National Months - September

 Time to look ahead and see what fun holidays we will be celebrating next month.

Here we go!

National Sourdough September

This is a great time for you to make some sourdough bread and share it with your favorite sister.  I will expect a fresh, homemade loaf of bread every week.  Thank you.

It's also

National Square Dance Month

This is a great month to put to use all of that time spent square dancing in PE class back in junior high.  It's a good thing this was part of our curriculum.  Where would we be without those awkward square dance lessons?

National Mushroom Month

This one is for RT, a fun guy interested in fungi.  I believe a trip to the mushroom festival in Kennett Square, PA, the mushroom capital of the world, is in the future.   Mushrooms are an excellent source of copper, fiber, potassium, protein, selenium, vitamin B and zinc.  How to observe?  Drop some in your soup, add them to your pizza, sauté them in some wine as a side dish.  

National Sewing Month

Apparently sewing has always been around in some shape or form.  In the early days, bone and ivory were used as needles.  The process became a lot easier, thanks to the invention of the sewing machine in 1750.  I'm feeling the need to pull out the sewing machine and try to make something.  Do you like to sew?  Do you prefer to sew by hand or use a sewing machine?

National Rice Month

A little strange, since there is a rice shortage due to floods, drought and severe weather and the price is skyrocketing.  

National Courtesy Month

To some, courtesy means kindness.  To others it can mean being polite or having good manners.  It can be spoken or actions toward someone.  Courtesy is about manners and respect.  It takes little effort to be kind.  The entire month of September gives you plenty of time to practice kindness.  Henry James once wrote, "Three things in human life are important.  The first is to be kind.  The second is to be kind.  And the third is to be kind."

National Self Improvement Month    

An entire month set aside for us to make a conscious effort to improve ourselves.  What would you like to improve in your life?  Healthier eating habits, add some exercise to your daily routine, learn a new skill or read more.  Set a goal and get started today!

National Classical Music Month

This holiday recognizes the beauty of classical music.  How to celebrate:  Listen to classical music (either alone or with friends).  Attend a local concert (most towns have local bands that perform).  Learn to play a musical instrument.  

Lots of fun happening this month!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am a fan of cherry chocolate combinations.  I had a taste for maraschino cherries (I don't why) and bought a jar.  Unfortunately, they only had one size jar and it was HUGE.  After eating one, I realized I had to figure out what I can do with them, other than put them in my tropical drinks.  I did a little research and found this cookie recipe.  The cookies are amazing and disappeared within 24 hours.

Here's the recipe:

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

ingredients:

 1/4 cup butter*

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 large egg**

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp almond extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup maraschino cherries, drained, finely chopped***

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

directions:

Oven 350F.

In large bowl, add butter and sugar and mix well.  

Add in egg and extracts and mix.

In separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt.

Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.  (best to mix by hand at this point)

Add in cherries and chocolate chips and mix by hand until combined.  The dough will be thick.

Drop dough balls onto lined baking sheet. 

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet (about 15 minutes) before transferring them to cooling rack.

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

A few notes:

*I used vegan butter for this recipe.  I also reduced the amount of sugar in half.  They were still sweet and tasty.

** I used a flax egg.  1 flax egg = 1 TBSP flax seed + 3 TBSP cold water.  Let sit for 10 minutes before adding to the mixture.   You can probably use aquafaba.  That's 3 TBSP of aquafaba = 1 egg.  Aquafaba is the water mixture inside the can of chickpeas.

*** If you like cherries, you can save some of the chopped cherries (or chop a few extra) to add to the tops of your cookies.

****If you want to add a fun look to these cookies, add a little pink gel food coloring to the batter.  Just keep an eye on the cookies while in the oven.  You don't want to burn them.  

If you make these Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies, let me know what you think in the comments.

Enjoy!

National Dog Day

 Today is National Pippen Dog Day!

This day is set aside to encourage dog ownership of all breeds.  Dogs should live a happy, safe and abuse free life.  Dogs offer companionship, keep us safe and offer aid to those in need.  Like other dog holidays, finding homes for dogs is the goal.  The main purpose for this day is to help rescue dogs (mixed breeds) find their forever home.  

How to celebrate?  

Take your dog for a walk.

If you don't have a dog, ask to walk the neighbor's dog.

Adopt a dog from a shelter.

Volunteer at your local animal shelter.

Pippen is a rescue dog.  Half human and half dog.  We aren't sure of his background but love him anyway.  Well, I love him.  I can't speak for the other people in our house.  

Now that the weather has cooled off a bit, I plan on taking the child Pippen for a nice walk and giving him some extra treats.

That Neighbor

 I walk or ride my bike daily.  There are a few neighbors who walk the trails daily as well.  

