Memorial Day

The Memorial Day weekend is coming up and for most people, that means barbecuing, road trips, and picnics but do you know what Memorial Day REALLY means or where it came from?

Memorial Day was originally called "Decoration Day" as a way to memorialize those who have died in our nation's service. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan. It was first observed on May 30th, 1868 when flowers were left at the gravesites of Confederate and Union soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The National Holiday Act of 1971 made Memorial Day into a federally observed holiday that is always on the last Monday in May. In 1915, Moina Michael was inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields" and conceived the idea of wearing a red poppy in memorial to those that have died while serving our nation in times of war. A few years later, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) became the first veteran's organization to sell the poppies nationally in their "Buddy Poppy" program. Each poppy sold was made by a disabled veteran.

Today, most people view Memorial Day as another day off but perhaps we should all give thanks to those that have given their lives in order for us to have that day off. Paying tribute to the fallen soldiers can be as simple as taking a personal moment of silence as a display appreciation or choosing a more visible way of commemorating by placing flags at gravesites, marching in or attending Memorial Day parades, dedicating memorials, sending care packages to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan or wearing Buddy Poppies. As our older war veterans disappear, there will be fewer people to carry that torch of remembrance. It's up to us to keep their memories alive and pass on the importance of this holiday to younger generations.

Until next time, keep it clean.

Bits o' Randomness

Today's blog is all about random facts. Fun little tidbits of information that you can use to impress your friends and family!

• Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.
• The average person spends 2 weeks of their life stuck at traffic lights.
• During his or her lifetime, an average person will grow 590 miles of hair.
• A group of owls is called a parliament.
• An earthquake on December 16th, 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to flow BACKWARDS! (how cool would it have been to see THAT!)
• The size of your foot is the distance from your elbow to your wrist.
• The only letter in the alphabet with more than one syllable is "W".
• There are more dogs than children in the city of Paris.
• The Statue of Liberty wears a size 879 sandal.
• If you bite down on a Wint-O-Green Lifesaver in the dark, you can see SPARKS!
• A hippo can open it's mouth wide enough to hold a 4 foot child inside.
• Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's largest zipper manufacturer.
• A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.
• Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.
• Your brain is more active when sleeping than watching TV.
• "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
• On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
• The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year!
• Porcupines float in water!
• The most powerful electric eel is found in the rivers of Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, and Peru, and produces a shock of 400-650 volts.
• The mask used by Michael Myers in the original 'Halloween' was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
• Washing machines use about 22% of the water consumed in the average American home
• Clothes washers account for 93% of lost socks in a typical American household.
• The clothes dryer is typically the second-biggest electricity using appliance in a household after the refrigerator.

Have a fabulous weekend and as always, keep it clean!!

Mother's Day

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. ~Irish Proverb

Just in case you need a reminder, Mother's Day is this Sunday May 8th. Mother's Day is typically the second Sunday in May in many countries. Time to do something very special for the mom's in your life. Here is a little bit of trivia about Mother's Day:

• 96% of American consumers celebrate Mother's Day
• Mother's Day is typically the peak day for long distance telephone calls
• Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for most restaurants
• American's buy 140 million cards for Mother's Day
• There approximately 83 million mothers in the United States (better eat your veggies!!)
  
• 48% of people say that they are friends with their moms on Facebook
• The National Retail Federation approximates the total spending for Mother's Day will be about 14 billion dollars! That's a lot of flowers, perfume and cards!!!
  

On Mother's Day, we devote various activities in honor of Mom. Most take mom out for dinner, take the weekend off, play games, etc. It's a weekend where pretty much anything that mom wants or needs is attended to. Mothers are special but we all know that. They feed us, clothe us, care for us, encourage us and love us unconditionally. This weekend, show mom some love. Do something special for her and say "thanks" for all that she has done for you.
Make her breakfast in bed. Watch her favorite movie. Do something you know she loves but ordinarily wouldn't have time for.

And don't forget to keep it clean.....you wouldn't want Mom to clean up your mess this weekend, would you?