Monthly Archives: December 2017
50 Fun Facts You Can Use to Impress Your Friends in 2018
The new year is upon us…cure that social anxiety and be ready to impress your friends at NYE with these fun and completely random facts that are sure to make you the talk of 2018!
50 Fun Facts You Can Use to Impress Your Friends in 2018
- Since humans have not developed a need for wisdom teeth, appendixes, or even little toes, scientists believe that those items may be phased out as humans evolve.
- The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-V handbook classifies caffeine withdrawal as a mental disorder.
- The cotton candy machine was invented by a dentist.
- Twelve percent of sleepers dream in black and white.
- Zebra coats are actually black…their undercoat has white stripes.
- The oldest star known to man is 13.8 billion years old. Its name is Methuselah.
- There is no sound in space, but it does have a distinct smell: a bouquet of diesel fumes, gunpowder, and barbecue. The aroma is mostly produced by dying stars.
- Baby carrots are a $1 billion business.
- There is a committee in Iceland named Mannanafnanefnd. Its purpose is to prevent parents from giving their babies weird names.
- Sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don’t drift apart.
- German chocolate cake isn’t German…it’s named for Sam German, an American baker.
- The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.
- The best man’s original purpose was to serve as an accomplice in case the bride needed to be kidnapped from disapproving parents.
- The first sales pitch for the Nerf Ball was, “Nerf: You can’t hurt babies or old people!”
- For an aspirin to save your life during a heart attack, you need to chew it. Aspirin, which inhibits platelets that speed blood clots, works fastest if chewed.
- Frankenstein is the name of the DOCTOR, not the MONSTER.
- Most cars have an arrow on the fuel gauge that tells you what side of the car the gas tank is on.
- The limits of the human body tend to follow a “Rule of 3”: 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter in extreme conditions, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food.
- Of all the words in the English language, the word “set” has the most definitions.
- There is a city called Rome on every continent.
- The elephant is the only mammal that can’t jump.
- Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian and only had one testicle.
- All Froot Loops taste the same, no matter what color they are.
- The average person has more than 2 million sweat glands on the surface of their body.
- Speaking of sweat, it’s actually odorless. It’s the bacteria on your body that causes the stink.
- Norway sends a Christmas tree to Britain every year as a symbol of gratitude for their help preserving Norwegian liberty during WW II.
- The voice actor who plays Winnie the Pooh (Jim Cummings) calls sick children who are in the hospital to chat with them as Winnie the Pooh.
- There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 ways to scramble a Rubik’s Cube.
- Billy Joel never sells front-row seats…instead he gives them away for free to fans who can’t afford them.
- Swedish blood donors receive a text whenever their blood is used to help someone.
- There is a place in Costa Rica called Territorio De Zaguates (Land of the Strays) that is basically a huge, no-kill dog shelter. #HEAVEN
- The creature that kills the most people every year isn’t snakes, sharks, or even other humans…it’s the mosquito.
- There are more public libraries in the US than McDonald’s restaurants.
- It’s illegal to own just one guinea pig in Switzerland because they get lonely.
- Richard Nixon once smuggled a suitcase full of weed through the airport for Louis Armstrong.
- Cows have “best friends” and they get stressed when they’re separated.
- Miami is the only US city founded by a woman.
- Cornflakes were invented to prevent masturbation.
- Red Sour Patch Kids are the exact same candy as Swedish Fish, just with some sour sugar sprinkled on them.
- The last wooly mammoth died after most of the major pyramids were built.
- In a room of 23 people, there’s a 50% chance that two people have the same birthday.
- 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
- Banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories an hour.
- The top six foods that make you fart are beans, corn, bell peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, and milk.
- Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were college roommates.
- Honey is the only food that never expires. The same honey that was buried with the pharaohs in Egypt is still considered ‘edible’ by scientists.
- You can fit all the planets of the solar system between Earth and its moon.
- Pirates wore eye patches so one eye would always be acclimated to the darkness, allowing them to see in the darkness below decks in an instant.
- It actually takes 142.18 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie pop.
- At any one time, about 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk.
Sometimes you just need a little fun in your life! Check back every week for a new “Just Bee-cause” post, where I discuss everything from celebrity news to favorite videos and websites!
Filed under fun facts
10 Larger Than Life Earrings
Looking for fun ways to get on trend this year? Pinterest recently released the top trends expected for 2018, one of which being larger than life earrings.
