Friday the 13th Doesn't Have to be Unlucky

 

I'm not super-stitious. Just a little-stitious. Still, I'm always a bit wary about full moons and Friday the 13ths. 

When you think about it, a lot of hotels and buildings omit the 13th floor due to a superstition called triskaidekaphobia – the fear of the number 13. This aversion is rooted in historical and cultural beliefs that the number 13 is unlucky and, naturally, that can cause some anxiety and unease for some people. 

But as the Friendly Reminder above tells us, we don't have to focus on the negative part. I mean, 13 could be lucky.

Today, in fact, my sister Rachel – in a rehab facility after what was probably her 8th surgery following her near-fatal accident last year (this one to re-break and straighten her leg) – managed to walk 20 steps! What a lucky day. Well a little luck and a lot of grit and determination!

This evening, Jim and I got to eat dinner in Stevens Point with our old friend Toni, who we worked with at the newspaper years ago and at Krause Publications in Iola. It was great to catch up. How lucky we are to have long-lasting friendships!

Then when we got home, our boy called. They're coming up Sunday for Father's Day. Double lucky.

POSTIVE-ly lucky!

The Out Back

I had ambitions after work today. I wanted to go out back get more yard work done. I honestly didn't know it was THIS warm out until I called it quits. Because, well, I was hot!

This is the BEFORE of what I was facing. See all those roots and stumps to the left of my new pile of heavy underground treasures (aka landscaping rocks from 2+ decades ago)? I needed to keep working on it since things are blooming everywhere.

And this is AFTER. So I did make progress! I still have more to do that will have to be for another day.

While I was out there, I was pleased to note that my bleeding hearts I transplanted last year came back! 

The only non-black thumb thing I think I've ever accomplished! Except for managing to keep hanging flower baskets thriving.

Didn't get my hanging baskets yet, but I do have a few wildflowers growing in the Out Back as well.

Mother Nature must know I like purple! 

After that fun work out, I showered and got some groceries and now am watching the Celtics-Bucks game in my air-conditioning. Jim had baseball up in Abbotsford this evening (tough 8-2 loss) but he should get back in town in time to catch the end. While most of the state is chanting "Bucks in 6," my lifelong Boston fan is praying for "Celtics in 7!"

We'll see who this Friday the 13th is unlucky for.

Be careful out there!

My Kind of Blessing

 

Our alphabetical gratitude month continues today with the letter K which means I am beyond O K – I'm so blessed!

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java

Kindness: Did you know November 13 is always World Kindness Day?  It should be every day. Especially in 2020. In a world, in a state, in a town where there is discord, I am so grateful to people who are kind. And not just on international holidays. I am grateful when people show respect for the elderly, for authorities, for their parents – for humankind, really. It's missing in a lot places. The other day I encouraged an elderly man (anyone over my hubby's age) to get ahead of me in line at the store because he only had two items. He says, "Pull your mask down so I can see you face." I pull it down and I'm like, "You don't know me. I'm just being nice." And I get a "Well thank you, young lady." Hey, we need more people calling me young AND a lady. I'll let you know when Robyn Kindness Day is!

King Cone: It had to be said.

Knock on Wood: I'm not superstitious, just a little stitious. So on days like today, I knock on wood for luck.

When you wake up to this and it's Friday the 13th in 2020, you wonder, has someone checked to make sure this white powdery substance isn't lethal? Not that I have paraskavedekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia – you know, long words with Ks that mean fear of Friday the 13th. But still, we all hoped today just be normal. As normal as any Friday the 13th in 2020 could be anyway. So far – knock on wood – we're O K!

Karma: Grateful for karma? Yup. That's all I need to say about that.

Be safe and Kareful out there!

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

Bring Out the Crazies

I didn't even fact check this. I just saw that I'll be 80 years old the next time there's a full moon on Friday the 13th. I just wonder if it will bring out the crazy in me. I sure hope I'll still be up to shenanigans!

