If you take a walk today, take some trail mix to munch on and you'll be eating outside!
Don't pick all the M&Ms out. You have to eat the raisins too.
Do you like trail mix? There are so many types of nuts and dried fruit to really make it your own concoction. What do you put in yours?
During Christmastime you can find a DVD of a fireplace with a crackling fire. There should be a Summer DVD with sand, seagulls, and ocean waves breaking. Summer days are drawing to a close in the North and warm beach days are almost over.
Time to bring out the s'mores ingredients and toast some marshmallows. Toast the almost end of Summer. Kids are back to school and cooler weather is coming. Enjoy the warmth while you can.
Acts 21:5c ...and there on the beach we knelt to pray.
Once upon a time, maybe 20 years ago, when games were sold on CDs, I had a Hoyle Card Games and a Hoyle Board Games disc. I loved them both but Hoyle Board Games was definitely my favorite. It had Dominoes, Parchisi, Mahjong, and Backgammon. There were other games but those were my favorites. I especially loved Parchisi. I played against 3 computer generated players and could pretend they were anyone I wanted. I really hated losing to the bear! Of course, my discs won't work on my laptop now. I wish some company would offer these traditional favorites. I would even pay money to have them!
Break out the physical board games and cards and play something today.
Make some lemonade to go with your game night.
I make a gallon of lemonade using two 2/3 cups of lemon juice and an equal amount of sugar. If you're used to lemonade mixes, you will want more sugar in it.
Try these recipes that use lemon juice.
Easy Lemon Cookies with Lemon Glaze by Half-Scratched.
No Bake Lemon Pudding Pie by Together as Family.
Bake some fish with lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning.
Lemon Zucchini Bread by A Latte Food
Lemon Garlic Pasta by Wonky Wonderful
I bought cherry turnovers to celebrate today. They're probably not that hard to make but I don't plan to really think about baking and cooking until I retire.
Now crackers over the keyboard I can do! This day is to encourage us to stop pretending we don't eat over our keyboards. Admit the truth. Sometimes I turn my laptop upside down hoping any crumbs will fall out of the keyboard.
I don't have a bow tie so I will have to watch Doctor Who when Matt Smith was the doctor. According to him, bow ties are cool and I agree. Of course, he thought a fez hat was cool too but River threw it away. Gotta love River Song!
Watching Doctor Who while I eat my cherry turnover over my keyboard. That's my plan. What's yours?
We're continuing to celebrate bananas this week. Bananas are supposed to help relieve headache pain. I'm pretty picky about the ripeness of bananas and they only have a day or two in their lifespan that I'll eat one. The banana split ice cream I bought has banana ice cream in it. It looks deceptively like vanilla! If your bananas sit too long, make banana bread or banana pudding. According to Abbie, I threw out our leftover bananas too soon. They looked bad to me - all spotted and strongly smelling like banana.
Did you know there was a banana museum in Washington state? Sadly, the museum is permanently closed due to a fire next to it that caused damage to their building. You can still check out their website and look at all the interesting pictures. Fun fact under the dancing banana on their webpage - bananas are 75% water.
I should have played rock paper scissors with someone before I threw the bananas out. Maybe I would have lost and the bananas would now be banana bread. Daniel used to like to say he made decisions using rock paper scissors. I wouldn't recommend that method for important decisions but it could be fun as a choose-your-own-adventure adventure. Did you ever read choose-your-adventure books? They were fun.
2 Chronicles 15:5 In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil.
It's National Golf Month and I don't think Denny has played any golf at all since the middle of June. Maybe Golf Month needs to be a cooler month, not the hot, hot, dog days of Summer.
Golf is not everyone's thing. Have you ever watched it on TV? That takes a true golf fan because it's pretty boring. Although watching golf on TV is not as boring as watching fishing on TV. Can you tell my heart isn't into either one of these viewing choices?
Putt Putt embraces one golf frustration - trying to get the little ball into the little hole. (The other frustration is trying to hit the little ball straight and far enough down the green.) I'm really bad at the short putts. Here's where Geometry pays off, figuring the angles, sort of like pool but on the ground with no table ledges to guide the ball.
The Driving Range is much more fun. There you can take out all your frustration and aggressively hit the ball as hard as you can. It doesn't matter where it goes because it isn't your ball and you don't have to find it! It's a great way to wind down.
However, I think I'll stick to the card game of Golf. It's much more enjoyable, comfortable, less frustrating, and not dependent on the weather - oh, and cheaper too. The rules we play by are slightly different from the rules in the Golf link, but it wouldn't be a Calhoun game if we didn't change a few rules or so my family tells me.
