Monday Pep Talk No. 25
3 fun things to do this week
Celebrate President’s Day (on Monday) by looking at the human side of the U.S. Presidents through 44 facts—one for each Commander-in-Chief—that you probably didn’t know, including the fact that Obama is a comic book nerd and that Van Buren popularized the word “OK.”
Random Acts of Kindness Day (Feb. 17) is one of our favorite holidays. Celebrate by being kind—we’ve got some great ideas in the winter issue, and there’s a huge list of suggestions on the Random Acts of Kindness website, too.
Build your own working battery using pennies and nickels to mark the birthday of Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (Feb. 18), the inventor of the electric battery.
3 ideas for this week’s dinners
On busy days, one-pot meals like this kale and quinoa pilaf make the perfect easy dinner.
I want to come home at the end of a satisfying busy, cold day and eat slow-cooker pulled pork chili with cornbread dumplings, don’t you?
I want to eat spaghetti pie with pecorino and black pepper right now.
one great readaloud
Mark the discovery of Pluto (on Feb. 19, 1930) by reading all about the crazy history of the most controversial planet-not-a-planet in our solar system in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet.
one thought to ponder
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: That’s enough for one man’s life.
—T.S. Eliot