It was windy, cold, and cloudy tonight so I didn't see the full moon. Doesn't mean it's not there. We'll know when the cat starts doing jumping jacks at 2 a.m.

Since we escaped any weirdness today, hubby and I had a football Friday night date. Sort of. Joined friends at the Nekoosa game to watch a senior on the Nekoosa team and an assistant coach on the Adams-Friendship team. Cousin vs Cousin and we adore them both. In the end, it was Nekoosa by one point.

I had another crazy adventure today – for me – but I'll wait to tell you about that in a few days to see if the positive results hold true. Right now I feel like I was hit by a truck – driven by Jason from Friday the 13th, ha – but no pain, no gain, they say.

Be safe out there!

Just a Little Stitious

As Michael Scott once said in The Office, "I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious."

Frankly, Friday the 13th had nothing on me this year... hobbling around with a broken bone caused indirectly by an almost all-black cat. One would hope I'd be just about out of bad luck. I say "hope" because if I say I am then, well, it's not quite midnight yet. Still early enough to jinx myself.

I don't put much stock in superstitions so I purposely go out of my way to avoid them. Oh wait, that does sound a little stitious.

Let's just say I had my usual casual Friday... a stop at the walk-in clinic on the way to work to seek pain management help, then a full work day waddling around the office (and appreciating elevators and escalators), then out for fish with our friends across the street. You know. Just a normal Friday.

After hearing of unlucky family members dealing with flooded basements after yesterday's rains came – north and west, not here – I was hoping this Friday the 13th would be remembered for a long, steady rain. Ball players and race car drivers wouldn't be happy. But the grass would rejoice. My flowers would gasp for a drink and smile. And our neighbors – and all farmers in our area – would breathe a sigh of relief.

But of course, that sounds too good for Friday the 13th. Hopefully Saturday the 14th will deliver.

I would like to just put my feet up (doctor's orders anyway) and watch it unfold. I'll just keep that almost-black cat from walking under a ladder or, heaven forbid, my recliner.

Fingers crossed... salt thrown over shoulder... good night.

It's Friggin Friday the 13th

I've got a little taste of friggatriskaidekaphobia today. That's easy to say, right?

If you didn't already know... friggatriskaidekaphobia is the Scandi-hoovian version of the "morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th."

Friday is Frigga's Day. Frigga (Frigg) was an ancient Scandinavian fertility and love goddess, equivalent to the Roman Venus who had been worshipped on the sixth day of the week. Christians called Frigga a witch and Friday the witches' Sabbath. Throw in some other word origins and you've got yourself something rivaling supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Move over, Mary Poppins!

Actually, stay, Mary. We could use your umbrella. As I am typing, it is raining hard and thundering and lightning. Earlier today it was hailing, too. You see, it's not so much Friday the 13th that I'm afraid of – I already survived a black cat sighting (and petting) plus downed wires on my commute home – it's what this day and night might bring.

For now, rain. But... as temperatures gradually cool overnight, the rain will become a wintry mix of rain, freezing rain and some sleet. If I believe the latest forecast models, we could have a quarter of an inch of ice in the HEART of Wisconsin come morning.

So it was only logical that hubby spends the evening golfing and I spend mine watching Hallmark Christmas movies.

For real. No Friday the 13th of April fooling.

He met up with some friends at an indoor golf simulator. I decided to get at least one of my Christmas movies watched and erased from the DVR queue. I probably won't stay up for another one because, despite this crap-tastic weather, the 5K I am photographing tomorrow morning is still ON. Yikes.

There's always something adventurous to blog about!

TGIF the 13th :: Stitious

I don't consider myself superstitious. Just a little-stitious. But when Friday the 13th rolls around, the level rises a bit.

Don't ask me why. Just feeding into the paranoia, I guess. Plus I am a teen of the '80s so I have a fear of Jason in a hockey mask showing up, especially when the Friday falls during hockey season. Uff da. I've got chills!

