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Driving Notes

The Official Blog of WNZR's Afternoon Drive

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fun facts

Mystery Monday: Decorating Month!

Where you live has an impact on our mood, wellbeing and general happiness levels. That’s why it’s vitally important to feel happy in your own surroundings; you spend enough time at home, after all!! Today Lilly and I talked about Decorating Month!

First, we shared about Color Psychology and how each color can make you feel!

Here is some info on some colors:

The Afternoons Drive's - Todays mystery question

Question: Something People Design For A Living

  1. Clothes
  2. Buildings
  3. Furniture

Congratulations to Marie from Mount Vernon who guessed our top answer and won a $5 Gift Card to Troyers of Apple Valley!

Of course, we talked about interior design! Here are some of the tips we shared on the show!

Here are the 10 Interior design tips!

Here are the 6 Exterior design tips! 

Thank you for checking out our Blog!

-Hannah and Lilly

 

Ash Wednesday Fast Facts

Today on the Morning Thing, we celebrated Ash Wednesday. This is the start of Lent which leads up to Easter. Click HERE for some facts and information on Ash Wednesday. As always, thanks for listening!

Mystery Monday

Today Todd and I talked about something with an unsuspecting depth to it and that is names! It’s “Fun facts about names day”,  so we celebrated by sharing the meaning of our names and talking about names in general!

The meaning of Todd’s Name 

The meaning of Hannah’s Name 

The Power of God’s Names  

We also talked with Joe Rinehart who is on the way to the NAIA basketball tournament to cheer on and report back the games with our MVNU Men’s Basketball Team, The Cougars! Click here if you want more information! 

We played Mystery Box today, and because our item was a little abstract we jumped right into the touch test!

Todd had two questions to ask, here they are with the answers!

  1. Is this a piece of paper?  – yes!
  2. Is this paper blank? – No!

At this point, we asked for what was on the paper.

Congrats to Peter from Howard who guessed what was on the mystery box Paper, which was a list of names – our birthday list to be exact. He won that $5 Gift Card to Troyer’s of Apple Valley!

If you want to put your name on our birthday list or anniversary list, here is a link to the online form. You can also give us a call at (740) 397 – 9090 or (740) 397 – 9697 and ask to be put on the birthday or anniversary list!

 

Thank you so much for checking out our blog!

-Hannah and Todd

 

Mystery Monday!

Today Todd and I gave you some chances to win with our Mystery Monday Question and a Christmas Gift Exchange!

Here is today’s Mystery Question:

Can you name two out of the top five most popular Christmas songs? 

  1. Jingle Bells – 45
  2. White Christmas – 16
  3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – 8
  4. O Holy Night – 7
  5. Silver Bells – 6
  6. We Wish You a Merry Christmas – 5
  7. Silent Night – 4
  8. Jingle Bell Rock – 3
  9. Joy to the world – 1
  10. All I Want for Christmas is You – 1

Congratulations to Jana from Utica who guessed Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and won that $5 gift card to Troyer’s of Apple Valley!

Here are the fun facts that we shared about these Christmas songs:

  • “White Christmas” is the top-selling Christmas song of all time. The song was written by Irving Berlin, a Russian Jewish immigrant who also wrote “God Bless America.”
  • The song “Jingle Bells” was written in the 1850s for a Unitarian church by James Lord Pierpont, but it wasn’t written for Christmas. It was originally written for Thanksgiving and called “One Horse Open Sleigh”.
  • “Silent Night” is one of the most recognizable songs at Christmas Mass and on a radio playing non-stop holiday music. (While most people recognize the lyrics “Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright,” the original lyrics are “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, alles schlaft, einsam wacht.”) The song was originally written in German in 1816 by Father Joseph Mohr, a Catholic priest in Austria. Two years later, it was set to music by Franz Gruber. It was translated into English by John Freeman Young of Manhattan’s Trinity Church.
  • Silver Bells, written in 1950 by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The original title? “Tinkle Bells.” The title was changed when Livingston’s wife told him about the double meaning of tinkle. 

We also played the WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange! Congratulations and thanks to Karen from Mount Vernon who played the WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange with us and won a gift from under our tree! If you want more information, click HERE.

Thanks for checking out our blog!

