Good morning *yawn*. I’m a tired Gramma, and Papaw is tired too. Baby R decided that staying awake until 12:30 this morning was a grand idea. Once he fell asleep he was out until nearly 8:30 this morning, but getting him to that point took awhile. He was very calm though. I turned on Looney Tunes very quietly and he laid next to me, drowsing in and out until he finally went to sleep. I tried turning everything off but he started getting fussy and honestly, I can doze while cartoons are on as easily as I can without them. Because of his Mamma and Daddy’s schedules, their nights are late, so he sleeps in longer in the morning than most babies his age, but is also up later in the evening. Today should be a fun day of chasing him around, mixed in with getting some cuddles with our Pepsi cat before we leave tonight for our dreaded appointment.
Verse of the Day
February 17, 2018
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Conquerors! We win!! When you open up the final book of the Bible, Revelation, that is the message — Christians win because Jesus is the one true conqueror. No matter how the battle is going for you right now, remember that in the end, we win!
February 18, 2018
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor the future, nor powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
Separation is something we fear whether it’s separation from a child, a parent, a sibling, a spouse, a friend, or from God. Jesus endured separation from God by becoming a human and by going to the cross. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can know we won’t have to ever be separated from God’s love. He bore the separation so we would never have to fear it!
Food for Thought
Be nice to the people you meet today. You have no idea what they might be dealing with at home. Sometimes sadness can be covered up very efficiently with a smile, but that smile may not be reaching their heart.
February 17 –
Champion Crab Races Day – I had no idea that there was a National Champion Crab Racing Day, did you? I suppose if you aren’t raised in a place where you have crabs handy, you wouldn’t. I live near a beach where there are many tiny little sand crabs, but I can still honestly say I wouldn’t have thought of racing them. So, how does a crab race work? Apparently on a typical crab racing night, the crabs compete in 12 to 14 heat races. The crabs hang out underneath an upside-down plastic bowl at the center of a 6-foot racing ring. The bowl is lifted and the crabs scatter in different directions. The first crab to cross the yellow line wins and advances to the nightly championship race. The person who has the winning crab gets to choose a sealed envelope that contains $10 to $100 in prize money. I found this little video that shows some kids racing their hermit crabs – they looked pretty excited on the sidelines as they cheered their little guys to the yellow ring. Take a look – who knows? You may be the next, greatest crab racer!
My Way Day – Have you heard that phrase “It’s my way or the highway”? I’m sure we all have at one point or another. This celebration doesn’t have a clear beginning but it likely was inspired by someone having a bold idea that they weren’t afraid to go through with, and it started the thoughts that there should be a day when we are encouraged to do what we want, however we want. It’s YOUR day! Make it happen any way you want. Just keep it legal, OK?
Random Acts of Kindness Day – We all go through our days, each and every day, focused on what we need to do next. Often we are so internally focused that we fail to look outside of ourselves to the others around us. When we do open our eyes to take a look we will see other people doing the same thing we usually do. We also see a lot of sadness, desperation, anger, or the vacant look of people who are a little lost. Sometimes all that these people need is something little, something out of the blue from a stranger to make them feel better. It is called a Random Act of Kindness and needs have no motivation except . . . kindness. It can take various forms and what often happens is that one act leads that person to perform one of their own, and they continue paying it forward, putting smiles on other people’s faces as the day goes on. So, what are some things that people do? I’ve heard of paying for the coffee of the person behind you in line in the coffee shop, putting coins in a meter that is expired, paying for dinner of the car behind you in the drive-through, picking up the tab of an individual or family in a restaurant. It can cost nothing . . . taking the cart back to the store for someone who is parked quite a distance from a cart return, assisting someone reach something on a high shelf they can’t quite reach in the grocery store (this happens often with people who are elderly and in motorized carts – it is difficult for them to reach!). It can also be a little bigger than that. Take time to go visit a shut-in, make them dinner, or go visit at a retirement facility. A few minutes spent with one of the residents could make their entire week a better one. What can YOU do today to randomly show kindness to a stranger today?