These earrings the size of your head are already taking over Pinterest and Craftgawker, and you’re bound to see them in accessory stores all over in the next few months!
But with these 10 Larger Than Life Earrings, you can get ahead of the trend and be runway ready in no time.
10 Larger Than Life Earrings
- DIY Tassel Earrings
- DIY Crochet Earrings
- Pom-Pom Dangle Earrings
- Geometric Tassel Earrings
- DIY Pom-Pom Earrings
- Geometric Gold Statement Earring
- Rainbow Paper Earrings
- Beaded Fringe Earrings
- Cascada Earrings
- Hoop to Be Square Earrings
Celebrate creativity every Wednesday with a “Creativi-bee” post, where I share easy craft tutorials, project ideas, and craft collections.
Filed under jewelry tutorials
The Darkest Night
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
—Les Miserables
Come back every Tuesday for “The Bees Knees”, where I post the best quotes from my favorite movies, TV shows, songs, and books.
2018 Reading Challenge
Is your resolution to read more in 2018? Well, allow me to help!
Here is your 2018 Reading Challenge, complete with fun activities to get you reading more. Broaden your reading horizons with new genres, new looks at old classics, and even going back to re-read some old favorites! If you complete everything on this list, you’ll have read 50 books by the end of 2018! Happy reading!
Download your own Reading Challenge worksheet!
Looking for a new book to read? Check in every Friday for a “Bee Happy” post, where I share reviews of books I’ve read or other book-themed lists.
Filed under book lists
15 Fun Facts About A Charlie Brown Christmas
Christmastime is here…
Happiness and cheer….
Fun for all that children call their favorite time of year…
Throughout the month of December, we’ve been diving in to some of our favorite holiday movies with trivia, fun facts, and more…in case you’re late to the party, you can check out some of our posts here:
- 13 Fun Facts about National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
- The Family Stone: Where Are They Now?
- 23 Fun Facts about Home Alone
Today we’re gonna explore one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies, A Charlie Brown Christmas with 15 fun facts you might not know about this made-for-TV holiday special.
Originally aired on CBS, A Charlie Brown Christmas got off to a rocky start…a small budget, a writer/creator who didn’t believe in the project and a skeptical network were not exactly the playing pieces the production team was looking for…however, the special became a fan favorite almost immediately and is now one of the most popular TV holiday specials in history, second only to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Starring several unknown child actors (many of whom did not get credit in the film) and backed by a score that’s come to be synonymous with Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas was the perfect disaster the Peanuts franchise needed…and, much like Charlie Brown’s little tree, just needed a little holiday love…
15 Fun Facts About A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first animated Peanuts cartoon.
CBS and Coca-Cola only gave producers a measly $76,000 to cover production costs of A Charlie Brown Christmas. They only had a 6 month lead time and no idea how to budget the money. Thankfully, they made it all back, though. Writer/creator Charles Schulz, animator Bill Melendez, and executive producer Lee Mendelson wound up earing about $5 million for the special through 2000.
Much like The Flintstones, A Charlie Brown Christmas was going to have a laugh track. Schulz was so offended by the idea, he left the room and didn’t return for several minutes. When he did return, Mendelson got the hint and the laugh track was canned.
Snoopy’s voice is actually Melendez barking and chuffing into a microphone, then sped up to give the recording a more emotive quality.
The soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas is about as “Christmas” as Santa himself; however, Schulz hated jazz and was not a fan of Vice Guaraldi’s arrangement.
Because Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip was never meant to be animated – and because Melendez was unwilling to stray from Schulz’s distinctive character designs – it was a constant battle to animate Charlie Brown’s head. Its round shape made it difficult to depict Charlie’s head turning and, as was the case with most of the characters, his arms were too short to scratch his head.
Snoopy, by contrast, was the show’s easiest figure to animate.
When it came time to screen the special, CBS hated it. They thought it was slow and lacked energy. To add insult, someone misspelled Schulz in the credits, adding a “T” to his last name. Schulz himself thought the whole project was a disaster due to the crude animation.
However, viewers loved it! A Charlie Brown Christmas pulled a 50 share on its first viewing, meaning half of all households with a TV turned on were watching it (this equated to about 15 million people in 1965.
CBS might also be ashamed to know that A Charlie Brown Christmas is actually the second longest-running Christmas special in TV history after Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Take that, jerks.
