Make Memorial Day picnics more memorable

Make Memorial Day picnics more memorable

How can you make your Memorial Day picnic more memorable and magnificent?

Here are several pointers from a variety of practical online writers, who happen to be friends or colleagues. Check 'em out!

Pack up picnic provisions!

Green Living Guide: Picnics with Potential

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Everyone is going green. An eco-friendly picnic offers an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors ecologically. Green living means leaving the environment even cleaner than you found it. Here's a green living guide to having a great green eco-friendly picnic.

Healthy Memorial Day Side Dishes

By Pam Gaulin

Memorial Day kicks off the beginning of summer in a tasty way.

Perfect Picnic Recipe for Memorial Day

By Jen Butera

Memorial Day weekend is approaching, and it's time to think about the big barbeque. Why not think outside the grill? This recipe allows you to have your dish ready while the grill enthusiasts hover over hot flames.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade BBQ Sauce

By Sara Evans

If Pulled Pork Sandwiches are on the menu at your home, a tailgating party, family reunion or picnic by the lake, this Perfect Pulled Pork Sandwich recipe is easy to do and will taste great.

The Wonderful World of Watermelon

By Kathy Browning

'Tis the season for watermelon; the bright red, sweet, and juicy fruit of summer. While there's nothing better than slicing off a chunk and eating it straight from the rind, this fruit is incredibly versatile and even offers its own serving vessel.

Make your own Memorial Day picnic decorations.

3 Easy Ways to Make Patriotic Luminaries

By Becca Swanson

Glass jars make perfect candle luminaries - here's 3 ways to decorate them with the red, white and blue.

Simple Patriotic Pinwheel and Yummy Red White and Blue Necklace Crafts

By Karen Nelson

Easy to make crafts for kids to make with just a little help from adults sure to be a hit. Patriotic Pinwheel can be waved at a parade or used to line the parade route. Red, White, and Blue necklace is a delicious a treat for parade or picnic goers.

May Memorial Day be extra memorable, as you mark the occasion this year.

Artwork:  Picnic photo by Click (MorgueFile)

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Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?

Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?

Monday is Memorial Day, and it’s so much more than a legal holiday or the unofficial start of summer.

The meaning of Memorial Day vastly surpasses the fashion mavens’ express freedom to wear white shoes and white belts and to carry white purses until Labor Day.

Memorial Day goes beyond barbecued chicken and hamburgers, watermelon seed-spitting contests and even political speeches.

What does Memorial Day mean to you?

In the United States, Memorial Day offers all of us a reminder to remember those who gave their lives for our country. How will we honor those brave patriots, who sacrificed everything for liberty and love?

How can we make Memorial Day more than a picnic, a baseball double-header, an annual golf outing or even a patriotic parade?

Related Items:

• Memorial Day Poems - Dress Blues
• My Top 25 Favorite Abraham Lincoln Quotes
• No Picnic: Remembering Memorial Day
• The Postcard: a Late Arrival and Love's Revival
• The Scout - a Saluting Scene for a U.S. Marine
• Wave of Glory - a Poetic Manner on the American Banner  
• Wisconsin Celebrates Plentiful Memorial Day Parades

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Graduation Gifts and Goodies

Graduation Gifts and Goodies

Commencement season is here. Raise a cheer, and toss those mortarboard caps high in the air!

Do you have a graduate in the home? How many graduation parties will you attend this month? Or will you simply send a card or gift?

Here are several helpful hints on graduation gifts and commencement celebrations.

 

• How to remove wrinkles from a graduation gown
• Graduation party smarts: 8 ways to save money
• 10 top graduation Bible verses for cards and letters
• Ten funny graduation quotes to celebrate commencements
• 10 memorable quotations for high school graduation speeches
• 4 tips for do-it-yourself graduation announcements
• Graduation gift: School picture surprise

Happy graduation! Let’s celebrate!

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Photo Fun: Is it Paris or Pickler?

Photo Fun: Is it Paris or Pickler?

Just for fun, take a look at these two blushing blondes. OK, maybe they’re not blushing. Can you tell which is singer Kellie Pickler and which is socialite Paris Hilton?

One is a sweet starlet, and the other looks like her errant twin. (See if you can spot it.) One sings like a bird, and the other parties like a rock star. If you can discern the difference, then you have HAWT celebrity sighting skills.

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80+ Celebrity Parents of Twins

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Celebrity Activism: Diahann Carroll Urges Breast Cancer Awareness

Celebrity Profiles: Who is TV Personality and Chef Guy Fieri?

Practically at Home: Photo Fun - Is It American Idol ... or Alaska?

Image:

Creative Commons Licensing photos

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Etiquette or Regret-ticate

Etiquette or Regret-ticate

Did you know … it’s Etiquette Week?

