I am not a Civil War buff, nor a history buff (per se), and I don't know too much about the matter.

What I am celebrating is my connection to the surrender. I know I am probably stretching it, but While researching my family history, I discovered that a great, great, great cousin, several times removed had moved from Richmond and rented the McLean house (which was now owned by John Pascoe who had purchased the bank owned house at auction in November, 1869).

"Cousin" Nathaniel Ragland then purchased the home from Pascoe for $1250 and lived their until his death. His Widow (Martha, I believe) then sold the home in 1891 to a Yankee from Niagara Falls, NY for a whopping $10,000.

I wonder, was she a genius marketer and used the historical past to make such a wonderful profit?

So, today, I celebrate a distant cousin who really had nothing to do with the surrender of Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army at the McLean House in Appomattox, VA on this sesquicentennial anniversary!

April 4th Decisions

Well, who would have thought that I would be having decision making problems for too many celebratory worthy things happening today.

Do I urge you to celebrate the first portable phone call in 1973 in NYC.  Or the release of one of my dad's favorite movies Planet of the Apes in 1968? Or the birth of Bill France, Jr, the son of NASCAR founder and the one who had brought the sport into more mainstream national events from its southern roots?

Oh, Decisions Decisions.

Okay, I'll let you decide. Choose one and celebrate in what ever fashion fits the event. OR how about watching Planet of the Apes on your cell phone during a NASCAR race? Sounds perfect to me!

PS:  Happy Birthday Grumpy Cat, Heath Ledger, James Roday, Nancy McKeon, Craig T Nelson, Kitty Kelly, Anthony Perkins, Maya Angelou, Muddy Waters, John Cameron Swayze, Arthur Murray, Tad Lincoln, Dorothea Dix, and Linus Yale, Jr (just to name a few). If you are having a birthday today or know someone who is, please feel free to add in the comments area below.

AND DON'T FORGET TO CELEBRATE TODAY!

Movies

ON this day, 1902, the first full time movie theater is opened by Thomas Tally on South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles.

 Movies released that year included Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; A Trip to the Moon (a fave of mine); Snow White; and The Coronation of Edward VII. All tickets sold for a dime. The movie house was such a hit they had to expand their original 7:30-10:30 pm hours to include a daylight matinee showing.

In the news recently, I saw an article that questioned if Hollywood had run out of ideas. What do you think. I agree it may seem like it with tons of remakes and sequels but I don't think that they have run out of ideas. I think that the powers that be are just not ready to accept a challenge and make a movie that might not be a mega-million maker.

In the mean time, let's visit a theater and Celebrate. I wonder where I can get a copy of A Trip to the Moon....

International Children's Book Day

Today is the anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen's Birth (1805 - 1875) and International Children's Book Day. No, not a coincidence.

Hans Christian Andersen is one of my favorite writers. He was a prolific writer most known for his fairy tales, hence International Children's Book Day. My favorite is The Princess and the Pea, no, wait, The Ugly Duckling, no wait... Too many to choose just one.

I have a wonderful hardback book called Christine's Picture Book. A scrapbook of stories, cutouts and drawings that he compiled with Christine's grandfather Adolph Drewsen for the little girl's 3rd birthday.  It is a wonderful collection, that I discovered, that was not unique. The two men worked on books for all three of Drewson's grandchildren. Will have to look into getting copies of the other two. If you are interested in this book I discovered in my research today that it is available as a free download.

For a fairy tale version of Hans Christian Andersen's life, try watching the 1952 movie (of the same name) starring the Fabulous Danny Kaye!

In celebration of Int'l Children's Book Day, let's pick up a copy of H.C. Andersen's works and read to kid, or ourselves, on this wonderful day. If you can't commit to the length of a fairy tale, Seuss or Aesop might be an acceptable alternative.

CELEBRATE WITH ME.

Sunshine

There are so many events that happen each day. Happenings on this day on the research sites I use go back as far as 240BC when it was recorded that a Comet was visible in the night skies. Eventually it would be named Halley's Comet.

Also, in 1981, US President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley. I remember this event, kept news articles about it. Not really a celebratory type of event, but nonetheless, noteworthy.

Today I would like to chat about Sunshine. No it is not the anniversary of the birth of our sun, but the anniversary of a song celebrating the sun.

