That’s Why Ms. SE’s Sink Won’t Drain! (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, BeThere2Day, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by David M. Gascoigne and will appear on Elephant's Child's blog.  

This week's prompts are:

 

1. Decent 
2. Necklace
3. Ecosystem
4. Money
5. Ground

 

 And/or

1. Armed
2. Way
3. Lodge
4. Willing
5. Guardians

An additional prompt from Charlotte (MotherOwl) is to include Bright Red Orange in your take on the prompts.

"Whom the gods would make mad, do they first send to a lavish party without a DECENT night's sleep the evening before?"

Cici had to work the clasp twice to get her NECKLACE to stay on, and frowned at the Bright Red Orange lipstick her friend had talked her into buying, opting for this occasion to stick to her more usual color palette.

It's not that she wasn't WILLING to participate in raising MONEY for the organization, it was the WAY they went about it.  The fragile ECOSYSTEM needed protecting, but these fancy fundraiser evenings wore on her last nerve.

Some of the wealthier patrons who considered themselves the GUARDIANS of making sure everything was done properly insisted the event had to be at the LODGE, as if it were sacred GROUND.  They'd all be ARMED with condescension toward those who hadn't raised quite as much as they did or bid as much in the silent auction, in a "tut, tut, you tried your best" sort of way, of course.

She knew she could stand it for one night, since she wouldn't have to interact with them again for quite a while, but jeepers, it would be much easier if she'd slept better the night before, and she hoped she could muster the strength to hold her tongue and keep her eyes open during the speeches.

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Today is:

Donate a Days Wages to Charity Day 2024  

Fête de l'iris -- Belgium (Brussels Region Day)

Iris Day -- celebrate these beautiful spring flowers

Liberation Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

Mata Tirtha Aunsi -- Nepal (Mother's Day, or literally "Mother Pilgrimage New Moon")

Miguel Hidalgo Day -- Mexico (birth anniversary of the father of Mexican independence)

National Animal Disaster Preparedness Day -- US (FEMA wants you to make plans for your pets in case of disaster or emergency)

National Coconut Cream Pie Day

National Empanada Day

National Nightshift Workers Day/Third Shift Workers Day -- US (remembering those intrepid souls who keep things running smoothly through the night)

National Receptionist Day -- US (because that first impression is important; National Receptionists Association)

National School Nurse Day -- US (the school nurse is there to help!)  

National Student Nurses Day -- US

National Walk, Bike or Roll to School Day -- US (encouraging kids to have fun, get their exercise, and get to school under their own steam by walking, biking or rolling their wheelchair to school under supervision as part of an event) 

No Socks Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, who want you to let your toes go free, and cut down on your laundry a bit today

Occupational Safety and Health Professionals Day -- US   

Parents' Day -- South Korea

St. Ida of Nivelles' Day (Patron of erysipelas patients, toothache sufferers; against erysipelas and toothache)

Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War -- International

Truman Day -- Missouri, US

V-E Day -- some countries celebrate today, some celebrate tomorrow

World Ovarian Cancer Day -- International (because while up to 89% of women with breast cancer are likely to survive 5 years or more, only 45% of women who get ovarian cancer will survive that long) 

World Red Cross Day / World Red Crescent Day

Birthdays Today:

Enrique Iglesias, 1975

Robert M. Hensel, 1969

Melissa Gilbert, 1964

Janet McTeer, 1961

David Keith, 1954

Toni Tennille, 1943

Peter Benchley, 1940

Rick Nelson, 1940

Thomas Pynchon, 1937

Charles “Sonny” Liston, 1932

Don Rickles, 1926

David Attenborough, 1926

Robert Johnson, 1911

Bishop Fulton Sheen, 1895

Harry S Truman, 1884

Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 1829

Jean-Henri Dunant, 1828

Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla, 1753

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Let It Be"(Album), 1970

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"(Musical), 1962

"Look Back in Anger"(Play), 1959

Concerto in E-flat, "Dumbarton Oaks"(Stravinsky concerto), 1938

Today in History:

Hernando de Soto  reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo, 1541

Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, is tried and guillotined by the Reign of Terror, 1794

Future US president Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the Mexican-American war, 1846

At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens, 1877

George B. Selden files the first patent for an automobile in the US, 1879

Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine, 1886

In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people, 1902

In Rheims, France, German forces agree to an unconditional surrender, ending the war in Europe, 1945

The rollercoaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain, 1976

Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler make the first ascent of Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen, 1978

The World Health Organization announces the eradication of smallpox, 1980

The new Canadian War Museum opens, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of V-E Day, 2005

The last piece of Yankee Stadium falls in the Bronx, New York, marking the end of the two year demolition process, 2010

The world's oldest astrolabe (mariner's navigator tool) c. 1498 from Portugeuese shipwreck of explorer Vasco da Gama is found near Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman, 2015

The largest-ever wave at 23.8m is recorded in the Southern Hemisphere at Campbell Island by New Zealand scientists, 2018

Eleven-year-old Brazilian skateboarder Gui Khury sets a world record by performing a 180-degree turn on a vertical ramp, 2020

British actor Ncuti Gatwa is named as the first black actor to play Doctor Who (as the fourteenth doctor), 2022

Dutch runner Jo Schoonbroodt, age 71, breaks Canadian Ed Whitlock's 2004 record for fastest the marathon by person over 70 by 29 seconds (2:54:19), 2022

Coming and Going and Happiness, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

Carl's new schedule has him so he doesn't know if he's coming or going.

He's generally awake when i arrive, but doesn't want to be, he always says he wants to go back to sleep in his chair for a while.  I encourage him to grab a pillow and go nap for a half hour in the sleep chair and he generally gets as far as grabbing the pillow and taking it out there, but then he wanders back into the room.

