Randomosity

I recently re-read the introduction to my blog (see above) and did a self-assessment on how well I have or have not met the intentions of this blog. It seems to me that lately I have been heavy on the mindless-train-of-thought type blogging, and very light on the liberal rants and raves. Don't worry, you're not in for a rant today. Today will be quite a potpourri as I have a teeny bit to say about like a zillion things.

First of all, Saddam Hussein. He's dead. Anyone who gloated or was actually happy about this: you are off my In List. The whole affair is so so so sad and I only wonder why we could not have stopped this man's despotism before it killed so many people. One more death does not resolve the larger problem in my mind.

However, I am reminded of the day of September 11, 2001. I worked at a middle school in the next tiny town over from this one, and all the staff were exhausted, distraught and just wanted to go home. Our principal held a called, mandatory faculty meeting that afternoon and ranted at us for 35 minutes about what a tragedy this was. Duh, and duh-huh. I kept wondering, "who the hell cares what she thinks?"

The difference is that you have checked this blog intentionally, and presumably to see exactly what I do think. You're not captive in a smelly lunchroom just wishing you could go home and snuggle on the couch with your family and thank God they are ok.

Next: New Years' Resolutions. Most of you know I am a big resolution-maker. Some I actually keep. Like, giving up wearing my watch as a visible reminder to not be so A-personality. After the first year, I renewed the resolution last year and now I am so not-A they have to scrape me off the floor to get me to do anything. I am soooo laid back. However, I am not renewing my anti-watch resolution as I may head back to the workplace soon and may well need to know what time it is on occasion.

I am reading a pretty good book called Julie & Julia, subtitled, "365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen." It's the semi-true book about a young woman trapped in a dead-end job in NYC who feels really crappy about her boring life, so she decides to make every recipe in Julia Childs' cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or MtAoFC, as she refers to it. She makes all the recipes, and eats them, even though she was a pretty picky eater before. I mean, she had never eaten an egg in all her 29 years and suddenly she is making omelets of every possible persuasion. I'm about halfway through it. It's a riot. So far, the best part is the marrow bone.

I call it semi-true because of her own introduction: "For the sake of discretion, many identifying details, individuals, and events throughout this book have been altered. Only my self, my husband and certain widely known public figures, including Julia and Paul Child, are identified by real names. Also, sometimes I just made stuff up. Case in point: the scenes from the lives of Paul Child and Julia McWilliams Child depicted throughout are purely works of imagination, inspired by events described in the hournals and letters of Paul Child, the letters of Julia McWilliams, and the biography of Julia Child, Appetite for Life, by Noel Rily Fitch. I thank Ms...." and she goes on with her acknowledgements.

How cool to start with the true story and freely make stuff up on the way and not be committed to having written something entirely original, (very hard) or something very real (also very hard.) It's not really a novel but not non-fiction, either. In our library it was shelved near the cookbooks in with the theory of cooking stuff.

I have a new story coming out in the paper later this week about one of the garbagemen with whom I worked last year. I mentioned it last week with hyperlinks and stuff to the article. It's scheduled to print either Friday, 05.Jan or Sunday, 07.Jan.

Little One has one more day before returning to school. Hallelujah. I love love love having her home -- she is great company, but she really needs the structure of going to bed, getting up, doing things, actually doing things, and...so do I. She's been up till after 10 almost every night over Christmas Break, and sleeping to at least 10am in the mornings. Her days have consisted of TV, Internet, music (stereo, piano, flute, in that order!) and of course, Fly Pen. She has done a little work on her Social Studies project but none on her Science Fair Project. She has read 2 books but the next in the series is checked out of the library, overdue, in fact, and she sort of refuses to read anything until she has completed the series.

She is the absolute best candidate I ever saw for a Montessori school. She loves to learn, explore, practice her music, learn for the sake of learning, but wants to do it all on her own schedule. Try to make her do something at a given time and ho boy, you better have your Tactful Hat on for sure. I spend half my time trying to outfox the eleven year old in the house.

I am so so so intrigued by Barack Obahma I went to the library to get on the waiting list to read The Audacity of Hope, NYT Bestseller List #1. Is this someone in whom we can believe? Could he be as smart as he appears? As good? As directed? Could he rub off on some others?

I'll have to report on the book later, much later. I am #12 on the waiting list at our Small Town Library. Seems half the town wonders the same thing. They have 2 copies and 2 more on order, though, so it could be as quick as six weeks for me to get the book, or it could be quite a while.

Ultimate Christmas Gift

Maybe you've seen the TV commercial that shows 2 little kids opening a Christmas gift, in matching pajamas, and when they see the contents, they yell, "Yes, yes YES, YES!" They are jumping and high-fiving and smiling from ear to ear.

I have seen it a few times this season and each time thought, "Wouldn't that be a great feeling, to give a gift that gives so much pleasure?"

Well, we did not have the instant replay of that commercial, but we have had something almost as good.

LO played with her Main Christmas gift ALL DAY yesterday, and commented several times, "This thing is awesome." I have to admit, I did feel a little warm all over each time she said it.

Her main gift was the Fly Pen, created by Leap Frog. When the Leap Frog stuff for little guys came out, she was just on the older side of that age range, so we never got any of their stuff -- till now.

She said in September that she wanted it. I went online and pulled up all the reviews of it I could find. I found a zillion raves for it and only one pan. This is in contrast to a few years ago, when she wanted the Girl Tech Password Journal II and all the reviews for it said it SUCKED. I told her as much and she teared up and said, "I really, really want it." So against our best judgment, we got the thing for her and of course, it sucked. She spent about 3 afternoons yelling her password at the thing and it's been in her wooden box of tech toys ever since.