– Hannah and Todd

Cherry Month Who Knew!

When it comes to fruits that remind me of summer, cherries almost always take the cake. They are sweet and never fail to take me back to a warm summers day, by the pool.

Today on the Drive, we got in the WNZR Time Machine and went to summer of 2018 courtesy of the fruit that we know and love as the cherry.

Here are some fun facts about this delicious superfruit…

  • There are more than 1,000 varieties of cherries in the United States, but fewer than 10 are produced commercially.
  • There are normally about 44 cherries to a pound.
  • In an average crop year, a sweet cherry tree will produce 800 cherries.
  • Despite the short fruiting season, Americans consume an average of 1.5 pounds of cherries each year.
  • Washington grows an estimated 62 percent of the nation’s sweet cherries.
  • Between Washington, Oregon and California, these three states produce 94 percent of America’s sweet cherries.
  • Michigan grows well over half of the country’s tart cherries, which are mostly used for cooking. (Still just as delicious).
  • Brian Krause set the record for cherry pit spitting at an annual contest in Eau Claire, Michigan in 2004, spitting the pit 93 feet. That same day, Krause spat a pit more than 100 feet in the freestyle competition, which allows for a running start.

Well, now that you know some fun facts about the fruit, you’re probably asking, what are cherries good for? Look no further for an answer.

  • Tart cherries have very high antioxidant activity. The activity is actually better than vitamin E and comparable to commercially available antioxidant products.
  • Sweet cherries contain fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids, and anthocyanin, each of which may help play a role in cancer prevention.
  • Tart cherries are anti-inflammatory and may help lower your risk of gout attacks and reduce pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis
  • Consuming tart cherry may help increase your melatonin levels and improve your sleep
  • Sweet cherries have a low glycemic index of 22 — lower than apricots (57), grapes (46), peaches (42), blueberries (40) or plums (39). This makes them a better snack than many other fruits, especially for diabetics.
  • Cherries are very high in potassium, which helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure and reduces the risk of hypertension.

It wouldn’t be the Afternoon Drive without sharing some recipies, now would it?
Let’s give you a whole 4 course meal with cherries, shall we?

Perhaps we start the meal with a salad? Maybe three?
Orzo Salad with Mustard Greens and Cherries. Yes please.
Goat cheese goes great with cherries. Let’s put that on a salad.
Goat Cheese, Cherries and Pistachio Salad.
One final salad…
Spinach Salad with a Fresh Cherry Vinaigrette

For an appetizer? Let’s start with some meatballs.
Tart Cherry Glazed Spicy Meatballs. 
Another appetizer? Don’t mind if I do. How about one for Game Day?
Instant Pot Tart Cherry Chicken Wings. (I’m drooling).
One more? Sure. Can’t say no to bread, right?
Here’s a Baguette stuffed with Brie and Cherries. 

Okay. Main Course. Here we go.
Cocoa Cherry Pork? SIGN ME UP.
More main courses? Okay. You asked for it.
We have to have a meal from the mayor of Flavor Town.
Guy Fieri’s Cherry Bomb Chops. (I’m drooling again).
I’ll eat anything with the word ‘sassy’ in it.
Pork Burgers with Sassy Barbecue Sauce.

OH we can’t forget the drinks.
How about a Cherry Limeade from the Pioneer Woman herself?
Another? Okay. How about a healthy alternative?
You can’t go wrong with a Frozen Fruit Smoothie showcasing cherries.

Dessert. Can’t have a meal without dessert. Right?
A Black Forrest Trifle from my girl Katie Lee.
Ever wanted to use big cooking words like ‘compote’? Here’s your chance…
Nectarine-Cherry Compote. Oh Yes.

And delicious fruits aside, we come together as a country with heavy hearts for various reasons today. We turn on the TV and can’t watch for five minutes without hearing bad news after bad news. Whatever reason your heart is heavy today, we have hope.
The devil is on the prowl. He is active in our world maybe stronger than ever right now. We as Christians are called to put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the schemes of the devil. We are called to stand on the front-lines and fight as a community against this darkness. We can stand on the front-lines UNAFRAID because we know that God is standing right there by us, and He has given us the strength, the courage and the power to fight this.

