Humor............

Start binge watching now....the new season start March 7th.....

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The Walking Dead The Next World...........

TWD

Misadventures of moving....

For the last few months we have been trying to pack up and move out of our house of over 11 years due to poor choices on the part of another.  I think there should be a new law on the books.  Whomever is responsible for the family losing their home should have to pay for the moving and packing of the rest of the family because let me tell you, packing up 11 years in boxes is no fun task, no fun task indeed!

I do want to thank our amazing friends and family that helped us over the last week and never complained even though there certainly was good reason to.  We could have never done it without them!  Everyone graciously moved furniture and box after box after box, you get the picture.  So many boxes!  Did I mention we moved to the third floor of an apartment building?  Yeah, there is that.  Three flights of stairs.  It was a pain to move everything up to the top but it sure is nice being up here.  Did I mention it was raining most of the time?  And there was a broken bone, bruises, and a skinned up knee as well.  Oh and a few things flew out of one of the trucks.  Oops!

The moving crew was made up of several adults (two former college wrestling champs and a basketball coach) and wait for it.......12 kids!  I think that is why it was so much fun for everyone!  Having all the kids made the apartment feel more like home.  I honestly was not thinking the kids would be doing much more than playing around but they were an amazing help.  They had a relay race going; one from the truck/trailer to the first flight of steps, then another at the second flight of steps, and you guessed it up to the top!  They also helped take apart certain pieces of furniture and help put it back together again.  We are so blessed to have such a good support system in place.

I did a blog post about moving and superstitions, you can read about that here.  It is fun to read back through that now and see which applied to us.

We brought our loaf of bread even though it was passed the expiration date.  I had a brand new container of salt but there was no way I was going to throw it all over the floor.  The broom, I elected to leave our broom behind but somehow a broom showed up here and has been sitting outside, and I have no idea where it came from, weird!  There was a little hammering but not after the sunset.  And it did rain on Saturday when we started to move.

I do not consider myself a superstitious person but it is fun learning about the different things that are considered good luck or bad luck during a move. I think we have had our share of bad luck, and there is nothing but good waiting ahead of us.  We are off to an excellent start!

Sleepy Hollow is tonight!!!!

Vampire Diaries funny............

The 100 tonight........

Supernatural tonight!!!

Whoo hoo!!

Teen Wolf "Credible Threat" tonight at 9....

The Walking Dead meets Jesus.........

TWD

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Sleepy Hollow "Kindred Spirits" Tonight at 8.....

The 100 "Hakeldama" tonight at 9.......

Supernatural "The Vessel" Tonight at 9....

Teen Wolf "A Credible Threat" tonight at 9........

Lets talk moving superstitions and fun..........

Since we are moving soon, I thought it would be fun to research traditions/superstitions as they relate to moving into a new place, and I learned some pretty interesting stuff.

When you move, leave your broom behind and buy a new one for the new place.  Turns out that brooms carry negative energy (dirt) from different aspects of your life, a new broom gives you a fresh start.  I certainly do not want any negative energies from the past going with me when I move!  So a new broom is on the list.  I will burn the other one.

It is bad luck to carry a garden hoe into your new place but hey if you forget and bring your hoe in, just walk back out the door backwards carrying the hoe and problem solved.  Remember, no hoes in the house the first night!

Don't forget to bring a loaf of bread and carry it in with you the first time you cross the threshold of your new place.

If you have had a problem with witches in the past, no problem.  Take some fennel and stuff it in the keyhole or hang it over your door and poof, no more witches!

Got ghosts?  Paint your porch blue.  According to southern traditions, ghosts cannot cross over water, and I guess they are easily fooled by blue paint.

Bring your salt too so you can sprinkle it at the front door.  This will keep away the evil spirits.  It is also suggested that the only way to truly cleanse your new place is by spreading salt all over the floors and leave it for hours or all day.  Just in case the salt at the front door did not prevent those evil spirits from hanging around.

