Tag Archives: holidays

Fun Facts You Never Knew About September

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy last day of September!

I guess that is more reasonable than wishing people a “happy Monday…”

That may be true, but when has that ever stopped me?

…Good point.

Well, anywho. That’s sort of off topic for the post. Because, you see, this post is on:

Fun Facts You Never Knew About September

…Which you probably gathered from the title. But oh well.

Yes.

1) September starts with an “S.” This might not seem like an interesting fact, until you realize that it’s the only month that starts with an “s”. In fact, it’s one of only two months to have an S in it.

2) It originally comes from “sept” which is a form of the word for serpent.

Uh, are you sure you don’t actually mean “septem” or “seven”, for the seventh month?

Yes, I’m sure I don’t mean seven. It’s not the seventh month, after all! That would just be silly to name it after the number 7, when it’s the ninth month.

No. You see, what happened was that it started off as serpent. Then serpent went to Srpnt, which really looked too much like “spent.” Due to a rise of anti-consumerism in the world, and possibly due to religious folks and the rise of Indiana Jones (and therefore a fear of snakes), the r and the n got dropped. It then went to spt. In order to clarify that the word was not “spat”, the people in charge of these things decided to add an “e” into the word. Hence, Sept. So we now have September. Which, when you think about it, sounds a lot better than “Serpentember.”

3) There are a number of traditional holidays in September. These include “Welcome Pumpkin Spice” day, held on the day when day and night are equal time. This is held in honor of the traditional vegetable flavor, in partial penance for all the junk eating we will do in the later months. By celebrating a vegetable this month, we pretend to be healthy and soothe our consciences.

So, I have not heard of that holiday. Given that I’m very good friends with Google, are you sure you know correctly about that one?

Positive. I’ve seen it celebrated. There’s even a movie coming out about it!

…I’m still skeptical.

Whatever.

4) All food that is orange gets you double bonus points in September, after the Pumpkin Spice celebration. Fact. Every goldfish cracker is worth twice as many points as it usually is. Same with carrots, pumpkins, fall leaves, and carrot cake frosting.

Now I know you’re making stuff up. Points for foods you eat? What is this? And eating fall leaves? Webmaster, can you please explain what you’re talking about?

…Oh, look at the time.

Well, Happy Last Day of September, folks! I hope you enjoy your orange foods and pumpkin spice, and avoid being bitten by one of the snakes this month was named after. Bye!

Fourth of July Book Review: American Fairy Tales by Baum

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Thursday! And happy Fourth of July, to all my fellow Americans!

In honor of the day, and the theme of the week, I’m going to be reviewing a slightly older book:

American Fairy Tales by L. Frank Baum (Spoiler Alert)

(Yes, the same L. Frank Baum who wrote Wizard of Oz, etc. )

American Fairy Tales is a collection, well, fairy tales located in America, with a very American feel to them.

One of the best parts of the stories are the morals. But the stories themselves are also quite charming.

The first one tells the tale of a girl who meddles in affairs that do not concern her. She therefore accidentally releases a band of thieves her uncle had kept locked in a chest in the family attic. Through quick thinking, the little girl makes the situation. But the moral of the story is “not to interfere with matters that do not concern us.” After all, if the little girl had refrained from opening the chest, she wouldn’t need to return all the items the thieves stole from her own house.

One of my favorite “morals” occurs after a story with lots of trickery and generic not-good-moral-character-stuff. (All G-rated if it were a movie, though.) The author writes “I suppose [one of the characters] is there yet, and am rather sorry, for I should like to consult the wizard about the moral to this story.” Clearly, the author just wrote a fun little story, but at the time all short stories “needed to have a moral.” It’s charming little turns of phrases like this that make American Fairy Tales so much fun to read.

There are about a dozen stories in this collection. Some of them are a bit politically incorrect, but then, they were written in a different time. I don’t remember anything truly offensive in them. I recommend reading them. They’re a fun collection of American-style short stories, and very child friendly. Except maybe for the last two stories. But I digress.

I hope you enjoy them! They’re a fun way to procrastinate, and the collection is out of copyright, and so is therefore available from Project Gutenberg. (Free reading! Yay!)

Happy Fourth of July! I hope to see(?) you tomorrow!

 

Kitchen Klutzes of America Day!

