Even though i can't be one,...

...i am feeling a bit curmudgeonly.  Or i was, last Thursday.

Yes, i know, the only two things in the world that a woman cannot be is a father and a curmudgeon.

Last Thursday was one of those days when i truly believe the person who coined the term "stay at home mom" was a nickel-wit.

It started with Little Girl asking, as i dropped her at school, if i could pick her up that day.  She didn't want to ride the bus, just that once, so i said i would.

Then i tried to run errands.  Every place was either closed, or didn't have what i needed.  When i got home, Bigger Girl pointed out Enigma was limping.  Since i had to go get cat meds for Kida anyway, i dropped Enigma off at the vet.

Meanwhile, #2 Son came home from work sicker than he had been the day before.  Time to call the doc, and get him a same day appointment.

By the time his appointment was done, it was time to take him home, go pick up Little Girl, go get the cat ($82 to find out she wasn't limping, had a fever, was probably bitten by another cat, and get her medicine, too).

Then drop Little Girl and the cat at home and go try to get #2 Son's prescription.  His cold had turned into infected lymph nodes.

The whole day, i was home for only a half hour at a time, and all of that was spent bottle feeding kittens.

Those days, when i can't get to anything at home -- no laundry folded, no ironing done, and forget about getting dinner started on time -- make me want to send in a resignation letter.

Or maybe i should just petition someone to allow women to occasionally be curmudgeons, too.

Then again, that would just be more work, and meetings, and heaven only knows what.

Okay, i'll just stick with cranky as a curmudgeon.  Just keep the nickel-wits out of my way on days like that.



Today is

Adhesive Postage Stamp Day -- the first adhesive postage stamps went on sale on this date in 1840 in Great Britain

Army Day/St. George's Day -- Bulgaria

Beverage Day -- an internet holiday that encourages you to try a beverage you've never had before

Buddha Day/Buddha's Birthday -- some Buddhists celebrate today, some next week, at the full moon

Childhood Depression Awareness Day / Children's Mental Health Awareness Day -- sometimes also called Green Ribbon Day

Festival of Min -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (a four day festival celebrating male fertility)

Give Local America -- US (encouraging people to support local charities)

International No Diet Day -- for reasons not to diet, but focus n health instead, click here

Joseph Brackett Day -- birth anniversary of Shaker author of the song "Simple Gifts"

Martyrs' Day -- Syria

Mounikhia / Munichia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Artemis, date approximate)

National Crepe Suzette Day

National Nurses Day -- US, start of National Nurses Week

National Teacher Appreciation Day -- US

National Tourist Appreciation Day -- during US National Travel and Tourism Week

No Homework Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays (celebrated on Monday if it falls on a weekend)

Primary Day:  Live from Delaware Street -- Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis, IN, US (hear conversations of the day and time of President Harrison, and speak to re-enactors who play the parts of his family and staff to see what life was like in 1898)

Remembrance for Eyvind Kelve -- Asatru/Norse Pagan Calendar (pagan martyr)

St. George's Day -- Eastern Orthodox Churches (the day to visit graves and decorate, leave special food, and provide entertainment for the dearly departed) related observance:
     Shepherd's and Herdsman's Day -- Bulgaria

St. Gerard of Lunel's Day (Patron of epileptics and Montesanto, Italy; against epilepsy and headaches)

World Asthma Day -- International (Global Initiative for Asthma)

Yale Lock Day -- the Yale lock was patented this day in 1861

Yom Ha'Atzmaut -- Israel (Independence Day; began sunset yesterday, through sunset today)


Anniversaries Today:

David Duchovny marries Tia Leone, 1997
Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey (the first televised royal wedding), 1960


Birthdays Today:

Gabourey Sidibe, 1983
Leslie Hope, 1965
Roma Downey, 1964
George Clooney, 1961
Tom Bergeron, 1955
Tony Blair, 1953
Lynn Whitfield, 1953
Alan Dale, 1947
Ben Masters, 1947
Bob Seger, 1945
Willie Mays, 1931
Orson Welles, 1915
Stewart Granger, 1913
Rudolph Valentino, 1895
Gaston Leroux, 1868
Rabindranath Tagore, 1861
Sigmund Freud, 1856
Robert E. Peary, 1856
Maximilian Robespierre, 1758


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Entertaining Mr. Sloan"(Play), 1964


Today in History:

Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, which many consider the end of the Renaissance, 1527
Mongol emperor Babur defeats the Afghans and Bengals, 1529
Henry VIII orders that English Bibles be placed in every church, 1536
Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles, 1682
The first African-American Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston, 1787
John Deere produces the first steel plow, 1833
James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald, 1835
The Glaciarium, the world's first mechanically frozen ice rink, opens, 1844
Dr John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine", 1851
Linus Yale patents the Yale lock, 1851
Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska, 1877
The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1889
George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII, 1910
George Herman "Babe" Ruth, of the Boston Red Sox, slams his first home run, against the New York Yankees, 1915
The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed, 1937
John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath, 1940
Bob Hope performs his first USO show, 1941
Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes, 1954
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel, 1994
Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people, 2008