Celebrate the Month

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery Pics are the leftover photos from the 4th of July... our Bunco game... which I lost... again.

As promised for today and tomorrow, I am posting an old story from the Archives. As always, feel free to skip ahead if you've read it before!

A Little Story About "Having Things Removed"

Last week, Mikie took me downtown to have a little "pigmentation" removed from under my tongue. It looked like someone had lifted my tongue and drawn a little line with a Sharpie. "Hmmm. That's a little odd-looking, isn't it?" That's what my dentist said. That's also what the oral surgeon said one week later. Not what you really want to hear, is it?

"Oh, I've seen a million of those... and it's called a __________... and when you have one it usually makes you smarter!" That's what you want to hear.

But since I wasn't getting the correct responses, I decided to have it removed. "You'll need to have someone here to drive you home because we have to put you to sleep." Ahh, man. Anesthesia... really?

"I have to have major surgery," I told Mike as I left the doctor's office that day.

"You mean they have to put you to sleep for a few seconds while they remove your Sharpie mark?" he calmly responded.

"I have to have an IV and EVERYTHING... AND they called it an ODD PIGMENTATION! That's how I'd like for it to be referred to from now on, please." I responded a little bitterly.

"Be honest. They asked you if you had put an open Sharpie in your mouth recently, didn't they?"

"No," I lied.

Last Thursday, Mikie drove me to the doctor's office for my "major surgical procedure," and they took me back immediately. NOTE: I have to give a shout-out to a nurse whose name I don't remember for the best IV stick I've ever received IN MY WHOLE LIFE. She was amazing and I didn't feel a thing!

My nurse kept asking me questions, and for the most part I answered her honestly. Then my anesthesiologist came in. This is the guy you have to be careful with.

"Hello, Mrs. Faulkner. How are you today?" he asked.

"Fine," I answered as I braced myself for another onslaught of questions.

"Well, before we start your IV drip, Mrs. Faulkner, may I ask how much you weigh?"

I gave him my normal anesthesiologist answer. "I weigh 250 pounds."

Now this is a tricky one. Your main goal is to make sure you have enough anesthesia in your system to NOT wake up in the middle of the procedure. However, you do not want him to nod immediately and go to the next question taking your answer as the gospel truth.

"Really?" he said, glancing at me. "And how tall are you?"

"I'm about 6'5"... more or less," I responded with gusto.

"Really?" he said, again. Moving closer, he leaned down and said, "Mrs. Faulkner. It is evident you are NOT 6'5" OR 250 pounds. Now, do you want me to get your weight and height off your driver's license or do you want to start talking?"

Well, I DEFINITELY didn't want him to get my weight off my driver's license. There was no way he'd give me enough anesthesia to knock me out if he thought I was 5'3" and 130 pounds. (I always put my "enchanting" weight and height on my driver's license.)

In the end, he had the "correct" information and the procedure began. (Oh, did I mention this was a Two Parter? Sorry. I slipped a "blog teaser" in there, didn't I? You'll have to tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story.)

Wednesday Wisdom - Since I will soon be meeting The Mighty Tom Selleck in person, I decided today's Wisdom should come directly from one of his most memorable characters... Thomas Sullivan Magnum, III!

Hawaii is one of those places that keeps topping itself - just when you think you'll never see a sunset as beautiful, there comes a sunrise that even Gauguin can only imagine. It kind of makes unemployment easier to take.

One of the cliches of my profession is that to get information from a bartender you have to slip him bills of various denominations. Bills that you can't afford with pictures of unfamiliar presidents and usually for information that isn't worth it.

Okay. This isn't earth-shattering stuff, but I liked Magnum, P.I. back in the day. I've decided to add a few Tom Selleck quotes to the mix today, too.

I live a pretty simple life. (SO... DO... I!)

I've never reacted well to other people telling me what to do. (NEITHER... HAVE... I!)

If you buy an expensive thing and you never use it, I don't think there's a point to it. (Hmmm. I don't necessarily agree with this one... but I still like Tom!)

Celebrate the Month

This might be fun to try. Google "National Days Celebrated in July" (or any other month). Click on "July Special Days." You will then see THE LIST. Some of the days celebrated are serious, some are silly and some would be EASY to try!

The following is just a few of the many days celebrated in the month of July:

National Baked Bean Month
National Blueberry Month
National Hot Dog Month
National Ice Cream Month
National Picnic Month
National Recreation Month

July 1 - Build a Scarecrow Day (Build a scarecrow together as a family, and donate it to a neighbor or friend who has a summer garden.)
Canada Day
International Joke Day

July 4 - Independence Day
National Country Music Day
Tom Sawyer Fence Painting Day (Read a kid-friendly version of Tom Sawyer aloud each night the month of July.)

July 5 - Caribbean Day (Serve a Caribbean-style dinner.)

July 6 - Fried Chicken Day

July 7 - Macaroni Day

July 8 - Video Games Day

July 9 - Sugar Cookie Day

July 10 - Teddy Bear's Picnic Day (Plan a Teddy Bear Picnic with your daughter and her friends.)

July 11 - Cheer Up the Lonely Day (Call someone or take someone a small bouquet of flowers. Visit for at least ONE HOUR before you leave.)

July 12 - Paper Bag Day (Make paper bag puppets with the kids.)

July 13 - French Fries Day

July 18 - Cow Appreciation Day (Get in the car and go on a cow hunt. See how many real cows, cow pictures, cow billboards, etc. you can find in 30 minutes.)

July 19 - Stick Your Tongue Out Day

July 20 - Ice Cream Soda Day

July 21 - Junk Food Day

July 25 - Threading the Needle Day (Have a piece of thread and needle at everyone's plate at dinner. Count to three and see who can thread their needle first. Winner gets a candy bar!)

July 29 - Lasagna Day

July 30 - Cheesecake Day

See! How much fun would it be to celebrate some (or all) of these days? Pick a month this year and have a good time with your family celebrating some of the CRAZY things and events which have become "National Days."

I think I'm going to start with August!

Have a wonderful Wednesday. Visit again Thursday for the rest of the "tongue" story, Blog Linkage and a fun date or two.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda