Month: December 2016

Christmas Is Closer Than You Think

lifenov5-51-002 lifenov5-51-001

This GE clock radio is pretty dope, and it would look nice on my night stand. The ad says the radio turns your coffee maker and television on. Did they really have that technology in 1951? In any case, I already have a clock radio, and it’s entirely useless. It doesn’t matter if I fall asleep at 11pm or 3am (both of those scenarios happen weekly, btw) because I’m up with the sun or before the rooster crows. My body won’t let me sleep in. Even on the Sundays that I have to be up by 7am to go sing at church, I’m always up before then. But I set it just in case. In fact, I haven’t actually heard the alarm go off in years because I’ve risen and shut it off before it ever meets its hour. And when I arrive to church at 8am, and others are yet tardy half an hour later, they always say their “phones didn’t go off.” Well, perhaps they need to buy a clock radio. One with a plug. Then it will never need charging.

Two Of My Favorite Things: Christmas And Coca-Cola

 

12/49 National Geographic
12/49 National Geographic

For more images of the Coca-Cola sprite boy, visit these posts from days of yore:

https://sanceau.com/2016/08/25/6-5-ounce-cokes-the-secret-to-a-darling-figure/

https://sanceau.com/2014/05/11/right-on-the-beam/

When The Can-Can Just Can’t-Can’t

LIFE celebrates 1945
LIFE celebrates 1945

After the victory in WWII, there weren’t enough planes, trains, and ships to carry all the men home as quickly as they would have preferred. Families back home chanted, “Bring the boys home, bring the boys home!” Dozens of USO shows were dispatched to distract the servicemen with bare legs and pretty smiles. It didn’t work. The new chant became, “No boats, no votes!” And with that, Congress brought three million servicemen back home by November. One million were promised to soon be on their way. Sometimes you want eye candy: sometimes you just want to be back in your own warm bed again.

Happy 134th Birthday to Martin Van Buren!

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Today marks the birthday of our 8th president, Martin Van Buren. This morning I couldn’t have told you one fact about him. But now I’ve learned several!

  • He was the FIRST president to be born in the U.S.
  • He was the first president NOT of British or Scots-Irish ancestry; he was Dutch and spoke Dutch as his first language, with English as his second.
  • His political enemies nicknamed him Martin Van RUIN.
  • He married his childhood sweetheart and first cousin once removed, Hannah Hoes, but she died 18 years before he was sworn in. FYI, a first cousin once removed is either your cousin’s kid or your parent’s cousin

Once I learned that, I immediately thought of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt and how ew it was that they were cousins. And how Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin back in the day. But did you know Edgar Allen Poe married his 13-year-old first cousin, too?

So did Einstein, Jesse James, and composer Stravinsky. Thomas Jefferson married his third cousin. Johann Sebastian Bach had 20 children, seven of them with his first wife and second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach. Charles Darwin married his first cousin and had ten children. Cue the natural selection jokes. The real Christopher Robin married his first cousin and had one daughter, who was later diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. Makes you wonder. 

Now check out Einstein and his handsome cousin.

http://oldcatlady.com/
http://oldcatlady.com/