When I saw that the Fly Pen actually does what it says it will do (novel concept), I went to Ebay and got several great buys on accessories for it. Having a closet of games, faceplates, the charger and speaker, I set out to find a great buy on the Pen itself. DH came home from work one day to report that Target had a coup for the Pen and get a Journal free. One of his buddies at work had tipped him off to it. They had even cut out the coup for us.

I set out the next Saturday afternoon, as she had a playdate and I was free. It was a cold rainy blustery day, and I had to hit THREE Targets to find the Pen available. Our new SuperTarget only 22 miles away was out. The guy used his scanner tool to shoot the shelf tag and said it was available at a Charlotte Target only 15 miles further down the road. He checked further and said they had only 3 -- if they were out by the time I got there, to go on to another Target 7 miles further, that Target has little traffic.

So I went to Target #2, which was already out, and finally found it at Target #3.

Have had a closet full of Pen stuff for 3 months and in the meanwhile, LO has expressed the desire for several other things, seemingly having forgotten that she had wanted the Pen. I was really starting to sweat.

About 3 days before Christmas I shared with her that she was not receiving either an MP3 player or a cell phone. She seemed to accept this news pretty well -- she really is a good sport -- and seemed truly happy when she opened the Pen.

She can draw a piano, place the pen on the drawn keys, and make music -- in the notes of the drawn keys. She can draw drums and play them in 4 different modes, including African steel drums.

She can mix DJ tracks. She can play a game of "repeat the sounds" with it -- and when she is unsuccessful in repeating its tones, it says, "You ain't too good at this."

She can enter her appointments, and did so Saturday night, when we opened gifts. Yesterday when she turned on her Pen, it said, "Monday, December 25. 9am: breakfast."

She has software to help develop her writing skills and the Harry Potter Marauders' Map. Last night she was stretched out on the floor in front of the fire, playing with the Map, and said 2 or 3 times, "This is so cool."

The journal software prompted her to write what her dream vacation would be, what kind of friend she thinks she is, and who her dream guy would be. It has an old-timey lock and key on it, too.

At lunch she was playing trivia with it, remembering her states and capitals, and doing exponents.

I am glad we went for the charger as we would have gone through 3 sets of AA's by now.

So far, Spanish is the only language software offered for the Pen, and she prefers French, so we are waiting. Surely they will come out with French soon.

So often with tech toys, the truth is not quite the advertised concept, and it's so nice this time to have something that is truly as cool as is advertised. You can go online and play with its features as if it were the Pen, to get acquainted with it. The website is: www.flypentop.com.

Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day, like everything we do, is a bit out of the ordinary. Alas, DH has to work today, but after our sad little Christmas 3 years ago (facing layoff), we will just be thankful for his job and keep on going.

We opened gifts last night after dinner, between the 2 church services we attended, the Children's Service at 4pm, and the Festival of Light at 9. We gaily remarked on the way to the latter that LO is finally old enough to go to a "grownup" service at 9pm and remembered these words as I propped her on my shoulder halfway through the service. She slept soundly but did not snore. The perfect church nap.

She had to wake up to leave the church so we drove to the downtown business that was thoughtful to project a light show onto the rear wall of Small Town's only "skyscraper" -- 12 stories high! The light show was a series of animated slides set to Christmas carols, looping in 12 minute increments. We parked across the street and stood up through the sunroof of the car. It was great fun and such a novelty. Headed home and LO went straight to bed.

DH had asked me to prepare a Breakfast Casserole for him & his coworkers to enjoy today, so I had it ready in the fridge and he took it with him as he left this am at 4:30. Little One and I slept in til 10 and she has been enjoying her new Fly Pen ever since. I have been hanging around, on the computer, enjoying her, enjoying her gift. She is still in pj's and I am ready to start the homemade bread for tonight's dinner. Little Dog is stretched out on her rug and the cats are curled up somewhere. It's chilly, gray, rainy day and I will build a fire before DH comes home.

Remembering Christmas

This year, for the first year, EVER, I was done shopping for Christmas by November. Oh, I've had to pick up a few items for stockings, and a special gift I ordered in September was hand-crafted and ready for pickup earlier this month, but for all intents and purposes, I was done.

I have always envied, and somewhat resented, the organized ladies (it's never the men) who smugly mention, "Oh, I've been ready for months." I berate myself: "we know on 26.December that another Christmas is coming; why can't I go on and get it done?" But for whatever reason, I never started (until now) til late fall. Sometimes, it was late, late fall.

All year I have anticipated having the PERFECT CHRISTMAS. I selected just the perfect gifts, made some, bought others. Envisioned lovely smells in the kitchen and sparkly lights throughout the house. DH and I bought a few Christmas gifts on our vacation in August. It's truly been a year of getting ready for Christmas.

So now of course our little Christmas is not perfect. DH has to work all day Christmas day. Other events have conspired to suck the joy from the season. Sheesh.

