NationalDayOf

Recognition

I think all humans crave recognition, some just need it more than others. I thrive on compliments and have learned as an instructor to say, “I am proud of you,” or “Good job,” as often as possible. My quilting students beam and try even harder when they get praised. A genuine compliment goes a long way, for both people involved.

Way back when, as a new bride, I served my husband my first and last attempt at making Spanish Rice. He took a bite and made a face. I burst into tears (mind you, I was very young) and said, “I haven’t even sat down yet!” He replied, “It’s good. I’ll eat it.” After my first bite, I grabbed the bowls and threw them in the sink, saying, “That’s not fit to feed to the dog.” We laughed and went out for a hamburger. I don’t remember why it was so bad, but I remember how crushed I was at the face he made. Finding out he was correct, put everything into perspective very quickly. He deserves an accolade for attempting to eat it.

I’ve become a much better cook since then, but sometimes, my experiments aren’t very good. I have a different, and wonderful husband now. He eats whatever I put in front of him. If I say the meal isn’t very good, he smiles, and says, “You can’t hit a home run every time.” He knows how to stroke my desire for positive reinforcement.

The National Day of calendar information points out that a compliment about someone’s character and a compliment about how someone does something are two different things. I had to think about that for a minute, to decipher the difference. I figured out, I can always find some reason to praise someone, even if I don’t care for them as a person.

I challenge you on National Compliment Day to hand out genuine, plentiful compliments. The people around you will notice and I guarantee it will help you see others in a more positive light because you are looking for the good.

01/24/2017 0

It’s National Handwriting Day. I have a girlfriend that loves handwritten letters. E-mails are acceptable, but she likes a letter to arrive via snail mail. I admit to liking the latter myself. Today I got a thank you note and a late Christmas letter in the mail. It made my day. The even better part, I could read both sets of handwriting. That doesn’t happen to be the case when someone gets a letter from me. Well, that’s not entirely true, but let’s just say, handwriting has never been one of my strong suits.

I remember in second grade learning to write in cursive. We would sit and draw circles over and over again on very wide marked lines. Some of my classmates made perfect circles that touched the lines. Mine were more like ovals that had trouble touching the line for more than the length of a pencil dot. I was told to practice, but it didn’t do much good.

I remember in my high school junior year, there were projects displayed in one of my classes. I had received a B on my work that had been lowered to a C because of my illegible handwriting. Right next to mine was another “brainy” students who got an A with a + for handwriting. Now, I didn’t wear glasses back then and her writing was so fancy, I had trouble deciphering her a’s from her o’s. I guess it was all from the teacher’s perspective, which I still believe was slanted….oh well. Life went on.

My handwriting is no better today but I have read that people with poor handwriting are actually more concerned with how well they do a job, than with how it looks, so I’ll hold on to that. I have also read that bad handwriting is a sing of a higher IQ. I’ll take that one too. Think about your doctor’s handwriting.

And of course, the argument today in the U.S. is whether they will even continue to teach cursive in the schools and that it may eventually become a secret code because our young people aren’t being taught how to write or read it. Wow, that sounds like a step back in history when people weren’t allowed to learn. That’s a sad thought.

I for one, still use my check book and still sign my name in handwriting and I will probably continue to do so. When I write a letter, I prefer to type it, just so the recipient can read it more easily. Handwriting is a great tool, but I know my real friends will say, “Oh good, she typed it,” when they take a letter from me out of an envelope.

Cheese Please

It’s National Cheese Lover’s Day. The information for this day says there are over 1400 different types of cheese. Wow! I would have never guessed that. Maybe I should pay closer attention the next time I walk through the cheese section at the grocery store. (Wegman’s, here in western New York state! Lucky me!)

My taste buds were imagining a Swiss and mushroom omelet for breakfast, the American toasted cheese sandwich for lunch (with tomato soup), and the baked Brie and raspberry jam that the neighbor serves when we play cards. I use blue cheese, Asiago, or 5 year aged extra sharp cheddar each morning when I make my husband’s salad that he takes to work for lunch. Cheese can enhance any meal, any time of day.

Next time you get to peruse a salad bar, check out the number of cheeses, and don’t forget the cottage cheese that is sometimes in with the desserts. So many cheeses, so little time. I think I need a snack.

01/20/2017 1

Popcorn!

