"Oh, mom, it was so funny!"  Little Girl was laughing almost too hard to speak.

Okay, don't start it and not tell me.  What happened.

"Matthew was trying to get out of doing his school work, as usual, asked Mrs. L if he could go get some water.  She told him, 'No, Matthew.  Now go back to your habitat.'"

Thar Mrs. L has a great, and very dry, sense of humor.  She can deliver a line like that.

Speaking of school work, we are learning about the construction of the Vatican and its artwork and history and all that for #2 Son's history project.  We are studying alchemy and how it became the basis of modern chemistry for Little Girl's history project.

And when mommy is finished relearning all this stuff while spell checking their papers again and helping them print out the displays and getting it all turned in, she is going to do nothing more challenging than perusing the Reader's Digest for a while.

Sometimes it's fun to be back in school with the kids, but it can be a mental workout.  Like when Bigger Girl asks me to read over her essays before she turns them in.  One is on the dehumanizing effect of slavery on both the slave and the slave holder.  The other is on Andrew Jackson, and her opinions on his presidency.  It gets deep, very deep.  She is not a surface analysis type of person.

My one question is what do i get for going through school again?


Today is:

American Enterprise Day -- US (a project of Future Business Leaders of America, Phi Beta Lambda Chapter)

America Recycles Day -- US

Beaujolais Nouveau Release -- France

Changeling Restitution Day -- Fairy Calendar (Goblins)

Day of the German-speaking Community of Belgium -- German-speaking Community of Belgium

Don't Try To Do Everything At Once Day -- internet generated, and a blow to us multitaskers

Ennead Feast in the House of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Fast for an Abundant World Harvest -- sponsored by Oxfam America

George Spelvin Day -- date of first use, in 1886, of this name for an actor playing two roles in one play; George and Georgette Spelvin have since acted in over 10,000 roles on Broadway

Great American Smokeout -- save money and your life, try not to smoke today

Guinness World Records' Day -- celebrating ordinary people who do extraordinary things, go try for a record!

Hijra/Islamic New Year (began at moonrise yesterday, continues until sunset today)

I Love to Write Day -- encouraging everyone to write something; perfect, in the middle of NaNoWriMo

King's Feast / Dynasty Day -- Belgium

National Bundt Pan Day -- yes, really, celebrating the pan itself

National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

National Peace Day -- Cote d'Ivoire

National Philanthropy Day

National Raisin Bran Cereal Day

National Spicy Hermit Christmas Cookie Day

Nativity Fast begins a/k/a Winter Lent (through Dec 24) -- Orthodox Christian

Republic Day -- Turkish Republic of North Cyprus

Republic Proclamation Day -- Brazil

Shichi-Go-San (Shrine Visiting Day)/Seven-Five-Three Festival -- Japan (picturesque festival in which 3-year-old children of either sex, five-year-old boys, and seven-year-old girls go to shrines dressed in their best; guardian spirits are thanked for the health of the children and prayers said for their future to be equally bright)

Sing in Your Car Day -- they need a day for this?

St. Albertus Magnus' Day (Patron of medical technicians, natural sciences, philosophers, schoolchildren, scientists, students, theology students; Cincinnati, Ohio)

St. Leopold's Day (King Leopold III, Patron of dying children, large families, step-parents; Austria)
     Leopoldstag/Goose Day -- Austria (the start of the heurigen, the new wine season)

Use Less Stuff Day -- a great idea!



Birthdays Today:

Kevin Eubanks, 1957
Sam Waterston, 1940
Petula Clark, 1932
Ed Asner, 1929
Bill "C.W. McCall" Fries, 1928
Joseph Wapner, 1919
Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887
F. William Herschel, 1738
William Pitt the Elder, 1708


Today in History:

Christopher Columbus notes the first recorded reference to tobacco, 1492
The NY General Assembly permits Jews to omit the phrase "Upon the faith of a Christian" from adjuration oaths, 1727
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying the Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, 1763
The Articles of Confederation are adopted by the Continental Congress, 1777
Georgetown University, the first Catholic college in the US, opens, 1791
Zebulon Pike gets his first sight of Pike's Peak, Colorado, 1806
Isaac Pitman introduces his steno/shorthand system of writing, 1832
Union Major General Sherman burns Atlanta, Georgia, 1864
King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade, 1904
The first telecast of an unscheduled event, a fire, takes place on W2XBT, in NY, 1938
In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy's restaurant, 1969
Intel releases world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, 1971
René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favour of independence, 1976
The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, 1985
An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council, 1988
The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands, 1988
Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5000 people and destroyed the world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans, 2007