I just love surfing the Internet for quirky stuff.

For instance, I learned that January has quite a few notable attributes other than being the first month of the year where we celebrate New Year's Day and kind of marks the halfway point for the winter season.

January is also National Eye Care Month, Family Fit Lifestyle Month, National Personal Trainer Awareness Day and Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. (Wow, what a coincidence! I have my yearly gynecologist appointment on Monday and I didn't even know it was Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. How cool is that?)

It's New York City Restaurant Month and my friend Cindy and her husband took advantage of that one.

It's also National Book Blitz Month. I'm trying to do my part. I love to read. So far this year I've read three great books. One is "A Song of Ice and Fire-A Game of Thrones," the first in a series of seven books by George R.R. Martin. I've just started the second one, "A Clash of Kings" and I can't put it down! I've learned that it is also an HBO television series. So now I've got to find Season 1 and Season 2 DVDs to watch. Sounds like a great way to spend a snowy winter January night.

Another great book was "Finding Casey" by Jo-Ann Mapson. I'm currently reading "Love Anthony" by Lisa Genova, a moving and insightful novel about autism.

January is National Blood Donor Month. Been there, done that Jan. 4. Now it's your turn. Please consider donating. There is a great need for blood donation. It's relatively painless and just takes a few minutes of your time. If you're into that whole Vampire thing, you could just pretend you're the star in a new Vampire movie and let them "suck your blood."

This first month of the year is International Creativity Month, Financial Wellness Month, (probably because of being broke and poor after Christmas shopping,) National Birth Defects Prevention Month and Thyroid Awareness Month. (Well believe you me, I'm very aware of my thyroid, or lack of, since I had most of it removed several years ago. I use that as my excuse whenever I talk about my weight. "I'm fat because I have no thyroid." OK. Maybe it's not the whole truth, but having no metabolism doesn't help. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it! And give me points for being creative.)

The first week of January is Women's Self-Empowerment Week, (You Go Girl, You Go Girl!) and National Thank Your Customers Week. (Look out shops and stores, Linda will be taking notes on who thanks her and who doesn't. Kind of like Santa's list of who's naughty and nice.)

This last week, it was Hunt for Happiness Week, which is like a "Twilight Zone" "do do do do do do do do" thing because my daughter did just that ... hunted for happiness. I think she may have found it!

Jan. 4 was National Trivia Day. Darn. We missed it by one day. We had "Game Night" on Jan. 5 and played the trivia game, "Smart Ass." (It's really a board game you can buy in a store. Honest. I wouldn't make that up. Well, I would, but I didn't.)

Jan. 10 was Save the Eagles Day, Jan. 11-Ameila Earhart Day, Jan. 17-Benjamin Franklin's birthday.

Tomorrow, Jan. 20, is A National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. It's also Inauguration Day. That's kind of funny. It's a renewal of President Barack Obama's oath to be President of the United States and we have to reconcile ourselves to more tax increases, the possible loss of Social Security and four more years of discord in Washington. Oh Yippy. Skippy.

But on a more positive note, it's also my birthday and I'm looking forward to a dinner of my brother-in-law's dry-rub ribs (the BEST in all the world) and Mom's homemade macaroni and cheese (the BEST in all the world!)

This week you can celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 21 and National Handwriting Day on Jan. 23 (I'll celebrate the fact that I can just barely decipher Harry's and my co-worker's Terry's.)

On Jan. 26 I'm going to send my beloved mentor, Pattie Mihalik, a HUGE "thank you" in honor of Thank Your Mentor Day.

But my favorite one for January is, it's National Thank You Month.

Two little words. How often do we do something for someone and hearing those two words makes our efforts worthwhile. If you don't think they mean a lot, do something nice and not get a "Thank you," and see how you feel. We need to remember that the next time someone does something or says something nice to us.

There's a song from the musical, "Scrooge," that goes like this that my sister Diane and I sing a lot: "Thank you very much, Thank you very much, That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me, The future looks all right, In fact it looks so bright, I feel as if they're polishing the sun for me, And if I had a drum I'd have to bang it! To add a sort of rumty-tumty touch, But since I left my drum at home, I'll simply have to say, Thank you very, very, very much!"

So anyway ... I just wanted to say, "Thank you very much" for putting up with all my crazy ramblings. I appreciate it with all my heart. And in the words of, well, me, "May you find every day in January something to celebrate."