The Slice: Simon says appreciate life’s joys

Moses Lake’s Jill Simon has a simple goal for the rest of winter.

After having survived a critical illness, she plans to turn 46 years old. “I will celebrate that with a birthday dinner out with my wonderful husband and precious 5-year-old daughter, a pottery class with my daughter, and a card making class. Life’s little pleasures are actually the great pleasures and treasures.”

Slice answers: “I mark my territory with the wind at my back off the tallest cliffs I can summit,” wrote Tim Sauvageau.

Jan Daniels wrote, “My toothbrush, nail clippers, tweezers, casserole dishes and many more things all have red fingernail polish stripes on them. This tells my family ‘Don’t touch – these are mine.’ ”

And Sue Swanson said, “I mark my territory with Roundup.”

Another parental classic: “My father’s favorite threat was: ‘Do you want something to cry about? I will give you something to cry about!’ ” wrote Amy Ammons of Cheney.

“That usually stopped the tears immediately, and I quickly found something to do, preferably outside of his company. As a parent in later years, I found myself almost saying that same phrase but quickly stopped myself.”

Signs of the times: Jim Clanton recalled that the original time/temperature displays outside banks and office buildings did not automatically switch to Daylight Saving Time. So employees of Spokane’s pioneering American Sign and Indicator fanned out across the country and made the adjustments one sign at a time.

Doing impressions: “A few years back, when I could sing, if I had a cold I sounded like Al Jolson,” wrote Don Thomas.

Asked and answered: Jeff Bergman wonders about the expression “It is what it is.”

“Is there some deeper meaning? Oh, never mind. I think I just answered my own question. It is what it is.”

Today’s Slice question: Are you old enough to have worked in an office where smoking was commonplace?