Easy (Six Sentence Story), Iron Fence (Good Fences), Look What I Got! (Sammy’s Poetry Day) and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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“I’ll be out of town for three days at the conference, so I’ve left detailed instructions and foods you can easily prepare, all the laundry is caught up, and you can just spend the days at home, no need to go anywhere unless you want to.  I’m doing the best I can to make the instructions crystal clear and very easy for you.”

“Well, I’m still as confused as a chameleon in a bowl of Skittles.”

“You’ll do great, you and the kids will have a wonderful time.”

“I’m keeping the pizza place on speed dial, just in case.”

“Go for it!”

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Crystal.           

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Gosia at Looking for Identity has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit other blogs to see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.      

An ironwork fence with lots of greenery i found interesting:

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It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

Look at my really cool new Christmas toy!

It has brought me much holiday joy!

My first set of wheels, watch me come alive,

And look out when I get old enough to drive!

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Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

This week, i am thankful that Little Girl has been having a great time visiting a friend in Texas, and i have been able to spend more time with the dogs.  While i really do not have time to take care of them full time, it’s nice to be their “mama” for the week.

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Today is:

Advent of Inanna -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (date approximate; equivalent to Ishtar, Assur, Astarte, Isis, and others; a female warrior and fertility goddess)

Berchtoldstag -- Alsace; Liechtenstein; Switzerland (a celebration of the goddess Perchta, or Bertha, guardian of animals and member of the Wild Hunt) related observance

    St. Berchtolds' Day -- Liechtenstein Bank Holiday; Switzerland Regional Holiday (because of the close association of his name with Perchta,  Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen's founding of Bern, Switzerland, is commemorated today; while not an official saint of any church, his day has become a big festival for children)

Blacks and Whites Carnival -- Colombia (through the 7th; manic and messy tradition, includes people painting themselves black one day, white the next, with a Grand Parade at some point during the week)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Day -- The Andrews Sisters recorded the song this day in 1941 (yes, before the US entered the war; it was for the movie "Buck Private" with Abbot and Costello)

Carnival Day/Last Lap -- Saint Kitts and Nevis

Dainichi-do Bugaku -- Kazuno, Japan (11 traditional bugaku dances at the shrine; dates back as far as 718)

Festival of Sleep Day -- begins this evening; celebrate by sleeping in tomorrow because it is assumed we could all use some extra z's after the holidays

Genshi-sai (First Beginning Ceremony) -- Imperial Palace and various shrines, Japan (a dance and musical art performed to round out the New Year's celebration)

Happy Mew Year for Cats Day -- because felines must have a day to celebrate the New Year, and they cannot share; sponsored on behalf of felines everywhere by Wellcat Holidays

Jour des Aieux -- Haiti (Founder's Day, sometimes translated Ancestry Day)

Kaapse Klopse -- Cape Town, South Africa (Minstrel Carnival; through January and most of February, but the main parade is today)

Kakizome -- Japan ("first writing", a day to do the first calligraphy written at the beginning of the New Year; often a resolution or poetry asking for a good year)

National Cream Puff Day

National Motivation and Inspiration Day -- US

National Science Fiction Day -- Asimov's birth anniversary

Ninth Day of Christmas

Nyilo -- Bhutan (Winter Solstice)

Positive Postcard Day -- some people now say you should fight the post-holiday let-down by sending someone an uplifting postcard; the original project said to have positive postcards to yourself, with instructions here    

Run It Up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes It Day -- try something new today, in the spirit of the new year

Second Day of New Year -- also a holiday in many countries

"Someday We'll Laugh About This" Week begins -- to remind us to keep our perspective; sponsored by The Humor Project

St. Adelard's Day (Patron of gardeners; against fever, typhoid)

St. Basil's Day/Basil the Great -- Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches (yes, the Eastern Churches celebrated him yesterday; Patron of hospital administrators, reformers; Cappadocia; Russia)

St. Macarius' Day (Patron of of confectioners, cooks, pastry chefs)

Takai Commision Holiday -- Niue

Anniversaries Today:

Georgia becomes the 4th US State, 1788

Birthdays Today:

Kate Bosworth, 1983

Taye Diggs, 1972

Christy Turlington, 1969

Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968

Tia Carrere,1967

Gabrielle Carteris, 1961

Alan Beckwith, 1952

Wendy Phillips, 1952

Christopher Durang, 1949

Dennis Hastert, 1942

Jim Bakker, 1939

Roger Miller, 1936

Isaac Asimov, 1920

Sally Rand, 1904

Barry Goldwater, 1902

Martha Carey Thomas, 1857

James Wolfe, 1727

Today in History:

The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire, 366

Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names, 1235

Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day), 1492

The first American revolutionary flag is displayed, 1776 

The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded, 1881

"The Liberator", and abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston, 1831

The British reestablish rule in the Falklands, 1833

The first US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania, 1842

Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust, 1882

Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer, 1890

A record 19'2" alligator is shot in Louisiana by E. A. McIlhenny, 1890

Pres. T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola Miss, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black, 1903

The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms, 1905

The Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa, 1908

Lithuania gains independence, 1919

The US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls, 1929

Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R., 1959

Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth, 2004

Mauritius bans the use of plastic bags, 2013

The WHO reveals it will classify gaming addiction as a mental health condition in its next Classification of Diseases, 2018