The Saturday Post

Tomorrow is not only Father’s Day, it’s the centennial celebration of Father’s Day!
In honor of dear ol’ dad, here are a few Father’s Day facts, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau:

The idea of Father's Day was conceived slightly more than a century ago by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm.
A day in June was chosen for the first Father's Day celebration – 100 years ago, June 19, 1910, proclaimed by Spokane's mayor because it was the month of Smart's birth. The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.

How many fathers?
67.8 million -- Estimated number of fathers across the nation.

25.8 million -- Number of fathers who were part of married-couple families with children younger than 18 in 2009.

1.7 million -- Number of single fathers in 2009; 15 percent of single parents were men.

• 8 percent were raising three or more children younger than 18.
• About 47 percent were divorced, 29 percent were never married, 18 percent were separated, and 5 percent were widowed.

158,000 -- Estimated number of stay-at-home dads in 2009. These married fathers with children younger than 15 have remained out of the labor force for at least one year primarily so they can care for the family while their wives work outside the home. These fathers cared for 290,000 children. Among these stay-at-home dads, 59 percent had two or more children, and 57 percent had an annual family income of $50,000 or more.

24% -- Among the nation's 11.2 million preschoolers whose mothers are employed, the percentage who are regularly cared for by their father during their mother's working hours. This amounted to 2.7 million children.

Time with Daddy
53% and 71% -- Percentages of children younger than 6 who ate breakfast and dinner, respectively, with their father every day in 2006. The corresponding percentages who ate with their mother were 58 percent and 80 percent. (The percentages of children who ate breakfast with their mother or father, respectively, were not significantly different from each another.)

36% -- Percentage of children younger than 6 who had 15 or more outings with their father in the last month, as of 2006.

6 -- Average times children ages 3 to 5 were read to by their fathers in the past week, as of 2006.

66% -- Percentage of children younger than 6 who were praised three or more times a day by their fathers.

Happy Father's Day to all dads -- and to all moms playing the role of dad!

The Saturday Post

April is National Poetry Month and I've been remiss in mentioning that, posting anything about it. So even though there's less than a week left in National Poetry Month, I want to give you this: an empowering poem for every woman, but one that I think will especially resonate with the older women, the grandmothers, the ones most likely to be considering where their journey has, is and will continue to take them. Let me know what you think.

The Journey by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.

Today's question:

What is your favorite poem or line from a poem?

The Saturday Post

My good friend Debbie had her retirement party last night. Shew ... 25 years at the same job! She's part of a dying breed, I believe, as people just don't do that anymore. Huge, huge kudos to Debbie for sticking it out!

This song is for her. Although her daughter did a bang-up karaoke job of it last night, I want to dedicate this version to her.

So here's to you, Debbie. (And don't you dare touch that to-do list yet! Take a break -- you more than earned it ... and probably need it after all those chocolate cake shots last night!)

(SORRY... THIS VIDEO LOST IN BLOG MAKEOVER)

Today's question:

What's the longest you've ever worked at one job?

I worked at the newspaper for a little over eight years. Before that, it was four years at the job where I met Debbie. I'm obviously not much of a long-term career person.

The Saturday Post

I'm in the desert with Bubby today and you can bet I'm singing the following song to him.

The first time I met newborn Bubby, I brought with me a CD on which I'd burned this song (from iTunes -- no copyright infringement!). Bubby's real name -- which I never reveal on this blog, per my promise to Megan when I started Grandma's Briefs -- fits perfectly in the "Sweet Baby James" part of the song, and I wanted it to be played often as Grandma's lullaby for my first grandchild.

Have a listen ... and think of me rockin' and singing with my own "Sweet Baby James."

(SORRY... THIS VIDEO LOST IN BLOG MAKEOVER)

Today's question from the "Loaded Questions" board game:

What television show have you surprisingly never seen?

I've never seen "Lost," not even a single snippet of a single episode. And I'm pretty sure I'd like it, so I don't know why I've not yet Netflixed it.

The Saturday Post

Today is the day Brianna finally makes the official move into her new home!

We think it's a pretty good one, as I wrote about here. It seems structurally sound, she got it for a good price, and there have been no horror stories as of yet.

But when purchasing a new (old) home, you really just never know ...

(Ignore the subtitles; it's in English but the only clips I could find of this specific scene were uploaded by folks in other countries.)

(SORRY... THIS VIDEO LOST IN BLOG MAKEOVER)

Congratulations and best wishes on owning your very first home, Brianna! Here's to hoping you never, ever, EVER experience any scenes even remotely similar to the one above!

Today's question from the Zobmondo "Would You Rather?" board game:

Would you rather have your grandmother's first name -- OR -- her haircut? (If she's passed away, think of the haircut you most remember her having.)

Basing this on my maternal grandmother, I'd rather have her first name, Mae. She always wore a wig, as far back as I can remember, so if she so desired to cover up her natural look, I don't really think it's one I want to sport.

The Saturday Post

As I get older, I definitely notice myself getting more and more stupid an ever-so-slight decline in my mental capabilities. Especially my memory.

So when I received an e-mail that mentioned Test My Brain, I forgot about it for a couple months then rediscovered it yesterday I had to quiz the ol' noggin with a few cool cognitive tests.

According to the site, "Test My Brain is a website dedicated to internet-based experiments and science education. ... By participating in these experiments, you can learn a bit about your personality and individual aptitudes.   All of our experiments are designed to provide personalized feedback that is specific to you.  By making research relevant and helpful to individuals like you, we aim to make psychology and brain research more accessible and, ultimately, to promote awareness of scientific research.

As Test My Brain grows and evolves, we hope to continually expand our educational content, presenting the latest in brain research as well as results and what we've learned from these experiments."

Last night, I took the "Keeping Things in Mind" test (15 minutes) and the "Can You Name That Face" celebrity face-recognition test (5 minutes). Below are screen shots of my scores. Check them out (you may need to enlarge the screen to see the type ... maybe??), then visit Test My Brain to find out how you fare. And if you're oh-so daring, share your results here.

"Keeping Things in Mind" scores:

 

And the "Can You Name That Face" score:

I guess I'm not quite as cognitively impaired as I thought (although it did make clear that I really DO suck at anything with numbers). Give it a whirl, then share your scores.

Today's questions from "If... (Questions for the Game of Life)":

If you had to name the best purchase you've ever made, which one would you choose?

I would have to say ... Jim's vasectomy. HA! I'm totally kidding (maybe). No, I'd have to say the house we owned prior to the one we live in now because it was one heck of a deal that led to our ability to buy our current home (and provided many, many good memories ... although I don't think those were related to the purchase).