My relief that it is Friday is profound. I’m going to again get all of this set to post on its own this morning so I don’t have to take any extra time to sit down and get the computer going before getting out the door to work. I know already, on Thursday night, that I don’t want to get up in the morning and get ready, and that it will be a restless night because I can’t move my knee very much. It’s definitely better than it was, but I don’t lie, it’s pretty uncomfortable. I’m ready for it to be back to normal with its usual aches and pains and have this part of it go away. Work went pretty well yesterday. I stayed low key, got up when I had to, kept it elevated much of the time, and just took things slowly. I’ll be doing the same throughout Friday and throughout the weekend. I am hoping for a miracle to happen, that it will be all better before the end of the weekend, or at least better enough to be able to get out and do a few things in the yard. I know that’s probably wishful thinking, but is there really any other kind in this sort of a situation?
Verse of the Day
May 11, 2018
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Be kind and compassionate — two qualities that seem to be in short supply. Maybe it’s because we hold up the wrong heroes. Unfortunately, these two qualities are often seen as signs of weakness rather than strength. To forgive as God forgave us requires great courage and great strength. So, let’s be strong!
Food for Thought
If you have been sitting in a restaurant for a long time waiting for your food, and you’ve been watching others who came in after you get served, and your server comes over to assure you that you have not been forgotten, I’m guessing you were forgotten. Seriously, just tell the truth and don’t bring me cold food to compound the lie. Geesh.
Child Care Provider Day – I honestly can think of very few professions taken more for granted and taken advantage of than child care providers. How can I say this you ask? Well, my Mother, bless her for her patience, operated a licensed home day care from the time I was about 9 years old until long after I moved out and had a family of my own. After she closed the day care she became a private nanny for individual families. For more than 20 years we had up to 20 kids running in and out every day, all day. At the time, her license allowed so many kids per adult in the house. I counted as an adult, and my father was at home during the day since he worked at night. Between getting kids off to school, exchanging morning kindergarten for afternoon kindergarten, then after school . . . it was a busy, whirlwind life and I learned that there are very few things in this life that I wanted to be less than a day care provider. I don’t have the patience for it! My Mother though, she was, and still is, amazing with kids. She was in control every single second. Not a sticky set of fingers, or runny nose got past her without being cleaned up. Meals and snacks were nutritious and always on time, giggles and hugs were plentiful all day long, no matter what was going on. Children immediately love her as soon as they meet her . . . of course, she’s Mom – what’s not to love? The person who cares for your children is a HUGE influence in their lives! They help form the moral framework children are growing up with – the kids in our house learned to pray for their meals, how to say please and thank you when it was called for, they learned to take turns, wash their hands and cover their mouths when they coughed or sneezed. These children learned to love stories at the knee of my Mom, who could tell a story like nobody else. She played imagination games that no other adult would think to play. One day she’d be an astronaut, the next a princess, maybe a pirate, and sometimes an explorer. She knew all the best places to hide for Hide-n-Seek, and somehow she managed to not FIND a child just long enough to hear them giggling from their hiding place as they thought they’d succeeded in being hidden better than anyone, even when they hid in the same spot every single time. These are children who still want to be a part of her life, even as they are beginning to have children of their own. We should all be so fortunate to have someone like my Mom to care for our children. The truly sad thing is that people always seem to want to underpay the child care provider. Why IS that? These people are taking care of our most precious family members, our children! To get a quality person to watch over our little ones, we should be willing to pay them what they are worth! I realize that this is expensive, but if you are going to be leaving your kids while you work, then make sure that they are properly cared for and loved in your absence! If you have babies in child care, please, let your care giver know you love and appreciate them today. Take them a card, a gift certificate for something they’ll like, some flowers . . . maybe a bonus! Let them know that all of the love they lavish on our Littles is not only appreciated, it’s vitally important and we couldn’t do our jobs without them doing theirs. Sometimes just saying the words is enough to let them know how much you care.
Fintastic Friday – Giving Sharks a Voice – People kill as many as 100 million sharks every year – many of those just for their fins! Shark populations have plummeted 75% to 90% in many ecosystems. Worldwide, they have little or not protection. Well, Whale Times has teamed up with the scientists at the Shark Research Institute (SRI) to raise awareness of the plight of sharks through a new holiday event – Fintastic Friday. Think about this number – its staggering – about 11,415 sharks die . . . EVERY HOUR! Help ‘Save the Sharks’ by raising awareness and appreciation for this incredible predator, sign a petition for “No Finning” efforts, and anything else you can think of to do. The sharks need you! They may appear to be scary and face it, sometimes they are! But they are so important to the ecosystem, and to allow them to be endangered is unacceptable. I saw a special on sharks once that haunted me with its message. The people who want the sharks for their fins, for a supplement that isn’t even proven to do anything, catch the sharks, cut off their fins, and release them back to the ocean, alive, suffering and dying a painful, horrible death. This truly is a heinous crime against a magnificent creature, so please, help raise awareness today for this good cause. Go to www.whaletimes.org to see many ways you can help in these efforts.
