HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N!!!!

Happy Halloween to all the ghosts and goblins out there! I hope you all have a ghoolishly fun time! Don't forget to keep the little sprites safe, too!

I get the supreme pleasure of taking my little friend Angela trick or treating for the very first time! I hope to post photos tomorrow of my little Tinkerbell!!!

62

At the age of 62:


Ed Sullivan, introduced the Beatles to America, 1964
Louis Pasteur developed the first vaccination against rabies, 1885
Franklin Roosevelt won a fourth term as President, 1944
David Ben-Gurion becomes Israel's 1st Prime Minister, 1948
John Wayne wins an Oscar for Best Actor for True Grit, 1969
David Niven wrote his autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon, 1971

At the age of 62, I'll finally get a referral and travel to Vietnam!!!!! LOL!!! Okay.....thinking positive now......

63

Dwight Eisenhower when first elected president in 1952 at age 63.

Good ole' Ike!

64

Hmmmm......64.......the number of sexual positions in the Kama Sutra.

I thought that might get you all going on a Monday!!

65

The traditional age for retirement in the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries. It was previously the age at which a person in the United States could retire with full Social Security benefits; however, recent changes in the law have increased this age for younger workers due to improvements in life expectancy.

Somedays it feels like I'll be of retirement age before I get a referral!

Thank You

To my dear Mr. X in Borneo....I just had to thank you again. When you could have left me hanging in the wind, and quite rightly so, you still came to my aid. Just had to thank you again!!!

66

Well, I couldn't let number 66 pass without mentioning the song, "Get your kicks on Route 66." And, an interesting fun fact, this song was written by Bobby Troupe. What's so interesting about that? If anyone out there remembers the TV show "Emergency!" from the '60s...or, like me, watched re-runs on TVLand....he was the older, kinder docter (Dr. Early) on that show. AND...he was married to Julie London, the sexy, sullen nurse (Dixie McCall) he played opposite of. SHE happened to also be a torch singer and Troupe wrote songs for her. ALSO, London was the ex-wife of the creator of "Emergency!," Jack Webb.

And why do I know all this sh*t??? I have NO idea.....but, it's all true.

67

Elton John's song "Old '67" on The Captain & The Kid CD.

Now, I'm going to have to go find this song. Elton John is one of my all-time favorites and I don't know this one!!

Another fun-filled fact....Elton and I share the same birthday. But, not year. LOL!!

68

In the restaurant industry, can mean "add", being the opposite of 86 (number) meaning "take away"

Yeah, with my track record lately, I can totally see myself screwing THAT one up.......

69

69...NOT going there....

On October 22, there were only 69 days left of the year. So, today there would be 67 days left in the year. October 22 was the 296 day of the year, so today would be the 298th day...confused?? Yeah, my eyes are crossing.

Kinda cool, though, that my count is only two days off from the actual number of days left in the year!!! Perhaps we'll have a New Year's Baby!!!

Angela's Photo

This is a photo of my little friend standing on a firetruck at the local firestation open house. She wasn't too impressed at the time, but, isn't she a cutie!!!

70

The French do not have a word for 70, instead using "soixante-dix" (60 + 10).

Mon Dieu!

My Little Friend

I have yet to mention my little friend Angela. I'm not sure why I haven't talked about her yet, but, I just have to start sharing my stories of her.

Angela is a 4 year old precocious, fiesty, gorgeous little girl with long black hair and dark brown eyes. Her parents are native of China...well, to be more specific, her mother is from Fujian, China, and her dad is from Hong Kong. They own a Chinese restaurant in a neighboring town and the food is to DIE for.

Mike and I would go to eat at the restaurant every so often. It's in the town where he works, but is 22 miles from home, so we'd go when I felt like meeting him. However, about a year ago, I met Angela for the first time. We were eating in the restaurant and here was this darling little Chinese girl. At the time, we hadn't started our adoption in Vietnam, and I was still fixated on the wait for our China adoption. Of course Angela caught my eye because of her heritage, and because she was just so darn cute!!!

She was too shy to come over and visit that first time, but I was smitten. ;) Mike and I would go eat there and we started talking to Angela and her mom. I quickly told Shelly (Angela's mom) that we were adopting....explaining as best as I could that I wasn't some crazed stalker weirdo type person. Mike and I just kept coming in every now and again and got to know them quite well. Not only was I taken with Angela, but with her whole family.

