Archive for the ‘Holidays and Special Dates’ Category

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Cyn C. (Cyn-Sama) is thankful for my love of books and the joy I get from reading. It means I am never bored, and never alone.

Diane G. (icesk8tr) is thankful for good friends (including ones I have met on PBS), wonderful family, and the PBS Tour Guides.

Linda (Angeleyes): I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health and for all the wonders of the world…..

CJ R. (cjr) I am thankful for my God, country, family, friends & good health.

Sianeka: I am thankful for Health, family, and friends (these things mean happiness and love to me!)

Leslie P. : I am thankful for another year with all my loved ones around our Thanksgiving table.

Amanda S. (ABCatHome): I am thankful for love. If we have love and give love, we will have a peace that is indescribable.

Hunter S. (Hunter1): I am thankful for PURPLE!

Len S. (lens): I am thankful for my daughter who was brave enough to move to California to pursue her career, and then landed her dream job within six months. I am thankful for my brother and his family for remaining strong for all of us during his two recent battles with cancer. I am thankful for my sister who works hard to keep our family intact after the passing of our parents. I am thankful to work for a company that serves a good purpose in the world, and for all my co-workers who help make PaperBackSwap run like a well-oiled machine. I am thankful for the many PBS members who’ve reminded me by their actions that being kind and helpful to virtual strangers is the way the world should work.

Pat L. (PitterPat): I am thankful for the ability to read.

Greg (VOSTROMO): I am thankful for the Normans, who first filled moats with water, without which development no Minions would survive the tossing thereinto.

Deana F. (PBSDeana): I am thankful for family, friends, love and laughter.

Robin K. (jubead): I am thankful for PBS Community and the long lasting friendships I have made over the past couple of years, family and friends. I am also thankful for chocolate covered gummy bears.

Jerelyn H. (I-F-Letty) is thankful for laughter, and for friends and family to share it with. And cheese cake!

Cozette M. (CozSnShine): I am thankful for every person who serves in our military and makes possible our liberty and freedom.

Mary S. (MaryMary) I am thankful for my two wonderful boys and that my husband is back to work! Yay!

Patty P. (Patouie) …the humor that softens rough edges, the different colors of love in my life, the thoughtful conversation with someone I respect who disagrees with me, the many authors who have changed my life in a thousand ways, hummingbirds, rosemary, and a tomato straight from the vine.

Misty (millywv): I am thankful for Family, Friends, Books, Bags, and Shoes!

Michelle H. (mishnpow): I’m thankful for my kids. I’m enjoying watching them grow into themselves.

Joshua: I am thankful for having a great job serving the PaperBackSwap community.

Kathy H. (Nellie): I am thankful for a lot of things, but for this year, my wonderful new husband!

Teresa E.: I am thankful for family.

Maria (SassenachD): I am thankful for Family, friends and for what I have. As of late, I deal with so many that go/do without. My selfishness has a time limit of 7 minutes and that is probably 7 minutes too long. I am very blessed!

Ivy (PBSmaven) is thankful for the roof over my head, my dogs, my friends and family, my good health (I don’t have a lot of it but what I do have I’m thankful for!).

June E. (junie): I am thankful for good health, a wonderful family, for belonging to PBS and making fantastic friends on this site!

Mary S. (kilchurn): I am thankful for the memories of the past, the joys of today and the hope of the future.

Holly (xhollishx) is thankful for family.

Tiffany K. (tiffanyak): I am thankful for being on track to finally get my college degree, and also for the family and friends who have helped make it possible.

Jaime (jaimefowler): My family and friends.

Joy L. (vintagejoy): I am thankful for my relationship with God, my family, and the fact that after 5 years I have little to no foot pain!!

Zack: My wife and I are thankful for the many blessings God has given us this year, most especially for our family and friends who greatly enrich our lives.

McGuffyAnn M. (nightprose): I am thankful for the memories of yesterday, the blessings of today, and the possibilities of tomorrow.

