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I don’t always laugh a lot at Carpool Karaoke – but this one got me.  I loved the race at the end!

Enquiring minds want to know – so this Thursday I’m throwing back to old posts and answering questions.

• You might be curious about how the garage sale went last weekend.  I’m happy to say it was a hit!  I cleared nearly $300 – $96 of which came from my sales of cookies/brownies/bottled water.  It was a beautiful day, the crowd was good and I think by any measure we could call it a success.
• My private session on the Pilates reformer was also a success!  When we started out, the instructor told me she was going to take it easy on me since I had never used a reformer before – but within the first 5 minutes, she changed her mind and we went full out.  I’m proud to say that even with taking a kickboxing class later the same day as the reformer, I was NOT sore the next day!  That came the day following….  I definitely worked muscles I didn’t know I had and I’ll be looking into occasional sessions in the future.
• The bruises from my fall a couple weeks ago are nearly healed.  So today is 14 days since the fall – making my healing speed about average for most of them.

Thanks for the interest in my posts – and keep the questions coming!

My Mom passed away when she was 53 from what started as a breast cancer diagnosis when she was 42.  So I have a vested interest in any news about advancements in breast cancer treatment or diagnosis.  If you didn’t see the news about this new direction in treatment this week, I’d encourage you to check out this report:

For more in depth coverage of the story, check out this link to the New York Times article.

Ladies, don’t forget to do your self checks and get your mammograms annually.  Your family wants to keep you as long as possible!

I’m going on a road trip in a couple days – so you KNOW I’ve got a list going for that!  Of course there’s the packing, making sure the house is cleaned up (and cleaned out – there’s nothing worse than coming home to moldy food and the smell of garbage) but because it’s going to be hot, I’m taking special care with prepping my car.

Of course I’ll fill up with gas, but now is a good time to do a few other checks:

• Tire pressure.  We’re transitioning from spring to summer and hot weather can be rough on your tires.  Take a minute and check the pressure.  Incorrect tire pressure can contribute to your chances of suffering a blowout if you hit one of those pot holes left from the winter.   And don’t forget to check your spare – it would be horrible if you took a flat off only to find out your spare isn’t road ready!
• Check your car’s fluids.  Most of us know how to check our oil but your owner’s manual can help you figure out how to check the power steering fluid and brake fluid.  if you aren’t up to it, many garages and quick change oil shops will check your fluids for free.  And don’t forget to top up your windshield wiper fluid to help you wash the bugs off when you can’t see out any more!
• Check all your lights and signals to make sure they’re all working.  And really people – let’s all use our turn signals?  When you’re navigating in an unfamiliar place it may be hard, but it’s the right thing to do!
• Make sure you have an emergency kit in the car.   There are some excellent kits out there that aren’t really expensive.  I this one from Amazon because it includes jumper cables, a flashlight with batteries, a first aid kit and a lot more.  If $33 is too much for your budget, there are other options on Amazon starting as low as $16.  You may never need the emergency kit, but it could be worth it’s weight in gold if you’re stuck on the side of the road.

Last but not least – download the GasBuddy app if you haven’t already to help you find the best price for gas wherever you travel.   Now get packing – we have a road trip to take!

 

You don’t succeed, try, try again.  I love this little saying.  I’m very big on trying again when I mess up or don’t get the result I wanted.  I am nothing but persistent.

But of course as I was saying this to myself for like the millionth time this morning, I thought it would be a good thing to research for the old blog here!  According to Wikipedia, this proverb was popularized by William Edward Hickson – AKA Richman Hopson and W.E. Hickman – who lived from 1803-1870.

After starting out in the family boot and shoe business, Hickman left to become an educational writer eventually becoming the editor of the Westminster Review and is also credited with writing part of the British National anthem.

Hickson is credited with popularizing the proverb:

‘Tis a lesson you should heed:

Try, try, try again.

If at first you don’t succeed,

Try, try, try again.

The proverb itself can be traced back to the writings of Thomas H. Palmer in his Teacher’s Manual, and The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat.

So now you know – and remember, if at first you don’t succeed….  Try, try again!

 

Its summer – the season for the Slip and Slide.  I used to love the Slip and Slide.   Will it Slip and Slide?  Funny!

On this day in 1859, the clock known around the world as Big Ben went into operation in London.  The clock is located at the top of the 320 foot high Elizabeth Tower at Westminster – home of the British Parliament.  After fire destroyed much of Westminster in 1834, the new clock tower was planned to be a focal point during the rebuild.

There are two schools of thought on how the clock got the name Big Ben – first that it is named after Sir Benjamin Hall who was a famously long winded politician and the London Public Works commissioner at the time the clock was built.  Sir Benjamin’s name is inscribed on the Big Ben bell so this story does have merit.  The second story is that the clock was named for heavyweight boxer Benjamin Caunt because he too was the largest of his kind.

Point of fact – the name of the clock isn’t Big Ben.  Big Ben is actually he name of the largest of the 5 bells that toll in the clock’s tower.  The 5 bells chime a different pattern on the quarter hour 24 hours a day.  Want to hear what the chime patterns sound like?  Click here.

