Hammertime
Like most of you, I have found over the years that laughter and a real good joke can be a great medicine on so many everyday occasions. When humour and ear to ear smiles are shared, it binds people together, breaks the ice in any room, as well as setting the mood and increasing happiness, friendship and intimacy. Whether one is a social butterfly or a just a little shy, it is so much easier to mix in with a group or event and feel welcome by sharing the laughter and adding to the light and casual conversation.
Our medical fraternity have done studies that claim all sorts of laughter, from chuckles to stitches, have shown results in individuals or groups that have included: healthy physical changes, strengthened immune system and boosted energy as well as helping one to forget about problems and pain alongside relieving stress. Having had the amazing opportunity of helping to raise a family and being around youth for many years, I believe that there is nothing more precious than hearing children laugh, no matter what age they may be. Even if they have to be tickled to get the giggles going, it is very hard to stop once it gets going, and can be extremely catching to those who are nearby. I am quite sure that many of us make a habit of watching comedies and reading funny stories, and we must always be assured that it’s completely okay to laugh out loud or to share a few tears of joy. Among our most precious and free blessings is the gift of having a sense of humour and being able to look on the bright side under most circumstances. How nice it is be to able to laugh with others, at others, and to feel real good when they can laugh at us.
Many of my Hollywood heroes have been cartoon characters and comedians that have included the likes of Red Skelton, Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Robin Williams, Carol Burnett, and so many others. She was an accomplished pianist and author before she became a comedian, had six children with the husband she fondly nicknamed ‘fang’, but for those of us who were lucky enough to be around to enjoy the wild, weird, and zany antics of Ms. Phyllis Diller, we will never forget that fabulously funny lady with the pooooofy hair-do. Here are some of her favourite quotes and crazy opinions about life that may be more realistic than many of us would like to admit?
● Whatever you may look like, marry a man your own age. As your beauty fades, so will his eyesight.
● Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance?
● Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
● The reason women don’t play football is because 11 of them would never wear the same outfit in public.
● The best way to get rid of kitchen odors is to eat out.
● A bachelor is a guy who never made the same mistake once.
● I want my children to have all the things that I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.
● Most children threaten to run away from home many times, and this is the only thing that keeps some parents going.
● Any time three New Yorkers get into a cab without an argument, a bank has just been robbed.
● We spend the first twelve months of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve years telling them to sit down and shut up.
● Burt Reynolds once asked me out. I was in his room.
● What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.
● The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day that I accidentally got gin in the steam iron.
● My photographs don’t do me justice. They just look like me.
● Tranquilizers work only if you follow the advice on the bottle. ‘Keep away from children.’
● I asked the waiter, ‘Is this milk fresh?’ He said, ‘Lady, three hours ago it was grass.’
● The reason the golf pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can’t see them laughing.
● We know when we are getting old when our liver spots show through our gloves and they have discontinued our blood type.
A chance to clean up our act
If you are getting a head start in transforming your home, garage, or yard into the ‘winter mode’ now is the time to gather up all those used clean-up and fix-up products, chemicals, and paper goods that you don’t need any more and take them on down to the annual Toxic Roundup and Community Paper shred on Saturday-September 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fire Hall. In the meantime please take a little time out of your busy day to laugh a little, love a lot, and have a great week, all of you.