Joan D. (keeponreading) is thankful for all God has done for me and family.

Cathy W. (Firefly): I am thankful for family, friends, food, and good books.

James L. (JimiJam): I am thankful for the chill autumn breeze, for hot teas and warm sweaters, for the promise of feasts all too quickly approaching. I am thankful for my friends, for their friendship; for their ears and their shoulders, and their reliance on mine. I am thankful for the passage of time, advancing undaunted, the challenges and changes of years past, the adventures and growth yet to come.

Photo by Michelle H. (mishnpow)

Photo by Robin (Jubead)

Cheryl G. (Poncer): I am thankful to all the contributors to this Blog, to the many who have contributed throughout the year, and to the many who will contribute in the future. Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Please share with us your own reasons to be thankful by leaving a comment.

Tags: Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Musings | 16 Comments »

VostromoScope – Scorpio

Sunday, November 20th, 2011

By Greg (VOSTROMO)

SCORPIO
Ruling planet: Pluto
Symbol: Scorpion (really, what are the odds?)
Birthstone: Topaz
Element: 2 pts brandy / 1 pt creme de menthe

Sylvia Plath finally writes me back — says she’s “too pure” for me — or anyone. Come again? On what planet does she live these days? Read “The Bell Jar”, she tells me — everything will become clear. Please. I know you, Sylvia. Or thought I did.

Carl Sagan says to me — this is over cocktails at Morton’s — he says: “if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” Oh sure, I say right back at him, that makes perfect sense — to anybody who’s had three gimlets. “Really,” he says, “somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” Perhaps, I say, that something incredible is you, picking up the check this time? “It’s far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion,” he says. Obviously so, I reply. Sure isn’t the way I’d have designed it.

Oksana Baiul is coaching my eight-year-old. “Russian split!” she calls out. People lined up around the rink to see Oksana turn to ponder what an eight-year-old can make of that. I‘m the one hiding my eyes. Over and over I’ve been sore tempted to throttle her — how do you expect a child to master something like that? Sometimes, I swear I’m this close to putting a counter-turn on her leg wrap, or swizzling her twizzle. Costs a fortune, though, so I grit my teeth and wait for the sound from the crowd that’ll tell me if we landed in one piece.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s moustache is talking to me. “Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.” Interesting observation, coming as it does from some horizontal hair on the man’s face. Oscar Wilde said that moustaches were “the evolutionary next level to enlightenment.” So maybe Stevenson’s ‘stache could talk after all. Could be the absinthe. Or both.

Pablo Picasso looks deeply into Marie-Therese’s eyes. “I do not seek,” he says, “I find.” On the bed is a blanket her mother made, rumpled at angles into more than three dimensions. She knows it wasn’t meant to be shared with a lover, not one as earthy and strong and confounding, but when she first stood naked before his brushes, much after she’d stood naked before the man, she felt an unexpected moment of innocence. Curling her arm through the wall she’d reached back to her childhood bed and pulled the blanket into his Paris atelier to wrap around her shoulders. “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone,” said Pablo, as he sketched out charcoal lines across the canvas. Rather than die she dropped the blanket a bit, baring one breast to the arts, tilted her face towards the sun, and let a novel in Spanish appear, unread, on her lap.

Ike Turner spins a record at WROX in Clarksdale. “On the airwaves for you right now is the great mister Louis Jordan,” he says as he releases the vibrating platter. Sure, he’s not supposed to make announcements, but Frisella always cuts him a little slack on Saturdays. Come September he might get his own slot, he needs to practice. Over in Tennessee, Anna Mae Bullock comes roaring into the world. Ruby had cracked her lip open when the dog ran into her and she tries not to smile at her new baby sister so it won’t start bleeding again. People always wonder.

