Good morning gang.

Should be warm today with rain most of the day.

Not much happening so let's get the day started.


Word of the Day Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Viridescent \vir-i-des-uh nt\,adjective

1. slightly green;greenish

Origin:

Viridescent entered English in the mid-1800s from the Late Latin viridēscere meaning "to become green."


Today is 0a3NATIONAL PFEFFERNUSSE DAY

December 23 of each year celebrates the delicious and loved by many across the country, pfeffernusse cookie as it is National Pfeffernusse Day.

Very popular around the holidays, pfeffernusse are fluffy cookies made with ground nuts and spices and covered in powdered sugar.

The exact origin in unknown however the Dutch believe that pfeffernusse (or pepernoten) are linked to the feast of Sinterklaas, which is celebrated on December 5 in the Netherlands and December 6 in Germany and Belgium. This holiday is when children receive gifts from St. Nicholas, who is partially the inspiration for the Santa Claus tradition.

Over time, many bakers have created their own pfeffernusse recipes. Traditional recipes included various nuts such as almonds and walnuts. Some modern recipes exclude nuts altogether along with the black pepper, retaining only cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and cardamom as flavoring. Molasses and honey are often times used to sweeten the cookie

To celebrate National Pfeffernusse Day, try one of the following “tried and true” pfeffernusse recipes:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pfeffernusse/

http://www.food.com/recipe/pfeffernus ... -pepper-nut-cookies-79103

NATIONAL PFEFFERNUSSE DAY HISTORY

Within our research, we were unable to find the creator or origin of National Pfeffernusse Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.

NATIONAL ROOTS DAY

National Roots Day is celebrated annually on December 23 across the United States.

National Roots Day encourages us to look into our heritage, families, family history and ancestry and as many people are gathering together at this time of the year, during the holidays, it is a good time to ask questions of other family members about ones roots. It is quite possible that a grandparent, parent , aunt or uncle has a family tree they could bring out to begin with.

It is often very interesting to learn about the lives of our ancestors; where they came from, their struggles, their accomplishments and etc. It is a combination of everyone that is on the family tree that makes us the person that we are today.

NATIONAL ROOTS DAY HISTORY

Our research was unable to find the creator and the origin of National Roots Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.



FESTIVUS

Festivus is held on December 23 each year. It was created as a response to the commercialism of the other December holidays. Its slogan is “A Festivus for the rest of us.”

The Festivus celebration includes three major components:

The Festivus Pole.

During Festivus, an unadorned aluminum pole is displayed, apparently in opposition to the commercialization of decorated Christmas trees, and because the holiday’s creator, Frank Costanza, “Finds tinsel distracting.”

The Airing of Grievances.

At the Festivus dinner, the celebrant tells their friends and family all of the instances where they disappointed the celebrant that year. Airing of Grievances Worksheet

The Feats of Strength.

The head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant of the head’s choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned. A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead. Feats of Strength Challenge Card

Other Items

Instead of exchanging gifts with his co-workers, when George Constanza was given a gift he in turn gave his co-worker a card stating that a donation had been made in their name to a charity called The Human Fund when in fact this organization didn’t exist

Festivus Song by Danny Lutz

Festivus Song by Brett Houston

Jakon yamekiri!

Drizzly here for the umpteenth day in a row - if it was just a smidgen colder, it would be a real mess. Last day of work for this week. It'll be nice to have a couple short work weeks - I'm sure my alarm clock will appreciate the break from wear and tear.

Best of luck with the job application, Mike!

Have a good day, Gurus!

Quote:


You can name yours whatever you want, even yamekiri.

Morning guys...the front moved through in the night, it's cold, windy and a little bit of snow coming down. Supposed to make a little comeback for tomorrow and Christmas day.

I'm at school doing a little cleaning from my work Sunday here doing some last minute gifts. My wife can come up with all sorts of ideas.

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL CLOUDY DAY! HOW I LOVE THE COMFORTING DIMNESS, THE LOVELY GRAY, THE CUDDLY DAMPNESS. I'M SO HAPPY I COULD JUST SHIT.

ON A HAPPIER NOTE, THE BUMBLEBEE IS FLYING AGAIN WITH THE DEMONIC AC CONTROL HEAD EXORCISED.

Quote:


Sound familiar anyone?

How about a little holiday music to get everyone in the spirit.

Our brief flirtation with sunshine yesterday is a dim memory as the snow continues to fall here......my wife is happy for a white Christmas and I'm just grumbling.......

Today I must go shopping so I better get my list and head out....have a safe day Guru's......

Snowing in earnest now. Not sure this is what was predicted.....but we can use the moisture.

OK, just as I post mother nature swaps it around. Snow has stopped and the sun is trying to peak through the clouds. Wind has gone down some. I'm thinking it's about time for a nap.

Quote:

Did someone say Ernest?

Well, I did but, that's not exactly what I meant.

Back to gray and the wind is back with a vengeance.

Picked up a frozen 48 lb whole pig for the roasting box. 1 day to thaw, 1 day to marinade and 7 hours to cook on Christmas Day. That's my major contribution for the party (outside of cleaning everything up). We'll have a house full of people, tables full of food, coolers full of frosty beverages and desserts galore to boot. It's a relaxed, casual atmosphere where everybody gets to catch up. Games are available for those that wish. Dominos, Frisbee toss, hopefully miniature golf if I get the damned holes dug today and a few balls to toss around. Better get crackin. Daylights a'wasting. If any of you around, feel free to stop in.

Good Afternoon CGs!

Off today, got to sleep in briefly before it was time to get the kids ready. RR#2 is going to preschool today because they have a Christmas party later. RR#1 is home on Christmas break. Stopped in to the store and did some last minute shopping...it was dead and we were in and out quickly. Came home and started doing homework with RR#1. Oh my God what a chore. First grade math and they have made it more complicated than humanly possible. Whatever happened to basic first grade math. Now everything is word problems with multiple steps within the sentence. What? For a first grader? They are teaching to the test, and that is the problem. These are abstract problems for a six year old. I just taught her the old way and it was much easier for her to understand...amazing. So one page of 8 word problems took 45 minutes. Absurd.

At least the sun is shining and I will get a good workout in.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Matthew

Quote:

One of these days!

Quote:

OMG! ONLY TOO TRUE.

Quote:

Attach file:

---

  COOL DOG.jpg (19.71 KB)

Quote:

Welcome to the new math......that's Common Core sh!t. They claim that they are teaching them to think, I'm not sure what happened to memorizing math facts, so that when I ask a high school student what 2 x 2 is they won't have to sit down with a calculator or sit down and draw a bunch of pictures that represent different things, to find the answer.

raining now

supposed to be in the 60's for Xmas, kind of w3ird

I vote we all go to Matt's house - he says he has sunshine. I don't think we've had any in three weeks now. Gettin old.
Have an estimate on the car - ewww spoke to the claims agent, adjuster will be sent out soon as they get to it. Not sure what the good Lord is willing but I hope I come out good in this....
Happy Tuesday...

Death to the common core......I mean who thought that up? Reading righting and rithmatic damit..... what was wrong with that.......?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZHIU_BuF364" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pqKb1OGpDjo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Quote:

OH NO, LET'S GO TO TOMMY'S HOUSE, HE HAS SUNSHINE AND ROAST PIG :-)

Sitting here waiting for #3 and family to arrive from KC. Takes them about an hour and a little more to get here than Rosie and I to get there. Having little ones makes it more of a trip I guess.

Wind has let up quite a bit. But it is pretty cold. Temps make a come back tomorrow.

I hope they get here pretty soon, I'm about to fall asleep......