Everyone needs a little unstructured fun in their day, and Fun Day is perfect for having time dedicated to exactly that. In today’s high speed world with its constant pressure to go farther, get more done, be more productive, and climb in our career, having a little fun often goes by the wayside. The stress of this lifestyle has been shown to have a constant and growing negative effect on the overall health of people. Fun Day is a reminder to break the stressful line of day to day living, and to go out and have some Fun!
Having Fun is a proven way to make sure you have the opportunity to have more fun later, more often. Stress has negative effects on your immune system, making it easier to get sick, and making you stay sick longer. By going out and having Fun, you can reduce your stress level, and help bolster your immune system. For you workaholics out there, this means by slowing down and having fun, you’ll also have more days to work in by making sure you have less sick days, and who couldn’t use that?
Knowing that first impressions can’t be redone, Fun Day also reminds us that stress has a dramatic effect on our appearance. Skin becomes more sallow, acne outbreaks more frequent, and it becomes harder and harder to get rid of those bags under your eyes if you’re stressed all the time. After all, high stress levels lead to not sleeping as deeply or as long, with insomnia being a major side-effect of having stress, and nothing makes someone look and feel better than a good night’s rest!
Fun also gives you a major boost to your mood, every time you smile or laugh you get a boost of endorphins. Endorphins are one of those chemicals the body releases that makes you feel confident and satisfied with life in general. While you can get a similar effect by eating chocolate, just getting out and having a good time will boost your emotional state without increasing your waistline with it!
Fun also helps create bonds between people in a social environment, nothing brings people and loved ones together like having a good time. There is little in our lives that isn’t improved by having fun with a group, whether as part of a BBQ, a night out at the movies, or just getting together and kicking around a ball. If you find your life lacking in Fun, make it a priority to go out and participate things you enjoy that aren’t all centered on work.
We all want to live longer, and who can blame us? Well, if you’re looking for a great way to extend your life and improve your health, guess what’s a proven way to do that? Get out and have some fun, and try to keep your mind in a positive attitude. Doing so can add an additional 8 years to your life, just by making sure you keep your mind off of stressful things and getting out to have a little Fun now and then!
A life without Fun is one hardly worth living, so use Fun Day to get out and have a fantastic time. Get together with friends, get yourself to the movies or out on the Golf Course. All of these will lead to a longer, happier life for you and those you bring with you. Fun Day may only come once a year, but don’t let it be the only day of the year you have fun on!
Awesomeness of Nature, Grape Clusters of Wisteria,
thanks, Wren
Word of the Day
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| Definition: | (noun) The philosophy or science of law. | ||
| Synonyms: | legal philosophy, law | ||
| Usage: | Because he hoped to one day run for office, he decided to delve into the study of jurisprudence. | ||
Idiom of the Day
I see what you did there— An expression used to acknowledge that one understands a joke made by someone else, and to either show appreciation or a lack thereof for the wit employed. |
History
Apple Inc. Is Formed (1976)
Apple Computer, Inc., was the first successful personal computer company. The company has its roots in the Jobs family's garage, where co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak assembled the first Apple computer. Consisting of a handmade motherboard, the Apple I did not even include a monitor or keyboard. The Apple II, introduced the next year with a plastic case and color graphics, launched Apple to success. By 1980, Apple had earned more than $100 million.
Lon Chaney (1883)
| Chaney was an American silent-film actor. Born to parents who were both deaf and mute, he learned to express himself through pantomime at an early age. He moved to Hollywood in 1912 and became one of the biggest stars of the time, appearing in more than 150 silent films. Known as "the man of a thousand faces," he masterfully used makeup to play tortured, grotesque characters in horror films such as The Phantom of the Opera. |
April Fools' Day
| There are many names for this day, just as there are many practical jokes to play on the unsuspecting. The simplest pranks usually involve children who, for example, tell each other that their shoelaces are undone and then cry "April Fool!" when the victims glance at their feet. Sometimes the media broadcast fictitious news items; British television, for example, once showed Italian farmers "harvesting" spaghetti from trees. The French call it Fooling the April Fish Day (the fool being the poisson d'avril) and try to pin a paper fish on someone's back without getting caught. |
How This New Dinosaur Might Change the Face of Tyrannosaurs, Evolution
Before Tyrannosaurus rex terrorized Cretaceous North America, another frightful lizard ruled Montana. Some 75 million years ago, Daspletosaurus horneri, at nearly 30 feet long and over seven feet tall, dominated the landscape.READ MORE:
Sensitive T. rex? This new dino might change the face of tyrannosaurs, evolution
1578 - William Harvey of England discovered blood circulation.