February 18 –
Battery Day – We use batteries in just about everything, don’t we? Think about how many devices you use each and every day need batteries. Hm . . . let me think. . . starting when I get up in the morning and look around at my nightstand . . . my cell phone, pedometer, watch, the scale, electric razor, smoke alarm, portable shortwave radio, digital camera, clocks on the wall, flashlight, laptop and track ball, the Wii Fit board and Wii-motes. . . moving on to outside the house and at work . . . the car, the mouse for my computer at work, GPS . . . well the list goes on and on. We use them everywhere, every day. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and power capacities to fit a wide array of needs. Can you imagine where we would be without them? We would still be using a crank to start our cars, we’d have to haul around long extension cords for things we want to take places with us, and don’t forget the hand-held games that the kids use! How popular would those be if they had to be tied to an electrical outlet! With as many as we use, do you know who invented them? I didn’t either. A man by the name of Alessandro Volta – an Italian physicist, invented them in 1800. He also made very important discoveries in pneumatics, meteorology and electrostatics. Of all those things though, he is best known for batteries.
Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day – I get a kick out of this every year. I’m not sure why, I just do! Today is the 87th anniversary of ‘Cow Milked While Flying In an Airplane’ Day. And what does this mean, you ask? I’ll tell you! According to the Dairy Farmers of American website, a cow by the name of Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane on this day in 1931. Why did they do this you ask? Well, they say that this trip was made to allow scientists to observe midair effects on animals, as well as for publicity purposes, so during the International Air Exposition, in St Louis, Missouri. Ollie (also known as Nellie Jay and after her flight as Sky Queen) became the first cow to fly in an airplane and be milked in flight. According to reports Elm Farm Ollie was an unusually productive Guernsey cow, requiring three milkings per day, and producing 24 quarts of milk during the flight itself. The milk was sealed into paper containers and parachuted to the spectators below, and it is said that Charles Lindbergh was one of the people on the ground who received a glass of her milk.
Though I’m really not sure what the meaning or intention behind this study was, I’m sure Ollie’s owners were very proud.
Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day – I’m sure that eating ice cream for breakfast would be a dream come true for so many children. If you were to add eating hot dogs or pizza every night for dinner, they’d probably think they had a perfect life – at least as far as food is concerned. Even as an adult though, you have to admit that there is something pretty tempting and fun about the thought of having a bowl of ice cream first thing in the morning – and honestly, wouldn’t it balance well with your coffee? This special day was started in the 1960s by a housewife, Florence Rappaport, from New York. They believe the actual year was 1966 since a huge blizzard had hit that year, but the idea was that Florence’s 6 children were pretty bored one snowy, cold morning in February and she had to come up with something that excited and entertained them so they wouldn’t be so cranky. On the spur of the moment she said “Let’s have ice cream for breakfast!” They loved it so much that the next February and snowy weather came around and they reminded her so they could celebrate it again. They did, and a special holiday was born. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
Pluto Day – Pluto, at one time called the 9th planet, was discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh. There was a long- held theory that an unknown 9th planet existed, and this theory was first proposed by Percival Lowell. He thought that the wobbles in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune were caused by the pull of gravitation of an unknown planet and searched for one for more than a decade. Sadly, he never found it. In 1929, using both of Powell’s and W.H. Pickering’s calculations as a guide, the search for Pluto was started up again at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh discovered the tiny, distant planet by use of a new astronomic technique involving photographic plates and a microscope. His finding was confirmed by several other astronomers, and on March 13, 1930, the anniversary of Lowell’s birth, the discovery of Pluto was publicly announced. The surface temperature of Pluto is estimated to be about -360 Fahrenheit – BRRRR – so it appears that Pluto was appropriately given the Roman name for the god of the underworld in Greek mythology. Pluto’s average distance from the sun is nearly four billion miles, and it takes about 248 years for it to complete one orbit of the sun. It has the most elliptical and tilted orbit of any of the planets, and at its closest point to the sun it passes inside the orbit of Neptune, the eighth planet. It wasn’t until 2006 that the International Astronomical Union announced that Pluto was not going to be considered to be a planet after all, because of new rules that said planets must “clear the neighborhood around its orbit”. So, all that stuff we learned in school? Disregard it! It’s no longer true!
