Monday, September 6, 2010

September 5: Be Late For Something Day

We have a few holidays in a row that are quite uninteresting to celebrate. Today is definitely one of those days, especially since it falls on a Sunday. We had nowhere to be so we couldn't really be late for anything. I did make a delicious ham that took much longer to cook than anticipated, so I suppose I can say we were late for dinner. I hope everyone is having as much of a relaxing weekend as we are!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

September 4: National Newspaper Carrier Day

I pretty much hate newspapers. We don't have them delivered and I read the online versions if I must. The only real exception to this is if Middle Lady or Little Lady happens to be in one. Every week, however, we have a Weekly Reminder that is delivered to our house. I do not know who delivers it, or why for that matter. But, in honor of the day, thank you anonymous paper delivery person. To celebrate I made my own newspaper carrier (thanks to http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/ for the idea):




My sister (Crazy Lady) and my mom (Grammy Lady) can attest to my dislike of newspaper. Crazy Lady in fact shares the same aversion. So, they will know how difficult this craft was for me to complete (and, thus, why it is such a shoddy version of How About Orange's).

September 3: National Skyscraper Day

We live in Idaho where the tallest building in the state is only 20 stories tall, so celebrating Skyscraper Day proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Middle Lady wore her highest heels for the occasion (which are fabulous) and Little Lady said she walked around on her tippy-toes all day. In honor of the day, though, here are some eco-friendly skyscrapers that I found at ecogeek.org that I think are the cat's meow:



Thursday, September 2, 2010

September 2: National Beheading Day


Interesting, eh?

Here is a little tidbit for you:

Mary Mary Quite Contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.


There are several theories on the origins of this nursery rhyme. One, however, is particularly appropriate today. Mary Mary is thought to have been Mary I of England, A.K.A. Bloody Mary.
The garden refers to the increase in size of graveyards due to the execution of those that opposed her Catholic faith. Silver bells and cockle shells were both nicknames for torture devices. Specifically, silver bells being screws that were tightened between two hard surfaces crushing a thumb and cockle shells being used on the genital region of the victim. Finally, pretty maids was a reference to the guillotine, commonly called maidens or maids. Charming huh?

Another tidbit: There is no definitive evidence that Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake" or actually "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche". Poor thing lost her head over a bad piece of gossip. Oh well....Off with her head!

Dinner tonight was an adventure. I attempted to make Contemporary Peppered Steak (I think it is supposed to be an updated Salisbury Steak sort of thing), however they fell apart. So, I made a sort of loose-meat sandwich on croissants (which I purchased in honor of Marie Antoinette) topped with swiss cheese and grilled onions. They were pretty good for an utter mistake. Here is a picture:



Now I think I will go have a Bloody Mary and make the Mister watch Marie Antoinette or Alice in Wonderland with me.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

September 1: Emma M. Nutt Day

Who is Emma M. Nutt you ask? Well, she was the very first female telephone operator. Pretty cool, huh? So, for the rest of this post you need to read it using your best nasally, telephone operator voice.

Before I tell you how we celebrated the day I thought I would show you how the day started for me.

I found this crawling on my pillow:



You may notice it has a bumpy lower half. After I scooped it up into a cup and dumped it into the toilet this is what I discovered the bumpiness was:



Yes, those bumps were baby spiders. This is a wolf spider. It is an interesting spider that lays its eggs and once they hatch, the little suckers ride around mama for the first part of their lives. And I was lucky enough to have this crawling on my pillow. As you can see I flushed the Family Wolf down the drain and washed the spiders out.

On a brighter note, Little Lady made the A team (not the BA Baracus kind of A-Team) for volleyball. Hooray Little Lady! Oh, and she also found out she will be getting her braces on next week. Big day for the little one.

Now, to Emma M. Nutt Day. Besides occasionally speaking while plugging our noses, we ate peanut M&M's of course (get it? Emma M. Nutt, M&M ....?). Since I committed mass spidocide today I decided to try to appease Buddha with an M&M to help bring my Karma back into balance :).

Monday, August 30, 2010

August 31: National Trail Mix Day

As much as I would love to take a hike to celebrate the day, we just won't have time. Little Lady has volleyball tryouts, Middle Lady has a yearbook staff meeting and Grammy Lady is going to come for a visit. However, to celebrate the day I made these little personalized bags of trail mix. I even made one for myself :).



August 30: National Toasted Marshmallow Day

Mmmm Hmmm! Our little family loves ourselves National Toasted Marshmallow Day! The Mister even re-worked the fire pit for the occasion, recessing some stones in the ground and re-working the border of the pit. It looks amazing! I love him.

Here is a picture of one of the S'mores we made.