1748 - The ruins of Pompeii were found.
1778 - Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, created the "$" symbol.
1789 - The U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House Speaker.
1853 - Cincinnati became the first U.S. city to pay fire fighters a regular salary.
1873 - Composer Sergei Vasilievitch Rachmaninov was born.
1891 - The William Wrigley Jr. Company was founded in Chicago, IL. The company is most known for its Juicy Fruit gum.
1927 - The first automatic record changer was introduced by His Master's Voice.
1929 - Louie Marx introduced the Yo-Yo.
1930 - Leo Hartnett of the Chicago Cubs broke the altitude record for a catch by catching a baseball dropped from the Goodyear blimp 800 feet over Los Angeles, CA.
1931 - Jackie Mitchell became the first female in professional baseball when she signed with the Chattanooga Baseball Club.
1938 - The Baseball Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, NY.
1946 - Weight Watchers was formed.
1952 - The Big Bang theory was proposed in "Physical Review" by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow.
1982 - The U.S. transferred the Canal Zone to Panama.
1987 - Steve Newman became the first man to walk around the world. The walk was 22,000 miles and took 4 years.
1997 - David Carradine received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999 - The Canadian territory of Nunavut was created. It was carved from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories and covered about 772,000 square miles.
READERS INFO
1. Top 10 facts about April
1. In the UK, April is National Pet Month and Bowel Cancer Awareness Month…
2. In the US, April is the Awareness Month for Mathematics, Stress and STD, and throughout the world it is Jazz Awareness Month.
3. “April is the cruellest month...” (opening line to TS Eliot’s The Waste Land)..
4. “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,” (opening line of George Orwell’s 1984).
5. ‘April’ was the 250th most common name for a baby girl in the UK in 2013. In the US it was 423rd.
6. According to a recent analysis, April showers more often than not do not bring May flowers.
7. According to the Oxford Dictionary an ‘April gentleman’ once meant ‘a foolish man; specifically a newly-married husband, considered as a fool.’
8. “Men are April when they woo, December when they wed,” (Shakespeare, As You Like It).
9. Four US Presidents were born and four died during the month of April; in the UK three prime ministers were born and three died in April.
10. No film with ‘April’ in its title, or actress named ‘April’ has won an Oscar but in 1994 April Ferry was nominated for Best Costume Design for ‘Maverick’.
birthstone:
flower: Sweet Pea
2. APRIL FOOLS' DAY - April 1
April Fools' Day is celebrated every year on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes expose their prank by shouting April Fool. Some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in small letters.
3.
EMERGING, MID-CAREER AND ESTABLISHED ARTISTS
Call for Submissions - Deadline: June 1, 2017
Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography is a non-profit artist-run center committed to photography as a multi-faceted and ever-changing art form, offering a unique platform for reflection and dialogue on contemporary photography and its related practices. We encourage exhibition proposals from local, national and international artists at all stages of their careers who are innovative in their use of materials and approach to photography.
Guidelines: Emerging, Mid-Career and Established Artists
for further information:
401 Richmond Street West Suite #120, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 --- 416.979.3941 --- info@gallery44.org
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6.
The Bizarre Bazaar
Mar 31 - Apr 2, 2017
Richmond International Raceway
600 East Laburnum Ave
Richmond, VA
You’ve never been a holiday shopping spree until you’ve raced through the magical Bizarre Bazaar in Richmond, Virginia. Without having to shoulder through the mindless horde at the shopping mall, you’ll have access to a marketplace that’s filled to the brim with seasonal gifts, children’s toys, unique artwork, designer clothing and many other must-have items. In other words, you’ll be able to tackle a big chunk of that shopping list if not all of it.
further information: The Bizarre Bazaar® | Richmond Virginia\'s Unique Holiday Gift and Craft Show
7.
Corpus Christi Festival of the Arts
Mar 31 - Apr 2, 2017
Historic Heritage Park
1521 N Chaparral St
Corpus Christi, TX
Proclaimed the jewel of the South Texas coastline, this festival is bustling with local and national talent in the arts. Sure, you can splatter paint on a white board, film yourself acting stupid with an iPhone or Superman that ho and call it art, but these artists put a little more time into their creative endeavors. You’ll find stunning work in paintings, sculptures, film, music, dance and more at this festival.
further information: Welcome to Festival of the Arts - Corpus Christi Texas -
8.
