Kindergarten Day celebrates birthday of Friedrich Froebe who was born in 1782 and started the first kindergarten in 1837, in Germany.
Despite being popular in Germany, the Prussian government outlawed the schools in 1851. Froebe died a year later and it wasn't until 1860 that the Prussians relented and allowed the schools to continue. 1873 saw the first public kindergarten opened in the United States, in St Louis.
Word of the Day
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| Definition: | (adjective) Excessively ornate or complex in style or language. | ||
| Synonyms: | bombastic, declamatory, orotund, tumid, large | ||
| Usage: | Growing impatient with the politician's turgid prose, she turned off her television. | ||
History
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 | The eldest of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature, Charlotte Brontë is best known for penning Jane Eyre, the story of a governess who falls passionately in love with her employer. Ranked among the great English novels, it addresses women's need for both love and independence. Considered the most professional of the sisters, Charlotte endeavored to achieve financial success from the family's literary efforts. | ||
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| Scientists have finally managed to discover how the octopus manages to coordinate all its eight arms and move without tangling them. The researchers discovered the answer to this mystery by performing a kinematic analysis of the arm coordination. | |||
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1856 - The Mississippi River was crossed by a rail train for the first time (between Davenport, IA, and Rock Island, IL).
1862 - The U.S. Congress established the U.S. Mint in Denver, CO.
1956 - Leonard Ross, age 10, became the youngest prizewinner on the "The Big Surprise". He won $100,000.
1972 - Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the surface of the moon.
1977 - "Annie" opened on Broadway.
1984 - In France, it was announced that doctors had found virus believed to cause AIDS.
1986 - Geraldo Rivera opened a vault that belonged to Al Capone at the Lexington Hotel in Chicago. Nothing of interest was found inside.
1994 - Jackie Parker became the first woman to qualify to fly an F-16 combat plane.
2000 - North Carolina researchers announced that the heart of a 66 million-year-old dinosaur was more like a mammal or bird than that of a reptile.
If You Were Born Today, April 21
One of your strongest qualities is your resourcefulness. You are excellent at assessing what works and what doesn't, and you easily come up with a solid approach. You can be impatient at times in your drive to succeed. Your tastes are refined and pronounced. In love, you can have a dual personality - warm and sensitive one day, and distant the next. Famous people born today: Jessica Lange, Tito Puente, Carmen Electra, Ryan O'Neal, Luther Vandross
The Brightest Smile in Town
Photograph by Gregor Pirih, National Geographic
A street performer and a picture of Ray Charles meet in a window in the small town of Nova Gorica in western Slovenia, home of Gregor Pirih, who came upon this scene while taking a walk. Pirih stopped and listened for a while before taking out his camera and hunting for the serendipitous angle captured here. He then waited to include a passing woman. “I wanted to have a good street atmosphere [in] my photo,” he writes. “I fired off a few frames, and I knew immediately that I just took the photograph I was hoping for.”
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Flower and stem pattern
Tested and photo by Ellie
Cast on 41st. Work 6 rows Border.
1. B4 [K3, yo, skpo, K6]3t, B4
2 & alt rows. B4, P33, B4
3. B4 [K4, yo, skpo, K5]3t, B4
5. B4 [K5, yo, skpo, K4]3t, B4
7. B4 [K3, K2tog, yo, K1, yo, skpo, K3]3t, B4
9. B4 [K2, K2tog, yo, K3, yo, skpo, K2]3t, B4
11. B4 [K3, K2tog, yo, K1, yo, skpo, K3]3t, B4
13. B4 [K2, K2tog, yo, K3, yo, skpo, K2]3t, B4
15. B4 [K4, yo, sl1, K2tog, psso, yo, K4]3t, B4
17. B4, [K9, yo, skpo]2t, K11, B4
19. B4, K10, yo, skpo, K9, yo, skpo, K10, B4
21. B4, K11 [yo, skpo, K9]2t, B4
23. B4, K9, [K2tog, yo, K1, yo, skpo, K6]2t, K2, B4
25. B4, K8 [K2tog, yo, K3, yo, skpo, K4]2t, K3, B4
27. B4, K9 [K2tog, yo, K1, yo, skpo, K6]2t, K2, B4
29. B4, K8 [K2tog, yo, K3, yo, skpo, K4]2t, K3, B4
31. B4, K10 [yo, sl1, K2tog, psso, yo, K8]2t, K1, B4
32. B4, P33, B4
33 – 48. Work rows 1 – 16.
Work 6 rows Border. Cast off.
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sleep mask ... GrittyKnits.com - BLOG
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Hungry Baby Doll - Knitted Pattern
This hungry baby knitting pattern is adorable and the baby even has his bottle with him.
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Tree Cozy & Nest pattern by Genevra Lee
I was inspired by the birds and their babies fluttering around in my trees and decided to join in the fun by creating a nest for some knitted critters.
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crochet, vintage
crochet
crochet
crochet
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RECIPE
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CROCKPOT RECIPE
stephanie o'dea
Original Cracker Jacks made in the CrockPot Recipe
I muttered "I could make that" as I narrated the ingredients list for cracker jacks. That's all it took for Adam and the kids to pop up and run off to the store, stopping at my parents to pick up an air popped popcorn machine.
I love how my parents keep everything so I don't have to.
