Leap Year 101

Happy Leap Day everyone! Thought I'd share some fun trivia about Leap Year.....I love knowing stuff like this:

• in the Gregorian calendar, 3 criteria determine which years will be leap years: (1) the year is divisible by 4; (2) of those years, if it can be divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year; unless (3) the year is divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year. Got that? For an easier way to determine if a particular year will be a leap year, try the handy Leap Year Calculator.
• your chances of being born on Leap Day are about 1 in 1500.
• there are about 187,000 people in the US and about 4 million people worldwide who were born on Leap Day.
• famous Leap Day babies include Ja Rule (rapper), Dinah Shore (singer) and Jimmy Dorsey (bandleader), among others

Have a great (extra) day today!

lights, camera, action !!!

If you're a dog lover, the book Marley & Me is definitely required reading. It's a great (true) story, and will soon be made into a movie. Since the book is set, in part, in south Florida, the film company will be here in March to begin filming....how exciting! Even more exciting is that they need 1,400 people as extras. I plan to submit my name & photo to the casting company.....maybe I'll be chosen, although I'm not holding my breath.....but wouldn't it be a hoot??? I'll keep you posted....

I've been away from blogging for a few days because Sal and I were in St. Petersburg for his Mom's 70th birthday....details and pics of the party to follow in a post here soon.....

Just Do It: recycle your athletic shoes

I was in the waiting room at the dentist this morning (yes, taxes and the dentist in the same week, ick!) and read about a great concept in a magazine.

We all have 'em.....athletic shoes (a.k.a. "sneakers", if you're a Seinfeld fan) that have worn out, and then we throw them out. No longer! Thanks to Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe recycling program, 20 million pairs of athletic shoes have been recycled into material used for athletic facility surfaces, such as basketball and tennis courts, running tracks and playgrounds. Nike will accept and recycle any brand of athletic shoe (but no cleats)......you can send your shoes to a processing facility in Oregon, or they have a map of drop-off locations around the country. Fabulous!

our taxes are done {RELIEF}

Wow, I'm early this year! I finished our taxes today and e-filed, it's so great. I looked at last year's return and saw that I filed in late March, so this year I wanted to try to get it done earlier......it has so many benefits, namely, that we'll get our refund sooner {smile}, but also that it's off my mind and I don't have to contend with jammed phone lines when calling the IRS or fight with a sluggish website when filing online. The IRS must not be too busy yet, because after I e-filed, they said it would take 24-48 hours to get final acceptance of our return, but I received the acceptance in a mere 2 hours! I used H&R Block's online service, it seems to have worked out pretty good. For $20 you can step through their online software, input all your numbers and deductions, print out a copy of your return, and then e-file, complete with an electronic "signature" and direct deposit instructions for your refund. LOVE it! No appointments, no mailing, no hassle. It even had all the Schedules that I needed to go along with the 1040, they were built right into the program. Ah, sweet relief.....now I can just relax and occasionally check the fun Where's My Refund? link on the IRS homepage.

I've discovered SONIC

When I was a kid, there was a drink stand that I'd pass on my way home from school. I loved their grape slushes {yum} and would routinely ask Mom for 65 cents so that I could get one for the often toasty walk home in the Florida sun. I haven't had a grape slush in years.....until I discovered SONIC the other day. I saw their TV ad and decided to see if, by chance, they had a location near me (they have an online SONIC locator). Sure enough, there's one in Boynton Beach, just north of Delray Beach, in the vicinity of where I happen to run lots of errands. So, now and then, I pull up to one of their drive-in spaces and a server whisks over to me, on roller skates, with my grape slush {by the way, their drinks are 1/2 price between 2:00 and 4:00 PM.....good news since slushes aren't $0.65 anymore !}. SONIC's slushes are not quite as good as I remember getting on my way home from school, but they're close. With every sip, I'm a kid again.

happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Actually, I call it Salentine's Day {wink}. I'm meeting Sal on campus for lunch to celebrate. Enjoy the day! XOXOXO

mixed feelings about Best-in-Show

For the first time in a long time, a beagle has won Best-in-Show at the Westminster Dog Show. The dog, Uno, is no doubt adorable (and everyone knows that I have a soft spot for beagles!), but I am left feeling uneasy about the whole concept of the Show. While it warms my heart immensely to see animals be loved and pampered, I'm concerned about the message of "perfection" that the Show sends. Hopefully, Uno's new fame will not spark throngs of people to beagle breeders rather than to adopt from animal shelters. Shelter dogs are also "perfect", both in body and in spirit. If you have any doubts, just scroll down to my February 6 post and hit the play button.....

