=)

GOOD NEWS - It's a new week and you can start fresh!

Happy Monday everyone!

It's STILL Sunday! Which means I can post :)

Happy Saturday, Pals.

The day after Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner

Everyone full from last night...

Always room for pie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day everybody! Here's a short stop motion to enjoy! ;)

Le Jour de L'action de Grace

I think it would be "false pretenses", if you will, if this blog did not include some French once in a while. So, along with some history on Thanksgiving (because who really remembers what they were taught about the Indians and Pilgrims back in Elementary school?), I will be doling out a little holiday-oriented French vocabulary! :)

THE HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING:

THE PILGRIMS
A pilgrim is someone who journeys, usually a far distance, to a place as an act of religious devotion. In this case, the pilgrims were Puritans who were being repressed from practicing their religion. They ventured forth on the Mayflower in order to make a better life where they could worship freely. Thanksgiving, to them, meant a religious holiday of giving thanks to God, usually given to fasting- not feasting.

WHERE THE HOLIDAY CAME FROM
Our current tradition combines this Puritan tradition of giving thanks, and European as well as Native American traditions of celebrating a good harvest. We celebrate a Thanksgiving after the 1621 harvest celebration the Pilgrims had in Massachusetts, sometime between September 21 and November 11 and was three days long (agreeing with European harvest festivals). During the American Revolution, a national holiday of thanksgiving was suggested to the Continental Congress, and by the mid-1800s, many states -starting with New York- had adopted the custom. It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who, in 1939, proposed the holiday should be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

THE FOOD
Nowadays, the traditional food associated with Thanksgiving is turkey, pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes. Other common dishes served include stuffing, gravy, pecan pie, and cranberry sauce. The original harvest included a very different menu; historians suggest the pilgrims and indians supped over seafood (yep! like cod, eel, lobster, and oysters), nuts (chestnuts, acorns, and walnuts), venison (deer meat), indian corn, raw pumpkin, other vegetables, and different kinds of wild fowl (yes, turkey included). They ate many different kinds of meats. But pies and cranberry sauce? Nope.

WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE
As far as the buildings, the pilgrims had only built seven houses, a common meeting place, and three storehouses for food and supplies. In preparation for the meals, one person would be assigned to sit for a period of hours to make sure the meat was cooked evenly over the spit (meat was commonly roasted). As for their dress, the pilgrims wore earthy tones of green, brown, gray, black, and beige. The women also wore violets, reds, and blues. The buckles we usually imagine they wore didn't even come into style until decades later. The Natives they celebrated with were of the Wampanoag tribe, along with their leader, Massasoit. The two communities ate both together separately over the few days of celebration, dining both indoors and outdoors at one time. Between meals, there was singing and dancing, as well as games.

Of course, even if the Pilgrims did not consider their meal a thanksgiving, they did give thanks. And when you're enjoying bountiful food with friends and family, how can you not be thankful?

And now, some French vocabulary ;)

Pilgrims - les pèlerins (lay peh-ler-eh)
Indians - les Indiens (lay in-dyen)
settler - un colonisateur (uh coh-lohn-ees-ah-tur)
feast - un festin (uh fest-eh)
thankful - reconnaissant (reck-on-ay-sahnt)
harvest - la récolte (lah ray-colt)

pumpkin pie - la tarte à la citrouille (lah tart ah lah sit-troo-ee)
stuffing - la farce (la farss)
turkey - la dinde (lah deend)

Thank you very much - Merci beaucoup (mare-see boh-coo)

Tuesday's Quote

"I'm going to knit a blanket!

"I'm going to organize my desk drawers!"

"I promise I'll start volunteering more!"

"I'll send you that email as soon as I get home!"

Stop talking.
Start acting.


If not now, when?

(P.S. I totally made that poster, it's hanging above my desk! heh heh heh)

Something Happy

When I'm sad I stop being sad and instead think of how awesome I am. That always makes me happy.

:) Enjoy your Monday.

Happy Sunday!

Better late then never! I honestly thought someone else was going to post today, but that's okay. I'll just spread the Lilly Love! So ladies, just make sure you remember your day to post!

