National Months - July

 Time for another edition of, "What crazy holiday is being celebrated all month long?"

Let's just dive right in.

National Anti-Boredom Month 

Set aside to find out why we are bored and to find ways to fight it.  Sometimes we say we are bored, but that isn't always the case.  Sometimes we have a lot to do, but the task doesn't stimulate our brain or is repetitive.  In order to not form bad habits, we need to find creative ways to beat our boredom.  Some suggestions:  Play board or card games, get some exercise, clean, cook or bake, or socialize.  If you need some more suggestions, check out the I'm Bored List on the blog.

National Peach Month

I picked this one so I could tell you about the peach tree that I have in our yard.  We planted it a few years ago and it finally has some peaches growing on it!  I have no idea what kind of peach tree it is, but I do hope the peaches are delicious!  I'll let you know when and if they ripen.

National Ice Cream Month

I SCREAM!  YOU SCREAM!  WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!!!   With all of the heat, this is a perfect month to celebrate this holiday!   Apparently, ice cream dates back to 54-68 AD, with people harvesting ice and flavoring it for Emperor Nero to enjoy.  Ice cream first appeared in the states in 1744.  And in the summer of 1790, George Washington spent over $200 on ice cream (I wonder if it was cherry flavored?).  The first hand crank ice cream maker was in 1843.  And in 1851, the first ice cream factory was built.  Some fun facts:  Vanilla is the most popular flavor (I guess my grandparents were right), the ice cream soda was invented in 1874, it takes about 50 licks to finish an ice cream cone (someone had too much time on his hands to figure that one out) and California produces the most ice cream in the US.  You can double celebrate on July 19, since it is National Ice Cream Day.  What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

National Blueberry Month 

I plan on going blueberry picking this month in Michigan just so I can celebrate this great national month long holiday.

National Hemp Month

This month gives us the chance to discover the usefulness of hemp for us and our environment.  Hemp provides an all natural, eco friendly fiber with many applications: paper, clothing and hempcrete.  As a crop it cleans pollutants from the soil.  And also provides a rich source of CBD.  Apparently, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp.  It was a crop Britain required the colonists to grow.  This is a great time to check out the growing list of hemp products out there (clothing, hempcrete, hemp seed oil, hemp rope and hemp extracts.

Looks like it's going to be a fun month!

Air Quality - Chicago

 The Canadian wildfires have taken over the news....... and the air.  Nothing like waking up and reading that Chicago has the worst air quality in the world.  You read that right.  

Not in the state.

Not in the country.  

Not in the continent or northern hemisphere.  

IN THE WORLD.

The last couple of days the air quality has been "very unhealthy."  Today we have a tiny bit of relief, telling us that it is just, "unhealthy."  

Drink lots of water and make sure to limit your outdoor activities. 

Here's to hoping we get those fires under control.  

And, a little breath of fresh air.

If you want to take a look at the air quality in your area, visit AirNow.gov. 

National Take Your Dog To Work Day

Today is National Take Your Dog To Work Day! 

It's so hard to leave our furry, four-legged family members when we go to work.  Studies show that pets in the workplace reduce stress and anxiety and have a positive effect on productivity.  Dogs can brighten your day and can definitely up the fun factor at work.  It can also be a fun way to relax and interact with your coworkers.  Oh, and show off Fido, too.  

This holiday was started to help with pet adoptions.  This holiday is a way for non-pet owners to see the special bond their coworkers have with their dog and hopefully want to adopt a dog of their own.

Unfortunately I am going to have to break the news to Pippen because my place of work does not allow us to bring our pets.  I will just have to give him extra attention (and cookies) before and after my shift today.

If you bring your dog to work today, don't forget to post to social media #NationalTakeYourDogToWorkDay 

Have a great day!

My Weird Dog

 I could probably write "weird dog" posts daily.  There is always something weird strange new going on with my child Pippen. 

