What today?

Unless you want to get lost for hours in ideas and never get anywhere, don't ask Google what you should post about when you are drawing a blank.

You might find yourself on a website that lets you paint a nebula, or the one that has a cat bouncing all over the screen.  Then there are the ones where writers complain about how their brains hold them hostage.

Don't ask your Sweetie either, or you might get told something weird, or asked when you are going to get to the laundry.  Then you might have to consider braining your Sweetie, but realize it's not worth the jail time.

Speaking of my Sweetie (who of course would never do the above), all of the children were out of the house for a while today.  He's been talking about how wonderful it will be when they all finally move out.  Today, he sat at the table and asked where they all went, and complained about how it was too quiet around here.

It was all i could do to not say, guess what!  Once they all move out, this is how it's going to be all of the time!

How has he not figured that out yet?  Especially now that he is retired and spends most of every day hunting for things to do.

Yesterday was #2 Son and DIL Becky's first anniversary.  They are saving up and hope to rent a house soon.  They want Little Girl and another friend to rent it with them to split costs.  Their hope is to find a rent-to-own deal.

That would leave #1 Son, Bigger Girl, and Red-headed Alec here.  None of them are in a huge, tearing hurry to leave, so i guess the days of too quiet aren't going to get here very fast.

Red-headed Alec has been helping me clean houses.  Yesterday we were doing the final cleaning so a couple could move back into their now rebuilt from the flood house, and one of their friends came by.  The friend got my number and wants to call me about cleaning his daughter's house.  Mr. D, the husband of the couple i cleaned for, came in and said, "I sold you to him for $20/hour per person!"

At this rate, i'm going to have more houses than i can handle alone, and i will really have to incorporate and hire Red-headed Alec full time.

No carts before the horses, though.  It's too soon to tell if any of my current jobs are going to turn into regular work either weekly or bi-weekly.

It doesn't hurt to dream a bit.

Just don't ask Google what to post about unless you have a lot of time to waste.



Today is:

Anniversary of Benazir Bhutto's Death -- Sindh, Pakistan

Calli (House) Day -- Aztec Calendar (a good day for all things hearth and home and family. a bad day to participate in public life; date approximate, but soon after the solstice)

Constitution Day -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)

Festival of Nehebkau -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (Beginning of Eternity, celebrating the snake god and his role of binding the sun to the earth at the beginning of time; date approximate)

Kwanzaa, Day 2, Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day -- internet generated, with Christmas over, you need to do winter decoration

Modern Medicine Day -- birth anniversary of Louis Pasteur

National Fruitcake Day -- unless, of course, you are like me and have spent your last several days with fruitcake relatives, at which point you get a day off from fruitcakes! ;D 

St. Fabiola's Day (Patron of difficult marriages, divorced people, victims of abuse, victims of adultery, widows)

St. John the Divine's Day (Patron of art dealers, authors, bookbinders, booksellers, burn victims, compositors, editors, engravers, friendships, lithographers, painters, papermakers, printers, publishers, tanners, theologians, typesetters, writers; Asia Minor; Boise, Idaho, Borgo Santo Sepolcro, Italy; Cleveland, OH; Eger, Hungary; Milwaukee, WI; Morra, Netherlands; Saint-Jean ñ Longueuil, QuÈbec; Sansepoicro, Italy; Sundern, Germany; Taos, NM; Umbria, Italy; Wroclaw, Poland; against burns, poisoning)

St. Stephen's Day -- Eastern Orthodox, a public holiday in Romania

Third Day of Christmas

Unfairies' Gathering -- Fairy Calendar

Visit the Zoo Day -- don't know who put this one in the middle of winter, but there it is

Watch the Children Day -- internet generated, a day to take a page from the book of the young and remember how to play like a child


Birthdays Today:

Heather O'Rourke, 1975
Masi Oka, 1974
Bill Goldberg, 1966
Tovah Feldshuh, 1952
Gerard Depardieu, 1948
Cokie Roberts, 1943
John Amos, 1939
Oscar Levant, 1906
Marlene Dietrich, 1901
Sydney Greenstreet, 1879
Louis Pasteur, 1822
George Cayley, 1773
Johannes Kepler, 1571


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Knots Landing"(TV), 1979
"Howdy Doody"(TV), 1947 (first successful children's television show)
"Radio Roxyettes"(Now the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes), 1932


Today in History:

The Hagia Sofia of Constantinople is completed, 537
The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World, 1512
The first public railroad using steam locomotive completed in England, 1825
Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, 1831
Worst English avalanche kills 8 of 15 buried in Lewes Sussex, 1836
Ether is first used in childbirth in US, in Jefferson, Ga., 1845
The world's first cat show is held at the Crystal Palace, London, 1871
Carrie Nation's first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel, Wichita, Kansas, 1900
Unsuccessful attempt on prince-regent Hirohito of Japan, 1923
Stalin's faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR, Trotsky is expelled, 1927
Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City, 1932
The Shah of Persia declares Persia is now Iran, 1934
The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations, 1945
Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon, 1968
The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States, 2001
Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet, 2004
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated, 2007
Toyota Motor Corporation agrees to pay $1 billion to settle over a dozen lawsuits related to sudden acceleration, 2012