Yesterday was busy in a different way than my normal Wednesdays. It wasn’t bad though! After I posted yesterday’s celebrations I got myself ready, loaded up 5 loads of laundry and headed out the door with a newly downloaded e-book to read at the laundromat. After running an errand for hubby, and realizing that I forgot the laundry detergent and bleach, I stopped to get some and realized that I was hungry, so I went to one of my favorite restaurants to get chicken pho. YUM! Trying to stick with lower carb eating, I ordered it minus the noodles. I love it for the broth anyway. I would have been more than happy with just a bowl of broth but that may have been a bit weird, so I took the chicken and the vegetables they bring with it too. I sat there eating my soup, reading my book and enjoying a very nice 45 minutes all to myself. Afterward I headed to do the laundry – and was pleasantly surprised to find that the laundromat – which I had not been to for many years – has upgraded their machines. The entire process only took 30 minutes and $11 which I thought was pretty darned awesome! At that point, knowing that I had an entire dishwasher full of dirty dishes to hand wash and 5 loads of laundry to dry and fold, I caved on the low-carb eating and picked up a take and bake pizza. It was DELICIOUS! Seriously, it was pretty awesome. Sometimes the comfort of carbs is just a bit too enticing to pass up. Good thing I didn’t switch to low-carb for a medical reason – well beyond my joints feeling better. I can say, without a doubt, that I’m a bit sore today but I don’t know if that’s from the food or from standing much of the day. Either way, I went to bed feeling like I accomplished quite a bit. Yahoo, right?
Verse of the Day
March 29, 2018
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Righteousness! That’s what we are. We are not righteous. No, it is much bigger than that. We are God’s righteousness. We are the testimony of how holy, just and gracious he truly is because, in Jesus, we are his righteousness!
www.verseoftheday.com
Food for Thought
There’s something really good about the feeling of missing a creature that is crossing the road, instead of hitting and killing it. Have a nice life little salamander! I hope nobody else came along to make a lizard squish out of you.
Manatee Appreciation Day – I’ve never seen a manatee . . . well, except in pictures. I didn’t even really know what one was until not all that many years ago. Manatees are water mammals known best for their immense size and their jowls. They certainly wouldn’t make a list of cutest animals, but there are apparently enough manatee appreciators to have created a Manatee Appreciation Day! Raising awareness about these quirky critters is the intention, since it is an unfortunate fact that manatees are endangered. Hunting them is usually illegal, but they continue to be poached for their meat and their hide. Also, they are often fatally injured in accidents with boats. The extinction of any animal is a horrible thing, and honestly it tips the scale against the human race and the balance of the all living creatures when one type of animal or another ceases to exist. Events to celebrate the manatee usually take place in places where there is a larger manatee population, like Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean. Zoos and marine biology centers may offer a special manatee-related program today as well. You don’t have to go anywhere specific to celebrate this one – all you really have to do is research manatees and donate to a conservation program.
National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day – Today we celebrate small business owners. People who, by hard work, dedication and countless hours nurture and grow their dream business, deserve to be applauded. Especially in the current economical situation where it appears that free enterprise and being independent of handouts and government dependency is punished through higher taxes, increased minimum wage, the insurance mandate, etc. The demanding workload, and when the business first starts, lack of hired staff, often turns out to mean long and late hours, missed family events and time gone by with those that they love that they will never get back. It is worth it though, to have something you love to do, that you built with your own two hands, and living the American dream, in spite of the road blocks that are put in the way. New businesses have always been a vital, not always appreciated, part of the U.S. economy! This seems to be something that as individuals we need to think about, and vote OUT of office those who would punish small business for being successful, and think about when voting new people INTO office. Choosing leadership that applauds independent business and does everything to support it, will also boost our economy and help all of us live better lives. We got a good start when we elected a new President . . . now we need to focus on other elected officials who are of the same mind set as the previous administration. All of the programs out there right now aimed at the “give me something free” part of their voter base, those programs need SOME source of funding. Business, small and large, and people who actually have a sense of pride and work ethic, are the folks working their fingers to the bone so that all of that hard earned money can be thrown around the way it has been lately. It’s time for a lot of people to recognize where it comes from and show some appreciation. (sorry, hot button issue) One pretty awesome thing about small businesses that I have always liked, when you call them on the phone, you get a live person. I hate those long, complicated, annoying, circuitous phone tree systems. For crying out loud! Just answer the phone! Mom and Pop shops? Yes, they answer their phones! They also know their products, since they created them. You won’t reach someone on the phone who is doing their customer service from some other country, who has never used the product, or who doesn’t speak or understand the language you do. Yes, this is a real peeve with me. Today appreciate your Mom and Pop business owners – shop in their stores not just today, but every day because they are the folks keeping our neighborhoods alive.
National Vietnam War Veterans Day – This celebration is LONG overdue but so worthy of observing. Honoring the men and women who served and sacrificed during the longest conflict in the history of the United States is something that should have been doing all along. Combat support units withdrew from South Vietnam on this date in 1973. When the soldiers returned they were treated with terrible disrespect by so many people who opposed the war, people who were too caught up in their own agenda to be able to separate the war from the soldiers who were following orders. Generations after the war ended our servicemen are finally receiving some appreciation. My father served in Vietnam and I am so proud of him for his service. Today, honor a Vietnam Vet. Tell them thank you for their service and let them know that they are appreciated. It may be years after the war, but they will appreciate hearing it anyway.