Tee hee hee...

Garfield?

Have a great Saturday, ma sisters!

Just a poem I wrote in study hall one day.

He loves me,
He loves me not.
He loves me,
He loves me not.

I could go and pick off every single petal,
Of every single flower,
And he would still love me not.

Petal One:
You love him,
He loves you.
The feelings are fresh and new.

Petal Two:
The words slip out of your mouth.
Things get awkward.
He doesn't look at you.
He keeps his distance.

Petal Three:
You make up,
Talk things through.
You love him,
He loves you.

Petal Four:
It doesn't work out.
Your love is no more.
You love him,
He loves you not.

Nothing Else Matters

Performed by Apocalyptica

If I could clone myself 3 times, this is the first thing I would do! hah!

Facts about sleep you probably didn't know...

1. The record for the longest period without sleep is over 18 days. This person experienced hallucinations, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory lapses.

2. It is almost impossible to tell if someone is really awake without medical supervision. People can have naps with their eyes open and not even know it.

3. Elephants lie down during REM sleep, but sleep standing up during non-REM sleep.

4. What is commonly known as the the “natural alarm clock” which allows people to wake up when they want, is caused by the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin.

5. The tiny rays of light from a digital alarm clock can actually be enough to disrupt your sleep cycle.

6. On average humans sleep about three hours less than other primates.

7. Ducks are able to balance the need for sleep and survival by keeping one half of the brain

awake and other half in sleep mode.

8. Most of what we know about sleep we’ve learned in the past 25 years.

9. It has been suggested that the availability of the internet is one of the major influences of sleep distractions.

10. Studies suggest that women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men.

11.The average person sleeps for a total of six years in their whole life.

12.Everyone dreams 5 to 6 times a night; we just never remember dreams unless they're vivid enough.

Sweet Dreams ;D

A Lilly and Heidi moment

The following was said one night a few days ago when Lilly and I were in my room very early in the morning. I don't remember now, but there was something about making a wish:

Heidi: "Why, did you wish for something else?"
Lilly: "No."
H: "Good, then we're on the same page."
L: "Same page, different book."

Have a great Tuesday dudes!
*
By the way... Like you guys volunteered, Lilly will be doing Wednesday first, Amy will be doing Thursday first, and Kelly will be doing Friday first (I came up with that theme with her in mind anyway)

Monday's Happy Thought

Love your friends and family with your entire being. They are the most important part of your life!

The good thing about family is that we'll always have each other. And how can you not be happy about that?

Hope you all had a great Monday!

"I Suppose You're All Wondering Why I Called You Here Tonight..."

It's not because one of us in this room is a murderer.

It's because a few days ago, Lilly suggested (after seizing our attention with a picture of a monstrously huge cat) that we all start a blog together. And, bamboozled as we were by the proportions of such a ginormous (by the way, I hear that's a real word now. Yeah, in the dictionary and everything!) feline, we agreed. Well, the time has come to make good on our words, ladies.

I was a bit excited... so I got right to setting everything up- and everything is up for possible changes (I just needed a title and template in order to have a blog, you see). And everything that follows is up for debate, and I NEED to know what you guys think, okay? FEEDBACK!

Since there are five of us, and seven days in a week, I figured it would get a bit confusing trying to have everyone post equally everyday so here are my thoughts:
We each post one weekday a week. This way, weekends can be spent freely, having fun and partaking in tomfoolery. If the weekend is the only time you find time to write, however, you can certainly schedule your posts to post on the right day.

Now days! I think each day should have a theme. Like-
Monday: something happy
Tuesday: a quote or passage from a book, person, or movie
Wednesday: something new- a lesson, a fun factoid, or an interesting news article
Thrusday: a video- any kind!
Friday: creative writing of some kind- a story or poem, made-up or from your life

We'll rotate so that we each get to do one post for each theme... so, if I posted one week on Monday, then the next week I would post on Tuesday, and if Lilly posted on Friday, she would post on the following Monday (so the person who ends the first week begins the next one). And we'd keep going like that!

What do you guys think? Suggestions? Questions? :)