Never Forget

9/11/2001

 

 

The day our world changed

 

Forever changing hearts

 

Families

 

Heroes

 

and Memories

 

My sorrow for all Americans

 

My salute to every Hero

Labor Day – A Few Facts

When I was young kid, I really couldn’t understand why people did not have to work on Labor Day.  Didn’t this mean “Work Day”?   Weren’t the days of Monday thru Friday Labor Days?  What I realized is Labor Day is for the common man - common worker.   

Canada

• If you thought Labor Day is strictly an American holiday, we really have our Canadian neighbors to thank.  Labor Day started over a labor dispute in the 1870′s in Toronto, Canada who were disputing 58 hour work weeks.
• The 1st Labor Day Parade was held in 1872 in Canada

United States of America

• September 5, 1882 – The 1st Labor Day in the U.S.A. was in New York City.  It included 10,000 workers as they paraded the city.  The festivities also included parades, cigars, and lager beer kegs mounted any possible place they could think of.
• Why 10,000 workers?  They were organized, trying to gain support of the 8 hour work day.  They were tired, exhausted from the 12 hour work days.
• The 1882 Labor Day was formed by Union leaders
• There is a dispute to this day over whether Peter J. McGuire or Matthew McGuire founded the 1st Labor Day. 
• The 1st Labor Day was on a Tuesday.
• In the beginning, Municipal Ordinances were the ways Labor Day was 1st recognized, being passed in 1885 and 1886.
• The 1st State Bill was proposed in New York.
• Oregon passed the 1st State Law on February 21, 1887 recognizing Labor Day as a holiday.
• Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York also recognized Labor Day that same year.
• 1894 – President Grover Cleveland signs into law that the 1st Monday of September shall be an official holiday known as Labor Day.
• If you want to be fashionably correct, be sure to pack away those white shoes today.  I think this may be less of a tradition today due to sneakers but I remember officially packing away the summer clothes and NO WHITE after Labor Day.
• If you are interested in US Labor Statistics, click here for USA.gov Government Made Easy

I don’t know about you, but I am thankful that work weeks are only 40 hours.

Isn’t it interesting how the tone of the nation has turned?

So many people choose to work  well past the 40 hour week. 

…and Today? 

Many people wish they had a job to complain about rejoyce in.

•   •   •

Today – just for fun – I am including a “Word of the Day”.  (The connotation has been used above.)

- Defined by Dictionary.com

ox·y·mo·ron

Rhetoric, a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”

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If you go to Dictionary.com and click on the speaker, you will be able to listen to the pronunciation.

Enjoy your Sassy Day Off

Enjoy your Sassy Short Work Week!

The Last Summer Fling

Labor Day is almost here.  It’s time for the last summer fling.  The kids are back in school, the weather may some day cool and the leaves begin to fall.

It’s that long weekend that we have one last chance to end the summer with a special event.  Many will be traveling cross-country to see friends and relatives, others may stay closer to home.  You may go to the mountains or to the shore.  Maybe you will play horseshoes or build a bon fire.  Remember, it’s the last summer fling.

Birthdays

No, today is not my birthday!

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But we all seem to have one every year.

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Yesterday, someone very special to me had a birthday.  As we were talking on the phone,  Mr. Birthday didn’t like the idea of getting older.  Of course, who does!  That’s rhetorical..unless you are younger than twenty-one.  At twenty you are desperately waiting for “being legal”.

As he and I discussed, there is only one other alternative.  That one just happens to be much worse than getting older.

Remember being young and you could hardly wait for a birthday?  Who would you invite to your party?  How many presents would you get?  Were you going to get that most thought of present?  Oh, you just waited — and not patiently either.

After you reach 40, the birthdays really shouldn’t happen any more!  No more getting older!  I have to like my Grandmother’s philosophy on this one:  “No more birthdays, just present days!”

The best presents in the world to me are my children, family, loved ones and friends.  It’s not what you put in a box wrapped with pretty paper and ribbons. 

The chicks are out of the nest and I miss their birthday celebrations.  We always had Birthday Weeks for the chicks.  That was fun.  A special dinner.  A special friend to spend the night.  Birthday Week was just a special week for the Birthday person to have liberties that were not as often indulged.  Birthdays now are a time to reflect and think of the day as another Thanks-Giving…Giving Thanks that my life is so full of the presents I receive every day.

But believe you me!  I am not aging one year for every thankful day!  No way is that happening!

So if your birthday is today, yesterday,

tomorrow or any other day,

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I am wishing you a

Blessed and Sassy Happy Birthday!

Why I Celebrate the 4th of July

   

  As a citizen of the United States of America, I feel blessed to live in a country where 56 men believed in freedom, the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, the right to stand up to our government if the need arises as well as our other unalienable rights.  I feel gratitude and very humbled because of the heart, soul and tenacity these men showed.  It’s been said that these men literally shed tears, physically fought amongst themselves and sweat from the heat.  Every time I hear the term “blood, sweat and tears” I do think of our founding fathers.