This time, when he came back in, i asked him about the clothes on the counter.  This pile, he was certain, was clean.  That pile brought one of his famous, "ummm" responses, which means rewash them all.

And the laundry room also has him confused.  The stuff in the washer was sopping, so the cycle didn't finish, and the clothes hanging out of the top were dry.  The dryer was full of damp clothes and he keeps buying more of the dryer balls a d forgetting to out them in.

It all got done again, of course.

As i was gathering the first load, he decided it was shower time, so i steered him in with clothes and told him not to come out without underwear.  It's a warning i have to give him every time.

It's not that i'm upset when he happens to walk out of the bathroom in the altogether, it's that i believe the people in the group home he'll be moving to when a space opens will mind and it's better if he learns now.

Once showered (and dressed), it was time to lie down...for all of three minutes.  It seems his mind is willing, but his body is awake, thanks to his original schedule.  When he popped back up, i tied his apron around him to keep the clothes clean, he brushed his teeth for the third time, and went to have breakfast.

By the time i got him there to start packing his lunch, he'd ditched the apron.  I found it and got him in it again, this happened twice, and one time he'd taken off his and put on his mom's.  I made him put his own back on.  Then he started telling me about his weekend.

"We had fun Friday...what did I do Saturday?  Um, well I wanted to see (mumble mumble), but I didn't, and...what did I do?"

Mostly when he talks, I just nod like a bobblehead and continue with what I'm doing, throwing in a question or a comment on those things where i can follow his train of thought.  

As i started sorting the stuff in the room, i thought he didn't have a bag in the garbage can.  He did, but he'd lost the "binder clips" we use to hold the bag up.

Binder clips, useful and elusive.

His mom, Ms. V, keeps tons of them around and he's always using them and losing them.  Where they go is anyone's guess.

After packing his lunch -- sandwich, cheese stick, grapes, fruit cup, carrot sticks, small bag of peanuts, and a couple of candies because he won't give up sweets, i found another bag of peanuts, already open, under the receipts on his counter.

You never know where you'll find the food in his room, but it keeps me on my toes.

Speaking of toes, every pair of shoes was out of the closet and all over the place.  Sometimes some of them get lost, in his car, in the rest of the house, or in parts unknown.

This time, i found them all and they all had mates.  Happiness is all the shoes matched up.

Have a blessed and beautiful Tuesday, everyone!

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Today is:

Beaufort Wind Force Scale Day -- birth anniversary of the British Navy officer whose wind scale, in refined form

Box Camera Day -- George Eastman patented the Box Camera on this day in 1888

Day of the Soldier -- El Salvador 

Experience the Awesome Stomach-Churning Wonder of a Thrill Ride Day -- internet generated, and they can have it!

Feast of St. Nicola -- Bari, Italy (celebrates the moving of the relics of St. Nicholas -- yes, later Santa Claus -- to this town, where they still are; here he is patron of orphans and pirates, and the date of his body's arrival is celebrated as a huge three-day festival with fireworks included)

Fire Escape Ladder Day -- Joseph Winters patented a wagon-mounted version on this day in 1878

Give Local America -- US (encouraging people to support local charities with the largest crowdfuning event in history)   

Hamburg Harbor Day -- Hamburg, Germany (founding of the city)

Homeland Defender's Day -- Kazakhstan

Homespun History Day -- internet holiday often exploited by Modern Drunkard Magazine as a day upon which to drink specifically so the stories will sound better

National Barrier Awareness Day -- US (declared by Presidential Proclamation in 1986)    

National Roast Leg of Lamb Day

National Teacher Appreciation Day -- US

Nones of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Radio Day -- Bulgaria; Russia

St. Domitian of Huy's Day (Patron of Huy Liege, Belgium; against fever)

World Asthma Day -- International (Global Initiative for Asthma; this year's theme is "Asthma Education Empowers") 

Yom HaShoah -- Judaism (Holocaust Remembrance Day; began sunset yesterday, ends at sunset today)

Anniversaries Today:

Founding of Univerzita Karlova in Prague, the first university in Central Europe, 1348

Birthdays Today:

Owen Hart, 1965

Peter Reckell, 1955

Amy Heckerling, 1954

Tim Russert, 1950

Johnny Unitas, 1933

Teresa Brewer, 1931

Darren McGavin, 1922

Eva Peron, 1919

Gary Cooper, 1901

Archibald Macleish, 1892

Gabby Hayes, 1885

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1840

Johannes Brahms, 1833

Robert Browning, 1812

Francis Beaufort, 1774

David Hume, 1711

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Strike It Rich"(TV), 1951

Choral Symphony in D Minor(Beethoven's Ninth), 1824

Today in History:

The dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople collapses, 558

Joan of Arc leads the final charge in the Battle of Orleans, 1429

Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles, 1664

The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, 1718

Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia, 1727

Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit, 1763

The independence of Greece is recognized by the Treaty of London, 1832

George Eastman patents the "Kodak Box Camera," 1888

In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector — a primitive radio receiver, 1895

German submarine SM U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, 1915

England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21, 1928

Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees, 1946

The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress, 1948

The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer, 1952

Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits, 1986

The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, 1992

Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history, 1998

The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered, 2007

A new study reports that all Europeans are related to a small group of ancestors dating back only 1,000 years; researchers believe it's likely that everyone in the world is related over the past few thousand years, 2013

Underwater explorers discover a silver ingot of Captain William Kidd's treasure near Madagascar, 2015

Global tourism accounts for 8% of the world's carbon emissions according to a University of Sydney study, 2018

Berklee College of Music bestows honorary doctorates to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr; bassist Chuck Rainey; composer James Newton Howard; and R&B singer Lalah Hathaway, 2022