I always try to stay home and avoid the internet on April 1, that way I don’t end up the recipient of a prank or hoax.

Of course, this year, we’re all staying home. April Fools!!!

There will, of course, be a lot of online pranking, so beware. You should always be skeptical, but today, be doubly so.

Good luck!

This is intended for everyone to wear their Mickey or Minnie Ears and share your happiness on social media.

I don’t usually wear Mickey ears on headbands because I’ve never found one that didn’t give me a headache. However, I do love the look. The best part is that a lot of people are making their own ears, so you can model them after any character you want.

Some of the ears are fun, and some of them are elegant. Some don’t even require a sewing machine. There truly are ears for everyone.

I think I’ll make a pair to wear on National Wear Your Ears Day. We can never have too much Disney.

I can’t tell you what I’m reading because I’m sending it on to someone who reads this blog (so no spoilers,) but if you’ve paid attention to other days when I’ve been closed for reading you’ll know what it is. 

With all that has been going on, I give you permission to forget everything and read a good book too. Maybe it should become a holiday.

Don’t worry. I’ll be back tomorrow, as soon as I’m done reading.

If you want to spruce up your house with a bit of green for the holiday, check out these fun and easy crafts from Country Living. I am fond of the wreath and the coloring page, but there is something for all ages and crafting abilities. 

This is the perfect time for crafting. Have the kids work on a project or do it by yourself. Adding a bit ‘o the Irish to your house can bring a smile to everyone’s face, and that’s the point. Holidays should be happy days.

I’m not a fan of corned beef, but I love Irish soda bread. It’s so easy to make and tastes delicious. I often wonder why I only make it in March, but the reason is probably the same as why I only make fudge at Christmas. I’d eat too much of it otherwise.

I usually make several small loaves to give away, but since I’m not seeing anyone at the moment, my hubby gets a large loaf all to himself. This makes him very happy.

Why not make some fresh bread for your family on St. Patrick’s Day? It takes less than an hour to make, and most of that is baking time. I end up getting flour everywhere, but that’s part of the fun. As breads go, this one couldn’t be easier.

There are dozens of recipes on the internet, but this is the one I use. It’s from Simply Recipes and is a basic Irish soda bread recipe.

Irish Soda Bread

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Whisk together 4 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl.
3. Using your (clean) fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then add in the currants or raisins.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk to well and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir.
5. Dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in a little more flour. Do not over-knead!
6. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf. Note that the dough will be a little sticky, and quite shaggy (a little like a shortcake biscuit dough).
7. You want to work it just enough so that the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Shaggy is good. If you over-knead, the bread will end up tough.
8. Transfer dough to a large, lightly greased cast-iron skillet or a baking sheet (it will flatten out a bit in the pan or on the baking sheet).
9. Using a serrated knife, score the top of dough about an inch and a half deep in an “X” shape. The purpose of the scoring is to help heat get into the center of the dough while it cooks.
10. Transfer to oven and bake at 425°F until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 35-45 minutes (less if you are making smaller loaves). (If you use a cast iron pan, it may take a little longer as it takes longer for the pan to heat up than a baking sheet.)
11. Check for doneness also by inserting a long, thin skewer into the center. If it comes out clean, it’s done.
    1. Hint 1: If the top is getting too dark while baking, tent the bread with some aluminum foil.
    2. Hint 2: If you use a cast-iron skillet to cook the bread in the oven, be very careful when you take the pan out. It’s easy to forget that the handle is extremely hot. Be sure to put a potholder over it.
12. Remove pan or sheet from oven, let the bread sit in the pan or on the sheet for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool briefly.
13. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or sliced and toasted. Best when eaten warm and just baked.

I like ides, because lots of months have them. Ides means the middle of the month. Today is the famous one.

Remember, no matter what happens with the coronavirus, at least we are not being betrayed and killed by our friends. At least, I hope not.

I was going to share some quotes from Shakespeare, but they’re all about death, and while clever, a little depressing in today’s world. (Well, one of them was about tongues and tails, but we don’t need to go there.)

I wanted something with a more hopeful message, so I turned to my all-time favorite author, Roald Dahl. If you ever need a feel-good book (and this seems like the perfect time), I recommend James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, George’s Marvelous Medicine, and first and foremost, Danny the Champion of the World*. In theory, these are kid’s books, but endearing, happy stories are for any age.

“Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world.” Roald Dahl.

*Amazon affiliate link

I’m running 5 miles today, but if I had planned it better, I’d run 3.14 miles. Darn, training plan. However, I’ll celebrate in other ways, like making Irish soda bread (it has a circumference!)

If you listened to the Footle and Grok podcast yesterday (I’d love for you to subscribe), you learned all sorts of fun pi facts. Have you ever wanted to learn more digits of pi? Me neither. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a song about it.

Check out this video by ASAP Science, where they sing one hundred digits of pi. I have this song on my phone, and no matter how often I listen to it, I can’t sing it. However, it’s a catchy and fun song. Today is the perfect day to share it with your friends.

Eat some pie, sing a pi song, and learn a few more digits of this infinitely interesting number. And remember pi are square, not round.

I’m going to keep this short because I have to pet my black kitties and walk under a few ladders in honor of this superstitious day.

You’ve probably heard from a lot of people that you should wash your hands often for 20 seconds. Well, if you are curious about how to do a GOOD job that takes no time at all, check out this video put out by Big Picture Science. They got their information from the CDC, so I’m all over it. Plus, it’s a lot more fun to do more than just move your hands back and forth, trying to remember which song you are supposed to sing.

Happy Friday the 13th from Hela and Alfred, who wash their paws all the time.

This is not to be confused with National Popcorn Day, which is in January. Popcorn is one of my favorite snacks, and my go-to treat when I’m at the Disney parks. I don’t like liquid butter on my popcorn, so I skip movie popcorn, but my favorite popcorn is found at Les Schwab Tire Centers.

I’m not alone in this love affair. Americans eat about 17 billion quarts of popcorn every year, more than any other country. I figured that was mostly movie popcorn, but only 30% is consumed outside of the home.  At home, I make my popcorn in an air-popper and only put salt on it, so it’s a relatively healthy snack. However, there is a great variety of toppings you can put on popcorn from caramel to chili powder.

When I was a kid, we gave out homemade popcorn balls at Halloween. This was in the 1970s before parents were concerned about tricks among their children’s treats. Our popcorn balls were a manageable size. The world’s largest popcorn ball was 12 feet in diameter and weighed 5,000 pounds.

Do you love popcorn? Do you eat it at home? What is your favorite topping? Enjoy some popcorn today in honor of Popcorn Lover’s Day. While you are at it, get your tires checked.

Well, Grammar Girl probably said it some time, but the average person, even most writers, don’t like grammar. For most people, it brings back horrible memories of diagramming sentences in school (hopefully, they don’t teach that any more.)

But grammar is important, and something that we should all learn because good grammar leads to good communication and bad grammar leads to Grandma being eaten.

“Let’s eat, Grandma!” vs. “Let’s eat Grandma!”

Poor grandma her life depends on grammar.

Today is National Grammar Day. Celebrate by listening to the Grammar Girl podcast and promising yourself that you will always use the Oxford comma. It’s also fun to look at memes that have awkward typos.

If you truly want to improve your grammar, which is the point of National Grammar Day, check out Grammarly. This proofreading program has a free and a paid version. It isn’t perfect, and you still need to check your work, but it will point out a lot of errors and give ideas on how to improve your work.

Happy Grammar Day! I made a grammar error in this blog. Let me know if you find it.