Odd Christmas facts

Most of you know that I have a thing for oddness. For Halloween I gave you some odd laws that were still on the books. Now it's time for some odd Christmas facts.


There are 364 gifts mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

America's official national Christmas tree is located in King's Canyon National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the "General Grant Tree", is over 90 meters (300 feet) high, and was made the official Christmas tree in 1925.

In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce and spinach.

Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday, and the tradition began in 1836.

In 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal. The Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral, banned the Christmas festivities. The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660.

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia leads the world in exporting lobster, wild blueberries, and Christmas trees.

Electric Christmas lights were first used in 1854.

Every year since the 1930's, Hollywood Boulevard has been officially re-named Santa Claus Lane, during Hollywood's annual Christmas parade.

Christmas wasn't officially recognized as a holiday until 1905 in Oklahoma.

Americans spend approximately $31.9 billion dollars on Christmas.

I've been a busy bee

I've baked cookies for a week now. A week. It's a little insane. But now I'm done! Woohoo! Oh, but wait, I haven't seen any of you for that week. Boo! Tell you what...you play this game and I'll come visit you as soon as I'm done posting in all my other blogs. Sound like a good deal? Cool beans. Have fun & I'll see you at your place ASAP!

A few of my favorite things

*Note: I did not receive any compensation or free items for writing this post. I just love these things and wanted to share them with you.*


Christmas is fast approaching & lots of us still haven't gotten the gifts we want to get for people. It's not too late! I found some deals on sites that I visit regularly and wanted to tell you all about them!

Better World Books

Every time you purchase a book from this site, money goes to fund literacy worldwide. You get great books and people get to learn how to read because of it. It's a win/win situation. And every single book I've ever ordered from here has been in excellent condition (yes, even the ones that said they were "used, slight damage" looked brand new!) and I've never had to spend a fortune to get them. Plus right now, if you use their Expidoodle shipping by tomorrow (12/9), it will get there by Christmas Eve.

CSN Stores

I absolutely adore CSN Stores and have gotten many wonderful things from them. And yes, I have received products from them at no charge for reviews and giveaways on my cookbook, but I've also purchased many items from them and have always been happy with what I received. They have over 200 sites that offer everything from furniture to school supplies. And right now they are offering Stress-Free Holidays: Items that are marked with a snowflake are guaranteed to arrive by Christmas & returns have been extended through January 31st.

Amazon

I actually love Amazon so much that I have my own personal Amazon stores on the sidebars of all my blogs. That doesn't mean you have to shop at my stores (although I wouldn't complain at all!). There are so many things that are available through Amazon that I know you could find a gift or two (or three, or twelve) there. If you qualify for prime shipping then your order arrives two days after it ships. Plus they offer gift wrapping!

JibJab

JibJab is a really fun site! You can Elf Yourself (like I did here), send holiday e-cards and buy personalized gifts starting as low as $4.99. Check it out. I think you'll like it there.

I hope I gave you a few good ideas and took a little bit of stress out of your holiday shopping! Merry Christmas everyone! It will be here before we know it!

My husband thinks I'm crazy

So we had another one of our odd conversations yesterday. Instead of telling you in typed words, I decided to go high tech and let some very talented animations tell you in their our words.


We really are weird like this. You would like us.

People are crazy

Saturday our town had their annual Christmas parade. The parade was scheduled to start at 4:00 so we got out there about 2:00. You might think we were the crazy ones for going so early, but by the time 4:00 came around, we were completely blocked in.

About an hour into our wait, people were really getting weird. We saw several almost wrecks and tempers were flaring. Fists were popping out of windows and curse words were in the air. There's nothing like a parade to whip people into a frenzy!


Sitting in our nice, safe spot just off the road, we watched as people tried to jump into traffic after cutting through the parking lot we were in.


Suddenly, a little black...something (I think it was a Neon) came speeding through the lot and bolted into traffic almost hitting a bus that slammed on his brakes to avoid the accident. Tires were squealing, horns were honking and people were screaming. I held my breath.

There was a very heated exchange between the bus driver & the car driver. I could see a fist shaking in the wide front window of the bus, threatening to punch the driver of the car. A head popped out of the window of the car and he began screaming such nice things as "Bring your ass on out of there and I'll show you!" and "Stupid, crazy, mother f****r". I think my jaw was on my chest. If any flies had been buzzing around in the 30° air, they would have had a nice, warm place to land.

