A Belated Happy Father's Day

...and why isn't there a Parent's Day?

Moose's parents are not together. They have been separated for more than half of the little man's life. They are two of the best parents that it has ever been my privilege to know.


Without any legal wrangling or court orders or even a whole lot of acrimony, they decide together what is best for the Moose. As any grandparent will tell you, it is VERY hard to stand back and keep your mouth shut. I manage to do this most of the time, no matter what my daughter says.

My son-in-law recently made a hard decision, one of those decisions that just rip your heart apart. In the end, though, he did what he knew was right for the little guy and I would like to publicly acknowledge his courage.

Thanks, dude. The Moose is learning how to be a man by watching you.

Fun Monday - you want to see what?

Our hostess this week is The Church Lady and this is her request: Post a photo of your purse and if you care to share, describe what's inside your purse. Do you carry everything but the kitchen sink? Or, do you prefer to go light and carry only the necessities, such as your money and cell phone. For the men who would like to participate, post a photo of your wallet and describe what's in your wallet.

Here you are:

Vera Bradley purse filled with

one unclosable wallet, one Vera Bradley make up case, one Vera Bradley pencil case, a checkbook, a rosary, a styrofoam gingerbread man, a cell phone and some tea flavored mints.

Fun Monday - Food, food, food

This week's challenge is from Margaret at M is for Misanthrope.

Our task? If you could choose one “main course” item and one dessert item that would, just for you, contain zero calories for the rest of your life (or zero cholesterol, zero points, or whatever your most important dietary measure is)…what would you choose?

This was harder than I thought. There are a lot of very amazing foods and recipes out there that I enjoy. Then I stopped to think about what I would like to have on a continuous basis.

One of my very favorite things is Wendy's chili. I could eat this plain, over pasta, over rice, on baked potatoes, on salad, pretty much any old way, including over burgers, hot dogs, etc. I make a mean chili myself but there is just something about this chili that I really, really like - every single time.

For the dessert option, I used the same criteria. I LOVE a lot of desserts; creme brulee, tiramisu, any cheesecake, fried ice cream, key lime pie, ad nauseum - and I mean that literally. The thing that I would eat every single day, the thing that I do eat every single day when my grandson comes to have my break with me, is Subway's peanut butter cookies. There is a very nice lady at our local Subway who makes sure that there are always enough slightly under-done peanut butter cookies for me and the Moose. If I could make sure these cookies were 0 everything, my life would be much less stressful.

Crapola

...or the summer doldrums. I am in the midst of a personal yuk and it is spreading into all facets of my life. This is not good for someone whose family nickname is "Polly-f'ing-anna". Evidently the way I have been reacting to stress has decided to turn on me and the karmic kingdom has decided to play along. Thursday I came early from work sick because my body has evidently decided to stop holding things together, too. Friday, I stayed home, venturing out only long enough to return/replenish library books, pay an overdue bill, and get some sick-noodle soup. I got to the library, returned and replenished and got into an argument with my daughter on the phone. Those of you who know me know that I almost NEVER argue with my daughter. I learned long ago that's it's a losing proposition. I went to pay the overdue bill, paid PART of said bill, went out to get in my car and noticed that my passenger side front tire was very low. I drove to the tire shop and learned that not only was that tire not salvageable but that the rear passenger side tire was flat also. God only knows what I drove over. Being that this is a sporty little car with z-rated tires, they did not have one in stock and must order one. It should be in Monday. I left the tire shop and went to the grocery, trading in the soup for some drumsticks. They had evidently been thawed and refrozen as the cone part was chewy. Gross. Of course, this did not stop me from eating them. My head still hurts, my nose is still running, I am still having a "dis" weekend (disgruntled, discouraged, disillusioned, disappointed, disheartened, disturbed, etc.) and am tired of being a whiny ass. Where's Polly when you really need her?

Fun Monday - History Made Personally Relevant

For this week's Fun Monday, lil mouse would like to know about our birthdays - or more specifically the things that occurred on the date that we were born.

Taken from Wikipedia, here you go:

Events
211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
1454 – In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
1792 – George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.
1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
1810 – The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald completes the 2 day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.
1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form The Confederate States of America.
1899 – The Philippine-American War begins.
1932 – World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
1936 – Radium E becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
1941 – World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference begins.
1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
1957 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
1966 – All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
1992 – A Coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez Frías, against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
1996 – Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-32.2°C)
1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
1997 – After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
1998 – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
1999 – The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
2000 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
2006 – A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71.
2008 – The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) scheme begins to operate in the UK.