Here’s a picture I took of Westminster and the clock tower back in the mid 1990’s for my throwback Thursday – Happy 159th Birthday Big Ben!

I took a pretty bad fall last week.  What part of climbing up on the back of the sofa to swat at a wasp sounds like a good idea to you?  Sure I got the wasp, but I also lost my balance and went face first into an end table.  Once I figured out that I hadn’t broken any bones, I knew bad bruises were coming.  I have some fairly spectacular looking bruises on my right knee, right elbow and rib cage right now.  We’ve all probably had hundreds of bruises in our lives, but do you know why?

Your doctor may call a bruise a contusion.  Basically, bruises occur when trauma causes blood in your capillaries to either seep or hemorrhage into the surrounding tissue.

With a minor bruise, the bleeding is confined to a relatively small area close to the skin surface and you see it turn red within minutes.  The bruise appears red because it is fresh blood filled with iron and oxygen.  Next the bruise will progress to blue/purple coloring as the leaked blood cells break down.  The bruise darkens with the dispersal of the oxygen in the leakage and as the iron starts to break down.

As the bruise continues to heal, it will turn green and yellow due to the presence of a hemoglobin breakdown product called biliverdin. The last part of the word, “verdin,” comes from the Latin word for green — making it easy to remember (and impress your friends).

And because the trauma most likely isn’t even in any bruising event, you may see all four colors of bruising at any given time.  It’s your own personal, ever-changing piece of artwork until the area heals and the bloodstream carries away all the broken down cells.  Normally, it takes 10-14 days for a bruise to go away but the time can vary based on how severe the bruising is.

I’m just starting to turn purple so I’m guessing I’ve got at least a couple of weeks before I lose the reminders of my fight with a wasp!  Want to know more about bruises?  Check out the article on WebMD.

I’m having a garage sale on Saturday so you know my to-do list is heavy this week!   I’ve been participating in my community’s garage sale for several years now, but if you haven’t had one yourself, here are some tips I’ve learned:

• Clean out your garage and think through the “floor plan” of how you want your customers to walk through.  I use a U shape with a skinny table in the middle to maximize visible table space – and my ability to keep people away from the tools/garden supplies I’m not selling.   The U also blocks people from accessing the door to my house – bonus!
• Use the driveway if you can!  Big showy pieces in the drive help draw people in.   I like to line the sides of my drive with tubs of merchandise or extra tables if I can get them!
• Offer refreshments.  But not the free kind!  I bake cookies and brownies – nobody EVER haggles over the price for them (unlike any other item for sale)!  I also sell bottled water because even on cool days, nothing sells faster than a cold bottle of water to people walking around a bunch of garage sales!  I get $1 for 4 cookies or 2 brownies or a bottle of water – and I usually make more money with my refreshments than I do with my other items.
• “Fluff” your merchandise a lot.  I’ve found that rearranging the items regularly helps them sell.  I can’t explain it – I just know it works.
• Run an extension cord so people can test out electric items.  They’re more likely to buy that old lamp or fan if they can see it works.
• Make it a party.  I invite all my friends to participate – it makes for a better assortment of stuff to sell and it’s more fun to have your friends with you for the day!
• Use social media.  Most towns seem to have a Facebook Garage Sale page these days so take advantage of it.  Take pictures of major items for sale and post them the day before your sale with directions/hours.  Twitter and Instagram also offer you opportunities to post pictures and sale info.  You’ll be surprised at how fast you can sell the things you post with or without an actual sale in your garage.

I’ve got to get moving now and start sorting/pricing my stuff – but if you want more tips for hosting a garage sale, check out these sites:

• HGTV Garage Sale tips
• YardSaleQueen.com
• Angie’s List Garage Sale Tips

Today is Memorial Day but do you know the history of it?  Memorial Day – or Decoration Day – dates back to the Civil War but the first official Federal Holiday of Memorial Day wasn’t recognized until 1971!

The Civil War which ended in April 1865 resulted in the deaths of an estimated 620,000 people and lead to the establishment of national cemeteries.  By the late 1860’s cities and towns all over the country were organizing late spring activities to clean up the cemeteries after the winter as well as ceremonies to honor the fallen while decorating their graves.

In 1868, General John A. Logan who was the leader of an organization of Northern Civil War veterans called for a national day of remembrance. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed according to History.com.  It was said he called for the date of May 30th because it did not commemorate any particular battle.

After that first Memorial Day, the date continued to be observed but still honored only those who had fallen in the Civil War.  With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the United States once again found itself in a conflict resulting in thousands of soldiers’ deaths.  And Memorial Day evolved to honor all American military personnel that perish in all wars.

Through World War 2, the Korean War into the Viet Nam era, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30th as designated by General Logan, but in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.  This act declared Memorial Day as a federal holiday and moved its observance to the last Monday in May to create a 3-day weekend for federal employees.  The law went into effect in 1971 – so the first official Memorial Day holiday was Monday May 31st in 1971.

Happy Memorial Day everyone – please do take a moment to remember those who served for us.