We looked at the song ‘Whom Shall I Fear’ from Chris Tomlin today.
It was a song that’s been in the back of my mind since this weekend, and just some of the lyrics seem so applicable to us right now.

Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light

Darkness is filling the night. It is. But it cannot hide the light.
God is the light. We are the light. We cannot be hidden.
We need to be a nation that is ON FIRE for Christ that NO DARKNESS can hide.
We can do that when we remember the next thing Chris Tomlin says…
God is crushing the enemy beneath our feet.

God goes before us. There are countless scriptures that tell us that.
God is standing behind us.

Our strength is found in the name of Jesus
For it is His name alone that can save.
He is delivering us.
He is the victory.

Here are the lyrics from the bridge that give me chills. Ah.

And nothing formed against me shall stand. 
He’s telling us that WE are protected.
God is holding the whole world in His hands.
Sometimes God is silent, and it’s hard. It’s so hard.
But we can hold on to His promises.
God is FAITHFUL.
Tomlin says that line 5 times in the bridge. It’s so important.And this song isn’t just something Chris Tomlin wrote.
It’s based off the most powerful chapter in scripture. Romans 8.
Romans 8:31 says “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” and that should be more than enough send the devil running far in the other direction.

It’s far and away time for our country to have a “War Room” moment.
A Priscilla Shirer moment.
“YOU’VE HAD YOUR WAY LONG ENOUGH. NO MORE.”
Jesus is the Lord of our house. There is no room for the devil anymore.
We need to stand up, and shout if we need to. Telling the devil to take his lies, and his schemes, and his accusations, and to get out IN. JESUS’. NAME.

Here’s the scene, if you haven’t seen it. So incredibly powerful.

It’s time we stand up and take back what is rightfully ours in Christ. 

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly

 

Festival of Sleep Who Knew!

Welcome to the first Who-Knew Wednesday of 2018!
Today, we’re celebrating the Festival of sleep!

The Festival of Sleep day was founded by someone who had a profound and deep love of sleep. Sleep is a basic human function, and helps our bodies to regain energy for the next day, keeping our mind alert and ready for action. During the holidays, things can get crazy, so this holiday was created to let you catch up on those post-holiday Z’s.

Having a lack of sleep can be fatal to the human body and mind, effects caused by little to no sleep over an extended period of time are as follows.

Effect One: Lack of sleep in the modern world can cause people to get into vehicular accidents, which happen daily in large numbers.

Effect Two: Lack of sleep can in fact, dumb you down. As we all know, sleep plays a critical role in our thinking and learning processes. We also know that a lack of sleep hurts these cognitive processes in many ways. First, it impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving. This makes it more difficult to learn efficiently. Secondly, sleep helps to retain memories of the day’s experience. Meaning that with a lack of sleep, we would not remember much of the previous day’s experiences. This makes sleep incredibly important for students, from those in college to those simply trying to learn a new language on their own.

Effect Three: Probably the most dangerous effect from having a long term lack of sleep is it can cause many and deadly health problems. Here are some examples of these problems.

• Heart Disease
• Heart Attack
• Heart Failure
• Irregular Heartbeat
• High Blood Pressure
• Stroke
• Diabetes

Here are some more fun facts about sleep!

  1. In general, most healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can’t perform at their peak unless they’ve slept ten hours.
  2. We naturally feel tired at two different times of the day: about 2:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It is this natural dip in alertness that is primarily responsible for the post-lunch dip.
  3. Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise.
  4. The higher the altitude, the greater the sleep disruption. Generally, sleep disturbance becomes greater at altitudes of 13,200 feet or more. The disturbance is thought to be caused by diminished oxygen levels and accompanying changes in respiration. Most people adjust to new altitudes in approximately two to three weeks.
  5. In general, exercising regularly makes it easier to fall asleep and contributes to sounder sleep. However, exercising sporadically or right before going to bed will make falling asleep more difficult.
  6. Snoring is the primary cause of sleep disruption for approximately 90 million American adults; 37 million on a regular basis.
  7. Scientists still don’t know — and probably never will — if animals dream during REM sleep, as humans do.
  8. People who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have bigger appetites due to the fact that their leptin levels (leptin is an appetite-regulating hormone) fall, promoting appetite increase.

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly

Ice Cream Sandwich Who Knew!