I have been thinking back to other Christmases. I remember 28 years ago when DS1 was 4 and DS2 was a 3. DD was a toddler. We had little or no money but somehow it did not matter a bit. I made slippers for all, red corduroy with white terry lining. Made a rag doll for DD, with a yellow gingham dress and embroidered facial features. Their dad made them a brightly-colored abacus from dowels and wooden beads. We built a puppet stage from plywood; I made curtains, backdrop and puppets, all animals. We even stayed up late one night and made homemade lollipops, cooking corn syrup, sugar and water to the hard-crack stage, separating it into 4 or 5 batches for different colors, and spreading it thin to harden. Then we rolled it into a fine powder with the rolling pin. Using washed tuna cans with both top and bottom lids removed, as a mold, on a cookie sheet, we sprinkled the colored powder into the circular mold, with little designs in the center. In one mold we sprinkled a green Christmas tree shape in the center, then filled the remainder of the circle with red. And so on. Once all our designs were made, we removed the cans, inserted shortened thin dowels, and baked. They were the most beautiful lollipops you ever saw. I remember wanting to hang them in the window. They were like beautiful little stained-glass windows. Thinking back, I can almost recall the smell of cooking them, there in that tiny little kitchen.

The children loved their gifts and I was so proud and pleased that we had made it all. It was a Christmas to remember.

More Trash!

I was thrilled yesterday to receive a call from the local manager of Solid Waste. I worked as a trash lady a little over a year ago,
(see http://maggiesattic.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_archive.html and scroll down to 28.Sept)
and worked with a fellow who has been emptying garbage for 33 years. He is retiring today and they are having a drop-in reception for him from 11am to 2pm. The manager called to ask would I attend? Would I! The mayor is dropping in at about 12 to present him with an honorary award to recognize that he has not had a single driving offense in 33 years of driving the garbage truck.

I asked if the paper had been notified and the answer was no. Would he mind if I cover it? We were hoping you would, he said. So a few calls to my editor and the photography editor set it all up.

The paper is philosophically opposed to "handshake" type photos, the type showing the fellow receiving the plaque and shaking hands with the Mayor. They are too pose-y. They prefer "action shots."

The fellow who is retiring is working today, of course, --I can't imagine this particular fellow doing anything else but working to the very end, and so a photographer is going to catch him in action today and photograph him. I got his locations for the day and gave them to the photography folks so they can find him.

I so enjoyed working with him and the other fellow I worked with on that hot September day. They were both so so so gentlemanly and sweet to me. Treated me like a china doll. (You'd have to know me to realize how unusual that would be for me.) I truly look forward to seeing him again today and honoring him with a good writeup.

In preparing for the interview today, I pulled up my earlier article, (http://archive.salisburypost.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/sls/archive/2005/October/02/Lifestyle/30378.xml&start=20&numPer=20&keyword=maggie+blackwell&sectionSearch=&begindate=1%2F1%2F1983&enddate=12%2F31%2F2006&authorSearch=&IncludeStories=1&pubsection=&page=&IncludePages=1&IncludeImages=1&mode=allwords&archive_pubname=Salisbury+Post%0A%09%09%09)
and also my blog account of the event, see earlier hyperlink.

Looking over the blogs for September, 2005, truly took me on a trip down memory lane. Three weeks prior to my riding garbage, DH had had an accident with the table saw and lost his left pinkie. The September blogs are a compilation of sadness, hope, patience, discouragement, worry, and ultimate victory. Altogether, if something really crappy had to happen in our lives, this crappy event turned out in what I believe was the best possible outcome. DH was overwhelmed with how many people really really care about him. His sense of humor about it cannot be believed. He is constantly saying things like, "Gimme 4!" or "Pinkie swear!" These remarks sometimes take people aback, but this is his way of accepting the loss. Just about every day, I see him looking at it, rubbing it, or stretching the ring finger, which was quite damaged but not lost in the accident. As recently as yesterday, he found a way to joke about it. More on that at the end of this entry.

Reading the daily blogs about the accident made me realize what a good team we really are. We had a crisis, we worked together through it, and came out well in the end. As always, the terrible things turn out to be the best things. We grew closer emotionally and spiritually. His musical talent actually GREW as an outcome of the accident. It really did my heart good to read the blog about it.

Yesterday. Our dear little friends H and W, 5 and 2.5 yrs old, stopped by to visit yesterday afternoon, and brought their mom, J. W loves to sit at the island in my kitchen and have a snack, so much so, that when he stops by, he sort of expects to have a treat. This is great with me and I try to have healthy treats on hand for just such a visit. This all worked out yesterday so that the boys were seated at the island drinking an Izze, eating organic string cheese and eating raisins, and the three of us adults were standing around in the kitchen just gazing at them and enjoying their presence. W spoke up. "When I was a little boy," he began, (remember he is 2 1/2 now) "I saw a crocodile and the crocodile bit off my finger." As he told us, his eyes grew wide and he nodded his head.

"Me too!" DH exclaimed, and held up his 4-fingered hand. Fortunately this was 'way over W's head so he wasn't horrified to see that DH truly is missing a finger. This kind of teasing is DH's way of reconciling to the loss. How cool is he.

No Problem is Too Great to Conquer

There's the coolest story on the news today. It seems a little town in Italy, pop. 200 or fewer, gets virtually no sunlight between the dates of November 11 and February 2. It lies in a deep valley surrounded by steep mountains. The citizens, many of whom are elderly, sit huddled in their homes til spring. It's cold and dark outside all winter. It's been this way forever. Pretty bleak, eh?

So the mayor developed an initiative and spent 100,000 euros, I believe that's about $150,000 US, to build a 416 sq ft mirror on top of one of the mountains. With the help of a computer and remote control, it tracks the sun, and sends light down into the town square.

They raised the money from local citizens and a local bank. Now the old folks can sit on a bench in the town square and chat.

What a story of hope! Of inspiration! I don't know that I would have thought of this. So often the forces of nature seem to me to be insurmountable, and here these folks just decided to grab some sunlight and reflect it down on their town. Very, very cool. They say towns in Canada and the US are contacting them to learn how to copy it for their own towns.