This Day in History –
February 18, 1885 – Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.
February 18, 1930 – A ninth planet is discovered in the solar system and is named Pluto. The discover is Clyde Tombaugh.
Food Celebration of the Day –
February 17 –
Café au Lait Day – I love my lattes. I really do. They get expensive though, so a few years ago I took some Christmas money I got for a gift and I bought a Mr. Coffee Café Au Lait machine, and I use it every single day. Sometimes it acts like it doesn’t want to keep on working, and I keep insisting that it does. Coffee with a generous amount of milk in it has had many naysayers -French author Balzac even called it “ludicrous” but what does HE know? The comfort of the milky-creamy coffee, for me mixed with some chocolate, is worth every single lovely sip and something I look forward every morning. The milky-coffee flavor mix makes for a darn-good dessert, too.
I found a link showing the different ways that Café au Lait is referred to in other countries and thought I’d share that with you – it’s pretty interesting. In Europe café au lait comes from the same tradition as café con leche in Spain. In Poland they call it kawa biala or white coffee; in Germany it is referred to as Milchkaffee, or milk coffee; The Netherlands calls it koffie verkeerd, or incorrect coffee (HEY! That’s not very nice!); and in the French speaking parts of Switzerland a popular version that you will find is called , café renverse – or reverse coffee. They make it by using the milk as a base and adding the espresso to it, which is opposite of how a traditional café au lait is made by adding milk to the coffee.
Tipsy Cafe Au Lait With Chocolate Whipped Cream
Coffee Vanilla Chocolate Smoothie
February 18 –
Drink Wine Day – Today is the perfect day to pop the cork on a bottle of our favorite vino and start sipping. There used to be rigid rules that were associated with drinking wine, but there has been a lot of change in recent years. Wine connoisseurs now agree that you don’t always have to drink red wine with meat and white wine with fish. They just say to drink what tastes good to you! The main thing is just to enjoy it. It also wasn’t that long ago that many thought that wine bottles with a twist-off top were cheap and not very good. This has also changed. Many of the world’s finest wineries are now using screw tops on their wine bottles. Well, heck. This is such an easy one to celebrate it may have to happen BOTH days of the weekend! Here are some interesting things about wine:
- It takes around 2 1/2 pounds of grapes to make one bottle of wine.
- Before corks were broadly used in wine bottles, wooden stoppers wrapped in oil-soaked rags were common. These would need to be changed at least once a year.
- Even though corks were commonly used since the 1600’s it wasn’t until 1795 that the corkscrew was patented. Before then the corks would have caps, similar to champagne corks.
- An average bottle of wine is about 25 fluid ounces (officially 750 milliliters).
- Most ancient urns found in Greece, Egypt, and the Mediterranean are ‘casks’ that held wine. The sealed elongated box that holds them are called ‘caskets’.
Crab Stuffed Flounder – Crab is completely delicious, but it’s so messy to eat. Try stuffing it in your favorite seafood or chicken, and you can enjoy it mess-free on the fanciest of occasions.
- Crab-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- Creole Stuffed Shrimp
- Crab-Stuffed Fillet of Fish
- Avocado Stuffed With Crab
- Capt. Phil’s Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms
- Super Stuffed Crabs
- Stuffed Cha-Cha Crab Chilies
Well, this has taken me long enough, with having to stop to chase a 1-1/2 year old BUSY boy, that it’s nearly lunch time! Which means it is also nearly nap time. I wish I could have one, but I think I’ll take advantage of his nap by getting into the shower. Good plan, right? Have a wonderful weekend everyone. God bless you and I’ll see you on Monday.