Angela's family is opening a new restaurant in the same town, so everyone is horrendously busy. They are still running the current restaurant, and renovating a huge storefront on the main street, which will be a Chinese/American buffet. Shelly had wanted to send Angela to stay with Angela's grandma in China during this busy time, but it just never worked. Which made me happy! My little friend would have been gone for months! Not only that, but Angela's first language is Chinese. I personally think she would have lost a lot of the English she has learned, having gone to China for several months.

Since they are so busy right now, (and I am not) :) I have started going there several times a week to watch Angela and help out. My friendship with this wonderful family has grown 100 fold. I try to help Angela learn more English, write her letters and numbers, color, cut paper (her favorite...don't ask me why...), teach her some American kid's games, dance, get out of the restaurant on sunny days, watch movies, and have the time of my life. Mike comes, too, for lunch, and dinner. Good thing we love Chinese food!!! For a man who was hesitant to have kids....man....they are so cute together. He teases her, and her temper flares, but he is so incredibly patient with her. I'll have to write another blog just on those two together.

The main reason I had to finally post about my little friend is because of something that hit me the other day when I was with her. I usually try to bring her a little somthin' somthin', whether it's a color book, or a toy, or paper, whatever. Sometimes I'll pick her up a DVD. Last Friday was rainy and cold, so I bought her the Disney classic, "The Little Mermaid."

I think sometimes I take it for granted that all kids know about Cinderella, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, etc. I was literally brought to tears on Friday when I watched the movie with her. Angela had never heard of Ariel or Flounder and Sebastian before. She was absolutely enthralled and mesmorized. It still brings tears to my eyes....I think because I was so lucky to be able to experience this child's absolute wonderment and share in a new experience for her. I guess that sounds corny, and it's hard to explain. But, I'll tell you, it felt good.

Well, I could go on and on about Angela and her family, and I'll probably share more stories about her now. Today we danced and laughed and drank a glass of ice water with two straws. We cut out pumpkins, colored pictures, and her mom thought we were both crazy. And, sitting there with my hair in pigtails, cutting out paper fish, I probably DID look crazy. But, come Wednesday, when I walk in that door and I'm pelted with a flying Angela hug and kisses, I don't care if I looked like the biggest weirdo on the planet. It's all worth it. :)

71

In researching the number 71, I found that there is a Hotel 71 located on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. And now I want to totally check it out!!!! It's a luxury boutique hotel and from the website it sounds totally cool:

Hotel 71’s luxury hotel rooms and suites in downtown Chicago are both contemporary and comfortable. These spacious rooms offer style with function, leaving no amenity to the imagination. Colorful comforters and crisp white linens in luxurious thread-counts compliment large ultrasuede headboards in warm camel. Due to their large size, each room features a seating area of a leopard print chaise or oversized chairs for relaxing in style. Enjoy our designer bath products and plush bath robe and choose from unique food, drink and merchandise items in your personal bar. Or enjoy a fresh cup of complimentary coffee from your in-room coffee maker. A spacious work desk and leather ergonomic desk chair are standard in every room so that you are never out of touch from business or personal matters. In addition, high-speed Internet access is now available, as well.

Anyone up for a road trip?????

72

The average number of heartbeats per minute for a resting adult.

Don't go breaking my heart....

73

Amateur radio operators often use the number 73 as a way of saying "best regards", typically when ending a QSO (a conversation with another ham).

So, until later,
73

74

Apparently, there have been 74 different flavors of Kool-Aid since 1927.

How the heck can there be that many????? I want to find a list.......

**By the way, I was born in '74 - a good number**

75

We have hit the Diamond Anniversary!!!!

Does that mean I should as the hubby for a diamond today?????

76

Today is a number I've been waiting for.....76.

For my lovely friend Karey:

The number of trombonists leading the parade in "Seventy-Six Trombones," from Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man.

**NOT 100. Tee hee!!!!**

77

During World War II in Sweden at the border with Norway, "77" was used as a Shibboleth (password), because the tricky pronunciation in Swedish made it easy to instantly discern whether the speaker was native Swedish, Norwegian, or German.

Now, I just have to figure out how to say it!!!

78

What do we know about good old 78?

It's the total number of gifts in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.

How cool is THAT?? I never knew that before!!

79

Elvis Presley holds the Billboard record with 79 cumulative weeks at #1

Don't step on his blue suede record!!!!!

80

• Actor Paul Newman earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie for Empire Falls in 2005, at age 80
• 
  Jessica Tandy won an Academy Award for Driving Miss Daisy at age 80
• 
  Actor George Burns won an Academy Award for The Sunshine Boys at age 80

Maybe 80 is the new 40???