I hope to remember this story next time a situation seems insurmountable to me.

Here's the link in case I missed any details:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061218/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_italy_mirror

The Post Office

It occurred to me that the Post Office is one of the great equalizers of our society.

Yesterday, after dropping LO off at the middle school, I went to the Post Office to pick up Christmas stamps for our Christmas cards. It was early, as she wanted to go in early to practice her flute. The band concert is in a couple of weeks, and she has her eyes on First Chair. One of her best friends has first chair now, and in her own words, "No offense to SK, but I'm taking that first chair."

So, I got to the Post Office at about 7:45. I was under the impression that our PO opens at 7:30. Apparently not. Apparently it doesn't even open at 8. I joined a line of about 7 folks inside the PO, and we waited, somewhat patiently, till 8:08, when the security doors and gates in front of the clerks' windows were opened.

The mix of folks in line was quite varied. There was me, quite normal of course, in fact, I find in so many situations, I'm the only normal person around. (You'd have to know me to get that joke.)

There were two people with black jackets with writing on them; one was a bearded, skinny, over-40 gentleman with a chain looping to his front pocket where I would guess his keys were. The writing on his jacket was motorcycle related. The other was a black lady about 50 or older with airbrushed writing on her jacket about a beach music group. There was a lovely lady in her 40's with very very long bleached hair, tight jeans, and boots with spiked heels and one of the most expensive pocketbooks I ever saw. The two ladies behind me were dressed in mid-priced clothes like me, LL Bean or Land's End, and we chatted as we waited.

One of them remarked how typical it was that the PO couldn't even open on time; they can't do anything right. I had to reply that we love love love our postal carrier. DH and I shopped for Christmas cards last week. We bought a box of cards for friends, and special cards for his parents and his brothers. We looked at the Pastor cards but did not see any for our pastors that seemed just right, and I said we would just send them cards from the box. Then , I saw a card for the Best Postal Carrier ever, and had to buy it. DH remarked that it was a shame that I wouldn't buy a special card for our pastors, but would for the mailman! I shared with the ladies how our mm slides a doggy biscuit into our mail slot every day. If we are not home when he comes, our mail gets scattered all over the LR floor as our dog roots and snuffles through the mail searching for her cookie. Last Friday, the mm must have been out of biscuits as he put through a homemade one, a saltine cracker with a little peanut butter on it, made into a little sandwich. Little Dog loved it and ate it up right away.

One of the ladies said that was quite a contrast to her mm, who smokes and leaves butts on her front lawn every day. No one in her family smokes, and she is quite frustrated with his thoughtlessness.

So we made conversation in this line, and all of us had to wait, regardless of normalcy or extreme dress, income level, or affinity for the PO. It seems to be one of the last great truly democratic institutions. You can pay extra to get your passport expedited, you can call your congressman to get approval for your 501(c)(3) expedited, you can hire an attorney to get your speeding ticket overturned. But at the PO, you have no choice. You just stand in line like everyone else. Somehow I find it comforting.

Our Home

In a great rush, just realized blogger has scheduled an outage in 10 minutes...

LO's SS class read a poem today about the author's home. Their assignment tonight was to draw a picture of their own home; write some characteristics of their home; write a poem about their home; compare their poem to the poem they read today.

I was so pleased to see the characteristics she listed included "laughter" and "happiness." The other characteristics had to do with our neighborhood at large, good neighbors, dogs, friendly people.

She went outside to draw her picture at dusk and was out there well past dark. I had to wonder how on earth she would do in the dark. I was pretty pleased with her final product, and asked her if I could post it. For *once* she agreed. (I ask a lot; usually she says, NO.)

Here is her drawing.

(Whew. Made it with 2 minutes to spare!!)

Generations

I have always envied DH his close, extended family ties. He knew all four of his grandparents -- and they were around when he was little. His aunts and uncles were around, too, and involved in the daily life of DH's family. He has many stories about adventures with relatives, rattlesnake hunting with his uncle, making sugar cookies with his grandmother, etc.

On the other hand, my grandparents were not alive when I was born, with the one exception of my paternal grandmother. She lived 4 states away and came to visit once, when my little brother was born. I vividly remember her taking her teeth out at night and chasing me with them chattering in her hand. She made lovely chocolate cakes from scratch, and made my mother some lovely hand-smocked pillows by hand. You'd have to see them to get it.

But, it was just one trip, when I was 6 or so, and I never saw her again. I was close with an aunt and uncle, who again, lived out of town, so we did not have this closely-knit family communityDH reminisces about.

DH's dad must've loved taking films of his family with his Super8 movie camera. DH had reels and reels of 'em when we met, and he took the box to a guy in Charlotte to have them copied to VHS. Then, several years ago, we bought a gadget (we love gadgets) called the Snappy. You hook it to your VCR and your computer, watch the tape, and when you see the image you want to capture, "snap!" you click the button on the thing and bingo! you have a .bmp or .jpg, I can't remember, in your computer. This was several years ago, maybe 7 or more, so the resolution isn't what you could probably get today, but we did capture some really poignant images from the VHS/Super 8 movies.

Flash forward to this weekend, when DS2, DIL and 3 GBabies visit for Thanksgiving. DS2 generously offered to give DH some photo editing software, about the best out there, and DH said, matter of fact, I have a couple of shots I would love to clean up.

Meanwhile, DIL and I were in the kitchen. I showed her the directions I had for a crochet flower I would love to learn to make. My goal is to crochet a shawl, crochet some little flowers, and put the flowers on the corner of the shawl.