The Ingredients.
--an air popped popcorn machine (or you could do the brown bag method--do not add the oil or salt. I forgot about the brown bag method last week, but it would work if you don't have access to a popcorn machine.)
--1 cup brown sugar
--2T molasses
--4T butter
--1/2 cup light corn syrup
--1-2 cups peanuts
--1 t kosher salt
--1 cup popcorn kernels
--parchment paper or Release foil
The Directions.
--put the sugar, corn syrup, molasses, and butter into your crockpot and set on high.
--pop the corn.
and then some more because your kids will eat it all.
and then some more because your kids will eat it all.
Get out a few mixing bowls in preparation for the popcorn coating. Spread out a bunch of Release foil or parchment paper on your counter top or the floor so the popcorn will have room to cool and dry. I used the floor.
You are melting and heating the corn syrup mixture until everything is hot and bubbly. This will take 1-3 hours, depending upon the size of your crockpot and your altitude. Check on your concoction after 45 minutes, and every 15 min thereafter. The EHow article said to use a candy thermometer and that it is done at 250 degrees---I don't like candy thermometers, so eyeballed it.
When the candy coating looks hot, bubbly and everything is completely melted, mix in your popcorn and peanuts. If you don't have a big enough crockpot for everything to fit in nicely, put the popcorn in a large mixing bowl and carefully ladle the hot syrup over the top and mix with wooden spoons. You may need to do a couple of batches.
It is okay if it doesn't look "perfect"--this is just for fun!
Spread the popcorn on the Release foil or parchment paper and sprinkle with the Kosher salt. Taste--depending on how salty your peanuts were, you may need less or more salt.
The Verdict.
We ate so much of this that we didn't eat any dinner! It was very, very good. And very, very sticky. We weren't smart enough to seal it up in an airtight container overnight, so it went all stale and funky over night - the exact same way the real cracker jacks does!
CRAFT
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Cocktail Napkins into Coasters
As I sit here working on my posts for the week, I feel so much gratitude to Lara for basically doing the hard work for me. Her Map Memory Coasters post is t...
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Preview by Yahoo
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CHILDREN'S CORNER .. craft
Homemade Microwave Puffy Paint
happiness is homemade
DIY paint that puffs up in the microwave?
We started with one cup of flour and mixed in 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and enough water to make it the consistency of pancake batter. We divided our mix into four parts and put them into snack size Ziploc baggies along with some food coloring. Part of the fun was squishing it all around to mix up the colors!
Rubber band the baggies like you would if you were icing a cake and snip off the teeniest little bit of the tip.
Paint away! When you’re finished, pop the painting into the microwave for 30-45 seconds and watch the paint puff up and grow – such fun! I loved that it was completely dry out of the microwave so we didn't have to worry about any extra messes or accidents as our pile of paintings grew.
We made about ten paintings this morning, and we still have plenty of paint leftover. Nothing beats cheap entertainment, especially with some fine motor skills practice and a built-in kitchen science lesson!
QUOTE
BARRY WHITE FOR PINK FLAMINGOS
When Drusillas Zoo Park in Sussex, England was having trouble getting their Chilean Flamingos to mate the zookeepers hatched a plan: Playing Barry White music at night.
Their seemingly silly plan resulted in the first flamingo chick the zoo had in three years!
Their seemingly silly plan resulted in the first flamingo chick the zoo had in three years!
'where's the bathroom?' in Spanish - ¿Dónde están los aseos
CLEVER
EYE OPENER
THE ALPHABET SONG IS BASED ON A TUNE BY MOZART
today i found out
The English “alphabet song”, also known as “The A.B.C.”, is based on a tune by Mozart, which in turn is based on a French tune, “Ah, vous dirai-je, maman” (“Ah! Would I tell you, mother?”), which popped up in 1761. A couple decades later, Mozart used this tune in his Twelve Variations on Ah, vous dirai-je, maman.
This same tune is also used as the basis for such children’s songs as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. In non-English tunes, such songs as the German Christmas carol Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann and the Hungarian Christmas carolHull a pelyhes fehér hó also use this same tune.
Around a half a century after Mozart composed his Twelve Variations on Ah, vous dirai-je, maman an American music publisher named Charles Bradlee adapted the tune to fit with the English alphabet “lyrics” and copyrighted his “The A.B.C., a German air with variations for the flute with an easy accompaniment for the piano forte” song in 1835.
As you may or may not know, outside of North America, classically “z” is often pronounced “zed” rather than “zee”. This has created something of a problem as the pronunciation of “z” as “zee” has started to spread, much to the chagrin of elementary school teachers the English speaking world over. This has resulted in them often having to re-teach children the “correct” pronunciation of “z” as “zed”, with the children having previously learned the song and the letter the American English way from such shows as Sesame Street.
Naturally, kids are often resistant to this change owing to the fact that “tee, u, vee, w, x, y and zed, Now I know my A-B-Cs, Next time won’t you sing with me” just doesn’t quite sound as cohesive as “tee/vee/zee/me”.
Because of the problem at the end of the alphabet song with “zed” not really fitting, a variety of other endings have been created to accommodate this, such as this one: tu-v, w-x, y and z[ed], Sugar on your bread, Eat it all up, Before you are dead.
Only here would Froebe and Bronte and Marilyn rub elbows!
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