Then it was all over. The cars tires peeled out and he was in front of the bus, speeding down the road. The bus started moving again. That's when I saw the back of the bus. And I practically died laughing. I jumped out of my car and snapped a picture for you:

I tried to zoom in for you but all it did was make it blurry....Maybe you can still read it...

Not only were they "insain", they were bad spellers too.

If you're not a Survivor fan, you probably don't want to read this. If you are a Survivor fan, you probably don't either.

Did you watch Survivor last night? OMG I am SO mad!



Wait. If you DIDN'T watch but are going to watch later, you better leave now. Unless you don't mind knowing what happened before you watch it.


Still here? OK, you can't say I didn't warn you.


Both the super-skank Naonka & the whiny-my-body-can't-take-this Purple Kelly quit. Quit. I am appalled.


So many people WANT to play the game and get denied. Then to make it with only 11 days left and just give up is pathetic to me and a slap in the face to those that are willing to go the whole way.


Oh, but it gets worse.


Naonka was on the team that won reward (a movie & all the good movie fixin's: popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, soda & candy) . Jeff asked if anyone was willing to give up their reward so that the camp could have a new tarp & enough rice to last the rest of the game since theirs was burned up after they (stupidly) built their fire right next to their shelter & then left for the day. Naonka wouldn't budge. She insisted that she deserved the reward EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD ALREADY DECIDED TO QUIT AND KNEW THAT SHE WOULD BE EATING THAT NIGHT.


Any decent person would have said sure, I'll give it up since I'll have food later anyway. But no. Not her. So selfish. I told you I couldn't stand her.


Holly ended up giving up her reward so that the camp as a whole would benefit. Good for her. She made me proud.


Then at Tribal Naonka played the race card. Talking about how strong she is and how great it is that an African-American woman made it that far. Just what in the hell does her being black have to do with playing Survivor?? And, excuse me, YOU QUIT.


Then Jeff asked Naonka & Kelly what they thought he should do with their torches. What? Why even ask them? When Osten quit Survivor: Pearl Islands, Jeff didn't ask him what he wanted him to do. He just threw his torch in the fire. That's exactly what he should have done to these two girls. But no, Jeff asked & they said put them out. Well, actually, Naonka showed her intelligence, again, and said Jeff should smuff it out & then Kelly said snuff it out. They didn't deserve that. They don't deserve being there at all.


Which brings me to my other angry moment. WHY do they get to be on the jury? They QUIT. They should have been sent home. Not to Ponderosa to eat and laugh and help decide who gets the million dollars. Home. Out of the game completely. That's what they wanted. That's what they should get....nothing.

See what the people who were VOTED off think of this joke:

Muppets. Christmas. Nothing better!

Just because. ☺

Tis the season...

To let my goofy self have fun!

My step-daughter Court did this on her Facebook and I thought it was so funny that I wanted to give it a try. And just in case you're wondering, yes, my dog & cat can dance.

☺

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen

I was so sad to read of Leslie Nielsen passing away yesterday. His "And don't call me Shirley" line has been said at least a million times in my different homes over the years. Over his long career (he began acting on TV in 1948), he appeared in over 100 films & 1,500 television programs. He died from complications of pneumonia. He was 84.






R.I.P. Lieutenant Drebin. You will be missed. 

And the sad thing is, I used to trust them.

I'm talking, of course, about Johnson & Johnson, a company that has been with me since childhood, and one I no longer trust.



Once again Johnson & Johnson has a product on the recall list. It's Benedryl. Again. This time it's the child's version but still, that's a product I use a lot. I have lots of allergies. I depend on it. I depend on Johnson & Johnson to make it right & have it help me & not hurt me. They've failed at that. Again.

The recall involves cherry and grape flavors of the Fastmelt tablets that were distributed in the U.S., Belize, Barbados, Canada, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, and St. Thomas, as well as 24-count packages of Junior Strength Motrin Caplets distributed in the U.S. Questions? Call the company at 888-222-6036.

If you Google "Johnson & Johnson recalls" you get 419,000 results. Go ahead and see for yourself if you don't believe me. It's enough to make me sick. And they (J&J) are no longer enough to make me better. I used to trust them without question. If Johnson & Johnson were the ones that made the product, it was OK. I would take it and it would make me better. 


I don't believe that anymore.






Just an added note here to wish all of you a wonderful & happy Thanksgiving. Thank you so much for following me &/or visiting me here. I am thankful for you! I won't be here again until Friday...I'll be cookin' and eatin' ☺

Answer to Saturday's "Riddle me this" post

Saturday I posed a riddle to you:

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

The answer is...."EYE" ☺

Congratulations to Mary, keeper of many blogs (Work of the Poet, Sepia Scenes, Mary Tomaselli's Photos, Window Views, Roman Numerals Helper & Beyond the Basics) and wonderful friend to me, who guessed the correct answer!! Way to go Mary!!

