Monday A La Mode: September 1, 2013

Visit MMC each Monday to see what's new and happening! I hand pick the news, products, websites and more that I believe will interest MMC readers most and compile it all into one easy to read weekly post.

This week the focus is on today's holiday...

Happy Labor Day!

• On June 28, 1894, an act of Congress made the 1st Monday in September a national holiday in honor and recognition of the contributions that workers have made to the growth and development of a strong and prosperous America.
• The first Labor Day was held more than a decade earlier in New York City in 1882. Other cities followed and later states declared the day a holiday before the federal government finally got on board.
• In recent years, Labor Day celebrations and recognition by employers have both declined. Be sure to say thank you to at least one hard-working American today for his or her contribution to our economy, our freedom, our way of life! 
• Buy American-made products. Don't forget that somebody made that bed you sleep in, that coffee mug in your hand, that computer under your fingertips; and hopefully it was an American who made it!
• See a variety of videos that pay tribute to specific important contributions of American workers at History.com by clicking here. Short video clips focus on subjects like the history of Labor Day, the fight to end child labor, the GM sit-down in the 1930s, and more. See one of these videos below. 

If You Wonder Who Did Make That Stuff...

• Read Confessions of an Eco-Sinner by Fred Pearce and get an eye-opening reminder that everything we use comes from somewhere, is made by someone, is enjoyed by us often at the expense of another. Pearce actually tracks the items we take for granted all the way from his hand to it's ultimate origin. Super enlightening! Click here to find it on Amazon.com in pirnt or for your Kindle or Nook. 
• Don't have an e-reader? Think about getting one to save trees and only buy print copies of books that you would keep indefinitely. Get a Kindle on Amazon, too, by clicking here. Or try the Nook, which is what I use, from Barnes & Noble, by clicking here.
• When you are ready for another reading suggestion, check out GoodReads.com by clicking here. I discovered Good Reads this week and love it! I rate books I've read on a scale of 1 to 5 stars and the site suggests books that I might enjoy based on those ratings. I'm finding it easy and fun to use. My reading list just got a lot longer!

If You Aren't at Work Today...

• Please be safe. Labor Day weekend is unfortunately known for it's high number of fatalities. It has been estimated that more than 400 traffic-related deaths will occur before the holiday is through, and that doesn't include accidents on the water. Don't drink and drive - on the road or on the water - and be aware of other drivers who may be less responsible. See more stats from the National Safety Council by clicking here.
• Think about the ecological consequences of your actions. As you head out to whatever festivities you have on the agenda, remember the basics like keeping trash off the ground and out of the water, taking care with grills and fireworks so that wildfires aren't started, keeping recyclables out of the garbage, using fewer disposable items, and cooking only what you will eat to avoid waste.
•  Skip the fast food! Not sure why? Watch this trailer for the upcoming movie from www.foodmyths.org and visit their website to sign up to be one of the first to see the full length movie later this month. 
• Check out some amazing blogs while you are sunning it in that beach chair! Click the Top Mommy Blogs button below to be redirected to their list of the best mom blogs on the web. You are sure to find some you love! 

Enjoy your holiday and be sure to share Monday A La Mode with friends using the Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Email buttons below!

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Summer Blog Challenge: Day 3

Today's challenge: List fifteen interesting facts about yourself. 

I definitely had to enlist my family on this one. I couldn't even come up with one! Every thing you see below was written as a result of a big family brainstorming session. Sorry it's so long, but the challenge was 15 after all. And you know I can't say anything without an explanation!

