Today is Monday, November 13, 2023
National Hug A Musician Day
On this day in history…
1980- Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, a biopic about boxer Jake La Motta, had its world premiere and became an American classic, especially known for the Oscar-winning performance of Robert De Niro.
Spotlight Photo
Quote of the Week
“Don’t surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn’t true anymore.”
– Cheryl Strayed
Mira’s Photo of the Week
https://www.everafterphotographypnw.com/
Rachel’s friend, Mira, shares her art each week to help beautify the My Monday Memo.
A Few Good Facts
This section is an add-on from Britannica.com. Each day there is a new fun fact in their All Good Facts section. These are a few that Rachel found interesting.
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar collected exotic animals. When he died in 1993, his four hippos escaped into the countryside and reproduced prodigiously. Today the estimated 140 “cocaine hippos” in Colombia have been deemed an invasive species. (11/6)
Margarine is naturally white, but sellers often tint it yellow to make it look more like butter. In 1902, due to pressure from the dairy industry, many U.S. states had laws against yellow-tinting. New Hampshire had a law requiring margarine to be dyed pink until it was overturned by the Supreme Court. (11/8)
There are 98 belief emblems available for use on U.S. military tombstones, including the Wicca pentacle, the hammer of Thor, and the atheist atomic whirl. (11/11)
Kitty Korner
27 weeks old
Banter with Brady & Belichick
- Brady– Our human showcases our handsome faces once again.
- Beli– She takes enough pictures. While I was sitting at her desk with her the other day, I saw that she has more than 400 pictures of us since July. A bit excessive.
- Brady– Ehh, we are so cute, I can believe it.
- Beli– Cute and crazy. I haven’t heard her say “oh, crap” more than last week. Are you trying to give her a heart attack?
- Brady– What? I wasn’t actually going to try to jump on top of the door frame.
- Beli– Really? Sure.
- Brady– Hey, I got her to buy us a new climbing tree, didn’t I?
- Beli– Yes, but I can’t even climb up yet. Why, oh why can’t I climb like you?
- Brady– Dude, you really are clumsy for a cat. You fall off chairs and windowsills. Our human even put you on the first level of our new toy and you fell through the hole. Seriously, you need to pay attention.
- Beli– Quit picking on me.
- Brady– You make it so easy.
- Beli– Grrrrr.
Word of the Day
Will you find it?
As a fun challenge each week, Rachel visits Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day when she sits down to write her weekly story. Whatever the word of that particular day happens to be, she must find a way to fit it into her story. Will you find it?
BUGBEAR
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day on Sunday, November 12, 2023
Meaning
A bugbear is a source of dread or irritation; in other words, something that causes problems or annoys people.
Story of the Week
Let’s Talk Goals
There are officially only 42 days until Christmas Day. Do you have your holiday cards ready to go? Are you lucky enough to say your holiday gift shopping is done? Rachel is working on finalizing her holiday card and hopes to have them out the first of December. She will make an effort at decorating, as well. As far as shopping… nope, nada, zip. She is not a fan of shopping and who wants to spend their time shopping? Not her. Her real bugbear is shopping on a deadline. Where did the year go?
As of today, there are only 49 days left in 2023. Rachel has been working on finishing up her 23 for 2023 Happier Project goal list as well as creating her 24 for 2024 Happier Project goal list. She was almost finished with her new list when she realized she was in large part repeating 2022 and 2023 goals. This simply wouldn’t stand. She had to come up with a new plan. She deleted her entire list and decided to step outside of her comfort zone.
Where did this land her? You’ll have to wait for her official list to come out but what can be shared is that she will be trying a lot of new things. Some of these things she’s never tried before while some she just hasn’t done in a long while. Some will terrify her to try, and some will be just flat out fun.
As far as her 23 for 2023 goals, she’s happy to report that with only 49 days left in the year, she’s already met 18 of her goals. Of the remaining five, four are a loss. Her idea for Tech Free Tuesday was a flop. She realized that she neither has the willpower nor true desire to live tech free once a week. She didn’t get to hike Mt. St. Helens due to a landslide, and she didn’t get to travel to visit Alec this year, although he did travel to see her (sort of counts, she supposes). The last loss was the Goal Capsule. Rachel had intended on making a five-year goal list to lock away until 2028. As she was drafting this list, she found it difficult to come up with things that would be goals five years from now. The process became more of a frustration than fun, so she scrapped it.
What is left? The final 2023 goal, that was also an unfinished 2022 goal is transferring those darn mini-VHS tapes to MP4 format. Why is she so technologically challenged? She hopes to figure this out before the New Year. It would be nice to be able to have these memories in a viewable format and to be able to share a copy with Blake and Alec, as well as their dad.
Of the 2023 goals that she did accomplish, she is most happy with the time spent with Blake and Alec this year. There is nothing that makes her happier than spending time with her kids. Secondary would be her visit to Missouri to visit her moms. That visit was long overdue. Another favorite would be the hikes she was able to take this year. She explored Olympic National Park and had the chance to hike two trails in Mount Rainier that she’s had her eye on for some time.
Rachel is looking forward to finalizing her 24 for 2024 Happier Project and plans to share it before the New Year. Until next time, be well.