Enjoy a banana split today. They are one of the most fun and potentially confusing desserts around. You can request three different flavors of ice cream and three different toppings. Fun for you, confusing for those who have to take the order, especially if there are several people in your party ordering banana splits. I bought the ice cream below and will make my banana split the easy way. But do I only get three scoops?
This day in 1835 the New York Sun published the first of a series of articles detailing the discovery of life on the Moon! Don't get too excited because today it's know as the first installment of the Great Moon Hoax.
Psalm 121:6 the Sun will not harm you by day, nor the Moon by night.
The Moon people are friendly for the time being.
Guess who was born on this day that we might want to remember? Tim Burton
The waffle iron was patented in the U.S. in 1869. I think I'll mix some peach slices into pancake mix and make waffles, then pretend it's peach pie. That sounds yummy.
Everyone can celebrate Can Opener Day today. What cans will you open? Just make sure it isn't a can of worms unless you're like the girls in the painting.
Remember, August is almost over. There's still time to celebrate these.
Family Fun Month
National Golf Month
Peach Month
National Parks Month
National Sandwich Month
American Artist Appreciation Month
This painting is called Two Girls Fishing and the artist is John Sargent. It was painted in 1912 and hangs in the Cincinnati Art Museum.
Add some corn on the cob to your meal today. Rolled in butter while it's still hot - although then the butter all melts off. Maybe let it cool a little so it tastes buttered. My Aunt Joyce always puts a dab of butter in vegetables when she cooks them and it adds so much flavor! So even if it isn't corn on the cob today, put a little butter in canned or frozen corn kernels when you cook them.
Speaking of yellow corn and yellow butter, it's Daffodil Day. Daffodils are one of the first flowers to bloom in Spring. They represent hope that winter is leaving and warmer weather is on its way. The daffodil has also been used as a logo for cancer societies since the 1950's reminding people to stay hopeful.
I'm sure many of us have known people who have been affected by cancer. Make sure to virtually and verbally hug your loved ones today on Hug Your Sweetheart Day.
Ecclesiastes 3:5a A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.
This picture was painted by Norman Rockwell in 1926 - Boy and Girl Gazing at the Moon
Be an Angel Day is all about doing random acts of kindness, showing the love of Jesus to others, helping and expecting nothing in return. As the old song says Brighten the Corner Where You Are. I've been very grumbly lately so maybe my act of kindness should be to not talk today.
Be an angel and give away peaches to celebrate National Eat a Peach Day. I prefer nectarines because I don't like the fuzz on peaches. But it's only skin deep, right? Maybe I'll eat peach slices whenever I open my mouth to talk.
Psalm 91:11 For He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Today to celebrate National Senior Citizens Day why not wear a mask and practice social distancing if you aren't already. Just for one day, in honor of senior citizens who are more susceptible to the virus than healthy younger people. Or greet them from afar if wearing a mask is too strenuous for those who object.
Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I AM He, I AM He Who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Now I need to focus on something more enjoyable, like eating dessert all day long, I mean first. Donuts for breakfast, pie for lunch, and ice cream for dinner.
My favorite senior citizen.
When our girls were little, Denny and I discovered Old Time Radio - broadcasts of radio shows mostly from the 40's and 50's. We would listen to shows our parents listened to in that Walton-esk era. My mother's favorite show was The Shadow. Our daughter, Rebecca, loved listening to Lum and Abner. Denny and I enjoyed shows like Your's Truly Johnny Dollar, Our Miss Brooks, Fibber McGee and Molly, and The Great Gildersleeve.
Here are my favorite old time radio podcasts on iTunes.
Old Time Radio Forever
OTR Detective - The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio
Classic Comedy of Old Time Radio
Sit back, grab a cold lemonade, engage your imagination, and enjoy the shows.
The print below is for sale at fineartamerica.com for $22.56 (at the time of this post). The artist listed is Everett.
Celebrate the versatile potato. It can be baked, fried, and served hot or cold. It goes with almost everything - except it doesn't really go with soft ice cream. Have baked potatoes or potato salad or potato soup or mashed potatoes. Try potato pancakes (really leftover mashed potatoes) or sweet potatoes or potato chips. Play with Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head or play hot potato or do one potato, two potato to make decisions today. Or just be a couch potato.
Then, after you're potato-ed out, eat some soft ice cream - either soft serve or just left out too long while you played with potatoes.
What's your favorite kind of potato?
