MARCH 2008! (Holiday List)

Here it is! I decided this time around to just post the list of holidays. But if you want to know the monthly birth stone, flower and the astrological signs, I posted those last year. Feel free to check them out! Thank you to all who contributed to this list! Could not have done it without ya!

1. Clean the Litter Box Day

2. Is it Still Too Early to Plant These Violets? Day

3. Keyser Soze Appreciation Day/Make Up a Story from Surrounding Information

4. Tara’s Mom’s Birthday!

5. Public Transportation Awareness Day

6. What’s in My iPod Day

7. Cleveland Indians Appreciation Day/Pizza Day

8. Egg Appreciation Day

9. I Love Peeps Day

10. Put Flowers on Your Desk or Table Day

11. Blog About Your First Best Friend Day

12. Airplane! (the movie) Appreciation Day

13. Brave the Cold and BBQ in Your Shorts Day

14. Paint Away Your Winter Blues Day

15. Get Ready To Do Your Taxes Day (Canada)

16. Hiccup Day (National)

17. St. Patrick’s Day! Dress in Something Green and/or Speak with an Irish Accent All Day/Gary Senise’s Birthday (1955)

18. Pillsbury Doughboy’s Birthday! (1965)

19. Your Favorite Bunny Day (Pets or Toys)

20. In Like a Lamb, Out like a Lion – First Day of Spring!

21. Good Friday! – Do Something Good for Either You or Someone Else

22. Begin Shaving Your Legs Again After the Long, Hairy Winter Day

23. Easter!

24. Spring Memories Appreciation Day

25. Tara’s Birthday!

26. Alien’s Planet 4th Anniversary!/Cody’s Birthday (from “Dissing Your Dog”)

27. Time to Get Out the Warm Weather Wardrobe Day

28. Tara’s (Youngest) Brother’s Birthday!

29. EvilAlienMom’s Birthday/Babci Day (NoRegrets’ Mom’s Birthday)

30. Retail Therapy Day (Shop Til You Drop)

31. Christopher Walken’s Birthday (1943)

A Book Meme…..Literally.

BabyBull tagged me for this meme, and seeing as how I can’t usually resist a meme, thank you Babybull! I wanted to wait till I got home to choose a book, because really, how fascinating can an employee handbook be to the blog world? Okay, it might be a little amusing, but it isn’t 123 pages long.  So I did wait till I was home. Here’s how to play:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

 The Book: “Cross” by James Patterson (haven’t read it yet, my mom read it first and then gave it to me. I will read it, though, since I am a Patterson fan)

The Fifth Sentence: “‘And why did I keep failing at it?'”

The Next Three Sentences:  “Alex has a big date, I told myself at various times during the following Friday. That’s why I’d picked the New Heights Restaurant on Calvert Street over in Woodley Park. New Heights was a big-date sort of place.”

Five Tagees:  Dinah, NoRegrets, Furtive Wangler, Abroad and Suze!

Drive and Design

Yesterday we had plenty of snow thrown on us. I don’t know the exact amount of inches, but the trees were weighed down and were so pretty that I should’ve had my camera on me at all times so that I could take a photo of snow upon snow.

Anyway, a snow like that happened last year and our school was closed. This time, our school was kept open so I trekked outside and was grateful to discover that I didn’t have to brush off too much snow because my car was in a carport. Then I started to drive out of my apartment’s lot while playing the soundtrack to “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (good music, stupid movie). Another car was headed in the same direction, and we almost collided. But I slammed on my brakes and did my first tire fishtail of this Winter. Woo hoo! I glanced at the other driver who had also stopped, and we both laughed and moved on. It was that kind of day. I wasn’t even bothered by the fact that the main road I usually go down was caked with snow. Yes, I fishtailed down that street too, but so did everyone else. I got to work without getting stuck in snow and many of us had cheerful smiles on our faces. Weird.

The creative juices are still flowing, and I have another idea for my bathroom design. No more painting in that room, but definitely decoration. Plus, I’m finally changing my other rooms around and putting up some Spring-like stuff. I have a little wooden, two-shelf cabinet that I want to paint white. I guess this is called Spring fever? Or pre-Spring madness? I don’t care, it’s fun!

Opinions, Please!

Hey, I just changed my page design. I love how easy it was, but please tell me what you think. Is it too bright? Burning your retinas? There are other templates I can play with, so just let me know.

Thank you! :)

National Polar Bear Day

Today is National Polar Bear Day! And look, here’s a website you can check out that talks about the day.

Here are some photos, too. I wanted to post another one, but I’ll have to post that later since I can’t find it online. I do have it on my computer, though. Happy National Polar Bear Day, everyone! Yay!

Update: Never mind about my posting that other photo, I found it at home, but it’s of a man hugging a Siberian tiger, not a polar bear.

It Is Time. Time for Ideas.

Ahora.

It is time.

The time is now.

Now is the time…

Is this getting annoying yet?