She enthusiastically said the pattern was quite easy and she would be glad to help me with the flower. I scrounged up some yarn and a needle and we nestled on the oversized couch upstairs in the TV room, outside the guest room where all 3 GB's peacefully slept.

The house was dark and cozy. While DIL patiently told me for the 13th time how to double-crochet, I could hear DS2's deep voice droning from down the stairs and across the hall, now, you click here, and click on this, and see? this improves this part of your picture.

It was so cool that both of us, grandparents, were being sweetly mentored by our children, while the younger children slept away. Meanwhile, the image of Grandfather slowly emerged on the screen, clearer and clearer. He was sitting on DH's family back porch, whittling toys for DH and his 2 brothers. Notice GF sits elegantly with a knee crossed over the other, just as DH does today. Here it is:

This is the handsome devil I enjoy looking at out my kitchen window. DH took his picture this morning. Not a bad pic, for through a window.

Thankfulness

Little One had a swim meet today in Hillsborough, NC, which is quite a drive for us. Fortunately, she did not have warmups at 7:30am, as she usually does, which would have required us to get up at dark:thirty, am, and get on the road. No, today she did not have to be in the water till 11:30. She swam 3 events, each less than 3 minutes long, and we left the facility at 4pm.

Almost 4 weeks ago, her flute developed a sticky valve and Mr. Band Director sent it off to the music shop. She has been politely sitting in band class since, watching the other kids play. (No loaners are available at this time.) She has mentioned several, SEVERAL, times how frustrating it is, not to be able to play, and how concerned she is that she is falling behind the other players. We could certainly understand. However, Mr. BD was handling the flute repair. (We own the flute.)

About a week-and-a-half ago, he began saying, "I'm going to get the flute tomorrow." Then tomorrow, he would say, "I'm going today," or tomorrow, or this afternoon. We love him dearly but LO is still fluteless and this has been quite some time. We are unclear as to whether the elapsed time is his fault or the music repair shop's, and don't really care -- she just needs her flute. The music shop is about 60 miles away so it was not a simple matter of our bopping over to pick it up. He had several instruments to pick up, so we left it in his hands.

So, today, as we completed the swim meet, DH called us on the cell phone. He had been unable to go with us b/c he was called in to work last night and did not get home til 5:30 am. He had found a flute on the other side of Raleigh on Craig's List, and wondered if we would go check it out so she could have a 2nd flute? OK, and off we went.

I called the owner of the flute who gave me crystal-clear directions to his house. Problem was, the exit to the state highway off the interstate, is closed for a month. So I had to call him back for an alternate route. Whew. It was quite a haul. Finally got there, after dark, and she assembled and played the flute. Liked it. Owner wanted cash so I got directions to an ATM and went, came back, paid him, and left with the flute and more directions to get back to the interstate without going on the state highway, whose entrance and exit ramps to the interstate are closed for a month.

We got home from today's swim meet at 8pm WITH a flute. LO played it in the car and once we got home, played for almost an hour in her room. Intrigued, she also tooted on a throwaway trumpet some old neighbors gave DH a zillion years ago.

She is finally tucked in bed and we promised to go out and see falling stars in a short half-hour.

I started this posting, intending to share about our Thankfulness Conversation on the way home, in the dark, but am too exhausted to get that far. The flute is enough for now. :)

Catch a Falling Star

Tomorrow night the meteor shower Leonid is going to be in full show at about 11:45 ET in the western hemisphere.

I marked it on the calendar and remembered three years ago when we saw it in its full glory.

Serina was with us that year, and the best time for viewing was said to be 2:30 am. I got up at 2 and made a pot of hot cocoa and spread piles of quilts in the back yard. We had tucked the girls in in their best warmest footed jammies, and we woke them and carried them to the back yard.

It was amazing how awake they got. The four of us lay there snuggled under a heap of quilts, on top of more quilts, and saw a million zillion "falling stars." We made wishes til we ran OUT of wishes to make. It was really cold. We came in, drank our cocoa and went back to bed.

It was sort of a magical night. We'll get up tomorrow night, too, but somehow it can never be as magical as that night was.

How I Spend My Time, Part II

Two weeks ago, this closet was so full of er, whatever, that I could not even walk into this little walk-in closet. I worked for two days cleaning it out and I am embarrassed to report I took FOUR huge plastic bags to the closet at the Homeless Shelter.

That was the first day. The second day, I ironed and organized the clothing. Made labels for the shoe boxes. It has been heaven, every time I go in to get something.

More pics below.

...........and..... here is how DH spends his time. He spent this week refinishing our BR floor. See my little closet reflected in the floor? We will reload furniture in the room on Sunday.

How I Spend My Time

Being home full-time affords me the time to do things I never had time to do before. Like, keep my house cleaner. Like, scoop the litter box every morning. Like, keep all my clocks that strike the hour within a minute of each other.

Trivial? I think not! Surely not as trivial as searching through computer code for the one missing period that is causing the program to loop endlessly, causing the computer to crash. (This is one of things I used to do.)

Surely not as trivial as sitting in management meeting for two hours, discussing whether computer operators should be required to wear a tie, complying with company dress code. (They should not. Lots powerful rolling things in computer equipment. Ties are a safety hazard.)

So, when LO mentioned her favorite sneakers were looking a little rough, (and they surely were, I hadn't noticed) I was pleased to refer her to her B pair so I could clean these up. When we bought new sneaks for school, the local shoe store had "buy one, get the second half off," and I thought we got 2 pair that were nearly identical. Not nearly enough, I learned, as one pair quickly became her favorites and the other languished in her closet as the B pair, as in, A - I like these best and B- wear in emergencies.