You might want to tone down your hammering activities after the sun sets, you wouldn't want to wake up the tree gods now would you?

Don't want to be struck by lightening?  Just go outside and grab an acorn and place it on the windowsill.  This is what the Norse believed.

Old Native American superstitions suggest not moving into your new place on Friday, Saturday, or when it is raining.  They believed these were unlucky days to move in.

Burning dried sage (native American tradition) on your first night in your new home will ward off spirits but no worries if you are fresh out of sage, just burn a candle instead.

If you live in Thailand and want to bless your new house, invite an odd number of monks over for a visit.  There has to be an odd number, not even, and you also need to feed them while they are there.

In Italy, they pour salt in all four corners of every room in the house.

Live in India?  Head outside, grab a cow, place a garland wreath around its neck, and bring that cow right on in the house.  It doesn't say how long to keep the cow inside but this is supposed to somehow bless your new place.  Glad we are not moving to India at the moment.

According to Jewish, Indians, Chinese, Persian, and Armenians, planting a pomegranate tree or eating pomegranates will ensure fertility.  Note to self, never, ever, ever eat anything with pomegranate in the new place.

If you can possibly manage to hold one more thing on your way in, make it a full bowl of rice.  This is for prosperity.

Scattering coins all over the floor is also supposed to bring prosperity.  At this point, coins are the only form of money I have left so that will not be a problem for me.

Don't want the ghosts from your current residence to follow you to your new place?  Just move on a Thursday.

There are so many more superstitions about moving but I thought these were the best.

If you see me walking around with a loaf of bread, salt, a broom, or a cow, it is probably moving day!

Finally.........the wait is over!

Six more hours to go........Happy Walking Dead Day..........

Packing party, pizza, cake, candy, and the walking dead.........Great day!!!

The Walking Dead "No Way Out"

Already did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doing a happy dance!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's time once again for...............

the Great Backyard bird count by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.


Get started here.

Get your printout to keep track of your birds here.


We have been doing this for years.


This will be the last time we do the count in our yard so I hope we see a lot of awesome birds!!!!

You can see our other posts here, here, and here.

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TWD

And it begins........

TWD funny.........

Great moving checklist.......

Find this checklist here.

What a great moving/packing idea!

Teen Wolf "Lie Ability" tonight at 9.........

Random, weird, useless facts of presidential proportion........

It is almost election time again.  We always try to learn some new information during this time, and this time, we are going to random, useless info.

Hopefully, all Americans know that George Washington was the first president of the US back in 1789 but did you know that only 10 out of the 13 states actually took part in this election?  Rhode Island and North Carolina were not yet ratified and New York failed to chose any electors.  It is also reported that Washington had some serious bank being worth an estimated $500 million.  George also liked to grow cannabis, apparently in large quantities.

Ronald Reagan was officially our oldest president elected at the ripe old age of 69 but did you know he is our only president who was divorced?  Yep, Nancy was his second wife.  He was also an actor and a stand up comedian.

JFK gets the honors of being the youngest president elected at the age of 43.

Grover Cleveland is the only candidate to be elected, lose the second term, and then be reelected for another four years which makes him out 22nd president and our 24th president.  President Cleveland also wins the most unhealthiest pres award weighing in at 250+ pounds, smoking cigars, and drinking a lot of alcohol.

Herbert Hubert had two pet alligators living with him at the White House.

President Carter believed in UFOs.

Our largest president was William Taft.  Apparently, he was stuck in the bathtub and had to have help getting out.

If you want to be the pres, you need to be at least 35 years old, a natural-born US citizen, and a US resident for at least 14 years.

Abe Lincoln was the tallest at president at 6'4" and James Madison was the shortest at 5'4".  It is also said that Madison only weighed around 100 pounds.

Seems our President John Quincy Adams was a fan of skinny-dipping.

