Are you a gambler or a risk-taker? Then, today is your day. It’s Go for Broke Day, an April 5 holiday. Today is a day to put it all on the line and take a chance. It might be money. Or, it can be a love relationship. Perhaps, it’s time to initiate a risky project or to take a new job.

Many of us go about our daily lives playing it safe, not taking big chances. If you are of a conservative ilk, you may have never gone out on a limb, or taken big risks. If this sounds like you, maybe today is a day to really let loose and “Go for Broke”.

Muster up the courage to take a big risk and you will enjoy today. “Going for Broke” is exciting. However, if you are risk-averse, this is not a day for you to celebrate. We will leave it up to you to decide whether the risk is worth taking.   

Today’s Motto: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

We celebrate Girl Scout Leader Day annually. It is an April 22 holiday. This holiday recognizes and honors the many adult volunteers to the girl scouting program. The Girl Scouts of the United States began on March 12, 1915, when Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low organized the first girl troop and held the first meeting. Girl Scout Leader Day began on April 22, 1982, when a flag honoring Girl Scout leaders was flown over the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. This day honors the thousands of volunteers who help to make the Girl Scout program a success.

Being a leader of our nation’s youth is both a challenging and rewarding task. Leaders play an important role in education and teaching. They are shaping and molding young ladies to be successful citizens and leaders in today’s modern world. As leaders, they are also role models for the girls to look up to.

Celebrate today, by thanking the girl scout leaders in your troop and area. Send a note, or card of thanks. Girl Scout groups can hold parties or have a cake at meetings. Gifts are not a requirement or an expectation. One of the ways girl scouts can thank their leaders is to do their best in everything they do. Your leaders get their reward by seeing you grow into outstanding citizens and human beings!

The month of April brings spring showers. After those showers, the sun comes out and a rainbow often appears. This makes today, the perfect time to celebrate Find a Rainbow Day, an April 3 holiday. We don’t always hope for rain in an already rainy month. But, to truly enjoy this day, you need rain to see a rainbow. And, if you are really lucky, you may see an uncommon double one. Can you see the double rainbow in the picture above?  Make sure you have your camera ready, so you can capture the moment.

Alright, let’s all dial back to our high school science class days for a moment, to remember exactly how a rainbow is formed. A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon. A rainbow is bent, refracted white light, forming all the colors of the light spectrum. In high school, your science teacher used a prism, to demonstrate this dispersion of light into its primary colors. When you see a rainbow, it’s the same principle as the prism. Water particles in the air act as a prism to bend light, forming a rainbow.

Do You Remember?  If you know Roy G. Biv, advance to the head of the class! Roy G. Biv was the name science teachers used, to help us to memorize the major colors of the white light spectrum, in the order in which they appear in a rainbow. They are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

 Here’s another fact you may not know: A rainbow is actually a circle. But, rainbows are low in the sky, with the bottom half lost in the earth.

Song of the Day: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, sung by Judy Garland

Have a happy Find a Rainbow Day!!!

There was a time when the two of you were madly in love. Then, something happened. For whatever reason, the relationship ended.  Along comes Ex-Spouse Day in recognition of your Ex. Someone must have been kidding when they created this day, right? Could anyone actually want to recognize their Ex? Most of us want to forget them. Hard as it may be to believe, Ex-Spouse Day, an April 14 holiday, has indeed arrived. How are you going to celebrate this day? Once again, we will remind you that we do not create the days, we merely report them. So, please don’t shoot the messenger.

All too often, relationships don’t work out. About 50% of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. Life provides us with many ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends. There are many ex-wives and ex-husbands. Some relationships end amicably, while others are painful and nasty endings. Most likely, we would prefer to forget them.

With a little stretch of the imagination and an open eye, you may find a few “Exes” out there who actually have good traits. After all, there was a time when you did love and care for them. There are even examples where some people get along better with their Ex after the relationship is over. Did you have children together? Then, it is important to get along for their sake.

If you value your Ex in any way, give him or her whatever appreciation and recognition you feel is appropriate today. If you can not find any redeeming trait, no one will fault you for skipping today’s celebrations altogether.

