As I sit here writing this, I hear the wind whipping outside . . . again. The windstorms have been more frequent and very damaging lately, though by the grace of God, we have had no damage to our home and property for the last three or four storms. We sit here again, asking for protection as we listen to it get a little crazy out there. I have seen on the news that lots of places are having strange weather, so I am aware that we aren’t the only ones. I pray for everyone to be safe.
Do you want to know what makes you feel old? I mean, besides the aches and pains that come along with aging, or realizing that your children are in their 30s? Remember I said I was meeting with my friend’s daughter who was home on a break from school? Well, suddenly this “little girl” that I watched grow up from the she was very little, who I picked up from school when her mom couldn’t, who I sat in on school family and friends’ lunches with . . . she suddenly isn’t that little girl any longer. She just left for college this year, but she seems so much older and even more mature than she already was, which is hard to believe since she’s always been a bit of an old soul. It was wonderful to see her, and honestly, it really made me miss her mama more than I already did, since they all moved away at the same time.
Verse of the Day
January 3, 2019
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
We have two choices for our lives. Either we can live by faith or by sight. We can trust in God’s abiding presence and power or we can depend upon our own resources. But wealth, like health, status, and reputation are all subject to decay and disappearance. Only one Source is always there for us and we know we can depend upon him, because he has been there for so many who have come before us. Never is forever and this one never I cherish: “Never will I forsake you!”
Food for Thought
I read an article yesterday, about a study out there right now that says that people who focus on healthy eating, refusing to eat the GMO foods or processed crud/frankenfoods, may have a mental disorder. Since doctors have been after people to eat more healthfully for a long time, since it is true that that processed crap is bad for us, and since anyone with a brain knows that organic, non-GMO foods are better for us, WHY would this study be done? My guess is that this “study” and the doctors who tout this nonsense were paid by the very companies that create the pesticides and fake foods. Follow the money . . . and stick to your healthy eating standards. We are not the crazy ones in this situation.
Drinking Straw Day – Oh what a lovely and wonderful invention. I LOVE straws. I actually use one all the time. So, who do we have to thank for this marvelous invention? Marvin Stone patented the spiral winding process to manufacture the first paper drinking straws. He already made paper cigarette holders, and through that work came up with the idea of making paper drinking straws. Before this point people were using the natural rye grass straws – which actually sounds like it would make the drink taste awfully yucky. The bendy straw was invented in 1937 by Joseph Friedman – and we should silently thank him every time we use one. What other kinds of straws are there? Well, there are paper straws, bendy straws, stainless steel straws, spoon straws and crazy straws! I remember when my daughter was turning eight years old, we spent her birthday at the ocean with one of her little friends from school. My Mom had found her a crazy straw that was shaped into eye glasses, and you actually wore them! I wish I knew where the pictures were – buried in a box somewhere – but these things were so funny. You wore the glasses on your face like normal, and one arm bent around to go into your mouth, the other end was really long to go into your drink glass, so when you took a sip the liquid swirled up and around the tubes around your eyes and into your mouth. The girls got quite a giggle out of that one. Difficult to keep clean though – they had to find their way into the trash because milk and those types of straws just aren’t a good combination. Of course, these days there are rabid environmentalists who are squawking that straws need to be banned. With all of the pollution out there in the world today, they pick on straws? Since straws actually help people with tooth sensitivity issues, help prevent stained teeth from coffee (latte anyone?) or any number of other issues, this would be a stupid thing to ban and honestly, I wouldn’t honor it. Celebrate today with a straw in everything you drink since now it’s not just fun, it’s politically rebellious!
Earth at Perihelion – I’d never heard of this before a couple of years ago and found it to be fascinating. I hope you do too! Today is Perihelion, or the night that marks the point that the Earth is closest to the Sun all year. At the precise point in time when we are closest, we will be 91,401,343 miles from the center of the sun . . . so that translates that we are roughly 2.5 million km closer tonight than we are most of the time. Earth’s distance from the sun is always changing because we orbit the sun in an ellipse, and not a circle. Yesterday we were a little further away from the sun than today, and tomorrow we’ll be a bit further away again. One day after perihelion, for example, we’ll be a difference of less than 500 km from today’s distance – though we won’t have physically noticed a difference. The date of perihelion changes every year, though the reasons are long and very scientific in nature and honestly, I don’t know that I can translate the explanation into anything short and sweet.