The second week of May is politely tagged as Etiquette Week, a full calendar week devoted to social correctness and courtesy.

How do you feel about etiquette? Does forget-ticate lead to regret-ticate? Have we left ourselves with No Trace of Grace?

Without claiming to be a manners maven, I have published several pieces on politeness. (CTRL-click on each title to open that free online article in a new internet window.)

Business Etiquette:

• Bank-in-a-Box: How to Behave at the ATM
• Executive Editing Etiquette

Equestrian Etiquette:

• Equestrian Etiquette
• Expressions and Texting Acronyms for Equestrians
• A guide to arena manners
• Stable manners: Human behavior around horses
• Trail Riding Etiquette: 20 Courtesy Tips for Equestrians
• Wisconsin DNR offers 8 trail etiquette pointers for equestrians

Funeral Etiquette:

• 20 Sincere Sympathy Card Statements to Comfort Those Who Mourn
• Funeral Etiquette 101: 10 Tips for Making Memorial Donations
• Sympathy Cards: 5 Do's and 5 Don'ts for Condolence Notes

Pet Etiquette:

• 10 Tips for Pet Owner Etiquette in Veterinary Waiting Rooms
• Basic Birdwatching Etiquette
• Holiday Etiquette: Should You Take Your Pet to a Host's Home?

Shopping Etiquette:

• Behind the Curtain: Fitting Room Etiquette
• In the Market for Manners: Etiquette for Shoppers

Social Etiquette:

• Hiccups
• Thank-You Notes and Family Quotes
• What does R.S.V.P. Mean?

Sports Etiquette:

• Brolly Folly -A Limericked Rule for Fashion's Fool
• Golf Etiquette: Must Golfers Tip Llama Caddies?
• Jogging Our Memories of Manners: Recreational Running Etiquette
• Yachting with Youngsters: A Guide to Waterborne Fun

Wedding Etiquette:

• The Brooding Bride: What's a Bridesmaid to Do?
• Custom Maid - The Maid of Honor and Her Responsibilities
• Forgo the Feud - Incorporating Both Your Families in Your Wedding Plans
• The Marvelous Maid of Honor's Duties
• The Responsibilities of the Best Man
• Stand-Up Guys - a Groom's Guide to Choosing His Groomsmen
• Stepping Up - the Best Wedding Advice I Ever Received
• Wedding Etiquette - 10 Wedding Gift Registry No-No's
• Wedding Party Gifts - Beautiful Bridesmaid Bounty
• Wedding How-To’s for Stepmoms

Image:

Etiquette at the Ball

19th Century

Artist unknown

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Mission Accomplished - A to Z Challenge

Mission Accomplished - A to Z Challenge

(posted for the A to Z Challenge)

That’s it! May Day is here, and the A to Z Challenge is complete. Whew! We did it!

Here’s my full list of April blogging challenge posts, from A to Z.

·  Aretha and April Fools

·  PB&J Day

·  Considering Coats

·  Do You Dare to Deceive?

·  Echoes of Elvis

·  Fluffy Fun Food

·  Gaga for Gardening

·  Hearty Hygiene

·  Idols' Identities

·  Jealousy and Jousting

·  Kicky Kabobs

·  Loving Laundry

·  Makin’ Muffins

·  No News Is Good News for Tax Day Tomorrow

·  Oops and Odd Typos

·  Pajamas and Pancakes

·  Quick Quiz on Palm Sunday

·  Residential Ratings

·  Schedules Seem Scary Sometimes

·  Tardy Trowel

·  Upbeat Understanding

·  Vital and Verdant

·  Weirdest Wives' Tales

·  X Marks the Spot

·  Yikes! It’s a Yodeler!

·  Zoom for Zucchini

I honestly enjoyed doing the alphabetical blog entries, although a few letters led to some serious head-scratching, as I tried to come up with creative blogging topics. On several occasions, I was pleased to offer links to online articles from friends and writing colleagues. (I invite you to read past posts. You never know whose writing may turn up in links!)

The actual rules of the A to Z Challenge spelled out an expectation for six blog posts each week throughout the month of April. This would give bloggers Sundays off. Somehow, I didn’t get the memo on that detail, and I pre-posted several entries for seven days a week. Finally, I just decided to stick with that formula, so I finished a few days early.

The A to Z Challenge was fun, and participating helped me to regain motivation and momentum for blogging at Practically at Home, as well as at my other active blogs: The Mane Point, Nickers and Ink, and the Meme Express. (You can find links to these blogs in my sidebar or on my blogging profile.)

Thanks to all the A to Z Challenge participants, who visited and commented and even became blog followers. Welcome!

Image:

Antique typewriter

photo by Petr Kratochvil

Public Domain