Once upon a time many years ago, before the Internet, there were mail order catalogs. They were filled with wondrous pictures of lovely things - anything your heart desired. We eagerly looked forward to their arrival and would spend hours pouring over their pages. The pictures of beautiful and helpful things filled our dreams and once in a while we even ordered something. Eventually the catalogs would make their way into the children's hands and little girls would cut things out and play paper dolls and house with the pretty pictures. My cousin, Elaine, and I would choose our "husband" and "children and outfit them and our houses. We had hours of imaginative fun with the Sears, Montgomery Ward, and Penney's catalogs.
Then one day, the Internet appeared and subtly, over time, took control. It turned our catalogs into Amazon. Now we spend more money because ordering is just a click away and there's no time to think before you purchase. But the saddest part is the loss of our paper doll world.
Fear not! Mail order catalogs are resilient and they still exist. Visit Shopping Kim's blog post for a List of 100+ Free Catalogs. Soon your mail box can be overflowing with junk mail of your choosing.
Now, let's get some fajitas to celebrate.
How ironic that it's Stay Home with Your Kids Day and it's the first day two of my grandkids have to be physically in school. Congratulations to the many parents who have been home with their kids since March and survived. I hope the time has brought you closer and your family life has been enriched as we continue to learn to live together.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Giving Assistant lists these 5 Easy Ways to Celebrate National Nonprofit Day.
1. Talk about your cause on social media
2. Create or host an online fundraiser
3. Volunteer from anywhere
4. Tell your story
5. Donate and say "Thanks"
Finish off the day celebrating with some vanilla custard - either pudding or frozen.
Ecclesiastes 3:4b ...a time to laugh...
In honor of Family Fun Month
Mom logic: If you fall out of that tree and break your legs don't come running to me!
When I was a kid, I had a disease that required me to eat dirt three times a day. Luckily my brother discovered it and helped me stay on track with the cure.
Families are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts.
My sister thinks she's so smart. She said onions are the only food that makes you cry. I threw a coconut at her and proved her wrong.
In honor of National Golf Month
The safest place to stand when I hit a golf ball is directly in front of me.
After they went into the locker room, another golfer who had heard the old guys talking about their game went to the pro and said, "I've been playing golf for a long time and thought I knew all the terminology of the game, but what's a rider?" The pro said, "A rider is when you hit the ball far enough to actually get in the golf cart and ride to it."
In honor of Peach Month
Why did Princess Peach choke? Because Mario came down the wrong pipe.
My friend handed me a peach. I told him I prefer pears so he handed me another one.
In honor of National Sandwich Month
(Have you ever said this? I have.)
"Mom, make me a sandwich."
"Poof, you're a sandwich."
Every time I go to my favorite restaurant I order the club sandwich. I've been doing this for years and I'm not even a member.
(This one made me laugh out loud.)
Me: The kids haven't eaten their sandwiches.
Wife: Ok, just throw them out.
Me (helping the kids pack a suitcase): Look I'm as surprised as you are.
Tell a Joke. Make someone laugh today.
Another day to remember our best friends. Old friends, furry friends, special loved ones. Consider how you can show your best friend you care. I'm off to spend the day with my best friend. We share our most precious commodity - time.
David's men were probably not best friends with the shepherds they protected but they were all friendly.
1 Samuel 25:16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.
My friend and I will celebrate National Relaxation Day by playing games and creating lovely nail art while we chat and eat. I hope you get a chance to relax today. Now that many of us are home a lot more and many things that claimed our attention are shut down, do you have more time to relax? Used to be week days were full of our job's work so weekends for many were filled with work around the house and yard. Are your weekends still filled with activity or are you able to relax and breathe?
After dinner tonight, I plan to relax with a piece of lemon meringue pie. I've realized pie is not my favorite but lemon pie is different. I don't prefer meringue but will put up with it to get the lemon.
Creamsicles bring back childhood memories of getting ice cream from the ice cream man in his little white truck. Yummy orange creamsicle push pops. If you don't know what a push pop is, google it and look at the images. The paper with the circles on it is the one I remember.
Celebrate Family Fun Month. What fun thing will you do with or for your family this weekend? Today is National Wiffle Ball Day. Sunday is National Tell a Joke Day. Get prepared for some family fun!
Today is also Steve Martin's birthday. Enjoy some family fun watching a Steve Martin movie. He's made some good ones. The Pink Panther, Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride Part II, and Cheaper by the Dozen, just to name a few. Do you have a favorite Steve Martin movie? My favorites are Father of the Bride I & II.