Several years ago we toured Fontana Dam with the inlaws. (This really does pertain to the shoes, bear with me.) We were in the glass elevator going down like a zillion feet to underneath the dam (I don't think they do this anymore, $$ cutbacks) and a family in the same elevator had a son with these blindingly white shoes on. I remarked about his new shoes and his mom said, "Oh, these are quite old. I clean them with Soft Scrub with Bleach." BING! Mental Note.

So I, too, have been using SSWB on shoes, ever since.

On another tangent, my father used to LOOOVE to shine shoes. You'd think he'd hate it, if his stories were true, that he HAD to shine shoes on the street corner when he was a little boy to earn money for his mother to buy food. But, he loved it. About twice a year he'd pull all his shoes out of his closet (wingtips and brogans, not sneaks), line them up in front of the TV, and sit on the floor in his boxers and polish them all. The phrase "in his boxers" is somewhat redundant as, if Daddy were home, he WAS in his boxers. Didn't matter who was visiting. He never seemed to mind. He wore big white baggy boxers, a skinny ribbed undershirt with little strappy shoulders, like a tank top, and black socks almost up to his knees. Anyway, he'd shine all these shoes and leave them on the floor to dry. Mother would finally gather them up and put them away, til the next time.

Maybe this is where I get it, maybe not, but I love to clean our shoes up (fully dressed, tyvm) and I always clean one before I start the other, so I have a full "before" and "after." Very gratifying.

The Omnipresent Project

Little One is making the ever-present Science Project: a functional volcano. I was so pleased that she had the idea to make hers a cutaway version so the viewer can see what the inside of a volcano looks like. She wants to label the parts.

In 1964 when I had to make mine, it was an amorphous lump of brown paper mache with a tomato paste can in the top. I believe her idea is much more creative and educational, although the science teacher did not request this level of detail.

Fortunately Jody purloined a cigar tube from one of his co-workers a while back, thinking I would like it for holding beads or some other craft items. We cut it to size, and voila, the volcano has its vent.

Got to run for now, will post a few more pics later.

1st Quarter Report Card

Scanned this in and cropped off all the personal information. I have supersized it so much that it is a little blurry; hope you can read it. That last grade appears here to be a D but it is not. It is a P as the class is Pass/Fail.

Best part is at the bottom. :)

Her math teacher did not post a comment to the report card but instead, wrote a personal note to each student in her classes. She stapled them shut and asked the students not to read them til they had picked up their report cards.

Here's hers:
You make teaching and learning fun! I have really enjoyed getting to know you this 1st quarter. You participate well, ask very good questions and take responsibility for your assignments. Excellent!

My Favorite Freebies

Life affords us all some freebies -- those things we just get, we don't deserve, but make our day. I have been noticing some of them in my life lately. Here are a few that come to mind.

1. The sign language "ILY" my granddaughter flashes to me as she gets out of the car at school in the mornings.

2. The warm and lovely fabric softener smell that comes from the new laundromat that is right next to the YMCA. Go for a workout, get a nice smell.

3. The way DH thoughtfully builds a fire whenEVER it might be cold enough. If it's really cold outside, I just hate to go out for more firewood. He's a guy, though, so he never whines like I do. He just does it.

4. The total love and adoration our little white dog gives me (even when I'm bad company.)

5. The precious kiss our orange cat gives the dog when we come in from our walk.

6. The little clues left to us by the lady who had our house built 70+ years ago. We have found many little treasures, newspaper clippings with cleaning tips, hairpins, Royal Crown Cola caps, a poison antidote chart. We feel like victorious archeologists when we find one.

7. The cheerful songs the birds give me when they have their breakfast at the bird feeder. They know I can hear them, they really do.

I think that's it for today. There are a million more, but these are the ones I've noticed in the last day or two.

Normal Clock

Years ago, I bought quite the snazzy clock from Hammacher Schlemmer. (sp?) It plays CD's, makes sounds of nature, has adjustable brightness, and will wake you with your choice of church chimes, alarm, radio, or CD. If you choose to go to sleep with sounds of nature going on, they get quieter and quieter as the time begins to run out. There are 25 choices for the sounds of nature. My own personal favorites are Summer Night (complete with crickets) and Wind Chimes.

The thing is, earlier this year, the snazzy clock became completely unreliable. Sometimes it would remember to wake me up, sometimes it would not. It's the set-and-forget kind of clock, so it was not a matter of my having forgotten to set it -- IT forgot to wake me up.

With all these bells & whistles, the one main quality an alarm clock really needs is reliability. It really needs to remember to wake you up.

KNOWING I would take quite a deal of **** from DH, I began to study clocks online to make another purchase. Target has a whole line of Westclox retro clocks that are quite dandy to the eye. I studied them over a few weeks and was finally ready to make my purchase. Here is the one I selected:

Before ordering it from Target, I ran one of the comparison shoppers and was surprised to find it was actually cheaper -- quite a bit -- from LL Bean. So I ordered it from them.

The clock arrived early this week. Needless to say, the very night I plugged it up, DH noticed it, eagle eye that he is, and was quick to say, "What kind of sounds does this clock make?"

Being somewhat defensive, well, pretty darn defensive, about the whole gadget thing, I retorted that it's just a normal clock, thank you, and it rings.

This was a teensy lie. The clock is called the "Moonbeam" because it wakes you with a flashing light and if you don't go on and get up, it finally resorts to a bell. Supposedly the light is a gentler way to wake up; no harsh rings or buzzes.

