SUNDAY FUNDAY - SUNDAY JANUARY 10, 2021

 SUNDAY FUNDAY - SUNDAY, January 10, 2021

VACCINES

There are two vaccines already out

​​​​Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine

Others are in development. Some additional vaccines are available in other places around the world (like Oxford and AstraZeneca in Great Britain)

So, I think Phase 1b is close to done - and Phase 2 should be coming soon.  I think I’m in phase 2 - over 65, but I’m in good health, so maybe I will wait for a little.  I asked my primary care physician about the vaccines last week - who basically said (it was by email) that she didn’t have the vaccine yet, didn’t know when her office would get it -so please stand by!!!

WORD PUZZLES

These are word puzzles.  I learned them as “Wuzzles” - for word puzzles.  The images depict a phrase (although you might have to “fudge” it a little) - like “Get in Shape” for the first one.

A GAME TO PLAY (that you can always WIN!!!)

Background story.  I had graduated from high school and in that summer between high school and college, I worked delivering furniture.  I worked with Tom, an old guy who had been delivering furniture for years.  I was smart, I was going to college that fall; Tom was dumb - he was just an old truck driver.  (I’m sure glad my attitude has changed over the years!!!)

Every afternoon, we stopped for a ‘coffee break’.  Tom would frequently get a cup of coffee and a piece of pie.  I would get some iced tea (and no pie - as I was trying to save my money for college).

Tom was a smoker, (and, of course, smoking was allowed in most (all?) restaurants, so he always had matches with him.  One afternoon, he made a bet with me.  He put 15 match sticks (the old wooden type) on the table and said whoever took the last match stick would have to pay the bill.  

Well, I was young, I was smart, I was going to college; and Tom was dumb, just an old truck driver.  Sure - I agreed (and that day, I bought a slice of peach pie knowing that Tom would be paying for it).

The game was 1, 2, or 3.  You alternated turns and could take 1, 2, or 3 matches from the table.  So, if there were 8 matches, I could take 1 (and leave 7), or 2 (and leave 6), or 3 (and leave 5).   Within a minute, I was taking the last match stick - and paying for our break!!  That happened for a week - where he won every day (and I was realizing that I wasn’t so smart after all).  That weekend I figured out how to win.  On the next Monday, we played and I beat him.  We did not play after that.  (He was smart enough to know I had figured it out)

The game is fixed - if you play it right, you will ALWAYS win.  So, with your grandchildren, if they think they are pretty smart and Papa or Nana isn’t quite so smart anymore, you can beat them every time (until they figure it out).

By-the-way, there is nothing magical about 15 match sticks (or toothpicks or even lines on a blackboard or piece of paper; and there really isn’t anything magical about 1, 2, or 3 - but that is the easiest way to start.  

So, put 15 things on your table and play until you win every time (or … couples - if one figures it out first, keep beating your spouse (in the game - not physically) until he caught on!!!  I’ll have a hint at the bottom!!!  I’ve done this in class - and baffle most of my students!!!

*****

EXPRESSIONS

-. Come Rain or Shine.  I’ll be there no matter what.  Hey, the Dakota State Trojans are playing this weekend at home.  “I’ll be there come rain or shine!!!” (Of course, in the past I would be there - with the pep band - in those super uncomfortable bleachers!!)

-. Go down in flames (or shot down in flames).  To make a spectacular mistake.  My bragging on the Vikings winning the Super Bowl this year just got shot down in flames!!!

-. You can say that again.  (Not that you need to say it again).  A confirmation - like “ditto”.  “That Lynnette Gorder is one smart lady”.  My response, “You can say that again”.  

-. See eye-to-eye.  To agree on something.  “Say, Ron, I think that it is a great idea to have all the Informal Education with Dr. White readers get together at your house - and you feed each of us a massive lunch.  We’re seeing ‘eye-to-eye’ on that!!

-. Jump on the bandwagon.  Get with the trend.  “I see Doreen has jumped on the bandwagon as she is wearing jeans with tears in the leg.  (Somehow, I’m not sure that would happen!!)

*****

WHAT’S GOING ON?

January 10th, National Houseplant day

I’m again guessing some of you (all of you?) have some houseplants.  And, I’m pretty sure some of you do have ‘green thumbs’!!!  I have some houseplants - that I put on my patio when the day is warm enough.   Of course, that was where I grew my patio tomatoes last summer!!!

January 11th, National Girl Hug Boy Day

I’m a hugger (even before I transitioned).  One of the bad things about COVID is the lack of hugs.  I am a believer that the human touch of other humans is therapeutic and healing!!!  So, when this is all over, watch out - I will be hugging you!!!

January 12th National Kiss a Ginger Day

Red Hair is a recessive trait.  I’ve read that as we meld and intermarry more, that it might be possible for red hair to totally die out.  I have a niece with beautiful red hair (natural - not from a bottle!!!).

January 13th National Rubber Ducky Day

Okay, I watched enough Sesame Street enough to picture Ernie (Muppet) singing “Rubber Ducky, you’re the one; you make bath time lots of fun; rubber ducky, I’m awfully fond of you”.  Maybe you can tie National Bubble Bath day and National Rubber Ducky day together!!!

January 15th - Martin Luther King Birthday

Officially the nation will not observe this day until Monday, January 18th, but since I was at his mother’s bedside when she delivered Martin, I know it is the 15th (of course I wasn’t there - but the website says January 15, 1929!!!

January 16, National Fig Newton day!!

Come on!!  Fig Newton day?  (The other thing on the National Day Calendar for January 16th, was National Do Nothing Day!!)

*******

HOW ABOUT SOME HISTORY:

January 10 - 1958 Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reaches #1 on the UK pop charts.  “Goodness, Gracias, Great Balls of Fire”.  (Lewis would really pound the keys!!

January 11 - 1935 Amelia Earhart flies from Honolulu to Oakland Ca (non-stop, of course).  (I don’t think she could stop if she wanted to!!!)

January 12 - 1997 Tiger Woods wins Mercedes Championships.  Does Tiger have it together again?

January 13 - 1930 "Mickey Mouse" comic strip 1st appears.  Don’t you wish you would have invested in Disney stock years ago!!

January 14 - 2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position.  (If I have a Steve Jobs reference, I needed to balance that with a Bill Gates reference!!)

January 15, 1895, Tschaikowsky’s Swan Lake premieres in St. Petersburg.  I’ve been to a performance of Swan Lake in Kazakhstan!! 

January 16, 1793 - King Louis XVI is sentenced to death during the French Revolution.  (Don’t lose your head, Louie!!!)

January 32, 2021 - Tom Farrell is named Defensive Coordinator for the Dakota State University of Texas Trojans.  (I’m guessing Tom will say “no way - been there, done that!!!”)

And, history from January 6, 2021 - a riot storm the Capitol

*****

WRAP UP!!

The Holiday Season is over, we’ve put the decorations away, and it is winter.  For those of us who have lived in northern regions in the past, I get to gloat when talking to friends.  “How cold was it?” “How much snow did you get?”  (Of course, they get back at me next summer when they ask “How many days over 100 is this?” or “When was the last time you had rain?”.  

But, we are ready for snow if it comes!!!

But, all-in-all, life is great in Georgetown Texas!!!  And, I am looking forward to a totally awesome year!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

HUGS!!

Karen

(1-2-3 - you can always win if you go first and take 2 match sticks.  Work it out!!)