Tag: January

January 19th National Popcorn Day

January holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

The origins of today apparently started over 9,000 years ago when corn was first domesticated in what would today be Mexico. Popcorn itself did not come along until later, probably by accident, no one seems to really know.

Popcorn was first commercially sold under the names of ‘Pearls’ and ‘Nonpareil’ and mentioned in John Russell Bartlett’s dictionary in 1848. It became a popular treat, particularly during the depression when cheap snacks were often served as complete meals.

By the 1890’s, Charles Cretos invented the popcorn popper, making volumes of popcorn available at one serving. In 1938 Glen W, Dickson put these poppers into his movie theaters for additional income and to give theater goers a snack while watching the movie. With the volume of people going to the movies, the snack spread quickly as other theaters added the product to their appeal.

During World War 2, when sugar was not available, popcorn grew in popularity yet again. Today popcorn is considered a healthy snack when not enhanced by all the flavorings people have found to put on popcorn.

How to celebrate – Enjoy some freshly popped popcorn today! Make it a movie night by either going to the theaters or just in front of your own television. Create your own new flavoring for your popcorn.

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January 31st Inspire You Heart with Art Day

January holidays

Yes, it’s time to inspire yourself with something beautiful. For some, that’s a painting, a sculpture or maybe photograph. There is no question that there are beautiful things out there to celebrate. It might even be a poem or a person or even an animal. You should spend the day taking them in and securing them in your memory.

Maybe you could even buy something beautiful… not a person. That way you will always have it around you to remember today as you inspire yourself with what the world can provide. If you have the talent, you can even create it yourself to keep forever, or share with someone else.

Just remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn’t always mean that what you see as beautiful has to be beautiful to someone else. And be sure to look past the surface, particularly with people because sometimes the most beautiful parts are being held in reserve.

And look for the beauty within yourself. Those things that separate you from everyone else and make you beautiful. after-all, you are a work of art too. God’s art.

How to celebrate – Visit a museum. Go to an art gallery. Take pictures of what you see so you can easily remember them.

January 30th National Inane Answering Message Day

January holidays

Speaking of yesterday (Puzzle Day) why do we leave inane answering machine messages? I mean, do you like getting them when you call someone? And who actually has an answering machine anymore anyway? I guess you could call that thing on your cell phone an answering machine but us it really?

And if it’s an important call, most inane messages take forever to end so that you can actually leave he message! Now don’t get me wrong, they can be funny. There are some answering messages one just calls to hear the message, over and over again.

So inane actually means useless, meaningless or senseless. And that’s exactly what these messages are. Have yo ever called a number for the first time and wondered if you got the right person to leave a message for since no name is ever given?

I love those messages that just say, “leave a message”. For who? Is this the right number? Well it’s another of those days owned by Wellcat.com. Another of the many useless days they have chosen to copyright so that if you decide to actually use the day for anything, you owe them. At least most of their days are useless, like inane answering machine day.

How to celebrate – Create your own inane answering machine message. Thank Wellcat for creating this day. Go back to yesterday and try and figure out why they created today?

January 29th National Puzzle Day

January holidays

Do you like puzzles? I do, sometimes.The ones I don’t like are how to reset the time on your microwave, escape rooms that are impossible and whether the big bang theory was real or not. There are good ones too though, I like crosswords but I’m not too fond of Sudoku (I’m not very good at math)

The fact is, we go through a lot of puzzles everyday. Puzzles like, how did they ever get a driver’s license, by do they like to wear their pants down at their knees and why do people continue to do things they know are bad for them?

It is a puzzling world. But challenges are sometimes fun. Puzzles definitely keep our minds alert which helps us do other things we might not otherwise be aware of. They tend to keep us younger and can even be something we look forward to everyday… like the newspaper crossword puzzles.

Anyway, today is a day to celebrate those puzzles that often perplex us and those that excite us. They can complete ruin our day, or give us the elation of that quick victory and the satisfaction of knowing we won!

How to celebrate – Buy a crossword book today. Visit an escape room. Solve the age old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. 

January 28th National Kazoo Day

January holidays

Ah, the musical instrument anyone can play, so long as you have lips! With as simple as the design is, you might think the kazoo has been with us since the beginning of time, but it hasn’t.

The first vented kazoo was created in the 1840’s, made by Alabama Vest in Macon, Georgia. His instrument was crudely made calling for Thaddeus Von Clegg, in Germany, to find ways to improve it and make it resemble what we know the kazoo to look like today.

It was not mass manufactured until 1912 when Emil Sorg and Michael McIntyre started making them on an assembly line. The price naturally dropped making it probably the most affordable musical instruments one can buy. Of course, the better the quality the better the sound and the longer they will last.

It is the perfect kitchen band instrument, good for sing-a-longs and to entertain those around you. They may not always be in tune but they are fun and it’s hard to keep from smiling when one is being played.

How to celebrate – Go buy a good quality kazoo! Form a Kazoo kitchen band. Learn how to make your own kazoo.

January 27th Punch The Clock Day

January holidays

Did you ever have to punch a clock when you arrived at work? I had one job where I had to do that and boy did I hate it. If you were off by 1 minute you could be docked the entire hour. Fortunately for me, I didn’t work there very long.