1. I can spell nearly any word. And give you a definition to boot. I find words interesting and always have, at least for as long as I can remember. When I was 3 and 4 I asked a million questions until I finally taught myself to read and write. On my 5th birthday, my mom took me to the bookstore and told me to pick any book I wanted. I chose a very large and very expensive dictionary. She tried to talk me out of it, but to no avail. I still have it and still use it. 
2. There is very little I like about women's lib. Don't get me wrong. I believe in strong women! I am one! And women's lib has it's plusses. But strong women existed all over the world before the women's liberation movement, too. Now that we are "equal" to men (knowing of course that we may never really achieve true equality...this is a whole different topic) we didn't just gain the right to go to college, join the workforce, and support our families financially. We also gained an expectation of that behaviour. I want to be a homemaker. I want to cook and clean and garden and sew and homeschool my kids. And if I quit my job, we will be poor(er) and I will be irresponsible in the eyes of today's society ... for doing what was expected of women only 50 years ago. 
3. I want to live on a homestead in Alaska. I don't know nearly everything I would need to know in order to make this move. But I want it nonetheless. I have dreamed of Alaska for most of my adult life. Not some suburban neighborhood, either. I want to live off the land, pee in an outhouse...you get the point.
4. I love animals. I would love running a pet rescue and if I were financially able to do so, I would probably have one already. For now, we have 2 dogs and 2 cats. They seem to know how much I love them all because they follow me everywhere. My husband always gets a good laugh if I lie down on the couch because in a matter of minutes I am surrounded and/or buried by the four pets. My daughter really loves little kids and they seem to be drawn to her. I guess I am the same way with cats and dogs!
5. I am 9 years older than my husband. Hey, love knows no bounds, okay? He's funny and caring and Christian and gentle and we love each other very much. We've been through a lot together and we plan to go through a lot more. 
6. I graduated with honors from College of Charleston and planned on going to law school.  I don't know how interesting this is. But most people don't know this about me. I don't go to any alumni activities. I only keep in touch with one person from my college days. And I work in a grocery store. But I have the student loan debt to prove it! I gave up on law school because I wanted to be able to spend more time with my son, who was at that time my only child and 6 years old. I had missed too much time with him trying to work my way through college and didn't want to miss any more. 
7. I love all things history. I stink at memorizing anything, so I never did well in history classes, but I still found them extremely interesting. I even took some extra history classes as electives in college, knowing they wouldn't exactly help my GPA. Today I love all things antique or vintage, especially old books (see #1 haha), and I still like brushing up on my history. 
8. I was a cheerleader in high school. It's funny how that happened. I didn't have any desire to be a cheerleader. Never crossed my mind. But my best friend wanted to cheer and begged me to go through tryouts with her so we could practice together and maybe even get to cheer together. I made the squad and she didn't. I felt awful instead of happy. I soon realized that cheering was actually lots of fun and quite challenging athletically. Not to mention, I looked really cute in that uniform.
9. I am addicted to puzzles. I especially love word puzzles (imagine that). But I also really enjoy sudoku, logic puzzles, and brain teasers. It is a rare night that I go to sleep without first working on a  puzzle in bed. Car trip? I take the puzzle books. Vacation? I take the puzzle books. Laying out on the beach? You guessed it...puzzle books. 
10. I'm afraid of the dark and of spending the night in the house alone.  I did outgrow my fear of the monster under the bed (except after watching a scary movie), but I never completely outgrew my fear of the dark. I don't lie there worrying about imaginary monsters; instead I lie there worrying about real-life monsters like burglars. If they do come in, I want to be able to see!
11. I have a very loud and almost unique laugh. Almost unique because my mom and I share this one. And we both laugh often. My stepfather once said, and this was before cell phones, that he never worried about losing my mom and I in a store. All he had to do was stop and listen for a minute. Years later, I heard my husband tell someone the exact same thing. 
12. I have an unnatural love affair with hummus. I will mix almost anything in my hummus to keep things interesting. I will eat it on bread, crackers, chips, or veggies. I like it warm, cold, or room temperature. Sometimes I make a meal out of hummus and whatever I'm dipping into it. When I get to the bottom of a bowl of hummus, I swirl my finger around the sides and then lick my fingers...don't want to miss any. My husband thinks it smells bad and won't kiss me after I eat it, but I eat it anyway; I'll get kisses later!
13. I subscribe to so many magazines that I couldn't give you a count right off hand. I can never seem to get enough reading material and magazines are perfect when I'm too busy to invest time in a novel. I don't spend a lot of money on them because I only subscribe when I see a great deal. For example, my current subscription to Women's Day only cost $3 for a year. I feel guilty about all of the paper, but my Nook is first edition so no color makes reading mags on it awful. I do recycle all of them after I've finished with them. National Geographic is my favorite and it is the exception to all of the above. I pay regular price to renew every year and I don't recycle them. I pass them along to my eldest son instead because it's his favorite magazine, too. Then we stack them on the bookcase to look at again later (and we actually do look at them again later).
14. I wish I could inherit an old farm, complete with old farmhouse, somewhere nearby. At least until I move to Alaska.
15. I'm southern and I don't like sweet tea. I know. Crazy. What can I say? I really don't like sugar in my tea. It leaves a sticky feeling in my mouth. Makes me feel like I've been drinking syrup. But iced tea is still high on my list of favorite things to drink. Unsweetened iced tea.