Inevitably we had to sleep together, quite the novelty with his rotating schedule, but yes, we did sleep together last night. This morning at 6am, I was somewhat rudely awakened by DH's screaming in the bed next to me.

"WHAT'S THAT?" he yelled. "WHAT'S THAT?!" I opened my eyes to see the bright blinking, illuminating the whole room. Quickly, somewhat ashamedly, I turned off the alarm and got out of bed. He went back to sleep, for a while longer.

Well, the firewood man was coming this morning at 8:30 and DH had said he wanted to clean up the wood stand before he got here. So, at 7:15, I reminded him that if wanted to get it done, he might want to get up. Rolling over, he took me into his arms and sweetly said, "Tell me about this normal clock." I had to laugh. In his dreams he had thought the flickering lights were the house ablaze.

I wish I had never called him Mr. Gadget. Actually my words were, "You're the gadgetinest man I ever met. " It was like TEN years ago, when he got the remote control ceiling fan for the front porch, which btw I love. Very convenient.

I will never live those words down.

Halloween in the Neighborhood

Halloween night afforded us perfect weather. Cool, not too cool, and clear. At 4:00 it was 65 degrees and by 7:00 it was 45.

Our neighborhood holds an annual Halloween parade with costume contests, pumpkin contest, police car, hot dog vendor, face painting and photographs. The kids dress up, some adults dress up, heck -- even some dogs dress up. This year a family brought their pony!! We also have a float contest, meaning, kids can decorate their wagons, bikes, sister's stroller, and these are judged as well.
Here are two of the costume winners. Our little gf with the umbrella won the prize in the middle school category. In case you can't tell, she was a jellyfish.











We took third place this year with our pumpkins. I am proud to be one of the last holdouts who still carves by hand, without a purchased stencil. We tied for third with our NDN's, who, btw, did use stencils. I used a linoleum cutter to give my large punkin spectacles, large round ones, and I gave our smaller punkin curly hair and eyelashes, also using the lino cutter. Unfortunately we forgot to take pics of the punkins before discarding them on Wednesday. The mayor and a councilman drove through the neighborhood on Monday, the night before Halloween, and picked their winners, and then made a brief appearance at the parade to announce the winners.

Little One had her BGFs over for a Halloween get-together before and after the parade and trick-or-treating. I believe 6 girls came in addition to LO. This was the first time ever she chose to be something scary, also the first time she wore a purchased costume. I have always sewn them in the past: last year she was Pocahantas, the year prior, Laura Ingalls, the year prior, Queen Isabella. She has been a jester in teal and purple lame', Glenda the Good Witch of the North, a pumpkin, and her first costume ever was the infamous Cow Costume, made of spotted flannel, with feet and a pink tummy. (Used it for jammies afterward.)

The girls arrived at 4pm and we had hotdogs here at the house before heading up the street at 5. After the festivities, the girls trick-or-treated the entire neighborhood, all 24 blocks, then returned back to the house at 7:50. Moms were due to pick them up at 8:30 so they spent the last half hour or so, trading their take. It was great to hear them: "I've got Snickers up for offer: I don't like Snickers." "Ooh, I love Snickers! I'll give you 2 Tootsie Pops for a Snickers..." and on it went.

Here are more pics:

What IS it?

Years ago, I ~very unwisely~ kiddingly called DH Mr. Gadget. I believe this may have even been before I realized he is Mr. Sensitive. Boy, have I paid for it ever since. Every time I find some cool gadget, he reminds me that I called him Mr. Gadget.

This thing is so cool. Fortunately it only cost $3.59. Most of the gadgets I fall in love with (read IPod here) cost way, way more.

So, what is it?












Bing! Bing! Bing! You are absolutely correct. It's a bias tape maker. To make your own color-coordinated bias tape, you have to cut the fabric on the 45, stitch all the pieces together at right angles, and then fold over 1/4" sides to the middle and iron the thing.

I'm quite sure all of you have done this before, and so you are aware that the heat from the iron sort of channels through the folded fabric, scalding your fingers as you feebly hold the sides down to iron them down.

This gadget folds and holds for you and you just chase it down the flat tape with the iron. Out behind the iron, voila (or walla as some are spelling it now--) is the folded, pressed, bias tape. My DDIL2 told me about this amazing gadget a couple years ago. I'm slow, but I do catch on.







Here are the yards of bias tape I made in about 10 minutes. The ironing part, that is. The measuring, cutting, sewing at right angles, and trimming took an hour or so. Ppl don't seem to understand for a very few of us, this is actually FUN.

Zzzzz

The past 2 weeks have really been frenetic for me. I have been in the position of attending one meeting only to have to rush out and run to the next meeting. I believe this has been exacerbated by my recent work at the computer place for kids. They want to hire me; don't have the money; are trying to raise the money to hire me; so I am donating some time there as an incentive for them to make it happen. I am only technically involved with two organizations, church and PTA, but serve on several committees at each, and have been running like a madwoman. The Smalltown Zoning Board of Appeals, where I also serve, has not met lately.
Neighborhood Association met last week, which also took some planning, but following that meeting, we had our annual election of officers, and the very capable vice-president was elected president. I truly enjoyed the 2 years of serving as president, but I was ready to step down and thankful he was willing to take it on. He will do a fine job. In fact, he has organized an investment group that met last night to discuss buying some of the slummy houses on the edge of our n'hood, improving them, and renting to families rather than crack dealers, who has them now. I can't wait to hear how the meeting went.

