Wondering what to do on April 21st? Celebrate Iced Coffee Day at your local Dunkin’ Donuts for a very good cause! For each small Iced Coffee you buy on Iced Coffee Day, 10% of the purchase price will go to The Dunkin’ Brands Community Foundation to support Homes for Our Troops.  You know you wanted to get an Iced Coffee anyways, now you have a great excuse!

Dunkin’ Donuts was founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachussetts, by William Rosenberg.  According to Wikipedia, Dunkin’ Donuts has been  ”serving 2.7 million customers per day at approximately 8,000 stores in 30 countries which includes approximately 5,800 Dunkin’ Donuts locations throughout the USA”.  That’s a lot of donuts! And I’m proud to say, I’ve helped with their sales profits for years.

Dunkin’ Donuts has always held a special place in my heart.  I graduated college with a double major…Elementary Education and Sociology.  I was going to save the world one child at a time. (I no longer save children, but I know I annoy the heck out of my own three sometimes!) 

Anyways,  I graduated in May and couldn’t get a teaching job until September, so I made the most logical decision a girl with a double major could make… I got a job at Dunkin’ Donuts as a Donut Finisher!  

Donut Finishers have great jobs.  I’m serious!  They fill the donuts, frost the donuts, sugar the donuts, dip the donuts, flip the donuts, stack the donuts, and then get to attractively display the donuts.  At least that’s what I got to do 30+ years ago at MY local Dunkin’ Donuts.  And I was good at it.  

The ONLY drawback was that “finishers” worked the night shift…of course.  Dunkin’ Donuts  was open unil 2am, so my shift began at 10pm and I filled and dipped and frosted and sugared until 6am. Yawn!

As I said, I was good at my job.  Really Good! They tried to convince me to go to “Dunkin’ College” for management training, but I declined. I look back now and wonder WHAT WAS I THINKING?  I could have had my own FLEET of Dunkin’ Donut stores by now.  I could have been a Donut Queen! 

Even though I blew my big chance, I have continued to support Dunkin’ Donuts with my patronage ever since, because after all, I think I owe my marriage to them.

Why did my husband finally ask me out after knowing me for all those years? He’ll tell you….I Smelled Like Donuts!!!!

For more information on Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Coffee Day, go to https://www.dunkindonuts.com/IcedCoffeeDay/

Please remember to support out troops any way you can!

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity.  To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C.  

The Russians used a pencil.

Just one of the many reasons we pay taxes!

Happy April 15th Fellow Americans!  See you at the Post Office!

Why don’t we wear Easter Bonnets anymore?  

I have to say I actually loved the Easter outfits from years passed.  Patent leather shoes, socks with lace, small purses in the shape of an egg or a basket, usually a matching dress with my big sister.  We always received a stunning “broach” in our Easter basket to accessorize the outfit…  because we all know even to this day, the jewelry makes or breaks the ensemble!

But the best part really WAS the Easter Bonnet!  Unfortunately, we were only allowed to wear it to church, on the car ride to grandma and grandpa’s, and for the inevitable Easter picture.  Then the bonnet came off and had to sheltered from any harm it might encounter with the continuing daily activities.  Seemed a shame it only got that little bit of use, since the following year a new Easter Bonnet would be purchased to match the new shoes, dress, purse and broach.  After all, we couldn’t be caught dead in last years fashions!

I didn’t dress my daughter in Easter Bonnets.  I didn’t even try.  She likes to remind me of all the things I did to torture her as a small child.  I can just imagine how damaged she would be if I had made her wear an Easter Bonnet decorated with flowers and ribbons. Easter Bonnets just aren’t in fashion anymore.   It was tough enough to get her to wear a dress. Her brothers got to wear shorts, why couldn’t she?  (Someday I’m hoping she will forgive me.)

At first I was going to be “cute” and say that I had finally decided to forgive MY mom for the years of Easter Fashion Do’s and Dont’s. However, when I really think about it, I LOVE looking back at these photos.  They represented a different time and place and bring back a flood of memories.  This picture also makes me appreciate the fact that I’m not so knock-kneed anymore  I WAS jealous of my sister’s hat that year though. You can’t tell, but it had RED BERRIES on the front.  It was just SOOOO COOOOOL!

If you have a beloved Easter picture (with or without bonnet ), I’d love to see it!

Happy Easter Everyone!   http://blip.fm/~43iov

I’ll say it.  I’m 51!  GEEZ!  Do you realize how many that is?  Like, if I had 51 pens in my purse it would be REALLY heavy…or if I had 51 gallons of ice cream, well I’d have to eat a bunch right now because they all wouldn’t fit in my freezer and we wouldn’t want them to melt now…would we?

Of course, if I had only 51 “hairs” on my head I’d have to style them quite creatively, or if I only had 51 chances to say “I Love You’ in my lifetime it just wouldn’t be enough.

So I guess the number is just that.  A number.

Thousands of years ago, Birthdays were considered a time when bad spirits were able to harm you.  To keep safe, friends and family surrounded you with good wishes to keep you safe.  Noisemakers were another way of scaring off evil spirits. And last but not least, candles were a way to contact the gods who lived in the sky, sending signals and prayers that they could answer.  

Different cultures have different traditions to this day.  In Ireland, the Birthday child is lifted upside down and gently “bumped” on the floor for good luck, one bump for each year plus one for extra luck.  In Germany children are never given homework or chores on their birthday.  I am both Irish and German…which explains the flat spot on the top of my head and why I absolutely believe that it is my RIGHT to do nothing on my Birthday.

But in China they believe you are already one year old on the day you are born.  So, the second birthday is the big event.  The baby is allowed to tell his or her own fortune.  The baby is placed in the center of a group of objects such as dolls, coins, books, etc.  They wait to see what the child picks up.  If it is a book, perhaps the child will become an author or a teacher.  If the coins are chosen, the child will most likely become rich. I am not Chinese, but I just wish I had known how that game worked…because I picked up the Oreos!

I think the reason I like Birthdays so much is that I believe it is that one time of the year that we should all be celebrated for who we are.  When people remember and acknowledge your birthday, it’s almost like they are thanking you for being part of their life…that you are important enough for them to step out of their own world for just that moment and remember YOU!

So yes, please, absolutely, send me all the Birthday Wishes you want.  Presents are really unnecessary at this time, but if you are going to feel guilty about not sending me something…well…I do seem to gravitate towards those Oreos!  

I think 51 packages of Oreos is just about perfect!!!!