Cheaper by the Dozen reminds me that Jacob in the Bible had 12 sons. That's my Bible reference for today.
My family is full of leftys - my mom, Denny's mom, my oldest daughter Rebecca, Denny's oldest sister Linda. I feel like I'm forgetting a couple but you get the picture. In times past, schools used to force leftys to learn to write with their right hands. I think my cousin Linda is a lefty and told me how hard it was to learn to write with her right hand. I'm sure it was difficult since my left hand is so uncooperative. Think about all the items we use that are geared to right-handed people - scissors, hand-held can openers, golf clubs.
Challenge yourself today and try some of these using your left hand.
Stir food in a pan
Open cans with a can opener
Peel vegetables or fruit
Put the computer mouse on the left side of the keyboard and use it to click and drag or draw
Use scissors
Eat something using a knife, fork, and/or spoon
Write in a ring binder or spiral bound notebook
After you try your (left) hand at some of these, tell a lefty you think they're amazing and talented.
Judges 20:16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
I asked Denny to help me write this one since he's a big baseball fan.
Today is Baseball Fans Day. My dad was a huge Baltimore Orioles fan, so, growing up, I learned at a very early age that Brooks Robinson was the best 3rd baseman ever. In other years, we could celebrate by going to a game, but, with the major leagues playing without fans and the minor leagues not playing at all, oh well. But the games are back and on TV, so there are several viewing choices this evening, including most of my family's favorite team, the World Champion Washington Nationals.
Make a mental note to attend a minor league baseball game sometime. It is a fun, affordable, family-friendly experience. I enjoy going to a game now and then, as long as it's not too hot and we have seats; no bleacher benches for me. Go Mudcats!
For a classic comedy routine, watch Abbott & Costello's Who's On First? Why? Because. [This is one of Katherine's favorite bits.]
Baseball is as old as Creation. God started His creative work, "In the big inning."
Thanks, hon, for pitching in. Baseball is in full swing. It runs from now until the end of October.
Did you know Stan Musial, outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, was a middle child?
Being in the middle is tough. You get squished from both sides. Okay, I have no idea; I'm an only child - yes, I'm on of THOSE. I want to wish all you middles a happy National Middle Child Day. The middle of the sandwich, the middle of the Oreo cookie, is the best part, you know.
Here are some middle children you may recognize. This list could have gone on and on!
Abraham Lincoln Bill Gates Anne Hathaway Warren Buffett
Princess Diana Martin Luther King, Jr John F. Kennedy Walt Disney
If you have sand around, take some time to play in it, walk in it, look at it. Enjoy your surroundings.
If you aren't near sand, watch a movie or read a book that takes place at a beach.
Web Urbanist has an article on sandcraft from 2008 that showcases some amazing sand sculptures.
The sand art below was created by Amazin Walter who is from Texas.
Children seem to love playing in sand.
Celebrate your sons and/or daughters. Enjoy your children today. Think on the good memories. Choose life. Choose forgiveness. Choose hope.
Psalm 127:3 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him.
Proverbs 10:4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
I know this is an anti-lazy behavior verse but lazy is not a good attribute. How about a tired day or a not sure what day it is day or a do I have to get dressed day?
Spend some time checking out these websites that list virtual museum tours, Smithsonian museums included. Check out the art.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/75809/12-world-class-museums-you-can-visit-online
https://upgradedpoints.com/best-virtual-museum-tours/
Then make s'mores.
The Hope Diamond is in the National Museum of Natural History, one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
"There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away..." Emily Dickinson
In 1854, Henry David Thoreau published Walden. The artwork on one of the covers is below.
THE most important book is the Lamb's Book of Life.
Revelation 13:8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have NOT been written in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb Who was slain from the creation of the world.
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
Take advantage of zucchini being in season and make some yummy recipes with it. I found this easy Parmesan Tomato Zucchini Bake on The Nutritionist Reviews website.
After a healthy dinner, treat yourself to some frozen custard. My grandson, Caleb, works at Culvers creating their yummy custard. If there's a Culvers near you, you know they serve the best frozen custard.
Maybe a trip to the Dollar Store is in order to get some Fall decor before they're sold out. Create your own art to appreciate. My friend, Chrissy, reminded me that art comes in many forms.
Isaiah 45:12 It is I [the Lord] Who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.
The picture below is the art that is the unbaked recipe above and I assume was made by Amanda Hernandez from The Nutritionist Reviews. I like the clean, fresh look and nice color combinations.
