~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 17

★~ Today’s Quote: Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?  ~John Barrymore

★~ Food of the Day: Vanilla Custard:

Thanks to this heavenly confection — made from a combination of vanilla, eggs, sugar, and milk or cream — we can fill our éclairs, trifles, and Boston cream pies! This pudding-textured substance dates back to the Middle Ages, when, much like today, custard was used as a filling for pies, tarts and the like, or enjoyed alone, spiced with seasonings from vanilla and beyond. The sweetened combination of eggs and milk can be baked in the oven or cooked on the stove top. The most popular varieties are flan and crème caramel.

Make your own (just be careful your custard doesn’t curdle), or stop by the bakery and pick out your favorite vanilla custard-filled desert. 

★~ National Thrift Shop Day:

If you don’t yet shop at thrift stores, why not?  If you picture dingy floors, bad lighting, and torn clothing in a heap, you might be surprised. They are a veritable gold mine of unclaimed wealth.

Thrift shops have full leather coats, snowmobile suits, snow boots, ski jackets, dresses, suits, furniture, toys, and all kinds of odds and ends. And if you’ve ever visited a thrift shop, you’ll know that you can often find whimsical and one-of-a-kind treasures, like a leisure suit or a picture of Elvis painted on black velvet.

Thrift shopping takes patience, an open mind, and an eye for creativity, but it can be well worth it for the money you save on clothes alone. And it gives you the opportunity to add that special piece of whimsy to your abode.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1939 – The Wizard of Oz  premiere. The first movie to use the combination of black and white and color film starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale; Bert Lahr as both the Cowardly Lion and Zeke; Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow and Hunk; and Jack Haley as both the Tin Woodsman and Hickory. Originally, Buddy Ebsen was in the role of the Tin Man; but he became ill and had to leave the production before its completion.

♥~ 1968 – People Got to Be Free, the hit single by The Rascals, rocketed into the top slot on the Billboard record chart, and stayed there for five weeks

♥~ 1987 – The movie Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey opened throughout the U.S.

♥~ 1996 – An 8-year-old gorilla named Binti cradled an injured boy in her arms and left him for keepers to rescue after the boy fell 20 feet into her enclosure at the Chicago zoo.

♥~ 2001- A 45-year-old family doctor in London took do-it-yourself to a new level by performing a vasectomy on himself.  Dr Jonathan Heatley performed his own surgery with the help of his wife and a nurse. The doctor, who had performed some 400 vasectomies, said everything went well, but advised others not to try it at home.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1786 – Davy Crockett frontiersman, soldier, defender of the Alamo; killed Mar 6, 1836 at the Alamo

♥~ 1893 – Mae (Mary Jane) West playwright, actress: Sextette, Go West, Young Man, I’m No Angel, Every Day’s a Holiday, Diamond Lil, Sex; actress: She Done Him Wrong, My Little Chicadee, Myra Breckinridge; autobiography: Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It; died Nov 22, 1980

♥~ 1920 – Maureen O’Hara (Fitz Simons) actress: Miracle on 34th Street, How Green was My Valley, The Quiet Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

♥~ 1943 – Robert De Niro actor: Academy Award-winning actor: Raging Bull [1980], The Godfather II [1974]; Brazil, The Deer Hunter, The Untouchables, Taxi Driver, Awakenings, Cape Fear,Frankenstein, Back Draft, Search for Tomorrow, Stardust; director: Bronx Tale

♥~ 1960 – Sean Penn Academy Award-winning actor: Mystic River [2003]; Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Casualties of War, Shanghai Surprise, We’re No Angels, Carlito’s Way, Colors, Dead Man Walking

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ Robert De Niro, who is thought of as one of the greatest actors of his time, was born in New York City in 1943 to two artists.

♥~ When he was a child, he was an avid reader of playwrights.

♥~ Growing up in the Little Italy section of New York City, his nickname was “Bobby Milk” because he was so thin and as pale as milk.

♥~ After being caught up in a Paris prostitution ring investigation, he, denying any involvement, vowed never to return to France again (1998).

♥~ Is the second actor to win an Oscar for portraying Vito Corleone. He and Marlon Brando are the only two actors to win an Oscar for playing the same character.

♥~ First discovered his love for acting at age 10 when he portrayed The Cowardly Lion in a local production of “The Wizard of Oz.” He dropped out of high school to join a gang.

♥~ Meryl Streep is his favorite actress to work with.

♥~ Spent four months learning to speak the Sicilian dialect in order to play Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (1974). Nearly all the dialogue that his character spoke in the movie was in Sicilian.

♥~ Co-owns the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco with Bay area residents Francis Ford Coppola and Robin Williams.

♥~ Shares a birthday with friend and sometime-co-star Sean Penn.

★~ Odd To Know: People Who Accidentally Found A Fortune:

The man who bought an official copy of the Declaration of Independence for $4:

A man, who was not identified, bought a torn painting for $4 in a flea market in Adamstown, Pa., because he was interested in its frame. When he got home he removed the painting — a dismal country scene — and concluded the frame could not be salvaged, but found one of the 500 official copies from the Declaration of Independence, folded and hidden in the backing. Sold for $2,420, 000 at auction

The old lady who found a 140 year-old baseball card in her basement:

Bernice Gallego, a 72-year-old California woman found a rare baseball card of the first professional team in the United States in her home. And if it weren’t for the intervention of a friend, she would have sold the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings card on eBay for $10. The 19th century baseball card was sold on the auction block for $75,285

The student who found a painting worth over $27,000 in a thrift store couch:

A German student bought a pullout couch for $215 at a Berlin flea marketand found a painting worth 100 times that amount hidden inside when she unfolded the sofa at home. According to Auction House Kunst Kettler, the tiny 10- by 15-inch oil painting was sold for $27,630 at a Hamburg art auction.

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A thrift store is a great place to buy dog blankets, so I often find myself stopping by to look around and upgrade my camper’s bedding. Nothing is too fine for my campers, and they often snooze on Ralph Lauren, Nautical, Lands’ End and other brand name blankets and comforters. Some cities are now opening thrift stores for computers. Can you imagine the number of cords and chargers they must have in stock?  And as far as I can tell, you can also get a very good deal on a computer or a phone. I haven’t been to one yet, but I have known people who have, and they say the stores are well laid out and organized, and fairly knowledgeable employees offer to assist you. Best Buy is in trouble!

Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

♥
Kb