Summer is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy a staple summer treat! That’s right! The ice cream sandwich!
Here are some fun facts about the amazing summer snack…

  • Although ice cream sandwiches were made by hand and distributed by New York street vendors in the early 1940s, it wasn’t until 1945 that the first ice cream sandwiches were mass produced.
  • The current version was invented in 1945 by Jerry Newberg when he was selling ice cream at Forbes Field, in Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Pictures from the Jersey Shore circa 1905 “On the beach, Atlantic City”, show Ice Cream sandwiches were popular at 1c each.
  • August 2nd is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day.
  • The Coolhaus food truck empire has taken ice cream sandwiches to a new level. You can buy one of their pre-packaged ice cream sandwiches, pints of ice cream, or hand-dipped ice cream bars at one of 4,000+ markets ranging from Whole Foods to Kroger and Safeway, in all 50 states
  • The ice cream sandwich ranks as the second best-selling ice cream novelty in America.
  • The average number of ice cream sandwiches eaten per second nationally is 48.
  • If all the ice cream sandwiches made last year were placed end to end, they would circle Earth 3 1/2 times.
  • The 30-44 age group buys the most ice cream sandwiches.
  • The eastern seaboard consumes almost 50 percent of all ice cream sandwiches.
  • The ice cream sandwich is so American it is sold at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

    Here’s a recipe for ice cream sandwiches from the Food Network…

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 tablespoons shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 (1-pint) containers ice cream (any flavor)

    1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
    2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, beating until smooth. With a spoon, stir in the flour mixture, stirring just until you have a smooth dough.
    3. Using a 2 tablespoon cookie dough scoop, drop 6 mounds of dough on each baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each cookie. Bake until the cookies are firm around the edges and soft in the middle, about 15 minutes. (For even baking, rotate the pans from top to bottom and back to front halfway through baking.) Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.
    4. Meanwhile, turn the ice cream pints on their sides and use a serrated knife to slice through the containers, cutting each into 3 even rounds. Place the ice cream disks on a baking sheet and freeze until ready to assemble the sandwiches.
    5. To assemble, peel the cardboard from the ice cream disks and sandwich each disk between 2 cookies. Serve the sandwiches immediately, or wrap individually in plastic wrap and freeze up to 1 week.

    Image result for cut ice cream pint
    Cut your pints like this, getting perfect portions for ice cream sandwiches!

    Also, we’re celebrating August First Friday here in downtown Mt. Vernon THIS FRIDAY! Be sure to stop by and see us, and register for our prize basket!
    Our special Clean Up, Dress Up and Checkup” prize basket for the family features
    · An entire house cleaning from Carefree Cleaning Company. Amy Kessler gives you 4 hours of house cleaning! (Valued at $100)!
    · A certificate for 1 individual comprehensive eye exam with Amazing Eyes Family Vision! (Valued at $135)
    · Two $15.00 gift certificates for Premier Designs Jewelry with Amberly Frye (one for you and one for a friend)
    · Plus WNZR goodies including chip clips, hand fans, cups, Frisbees, guitar flyswatters and more! The prize package is valued at over $265.00!

    First Friday events are from 6 to 9pm in downtown Mount Vernon. The family-friendly activities include magician Jimmy Burcham, corn hole, a classic car cruise-in and music from Project Round Table on the public square stage.
    Other activities include:
    – TaVaci Select Performers followed by the Uncorrections will provide music at the South Stage – MVNU’s Buchwald Plaza Gazebo.
    – A presentation for the winner of the local Guns vs. Hoses Blood Drive for the American Red Cross. This competition is between our local police and fire departments.
    – The American Red Cross will host a bloodmobile at City Hall.
    – A Hidden in Plain Sight event with KSAAT (Knox Substance Abuse Action Team) will take place at the Elks Lodge.
    – “Outside” – an exhibition by the Creative Art of Women (CAW) will be at MVNU’s Schnormeier Gallery. In this exhibition, CAW explores the external forces and exterior surfaces that make up the world- whether structural, anatomical, or metaphysical. Each artist wrestled with the theme of “OUTSIDE” through her own lens resulting in a diverse view of what makes up the world outside ourselves.
    – Food vendors on the square

    Thanks for listening!
    -Lilly

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