81

81....an interesting little tidbit.....

Turkish pronunciation of 81 is exactly sex-N-beer, may lead to wordplay for people who speak both Turkish and English


Hmmmm....not bad for a Friday, eh???

82

Raymond counts fallen toothpicks in increments of 82 in the movie Rain Man.


Ten minutes to Wapner....

83

Thomas Jefferson died at age 83 on the 4th of July, 1826.


What a patriotic way to go, eh?

84

March 25 (in a non-leap year) is the 84th day of the year.

And, why do we care about this? That day just happens to be my birthday!!!!!!! Bring on the cake and presents!

The legendary actress and siren Mae West acted in her last film, "Sextette" at age 85.

Mae West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol. Famous for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the legitimate stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become a comedian, actress and writer in the motion picture industry. One of the most controversial stars of her day, West encountered many problems including censorship.
When her cinematic career ended, she continued to perform on stage, in Las Vegas, in the United Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded Rock and Roll albums.

The famous Mae West quip "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?", often varied to "Is that a banana in your pocket . . .", is accurately attributed to her. She made this remark in February 1936, at the train station in Los Angeles upon her return from Chicago, when a Los Angeles police officer was assigned to escort her home.[2] She first delivered the line on film in My Little Chickadee, and again to George Hamilton in her last movie, Sextette. It is one of the most quoted lines in movie history.
Other famous West quips include:

"A hard man is good to find."

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."

[To the question "Have you ever met a man that could make you happy?":] "Several times."

"Why don't you come on up and see me sometime, when I got nothin' on but the radio?"

"Good girls go to heaven, but bad girls get to go everywhere."

"Sex is like bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand."

"My left leg is Christmas and my right leg is New Year's. Why don't you visit me between the holidays?"

[To the remark, "Goodness, what a beautiful diamond!":] "Goodness had nothin' to do with it, dearie."


You know, I think I'm going to have to borrow a couple of these....

86

You know the term, to 86 something? "I eighty-sixed the burnt pot roast" - that kind of thing? Well, here's a bit of trivia about where that phrase came from:

used as a verb, to "eighty-six" means to "ignore" or "get rid of". The first recorded usage of this term occurs in the mid-1930s. Suggested theories of the origin of this usage include (in no particular order):

• 
  Possibly a reference to article 86 of the New York state liquor code which defines the circumstances in which a bar patron should be refused service or "86ed".
• 
  Another theory has it that this is rhyming slang for "nix." However, if so, it would be a wholly American origin, and thus would be unusual for rhyming slang.[1]
• 
  Others have suggested that this usage originated from the famous Delmonico's Restaurant in New York City, as item number 86 on their menu, their house steak, often ran out during the 19th century. However, there is no recorded usage of this term in the nineteenth century.
• 
  Another explanation is that Chumley's, which was a famous 1900s New York speakeasy, is located at 86 Bedford St. During Prohibition, an entrance through an interior adjoining courtyard was used, as it provided privacy and discretion for customers. As was a New York tradition, the cops were on the payroll of the bar and would give a ring to the bar that they were coming for a raid. The bartender would then give the command "86 everybody!", which meant that everyone should hightail it out the 86 Bedford entrance because the cops were coming in through the courtyard door.
• 
  The term came into popular use among soldiers and veterans to describe missing soldiers as 86'd. Rather than describe buddies missing in action, it was slang to describe the MIA as being AWOL, therefore violating UCMJ Sub Chapter X Article 86.
• 
  Another explanation is the possibility of a simple variation of the slang term deep six, which has identical meaning, and is simply meant to describe the approximate depth of water needed for a burial at sea.
• 
  One possible origin is the public outdoor observatory on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, the site of more than 30 suicides.
• 
  Another origin related to the Empire State Building is the fact that all the elevators stop at the 86th floor. Hence, everyone had to leave. The building opened in 1931, apparently a few years before the term became popular.
• 
  For many baseball fans, the most popular if misplaced reference was born of the 1986 playoff debacle for the Boston Red Sox. Game 6 and (eventually) the World Series slipped through the glove of first baseman Bill Buckner in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Sox didn't recover from the letdown in time for Game 7 and the New York Mets took the '86 crown. With Red Sox fans long considering the team to be cursed from trading Babe Ruth for cash and the 1986 World Series representing the closest shot the team had at winning the World Series in decades, the term '86 took on the meaning of "not happening."

87

Today's bit of trivia is about the number 87. From Abraham Lincoln's immortal Gettysburg Address, "Fourscore and seven years ago" actually means 87 years. Fourscore = 80 years.

