Labor Day

Independence Day

In the song "Yankee Doodle," why did Yankee Doodle stick a feather in his cap and cal in macaroni? Th eline refers not to the pasta but to the Macaroni Club, a mid-eighteenth-century English social club of dandyish young men who wanted to bring the influences of the Continent to bear on their home country. Thus the line was originally intended to discredit the American revolutionaries.

Did Betsy Ross design the American Flag? No, it was designed by Francis Hopkinson, a naval flag designer, who was never reimburesed for his services by teh US Government. And there is no record of Betsy Ross 's commission to sew the flag.

When did the motto In God We Trust start appearing on US coins? It has appeared on most American coins since about 1864. During the Civil War, rising popular religious sentiment prompted Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase to put the country's faith where its money was. Other slogans suggested were God Our Turst and God and Our Country. The motto is not required by law.

Fathers Day

Bugs gone wild

All Purpose Insect Spray
1 garlic bulb1 tbsp cayenne pepper1 quart water1 tbsp liquid hand soap1 small onion
Chop or grind up the garlic and onion, add the cayenne and mix with water. Let it steep for 1 hour. Ad liquid soap. Stor in a covered jar in the refrigerator for up to one week. Use as a spray wherever insects are.

Makin a list...checkin it twice

I am a habitual list maker. I make lists for everything. Grocery shopping, things to do, calls to make, other lists that I need to make. I have lists everywhere. (Somehow I believe this goes along with my post it fetish. There's a pad of postits in everyroom of my house, plus like 10 in my car). With the move in date of the 20th of June, you can bet that I have started my list of todo's. Fortunately, Ken is taking care of alot of the little details, like switching on all of the utilities and cable. I'm not used to having anyone help me with all of these little details so i'm making a list of the things he's doing so I don't get confused.

So far here is my packing scheduale:

29: pick up boxes
30:pack dining room
31: Sisters pool bday party
1: pack cookbooks
2: pack living room
3: pack den
4: pack office
5: work
6: pack bedroom
7: pack clothes
8: pack front coat closet
9: pack garage
10: pack garage
11:work
12: work
13: Sister in laws pool bday party
14:
15:pack kitchen
16: pack kitchen
17: work
18: work
19: pack bathrooms
20: Movers coming at 8am

It all smells like roses

After 6 years of doing property management, I am still surprised at some of the things I find when I go into homes. I guess the Glade needed a little help .

Obi Wan is the Pope?

Memorial Day we took a ride out to a new suburb here in Vegas, Aliante, where we're moving to in a few weeks. We wanted to check out the shopping, restaurants, and of course see how long the commute is going to be for all of us. Turns out it's only going to add 10-15 minutes to each of our drive, which I don't think is all that bad. I usually use the time in the car to turn on some theraputic music (either Korn or System of a Down if I need to scream or classical if I need to wind down and focus).

While we were out there we stopped by Aliante Station to see "Angels and Demons". We had been to the movies there once before, a few months ago, but we didn't have time to check out the casino then. Honestly, it's almost identical to the Red Rock Casino. The only difference that I could tell was that the restaurants were different and the bingo hall was smaller and was non smoking only (yay!!).


I had read the book like 4 years ago, and remembered the general plot. I knew that it was set before 'The Davinci Code', but in the movie they make references to Davinci like it had happened before this. There were a few other general key plot changes that I don't think affected the movie, but were definately noticeable to anyone who had read the book.

I love the whole history conspiracy searching for clues thing. Any one know of any other books along the same genre?

Ken didn't really like the Davinci Code, so he was hesitant about seeing this. Especially after the previews, which were all very chic-flicky. But he enjoyed the movie after he got into it. I asked him what the difference between this and Davinci was and he said it was just more suspensful.

The movie was great. I love the theme music, which was the same as from Davinci. The acting was supurb and the sceenery was awesome. I know they shot alot of it from a sound stage and did the whole cgi thing, but it looked very realistic. Well, ok, i've never actually been to Vatican City, so i'm assuming it was realistic. Looked real enough to me.

It definately made me want to go back and read the book again.

Overall - 2 thumbs up.