\u27a2 The company that produces Peeps says its holiday-themed marshmallow treats will not be in Halloween candy baskets this year \u2014 and they won\u2019t be in stores for Christmas, either. In April, Just Born Quality Confections suspended the production of its candy brands to protect the health and safety of their employees during the pandemic, and although limited production resumed in May after changes were made to the plant, the \u201csituation resulted in\u2026 the difficult decision to forego production of\u2026seasonal candies for Halloween, Christmas and Valentine\u2019s Day\u2026to focus on meeting the expected overwhelming demand for Peeps for next Easter season.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u27a2 A strawberry farmer in Wisconsin decided to\u00a0plant<\/a>\u00a0sunflowers this year to get people outside, put a smile on their face, and make some extra money.\u00a0 He planted two million of them.\u00a0 And for $25, your whole family gets to walk through the field and pick a dozen sunflowers to take home.\u00a0 (Here’s part of an\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0he did before he opened for business.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u27a2 If you\u2019re feeling down you might want to try smiling. University of South Australia researchers have found that moving your facial muscles into a smile can actually make you view the world more positively. The study leader says, \u201c[\u2026] we found that when you forcefully practice smiling it stimulates the emotional center of the brain\u2014which releases neurotransmitters to encourage an emotionally positive state. For mental health, this has interesting implications. [\u2026] A \u2018fake it till you make it\u2019 approach could have some effect.\u201d<\/p>\n \u27a2 Listen to a\u00a0woman<\/a>\u00a0in Gulf Shores, Alabama describe the “monster” 12-foot alligator that ended up outside of her window because of Hurricane Sally.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u27a2 Netflix has another true-crime docu-series on the way, “American Murder: The Family Next Door”.\u00a0 It tells the\u00a0story<\/a>\u00a0of Shanann Watts and her two young daughters, who went missing in Frederick, Colorado, and the terrible events that followed.\u00a0 It premieres September 30th.\u00a0 Here’s part of the trailer.\u00a0 It’s chilling.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TODAY IS\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n _____________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>“Days Go By” took\u00a0Keith Urban\u00a0to the top of the\u00a0Billboard<\/em>\u00a0country chart in 2004.<\/p>\n _____________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kristen Bell Lets Her Daughters Drink Non-Alcoholic Beer<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n KRISTEN BELL\u00a0<\/strong>probably shouldn’t have admitted this, but she and\u00a0DAX SHEPARD\u00a0<\/strong>let their daughters . . . who are 7 and 5 . . . drink O’Doul’s . . . even during their ZOOM CLASSES.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dax drinks it because he’s been sober for 16 years, and they’re cool with the girls drinking it since it’s non-alcoholic.\u00a0 Technically, it’s .05% alcohol by volume, which is BASICALLY nothing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During an appearance on a podcast yesterday she said, quote, “They have 15-minute breaks where they’re allowed to jump around and grab a snack and wiggle it out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “I walk in to check on them at 9:30 and both of them are drinking an O’Doul’s on their Zooms. \u00a0They’re both just sipping their Doulies.\u00a0 And I’m like, ‘What must these other parents and teachers think of me?'”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But she added, quote, “You’re welcome to tell me I’m a terrible parent. \u00a0I don’t care.\u00a0 I’m a great parent, I think. \u00a0I’m learning every day.” If you’re wondering why the kids would even WANT an O’Doul’s, it’s because Dax drinks it.\u00a0 He’s been sober for 16 years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kristen said, quote, “When we first had our child and . . . we’d walk around the neighborhood, he’d pop a nonalcoholic beer in his hand and the baby would paw at it and put the rim in her mouth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “It’s a sentimental thing for my girls, it makes them feel close to their dad.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She also says it has allowed them to have a conversation with their daughters about sobriety, and why their father CAN’T drink.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FOUR RANDOM FACTS <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n GOOD NEWS <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n An electrician in Massachusetts\u00a0named<\/a>\u00a0John Kinney recently showed up at a 72-year-old woman’s house to\u00a0fix<\/a>\u00a0a light, and her whole home was in disrepair.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So he just started fixing stuff for free, and then other people offered to help.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the last month, they’ve replaced all the electrical, the plumbing, the windows, and more.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And people have donated over $96,000 to help pay for it.<\/p>\n ______________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n BIRTHDAYS <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n [70] Darryl Sittler, retired NHL player (Toronto Maple Leafs captain who holds the record for points in a game with 10)<\/p>\n [49] Jada Pinkett Smith, actress<\/p>\n [47] James Marsden, actor (\u201cThe Butler\u201d, \u201cX-Men\u201d films)<\/p>\n [45] Jason Sudeikis, comedian\/comedy writer (\u201cPortlandia\u201d 2011-14, \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d 2005-12)\/movie actor (\u201cWe\u2019re the Millers\u201d, \u201cHorrible Bosses\u201d)<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n COUPLE SPENDS OVER $2,500 ON CARDBOARD CUTOUTS <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n The pandemic has caused many big life events to be cancelled or rescheduled.