Riddle me this

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

More proof that I need serious help

One of my favorite-for-today commercials...

Yeah. I'm warped.

☺

You know your TV needs to go away when...

You get so mad at a TV show that you shoot the television set.

(Pauses to let that sink in...)

Yeah, that's right, a man in Wisconsin shot his TV. Just got out his shotgun and blew it away. Why? Because he was mad that Bristol Palin, the daughter of politician Sarah Palin, is still dancing on ABC's hit show "Dancing With The Stars".

When Palin, the 20-year-old daughter of tea party favorite Sarah Palin, began her routine, Cowan jumped up and began swearing, saying something like "The (expletive) politics." His wife said he was upset that a political figure's daughter was dancing on TV even though he felt she didn't have talent.

Then he left the room, got his gun, came back ""raging" with his face bright red, and blasted the TV". His wife ran to a lawyer's office and called the police. Why she didn't just go to the police station is another thing that makes me say huh? about this story, but then again, these are TV shootin' kind of folks.

Did I say another thing that makes me say huh??

Yeah, I did.

The other moments I had to stop and think about:

1. He shot his TV because a politician's daughter was on a show? I very rarely discuss politics. I pretty much keep my opinions on that subject to myself. There are a lot of crazy people involved in politics. And even crazier ones that get very loud about their political opinions. Apparently there are crazy ones that will shoot TV's over politics too. I really don't want any part of that kind of crazy, thank you very much.

2. It's a reality TV show right? I love my reality TV. Y'all know Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race & Hell's Kitchen are on my never-miss-it-list. But I don't watch "Dancing With The Stars" (don't hate me DWTS fans!) and have no idea if Bristol Palin can dance or not. I just can not imagine flipping out over a TV show. I mean, if I shot my TV because Johnny Fairplay lied about his grandma, I would never get to see Jeff busting him out on the finale.

3. He shot his TV?? TV's are expensive these days. Ours is being paid in installments. I ain't shootin' that sucker before it's paid off!

Ut oh, I sounded like a shootin' the TV kind of gal in that last part. Maybe I better hush before I start raging & shoot my computer!

What are you thankful for?

I started this on Twitter the other day...well, it'd be easier just to show you what I wrote there.

Let's see...what am I thankful for? Well, 1st is my family. My wonderful husband, kids, grandkids, momma, sister & everyone...all of y'all ♥

& God & life & love & a beautiful day & the eyes to see it with & my friends & the heart to love them with & my critters & laughter...

And that's as far as I got. Mainly because Wheel of Fortune was coming on, but not really. I just used that as an excuse. Why? Well. Because.


What? I'm not going to get away with that? OK. Here's the truth:

That's as far as I got because I was becoming overwhelmed with emotion. I started thinking about all the beauty I have in my life and how thankful I am for all of it. I could feel it getting ready to burst from my fingertips. And I got scared.

Just what was I scared of, you ask? You sure are asking a lot of me today. I just want you to know that.

I was scared because I realized just how vulnerable I am. And fragile. So close to breaking. So much that little girl that just wanted to be accepted and loved.

That little girl just wanted to be. And this old lady just wants to be.

I want to be accepted for who I am now. For how I am now. Not judged for what mistakes I've made in the past. Not known for some of the stupid things I've said or done (and I've had more than my share of both). What I want to matter is today.

There's an old quote that says "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present." I think Eleanor Roosevelt said it but I could be wrong about that. I just know that that quote is always on my mind.

I can't worry about yesterday. There's nothing I can do to change it. I can't worry about tomorrow. It may never get here for me. All I can do is live for today.

So what am I thankful for? Today. Today and everything and everyone that it holds for me. Just today.

Star Wars & Legos...What could be better than that?

Not too many things that I can think of....enjoy ☺

Cha Cha y'all

Our nephew got married on Saturday night (which I'm showing off on just about all of my blogs today *wink*) and of course there was dancing. This isn't the best quality video but you can tell how much fun everyone was having!

*I tried to get the sound to play here, it didn't work. Then I uploaded it to YouTube...still didn't work. Then I tried to upload it to Photobucket and it said it was the wrong format so for now you just have to imagine the sound. Blah, I know. Sorry! I'm trying to fix it!*

Just MacGyver it

Yeah buddy, that's what I'm talkin' about.