The Wolf Moon

Sadly, I have missed a couple of days posting, but I hope to get back on track.  We enjoy looking at the night sky together and are always interested  when we hear something new to us.  I heard about the "Wolf Moon," on a local news broadcast and thought we would make a point to check it out.

This term was new to us, so we went about doing a little research to find out what the "big deal," was regarding a Wolf Moon.  Come to find out, the "Wolf Moon," is the first new moon of the year.  The "big deal," in regards to this particular one is that it was to be 30% brighter and about 14% wider in appearance. Unfortunately, living in North Alabama, we were on the outside edge of the recent winter storm that passed through and the cloud cover didn't allow for viewing.  We did see some pictures, but they are just not the same as seeing it ourselves.  I have included one of the pictures that we saw.  I am sure you will agree, it is just not the same.

We have discussed the "Blue Moon," in the past and thought we might talk about that in a post, but finding out that each full moon has a name, was something new to us, so we thought we might better share.  If you are curious about the names of all of the full moons, you can click on the highlighted words and it will take you straight to the Farmer's Almanac legend that discusses the stories behind each month's full moon.

Also, I didn't forget!!  A Blue Moon was wrongly interpreted as occurring when there is a second full moon in a given calender month.  Actually, the Blue Moon is the moon that is a thirteenth moon in a calender year. The Blue Moon occurs during the year, dependent on the tradition that the observer is following.  I kind of like the second full moon in a given month the best, because it is simple. 

Next time you look up to see a full moon, I hope you have a little different appreciation for what you are looking.

Andy

Potpourri Thursday: Random thoughts and quotes.

As I continue to bring this project together, I am faced with the task of putting some order to my ramblings.....

Seeing as how I have not put the finishing touches on said plan, I reserve the right to hodgepodge it today.

Quotes given to me today from a couple of people at work.  Don't know who to credit these to, but rest assured, if I find out, I will give due credit.

*Don't criticize a person, until you have walked a mile in their shoes.  That way you will be a mile away and have their shoes!

*Live your life, like you are on a job interview.





Do you recognize the object in the picture below???

That's right!!!   It is the New Year's ball that is dropped in Times Square to ring in the New Year.

Do you know why the lit ball was initially dropped from this location at midnight??

I skipped down a little to give you a chance to think about the answer, before you read it.  May seem juvenile, but I thought I'd give you a choice.  The answer is:

The ball when initially dropped in 1907, was made of iron and wood, weighed 700 pounds, and was adorned with one hundred 25 watt light bulbs. Times Square had a high vantage point that made the ball highly visible from very far away.  The ball was called a time ball, but not why you think.  Although the drop coincided with New Year's revelers ringing in the year, it actually served a more practical purpose.  That purpose was to alert the ship captain's out in the harbor the precise time that midnight occurred.  Once the captain's saw the ball light up, they would synchronize their chronometers (a precise navigational instrument which could be used to determine longitude by celestial navigation).

I told you I liked learning and teaching. Hope you enjoyed!

A

What is wrong with these pictures? The answer can be found in one of my all time favorite quotes.

There will be many times in your lives when you will have to make decisions.  Some of these decisions will be difficult, others relatively easy.  As we follow along this journey together, I hope to touch on as many of these subjects as possible.

Your Mother came up with a quote that will be an essential one to remember as you get older and begin making decisions on your own.

The people in the pictures above have obviously not heard your Mother's quote.  Because if they had,  they probably wouldn't have wound up on this post.

Here is the quote.  Use it in your decision making process.  Share it with your friends and even some strangers.  I promise not only will you be happy you followed her advice, but you won't ever have to be an example in somebody else's blog.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!  

                                         Sarah (Mom)

Have a great day!

A

Now that we have the serious groundwork in place, let's move on to some of the fun stuff.

As this blog takes shape, I think the "and such" part of the title will become a prominent piece in this puzzle. What is "and such"?

This is the part of the blog that will consist of the many fun things I want to add along the way. This will be the part where I ask for and need audience participation. I am looking from Life Advice, to favorite quotes, books, movies, vacation destinations, or anything that you feel worthy of sharing. You can post such things in comments or feel free to email me at lifeadviceandsuch@yahoo.com

Those of you who don't know me, will quickly find out that I LOVE learning new things.  Once I have learned these things, I enjoy sharing.  Maybe I inherited some of that from my Mom, the school teacher.

Look closely at the picture above and tell me what you see.  I am sure the responses would include, loaves of bread, two different bread companies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or even bread ties.  All of those answers would be correct.  The specific thing I was looking for was the bread ties.