Hostess Cupcake Day – The very first Hostess Cupcake was sold on May 11, 1919. It is said to be the first commercially produced cupcake that was originally produced by the Taggart Bakery, and was called the Chocolate Cup Cake. Hostess says that it was the first snack cake ever introduced to the market. In 2004 Hostess’s rival, Tastykake, disputed this claim, saying that THEY introduced the first snack cake to the market. Back in 1919, two cupcakes sold for 5 cents. (wow, some things have definitely changed!) There were different flavors during the early years, which included cupcakes that were topped with vanilla or malted milk icing. During the 1940s they developed an orange flavored cupcake, with orange cake and icing. Personally I think that sounds horrible! You know the trademark white squiggly line across the top of the cake? It didn’t come about until 1950. There was an employee at Hostess named D.R. “Doc” Rice, who started working there in 1938 who had the job of dumping baked cakes onto a table. In 1947 he was given the job of developing the Hostess Cup Cake further, which came to the production of an updated cupcake in 1950. The white squiggle on top was added to distinguish it from other cupcakes that were on the market. The vanilla crème filling was also added during this update. Rice got the idea for putting crème filling into the cupcake when a new machine for putting the filling into Twinkies came into being. The company just continued to grow until 2012 when they had to declare bankruptcy due to ongoing issues with unions and contracts. Until that point, as of 2011, Hostess sold over 600 million cupcakes each year. They have made a comeback after their financial woes, which makes many people very happy. Personally the last time I had a Hostess product it tasted like chemicals – very gross. This is one that I will not be celebrating . . .
Military Spouse Appreciation Day – is held on the Friday before Mother’s Day . It is a day to recognize and honor the real backbone of the military . . . the wives and husbands of our soldiers. The majority of military spouses are women – this isn’t in any way meant to diminish the contributions of military husbands, but it is a fact of life that most of the spouses waiting at home are the wives. I’ve known many military wives and their contributions to the spirit and well being of our soldiers it unparalleled. This goes to the wives/husbands of the wounded veterans as well. They are still military spouses and deserve to be recognized for all they do. My daughter is the wife of a WIA veteran – and for every heroic thing he did for our nation, we are proud and grateful – but she is there with him, every step of the way, helping him through the aftermath of what he suffered for his service to our country. So to each and every one of you who support our men and women in the military from the home front – we thank you and we stand humbled by your service to your country.
Root Canal Appreciation Day – My initial reaction to this one was “huh?” Someone seriously set up a day to appreciate Root Canals? Have they ever actually HAD a root canal? But as I read up about it, it made more sense. Now some sites said this was an awareness day, some said appreciation. Either way, tooth pain is not something to laugh about, and for anyone who has had that pain that took them to the endodontist for treatment, they will truly appreciate that Root Canals are something they can have done to take away the pain. I’ve had my share of them over the years, so I truly do appreciate that they are a treatment for that awful pain. Celebrate your teeth by taking care of them, and keep on smiling!
Twilight Zone Day – Weird . . . mysterious. . . surreal . . . maybe a little scary? There are many more adjectives, but you get the pictures. Every once in awhile you need a day that is a little offbeat, much like the show The Twilight Zone. The show was created, written and narrated by Rod Sterling. It premiered on October 1, 1959, and was wildly popular, stretched the imagination and captivated viewers. It was on the air from 1959-1964. The funny thing is that nothing about this show has anything at all to do with today’s date . . . so I suppose it falls in line the mysterious and oddity of the day! As a side note, for those of you who watched The Twilight Zone, what was your favorite episode? The one that stands out in MY mind was the one where all of the store mannequins came to life. CREEPY! I couldn’t pass a mannequin in the store after that without thinking about that episode.
This Day in History –
1916 – Einstein’s presents his Theory of General Relativity.
1947 – BF Goodrich manufactures the first tubeless tire.
1951 – Jay Forrester patents computer core memory.
Food Celebration of the Day –
Eat What You Want Day – What would you like to eat today? Health permitting go ahead and have any and all of your favorite foods and snacks. Today is Eat What You Want Day! It’s most definitely not a day to celebrate if you are on a special eating program, but if you aren’t, then for one single, solitary day of the year, if at no other time, go for it. Splurge and enjoy. Tomorrow it can be back to the healthy way of eating that is so important to our lives. Think of something you do without because it’s not good for you (unless of course you have medical or allergy issues to work around), but that you miss, and indulge. No guilt.
Since I’ve pretty much been eating what I want for the last two days, I guess I’ve been celebrating this food celebration already! I’m going to try to get more back to normal, so what I want to eat will be more healthy than what I have been eating since I fell down. Maybe. God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow!
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