TGIF?

Only if the week doesn't end with as big a to do list as it started with can you say TGIF.

Friday was the day to clean the cat shelter, bring Bigger Girl to the bank, go to the library with one overdue book (fine, 40 cents), meet the bug guy for the annual termite inspection, take #2 Son for a haircut, take Little Girl to get new shoes (she's grown a whole size!), and go to the annual torture called the Parent Orientation Meeting at the school. Plus laundry and cooking and trying to find all the spots the kittens have messed in behind the furniture (an ongoing ordeal).

While taking Sammy home between ironing and cooking dinner, he noted that his older brother, Gerry, left for college today. With the forthrightness you expect from an almost 10-year-old, he said, "I'm going to miss him, but I won't miss him taking the remote!"

Ah, to be able to tell the truth so bluntly. Someday, i will be able to do that again. You have to be under 12 or over 75 to really get away with it.


Today is:

Anniversary of Snick-Snacker's Right Foot -- Fairy Calendar

Blame Somebody Else Day -- begun by Anne Moeller of Clio, MI, US, who blamed being late for work on this day in 1982 on her alarm not going off, and spent the rest of the day spreading blame; i wouldn't suggest it, though, it will only start a fight you are too tired to finish.

Bud Billiken Parade -- Chicago, IL, US (second largest parade in the US, begun in 1929)

Day of Battle between Horus and Set; Aset gains the Horns of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Festival of Aventine Diana -- Roman Empire

Festival of Xocotl Huetzi -- Ancient Aztec Calendar (first fruits of harvest festival, through Sept. 1)

Full Sturgeon Moon a/k/a Full Red Moon, Green Corn Moon, and Grain Moon

Hercules Victori -- Roman Empire

Independence Day -- Central African Republic

International Federation of Library Associations Annual Conference -- through the 18th

International Left-Hander's Day

International Tango Festival and World Championship -- Buenos Aires, Argentina (through the 31st)

Lao Issara -- Laos (Day of the Free Laos)

Mt. Hagan Cultural Show -- Mt. Hagan, Papua New Guinea (a bit touristy, but a nice overview of lifestyles of native clans; through tomorrow)

National Filet Mignon Day

National Garage Sale Day

Obon -- Shinto

Perseids Meteor Shower peaks

Raksha Bandhan -- Hindu (Celebration of the bonds between brothers and sisters -- i don't know about you, but in my house brothers and sisters celebrate their "bonds" by trying to put each other in them!)

Runic Half Month As begins (the gods)

Skinny Dipping Day -- funny t-shirt: I no longer skinny dip. I chunky dunk!

St. Cassian's Day (patron of teachers -- yes, they are back in school already, heaven help them; also of Mexico City, shorthand-writers, and parish clerks)

St. Concordia's day (patron of nannies)

St. Hippolytus' Day (patron of horses)

St. Pontian's Day

Vertumnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (in honor of Vertumnus and Pomona)

Women's Day -- Tunisia


Birthdays Today

Danny Bonaduce, 1959
Midori Ito, 1969
Dan Fogelberg, 1951
Philippe Petit, 1949
Don Ho, 1930
Pat Harrington, Jr., 1929
Fidel Castro, 1926
George Shearing, 1919
Ben Hogan, 1912
Alfred Hitchcock, 1899
Bert Lahr, 1895
Annie Oakley, 1860


Today in History

The English army under King Henry V lands at the mouth of the Seine River, 1415
Tenochtitlan of the Aztecs is conquered by the Spanish, 1521
Tenbun Hokke Disturbance, in which Buddhist monks from Kyoto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto, 1536
John Smith submits the story of Jamestown's first days for publication, 1608
Christiaan Huygens discovers the Martian south polar cap, 1642
Founding of Litchfield, CT, 1651
Marie Antoinette and other French royals are imprisoned by Revolutionaries, 1792
Nat Turner sees the solar eclipse which he interprets as a sign from heaven to begin his ill-fated slave rebellion, 1831
Earthquake in Peru and Ecuador kills 25,000, 1868
Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his "Navigable Balloon", 1889
First production in the UK of stainless steel by Harry Brearley, 1913
Opha Mae Johnson is the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, 1918
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany, 1918
The first barbed wire fence that would become the Berlin Wall is erected, 1961
The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York, 1969
Michael Phelps sets the Olympic record for most the gold medals won by an individual in Olympic history, 2008