Sunshine on My Shoulders, by John Denver, made it to number one on this day in 1974. A sad song? No, but that is what John was feeling when he wrote it. He was feeling a little blue and tried to show it through song. It didn't work, in my opinion.

It always seems to make me happy when I hear it. There are some nice versions on YouTube that you can play to help you CELEBRATE TODAY.

BRRR!

BRRRR!
March 29th

167 years ago today the water flowing over the falls at Niagara stopped.

A few panicked hours later, the sun rose. Many people jammed churches with fears of the end of the world.  Some feared divine retribution, some feared retaliation over the war with Mexico.

Once the sun rose, people began walking the bed of the river avoiding flopping fish (maybe picking a few up for dinner??) and scrambling turtles. Many collected debris that had been thrown into the river in years past such as bayonets, tomahawks and guns as souvenirs. (Apparently none of these people were concerned that the ice jam/dam could be cleared as quickly as it built up.)

The relatively new Maid of the Mist tour boats took the opportunity to clear away some large boulders that had caused needed tricky maneuvers from boat captains during their tour rides.
Soon, news finally arrived  (from Buffalo 3-hours away) that ice on Lake Erie had been blown by strong southwest winds into the mouth of the Niagara River, blocking the flow.

Many businesses had to close down, waterwheels that powered mills shut down. People began to flock to Niagara to see this historic event.

The falls would be quiet for a total of thirty to forty hours, when, after sundown on March 31st, a huge thunderous rumbling could be heard coming from the south. As it became louder, a wall of water rushed toward Niagara and returned the little town back to normal.

As I write this story of events of those couple of days, I recall the super cold and snowy winter we have had here on the east coast. Could this happen again?  Could Niagara stop running again? Maybe this year? Who knows, but I would love to know what wonderful things could be found on the bed of the great and awesome river after 167 years of not seeing drylight.

Celebrate a spectacular weather event Today!

Hello?

HELLO! Long time no visit....I have been so negligent in my posting, but will try, again, to keep up. I really enjoy coming up with reasons to celebrate.

I sat down this morning to post today when I got a call from my sister in Mississippi. Even in this age of instant messaging, Facebook and cell phones it has been a good little while since we 'chatted'. All of these technologies still can't help the brain remember things.

So, while listening to Keeks fill me in on the family, I scrolled through a few lists of historical happenings and special days when one jumped out at me as appropriate for my day today:

On March 27, 1884 the first long distance call made from Boston, Mass to New York, NY was placed.

Although other long distance lines had been erected and used, this was the inaugural use of this particular line. Another first for the day, this particular phone line used copper rather than galvanized iron. I don't know much about galvanized iron, but it sounds quite heavy. AND since, until recently when fiber optics were invented, all phone lines began using copper, it was probably provided a better quality to all calls.

I wonder what Bell, Grey, Edison, Morse, Manzetti, Reis and the scores of other inventors thought of or built of what turned out to be known as the telephone if they were here today. Making a call on our cell phones and talking across distances without wires and sending "letters" without paper and ink.

January 29th

Today is "National Puzzle Day".

I have recently picked up (again) the hobby of jigsaw puzzles. Back a few years ago it was a box full of tiny weirdly shaped pieces of pressed cardboard with a photograph glued to one side. Now it is online. You can find jigsaw puzzles easily online, just type in "online jigsaw puzzles".

I currently do many of mine through the Facebook Ap provided by Jigsaw World (also available without need of Facebook).  One of my mothers favorite places to download jigsaw puzzles is the Squirrel Rehab site.  Not only do they help defenseless baby (and adult, if needed) squirrels, they also offer guidelines, photos and Puzzles. You can play on the site or download puzzles to play whenever you like.

There are so many other types of puzzles, crossword, word finds, sudoku... What is your favorite kind of puzzle? 

La Elephant!

September 22nd is Elephant Appreciation day. I am focusing on this 'holiday' because my sister, a follower of this blog (supposedly) LOVES elephants.

Relatively speaking this is a new obsession for her. When she was a kid it was owls. I wonder what it is about elephants she is so crazy about.

I don't mean that elephants aren't interesting animals, kinda cute, surprisingly light on their feet when they want to be, and they and freak people out with their trunks. But really, their skin is rough, petting can't be fun. Their ears are big....can you imagine all the ear wax that builds up...and who has to clean that out...(ohh, another elephant with its trunk maybe. Okay, that might be in the pro side of the elephant) AND they (reportedly) NEVER FORGET. That has to be a great memory and I am not sure I want to have everything I do remembered like that.