[edit] Births
1524 – Luis de Camões, Portuguese poet (d. 1580)
1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1629)
1620 – Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (d. 1667)
1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (d. 1699)
1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (d. 1731)
1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (d. 1763)
1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
1746 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish, Belarusian-Lithuanian, and American national hero (d. 1817)
1778 – A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (d. 1841)
1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese writer (d. 1854)
1808 – Josef Kajetán Tyl, Czech playwright, author of the Czech national anthem(d. 1856)
1831 – Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
1846 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (d. 1915)
1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet (d. 1921)
1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet (d. 1926)
1859 – Timofei Mikhailov, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya (d. 1881)
1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic (d. 1925)
1872 – Gotse Delchev, a great Macedonian revolutionary, (d. 1903)
1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (d. 1905)
1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (d. 1953)
1877 – Eddie Cochems, Father of the Forward Pass in American football (d. 1953)
1881 – Fernand Léger, French painter (d. 1955)
1891 – Madabhushi Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, Speaker of Lok Sabha (d. 1978).
1892 – Andreu Nin, Catalan politician (d. 1937)
1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (d. 1964)
1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
1896 – Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (d. 1938)
1896 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist (d. 1997)
1897 – Ludwig Erhard, 2nd Bundeskanzler of Germany (d. 1977)
1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and lyricist (d. 1977)
1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot (d. 1974)
1902 – Hartley Shawcross, British lawyer and politician (d. 2003)
1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (d. 1977)
1905 – Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (d. 1986)
1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (d. 1945)
1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (d. 1997)
1908 – Julian Bell, British poet (d. 1937)
1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian politician (d. 1999)
1912 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian conductor (d. 1993)
1912 – Byron Nelson, American golfer (d. 2006)
1912 – Louis-Albert Cardinal Vachon, archbishop of Quebec (d. 2006)
1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
1914 – Alfred Andersch, German writer (d. 1980)
1915 – Ray Evans, American songwriter with Jay Livingston (d. 2007)
1915 – William Talman, American actor (d. 1968)
1915 – Norman Wisdom, English actor and comedian
1917 – Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
1918 – Ida Lupino, English film actress and director (d. 1995)
1918 – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher (d. 1991)
1918 – Janet Waldo, American actress
1921 – Betty Friedan, American feminist (d. 2006)
1921 – Lotfi Asker Zadeh, American-Iranian/Russian mathematician and computer scientist and the father of fuzzy logic.
1922 – Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Indian Classical Singer
1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-born actor
1925 – Russell Hoban, American writer
1929 – Jerry Adler, American actor
1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón, third wife of Argentine president Juan Perón
1935 – Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (d. 1989)
1936 – David Brenner, American comedian
1936 – Gary Conway, American actor
1937 – David Newman, American filmmaker (d. 2003)
1940 – George Romero, American director, screenwriter and producer
1940 – John Schuck, American actor
1941 – John Steel, British musician (The Animals)
1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese president of the regional government of Madeira
1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist
1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer (The Fifth Dimension)
1947 – Dan Quayle, 44th Vice President of the United States
1948 – Alice Cooper, American musician
1949 – Michael Beck, American actor
1950 – Pamela Franklin, British actress
1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
1951 – Phil Ehart, American musician (Kansas)
1951 – Dariush Eghbali, Iranian singer and musician
1951 – Stan Papi, American baseball player
1952 – Lisa Eichhorn, American actress
1952 – Jerry Shirley, drummer of rock band Humble Pie.
1952 – Li Yinhe, Chinese sexologist
1953 – Kitaro, Japanese composer
1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak Prime minister
1957 – Don Davis, American composer
1957 – Evan Wolfson, American attorney and activist
1958 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer
1959 – Pamelyn Ferdin, American actress
1959 – Lawrence Taylor, American football player.
1960 – Tim Booth, British singer (James)
1960 – Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish author (d. 2007)
1960 – Jenette Goldstein, American actress
1960 – Jonathan Larson, American composer (d. 1996)
1961 – Stewart O'Nan, American author
1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player
1962 – Clint Black, American musician
1962 – Michael Riley, Canadian actor
1962 – Alfred Twardecki, Polish historian
1963 – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
1964 – Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring)
1965 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
1966 – Kyōko Koizumi, Japanese actress and singer
1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
1968 – Marko Matvere, Estonian actor
1969 – Duncan Coutts, Canadian bassist (Our Lady Peace)
1969 – Dallas Drake, ice hockey player
1969 – Brandy Ledford, American actress and model
1970 – Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor and comedian
1971 – Michael A. Goorjian, American actor
1972 – Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
1973 – Oscar de la Hoya, Mexican-born boxer
1973 – Manny Legacé, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
1974 – Eric Townsend, American musician and record producer
1974 – Mijntje Donners, Dutch hockey international
1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician and actress
1975 – Konstantinos Nebegleras, Greek footballer
1976 – Cam'ron, American rapper
1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American musician
1977 – Mitra Hajjar, Iranian actress
1978 – Danna Garcia, Colombian actress
1979 – Andrei Arlovski, Belarussian mixed martial artist
1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing car driver
1981 – Ben Hendrickson, American baseball player
1981 – Jason Kapono, America professional basketball player
1981 – Tom Mastny, Indonesian baseball player
1981 – Johan Van Summeren, Belgian cyclist
1982 – Chris Sabin, American professional wrestler
1982 – Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist
1982 – Kimberly Wyatt, American singer and dancer (Pussycat Dolls)
1983 – Jarrad Waite, Australian rules footballer
1984 – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
1985 – Bug Hall, American actor
1986 – Mohammad Mahmudullah, Bangladeshi cricketer
1987 – Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player
1988 – Eoin McDowell, Irish rugby player
1988 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast

