A Time For Everything

 Hello...

*waves*

I had to make a last-minute trip out of state to help facilitate my mom's move to Texas. In fact, I'm writing to you from Oregon.

It's been a challenging couple of weeks trying to keep up with a minimum amount of day job and make progress here, plus keep up with Mom and her three fur babies.

I don't have much brain power or energy left for much else.

So there will be no posts for at least another couple of weeks.

Thanks for you understanding, patience, and any prayers you want to send our way.

Take care.

Meet Fiona the Hippo!

Have you heard of Fiona the Hippo who's Internet famous? She was born six weeks early but survived. She's been immortalized in children's books and news segments for years since her birth in January of 2017.

Image borrowed from the Cincinnati Zoo website.

Did you know that before 1909, scientists placed hippos in the same group as pigs? Despite their outward similarities with pigs or wild boars, hippopotamuses are closely related to whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Hippos are semi-aquatic mammals that are native to sub-Saharan Africa. They are the third-largest land mammal after elephants and rhinos.

Who knew?!

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Black or Green?

Let's learn some things about olives, shall we?

Did you know that the olive is a fruit? Because of the stone or pit inside that is actually a seed.

Did you know that about 90% of all olives are used to make olive oil, the other 10% are used as table olives (aka the ones we eat).

Did you know that all olives (color-wise) come from the same plant? It's all a matter of maturity. Green and yellow olives are at the beginning of the ripening cycle, while the purple and black coloring comes at the end of the ripening cycle. Black olives are usually artificially colored.

Did you know that olives must be cured and fermented before they can be eaten? The process can take anywhere from a few days to a few months depending on what's used to make that process happen.

I like both; how about you?

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Class of 1986

I graduated high school in 1986...which is whatever, but I came across this interesting bit of trivia:

In 1986, Oprah Winfrey became the first Black American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show!

And sooooo many years later, she's still going strong.

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Why Christmas is Celebrated on December 25th

While doing a bit of research on holidays in medieval Scotland I learned that the reason Christmas is celebrated on December 25th is because it's exactly nine months from March 25th, the theorized date of Jesus's conception.

The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas back in 336, but the most of the Eastern Empire continued to celebrate Epiphany on January 6th for another half-century. Christmas didn't become a major Christian festival/celebration until the 9th century.

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All my babies are under one roof this week--mine!! So excited to have Sonshine and the Brown-Eyed Girl home for a few days. DD is on spring break, so it's gonna be a fun time hanging out and visiting.

Have a super week. I sure will be. Pictures to come!

Take care.

Image courtesy of IMGBIN.

After National Sons Day, which I mentioned last week, National Cereal Day, might be my second favorite "national" day of something.

If you've been around these parts for a while, you probably know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE cereal. I've been a consumer of cereal since I was a little little girl. That's a long long time. :0)

Of course, I don't eat it as much these days as I used to since it's full of sugar--yes even the "healthy" ones are carb-based and carbs=sugar eventually.

We do keep a box of Cheerios in the cabinet at all times as DH likes to snack on them and occasionally he'll get on a breakfast kick, and Cheerios are the easy go-to. I, too, will occasionally break down and have a bowl as a treat. But Cheerios are not my "favorite" and so it's easy to resist the lure of cereal on a regular basis.

When I walk down the cereal aisle, I'm constantly flabbergasted by the sheer amount of cereal flavors / themes. And not in a good way. I have to think there are more than 100 varieties of cereal, most of it sugary unhealthy crap. And I say that as a huge fan of the sugary unhealthy crap. lol.

But we're here to talk about breakfast cereal, and my faves all revolve around chocolate.

If I were going to spend a week eating nothing but cereal (a girl can dream, right?), these would be my choices:

• Frosted Flakes, eaten with chocolate milk
• Corn Pops, eaten with chocolate milk
• Cocoa Krispies, eaten with regular milk
• Frosted Mini Wheats, eaten with either kind of milk, but probably chocolate
• Raisin Nut Bran, eaten with regular milk

What about you? Are you a fan of cereal? What are your favorites?

Mark your calendar for tomorrow--March 4th. If you have a son, that is. :0) It's National Sons Day.

Sadly, I haven't seen my sonshine for a few years... BUT!

He's coming for a visit in a couple of weeks and I'm super excited.

The Brown-Eyed Girl is coming too, so I'll have all my babies here for a few days. I'm thrilled, to say the least, but back to the son in this post...

We could have been scrolling for quite some time with the sheer number of pictures I have shared of Sonshine over the years, but I'll narrow it to just a few. Of course, I'll be getting some new ones for my collection, which I'll definitely be sharing. :0)

That boy--I tell you. One of the few loves of my life. He's ornery and stubborn and prone to fish tales. He's a self-proclaimed *$$hole. But he's mine and I love him to the moon and back.

Can't wait to see him.

And you have a great week.