Where's Art When You Need Him?

Last Monday, i went to babysit, and the boy's room looked like this:

Um, how do i get in there, and where's the floor?

Then, this past Thursday, i went over there to do the cleaning and laundry.  (While there, i also kept an eye on the kids and went and picked them up from various activities, but that's another story.)

Youngest Boy, when he got to the house, went and looked at the room, which now looked like this:

Still too many clothes, but much more orderly.

Then in all seriousness he came to me and asked, "Did you clean our room?"

Never before in my life have i been more tempted to say, no, the blue fairy did it!

Mr. Linkletter, i can promise you that kids still say the darnedest things.

Today is

24 Hours of LeMans -- Le Mans, France (the biggest sporting challenge for car manufacturers, as they have to be the best over a 24 hour period; through tomorrow)

Bali Arts Festival -- Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia (a full month of daily performances, handicraft exhibitions, and cultural activities showcasing all Bali has to offer in dance, music, art, food, and more; through July 11)

Betty Picnic -- the Betty Club, founded by Betty Wilder and Betty Patterson of Grant's Pass, Oregon, began hosting a picnic for all with their name in 1987, and want Bettys all over the world to have a Betty Picnic on the second Saturday of June each year

Big Mac Shoreline Spring Scenic Bike Tour -- Mackinaw City, MI, US (weekend bike tours of varying lengths along the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline, with a concluding ride over the Mighty Mackinac Bridge; through tomorrow)

Billy the Kid Tombstone Race -- Fort Sumner, New Mexico (racers carry an 80 pound tombstone through an obstacle course! a tribute to the number of times the tombstone has been stolen over the years; there is also a triathlon)

Day of the Living Children of Nut -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Feast of Epona -- Ancient Celtic Calendar (Rhiannon in Wales, Macha in Ireland, guardian goddess of horses, stables, horse owners, agriculture, and transportation; date approximate, and disputed, she was the only Celtic goddess worshipped by the Romans, and they celebrated her on December 18)

First-in-Line and Queue-Jumping Tournament -- Fairy Calendar

Ides of June -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances:
     Festival of Jupiter Invictus (Jupiter the Unconquered)
     Lesser Quinquartrus/Quinquatrus Minusculae (festival for those who played flutes at religious ceremonies; through the 15th)

International Young Eagles Day -- Experimental Aircraft Association members and chapters focus on providing introductory flights to children 8-17 

Kitchen Klutzes of America Day

Magic Circles Day and Magic History Gathering -- marking the founding of The Magic Circle, a society of amateur and professional magicians

Missing Mutts Awareness Day -- to help families whose beloved pets have gone missing

Roller Coaster Day -- the world's first "Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway", patented by LaMarcus Thompson, opened on this day in 1884 on Coney Island, at a cost of five cents per ride

Sewing Machine Day -- why this day is anyone's guess, but we must admit it's a useful invention

Sovereign's Day/Queen's Birthday -- British Virgin Islands; Pitcairn Island (leave it to the descendants of mutineers to celebrate on a different day from the rest of the Commonwealth, and convince others to do so, also!)

St. Anthony of Padua's Day, the "Hammer of Heretics" (Patron of amputees, animals, asses, boatmen, domestic animals, elderly people, expectant mothers, faith, fishermen, harvests, horses, mail, mariners, Native Americans, oppressed people, paupers, poor people, sailors, seeksers of lost objects, starving people, swineherds, Tigua Indians, travel hostesses, travellers, watermen; Amantea, Italy; Anzio, Italy; Brazil; Cianciana, Italy; Dorado, Puerto Rico; Favara, Italy; Ferrazzano, Italy; Giano Vetusto, Italy; Lisbon, Portugal; Nocolosi, Italy; Padua, Italy; Portugal; San Antonio Tiayacapan, Mexico; San Fulgencio, Spain; Sandia Indian Pueblo; against barrenness, shipwreck, starvation, and sterility)
     a municipal holiday in Lisbon, Portugal and parts of Spain

Texas Folklife Festival -- San Antonio, TX, US (the signature event of the Institute of Texan Cultures; through tomorrow)

Trooping the Colour -- UK (military celebration of the monarch's birthday, one of London's biggest and most colorful celebrations))

Weed Your Garden Day -- a reminder to get out there and do a little each day, so the little buggers don't get out of hand

World Juggling Day

World Wide Knit in Public Days -- better living through stitching together!


Anniversaries Today:

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded, 1798
Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, 1525


Birthdays Today:

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, 1986
Raz-B, 1985
Rivers Cuomo, 1970
Jamie Walters, 1969
Ally Sheedy, 1962
Tim Allen, 1953
Richard Thomas, 1951
Ban Ki-Moon, 1944
Malcolm McDowell, 1943
Siegfried Fischbacher, 1939
Christo, 1935
Paul Lynde, 1926
Ralph Edwards, 1913
Red Grange, 1903
Dorothy L. Sayers, 1893
Basil Rathbone, 1892
William Butler Yeats, 1865
Winfield Scott, 1786


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Closer"(TV), 2005
Roadie(Film), 1980
"Les vêpres siciliennes"(Verdi opera) 1855


Today in History:

Coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots, 1249
Ibn Battuta, who was to become the foremost world traveler of his day, seeing most of the known world in his time, begins his first hadj, 1325
Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves, 1774
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded, 1798
Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River, 1803
A fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia, 1886
King Ludwig II of Bavaria is found dead in Lake Starnberg south of Munich at 11:30 PM, 1886
Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital, 1898
The University of the Philippines College of Engineering is established, the largest degree granting unit in the Philippines, 1910
Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the USSR, is discovered, 1955
The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them, 1966
Thurgood Marshall is nominated to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, 1967
Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid, 1982
Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the solar system, 1983
President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, 2000
The US withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, 2002
The Al Askari Mosque is bombed for a second time, 2007
A capsule of Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa returns to Earth with particles of asteroid 25143 Itokawa, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court invalides gene patents held by Myriad Genetics when it rules that isolated human genes are not patentable, 2013