Sharing (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Least Favorite Chore (Poetry Monday)

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

These kittens decided to let their stuffed tiger have a turn in the litter box:

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is on a blog break because of her husband's health.   Charlotte/Mother Owl always participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in, too.  Spike's Best Mate often leaves a wonderful poem in the comments on one of our blogs.

This week the theme is Our Least Favorite Chore.                        

In reality, i don't like cleaning,

Only do it because i must,

It's not a lot of fun to deal

With dirt and muck and dust.

But cleaning the litter boxes

Is the chore i like the least,

It's only tolerable because

We love the fuzzy beasts!

(Yes, it's true, i am not one of those people who go gaga over cleaning and polishing and washing and etc.  It has to be one of The A-mighty's jokes that He saw fit to make me a janitor/housekeeper.)

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Today is:

Banquet of Fairies, Goblins, Pixies, and Elves -- Fairy Calendar

Burning of the Clavie -- Burghead, Scotland (ancient ritual to ensure good luck through the year)

Carmentalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of the goddess of childbirth)

Clean Off Your Desk Day -- me and what army? (Note:  some sites put this as always on Jan. 9, some the second Monday of January; either way, my question remains)

Cuckoo Dancing Week begins -- in honor of Laurel & Hardy, whose theme song was "The Dancing Cuckoos"; watch some of their fabulous material this week, and introduce it to a new fan

Designated Hitter Day -- the American League adopted the "designated hitter" rule on this date in 1973

Eugenio Maria de Hostos' Day -- Puerto Rico (birth anniv. obs.)

Feast of Sokar -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Independence Manifesto Day -- Morocco(1944); Western Sahara(1944)

International Thank You Day -- as declared by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith

Juturnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of prophetic waters festival)

Kosrae Constitution Day -- Micronesia

Milk Day

National Hot Toddy Day

Plough Monday -- UK (farm work is resumed the Monday following the 12 Days of Christmas, and ploughs are brought to the church to be blessed)

Secret Pal Day -- no info found on the origin, it's a secret!  do something nice for someone, secretly.

Seijin-no-hi -- Japan (Adult's Day, or Coming of Age Day; celebrating all who have reached age 20, full legal adult age, in the past year)

Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day -- just don't do it to your secret pal

Sts. Paldo, Taso, and Tato's Day (founders of the monastery of San Vincenzo)

St. Theodosius of Cappadocia (Patron of file makers)

Tattoo Pride Day

Birthdays Today:

Amanda Peet, 1972

Mary Blige, 1971

Kim Coles, 1962

Stanley Tucci, 1960

Ben Crenshaw, 1952

Christine Kaufmann, 1945

Naomi Judd, 1946

Jim Hightower, 1943

Clarence Clemens, 1942

Jean Chretien, 1934

Rod Taylor, 1930

Grant Tinker, 1926

Alice Paul, 1885

William James, 1842

Eugenio Maria Hostos, 1839

John A. Macdonald, 1815

Alexander Hamilton, 1755

Theodosius I, 347

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Daktari"(TV), 1966

"Have a Heart"(Musical), 1917

Today in History:

Prophet of Islam Muhammad leads an army of 10,000 Muslims to conquer Mecca, 630

The first recorded lottery in England is drawn in St. Paul's Cathedral, 1569

Isaac Newton is elected a member of the Royal Society, 1642

Mt. Etna erupts, 1693

William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, the moons of Uranus, 1787

An earthquake in Martinique destroys half of Port Royal and results in about 700 deaths, 1839

Charring Cross Station opens in London, 1864

Milk is first delivered in bottles, 1878

Martha H. Cannon becomes the first woman state senator in the US, in Utah, 1897

The Hudson, the first sedan type automobile, goes on display at the 13th Auto Show in NYC, 1913

The first use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient occurs in Canada, with 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, 1922

Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland, California, 1935

The first recorded snowfall in Los Angeles, California, 1949

United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., publishes a landmark report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking nation- and worldwide anti-smoking efforts, 1964

The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened, 1986

The government of Ireland announces the end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on the IRA, 1994

Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois' death row based on the Jon Burge scandal, 2003

Forty-six  people are killed and 12 are missing after a landslide buries a village in the Yunnan province, China, 2013

In China's first significant #MeToo moment Beihang University in Beijing fires a professor for sexual misconduct, 2018

Taiwan re-elects Tsai Ing-wen for a second term as president in a landslide , 2020