Popcorn started becoming popular in the United States in the middle 1800s. It wasn’t until Charles Cretors, a candy-store owner, developed a machine for popping corn with steam that the tasty treat became more abundantly poppable. By 1900 he had horse-drawn popcorn wagons going through the streets of Chicago.

About the same time, Louise Ruckheim added peanuts and molasses to popcorn to bring Cracker Jack to the world. The national anthem of baseball was born in 1908 when Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer wrote Take Me out to the Ballgame. From that point onward, popcorn, specifically Cracker Jack, became forever married to the game.

I included the above from the National Day of Calendar because I didn’t know popcorn had such a history or how long Cracker Jacks have been popular. I can’t imagine popcorn being sold out of horse-drawn wagons. I mean I can see it, but it seems the popcorn would be stale. Perhaps I am wrong.

I love popcorn. Whenever my husband isn’t home for supper, that is what I usually have. I watch a movie I know he wouldn’t care for, and eat a big bowl of popcorn. It makes the evening all my own. The cat even has to have a piece to lick the salt off of.

Years back my son had a yellow lab and a French Mastiff. He and his girl would babysit for two Bull Mastiffs. When there was a bowl of popcorn made, the dogs would sit in a line, like dutiful students, and wait their turn for one piece of popcorn as it was thrown to them. The dogs were as big as his girlfriend, so it was comical to see them be so well-behaved and patient. We all wanted a turn at being the thrower.

A string of popcorn used to be an adornment for our Christmas tree when I was little. When we took all the other decorations off, the popcorn stayed. We would then stand the tree up in the back yard and the birds would eat the popcorn. They never seemed to mind if it was stale.

01/19/2017 0

Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore too!

Winnie the Pooh has figured prominently in my life. I remember reading the stories when I was young, and watching the movies when they first came out in the ’60’s.

When my children were young, I read Winnie the Pooh stories to them, characterizing all the voices. It was one time they actually sat still and listened. Once during a church social, I sat in a side room reading aloud to little ones so they had something to do while the adults did their thing. When I finished, I had more adults listening than little ones. I heard one man say, “No one ever read to me like that.”

I mention my grandson on a regular basis. At the baby shower in anticipation of his arrival, his Daddy, who has quite the personality, dressed up in a Tigger costume to greet the guests and deliver the cake. It is a touching memory. The personalized baby quilt I made has a life-size lounging Pooh and Tigger done in applique. A project I remember like it was yesterday. I saw the quilt this week. It is well-loved. That pleases me.

Recently, my granddaughter handed me a Winnie the Pooh book. I hadn’t done the voices in years, but my adult children asked me to do so. Jaycey sat and stared at me while I read, especially when the deep slow voice of Eeyore spoke. I wish I could read to her every day.

Whatever memories of Winnie the Pooh you have, share them with your family. Any day is a good day to think about bees, balloons and honey.

01/18/2017 4

No Incision Please

NATIONAL WITHOUT A SCALPEL DAY

No surgery, no stitches, no scars…

We observe National Without a Scalpel Day each year on January 16. The first angioplasty, a ground-breaking procedure to open a blocked blood vessel, was performed on this day in 1964 in Portland, Oregon, by pioneer physician Charles Dotter. This angioplasty allowed the patient to avoid leg amputation surgery. She left the hospital days later with only a Band-Aid.

In doing so, Dr. Dotter created the cutting-edge medical specialty called Interventional Radiology, where doctors treat disease through a tiny pinhole instead of open surgery. These doctors use x-rays and other medical imaging to see inside the body while they treat disease. These advances changed all of medicine.

Today, minimally invasive, image-guided procedures (MIIP) can treat a broad range of diseases throughout the body, in adults and children:• cancer• heart disease• stroke• aneurysms• life-threatening bleeding• infertility• fibroids• kidney stones• back pain• infections• blocked blood vessels• many other conditions

Even though trained specialists perform MIIP throughout the world, many people do not know about MIIP or if they could benefit from these life-changing treatments. The Interventional Initiative was established to raise awareness and educate the public about MIIP.

Yes, I know, it is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Do Nothing Day, Religious Freedom Day and Fig Newton Day. This was the day I had not heard of, but know many people who have benefitted from no scalpel use, so thought I would share the history of it. A big thank you to revolutionary doctors like Dr. Charles Dotter and our modern medicine.

01/16/2017 0

Sue Spitulnik

Writing, Sewing, Travel, and Thoughts

Tag