We had some people over recently.  One of the families left a bottle of bubbles.  B thought it would be fun to hang outside with Pippen and the bubbles.  It didn't take long to realize that Pippen wanted no part of the bubble situation.  He went in the house and hid.  We aren't sure if it's the bubbles or the actual blowing.  He doesn't like any blowing air on him.  And now, when he sees the bubble bottle, his ears go down and he walks away.

My fearless protector.

Fun Words to Say

 Do you ever look at a word and think, "that's a fun word to say/use!"?  

I thought I would list some fun words for you to use during every day conversations.  

Here we go:

bamboozled

flabbergasted

discombobulated

shenanigans 

lollygag

malarkey

kerfuffle

brouhaha

nincompoop

skidaddle

flatulent

poppycock

whippersnapper

gobbledygook

Believe it or not, I use a few of those words (and find them quite fun).

Here are a few words I found that I'm going to add to my vocabulary:

pooter - special jar for collecting small insects

snollygoster -politician guided by personal advantage

hornswoggle - to trick

barbigerous - bearded

  

That last one is great since I have a barbigerous son.

How many of these words are already in your vocabulary?

Can you think of any more fun words to add to the list?

Retail Problems

 I keep thinking that I am going to run out of stories and then I go to work.

This day I was working as a cashier.  It was crazy.  Long lines.  No bagger to help me.  I had this one customer come through my line.  I rang up her stuff and bagged the items.  I even walked around and put them in her cart.  The customer leaves.  I continue with my line for the next twenty minutes.  All of a sudden, she comes up to my register (the opposite way, not as a customer) and starts accusing me of stealing her groceries.  I must have had a look of shock on my face.  The woman went a little crazy, telling me that I stole all of her groceries.  When I realized that she was serious, I said, "I don't have your groceries.  I bagged them and put them into your cart.  There's nothing at my register and nothing in my apron.  I wouldn't steal someone's groceries."  She huffed and went back into the store to shop.

I made sure I let the store manager know what happened, in case they have to check the security tapes.

In case you are wondering, this is a regular customer.  You might remember my story about her showing me her phone as her ID card.  She now makes sure to come to my line when I am ringing (oh, lucky me).  The other cashiers call her my friend.

Vegan Diaries - Kale Salad with Quinoa

 RT and I celebrated our anniversary last month at a restaurant in the city.  They didn't have much for vegans (or vegetarians), of course.  Quite surprising since the place was in a young, hip area of the city.  I did settle for their Quinoa and Kale salad.  Sadly, it was just mediocre.  I knew I could do better.

We have kale growing in our garden.  A leftover from last year's garden.  I thought I would try my hand at making this salad.  

Here is the delicious result:

Kale and Quinoa Salad

ingredients:

4 cups kale, de-stemmed and chopped

1/2 TBSP olive oil

1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed

1 cup quinoa, cooked 

1 med. red bell pepper, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese *

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup dried cranberries

dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 TBSP vinegar**

Juice of 1 lemon

salt/pepper to taste

directions:

Add kale to large bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil and gently massage until leaves have softened.

Add remaining ingredients (minus the sunflower seeds).

For the dressing, mix ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well.  Pour over salad mixture.  You might not need the entire dressing depending on the size of the salad and taste preference.

Serve topped with sunflower seeds.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* I used Violife vegan feta for this recipe.

** I used balsamic vinegar.  Feel free to use red wine vinegar, if that is what you have on hand.

If you make this kale salad, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Enjoy!

National Weed Your Garden Day

 I can't believe there is a National Weeding Day for us to celebrate!

I can't find much of the history of this national holiday.  Maybe my family came up with it because I spend the majority of my time outside pulling weeds?  Maybe this is a day to celebrate all of my efforts in pulling out those nasty weeds!

So, how to celebrate the day?  

How about pulling some weeds?  If you spend as little as five minutes a day weeding, you will be able to keep that weed population down. 

Weeding after a rainfall makes it easier to get the weed and it's roots.

Weed with a friend and it will make the job go a lot faster.  Not sure how many people will take you up on that, but, it's worth a try...

Reward yourself with a nice refreshing iced tea or lemonade and a view of your weed free garden.

