For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 18th is National Pinata Day in Mexico
P is for Piñata. It is also for Picture. Here are a number of pictures of piñatas from Wikimedia Commons.
Today's Song of the day is Play Game from Tik Tik Boom
16 songs and what do you get?
An incomplete playlist that's not over yet
I still have to finish from Q to Z
I owe 10 songs for this menagerie.
I just published letter O about 15 hours later than I usually do. To make up for it I am publishing this now rather than wait until tomorrow.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
The third Wednesday of April is One More Time and you Get a Parade Day.
As today's letter is a vowel, it is another opportunity for me to make up a new holiday. Many holidays come with traditions, games, or events that go along with them. Easter egg hunts, for example are believed to have originated in Germany in the 16th century. The first Turkey Trot (a race taking place the morning of Thanksgiving) took place in Buffalo New York in the late 19th century. One More Time and you Get a Parade Day may be the first holiday that was started to celebrate a tradition rather than the other way around .
My wife and I have been playing a game I invented around the time we got engaged called "What A Thing to Say". It started as a game to play when we were in a social setting that required a lot of mingling. I believe the original occurrence was at my Grandfather's wake. I gave my fiancé a thing to say, I believe it may have been The Almighty Dollar. Over the course of the event she had to work in the phrase into ordinary conversation 3 different times with 3 different groups of people.
Some of the original "what a things to say" besides the almighty dollar were, The Stevenson Expressway (A Chicago road), People don't floss like they used, to, and one of my favorites, I don't like blank (whatever person , place or thing just mentioned) they supported the war movement.
It's a totally random game that when played well is oblivious to all but the player, and when played poorly is a staple of group conversation for a very long time.
"What does this have to do with parades?" you might ask. A few weeks ago I was subbing in one of my favorite classes. It was the class in fact, that I had been a long term sub in for the 1st semester of the 2022/2023 school year. I have a great deal of familiarity with these students and they have a great deal of familiarity with me. The class is comprised of 6th graders and 7th graders and one of the 6th graders tends to sneeze 5 or 6 times in a row on a frequent basis. On this particular day, after the 3rd or 4th sneeze I responded with the quip, one more time and you get a parade.
I'm not sure how that phrase came to me. True, I just made it up, but, I was definitely thinking something along the line of when you do something multiple times you get a prize. I don't think I was remembering the below scene from A Few Good men, it is in my collective unconscious .
One way to celebrate One More Time and You get a parade day is by playing a version of What a Thing to say with your friends, family, classmates or co-workers. This could be done virtually or in person. Each person writes one phrase down and then they are distributed. Then each person has to use that phrase in a conversatToday'ion throughout the day. Another way is to try to make up your own expression and use it in the course of the day.
April is a month that starts with foolishness, but One More Time and You get a Parade say insures that foolishness doesn't end on the first.
Today's Song is Off Again On Again Love By Allen Levi
I generally put a video on of the song, but as far as I know there are no videos of this song, so here is a link to it on Spotify.
With this song, my playlist is now up to 15 songs.
It is already 9:15 P.M. in Chicago and this is the latest that I've posted in the challenge so far this year. I now must go, and work on tomorrow's. When I finish this one, I might not get a parade, but I will be caught up. That is certainly something to turn a phrase about.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 16th is National Wear Your Pajamas To Work
National Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day was started 10 years ago by PajamaGram. It is held on April 16th each year to coincide with Tax Day being April 15th. The idea was to make April 16th a more casual relaxing day for those who may have been up late the night before finishing their taxes.
Pajama days are very popular at schools. When there is a spirit week at one of our schools or the alphabet countdown that happens at the end of the year. There is usually a pajama day. Before I was a building sub and would go to different schools each day, I would often sub when there was a pajama day, but I wouldn't usually be aware of it until I got to school day. When I started doing long term subbing, I would get a little more heads up about the coming events. Maybe for Christmas this year I will ask for Captain America pajamas and then the next pajama day I can bring my Captain America Build-A-Bear AKA Captain Abearica AKA Steve Pawgers to school as well.
Song of the Day is Nothing But The Wind by Pierce Pettis
I would like to clarify that when I say that the song is by a certain artist, all I mean is that that artist performs that song on the Spotify playlist. In the above video, Pettis correctly attrributes the song to the late great Mark Heard. Speaking of the Spotify mix tape, here it is so far...
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
I think the best way to talk about this day is to use FAQ format. I used to do this quite a bit in the early days of my blog. The last time I did so was here back in 2012 when I was blogging about the A t0 Z challenge. .
The FAQS of Life: Micro-volunteering in Frequently Asked Question Format
Q: Do you know what today is?
A: Yes.
Q: Are you going to tell me?
A. Perhaps if you asked me, rather than asked me if I knew.
Q: What is today?
A: It's International Micro-volunteering Day.
Q: Is Micro-volunteering a thing?
A:It must be, if it wasn't, it wouldn't have a holiday.
Q: When did it become a thing?
A: it's been a thing for almost 20 years. The term was first used in the U.K. In 2006 and had migrated to Spain by 2008.
Q: What is Micro-volunteering?
A:This answer is from ot's Days of The Year Page, The idea of micro-volunteering is simple: individuals take convenient, bite-sized actions in support of a good cause and often perform their activities or service from home.
Q: How did the day start?
A: Well the day started a minute after 11:59 p.m. Some people were fast asleep, some were well on their way, others were working 3rd shift jobs, still others, ...
