A Year of Blogging: November 27, 2011

November 27 is 'Pins and Needles' Day. It is to commemorate the opening of Pins and Needles on Broadway in 1937. Pins and Needles was a pro-labor play. However, apparently many people have forgotten the original meaning of the day, and look at it more as a day to be on pins and needles, or anxious. Maybe people are anxious that there is a month left until Christmas and there is much to do. ("How's that afghan coming?", you ask? Well, I'm getting there.) There's the shopping, the wrapping, the shipping, the baking, the decorating. The whole thing can leave you tossing and turning at night. Unless of course you don't sleep well anyway, and then it's probably not Christmas that is keeping you up, but just life in general. Children could be on pins and needles trying to behave, because after all, Santa is watching. Some parents even have Santa's number, so they can call him and report any bad behavior. It's no wonder this is a stressful time of year! Pins and Needles day sounds like a very stressful day. So here's something to make you laugh. According to www.History.com, on this day in 1911, Elizabeth Jaffray, a housekeeper in the White House wrote in her diary about a conversation she had with President Taft and his wife about President Taft's waistline. President Taft's weight varied between 270 and 340 pounds in his adult life. Biographers state he frequently got stuck in the tub and had to be lifted out by two men. Now, no matter how stressful things are in your life- at least you aren't getting stuck in the bathtub! I would bet most of the citizens of the US at that time didn't know this tidbit. Can you imagine how that would play out in today's social media?