Love a good ghost story like me?  Look no further than the White House for a few good ones.  Eight presidents have died in office. William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia, Zachary Taylor died of gastroenteritis, Abe Lincoln was assassinated, James Garfield was assassinated, William McKinley was assassinated, Warren Harding had a heart attack, Franklin D. Roosevelt died of cerebral hemorrhage, and JFK was also assassinated.

Do you know who William Jefferson Blythe is?  Sure you do.  Only he goes by the name of Bill Clinton now.  He legally changed his last name to Clinton when he was 15.  This was his stepfathers name.  It is said that while in office, Clinton send a grand total of two emails in his eight years in office.  Hilary take notes on this!

Sorry Sarah, but in 1872, Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for president.

Did you know that the seven presidents before Martin Van Buren were all British born subjects?

George W. Bush was head cheerleader his senior year at boarding school.

Can you believe that in 1835, the US had $0 in debt?  Andrew Jackson paid off all of the debt in the US and now look at us!

Thought of the day.......

Paying child support to avoid jail time does not make you a good parent.

You are still a deadbeat if anyone has to make you support your own children.

C.A.N.N.O.T. W.A.I.T......................

P+P+Zombies.....

My short review.  While this movie is full, full, full of cheese, it is definitely not as bad as the reviews it has been given (IMO).  It was actually quite entertaining, unrealistic, but not bad.  The actors did a great job, and there was quite a bit of historical content.

We went with a group of 10 from the Barnes and Noble book club which made it that much more fun.  We had a few that were so silly and would not stop talking and throwing food.  I  am glad we did not get kicked out!

Check out a trailer here.

American Abolitionists with Mystery of History

Just in time for Black History Month.

Frederick Douglass-Civil Rights leader.

*Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born in 1818 to a slave woman (Harriet Bailey) and (possibly) her white slave master (Aaron Anthony).  The exact date in 1818 is unknown.


*His mother Harriet was the only woman of color who could read in Tuckahoe, and his grandmother, Betsy Bailey, was a nurse.


*Douglass became separated from his mother at a young age.  She walked in the dark 12 miles back and forth to see him a handful of times in secret.

Anna

*Douglass wanted to read more than anything as a young boy.  He was taught by children who lived close to him.  He paid them with slices of bread for the lessons.  He learned every word in Webster's Spelling book


*Douglass attempted to escape from slavery at the age of 17 but he was caught and put in jail.  After this, he changed his name from Bailey to Johnson and then later to Douglass.

Helen

*He married a free black woman named Anna.  They were married 44 years before she died. Together they had five children.   Interestingly enough, his second wife was a white woman named Helen Pitts (her parents came over on the Mayflower, John and Priscilla Alden).  Pitts was 20 years younger than Douglass and the families were not supportive of the marriage.


*Douglass met with President Lincoln at least three times.

Four of the Douglass children

*Douglass was a republican.


*Douglass made $450 a year working for the American Antislavery Society.


*After slavery was officially abolished, he was paid $100+ for his speeches.  His most famous speech was Self Made Men.



*Douglass was the first African-American to hold a high U.S. government rank.

*Douglass died of a massive heart attack and died February 20, 1895 at his Cedar Hill house at the age of 77.  He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York, in section A.

Cedar Hill

Fun facts:

~Did you know he was nominated to be vice president by the Equal Rights Party?

~He was also the first African-American to buy a house in the Washington area (Cedar Hill).

~Did you know Douglass was 6 feet 4 inches tall?  That is the same height as Lincoln!

~He liked to be fashionable and dress up.

~His favorite authors were Shakespeare and Dickens.

~Douglass was licensed to preach for the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

~He created the North Star Newspaper.

There are so many more things to the credit of  Douglass but as you can see from this brief outline, there is no doubt he was an eloquent speaker, a phenomenal politician, a great writer, and a very courageous man!

Learn more here and here.

My favorite Douglass quote.  Broken men cannot not be fixed and there are way too many running around today!

George Washington Carver is my favorite African-American History maker!

Supernatural "Don’t You Forget About Me" Tonight at 9......

Teen Wolf "Amplification" tonight at 9........