Now you've learned something today!!! Go impress your friends with your vast knowledge!!

88

Eighty-eight (88) symbolizes fortune and good luck since the word 8 sounds similar to the word Fā (发, which implies 发财, or wealth, in Mandarin). The number 8 is considered to be the luckiest number of all in Chinese culture and prices in Chinese supermarkets can often be found containing many 8's. The Chinese government has even been auctioning auto license plates containing many 8s for tens of thousands of dollars. The upcoming Olympics in Beijing is due to open on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m.

Furthermore, Chinese speakers also use 88 as a shorthand for "good bye" in SMS and IM chats, the mandarin pronunciation of 88 is "baba" which sounds like "bye bye".

So, I'll bid you an 88 until later!

89

In Rugby, a "89" or eight-nine move is a phase following a scrum, in which the number 8 catches the ball and transfers it to number 9 (scrum half).

Don't you just love the word, 'scrum?'

90

Today we learn that Cuba is 90 miles off the Florida coast.

Anyone up for a swim??

Today is my husband's and my 8th wedding anniversary! Yep, eight years ago today I married the goofiest, wackiest, sweetest, most unique person in the world. He's kind and generous, ornery and tempermental, patient and loveable, big and silly, intelligent and curious, egotistical and hard-headed, romantic and loving. He's all that and so much more, and I love him for it.

We had an interesting wedding October 2, 1999. Our minister up and left town one week before our wedding. Luckily, there was a replacement, a woman minister from another town I had never met before. She turned out to be nice, but, not what I expected. And there was a huge big scandal regarding the whole leaving town thing. Just what I needed before our wedding!! Oh, did I mention I was working at the church at the time??? That time was the final thing I needed to teach me that organized religion is just not my bag.

But, back to our wedding! Our music was prerecorded and a friend was singing. The person who was supposed to run our recording couldn't make it and another person stepped in. Did it work? Nope. The tape was playing and no one was singing and the minister finally had to step in and ask the guy to rewind and replay. Sigh.

After the wedding, we had an old antique car to drive us from the church to our reception, about 12 miles away. We were a bit worried at times it wasn't going to get us there. Can we say....backfire?? Sigh again.

I wanted ONE special song for us to dance to that night...."Beauty and the Beast." We get there and our DJ can't find the song. My niece ran home to her house, about 3 blocks away, got her CD player and a Disney CD so our first dance could be that song. The ONLY song I had specified. So, our first dance was a good 30 minutes late as we scrambled to find the song, try to find a different song, and then had Samantha save the day with her Sony. Double sigh.

But, the absolute KICKER, and I saved the best for last, was during the actual wedding ceremony. We had a unity candle. Now, since I had worked at the church, I had heard countless times from the minister never ever to pre-light the candles, as they won't light well for the actual wedding. But, as you recall, he left town on me. So, the new minister made me light the candles the night before during our rehearsal. Fine. During our ceremony, we went up to light our unity candle. Now, the main candle was in a very nice, etched with our names and date and a cute little picture, glass cylander vase. This was placed on a candle stand. And, since at rehearsal, it didn't look too stable, we secured it with some sticky goo stuff...like the kind of stuff you stick posters up with. Well, as I was saying we went up to light our candle. Mike and I each took our little tapers and went to light the main one. Only, the main candle wouldn't light. It just kept pooling up with wax. (Because we lit it the night before!!!). As our soloist was finishing up, and we just kept standing there trying to light the damn thing, Mike takes the glass cylander down and holds it, we get the freaking candle lit, and he places the cylander back on the stand. Only now, the sticky goo is no longer pressed on, holding it on the stand. We go back to the altar and a minute later........BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cylander crashes to the floor, shattering into a bazillion pieces, a friend of mine sitting in the front pew tries to make a dive for it...misses...yells out 'SHIT!' (although I didn't hear that, and I love you for it, Nik!!!!!). The minister covers by saying, "This is NOT a sign." Oy.

So, to say the least, it was an eventful wedding. However, I guess all the little things made it all the more memorable!

Happy Anniversary, Darling. It's been 8 years, and I wish for 80 more.

91

In cents of a U.S. dollar, the amount of money one has if one has one each of the coins of denominations less than a dollar (1 penny, 1 nickel, 1 dime, 1 quarter and 1 half dollar).


So I guess that means I'll have to keep out my two cents, eh??? (groan!)

92

The Guinness record of the longest placename, Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, has 92 characters.

Can you imagine putting THAT on the adoption (or any!!) forms?!?