Go to work for some peace and quiet.

On a typical day at work, like yesterday, i get calls and texts from the family, and plenty of them.

At the bakery, i can only check when i'm on break (i will not touch my phone when i'm dealing with people's food, thankyouverymuch).  At someone's home, i answer unless i am speaking to the person who has hired me, and then i call back as soon as we are done talking.

Yesterday, Bigger Girl had all four of her wisdom teeth out.  When she gave them her insurance card, they fussed and said it wasn't the right card.  It was the exact same numbers as what is on the latest card they mailed out, identical to it, but they would not accept it.  They wanted to see another card.  She called in a panic.

Calling Sweetie, i told him where to dig out the new cards, which i generally keep as back-ups in case someone loses one because they have all the exact same numbers on them, and took it over there to them, because they told her she couldn't leave unless she showed them the new card or paid $3,000.  Upon being handed a card with the exact same numbers on it that they already had, they allowed her to leave.

Some people make me wonder how they find their way out of bed in the morning.

Then #1 Son started inquiring about the title to his car.  His car, not one of ours.  His totalled car that needs to be towed for scrap before Kevin and Lenny start charging us a storage fee (which they won't do, really, we bring them too much business, but it's not nice to take advantage of them and leave the doggone car there forever).  He finally has a scrap yard ready to come tow it, but he can't find the title to sign over to them and get notarized.

No, i can't find his title, either.  He will have to go get a new one first thing in the morning so he can take care of all of this before work.

Now i understand why i don't mind working so much.  My house is crazy and i go to work to get a break and find some rest and sanity!

Today is:

American Historical Society Annual Meeting -- Atlanta, GA, US (130th annual, with over 300 sessions covering a wide range of scholarly topics; this year's theme "Global Migrations: Empires, Nations, and Neighbors" and is through the 10th)

Apple Howling Day -- Henfield, West Sussex (Held at Gill Orchard, always on Epiphany Eve, horn blowing and howling at the trees is said to wake them up and yield a good crop.)

Armenian Christmas Eve -- Armenia (Old Chrismas Day in the West)

Can Opener Day -- one of the earliest forms of can opener was patented this date in 1858 by Ezra Warner of CT, US (tin cans had been around for over 50 years by then, usually opened with a knife or hammer and chisel)

Epiphany Fair -- Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy (toys, sweets, and presents among the beautiful Bernini Fountains)

Get on the Computer Day -- obviously dates back to a time when people didn't have to check email daily or get inundated

Guru Gobindh Singh birthday -- Sikh

Harbin Ice Festival -- Harbin, China (with a theme of "Happy Ice Snow, Exciting City," a festival of illuminated ice sculptures, ice sports, and fun through Chinese New Year and beyond)

Joma Shinji Festival -- Kamakura, Japan (ceremony and festival to keep evil spirits away)

Mungday -- Discordianism (festival of St. Hung Mung)

National Bird Day -- US (National Association of Audubon Societies incorporated today in 1905) 

National Whipped Cream Day

Nones of January -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also
     Festival of Vica Pota (ancient goddess of victory)

Review Your Wrestling Holds Day -- internet generated, and weird

St. Gerlac of Valkenberg's Day (Patron of domestic animals)

St. Simeon Stylites' Day (The original and most maniacal of the "Pillar Saints")

Take the Cake Day -- a day to do something, anything, over the top, just because

Trettondagsafton -- Sweden (Epiphany Eve)

Turn Up the Heat Day -- all over the internet, but no one explains it

Twelfth Day of Christmas -- and thus, Twelfth Night (Although by some reckonings, this is actually only the 11th day of Christmas, and thus Twelfth Night Eve.  Take your pick.)


Anniversaries Today:

George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis, 1759


Birthdays Today:

January Jones, 1978
Bradley Cooper, 1975
Warrick Dunn, 1975
Carrie Ann Inaba, 1968
Pamela Sue Martin, 1953
Diane Keaton, 1946
Charlie Rose, 1942
Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, 1938
Umberto Eco, 1932
Alvin Ailey, 1931
Robert Duvall, 1931
Walter Mondale, 1928
George Reeves, 1914
George Dolenz, 1908
Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, 1895
King Camp Gillette, 1855
Edmund Ruffin, 1794
Constanze Mozart, 1762 (wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Pietro Filippo Scarlotti, 1679
Shah Jahal, 1592 (Mughal emperor of India, built the Taj Mahal)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"All My Children"(TV), 1970
"Bozo the Clown"(TV), 1959
"The Member of the Wedding"(Play), 1950
"Pepe LePew"(cartoon character, in "Odor-able Kitty"), 1945

Today in History:

Edward the Confessor dies with no heir, leading to a succession crisis that ends with the Norman Conquest, 1066
Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, is executed by drowning, 1527
Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry, 1531
A petition in Recife, Brazil leads to closing of their 2 synagogues, 1638
Anne Clarke of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted the first divorce in the colonies, from her absent and adulterous husband, Denis Clarke, by the Quarter Court of Boston, Massachusetts, 1643
The first Swedenborgian temple in the US holds its first service, in Baltimore, 1800
The Ohio legislature passes the first laws restricting the movement of free blacks, 1804
Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo, 1836
The US House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the UK, 1846
The first US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University, 1887
An Austrian newspaper makes the first public report on Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of xrays, 1896
The National Association of Audubon Society incorporates, 1905
Colombia recognizes Panama's independence, 1909
The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor, 1914
British premier Lloyd George issues a demand for a unified peace, 1918
Nellie Taylor Ross is sworn in as governor of Wyoming, the first woman governor of a US state, 1925
Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start A Prairie Fire," 1930
FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission for the first time, 1940
The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper, 1944
Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antarctica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station, 1974
Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered, 2005