No Spooning Around Here

Okay, where are all of the spoons?

That was the question i called through the house when i opened the flatware drawer and saw this:

See!  No spoons!

It happens in our house, and i've never understood.  We will be out of spoons, and then one day they all show back up again.  Then all the cups go.  Or all of the small plates disappear.

There were only two in the dishwasher, so after searching the library next to the computer and coming up empty, i headed toward Bigger Girl's room (she sometimes forgets to bring back her evening snack bowl and spoon) and heard a sneeze.

Please don't tell me you are sick again! i said.

"No, it's just dust, I'm cleaning my room," she answered.

You've let the dust bunnies grow big enough to attack again, haven't you? i asked with a smile.

At that point, Sweetie came out of our room and said, "If you're sick again, stay away from me, I can't afford to get sick and miss work!"

"You can't afford to get sick!" she answered.  "What about me?  I'm only part time minimum wage, and besides, it's against my religion to be sick, so how do you think it makes me feel?"

As we laughed, Bigger Girl said, "By the way, we are down to the last roll of toilet paper in our bathroom."

"And we are totally out in our bathroom," Sweetie said.

Um, okay, who is elected to go to the store? i asked.

"I'll go," Sweetie said.  "What else do we need?"

The usual, i told him.  Milk and bread.  Oh, and bananas.

"Milk, bread, bananas, and toilet paper.  Got it," he said.

Don't worry, i told Bigger Girl.  He loves to grocery shop, and he will rectify the situation."

"Mom, shut up!" Bigger Girl laughed.  "Did you have to go there?

Of course, i answered with a huge grin.  Making my kids uncomfortable is my job!

We ended with a laugh, but i still couldn't find the spoons.

If some of those spoons don't show up soon, they will have to be next on the list.

Today is

American Eagle Day 

Baymen's Seafood and Music Festival -- Tuckerton, NJ, US (this year including a micro-brewers tent with the seafood and music; through tomorrow)

Cuckoo Warning Day -- if you hear the cuckoo today, it will be a wet summer, according to old European traditions

Day of the National Flag -- Argentina (Anniversary of General D. Manuel Belgrano's Death)

Day of the Purification of All Things -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Dollars Against Diabetes Days -- always on Father's Day weekend, with information here 

Feast of the Great Spirit / Great Mystery -- various Native Americans (celebrations are around the time of the solstice)
     Cherokee call the spirit Asgaya Galun Lati
     Iroquois call the spirit Orenda
     Lakota call the spirit Wakan Tanka
     Zuni call the spirit Awonawilona

La Festa Dei Gigli -- Nola, Campagna, Italy (Festival of the Lilies, in honor of St. Paulinus; through tomorrow, with the traditional Ballad of the Lilies on June 28)

Festival for Summanus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (the god who threw thunderbolts at night)

Festival of the New Knee -- Fairy Calendar

GRABAAWR / GReat Annual Bicycle Adventure Along the Wisconsin River -- WI, US (fun bicycle adventures for all ages, levels, and abilities; through next Saturday)

Hogueras de San Juan -- Alicante, Spain ("Bonfires of St. John," through the 29th, with the night of the 24th being the most magical as the festival is for St. John, whose day that is)

Husband Caregiver Day -- to honor husbands who give health care to family members (wives, children, or extended family)

Ice Cream Soda Day -- i guess because it's hot enough now for one

International Surfing Day -- The Surfrider Foundation and Surfing Magazine suggest contests, barbecues, film screenings, and organizing beach clean ups to celebrate

Iron Skegge's Day -- Vikings (martyrdom of Iron Skegge, who died defending the temples of Maeri against Christians)

KCQ Country Music Fest -- Saginaw, MI, US (country music's hottest stars, classic car show, art fair, and great food)

Long Beach Bayou and Blues Festival -- Rainbow Lagoon, Long Beach, CA, US (celebrating Cajun/Creole culture, food, music, arts and crafts, and even a Mardi Gras parade; through tomorrow)

Longest Dam Race -- Fort Peck, MT, US (a run that crosses 1.8 miles of the Fort Peck Dam, as well as a fun run, a bike race, and more)

Madam Lou Bunch Day -- Central City, CO, US (Old Flop House Celebration of the Madam who ran the city's most famous house of ill repute during the gold rush, complete with period costumes and a brass bed race!)

Martyr's Day -- Eritrea

Mermaid Parade -- Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY, US (wacky and wonderful and worth every wild moment)

Midsummer's Day -- Aland; Finland; Sweden

Midsummer's Eve -- many and varying traditions, with some celebrating the day before the solstice, and some always tying it to June 23, St. John's Eve
     Night of the Fairy Goddesses Aine and Finnen -- Ireland (watch out for the antics of the little people on Midsummer's Eve, whichever day you celebrate it!)
    
National Vanilla Milkshake Day

New Identity Day -- an internet generated holiday, just have fun thinking about who you might want to be for a day

Norskedalen's Midsummer Fest -- Coon Valley, WI, US (celebrate summer solstice and Sankt Hans Dag[St. John's Day] the way pioneer Scandinavians did; through tomorrow)

Pixie Day -- Ottery St. Mary, Devon, England (reenacting of the "Revenge" of the Pixies who bothered the town until midsummer in 1454; now fun, games, music, pageant, and more)

Rochesterfest -- Rochester, MN, US (street dances, parade, exotic foods, children's and senior events, and more; through the 28th)

Scira/Skirophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival for Demeter, organized by the women of Athens; date approximate)

Spirit of the Woods Folk Festival -- Brethren, MI, US (a family friendly good time in the park)

St. Michelina of Pesaro's Day (Patron of mentally ill people, people with in-law problems, widows; against death of children, insanity and mental illness)

Takekiri Eshiki Matsuri -- Kuramadera, Kyoto, Japan (bamboo cutting festival; the bamboo represents snakes, so cutting it symbolizes victory over evil)

World Productivity Day -- no central focus, just a day for suppliers of productivity tools and training to celebrate what they contribute to society

World Refugee Day -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

The University of Oxford receives its charter, 1214
West Virginia becomes the 35th US state, 1863


Birthdays Today:

Robert Rodriguez, 1968
Nicole Kidman, 1967
Michael Landon, Jr, 1964
Cyndi Lauper, 1953
John Goodman, 1952
Lionel Richie, 1949
Andre Watts, 1946
Bob Vila, 1946
Anne Murray, 1945
Brian Wilson, 1942
John Mahoney, 1940
Danny Aiello, 1933
James Tolkan, 1931
Martin Landau, 1931
Olympia Dukakis, 1931
Chet Atkins, 1924
Audie Murphy, 1924
Jean-Jacques Bertrand, 1916
Errol Flynn, 1909
Lillian Hellman, 1905
Charles W. Chesnutt, 1858
Scipio Africanus, BC236


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Jaws(Film), 1975
"The Ray Stevens Show"(TV), 1970
"The Ed Sullivan Show"(TV), 1948


Today in History:

Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun; the battle was inconclusive, and Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory, 451
Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique, 1567
The Irish  village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian  pirates, 1631
A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756
King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution, 1791
The U.S. vessel SS Savannah, the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, arrives at Liverpool, 1819
Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne, 1837
Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph, 1840 
Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1877
Caroline Willard Baldwin becomes the first woman to earn a doctor of science degree, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1895
A rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35, 1959
The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1963
The German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin, 1991
The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida, 2003
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers grants private companies the right to create new website domain suffixes, 2011
Instagram offers users the ability to upload videos to their service, 2013
Dunedin and Christchurch, New Zealand, have roads cut off and flights cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, 2013