What is the big deal with bread ties you may ask?  I guess the fact that they help keep the bag closed and the bread fresh is an important function.  If your household is like ours, chances are that bread tie will disappear long before the bread does.

I realize you want me to cut to the chase.  The most important thing to notice in this picture is the fact that the bread ties are different colors.  This brings me to the point of this post.  Did you realize that there were different colored bread ties?  More importantly did you know that these colors have a very specific meaning?

If you did, give yourself a high five.  You are the person I am looking for to help me with the "and such" part of this blog.  If you didn't know this, then you are exactly the reason I have started this blog.

I worked in a grocery store when I was growing up and had to rotate the stock at the end of the day.  The bread was something you had to rotate to ensure the older bread left the store first.  The Sunbeam bakery man taught me this lesson that I am going to share with you.

First of all, bread is generally not baked on Wednesdays and Sundays.  Which leaves the rest of the week to bake bread.  The way the bread guy knows which day the bread was baked is by looking at the color of the bread tie on a particular loaf of bread.

This is how the legend generally breaks down:
Monday-Blue
Tuesday-Green
Thursday-Red or Orange (dependent on the bakery)
Friday-White
Saturday-Yellow

If you forget the specific color, remember that the colors are placed in alphabetical order as well.

The next time you find yourself buying bread for that unexpected snow, now you will be armed with the knowledge to get the freshest loaf of bread on the shelf.

Happy Bread Buying,

Big Daddy

If there is only one thing you want people to remember you by, first and foremost, it should be ACCOUNTABILITY.

Accountablility is an adjective that describes a person. The accountability of a person is required or expected justification of actions or decisions;responsible.

Used in a sentence, parents should be accountable for their children's actions.

Cutting to the chase. Stand up and be a man or stand up and be a woman when it comes to your life. If you do right or do wrong, admit to it. Don't take the easy way out and blame it on something or someone else. Regardless of the outcome, good or bad, learn from it.

The bottom line is this, by taking accountability, you will always go to bed knowing that you stood up and took responsibility for your actions. There is nothing harder in the world to do sometimes, but you will always be able to look yourself in the mirror and hold your head high.

Andy

A piece of my heart to my wonderful children.

Welcome and thanks for stopping by to support our little project of love. Who do I mean by "our"? Most importantly, my wife, with whom I collaborated to form the idea of this project. She also, put together the beautiful format and background on which this blog is published. The rest of the "our," are family, friends, and anyone who has some advice to share.

A couple of people, rgilliam and SocialCircle, have been very instrumental in helping compile a lot of advice and subject material to use. There are many other people that I will introduce to you as my blog unfolds. My parents, in-laws, co-workers, and peers who have given of their time and shared experiences that will prove invaluable as we help to shape the lives of our children and hopefully, learn some things ourselves as well.

This site continues to be a work in progress and will hopefully gain steam as it begins to take shape.

Last year, my wife and I made a New Year's resolution, that we agree was the best resolution we ever made. We decided that instead doing something that may or may not last more than a couple weeks, we would put together a project that would be beneficial to our whole family. We decided, that we wanted our children to get to know us. Getting to know us would consist of sharing "everything" we could with them. We would share our highs and lows, our accomplishments and defeats, our joys and sorrows, and the lessons we learned from them all. Those of you who know me, know that I have learned a lot of things the hard way. It is my hope, I can point these mistakes out to my children so that they don't make the same, but if they do, they will understand the things I did to better myself through these experiences.

I encourage each and every one of you that follow along, to share experiences that you feel are important life lessons with us. Send recommendations that you think would be important subjects or issues to pursue. We will go from silly and light hearted to deep and serious conversations that may be difficult, but necessary to discuss.

Again, I am not perfect and thankfully don't claim to be. I hope to make "life lessons" a little easier for my children. We are a Christian family and by saying that, realize, that ALL of our advice will have come with prayerful reflection and a Godly heart.

Thanks again, for all you do Sarah. Not only are you a wonderful wife and mother, you are the best thing I could have ever hoped. Thanks to my wonderful children Joseph (13) and James (7), two fine young men whom I am proud and honored to call my sons. Lastly, my daughter, Ms. Emily Margaret, whom I have yet to meet, but know that God has chosen especially for our family. I can't wait until you join our family in the next few months.

Thanks for patiently following along with this tedious opening. It is my hope that not only will you participate along with us, but that you will find this to be something that you can share along with your family as well.

Sincerely,

Andy