G’morning! A short bit of “business” before I disappear into Revision World again. First, those of you who are dropping by to catch up on the A TISKET A TASKET PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET contest, please go to the contest page to get details. The contest has it’s own bright and shiny page with the link. Next, I click every day to help fund mammograms for women in need. It’s free, it’s easy, it’s instant warm fuzzies. In April, they’re trying to do this:

As of yesterday, this was the status for the month. There are two days left. Please do me a favor? Take a few moments to click the pink button below and add your clicks for the cause! Have a great day!

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate April Fool’s Day? And why we play pranks on one another? According to Joseph Boskin, a history professor at Boston University, we can blame it all on Emperor Constantine. According to legend, a group of court jesters (or fools) told the emperor they could do a better job of running the empire. Amused by this, Constantine allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

“In a way,” explained Prof. Boskin, “it was a very serious day. In those times, fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor.”

So now you know! And here’s a treat for everyone. Today starts the A TISKET A TASKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET Contest.

Spring is in the air! Bees are buzzing. Children anxiously await the big morning where they can graze on candy all day. What about Mom? We’ve got a treat for you! Come join a group of romance authors in celebration of spring. Enter to win a prize a day as well as enter to win the grand prize. All you need do is begin here on April 1st–TODAY. I’m hosting the day’s contest and providing the link to tomorrow’s location. Don’t forget to enter to win the grand prize! Here’s the dirt…

A TISKET A TISKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET Grand Prize:
To enter to win prizes from the authors donating treasures to the grand prize (see each day’s post for what an author is donating to the grand prize), find the four Easter eggs in the A TISKET A TASKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET blog event.

You will be searching for the above egg. And no, this isn’t one of them! (But it might be hidden here so look around, just in case.) Visit all of the authors’ websites, locate the FOUR eggs hidden somewhere on four different sites, make a list of their locations by pasting the URLS to the website pages in an e-mail, then send the entry to happyendings2007@aol.com by midnight CST on May 1st, 2009. The winner will be randomly drawn and announced May 2nd at Skhye Moncrief’s Blog. Tip #1, subscribe to Skhye Moncrief’s Blog to learn if you’re the winner! And don’t worry. If you start in on the blog event late, just start here on the April 1st post to begin your website search for the Easter eggs. Don’t miss the fun! See you next to the burgundy tulips. ~Skhye

Here’s what you’ll win from me. Click your pointer on the picture to get a full-size picture. Just leave a comment here today. I’ll randomly chose one name from all the comments left from Midnight to Midnight (CDT) today to receive the Celestial Wind Chime pictured here. The chimes measure 32 inches from the hanger to the star “wind catcher” at the bottom. I will mail them out of the US. My contribution to the grand prize, the winner chosen from all the entries who qualify, is this Garden mug for morning coffee or tea.

So, tomorrow (April 2), go visit RONI ADAMS’ BLOG for the next stop.

Oh! And remember this is April Fool’s Day? Professor Boskin was interviewed by the Associated Press back in 1983 about the origins of the holiday. Many papers picked up the feed. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize they’d been victims of an April Fools’ joke themselves. APRIL FOOLS!

Do you have a favorite April Fool’s prank or joke? Share!