They actually work against good business. If you work from 9 to 5, just to give a time reference, it was found that many people would put in extra time when they didn’t actually have to go punch a clock.When your life is being run like a finely tuned car, people tend to not be as flexible as when not every second is recorded.

Fortunately, most business’ do not use time clocks anymore. I am not sure about factories but I am sure the people there resent them just as the people that work retail or other types of jobs where they are given a certain amount of time. If you are worried about what the clock is saying, then you tend to worry more about it than the actual work you do.

But today is not hate the punch clock day, it’s a day to celebrate it! And I guess we should. It does have its advantages, primarily for the company paying out. It’ pretty hard to cheat against a clock unless you can  get a lot of people working with you.

How to celebrate – See if you can find a punch clock still in use somewhere. Count your blessing for not having to use one. Use a punch clock for your teenagers at home.

January 26th National Spouse’s Day

January holidays

Well one of the most under-appreciated people in our lives is our spouse. We often take them for granted or forget that they have feelings, thoughts and dreams as well as us. But they do. The longer we live with someone the more important they become but so much of that is taken for granted that while we are aware they are there, we don’t pay them much attention.

It’s only natural. After a while, just like the sun rising every day and the moon every night, we expect them to be there. We expect them to know what we like, want and need without ever telling them anything. The truth is, they are half of us, maybe even the better half. And today is the day to recognize all that they do.

After we have been married for a while, or living with, or whatever your situation happens to be, we just sort of expect things and depend on them without thinking about them. There is an excitement when we first get together that does wane a bit over the years. It doesn’t mean we love them less, we probably love them even more, but to keep up that intensity is jus too difficult.

So maybe today we should step out of our comfort zone and go a step beyond to let our spouse know just how important they are to us. That while we probably could live without them we wouldn’t want to and even though we don;t always agree, if ever we do, we respect their thoughts, opinions and beliefs.

How to celebrate – Let your spouse know how you fell about them. List all your spouse does for you so you can actually see it before you. Tell your loved ones that you love them, even if they already know that.

January 25th National Opposite Day

January holidays

This can be a really annoying day if you are not aware of it. Those around you who celebrate it are sure to do something that confuses you because you did not know it was Opposite day.  when I worked in the school system it seemed like every kid knew about today and always used it against we adults. We would tell them to calm down and they would say no, which at first made you mad until we realized it was opposite day!

It’s okay though, because later in the day we could tell them they did not get recess today, but since it was opposite day they then had to figure it out. Revenge is sweet sometimes. No one seems to know who came up with this day, so no one gets the blame. It is believed it came into use somewhere in the 2000’s but there are references that date back to Calvin Coolidge’s era of the 1920’s.

It also appears in Alice In Wonderland so maybe it was picked up on as early as the late 1800’s! So does that mean that Alice didn’t really fall into the hole? Perhaps she just hovered above it? I am certainly glad that we do not celebrate Opposite Day every day because we would never know if what someone told us is what they really meant or not.

And as far as wearing your underwear on the outside of your clothing, that’s now old school because half the population shows it on a daily basis. I am not sure what wearing pants around your knees does for you but if you enjoy not being able to walk normally, go ahead.

How to celebrate – Make sure you let someone know it’s Opposite Day before you do everything, or say everything, the opposite of what you mean. If you are opposite of opposite then you are no longer opposite. What is normal anyway?

January 24th Global Belly Laugh Day

January holidays, Unboxing the Bizarre

Jan. 24th Global Belly Laugh Day

e10-thank-u-ee-cummings

Laughing is good for you, it lifts your spirits and actually helps your health. Well today, all over the world, at 1:24 pm (Where ever you happen to be located) the entire world will celebrate by giving a good belly laugh.

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Of course, you’ll need to make sure you have something to laugh about so maybe you should get that old high school year book out at the ready.

belly-laugh-day-women

How to celebrate – Practice your belly laugh so you are ready. Save up a really good joke for your friends to help them laugh. Remember to set an alarm for 1:24 your time to laugh.

January 23rd National Handwriting Day

January holidays

Today we celebrate those who have excellent handwriting, which leaves me totally out. I can’t even write so that I can read what I have written! But beautiful penmanship is an art, one that we all can enjoy. It is also important because if you write something down, shouldn’t someone actually be able to read it?

The day was created by the Writing Instrument Manufactures Association in 1977. Obviously they created today to help sell pens and pencils and anything else that one can write with. They chose today because it is John Hancock’s birthday, the guy that signed the Declaration of Independence. He also was the first to sign it giving everyone else a complex.

In my case, it doesn’t matter what instrument I use to write with, it all comes out bad. The thing is, hardly anybody writes anything anymore. Letters have gone to emails, greeting cards have turned to e-cards and even memos have turned into typed notes.

Have we lost the ability to write? Do you spend anytime working on your penmanship? The use of calligraphy seems to fall to greeting cards and artwork. But when we no longer write letters or personal notes it’s no wonder that a day to celebrate handwriting needs to be a holiday.

How to celebrate – Practice your handwriting today. Write a letter. Become a calligrapher.