Thankfully all was normal for me today.

Went to work. Did not spill my coffee. Did not slip on my banana peel. Went safely to and from the chiropractor at lunch – but did notice a 3-car accident at the intersection of 8th and the Expressway in town. Hope everyone was OK.

After work, we grilled out for supper. No surprise explosions. (Or burnt food.) And Carter had a girl friend over, too. The world did not stop spinning when he died of embarrassment after I showed her a scrapbook. So we survived that catastrophe, thank you very much.

Had a calm evening creating Carter's "card box" for the graduation party and doing a quick grocery run to buy items for the Post Office food drive tomorrow. Nothing major. Nothing freaky. Now I just need to go to bed and hope I don't have dreams with Jason (or house bears) in them!

I'm still a little stitious about that.

Thirteen Shmirteen

Hope you all survived Friday the 13th OK. I mentioned the date to my fitness instructor this morning and he asked, "Are you superstitious?"

I don't think I am. A few unlucky things have happened on the 13th. Not necessarily on a Friday the 13th. And plenty of unlucky things have occurred on other dates. Thirteen, shmirteen.

So no, I don't get freaked or let it rule me. I mean, heck, I live with a mostly black cat!

I do step on cracks on the sidewalk and I haven't broken my mother's back yet. Though she does have severe osteoporosis in her spine. Whoops.

I even manage to actually breathe rather than hold my breath when driving past cemeteries.

Perhaps I have come a long way.

So I treated today like a normal Friday. It was not normal at work where we had two "Monday" deadlines moved to today so we can have Monday, Presidents Day, off. That was a bit hectic but worth it. Got to leave at 3 p.m., too. So it was really worth it!

Tonight was a home boys basketball game versus Pittsville, who beat us on their home turf earlier this season. Hubby had to sell tickets so he needed to be there at 5:15. I dropped him off, stopped at the Cravings coffee shop, dropped some letters off at the Post Office and went to the library.

Nobody tailgates before a Royals hoops game like I do.... I enjoyed a Sweetheart Mocha Something from Cravings while sorting through 475 photos for next weekend's scrapbooking getaway. Who has more fun than ME? No one.

Except the basketball team, who came from behind to beat the Panthers tonight. Nice!! Very good game!

Perhaps luck – if you believe in it – was on our side. We'll take it.

TGIF-13-SLD!

TGIF-13-SLD translation: Thank God It's Friday the 13th and St. Lucia Day!

Yes, happy St. Lucy Day to my fellow Scandi-hoovians. While we somewhat acknowledge St. Nick's Day since the school handles the card and candy cane for us, we make it a point of honoring St. Lucia Day at home -- just so I have some Scandinavian tradition to pass down to Carter.

As tradition goes, the eldest daughter in the house is supposed to wear the ring of lit candles on her head and serve everyone breakfast in bed. Since I am the only daughter, mother, sister and female in the house, that responsibility falls to me.

One, I skip the lighted candles. Flames and hairspray do not mix. Two, I bypass breakfast in bed but do usually make cinnamon rolls when it falls on a weekend. Three, when it doesn't, the guys get their own breakfast while the Goddess of Light gets ready for work.

Regardless of the day of the week it falls on, we all get a nice little gift. This year, head gear was the theme. Carter got two winter hats (he may or may not have picked out himself on Black Friday weekend), and hubby and I each got a nice Royal Blue golf visor with the Assumption school logo. I'm quite sure that's a hint from St. Lucia that we should consider a golf trip to the islands like St. Thomas or St. Marten or any of her "brothers."

As for the Friday the 13th part of the equation, it didn't factor in. Yet.

Had very busy but productive day at work. Afterward, Jim and I caught the Rapids JV girls basketball game at 5:45 p.m. His god-daughter Becca plays on the team and they won. After that, it was a typical Friday night thrill fest -- grocery shopping at Wal-Mart and visiting with at least 3 other people with the same exciting lives, then going to The Ridges to wait for Carter to get done with his dish-washing shift.