Hmmm, I wonder if she became a Republican because of their mascot???

Dirty Hands

Today is Garden Week during Lawn and Garden Month. Do you have a garden? I always thought I would like to have a garden. I guess because I like the idea of all those nice flowers. but I have never really been able to get the earth to grow the things I want to look at.

I am not much a a fresh veggie gal, either. I don't mind a tomato in my salad or on a sandwich but I am not like many people who could just take a bite out of a tomato just picked from the vine. Peppers, onions, cukes...they don't agree with me. They always want to sass back.

Peas would be good for me to grow in my garden. Once, I tried to grow corn, actually two years in a row. The chipmunks got my first years planting. The following year I rigged up a chicken-wire frame to keep those little buggers out. It seemed to work as I got quite a few stalks growing. It wasn't until later that I was told by a real gardener that I needed to 'pollinate' the stalks by hand to actually get corn.

Well, that might have been mostly true but I did get an ear of corn. It looked like one of those baby corns you see packed in a glass jar full of water in the veggie aisle. You know, the ones like Tom Hanks tried eating while being an adult in the movie Big.


Well, needless to say, I don't have a garden anymore. Well, not MY garden. There is a landscaped area in front of my unit that has irises in the spring that are pretty that someone else planted and takes care of. Pretties without having to get my hands dirty.

Today, I went out to lunch with Mom while shopping. We were driving around shopping centers looking for stores we wanted to go into when we saw a little restaurant (turned out to be a regional chain) called Kelly's. We had been seeing commercials on the local news recently so we decided to try it out. It seemed like a "hopping" place and everyone looked like they were having a good time. I guess the ad people did their job properly, 'cause we went in.

It was about 12:10 and the place was not 'hopping'. While standing at the door, we saw and heard no one. The hostess finally came out and sat us. We checked out the menu. Mom decided on the Monte Cristo on the Easter Special menu, I chose Southwest Eggrolls.

If you haven't had a Monte Cristo, you should try one once. Hopefully it is done correctly and it will be one of your favorite sandwiches forever. The one at Kelly's was not done correctly. It was a grilled Ham, Turkey and Cheese sandwich with almost no flavor. A true Monte Cristo is batter-dipped and deep fried and melts in your mouth.

Eggrolls, I am not one of the most experienced but imagine that they should be in, I don't know, an egg roll wrapper? this was a thick bread with (delicious) chicken, black beans, corn, cheese, etc. They probably should have called this stuffed breadsticks.

Next time we are up north, we will not be Celebrating Today at Kelly's.

Want a Good Laugh...Maybe Not Here...

April is National Humor Month...is it a coincidence that it is also Stress Awareness Month.  They say that laughter is the best medicine. Today I will attempt a joke or two...

A duck walks into a bar and says to the bartender, "Give me my bill." The bartender looks at the duck and said, "It's on your face." hahahahahahahhaahhahahah.

How about a Knock-Knock Joke....Ready?   Okay, you start...

Bahhhahhhahhhahahahahah.

I kill myself...not funny?  Maybe there isn't enough stress in my life to make a good joke...maybe too much.  Can you do better?

hello again

It has been a while since I posted here...is it because I haven't had anything to celebrate? Maybe. I am going to try...

Tomorrow is Valentines Day. Another year not celebrating with a special someone. (Well, this celebration blog is going well isn't it?) Watching others cuddle and coo over jewelry, chocolates and flowers. Yippie. Watching sappy movies, ostracizing myself for sobbing and being happy that the couple on screen have finally found each other. BAH!

Let's celebrate the other Valentine's Day. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. We can thank gangsters for this lovely distraction from the sappy day of love. Although it is not known exactly who pulled off the murder of 5 members of Bugs Moran's North Side Irish gang, it is believed that the South Side Italian gang lead by Al Capone was responsible. Why do you ask did four mobster dressed as cops slaughter 6 guys from a rival gang?...No one knows for sure...Hijacked liquor shipments, that guy looked at that guy's girl; that guy walked into the wrong restaurant, on the wrong side of the street. Mostly, it seems to me, just because. Just because some people think they are better than other people...isn't that the reason most wars are fought?

Let's celebrate something this week that doesn't happen very often...Peace. The best way to celebrate. Don't fight.