Q: When did International Micro-volunteering Day start.
A: 10 years ago it began when the day was created and promoted by the Help from Home Foundation.
Q: Como se dice International Micro Volunteering Day en Espanol?
A: Día Internacional del Microvoluntariado.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for micro-volunteering?
A: Yes
Q: Are we back to that joke again?
A: Yes
Q: What suggestions do you have for micro-volunteering?
A: I thought you'd never ask. One suggestion is to volunteer doing task that you already know how to do, so there is little to no training involved. Another is to keep your activities to things that can be done in thirty minute to 2 hour chunks. One examples are to volunteer to read at a school, or day care center, or nursing home. When my daughter was homeschooled, she would volunteer on a weekly basis for about an hour and a half a week, working at the P.B.I.S (Personal Behavior Incentive System) store at my wife's school. Children would earn a kind of currency for following the code of the school and then would be able to trade that currency in for prizes. As a full time substitute teacher, I would imagine there are boundless opportunities for micro-volunteering?
Q: What are some suggestions that could be done from home?
A: My daughters both crochet. One is in a crochet club. Some members of her club crochet hats at home for premature babies or people having chemo. People can have baking parties on the holidays and find organizations to donate their creations to.
Q: Do you know why IMVD (International Micro-Volunteering Day) is on April 15th.
A: No, but it is the same day as Tax day here in the U.S. and if I were choosing the day, I would choose April 15th because micro-volunteering is not meant to be taxing.
Q: Did you think of that yourself?
A: Yes, Yes I did. And before you ask yes, that is a Phineas and Ferb referemce.
Today was a lot of fun, no question about it. Micro-volunteering can be fun as well. In the comments tell me some things that you already know how to do, that might be great as a micro-volunteering opportunity.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
Lucy, Amy & Kermit Smithsonian Museum 2010
April 13th 2024 is the last Saturday of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C.
The past few days at school there has been growing excitement for the 8th grade field trip to Washington D.C. which is coming up soon. My Nephew was over yesterday and he is also is super excited about his 8th grade field trip to Washington D.C. So, when trying to decide between all the April 13th holidays and events I chose an event and a birthday related to D.C.
The Nationals Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the gift of Japanese Cherry Trees in 1912 from the Mayor of Tokyo City to the city of Washington D.C.
Washington Monument with Cherry blossoms in the foreground.
Thomas Jefferson was born April 13,1743
The Jefferson Memorial 2010
Charlie and C3P0 at the Smithsonian
L is also for Lincoln
These pictures were take on our family trip to Washington D.C. 2010
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
For The A to Z Challenge this year, I am focusing on everyday holidays. Each day there are multiple unusual things to celebrate. Every day of the challenge I look for an event taking place that day and pair it with the letter of the day. I have also made up 5 holidays to coincide with the vowel days of the challenge. At the end of each post I will share a special song of the day for that day's letter. At the end of the month, these songs will be assembled in a to z keepsake playlist on Spotify. Every day is a celebration, let's unwrap today's together.
April 12th Yuri Gagarian is the first man in space
63 years ago today the Russians beat the U.S into space again. This time, Yuri Gagarian became the first person in space. This You Tube video shows some footage from the event.
Just in case you don't read Russian, the text below the video translates into English as:
On April 12, 1961, the Vostok spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for the first time in the world, with pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin on board. For this feat, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and starting from April 12, 1962, the day of Gagarin's flight into space was declared a holiday - Cosmonautics Day.
On September 27, 2010, by decision of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, April 12 was proclaimed the International Day of Human Space Flight, which will be celebrated annually at the international level.
I decided to copy a couple of the you-tube comments and show them in Russian , and then in Russian printed phonetically in English and then finally translated by google translate into English.
The first comment is from @elenadushyna8975 from 1 year ago
Все молодцы!! И Королев! И Гагарин! И все остальные неизвестные, кто причастны к этому великому событию!!!
Vse molodtsy!! I Korolev! I Gagarin! I vse ostal'nyye neizvestnyye, kto prichastny k etomu velikomu sobytiyu!!!
Well done everyone!! And Korolev! And Gagarin! And all the other unknowns who are involved in this great event!!!
The second comment is from LarussaShudrova from 8 years ago
Спасибо за воспоминания! Спасибо! Помню, какую испытала гордость за страну, когда передавали по радио сообщение о полёте человека в космос. В душе всё пело.
Spasibo za vospominaniya! Spasibo! Pomnyu, kakuyu ispytala gordost' za stranu, kogda peredavali po radio soobshcheniye o polote cheloveka v kosmos. V dushe vso pelo.
Thank you for the memories! Thank you! I remember how proud I felt for the country when they broadcast a message on the radio about man’s flight into space. Everything was singing in my soul.
What strikes me about the coverage and the comments is the great sense of accomplishment. I lived in Russia for 2 years from 1992 to 1994 right after the Soviet Union was dissolved. It became clear to me fairly quickly is that people are very similar regardless of what country they are from and being proud of your country is certainly not something the U.S. has a monopoly on.
The song of the day is Keep Me Running performed by Ashley Cleveland
Randy Stonehill wrote and performed the song on his 1976 album Welcome to Paradise. The below video features a young Stonehill performing the song.
Stonehill turned 72 earlier this year and I made this post to celebrate.
To go to the home of the A to Z challenge click here, to see the 2024 master list of participating blogs click here. Enjoy the 2024 A to Z challenge, and Happy Holidays!
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