Shedding the old, well, i'm still trying. Decluttering, when you are a messy mimi, is an ongoing project. Scrubbing i can do. Figuring out what should stay and what can go takes longer.
A fresh start, i have to admit that getting rid of some old stuff would help with that. Clearing out old email would be a great idea, too. There are so many old ones, but it's hard to find time to do that when i have to deal with the incoming daily stuff, too. It's hard to keep up when i'm at work up to 12 hours a day sometimes.
There are good things, though, and more than one. Sweetie may not have a new job, but he has become a most dedicated house husband. He spent all day yesterday ironing! Coming home and not have to iron his clothes is a Very Good Thing.
Grandpa gave us his old computer, and it's going to be a blessing. The old one has a quirk, you cannot type the numbers 5 or 6, you have to copy and paste them every time you need to use either one. This one has no such quirk, another good thing, especially since one of my email addresses has a five in it.
The homeless ministry is a good thing. Pastor D has retired, and Pastor W has a very full plate, so another member of the church has stepped up to help run this. Yes, i'm there every first and fifth Sunday of the month, but i'm not an in charge person, i'm just a get in there and work person. Having another in charge person there will keep things running smoothly.
The cat shelter is in the middle of a huge renovation that will make it much easier for us to take care of the cats and serve those adopting better. It means i'm volunteering there twice a week now, because it's hard to live in a place and renovate. That is a good thing, because i get to spend more time with the cats!
We have women's groups from church that have offered to make sure our rEcess crew has a meal each time we meet for the rest of this year. Our Sunday evening Bible study group is growing enough that we may have to split into two groups, which is good and yet difficult.
#1 Son got a better job, being a manager at a new restaurant that will pay more. If they appreciate him more into the bargain, it will make me happier, too. It's not easy to watch your kids work at places that don't appreciate them.
There's so much good that i can't stop at One Good Thing. That in itself is beyond good.
Oh, and a really good thing, today is Groundhog Day! It's one of my favorite holidays because there no planning, no shopping, all i have to do is enjoy it!
Today is:
Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu -- Estonia
Bonza Bottler Day™
Candlemas -- Christian -- or Presentation of Our Lord (f/k/a the Purification of the Virgin Mary) - commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and purification of Mary on the 40th day after the birth of Jesus. Candles have been blessed on this day since the 11th century, and this was the original forecaster, “If Candlemas is fair and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.”
Bank Holiday -- Liechtenstein
Candelaria Festival -- Puno, Peru (Virgen de la Candelaria, through the 16th)
Dia de la Candelaria/Virgin of Candelaria -- Mexico; Spain
La Fete de la Chandeleur -- Canada; France
Matka Boska Gromniczna (Mother of God of the Blessed Thunder Candle) -- Poland
Festival of Juno Februa -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Juno as goddess of motherly and matrimonial love)
Groundhog Day/Hedgehog Day/Badger Day -- what animal you looked to in order to predict the weather depended on where you lived
Hromnice -- Czech Republic (hrom = thunder, a weather forecasting day)
Imbolc/Sughnassad -- Pagan/Wiccan (Northern Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere)
Brigmid -- Druid Calendar, also called Feast of Imbolc, celebrated later as St. Bridget's Day, but originally a festival for Brigid, (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft. It is always halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, so some years it is on Feb. 1 with St. Brigid's Day
Disting/Charming of the Plough -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan (a feast of new beginnings and spring)
Serpent Day -- Celtic (The tradition was that on this day, the Brigmid, snakes or badgers would come out of their winter dens and predict the weather; perhaps a precursor to North America's Groundhog Day.)
Wives' Feast Day -- Northern England (ancient celebration in association with Imbolc)
Inventors' Day -- Thailand
Le Jour des Crepes -- France (Crepes Day, as crepes are traditionally served on Candlemas; if you can flip the crepe pan and catch the crepe in it with your right hand, while holding a gold coin in your left, you will become rich this year!)