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Hello, Fluffsters! Happy Kitchen Klutzes of America Day!

…What?

It’s June 13, right? That means that it’s Kitchen Klutzes of America Day! It’s also national juggling day, but I’m going to ignore that. (Although really, who thought of putting those two on the same day? I can’t tell whether that’s genius, or cruel.)

knew about the holidays. I’m just surprised that you found it before I could write the post! You seemed fairly oblivious to other holidays

Yeah, well, I didn’t know about it before last night. You see, I was sortof fishing for a post subject. And this looked like it would work!

So. Here’s the post!

How to Celebrate Kitchen Klutzes of America Day

Ok. So I’m sortof figuring this out as I go. I was previously unaware of such a holiday, and so I’ve never celebrated it before. So I’m going to propose ideas for celebrating it, and I want you, fluffsters, to tell me what you think!

From my perspective, there are two different broad ways to celebrate this holiday.

First, if you’re a klutz, take this as a day in celebration of yourself. Second, if you’re not clumsy, show some appreciation for the Kitchen Klutzes.

If you go with the second option, here are a few ideas!

Idea 1: Throw pots, pans, and plates on the ground and against some walls. Nothing says “Kitchen Klutz” like a big huge mess, right? And this way you get to make loud, obnoxious noises! Best of all worlds, right?

Idea 2: Spill every drink you get the first time. So you can get a refill and try not to spill. But the first set of every drink you get, spill it all over!

Idea 3: Make spaghetti for dinner. And maybe French Fries with ketchup and mustard. And chili. And basically anything that stains. And be sure to spill it on yourself. Show solidarity with other Kitchen Klutzes, and understand what they go through on a daily basis!

And now, for celebrating your life as a kitchen klutz.

Idea 1: Cook, and don’t worry about spills! This is your day, after all! If you spill, you’re celebrating!

Idea 2: Make someone else do your cooking. What better way to celebrate being a kitchen klutz than by not making a mess?

Idea 3: Go out for all your meals. Alright, so this is more of “Idea 2b”. But yes. Go out for ALL THE MEALS! You’re a bit clumsy, so take the day off! Don’t be clumsy in the kitchen for an entire day… by avoiding the kitchen! And nobody will think worse of you for it, because it’s your day.

So, Fluffsters, no matter which category is yours, I hope you celebrate “Kitchen Klutzes of America Day” with style.

Favorite family stories (NaBloPoMo 5)

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Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!

In continuation with the BlogHer “write-for-a-month” challenge, I’m going to tell you about another thing I find comfortable.

My Dad is a story-teller. It runs in the family. And there are some stories that we love to hear him tell time after time. It doesn’t matter that we’ve heard them a bajillion times before. It just matters that he’s telling that story. And so, without further ado, I present a retelling of:

The Real Story Behind the May 5 holiday

A long time ago, when Spain was still colonizing the New World, Mexican used to have sandwiches for lunch, every day. They would have turkey sandwiches, ham sandwiches, chicken sandwiches; you name it. If it had meat, they would make a delicious sandwich out of it.

What made these sandwiches so delicious, however, was the wondrous white substance that would be shipped over from the motherland. It was a marvelous substance, that successfully moistened the bread and provided extra flavor. No sandwich was complete without it. One of the wondrous things about the substance was its lasting abilities; it would never go bad. As long as it was in the jar, it was useable.

So the colonists would receive a shipment every year, with enough to last them for a year. And so, every year on 5/5, the yearly shipment would arrive. This day was a celebration amongst the colonists, for frequently they would barely miscalculate, and they would not have perfect sandwiches for the first five days of May.

And then one year, disaster struck. Again on May 5, the citizens were gathered to welcome the shipment. They spied the ship. And there was great rejoicing.

But then, to their utmost dismay, they watched as the ship spontaneously combusted. Somehow, someone had sabotaged their ship. With utmost horror, the citizens watched as the ship, and all its supplies, fell to the bottom of the sea, where the load would forever be irretrievable.

But all was not lost. The colonists learned to make due without sandwiches. And in time, they even looked back on that event with fondness, and created a holiday. And from that day on, a celebration occurred on May 5, to celebrate the sink-o’ de mayo.

 

…Really?

One of your favorite stories is based on a pun?

Yup!

Anyways, happy Sunday! I hope you have a wonderful week.