Festival of Sleep Day – If you’re anything like me, now that Christmas and New Year’s Day are over, you are left feeling exhausted and like you just can’t get enough sleep! Wouldn’t a day to JUST sleep be lovely? Somehow my days are always so busy, even when I have them off (which today I do not), that sleeping all day just can’t happen. I’ll be honest, even if I could sleep all day, I wouldn’t. My back would ache. Maybe I can take a 15-minute doze on my next day off – it always seems to help. I honestly feel like this one should have landed on a weekend so more people could take advantage of it – except, sadly, for the folks who have to work weekends. Maybe it IS a good idea that this is on a specific date after all. At least more people have a shot at it once in a while. If you are lucky enough to be able to take a nap today, please make it a good one.
Fruitcake Toss Day – I didn’t get around to making a fruitcake this year, but I suppose if I had it would have been a good idea to just toss it out if I couldn’t find any takers. Doesn’t that seem like a horrible waste of ingredients and time? The attempt I made a couple of years ago was so horrible that it truly soured me to the whole thing. Hmmmm . . . if everyone wants to toss out old fruitcakes, rather than eat them when they were given, maybe I shouldn’t waste my time ever trying it again! BUT, if you have an aunt who just insists on giving you a rock-hard fruitcake that nobody can even think about eating without breaking teeth, then at least make tossing it out fun. There is only one way to celebrate this one . . . you take it out into a field, with other people who are also tossing out their old fruitcakes . . . and you see who can throw it the farthest. Now, note – it is not a good idea to throw the cake AT anyone. They could get hurt. Just have fun with it! Maybe I should make one next year – even if nobody wants it. This celebration sounds like fun!
Humiliation Day – Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and humiliating someone is definitely not treating them with respect. Today is not a day about causing someone humiliation, but to bring awareness to people about the negative impact that humiliation has on people. Be nice to everyone around you and treat them nicely. Treating others the way you want to be treated really comes into play with this one.
J.R.R. Tolkien Day – Most people know that J.R.R. Tolkein is the author of The Lord of The Rings books, but they may not know much about the man himself. Did you know that he was a philologist? (That’s someone who studies history of language and the comparisons of languages.) He created the languages of the Elves and the Orcs in the stories, and even though that is fascinating, what’s even better than that is that he created his first language when he was only seven years old! Did you know that The Lord of The Rings books led to a long list of dungeons and dragons style games, videos and stories full of Orcs, elves, rangers and humans. And those are things in ADDITION to the ones made about the stories themselves!
Memento Mori “Remember You Die” Day – The phrase “Memento mori” is Latin and means “Remember your mortality.” What that means is to never forget that someday you will die. Memento Mori was started in ancient Rome when a servant reminded his general that even though he was successful that day, he might die the next and lose everything he had on earth. My goodness, this servant was a little ray of sunshine, wasn’t he? Actually the theme of Memento Mori Day is found in the Bible, in Isaiah 22:13, ” ‘Let us eat and drink’, you say, ‘for tomorrow we die!” One of the symbols that represents the idea of memento mori is the Grim Reaper. This was never intended to be morbid, but to be eye opening, to help us remember that we all die, and that life can be over before we know it. Appreciate the little things!
This Day in History –
1870 – Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day – When I was growing up my Mom LOVED chocolate covered cherries. She still does. Mom prefers the milk chocolate cherries, while some people prefer dark chocolate. They also come with brandy flavored, though I don’t actually know anyone who likes those. My Grandma always got Mom a box of them for Christmas and most years I carry on that tradition. If you get a good brand, they are delicious, aren’t they? I did attempt to make a faux chocolate covered cherry – low carb version last year. Not really a hit, since cherries are not low carb, so I ended up with cherry flavored creamy-ish covered in chocolate. I threw them way. Just no. I would rather do without them than to do that again.
Well, I hope by the time you read this that the wind has slowed down some – as of the time I am finishing this up, it’s really making some noise. I am hoping we have power through the night, but as long as we wake up without trees on house or cars, I’m good! God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow.
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Celebration list sources:
www.verseoftheday.com www.brownielocks.com www.holidayinsights.com www.thenibble.com www.foodimentary.com