National Heavenly Hash Day
Presentation of Christ in the Temple -- Anglican Catholic Christian
Sled Dog Day -- anniversary of the arrival, in 1925, of diphtheria antitoxin in Nome, Alaska; in memory of the sled dogs, especially lead dogs Togo and Balto, who made it possible
St. Cornelius the Centurion's Day (the Cornelius converted by St. Paul in the Book of Acts)
Veja Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (day of wind, with rituals performed to assure no wind damage next summer)
Wand Dedication Day -- Fairy Calendar
World Wetlands Day -- UN (the 2016 theme is "Wetlands for our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods")
Anniversaries Today:
Marina Ogilvy (daughter of Princess Alexandra) weds Paull Mowatt, 1990
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, NY, 1870
Birthdays Today:
Shakira, 1977
Michael T. Weiss, 1962
Christie Brinkley, 1954
Ina Garten, 1948
Farah Fawcett, 1947
Graham Nash, 1942
David Jason, 1940
Tom Smothers, 1937
Les Dawson, 1934
Stan Getz, 1927
Elaine Stritch, 1925
James Dickey, 1923
Liz Smith, 1923
Ayn Rand, 1905
George “Papa Bear” Halas, 1895
William Rose Benét, 1886
James Joyce, 1882
Solomom R. Guggenheim,1861
Toyotomi Hideyoshi,1536 (Japan's second "great unifier")
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"The Rich Little Show"(TV), 1975
"The Midnight Special"(TV), 1973
"And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little"(Play), 1971
"What's My Line?"(TV), 1950
"Le Dame aux Camelias"(Play, Dumas, fils), 1848
"Artaxerxes"(Opera, Thomas Arnes), 1762
Today in History:
Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates The Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum) a collection of Roman law, 506
Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1536
New Amsterdam (later New York) is incorporated as a city, 1653
The first leopard is exhibited in the US, in Boston (admission 25 cents), 1802
Russian settlers establish the Ft. Ross trading post north of San Francisco, 1811
Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does £60,000 damage, 1829
The first Chinese workers arrive in San Francisco, 1848
The first public men's toilet in Britain opens, on Fleet Street in London, 1852
Samuel Clemens uses the pen name Mark Twain for the first time, 1863
James Oliver invents the removable tempered steel plow blade, 1869
The SS Strathleven arrives in London with the first frozen mutton imported from Australia, 1880
The Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, Connecticut, 1882
The first official Groundhog Day is observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, 1887
The bottle cap with cork seal is patented by William Painter of Baltimore, 1892
The longest boxing match under modern rules takes place in Nameoki, Illinois; 77 rounds between Harry Sharpe and Frank Crosby, 1892
The first movie close-up, of a man sneezing, is made at the Edison Studio in West Orange, NJ, 1893
The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne, 1899
Queen Victoria's funeral takes place, 1901
Musher Gunner Kaasan and his sled team, led by Balto, finish the serum run from Nenana to Nome, Alaska, delivering the much needed diphtheria medication (inspiration for the Iditarod), 1925
Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine, 1935
The Groundhog Day gale hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada, 1976
F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to function legally and promises to release Nelson Mandela, 1990
Iran launches its first domestically made satellite, Omid, into orbit, 2009
i feel guilty moaning how i can barely keep up some weeks when i read all that you do. :)
ReplyDeleteLots going on in your world. I know you're working longer hours, but you never complain and still volunteer here and there. You rock. Okay, your whole family rocks.
ReplyDeleteTell your husband he did a good thing doing all that ironing.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
I'm with you about decluttering. I find it hard to throw stuff out because as soon as I do, I need it back. That never fails to happen.
ReplyDeleteAbout ironing... my husband doesn't iron, but neither do I. We rely on technologically smart clothes that don't wrinkle.
I hope Sweetie lands a job soon. I can only imagine how stressful this is for him. But ironing? My wife wouldn't let me near her clothes with an iron. See how smart I am?
ReplyDelete