The Atchley Group's Valentine Gift Ideas

• Collect a variety of inexpensive sweet smelling candles such as cinnamon, apple, strawberry, coffee, cookies or cake. You can also include a read handled lighter tied with a small bow that matches a bigger bow around the edge of the basket.
  
  
• Find a new or used fondue set (thrift stores have them all the time!) Arrange in large basket with fresh berries or a seasonal fruit, angle food cake and chocolate for melting.
  
  
• Put together the ingredients for a romantic dinner for two... or a whole family. For example, you can include gourmet pasta and a jar of your favorite marinara sauce with some French baguettes.
  
  
• Give a valentine gift basket that is sure to get used. Purchase several pairs of new underwear or boxers in fancy or sassy styles. Fold and roll each pair and pack into the basket with the rolls standing on end. Slightly poof out each top to look like a flower blossom.
  
  
• For your spouse or loved one, purchase a small photo album or scrapbook, pretty paper & special stickers to create a memory book of your relationship. Get all the supplies together in the valentine gift basket including scissors, photo safe glue or tape and plenty of pictures of the two of you. At the top of the basket put an invitation to join you for an hour or two of preserving loving memories.
  
  
• Find a large red bucket and fill it with car washing supplies and fun new items for the car like a romantic CD (once again, check the thrift store - We find some of the best music there), homemade air freshener, bottle of Dawn dish soap, etc. Be sure to include a red or pink sponge cut into a... heart shape of course.
  
  
• For a young girl or woman, choose a variety of sweet or flavored lip glosses to put in a miniature basket.
  
  
• The last valentine gift basket idea is a low cost way to present a very special gift. Put a couple of snack foods in the basket, but ahead of time rig one of the packages with a special prize Carefully open one package (Cracker Jacks or a box of Junior Mints would work well) and insert a gift certificate or tickets to an event, then reseal the package to make the surprise complete.
  

It's Short Because Nobody Liked Poor Old February

Why is February so short?

It’s a good question and one that most of us probably don’t know the answer to.

So, to get February off on the right foot, we decided to do a little research about the topic and found an interesting and easy-to-read explanation of why February is so short.

It has some to do with science and a little bit to do with egos in ancient Rome.

February has always had 28 days, going back to the 8th century BC, when a Roman king by the name of Numa Pompilius established the basic Roman calendar. Before Numa was on the job the calendar covered only ten months, March through December. December, as you may know, roughly translates from Latin as "tenth." July was originally called Quintilis, "fifth," Sextilis was sixth, September was seventh, and so on.

To meticulous persons such as ourselves, having the calendar run out in December and not pick up again until March probably seems like a pretty casual approach to timekeeping. However, we must realize that 3,000 years ago, not a helluva lot happened between December and March. The Romans at the time were an agricultural people, and the main purpose of the calendar was to govern the cycle of planting and harvesting.

Numa, however, was a real go-getter-type guy, and when he got to be in charge of things, he decided it was going to look pretty stupid if the Romans gave the world a calendar that somehow overlooked one-sixth of the year. So he decided that a year would have 355 days--still a bit off the mark, admittedly, but definitely a step in the right direction. Three hundred fifty five days was the approximate length of 12 lunar cycles, with lots of leap days thrown in to keep the calendar lined up with the seasons. Numa also added two new months, January and February, to the end of the year. Since the Romans thought even numbers were unlucky, he made seven of the months 29 days long, and four months 31 days long.

But Numa needed one short, even-numbered month to make the number of days work out to 355. February got elected. It was the last month of the year (January didn't become the first month until centuries later), it was in the middle of winter, and presumably, if there had to be an unlucky month, better to make it a short one.

Many years later, Julius Caesar reorganized the calendar yet again, giving it 365 days. Some say he made February 29 days long, 30 in leap year, and that Augustus Caesar later pilfered a day; others say Julius just kept it at 28. None of this changes the underlying truth: February is so short mainly because it was the month nobody liked much.

Please enjoy this month's edition of Keeping Current Matters.
January KCM 2012

View more webinars from Steve Harney

What Are You Missing?

Our lives are as busy as they’ve ever been. People want more from us, our companies demand more from us and life asks so much more from us than ever before.

In fact, it gets so crazy sometimes that we end up missing some incredible things.

What Are You Missing?

Washington DC, Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007.

The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

To get the rest, click here to get your Monday Morning Mojo…

Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the Metro Station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised: In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made...

How many other things are we missing?

The video is below...

The Little Signs That God Is Watching Over Us

This beautiful image was captured just outside our Atchley Group offices.

Genesis 9: 12-13 says: And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

Take a moment today and reflect on the beauty all around you.