The special also inspired viewers to scrap the aluminum tree, which came out only 7 years prior, for small living trees just like Charlie Brown’s. About four years after the special aired, aluminum trees were phased out and are now collector’s items.
Peter Robbins, the voice behind Charlie Brown, continued to voice the character until he was 13 years old. In November 2015, the 59-year-old Robbins pleaded guilty to making criminal threats against a mobile home park manager and a sheriff. The actor claimed that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder led him to making the threats and he was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison. What a blockhead.
Every child role was voiced by an actual child. Some of the child actors were so young at the time that they couldn’t even read the script.
A Charlie Brown Christmas also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program and a Peabody Award for excellence in programming.
Though Schulz was not a fan of the animated classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas gave birth to several other Peanuts animated specials, including It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966), A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973), It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974), Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975), Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986), It’s Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown (1992) and It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1995).
Sometimes you just need a little fun in your life! Check back every week for a new “Just Bee-cause” post, where I discuss everything from celebrity news to favorite videos and websites!
Filed under fun facts
Wanderlust Pin Art
If you’ve been following my blog recently, you may have noticed a theme with some of my posts…
- 12 Wanderlust-worthy Ways to Decorate with Maps
- 50 Fun Facts about the United States
- Wanderlust Wall Art
- 50 Recipes, 50 States
I’m currently loving hard on maps and travel-inspired stuff.
We don’t get to do it often, but whenever we can squeeze in a little getaway, my husband and I will do our best to go out and explore the country. We’ve done a road trip up the east coast, day trips to Wisconsin and Michigan, and have taken longer 4 to 5 day vacations in Washington state and Oregon.
Though we’ve traveled quite a bit across the country, there are a few cities that are near and dear to our hearts. To help commemorate and remember our time in those cities, I made these cute pin art boards showcasing some of our favorite places.
These pin boards only require a few materials, two of which being a lot of time and patience. I made 4 boards (Chicago, Portland, Seattle, and Marquette), which took me a total of about 4 days to finish. You can use larger pins than I did to make the process go a little quicker (in fact, I recommend that), just make sure you use wood that’s proportioned in size to the nails you’re using.
Wanderlust Pin Art
Materials:
- Wooden board
- Small applique or wood nails
- Hammer
- Tweezers
- Printed map of desired location
- Embroidery thread
- And, as mentioned above, lots of time and patience!
Instructions:
Cut out your map, leaving a good 1 -2 in. boarder around state. Place on board and hammer in 3 to 4 nails to help keep the map in place.
Continue hammering nails around border of state, using tweezers to hold nails if needed. I needed tweezers since the nails I used were so small.
Once your map is outlined, carefully remove the paper map.
If you want to include a heart like I did, draw the heart around the city and mark that out with nails as well.
Using embroidery thread, tie one end of the thread to one nail, then simply weave back and forth, looping thread around the nails to fill in the state shape. I used about 3 skeins of thread per state, plus one red skein for the heart (one skein of red was enough for 4 hearts).
I used these DMC “skeins”:
Once your state is filled in, tie a knot to secure your string and repeat the process to fill in the heart. Then proudly display your state love with pictures or mementos from your travels!
Celebrate creativity every Wednesday with a “Creativi-bee” post, where I share easy craft tutorials, project ideas, and craft collections.
Filed under wall decor ideas
Every Time a Bell Rings…
“Strange isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
–It’s a Wonderful Life
Come back every Tuesday for “The Bees Knees”, where I post the best quotes from my favorite movies, TV shows, songs, and books.
Filed under quotes
10 One-Bite Appetizers for the Holidays
Hosting for the holidays doesn’t have to be stressful with this tasty one-bite appetizers. Whether you’re getting ready for Christmas dinner or planning a New Year’s party, these easy and quick bites will keep guests noshing and talking while you take care of stuff in the kitchen!
10 One-Bite Appetizers for the Holidays
Fried Green Tomatoes
Avocado Deviled Eggs
Sweet Bacon Crackers
Spicy Tuna Wonton Cups
Stuffed Turkey Sausage Rolls
Vegan Spinach Puffs
Crispy Arancini
Corn Dog Mini Muffins
Prosciutto Wrapped Melon
Sausage Bites with Cranberry and Cheddar
Every Monday is a “Reci-bee” post, where I share my favorite recipes, recipe collections, and cooking and baking hints and tips.
Filed under appetizer recipes