Home by 10 and we will all be snoring by 11. Trust me. It was a long week.

TGIF indeed. And thank you, St. Lucy, for stopping by, bypassing the candle wreath, but still sparking some holiday spirit.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia: Car Show Day 2

I'm pretty sure it's not the best set of circumstances to have a car show on Friday the 13th. Or any event. Well, for me, it was unlucky before I even got there.

I definitely have that paraskavedekatriaphobia they associate with today!

First I am on my way to work, drinking out of a small bottle of Coke Zero. I had the cover on loosely so it was easier to get at while driving. When I got to the car show grounds, I grabbed my bag of everything -- that's phone to purse to camera -- and put my bottle of pop in there with plans to finish it when I got to my vending station.

I wasn't even to the entrance gate before I felt something dripping down my leg. Ugh. My Coke was everywhere in the bag and seeping through. Guess who was in too much of a hurry to tighten that cover? Oh boy. So before I even get out to the show grounds, I washed my shorts in the bathroom sink at work and dried them with the wall-mounted hair dryer thing, saved my camera from its wet bag and wiped down my wet and sticky cell phone.

Well the camera still works as far as I can tell. The phone, though, is shot.

But my shorts are still clean.

The rest of the day was just plain hot. Then, after the show, we held a Wine and Cheese Party for the owners of the "Blue Ribbon" section cars, other show VIPs and our advertisers in attendance. Usually we are just serving as bar tenders. I poured a lot of wine. It was going quite well when suddenly it started to rain!

Oh how we need rain!! Not in the middle of an outdoor party necessarily or during a car show with exposed expensive cars necessarily. But otherwise, we really, really need it. Even if we all got wet!

I figured that was a fitting end to the day. Thankfully I got home safely with no issues. I even bought a cheap replacement phone and stuck my old one in a bag of rice. You just never know. The way we've all been with our electronics lately, it's a good thing we bought a huge box of rice!

Did I take pictures today? Some. I was in a different spot and it didn't work quite as well for me to be inconspicuous. I may have to share after the weekend. I need to pack for our last baseball tourney first... and get sleep so I can head back to the show in 8 hours.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Saturday the 14th

I guess if Friday the 13th is considered unlucky, Saturday the 14th must be just the opposite.

And it was.

Had an early start heading out to help at the garage sale. I was appropriately bundled up in a turtle neck, sweatshirt and winter coat. Why yes, it DID get to 70-some degrees today. But it did take awhile! After a slow first hour, we didn't really have time to be cold, though. It was really busy. By the end of yesterday, I'd already sold the big items I'd put on the sale. So today and tomorrow are about accumulating quarters and dollars in books and Carter clothes. Hopefully, I'll get rid of stuff. With 13 families in on this, there is plenty of get rid of!

I worked the sale 'til 1 p.m., came home and changed and we headed into town. Carter was home from his overnight at his friend Tyler's house and then we ended up dropping him off there again so they could go golfing.

Hubby and I went to a fundraiser party for a scholarship organized by some dear friends of ours. So glad to see a nice big crowd there. We had a great time. I put my name in several raffle baskets -- a lot in the scrapbooking one and designer purse one, and yes, even one ticket in the Packer basket. (I have sisters with birthdays coming up). When I had one ticket left to put in, I saw one basket that had the movie The Help and some mint chocolate Bliss candy. So I put the ticket in there.

One little ticket and guess who won that basket? Lucky me!

Later, I put in 9 tickets in a golf package raffle. They drew someone else's number and that person either lost their ticket or left. So they had to draw again. I turned to the guy next to me and said, "I'm gonna get this. I firmly believe in second chances." Guess whose number they called? MINE! Whoo-hoo! Four rounds of golf at The Ridges, plus some food and pizza gift certificates, golf balls, Budweiser gear and hair products (that are valued at $70 themselves)! Lucky me!