Alaska, here we come!

I'm 95% finished with planning our trip to Alaska, whew. I just need to book a couple more places to stay. Sal and I are going to Alaska this summer as a way to celebrate that we both turn 40 this year. I'm super excited, but the trip was a "bear" to plan (pun intended). Since we're not taking a cruise, but instead are exploring the state on our own, I had to make sure to coordinate getting from Point A to Point B in a timely way. The distances are so vast in Alaska, and the modes of transportation are so varied....we'll be riding the ferry, planes, trains and renting a car.

We'll begin our journey in southernmost Alaska, arriving in Ketchikan, and will work our way north through the Inside Passage to Juneau, where Sal's cousin, John, lives. It'll be so great to have a chance to visit him in his environs. The 3 of us will take a helicopter ride to a glacier and go for a hike on the ice....how exciting is that??? From Juneau, we'll head west and explore Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula, staying in Seward. Then it's north to Denali National Park, Fairbanks, and a tour to walk on frozen tundra and to cross the Arctic Circle. Can't wait to visit the Land of the Midnight Sun!

MEMO: it's Monday....time for "Office Space"

Hi everyone, hope you had a great weekend. Sal and I were channel surfing on Sunday night and came across one of my fave movies of all time, Office Space. I've probably seen it 10 times, I just can't resist watching it. It's brilliant......the writer was spot-on in capturing the daily corporate nonsense that so many workers endure, from the daily commute to redundant memos about nothing. A perfect movie after having a "case of the Mondays". If you haven't seen the movie, you'll enjoy this video clip.....I guarantee that the movie will make you want to run out and buy a red Swingline stapler for your desk! {LOL} [Note: contains language not appropriate for little ones who may be within earshot of your computer]

those Pedigree commercials get me.....

.......every time

it's a Super Tuesday (and not just because of the election!)

Today is also a Super Tuesday because it's Sal's 40th birthday! :-) We're having a wonderful day celebrating together. He took the day off, and we went out for his favorite breakfast......pancakes and fresh strawberries. Then we enjoyed some relaxing time at the beach. The weather here is gorgeous today, perfect.



Happy birthday, sweetheart......I love you! Here's to the start of a great new decade!

what a photo!

SuperBowl XLII (it's all about the ads)

Hey everyone, did you enjoy the SuperBowl? Sal and I did. Although we're not big sports fans, we enjoy the annual tradition of the game and all the hoopla surrounding it. And, of course, the ads! A bit of panic set in though when our cable went out (what ?!?!?!?!) about 40 minutes before kick-off, oh no! I was so upset, but Sal's cool-headedness prevailed and he had the idea to pull out our little battery-powered "hurricane" TV. I didn't relish the thought of watching the game on a 5-inch screen, but figured it was better than missing the game completely. Then, a few minutes before kick-off, our cable came back on [relief] and we were back to the 36-inch screen.....hurrah!

The first half of the game was kind of boring, not much action. Halftime was pretty good, classic Tom Petty tunes and a good performance (no wardrobe malfunctions!). But the second half really got good in the 4th quarter, especially in the final 2 minutes of the game! The Giants really held it together.

I thought that most of the ads were lame this year, but I did have one favorite.....the Diet Pepsi Max commercial that was a parody of Chris Kattan's Saturday Night Live skit. Watch the ad here.....turn up the sound, and be sure to NOD !!!

see Jane inspire

"The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves."
--- Dr. Jane Goodall

Wow, today I'm feeling so fortunate! I was able to get a pair of tickets to attend Jane Goodall's lecture at FAU on February 27. Sal and I are thrilled! I've met the esteemed Dr. Goodall once before when she lectured at Butler University in Indianapolis back in the 90s. Her topic then was conservation, but this lecture will focus on peace, tolerance, and compassion. In addition to her lifetime of work and accomplishments as a primatologist, conservationist, animal rights activist, and founder of the The Jane Goodall Institute, she is also a United Nations Messenger of Peace. An extraordinary woman!