Vintage Market Days
Mar 31 - Apr 2, 2017
Rankin County Multipurpose Pavilion649 Marquette Rd
Brandon, MS
Vintage Market Days is THE place to find original art, antiques, vintage clothing, handmade treasures, seasonal plantings and baked goods in Central Denver. Held several times a year in various communities, this three-day event is an opportunity to discover and support the talents, treasures and passions of local vendors.
9.
For each answer you get right, Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger
The Jabberwock, the titular creature of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem "Jabberwocky". First included in Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871), the poem was illustrated by John Tenniel, who gave the creature "the leathery wings of a pterodactyl and the long scaly neck and tail of a sauropod". "Jabberwocky" is considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in English, and has contributed such nonsense words and neologisms as galumphing and chortle to the English lexicon.
WHAT THE UNDERGROUND
OF A GAS STATION LOOKS LIKE!
 |
A picture of a gas station under construction in
Greenville, Texas
American artist Craig Alan creates unique portraits of pop-culture icons using people as pixels. (Part 1)
thanks, Patty
Westwind pattern by Antje Litzmann
knit
thanks, Emily
Crutches Bag
knit
knit
Nibble nibble, hop hop
crochet
crochet
thanks, Rosa
crochet
thanks, June
crochet
thanks, Doris
thanks, Carol
thanks, Shelley
Stuffed Strawberries Recipe
CRAFTS
String Art: Gifts Kids Can Make
Snow Chairs Jigsaw Puzzle
| affable bonnet cabaret callous canter cheater chipmunk claimant | collapse contrive coolness creature criminal daffodil deface delusion derelict | disagree dividend dominion downcast dullness electron emerge encroach entangle evade | gaudy indeed indicate label mediocre minion | newspaper nostalgia objective oscillate pachyderm thee |
Craig Alan
QUOTE
thanks, Shelley
thanks, Patty
BEST WAYS TO JOIN BLANKET SQUARES TOGETHER
I wanted to share a few ideas for joining the squares into a blanket. People ask me all the time about what techniques work best. I’ve got several methods, so I’ll show you each one. None of these is hard. Personal preference is really what it’s all about.
At Your Desktop
I use a Swingline 500-capacity office stapler, mostly because a heavy-duty staple gun is too powerful. You don’t want the staples to blast through the yarn, and you don’t want those heavy staples that affect the drape of the fabric.
What you do:
Position your squares with front sides facing, so that the staples will be hidden on the back of your blanket. It’s like mattress stitch, only a heck of a lot faster. What’s great here is that you can do a bunch of this during break at work.
I like the textured effect the staples give. Kind of like quilting.
Duct Tape
I know a lot of people do this already, and there’s a reason why–this goes faster than a stack of Thin Mints on a Friday night watching a boxed set of Colin Firth movies!
Lord knows there are enough decorative duct tapes out there that you can find pretty much any color you need to coordinate duct tape with your blanket’s shade of Noro Silk Garden.
What you do:
I went with silver because it looks so cool. And this stuff is the real deal–my contractor left it in the basement after fixing our insulation, and I kind of like that whole reduce/recycle/reuse vibe coming off this. Didn’t cost a penny! (Except for that insulation job, I mean.)
This isn’t exactly rocket science if you’re all literal about it and just slap tape down. Do be tidy in your cuts–a wonky edge really shows up with this stuff.
There’s no end of art to this once you start playing around with pleats and herringbones and alternating colors. Have fun with it, I guess, is the golden rule with duct tape.
Cream Cheese
The secret here is that any old cream cheese will do, as long as it’s not flavored.
What you do:
It’s basically the same technique as bathtub caulking or cake decorating. Fill up a plastic bag with cream cheese, moosh it up so that it’s nice and soft, clip a corner, and off you go.
The most important thing is to keep a steady hand, and to make sure you’re getting cream cheese down into that first row of stitches.
Let dry away from direct sunlight.
You will be surprised at how pliable the cream cheese is once it dries. I knew it would stick well; I just wasn’t sure how flexible it would be.
I read in one of Clif’s pirate books about how pirates used to make buttons out of old cheese, and I remember being a) mystified by this and b) grossed out. Well, call me a pirate, but this stuff WORKS.
PS One other technique I forgot to mention: sewing in ENDS. I can’t tell you how often we get this question. Here’s probably the best way you can cut your finishing time down to pretty much zero point zero:
Best Ways to Join Blanket Squares Together
- Mason-Dixon Knitting
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