National Peanut Day & NEWS FROM MAMA DEB'S HOUSE OF PANCAKES AND INTERNATIONAL RELIEF

yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year; national peanut day is upon us again. i hope you are as excited as i am. i know this announcement is a little tardy, but there are still a few hours in which to celebrate all things peanut.

¿a PB&J for lunch?
¿a can of nuts for snacking?
¿spring rolls with peanut sauce?
¿cookies?
¿door to door peanut distribution?
¿a mr. peanut costume contest?

yes, the possibilities are astounding. good luck with your peanut day festivities. let me know if anything exciting is going on.

and in case you're not quite sure what i'm talking about, here's the newsletter from March 2003. (questions about NPD can be directed to me. questions about peanuts can be directed to debgreen20@yahoo.com.)

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Subject: peanuts in the news
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 16:35:04 -0700

NEWS FROM MAMA DEB'S HOUSE OF PANCAKES AND INTERNATIONAL RELIEF

Due to the recent confusion, a few things about peanuts need to be cleared up.

Although this month (March) is National Peanut Month, National Peanut Day is not celebrated until the 13th of September. We here at Mama Deb's House of Pancakes and International Relief do consider ourselves fortunate that peanut appreciation is spread out so equidistantly throughout the year. Even with our enthusiasm for the peanut, we do recognize that there can be some confusion by having National Peanut Day and National Peanut Month separated from each other. The confusion is only compounded with other recognized dates. National Peanut Butter Day is January 24th, while National Peanut Butter Lover's Month is November and National Peanut Butter Lover's Day is March 1st. Add to this, National Peanut Brittle Day on January 26th, Peanut Butter and Jelly Day on April 2nd and National Nut day on October 22nd and the peanut confusion is nearly perfected.

We, the members of Mama Deb's House of Pancakes and International Relief, have been trying to find ways to clear up this confusion without diminishing the celebration of the peanut. Unfortunately our efforts have been in vain.

We have looked for historical events in the life of the peanut but so many of those are only tied to dates in the most ambiguous of ways. For instance, the birth date of George Washington Carver is unclear even as to the year, and the listings for the top 40 weren't so fastidiously calculated during the Civil War so there is no real way to know when "Goober Peas" first reached the top 10 on the pop charts. when we do have a definitive date, such as the establishment of the George Washington Carver National Monument on July 14, 1943 (located in Diamond, MO), the date does little to help us catalogue any of the recognized peanut days.

Our only hope in keeping these holidays straight is to send out this periodic newsletter, and our only consolation is that those who are in charge of determining these national dates of celebration are not exactly on top of things in the first place. For instance, both Do Something Nice Day (the 5th) and Evaluate Your Life Day (the 19th) have both been placed in October, the month that has been dedicated as National Sarcastic Month.

Does any part of that last arraingement seem wrong to any of you? Even National Peanut Month has been burdened with its share of oddities: If Pets Had Thumbs Day (the 3rd) and Something on a Stick Day (the 28th).

In spite of all this unrest, Mama Deb's House of Pancakes and International Relief hopes that you will find time to celebrate National Peanut Month and we are looking forward to celebrating National Peanut Day with you in September.

with warmest regards, Fish Boy Historian for the M.D.H.O.P.A.I.R.

p.s. -- Due to accusations of copy right infringement, Mama Deb's House of Pancakes and International Relief (a non-profit organization)may face the daunting task of selecting a new corporate name. Current suggestions for the replacement of the words "House of Pancakes" include: Waffle Barn, Flap-jack Shack, and Dry Toast Carport. Your opinion and suggestions are welcome.

Timing

last night i was talking with a friend about about timing and it reminded me of something.

i have a friend who has an extreme fear of sharks, even though she grew up in Idaho and hasn't seen much of the ocean. she's only stepped a into the surf a little ways and that was more than she wanted.

so there i was. i have a pile of cartoons about sharks and stuff. ¿why wouldn't i have a pile of cartoons about sharks? i picked out one that i thought needed to give to my friend. then i forgot to take the cartoon. so, i set out the little piece of paper where i'd see it so i'd remember in the morning and i forgot again. i probably forgot at least one more time after that. finally one night, i remembered that i had the cartoon and walked over to my friend's apartment and taped my selection to her door.

¿what's this i hear? ¿it was her birthday? i had no idea. and here i thought i was dropping things off on a random day. mmmmmm... timing.

(all together now: fists in the air...)

Strings and things

so, i was home for Christmas one year, and decided to go with my friend roger to his singles ward rather than go to my parents' ward for church. i was hoping to expand my social circle. unfortunately roger is a social retard. (sorry, roger. you have to admit that we make a horrible tag-team when it comes to fraternizing with the opposite sex.)

roger and i did talk to a girl who used to live across the street from me. i asked her out once, but that's as far as that went. we talked to her because i had to tell her that her cousin worked in my office, and roger kind of knew her because his roommate was her home teacher.

on our way through the building to where roger went to sign up for tithing settlement we ran into a guy from my freshman ward. i'm sure the conversation seemed a little awkward because the whole time i was trying to remember if this freshman ward acquaintance was married before he left UT to go to TX for grad school, or if he was only engaged. either way, he was back in a singles ward.

then i looked into a room off of that hallway and there was one of my old roommates. Chris and i were roommates for 3 years and even did a road trip to CA together.

while roger and i were talking to Chris, along came another girl who also used to live across the street. this girl liked a roommate of mine for a short while. meeting her was also awkward because she left our singles ward because she got married. well, maybe it wasn't awkward for Chris because he just started asking about the divorce, followed by "weren't you engaged to someone else before you got married?" i felt so bad for this former neighbor and for my roommate. Chris did ask for her fone number and ended up going on a date with her. go figure.

the end result: i went to someone else's ward trying to meet new people and all we did was talk to people i know. thanks a lot roger.

we did end up going to ward prayer at the Chris's new house. then we met some new people, including some folks who play guitar and such. there were a couple of girls who host a guitar night at their place. roger and i went to that a couple of times, but then i started working long days and the late night trips back from SLC just weren't working out with my mornings. but still i must say that guitars do open up a certain social scene.

i've made a few more friends along the way and these types of stories seem to continue. last night i was with someone i met this last year. Marissa had said that her roommate plays guitar, and so i was curious to see if it was anyone i've met or heard before and curious enough to go to a movie last night and back to Marissa's place afterwards. of course my curiosity was at least somewhat rewarded by the fact that Marissa also brought a friend along to the movie who just happens to be a girl who spent 6 months in Taiwan with my brother Matt and his wife. i can't be too surprised that Katie and Marissa are good friends. Marissa is even the TA for a class that Katie is teaching at BYU. i met Katie when i went to dinner with Matt and Greta and their Taiwan friends.

(as a side note i was also pleased that i'm not the only one these strange meetings happen to, because Marissa's friend also knew the sibling of some of the other folks who ended up at Marissa's. to further extend this side note, one of the guys in Taiwan at the same time with Katie and my brother and his wife was a roommate of the guy that was now divorced from that girl who i talked to at church over Christmas break.)

back to the story... a guitar finally came out at Marissa's and i played a couple songs because they asked nicely. then Marissa's roommate played song or two. then Marissa says, "and one of the cool things about when davebetts used to visit was the fact that he would ride over on his long board." Marissa's roommate responds with, "you should meet my friend Loralee. she plays guitar and longboards too." then i ask, "¿Loralee Jesson?"

Marissa's roommate is friends with the girl who hosts guitar nights in SLC. yep, that same girl who i met at my roommate's ward prayer during Christmas break. my curiosity was satisfied.

i'm sleepy, good night.