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Currently, in England, only 30 people are to attend a wedding or civil partnership ceremony. So a couple that planned to have 100 guests attend their wedding has spent over $2,500 having cardboard cutouts of their guests made, and only had 14 people physically attend their wedding.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They say they had all their guests send them photos of themselves and went from there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bride says, \u201cIt worked out at the same price as what it would have cost to have them all here but we saved on the booze!\u201d<\/u><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18TH<\/sup> \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NBA PLAYOFFS:<\/strong>\u00a0Results from Conference Finals yesterday<\/strong> (September 17th):<\/p>\n Miami Heat 106, Boston Celtics 101 — Miami leads series 2 games to 0 (East)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Cleveland Browns topped the Cincinnati Bengals 35-30 last night (September 17th) at home, as the NFL marked its 100th birthday. There were 6,000 fans at FirstEnergy Stadium, which can seat 68,000 people, who were socially distanced and wearing face masks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n New York Yankees hit five home runs in one inning for the first time in franchise history yesterday (September 17th) as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-7. The five runs were hit in the fourth inning, all off of Toronto pitcher\u00a0Chase Anderson. The Yankees tied the MLB record, becoming just the seventh team in MLB history to hit five home runs in an inning. The Yankees hit 19 in the 3 game series with the Jays.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also in the parcel were flowers and Chinese money,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ALABAMA SHOWS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Alabama \u2013 has announced two shows in Nashville in 2021 as part of their delayed 50th Anniversary Tour.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll play Nashville\u2019s Bridgestone Arena on July 2 and July 3 with special guest Martina McBride.<\/p>\n They were forced to postpone more than 25 shows on their 50th Anniversary Tour in 2019 as Randy Owen dealt with vertigo and migraines, then had to delay it again this year due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n KEITH URBAN DROPS ‘THE SPEED OF NOW PART 1’ TODAY <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Keith Urban’s 10th studio album,\u00a0The Speed of Now Part 1<\/em>, arrives at retail today (Friday, Sept. 18th). Keith began writing and recording for\u00a0The Speed of Now Part 1<\/em>\u00a0toward the end of 2018, and he says that he had so many songs, it warranted a part 1 and a part 2 to come later.\u00a0[“I ended up with way too many songs. There were some songs I really, really loved that I was struggling with how do I leave these off this album, so I thought, well, if I was putting together a set list to play live and they said, ‘You can only do 14, 15 songs,’ I would be leaving a lot of songs off the set list so I’d have to play a couple of nights, so, well, I’ll just do a part 1 and a part 2\u00a0(laughs). That’s how that came about.”]\u00a0 Keith says he has no timeline for when fans can expect\u00a0The Speed of Now Part 2\u00a0<\/em>to be released.<\/p>\n He will celebrate the release of\u00a0The Speed of Now Part 1<\/em>\u00a0tonight with a global live stream interactive concert experience with Amazon Music. Filmed live from a state-of-the-art studio in Nashville, the event will begin at 9 p.mm ET on Amazon Music\u2019s Twitch channel and within the Amazon Music mobile app via Twitch and Amazon Music\u2019s new live streaming functionality, as well as on Amazon.com\/live.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PARKER McCOLLUM’S HIT SONG PUTS HIS PARENTS’ MINDS AT EASE <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Parker McCollum<\/strong>\u00a0is enjoying watching his debut single, “Pretty Heart,” close in on the Top 15 on the country charts, not only because it validates him as an artist and songwriter, but it’s also proof to his parents that he didn’t make the wrong career decision.<\/p>\n [\u201cIt\u2019s honestly really truly just humbling, I think, to look on the charts and know that, I\u2019ll send a screenshot to my parents, my mom and my dad, and I\u2019ll be like, \u2018Look how well it\u2019s doing so quickly.\u2019 And I think for them that\u2019s really cool \u2019cause when I didn\u2019t go to college trying to play country music, I think they lost a little bit of sleep some of those nights wondering where the hell I was and what I was doing. And so I think it kinda puts their mind at ease a little bit to know that maybe I wasn\u2019t crazy for trying to do this.\u201d]<\/p>\n Parker is currently putting the finishing touches on his debut major label album.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Record-Setting, History-Making Moments from the ACMs<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n We expected Wednesday’s ACMs to be out-of-the-ordinary, and it was.\u00a0 With that in mind\u00a0Taste of Country<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0put together different ACM moments that were either record-setting or history-making.<\/p>\n —————————————————————————————————————————————–<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n