Owen Wilson is pacing, running lines. Schwartzman claims he understands the “Darjeeling” script perfectly, but Owen’s not convinced. Clearly the opportunity to worship at the altar of Natalie Portman’s derriere is overriding Jason’s normally apt judgment. Or is Owen just missing the fundamental thing underlying this one, which he had no hand in writing? Realistically, nothing much actually happens to anyone, despite their several adventures with poison snakes, thieves, stolen romance… on the whole it’s a journey from here to here again. Previously his characters have learned, grown, changed, or at least dropped dead. It sort of works out, he thinks, because by the time I die, I’m usually tired of working on that particular movie, so I look forward to it.

This month’s forecast: buy Globex, stock symbol DOH

Tags: Book Suggestions
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Musings, VostromoScope | 10 Comments »

National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month

By Cynthia M. (clariail)

Have you ever noticed that there seems to be special recognition extended to everything under the sun nowadays? Seems like everything has it own special day, week, or month for a festival, news articles (serious and goofy) etc.

Recently I was asked how I felt about “peanut butter” and if I would be interested in submitting a blog entry for, wait for it, “National Peanut Butter Month!” Who knew! Well, maybe some of you did but I certainly didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I like peanut butter, creamy not so much the crunchy. Love peanut butter cookies and have the occasional PB&J sandwich. Maybe that’s why I heard them on the weather channel talking about PB&J sandwiches and whether they were grape or strawberry users. Me, strictly grape.

I decided to google National Peanut Butter month and found lots of interesting facts. Since we don’t want to run anyone off, I will only share a few. Well, maybe more than a few because I thought they were pretty interesting.

A Little PB History:
Back in November 4, 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of Kellogg’s Cereals) applied for the first peanut butter patent. Ninety-five years later, American Southern Peanut Growers celebrated this event and made November 4, 1990 the First Peanut Butter Lovers Day.

Five years later, on the 100th birthday of the sticky, gooey, tasty peanut butter, PB Lovers Day became Peanut Butter Lovers Month! The jelly is optional.

Per the National Peanut Board website:

PEANUTS & PEANUT BUTTER FUN FACTS
Fun Facts

• It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
• There are enough peanuts in one acre to make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.
• By law, any product labeled “peanut butter” in the United States must be at least 90 percent peanuts.
• Peanut butter was first introduced to the USA in 1904 at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis by C.H. Sumner, who sold $705.11 of the “new treat” at his concession stand.
• Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a physician wanting to help patients eat more plant-based protein, patented his procedure for making peanut butter in 1895.
• Two peanut farmers have been elected president of the USA – Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
• Grand Saline, TX holds the title for the world’s largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich weighing in at 1,342 pounds. Grand Saline outweighed Oklahoma City’s 900 pounds peanut butter and jelly sandwich in November 2010. Oklahoma City, OK had been the reigning champ since September 7, 2002.
• Tom Miller pushed a peanut to the top of Pike’s Peak (14,100 feet) using his nose in 4 days, 23 hours, 47 minutes and 3 seconds.
• As early as 1500 B.C., the Incans of Peru used peanuts as sacrificial offerings and entombed them with their mummies to aid in the spirit life.
• Americans were first introduced to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in 1928.
• Peanut butter was the secret behind “Mr. Ed,” TV’s talking horse.
• Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
• Ever wonder where the term “Peanut Gallery” comes from? The term became popular in the late 19th century and referred to the rear or uppermost seats in a theater, which were also the cheapest seats. People seated in such a gallery were able to throw peanuts, a common food at theaters, at those seated below them. It also applied to the first row of seats in a movie theater, for the occupants of those seats could throw peanuts at the stage, stating their displeasure with the performance.

Consumption Facts
• The average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before he/she graduates high school.
• Americans consume on average over 1.5 billion pounds of peanut butter and peanut products each year.
• Americans eat enough peanut butter in a year to make more than 10 billion peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
• Women and children prefer creamy, while most men opt for chunky.
• Peanuts contribute more than $4 billion to the USA economy each year.
• Americans spend almost $800 million a year on peanut butter.