It is time to start suggesting some holiday ideas for March if you have them, cuz it’ll be here soon! So will Spring. Oh yes, Spring will come on time this year. No ice storms, no last-word-of-Winter blizzards…On the first day of Spring, all the snow will melt and the birds and squirrels will make a grand entrance. The flowers will start to bloom and rainbows will streak the sky. That’s that.

Anyway, you have provided such wonderful ideas in the previous months, so if you have more of those ideas, please post them. I don’t think I ever celebrated Keanu Reeves Day, but I had it on my September calendar. Someone did a keyword search only to find that the day had not been honored.

For new readers, if you’ve seen some of the holiday lists in the past you know that almost anything goes. If you like babies, suggest a “Baby Appreciation Day”. If you like lima beans, then poof! It’ll be a holiday. Obscurity works. So does simplicity! Just have fun. That’s also a key.

Oh and if you have a birthday in March, please let me know about that too! You don’t have to mention your age if you don’t want, but I’d love to bake you a cyber cake! Don’t be shy. Our family has a plethora of birthdays in March and I know that Cody from “Dissing Your Dog” has a birthday on the 26th. I will be turning the big 3-4 in March, my mom will be 74 and my brother will turn 44. Whew! I’m already exhausted.

So….ideas por favor!

Listen to a Johnny Cash Song (Johnny Cash’s Birthday – 1932)

I love so many Johnny Cash songs, it’s hard to think of just one. The soundtrack to “Walk the Line” brought out even more favorites. I love “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, the eerie song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and awhile ago a coworker introduced me to Cash’s song “When the Man Comes Around” and that song gave me chills. Then there are the ones he sings with his wife, June, especially “If I Were a Carpenter”.

Here are the lyrics to “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (lyrics written by Kris Kristofferson):

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I’d smoked my mind the night before
With cigarettes and songs I’d been picking.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playing with a can that he was kicking.
Then I walked across the street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken.
And Lord, it took me back to something that I’d lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I’m wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there’s nothing short a’ dying
That’s half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.
Then I headed down the street,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing,
And it echoed through the canyon
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I’m wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
‘Cause there’s something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there’s nothing short a’ dying
That’s half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

Of course, just showing you the lyrics does not do the song justice. You have to hear it to enjoy it completely. Click here to listen to him singing.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Cash!

Photo source: MusicHawk

Weekend Makeover

I got my federal tax refund on Friday, which meant that I had to think of a way to spend a little of it. Remember when I told you I was meaning to paint my bathroom? Well that’s what I did this weekend! I wasn’t really planning on it, but the planets were aligned, I was feeling inspired, so I went next door to Lowe’s. I bought a drop cloth, some paint brushes and rollers, a paint tray, the paint, etc.

Awhile back I asked Tim from Sparky Malarkey to post a video of his newly decorated bathroom, so I thought I would do the same with my newly decorated bathroom. Here it is:

I’m not sure I’ve ever conveyed to you lovely bloggers about how much I hate cleaning my bathroom. It is my least favorite cleaning job, and that’s even with the chore of cleaning out a litter box! But each time I clean it, the bathroom does look much nicer. I cleaned the hell out of it last night after I cleaned up the paint supplies and blue paint drippings (so much for a drop cloth), and of course before I filmed the video and took photos. I find that with this new paint job, I will feel more inspired to clean my bathroom because the contrast of the blue stands out better when the fixtures are sparkling clean.

What is your least favorite cleaning project?

PS: I forgot to add a “before” photo, so here it is:

Saturday Scavenger Shots: “Reason”

Cricket chose this Saturday’s word to be “Reason”. Hmmm…this was a challenging word to work with, but here are my photos:

This was something I whipped up a few years ago at my desk. I call it “7 Ate 9”. I knew there was a reason why I didn’t throw out the various bulletin board supplies left from the person who had my job before. Okay, so I didn’t technically take a snapshot of my artwork, I scanned it. But since I can upload it onto the computer for all of you to see, consider it a photo.

In this shot, the reason it looks like my hand is coming out of the TV is because I wanted to pretend that I was that girl from “The Ring”, the ghoul who comes crawling out of the TV set. This was not an easy shot, but when my mind is set on a weird project there’s just no reasoning with me.

I haven’t tortured blessed you with a cat photo recently, so this is a photo of my mom’s cat, Joshua. I was cat-sitting him while she was on vacation a few years back. He wanted to go out on my balcony, but he couldn’t really be trusted out there. I tried to reason with him, but the result was the pitiful expression on his face.

Oo! I am the chosen one for next Saturday’s keyword! Oh the pressure! Eek!….Hmmm…..How bout the word Family? Could be simple enough, yes? We will find out in the next episode of Saturday Scavenger Shots! (cue melo-dramatic organ music)

How Extroverted Are You?

Today is Extrovert Appreciation Day! Here is another quiz for you from Blogthings. I appreciate the extroverts in my life because sometimes they encourage and inspire me to be an extrovert too. It can be a nice change of pace.

Your Extroversion Profile:

Sociability: Very High Cheerfulness: Medium Activity Level: Low Assertiveness: Low Friendliness: Low Excitement Seeking: Very Low

How Extroverted Are You?