Guess who was not so lucky?

Carter got dropped off at home after golfing. The house was locked. Guess who didn't have a key?

We were still at the party so when we did connect with him via someone else's phone, we told him to hang out with the neighbors'. Good thing it was a nice warm dry day!

Since we knew he was in no danger of suffering (too much) we stopped with a bunch of people at the saloon down the road from the party, where of course, we saw even more people we know. Visited there a bit, but the guilt of our latch-key kid overcame us (me anyway) so we didn't stay long.

As designated driver, that was my first trip driving all the way through Rapids in 2012. That's 11 stoplights for those of you counting at home. No anxiety sitting at red lights this time. Felt pretty good.

In fact, felt darn lucky.

Friday the 13th

I'm not really the suspicious type. In fact, it was about 10 a.m. before I realized today is one of those Friday the 13ths we're supposed to worry about.

I should have figured it out last night on the way home when a black cat crossed the road in front of my vehicle. Then later, having very strange dreams about having to play a ukulele for some competition -- well, having to learn to play it in 5 minutes beforehand, too. Woke up very stressed and tired this morning. Thankfully, that was it for the weirdness. It was a pretty non-freaky Friday.

Was very busy at work. Then I got word that King Cone opened in Amherst today so I begged my driver to stop. Just got a small dose of Blueberry Wafflecone ice cream. That'll get me through the weekend!

Since Carter is at a friend's for the night, we went straight into town after work and caught part of the Assumption girls softball game. Got to see my "pretend adopted daughter" hit a triple. But they still lost to Edgar. Darn. We went from there over to the varsity baseball game where they smacked Edgar around and won by 10 runs in 6 innings. We really only caught one inning of that game before it was done.

Came home and gathered up my scrapbooking stuff (which I admit was not unpacked yet from Camp Crop-A-Lot) and went over to my friend Becky's for a few hours. Only got 2 pages done in Carter's Middle School book -- but had a nice visit. That's what counts! Hubby enjoyed a nice visit, too... in the Man Cave next door while I was gone. This isn't exactly how a couple should take advantage of night to themselves. But we both had fun, so that's all that matters.

And we don't necessarily want to push our luck on Friday the 13th, do we?

Well maybe just a little.

TGIsF (Thank God I Survived Friday ... the 13th)

With the way our luck has been running in 2012, I was a little hesitant to leave the house today. Did we need a Friday the 13th so soon on the calendar?

Thankfully -- and I type this while knocking on wood -- we survived it OK.

Started off the day shoveling (Carter) and blowing snow (hubby) since we got a few more inches of the winter stuff over night. My first stop of the day was the chiropractor. Remember before all the drama of the flying Dyson and the vertigo virus, I had back problems? That seems so minor now! And the back is doing much better, thanks for asking.

Then it was off to work. I didn't feel that great today (lack of sleep) but got better after a good lunch from Subway (commercial plug). By coincidence, my confidence meter was rising and keeping pace with my "feel good" meter. So I was able to accomplish not one, but two, amazing tasks after work.

First I walked into Walgreens to pick up and pay for photos. Secondly, I walked into Kwik Trip to pick up and pay for a pizza. Both times there were no lines, thankfully, plus I had Jim with me (just in case) -- but felt OK. He said, "You want to try Wal-Mart now?" Ha, I said. "Let's not push it, honey. Baby steps."

Maybe tomorrow.

Tonight after supper we enjoyed some time by a campfire next door, then I came home to sit down and write some bills. (Some things don't stop no matter how you feel.) The boys are still out there.

It was a good thing, I came home, though, or I would have missed a call from my "half" sister (who I ran the half-marathon with). We sort of laughed at the irony that 3 months ago I ran a half marathon and today my big accomplishment was walking 50 feet into a store. What a big girl I am!

Baby steps, right?

I definitely am not pushing it on Friday the 13th. My luck ran out days ago.