Niagara Falls Runs Dry Day – There are some things that just defy the word creepy, and being a resident of the Niagara Falls area on March 29th, 1848 would have been one of those creepy defying days. On that day a truly remarkable and rare event happened. Niagara Falls ran dry for about 30-40 hours. How? Here’s the interesting thing . . . my first thought was that it froze, but that wasn’t it! On that day in late March, a gale force wind had been blowing from the south-west for several days before an ice dam occurred at the mouth of the Niagara River. The weather was clear with an air temperature of about 46 degrees Fahrenheit. The wind, which was blowing over the entirety of Lake Erie, combined with massive amounts of lake ice which was pushed into the mouth of the Niagara River. There was so much ice that the river couldn’t handle it all, so it began to jam up at the entrance. The jam became so dense with hundreds of thousands of tons of ice, that it became a dam, which severely restricted the water. One of the first residents to notice the silence was a farmer who left home for a walk along the river near American Falls and realized that the usual thundering roar of the falls was absent. He took a closer look and realized that the amount of water flowing over the falls was down to a trickle. Residents woke up on the morning of March 30th to an eerie silence, realizing that something was wrong. People were drawn to the falls to find out that the river was reduced to a trickle. The Bridgewater Mills on the Canadian shore had to be shut down because there wasn’t water flow to run it! By the morning of March 31st, more than 5,000 people had gathered along the banks of the river, all the mills and factories that depended on the water were at a standstill. The riverbed was quickly drying, with fish and turtles left to flounder on dry land. Many people made their way into the gorge to the riverbed, seeing articles that had been lying on the river’s bottom, hidden for 100’s of years. Souvenirs picked up included bayonets, gun barrels, muskets, tomahawks and other artifacts of the War of 1812. Others walked out onto the river bed that only hours earlier had been a torrent of rapids and would have resulted in certain death. It became a tourist and media event. People on foot, on horseback, or by horse and buggy, crossed the width of the Niagara River. It was an historical event that had never occurred before, and hasn’t been duplicated since. A squad of soldiers of the U.S. Army Cavalry rode their horses up and down the river bed as an exhibition. Below the falls, workers from the Maid of the Mist were able to venture out onto the river bed and blast away rocks which had normally been a navigational hazard to the Maid of the Mist boat since it’s beginning in 1846. Understandably the silencing of the falls caused a lot of anxiety and fear amongst the residents, and many believed that this was the beginning of a doomsday scenario.
On the morning of March 31st, the falls remained silent. Many 1000’s of people attended special church services on both sides of the border. With each hour that passed, the level of fear grew, until the night of March 31st when a loud, low pitched growl and groan was heard coming from upstream. This was quickly followed by the return of the normal flow of water along the Niagara River. A wall of water surged forward at a surprising speed, again covering, probably forever, what had been exposed for a brief historic moment in time. The return of the roar of the falls reassured the residents that all was going to be alright with their world, and they could breathe a sigh of relief and return to their normal activities.
Honestly, unless you live near Niagara Falls, there’s no way to really celebrate this day, but it is a truly interesting piece of history that I wasn’t aware of until recently. I hope you found it to be as intriguing as I did!
Smoke and Mirrors Day – The term “smoke and mirrors” means something that is not really as it appears to be. People often put up smoke and mirrors to hide something. (case in point – today’s supposed news anchors can’t seem to force themselves to tell the truth, so they fabricate what they wish the news to be). So for today to be Smoke and Mirrors Day, that means today is a day of illusions. I couldn’t find the source of this celebration, but I suppose we don’t need set historical facts to have a good time with it, so for today do something that is an illusion to the rest of the world. The PERFECT example of smoke and mirrors for the gals would be padded bras, Spanx, control top pantyhose and hair color from a box. Oh, and acrylic nails! A lot of us are walking illusions daily! Whether you do all these things or not, try to find something fun to do with this celebration today, and let me know what you decided to do.
This Day in History –
1848 – Ice jams stop the flow of water over Niagara Falls.
1886 – Coca Cola is invented.
Food Celebration of the Day –
Chiffon Cake Day – Up until about 1927, cakes were made with shortening, and tended to be a bit dense. However, according to General Mills, Chiffon Cake was the first really new cake in 100 years because it uses vegetable oil in place of conventional shortening.
In 1927 – Harry Baker, (I giggled at the irony of his last name) a Los Angeles insurance agent, is said to have invented the original chiffon cake. Word spread about his wonderfully airy cake, and he was continually asked for the recipe. For two decades he carefully guarded his secret, making his special cake only for the reigning royalty of the silver screen. Baker sold the cake to Hollywood stars and made it for the famous Brown Derby Restaurant. The secret to his light and airy chiffon cake is that the egg whites are beaten separately from the yolks, and that it uses vegetable oil instead of butter or shortening.
In 1947, General Mills bought the recipe from Harry Baker. He agreed to sell the recipe to General Mills so “Betty Crocker could give the secret to the women of the America.” In 1948 General Mills released the secret recipe for chiffon cake in the May 1948 Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, and it became a nationwide sensation. The secret ingredient, vegetable oil, was then revealed. Better Homes and Garden Magazine advertised the cake as “The first really new cake in 100 years.” In the 1950s, General Mills sponsored chiffon cake contests. People came up with all flavors of this cake during that time. This all leads us to today’s Chiffon Cake Day!
As good as cake sounds today, I know I won’t have time to make one. It does sound good though, doesn’t it? Yum. Another day, another unbaked food celebration. My list is getting quite long! For now it is a work day and I need to get out the door. Have a wonderful day!!! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.
www.brownielocks.com www.holidayinsights.com www.verseoftheday.com www.thenibble.com www.foodimentary.com