One of my neighbors walks two of his dogs several times a day.  I bump into him every once in a while.  The other day, I realized that he is the neighborhood informant.  He knows just about everything going on in our area.  He's a talker, so, he stops and talks to everyone on the trail.  If he sees you in your yard, he will stop and say hello.  During this stop and chat he passes along updates on the neighbors in the area.  Surgeries, vacations, if someone is moving, deaths.  With every conversation he gets information on how you and your family are doing, which I'm sure he passes along to others in the neighborhood.  

This walking path meet up he told me about a neighbor who is moving, another neighbor's dog is not doing well and a neighbor who suddenly passed away.  

Some people go online or watch television for the news, I just go and take a walk.

National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day

 I didn't even know this was a holiday!  All those years I was growing zucchini in my garden and didn't know what to do with all the extras!

If you have planted zucchini in your garden, you know how quickly the ripen.  You also know that you don't just get one or two of them.  It's nice to give them to friends and neighbors, but, after awhile, they know you have zucchini and stop answering your calls/texts.  

So, how to celebrate this holiday?

You have to wait until the dead of night, grab some bags filled with zucchini and quietly place them on your neighbors front porch.  Almost like a ding dong ditch, except, you don't ring the doorbell.  

If you have a huge crop of vegetables from your garden, remember you can always bring it to your local food pantry.  They will be very happy to see you.

National Underwear Day

I see London

I see France

I see someone's underpants!

Today is a day to celebrate your favorite undergarment!

Boxers

Briefs

Panties

Underwear

Thongs

Tighty Whities

"Make sure you wear clean underwear, incase you are in an accident'"

How to celebrate #NationalUnderwearDay:

watch Bob Seger's, "Old Time Rock and Roll" video

clean our your underwear drawer

buy some new underwear

tell some clean underwear jokes 

I'll leave you with some clean underwear jokes:

"Your underwear is too tight and revealing" I said to my wife.

She said, "Wear your own, then."

What do you call a mortician that steals underwear?

An undie taker.

For a second I couldn't decide what underwear to buy.  

It was a moment of brief indecision.

The best underwear jokes...

are brief.

How will you celebrate today?

Retail Problems

 Another day, another customer story.

Normally I post about the weird scary crazy customers that I encounter at work.  Today I thought I would do something a little different.

A customer came in to do some Amazon returns (that alone can be a whole discussion).  He had his wife's phone because she was in the hospital.  He had no idea how to work the phone or how to do the returns.  He's probably in his late 70's and has no idea how to work an Iphone.  I stepped in and took over the phone and went through all of the steps for the returns for each item.  As I'm finishing up, he tells me he is very grateful for my help with the phone and the returns.  He goes on to tell me that his wife is in the hospital and that he almost lost her.  I told him that it was no problem, that I was happy to help and wished his wife a speedy recovery.

Moral of the story:  Not all customer encounters are scary.

National Grab Some Nuts Day

Yea, let's see what kind of traffic that title brings to my blog.

Believe it or not, this is an actual "holiday," celebrating the health benefits of nuts.  Toss them into salads or oatmeal, add them to your baked goods or just grab a handful for a healthy snack.  

A few things I learned along the way:

Almonds and cashews are not nuts.  The almond is considered a stone fruit and the cashew is a seed.

Nuts are a great source of plant based protein, fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins and minerals (such as vitamin E, selenium and copper). 

How to observe #NationalGrabSomeNutsDay

Grab a handful of your favorite nuts to snack on.

Fire up the oven and add some nuts to your baked sweet treats 

Toss some into your salad or a stir fry

And don't forget to post about it on social media.*

*I'm trusting you on this one.  I'm not bailing you out of social media jail.

Gasoline

 When I started driving, my parents were pretty good about lending me their car.  They trusted my driving skills.  There was only one stipulation:  I had to fill up the gas tank before I came home with the car.

Now that seems like a real easy thing to do after joy riding in their car.  Stop at the gas station and fill 'er up.  If I'm putting miles on the car, then I should be responsible to replace the fuel in the tank.  But, the majority of the time I was just driving a couple of blocks to a friend's house.  The rule was you had to fill up the tank.  And, if you got the car and it was on empty, well, there goes your money.

When my children use my car, I find they "forget" to put gas in it.  Or, they "didn't notice that the car needed gas."  Even better, "I'll put gas in it next time."  Next time never happens. 

I have taken matters into my own hands and started leaving my car close to empty, forcing whoever uses it to put some gas into the tank.  So far, my car is either filled up or the person decides to take RT's car.*

*I learned this tactic from RT.  If you keep the car on empty, no one wants to borrow your car.