More talk about integrity today at co-op. This time we talked about integrity and making a spending plan. We came to the conclusion that integrity means giving/tithing comes first, then the necessities, then fun money. Integrity also means sticking to the spending plan, even when that is hard to do.

In honor of national humor month:

IF MY BODY WERE A CAR...

If my body were a car, this is the time I would be thinking about trading it in for a newer model. I've got bumps and dents and scratches in my finish and my paint job is getting a little dull ...

But that's not the worst of it.

My headlights are out of focus and it's especially hard to see things up close.

My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip and slide and skid and bump into things even in the best of weather.

My whitewalls are stained with varicose veins.

It takes me hours to reach my maximum speed... My fuel rate burns inefficiently.

But here's the worst of it --

Almost every time I sneeze, cough or sputter either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires!



Today is

Blame Someone Else Day

Fisherman's Festival

Huguenot Day, France

International Moment of Laughter Day

Libertas -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of liberty)

National Day, Chad

National Peach Cobbler Day

Oistins Fish Festival, Barbados

Scrabble Day

Songkran Festival, in Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Burma, & Laos (new year festival, celebrated when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries)

Squashing of Moonhopper Day -- Fairy Calendar

Tax Freedom Day

Thomas Jefferson Day


Birthdays Today:

Jonathan Brandis, 1976
Rick Schroder, 1970
Garry Kasparov, 1963
Max Weinberg, 1951
Al Green, 1946
Tony Dow, 1945
Lowell George, 1945
Jack Casady, 1944
Lyle Waggoner, 1935
Don Adams, 1926
Howard Keel, 1919
Eudora Welty, 1909
Samuel Beckett, 1906
Butch Cassidy, 1866
F.W. Woolworth, 1852
Thomas Jefferson, 1743
Guy Fawkes, 1570


Today in History:

The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt with the capture of Louis IX of France, 1250
Henry IV of France signs the Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of religion and political rights to Huguenots (French Protestants), 1598
John Dryden, age 36, becomes the first English Poet Laureate, 1668
The first elephant seen in the Western Hemisphere arrives from India, 1796
The British Parliament grants religious freedom to Roman Catholics, 1829
Hungary becomes a republic, 1849
The first US Pony Express run is completed, 1860
George Westinghouse patents a steam powered brake, 1869
J.C. (James Cash) Penney opens his first store, 1902
British troops fire on unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India, killing at least 379 and wounding over 1,200 more, 1919
Helen Hamilton becomes the first woman US Civil Service Commissioner, 1920
Lord Clydesdale makes the first flight over Mt. Everest, 1933
The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated on the 200th anniversary of his birth, in Washington, D.C., 1943
Van Cliburn becomes the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 1958