[edit] Deaths
211 – Septimius Severus, Emperor of Rome (b. 146)
708 – Pope Sisinnius
856 – Rabanus Maurus, Bishop of Mainz (b. c. 780)
869 – Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs (b. 827)
1508 – Conrad Celtes, German humanist scholar (b. 1459)
1590 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (b. 1517)
1615 – Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)
1615 – Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian scholar, polymath and child prodigy (b. 1535)
1617 – Louis Elsevier, Dutch publisher (b. 1546)
1694 – Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of Russia (b. 1651)
1713 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (b. 1671)
1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
1799 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (b. 1728)
1781 – Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b. 1737)
1894 – Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker (b. 1814)
1912 – Franz Reichelt, Austrian Tailor/Inventor (b. 1800's)
1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor (b. 1841)
1928 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1853)
1933 – Archibald Sayce, English educator (b. 1846)
1936 – Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi party (b. 1895)
1940 – Nikolai Yezhov, Head of Soviet NKVD (b. 1895)
1943 – Frank Calder, the first NHL President (b. 1877)
1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1867)
1944 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (b. 1872)
1958 – Henry Kuttner, American author (b. 1915)
1959 – Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)
1966 – Gilbert H. Grosvenor, American president of the National Geographic Society (b. 1875)
1967 – Albert Orsborn, 6th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1886)
1968 – Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)
1974 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1894)
1975 – Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)
1975 – Howard Hill, American archer (b. 1899)
1977 – Brett Halliday, American writer (b. 1904)
1982 – Alex Harvey, Scottish musician (b. 1935)
1982 – Georg Konrad Morgen, German judge (b. 1909)
1983 – Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters) (b. 1950)
1987 – Meena Keshwar Kamal, Afghan feminist and founder of RAWA (b. 1956)
1987 – Liberace, American musician (b. 1919)
1987 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist (b. 1902)
1990 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1917)
1992 – Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish model (b. 1911)
1994 – Fred De Bruyne, Belgian cyclist (b. 1930)
1995 – Godfrey Brown, British athlete and teacher (b. 1915)
1995 – Patricia Highsmith, American author (b. 1921)
2000 – Carl Albert, American politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
2000 – Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (b. 1941)
2000 – Phil Tonken, American radio and television announcer (b. 1919)
2001 – J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer (b. 1924)
2001 – Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (b. 1928)
2001 – Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer and architect (b. 1922)
2002 – George Nader, American film and television actor (b. 1921)
2003 – Charlie Biddle, Canadian jazz bassist (b. 1926)
2003 – Benyoucef Ben Khedda, Algerian politician (b. 1920)
2003 – André Noyelle, Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
2005 – Ossie Davis, American actor, activist (b. 1917)
2006 – Betty Friedan, American feminist (b. 1921)
2006 – Myron Waldman, American animator (b. 1908)
2007 – Steve Barber, American baseball pitcher (b. 1938)
2007 – José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian World Cup footballer (b. 1925)
2007 – Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian poet and translator (b. 1959)
2007 – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934)
2007 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-born American abstract painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
2008 – Stefan Meller, Polish foreign minister (b. 1942)
2009 – Lux Interior, Frontman of the garage rock band The Cramps (b. 1946)

If you have made it this far, suffice it to say that I was born on that date somewhere between Ceylon's independance and the 60,000th nautical mile of the Nautilus.