I love toasted (burnt) marshmallows but admittedly do not like S'mores (pretty un-American huh?). I eat one every time we make them hoping to suddenly like them, but I still have not developed a taste. Does anybody have any takes on this dessert I can try?

Sunday, August 29, 2010

August 27: National Petroleum Day

So, I totally screwed up and missed National Petroleum Day (oh darn) and then proceeded to move all of the other days up. Therefore, we are going to have to look at those days as observances, skip today (which we thought was Toasted Marshamallow Day) and move on. On second thought, I think we will just celebrate Toasted Marshmallow Day two days in a row. :)

Oh, and in celebration of National Petroleum Day I guess we can say we burned up gas driving to and from work.

August 29: National More Herbs and Less Salt Day

Wow, my favorite day of the year. Not! Anybody who knows me understands my penchant for all things salt. It really doesn't matter if it is in rock form, iodized, kosher or soy sauce, I love it. However, the day (and my doctor actually) called for consuming less of it. And, I'll have you know, I did not add any salt to anything I ate. Despite the yawn quality of this National Day, two things brightened it up.

First, Middle Lady misheard what I said when she asked what the holiday was for the day. Instead of "more herb and less salt" she thought I said "more urban assault" day. She thought the day was going to be really fun for a minute, especially considering she had plans to do a ride-along with the local police department for a school project. Good times.

Second, I made this salmon dip using garlic, green onions, pepper and cream cheese with no salt. It was scrumptious!



Did I mention the salmon was smoked and extremely salty, and the crackers we ate the dip with were not exactly salt free? Oh well, it's the thought that counts right?

Friday, August 27, 2010

August 28: National Sauntering Day?

I had a pretty good idea what it means to saunter, but I thought I would look it up to make sure I was doing it right. According to the Merriam-Webster website to saunter is "to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner". In other words, stroll around. I do this darn good everyday, and Middle Lady said that is pretty much the only way she walks, but Little Lady and Mister are not much for sauntering. Little Lady said she only walks with a purpose. Sounds about right!

August 26: National Cherry Popsicle Day

Yummy! Another food day! To celebrate this day we....wait for it....had sugar-free cherry popsicles for dessert. Here is a picture:


August 25: National Kiss and Make Up Day

I like part of this day (the kissing part of course!). However, the other half of the day involves having been in a fight. Don't like that so much. So, to celebrate the day, I came home, gave each of my daughters and my husband a little slap (gently of course). When each of them said "Hey! What was that for?" I kissed them on their heads and said "Happy Kiss and Make Up Day". I think this is going to be such a fun experiment!

August 24: National Knife Day

Hmmmm. National Knife Day. Yikes. How exactly does a family celebrate National Knife Day? Well, we already had plans to attend the Volbeat show at the Knitting Factory in Boise. While singing one of his forlorn songs about lost love, the lead singer of the opening band, Dommin, made a sort of cutting motion across the heart (I'm assuming to illustrate how hurt he was?). We counted this as good for the day's celebration and were excited to be moving on to the next day. By the way, Volbeat rocked!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

August 23: National Spongecake Day

Mmmmm, I think I am going to love when the National Day is a food day! In honor of National Spongecake Day my 12-year-old daughter made her delicious trifle. Typically, she uses pound cake, but she tried it with spongecake for the day. It was delicious with strawberries, raspberries and freshly picked blackberries from the Hells Canyon trip the day before. A little bit of banana pudding, whipped cream and a dash of orange juice added to the mix made for quite the heavenly dessert. I failed to get a picture of it before it was consumed....but trust me....it was fantastic!

National Days


As you can see, it has been quite some time since the last time {and only time} I have posted something. I always think: *if I actually blogged, I would probably blog this* and then, of course, never do. Now, however, my family and I have started something that I think would be fun to continue and blogging about it might help us to do that. So, without further ado, my next/first/in all actuality probably last for a while post:

My husband and I were recently eating at our local Chinese restaurant and while waiting for our food we read one of the "Monthly Tidbits" thingy that all of our local restaurants seem to have. One of the "columns" is a list of the month's "National Days". We thought it would be fun to start celebrating each and every "National Day", in some way, to the best of our ability.

This new adventure of ours officially began on Sunday, August 22. According to http://www.louderbacks.com/home/dict/days.html this day was "Be an Angel Day". So, in honor of this day (not really, but you will see why we think it counts), my husband and I hiked to the top of the Seven Devil's fire lookout. Yes, we realize a hike to a place called Seven Devils in Hells Canyon does not seem like an appropriate celebration of "National Be an Angel Day". However, once we reached the top, we saw this little angel and thought it was just about as perfect a celebration as you could hope for:





And, here is a picture of the view from up there:






They say you can see Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana from up there on a clear day.