George Washington Carver Facts
• Dr. George Washington Carver researched and developed more than 300 uses for peanuts in the early 1900s.
• Dr. Carver is considered “The Father of the Peanut Industry” because of his extensive research and selfless dedication to promoting peanut production and products.

Nutrition Facts
• The peanut is not a nut, but a legume related to beans and lentils.
• Peanuts have more protein, niacin, folate and phytosterols than any nut.
• Peanuts have a higher antioxidant capacity over grapes, Concord grape juice, green tea, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, carrots and many more.
• Peanuts are naturally cholesterol-free.

Who knew there were so many holidays related to Peanuts?

March – National Peanut Month
March 8 – National Peanut Cluster Day
April 2 – National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
June 12 – National Peanut Butter Cookie Day
September 13 – National Peanut Day
November – National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month
November 20 – National Peanut Butter Fudge Day

I hope that you enjoyed reading some of the facts that were found. A few made me go ‘whoa!’, a couple made me chuckle. How can we celebrate the month? Eat peanut butter of course! Have you noticed one of the big stories in the news the last day or two? The cost of peanut butter is going to jump on up there since there is a peanut shortage this year.

Better hurry out and grab a few jars then you can hurry home and see if you have Arachibutyrophobia!

Tags: Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Musings | 4 Comments »

Winners!

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Thank you for sharing the many, many touching posts on our Remembrance Page. It was a moving tribute to those we have loved and lost, as well as those we are supporting in their fight right now against this far reaching disease. If you have not read through it yet, be sure to have a tissue handy when you do. The words quite clearly evince the strong emotions underneath.

Congratuations to Shonda H. (Shondah), Lori L.(loralei), Janine T. (jting), Tricia A. (tricia316) and DiAnn H. (packer), winners of our Breast Cancer Awareness Book Giveaway. They will each receive a copy of Barbara Delinksy’s “Uplift, Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors“. This 10th anniversary updated edition offers an inspiring collection of stories, advice and survival secrets.

Tags: Contests
Posted in Contests, Holidays and Special Dates | No Comments »

Breast Cancer Awareness Day

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Forget about orange, Pink is “the” color for October as we support National Breast Cancer Awareness Month across the country. The rally cry to support early diagnosis, research and treatment can be heard far and wide as it seems everyone has been impacted in some way by this disease. We all know someone, maybe a friend, a family member or acquaintance who has battled breast cancer. Many of us are fighting this ourselves every day.

Today PBS would like to recognize the people in your life affected by breast cancer. We encourage you to reply here with a post of their names in support, in memory, and in honor to create our “Remembrance Page”. It’s a small thing, but just one way to say we won’t give up and we won’t forget.

We’re also giving away 5 copies of “Uplift, Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors” by Barbara Delinsky.

This 10^th anniversary updated edition is an inspiring collection of stories, advice and survival secrets.

(You do not have to post a name in your reply to be in the drawing. Supportive comments welcome, too!)

We’ll randomly choose five winners from all replies.

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”

~Jane Howard

Tags: Book Suggestions, Contests
Posted in Contests, Holidays and Special Dates | 287 Comments »

VostromoScope – Libra

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

by Greg (VOSTROMO)

LIBRA

Symbol: The Scales

Element: Air

Ruling Planet: Venus

Birthstone: Compost, but in a really nice setting

Libra is the only Zodiacal sign that does not represent an animate, living object but a conceptual one: the balance of the life forces, represented by hanging scales, symbolically empty of any particular, specific concerns, as many Librans are themselves. Coming at the time of agricultural harvest, Libra reminds us of the bounty nature provides (Brigitte Bardot, Susan Sarandon, Rex Reed), the hard work necessary to reap it (Gandhi, Lech Walesa, Annette Funicello), the intertwining of man and nature (Enrico Fermi, TS Eliot, Shaun Cassidy), the need to pay rent (Randy Quaid), not to take drugs (Dwight Eisenhower), that some people are just cooler than you (Sting, Yves Montand), that we can all have better thighs (Suzanne Somers), that Darth Vader is actually Luke’s father (James Earl Jones) and that you don’t have to get the most au courant Halloween costume to be awesome (Bela Lugosi).

