A day for those of us who feel like we’re tasked with the impossible, Cat Herders Day recognises the frustration of trying to manage the unmanageable. Whether it’s work, home, school or other areas of life, if it feels like herding cats, today’s your day.
Word of the Day
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| Definition: | (adjective) Playfully jocular; humorous. | ||
| Synonyms: | bantering, tongue-in-cheek | ||
| Usage: | She was quite gullible and could never tell when his remarks were facetious or when he was being serious. | ||
History
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 | Miller was an American swing-era jazz musician and bandleader and one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942. A freelance musician in New York City, Miller formed his own big band in 1938, earning fame for songs like "Moonlight Serenade." During WWII, he joined the military and entertained the troops as leader of the US Air Force band. While flying from England to Paris, his plane disappeared over the English Channel. Miller was never found | ||
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 | Eiffel was a French engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower as the entrance arch for the for the 1889 Paris Exhibition. Though it was supposed to be dismantled after the fair, the tower became a landmark and is today the world's most visited paid monument. Prior to this massive undertaking, Eiffel established his reputation by constructing a series of ambitious railway bridges, including the span across the Douro at Oporto, Portugal | ||
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 | The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution of 1787—referred to collectively as the Bill of Rights—were ratified on December 15, 1791. This landmark document protected American citizens from specific abuses by their government and guaranteed such basic rights as the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated December 15 as Bill of Rights Day and called upon Americans to observe it with appropriate patriotic ceremonies. | ||
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| A couple of drinks a day may lower the risk of premature death in people with early stage Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study. The study included just over 320 people in Denmark with early stage Alzheimer's disease | |||
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1654 - A meteorological office established in Tuscany began recording daily temperature readings.
1815 - Jane Austen's "Emma" was published.
1854 - In Philadelphia, the first street cleaning machine was put into use.
1877 - Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.
1938 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.
1939 - "Gone With the Wind," produced by David O. Selznick based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, premiered at Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta. The movie starred Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.
1964 - Canada's House of Commons approved a newly designed flag thereby dropping the Canadian "Red Ensign" flag.
DAILY SQU-EEK
If You Were Born Today, December 14
You are a spirited, sensitive, and intelligent person who has a true spirit for adventure, yet a down-to-earth side to you that is unmistakable. Enterprising and ambitious, you are also very versatile, sometimes to the point of leaving a trail of unfinished projects and endeavors behind you! You need to experiment and mix things up a little in order to feel like you are truly living. Intensely curious, you never stop learning. Because you are easily bored, there are times that you have the urge to stir up a bit of controversy just to get some sort of debate started. Others find you fascinating and multi-talented. Famous people born today: Patty Duke, Nostradamus, Margaret Chase Smith, Jane Burkin.
| Picture of the day | |
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The Gall–Peters projection, named after James Gall and Arno Peters, is a specialization of a configurable equal-area map projection known as the cylindrical equal-area projection. It achieved considerable notoriety in the late 20th century as the centerpiece of a controversy surrounding the political implications of map design; Peters promoted it as a more faithful representation than the Mercator projection, which inflates the sizes of regions farther from the equator and thus makes the (mostly technologically underdeveloped) equatorial countries appear smaller and therefore, according to Peters, less significant.
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A Cool Drink
Photograph by Milan Zygmunt, National Geographic
“I usually use this pond for taking pictures of birds,” writes Milan Zygmunt. “I didn’t expect the fox [would] come to drink.” Zygmunt takes his photos from a small hide in the bushes at this pond in the Zdarske Vrchy, a protected nature area in the Czech Republic.
knit, CHRISTMAS
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Heirloom Baby Cardigan in Imperial Yarn - F03 | Knitti...
Heirloom Baby Cardigan in Imperial Yarn - F03
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knit, CHRISTMAS
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Christmas Star pattern by DROPS design
DROPS Extra 0-1000
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knit
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Cardigan Cape in Debbie Bliss Milano | Knitting Patterns...
Cardigan Cape in Debbie Bliss Milano. Discover more Patterns by Debbie Bliss at LoveKnitting. We stock patterns, yarn, needles and books from all of your favorite b...
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knit, CHRISTMAS
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Tree cowl : Knitty.com - Winter 2015
Knitty is the longest-running free knitting magazine on the web. Enjoy our huge selection of free, quality knitting patterns and articles!
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thanks, heide
crochet, CHRISTMAS
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Christmas Tree Angel pattern by Grace McMahon
Here is a lovely little Angel for the top of your Christmas tree.
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crochet
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Harvest Button Napkin Ring pattern by Fiber Flux / Jenni...
The Harvest Button Napkin Rings are an easy way to add a handmade touch to the table. Crocheted with chunkier yarn, they are super fast and pretty to mak...
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crochet
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Stepping Texture Hat pattern by Bernat Design Studio
Highly textured, and also easy to complete, this Stepping Texture Hat is crocheted in Bernat Softee Chunky.
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crochet, CHRISTMAS
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Christmas Poinsettia Afghan pattern by Rosetta Harshman
Also available at Free-Crochet.com.