I guess we all know how I will be spending the day today.  Looking forward to a nice refreshing drink after all of my hard work today.

Toast

 Toast seems to be a popular topic here on the blog.  Just type "toast" in the search bar for my toast posts (and you thought I didn't know how to rhyme).  With toast you can add a little jelly and it's a go to for breakfast.  It's used as a base for bruschetta (topped with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil).  Popular with vegans by adding a little avocado.  And, most importantly, toast is one of the foods we eat when we are sick.

When sick with the flu or an upset stomach, food isn't that appetizing.  Maybe you munch on a few crackers or have a little noodle soup.  As you start to feel a little better, you make yourself a piece of dry toast.  It probably doesn't sound that appetizing now, but, when you've been sick, you actually look forward to eating that piece of dry toast.  

We eat a lot of toast in our house, even when we aren't sick.

Do you like to eat toast?  

Do you like your toast bready, toasted (with a crunch when you bite into it) or burnt?

Garage Sale

 We just went through another major decluttering event.  The decluttering has been an ongoing occurrence.  I'm always (trying) to get rid of stuff.  The motivator behind this event was a subdivision garage sale.

Yes, I know.  I said that I would never have another garage sale.  I think I said that after the last two sales.  I don't enjoy sitting around for 6 hours and making fifty cents (OK, it might be more like $10).  I would rather just drive it to the donation center and move on with my life.

The community garage sale sounded like a good thing.  Lots of other houses involved.   People can drive around and hit quite a few sales.  And, maybe we will actually sell something.

The sale was on the hottest days (of course).  We don't have any shade in our driveway in the afternoon, so, yea, that was fun.  My goal was to only have to make one trip to the donation center.   

I am happy to say that I survived the sale.  I got rid of quite a bit (only one donation trip).  I kept RT from telling people to, "Get off my property!"  And think that if I ever have the hare-brained idea of having a garage sale, feel free to lock me up and throw away the key I would definitely join in on the subdivision sale.

How To Measure Time

Most people measure time in hours or minutes.  You can use days, weeks, months or years.  Maybe you are into fashion and measure time by when the mini skirt was in style or bell bottom pants.  You can use music to distinguish the years: Rock 'n' roll, disco, punk, rap.  I like to use my children's ages, then do a little math and I can figure out the year. 

 I remember when we moved into our house (N was 6 months old).  When we got our first fence for our yard (A was a newborn). When the kitchen was remodeled (B was 3). 

How do you record your memories?

Do you use the year?  

Music?  

What kind of car you were driving?

National Repeat Day

 Today is National Repeat Day!

Today is National Repeat Day!

I had to look a little more into this holiday and find out why we are happy to repeat ourselves.  I mean, with kids, I feel like I repeat myself all of the time.  "Clean up after yourselves!" "Clean your dishes!"  I can't see how it can be fun saying things over and over again.  It turns out, this day is set aside to repeat positive actions and behaviors, in turn breaking the pattern of negative thoughts and actions.  The day also celebrates the repetition in our lives, repetition is a great way to learn new things and helps form new and good habits.

Today is a great day to practice a new skill.  Doing something over and over will help you to master this new skill.  Since repetition is good for you, maybe the kids can clean a couple of bathrooms today?

Create positive habits in your life.  Take a look at your negative habits and replace them with something positive.

It's also a great day to say and do things twice.  

Have a great day today!

Have a great day today!  

Retail Problems - How I accidentally got high at work

 Time for a quick retail problems post.

I was working at the customer service desk when a customer came in for a catering order.  I could tell that she was pretty happy to be there by the way she greeted me.  She was surrounded by a scent cloud (I think she smoked something prior to entering the store).  I grabbed the catering order form, bumped into my manager and said, "If I'm drug tested right now, I might not pass."  When the manager got to the desk, she was overwhelmed by the scent and told me to find some spray to hide the odor.  This resulted in me giving the area a deep clean so our customers don't think we are getting high on the job.

I guess if you have to go shopping, why not be extra happy about it?