Librans possess strong personalities, which is a good thing because generally, like an organic potato, they’re not so physically attractive (Mickey Rooney, Tommy Lasorda). They fall into two principle types: “shy/sensitive” (Jean-Claude van Damm) or “lively/quite noisy when drunk” (Carrie Fisher, Richard Harris). Steadfast, often impatient with those that disagree with their closely-held beliefs, they are nonetheless realists, and willing to change opinions in the face of persuasive evidence, such as an unmarked twenty concealed in an offered palm.

As mates, Librans can be dominant of less self-assured signs, but balance this with enthusiasm (Jerry Lee Lewis) and dedication to the object of their affection (Julio Iglesias). As creative artists, Librans are adept at combining the moderate passion necessary to reach a wide audience (Angela Lansbury, Julie Andrews) with the more personal, intimate, demanding passion that true greatness often grows from (Franz List, John Lennon, David Lee Roth). Often they’re just plain crazy (Aleister Crowley, Annie Besant, Evel Knievel).

Despite the quest for balance inherent in their birth sign, Librans can be contradictory in quotidian matters: they hate plastic silverware, but love paper plates. They will help a friend move a thousand boxes a thousand miles, but refuse to learn to play Solitaire. They prefer European movies, as long as they’re edited for television. They see nothing wrong in spending $4.99/lb at Whole Foods for ugly organic potatoes, then cover them in cheap Kraft cheddar cheese or slather them with Hunt’s — HUNT’S! — ketchup. And that may be Libra’s most valuable gift, the most important lesson the sign imparts to its companions: the man with the loftiest ideals and the man with the basest instincts share a place in the common sphere — we’re all just compost in a really nice setting.

This month’s forecast: Boo!

Off Balance by Mary Sheepshanks

Gandhi Was A Libra by Michelle Kennedy

Balance Point by Kathy Tyers

Libra The Cat Who Saved Silicon Valley
by Lincoln Taiz & Lee Taiz

The Chaos Balance by L.E. Modesitt, Jr

Never Love A Libra by Vicki Kamida

Tags: Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, VostromoScope | 6 Comments »

It Is Old Farmer’s Day!

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

By Tammy (lildrafire)

In a time in history when we’ve moved away from a greatly agricultural society it is refreshing to know that the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of the farmers of the past has not been forgotten. October 12th is traditionally Old Farmer’s Day, celebrated by many farming communities and small towns by breaking out the old style farming implements and showing how it was done back in the day. Some communities go all out, with re-enactments and demonstrations, as well as things such as wagon train parades, livestock events such as hog butchering and sheep shearing, hay baling and log splitting. Oh, and the food! Of course October is the end of Harvest season, so the bounty of the land is celebrated with dishes of every variety. Yummy goodness!

Even if you are far removed from farming in your own life, you can bet that somewhere in your ancestry there is a farmer in your family. The 1900 census states that 38% of all workers counted that year were farmers. That is over 29 million farmers! The further that you work back, the greater percentage of farming families as opposed to other occupations. In 1840, the first year that census records reflected occupations in the USA, 69% of the laborers were farmers. Immigration was at an all time high, especially from Ireland, because of the potato famine, and Germany, because of their Revolution. Many of these people came to the southern areas of the country because land was plentiful and cheap and began farming.

With the great population we have now, family farming has given way to factory farming, but many people keep the soil under their fingernails by home gardening. Others, where land is available, keep small amounts of livestock, like chickens and goats. There is nothing like fresh eggs and homemade chevre from fresh goat’s milk to go along with vine ripened tomatoes, squash and spicy peppers.

Want to know more about the history of farming? About how to start your own gardens? About raising your own livestock? Check out these findings from PaperBackSwap!