Today is National English Muffin Day. an April 23 holiday. English muffins are believed to have been created in the 10th or 11th century in Wales, England. They were first called a “Toaster Crumpet”. Samuel Bath Thomas, a British immigrant to the United States, is credited with introducing the English muffin to the United Sates in 1894. Always toasted, English muffins were originally served in the finest restaurants and hotels. It didn’t take long for this tasty treat to make its way to the average American breakfast table. The versatile English muffin was first served as part of the breakfast meal, or as a quick morning bite to eat, before heading out for a busy day.

Its versatility became quickly apparent, and nowadays is consumed for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. For breakfast, toasted English muffins are slathered with butter, which soaks into all of the nooks and crannies. Then if you’re British, you likely put orange marmalade on it. We all have our own homemade version of the Egg McMuffin. Ours is called the “Egg McDaddy”. For lunch, you can load it up with your favorite meats, cheese and condiment. Kids love peanut butter and jelly on English muffins. For dinner time, it acts as the side bread, or you can pile almost anything on top of it. Try heaping some Mac and Cheese on an English muffin… yum! English muffins make great snacks, too. Use them as a base for mini pizzas.  

This is such an enjoyable and tasty holiday. It’s easy to participate, too. Just pop an English Muffin in the toaster or toaster oven. Then, top it off with whatever your prefer!

We hope you thoroughly enjoy National Toaster Crumpet Day, errr National English Muffin Day !!

Record Store Day is today. It celebrates the iconic record stores that peaked in the 1960s and 1970s but still exist today.  Their decline is due to evolving technology. Yet, they continue to exist in competition with easily downloaded music from the internet and other audio mediums. Like other brick-and-mortar stores, they have survived in part by adding online Estores.  

Music defines the culture of each generation. Like any technology, the record industry has seen a huge evolution and succession of record formats over the past 60 years. In today’s high-tech world, digital downloading of music has all but replaced physical records in any format. As downloading of music has grown in use, record stores have declined in numbers. Major chain music stores have disappeared, along with many independent stores. It is only fitting, that today we celebrate the hundreds of independently owned record stores that remain and the culture they represent, even as they dwindle in number.  

Eight Track Tape Day, an April 11 holiday, brings back fond memories of the sixties and seventies. During this era, eight-track tapes ruled the music world. America’s love of the automobile was a driving force in creating the demand for musical cassette formats. For those who grew up in this era, an eight-track tape player in your home and your car was an essential. It was eventually replaced by cassettes and other formats for storing music.

Eight Track Tape Day is a day to bring back fond memories of the sixties and seventies. If you still have tapes and a player, by all means, enjoy the day listening to some great music. If not, just spend a few minutes looking back in time to when you loved your eight-track tapes!

Those of us under 50 or 60 years old, this holiday likely means little to nothing to you. We suspect this holiday may eventually fade away as time passes.

What do you usually have for breakfast? When asked this question, scrambled or over-light eggs often come to mind. So does cereal, pancakes, and French toast. But, we venture to guess that Eggs Benedict is not among the list of common breakfast foods that you eat. It’s not that people don’t like them. Rather, it’s just that we never seem to think about them. Well, National Eggs Benedict Day is going to change your way of thinking. Today is a day to savor and enjoy. This April 16 holiday is celebrated with a mouthwatering combination of eggs with hollandaise sauce, and Canadian bacon on an English muffin.

A lot of people have never had this delicious breakfast item. If you’re upper crust, you most likely have enjoyed Eggs Benedict several times, and perhaps, regularly. However, many people (regular folk) have never tried Eggs Benedict. Go ahead and do a survey. See how many of your friends can even tell you how it’s made, or what’s in it. Or, ask them what hollandaise sauce is.

It’s East Meets West Day…. time for a few introductions. Will this gathering be the social event of the year? Maybe, maybe not. What we do know, is that this April 25 holiday encourages and promotes east and west meetings and competitions.  Sports teams can come together to compete against one another. Countries and political groups can hold meetings and conferences. Clubs and organizations from both sides of the country can hold a conference. 

Many kinds of sports teams hold annual East vs. West games. Most often, it’s held by high school sports teams. It does not have to be limited to sports teams. It could be any club or organization that holds competitions and can be geographically separated into east and west groups.

These special games usually serve several purposes, including:

• for charitable benefits
• Sports booster club
• to honor and/or showcase the best players of the season.

If your region is oriented north and south, you can use this day as a North Meets South Day.