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RECIPE, CHRISTMAS
Prawns with avocado salsa
This easy to prepare prawn dish is a little more fun than your average Christmas prawn cocktail. These super-cute mini prawn cocktails are given a lift by a zesty avocado and tomato salsa.
salsa.
ingredients
- 24 medium cooked, shelled prawns
- Lemon or lime wedges, to serve
- 1 cup whole egg mayonnaise
- Finely grated zest of 1 lime
- Juice of half the lime
- 1 large (or 2 small) vine ripened tomato
- 2 slices red onion, finely chopped
- 1 avocado, peeled and finely chopped
- Juice of half the lime
method
- To prepare salsa, quarter tomato, scoop out seeds and dice finely.
- Combine tomato, onion, avocado and lime, stir well.
- Leave to stand for 30 minutes.
- To make the dressing, mix all ingredients together and spoon into 6 shot glasses.
- Place shot glasses on serving plates and pile four prawns on top of each other, wrapped around the shot glass.
- Pile some salsa onto the plate and serve with a lemon or lime wedge.
note
- Use lemon or lime wedges, and 1 large or 2 small vine ripened tomato.
CROCKPOT RECIPE, CHRISTMAS
Slow Cooker Chex Mix
Ingredients:
- 3 cups Corn Chex cereal
- 3 cups Rice Chex cereal
- 3 cups Wheat Chex cereal
- 3 cups Cheerios cereal
- 3 cups pretzel sticks
- 1 can mixed nuts
- 1 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions:
- Mix all three Chex cereals, Cheerios cereal, pretzel sticks, and mixed nuts in a 6-quart or larger slow cooker.
- Whisk together vegetable oil or butter, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt and garlic powder and pour over cereal mixture. Mix well.
- Cook uncovered on high for approximately 90 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Turn the slow cooker down to low and cook for an additional 20 minutes, again stirring frequently.
- Spread on a cookie sheet to cool.
The best part of this recipe is that you can customize the dry ingredients to please. Try swapping the Corn Chex for Bugles or the Wheat Chex for melba toasts. Prefer just cashews to mixed nuts -- go for it! The combinations are endless
CHILDREN'S CORNER ... CHRISTMAS cooking
Cheerios Christmas trees
These cute little Cheerios Christmas trees are great to make with the kids and they will love decorating them.
prep: 1:00 | cook 0:01
ingredients
- 3 cups marshmallows
- 3 tbsp butter
- Green food colouring
- 3 cups Cheerios
- Mini M&M's ( just the red and green ones)
- Jaffas
- Canola spray
method
- In a bowl, place the marshmallows and butter together and melt in the micowave on high for 40 seconds. Mix well with a spoon.
- Add green food colouring until you have the colour you like.
- Pour Cheerios into the marshmallow mix and stir well to coat. Leave to cool until the mixture becomes tacky. You may need to put it in the fridge if it is a warm day.
- Cover a tray with baking paper. Spray your hands with canola spray and shape the Cheerios mixture into cones and place on the tray.
- Remove and decorate with red and green M&M's and place a Jaffa on top. The trees will still be sticky enough for the decorations to adhere, but you may need to use a little icing to stick the Jaffa on. I used a tube of ready-made writing icing.
- Place in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up.
notes
- Little ones will need help with the microwave step of this recipe.
- These little trees are pale green in the picture as I used pink and white marshmallows to begin with and then I coloured them with blue food colouring to get the pale green colour.
- If this mixture seems a little too wet, cooling it in the freezer is a great way to firm it up.
- A light dusting of icing sugar will make it look like you have snow on your trees.
PUZZLE
QUOTE
INCREDIBLE 3D ART
I THINK WE ALL DOODLE DURING LONG LECTURES, CLASSES, AND MEETINGS. JODY STEEL DOES THE SAME, EXCEPT IT LOOKS AMAZING!
Jody Steel’s pen tattoos often look like she’s pulling away her own skin!
JODY STEELE IS LIVING IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS AND IS ATTENDING EMERSON COLLEGE.
Like a lot of people, she doodles during her lectures. One day her lecturer approached her with the intent of asking Jody to pay more attention. But it didn’t go as anybody expected…
When the lecturer noticed what was being scribbled on Jody’s leg the lecturer was so impressed she offered Jody a job illustrating a novel!
She posts a lot on social media, especially on Facebook where more than 11,000 people follow her page to see her new creations. They’re only getting more and more impressive!
SEE SOME OF HER AMAZING WORK BELOW.
They’re all made with pen but some are so realistic and well drawn you might confuse them for tattoos.
Jody Steel “Limitless”
Jody Steel
Jody Steel
Jody Steel
Jody Steel
Jody Steel
Jody Steel
"Welcome" in Karelian (Russia, Finland) - Tulguah terveh
CLEVER
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EYE OPENER
Twist-and-Weave Color Change
A technique to add in a new color without leaving holes or knots in your work
Knitting with different colors, whether stripes, stranded knitting or intarsia, is a lot of fun and a great way to bring personality to your knitting projects.
But it can be difficult to make your color changes look as neat as you would like. The edge stitches — especially when you first change to a new color — are often loose and sloppy looking, and it’s not something you can always fix to your satisfaction when weaving in ends.
It takes a little practice to do it, and it’s performed differently whether you’re knitting or purling and depending on how you hold your yarn, but it does give the color changes a crisp, even look and it’s a little faster to do than other methods of joining new yarn, so you might just start using it when changing yarn but not changing colors as well.
It’s a cool method that locks in the tails ends of the yarns, making the stitches firmer on the front of the work.
Definitely a cat herding day here! Good to know that there is a special day for it. Does that mean tomorrow will be different? December may be a cat herding month.
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