Little One's first band concert was Monday night. She had a solo and several of her friends did, too. Her dearest and oldest gf sits in first chair and LO told DH, "No offense to my friend, but I'm TAKING that first chair." Good for her. Go for it. The concert was great -- the eight graders sounded better than ANY high school band I've ever heard -- and the others said the sixth graders sounded better than sixth graders usually sound at this point in the year. Having only had band class for 8 weeks, with many of the kids never have learned notes before, it's got to be a challenge to have them ready for any concert.

She swims in a meet next weekend; there is one this weekend but she is attending a regional Student Council Conference instead. She was selected as the 6th grade representative based on her outgoing and friendly nature. The day she got the information, she got into the car and breathlessly told me all about it. "I don't know a soul!! I can't wait to go!" she said. She's pretty amazing.

Today my calendar is CLEAR so I am thankfully cleaning house. DH even offered to drive LO to school this morning, so I am luxuriating in the pleasure of being HOME. Time to go fire up the vacuum......

Bobcats Game

I haven't blogged in a while -- life here has been quite busy.

On Monday, LO got a free day off school! Her name was "in the hat" for making good grades on her tests on library books -- and the school drew 75 names to go to an exhibition NBA game in Charlotte, Bobcats v. Washington Wizards.

Meanwhile, the school called and asked if I would chaperone.

We arrived at school bright and early Monday morning and clambered onto buses. What would normally take about 50 minutes, somehow took over 1.5 hours. I guess it was the combination of a school bus' slower speed, plus idling in line with a bunch of other schoolbuses as we neared the new arena.

We parked about 4 blocks away from the arena and filed in with other middle schoolers from all over this side of the state. Police were at every intersection, stopping traffic for us. Door people greeted us and scanned the adults' handbags (kids were not allowed to take anything inside). The order and organization were amazing.

Once we were all seated, they passed out "Lunchables" to all the children. Fortunately, our seats were pretty low, at an end of the court. Seats were packed, all the way to the nosebleed section. Yet, there was not a bad seat in the house due to the giant screen TV with 4 sides, hanging over the center of the court. As good as our seats were, sometimes it was clearer to see the play on the huge screen. This felt pretty silly to choose to look at TV rather than the live action right in front of us!

Each student was given a little tote bag with a program and puzzles inside. Occasionally, the announcer would hold quizzes on the info and students got to compete for prizes.

Between periods, the mascots came out and did funny stunts. The cheerleaders were lovely and scantily clad. I was not sitting near LO but I could imagine her saying what she usually says: "Their clothing is unappropriate." Sometimes I repeat after her, "Inappropriate," and she just says, "Whatever," and next time says the same thing: "Unappropriate." My thought: whatever.

As students needed RR breaks, we accompanied them for safety. The bb game was punctuated by handouts and prizes for the students. What a treat, all for reading your library books and answering questions correctly!!

At the end of the game, we trooped back to the buses and rode to a mall that lies about halfway between Charlotte and our small town. Each chaperone was assigned 8 to 10 students to shepherd to the food court for another lunch, and brief shopping. We had just over an hour before we had to head back to school for dismissal.

My group of kids were well-behaved, well, all the kids, all day, were well-behaved. I am pretty sure we did not have an incident all day long. It was a pleasure to go and help. Amazingly, we arrived back at the middle school with all the kids on board -- and in time for them to catch the bus back home.

The Bobcats' program was amazing. What an incentive for the kids!

Our Cats

DH built a deck onto our shed this week and was taking pics of it when he decided to snap one of our DC2, Daniel. I try not to share realactual names on the blog, but after all, he is (just) a cat. Just don't tell him.

Daniel came to live with us 3 years ago. He was so tiny and afraid. He found an antique lowboy here in the house and climbed up through the bottom into the bottom drawer. We could not find him for a day or two -- were panicstricken -- when DH unearthed him.

Nowadays he is neither tiny nor afraid. He owns this end of the block and our house inside as well. At a hefty 12.5 pounds, he outweighs our DD Tucker.

Daniel and Tucker are best of friends. At night when I take Tuck out for her last peeps of the evening, Dan is waiting inside the door for our return. As Tucker walks in, Daniel rubs noses with her and off they go to play.

In the winter when we have a fire going in the fireplace, the two can be found sacked out in front of it, sleeping like spoons.

Dear old Francie has been with us about 22 years -- no one is quite sure, but DS2 brought her home when he was 8 or 9 and he turns 30 in a week. The pic is not very clear as Little One had the hiccups when I asked her to take a picture of her!

This is where Francie comes 2 or 3 times a day when she needs a little drink. She used to drink out of the sink with the water running, but now it's a little too hard on her back or something, so we fill a disposable cup for her and she takes her drink. She likes her water fresh and has never partaken of "pet water" standing in a bowl near the food bowls.

We have many, many stories about Francie and I may share some soon. Her health seems quite good, although she has definitely gotten a little crotchety in her old age. She likes to sleep with us, and in the old days she slept near the foot of the bed. As she has aged, she has crept up so that now she wants to sleep near my chest and shoulders. When I pick her up to move her to the foot of the bed, she loudly protests and sometimes gets so perturbed she leaves altogether and goes to see if LO will let her sleep where she wants, on her bed.

She weighs less than 6 pounds and when you rub her back, you can feel each individual backbone. She has been blind since the day we got her, or at least visually impaired, we're not sure as she can't read the eye chart, and nowadays she surely seems to be deaf as well. She used to run from the vacuum cleaner and now she doesn't even know when it's running.

She used to leap to the sink from floor level, but now heaves herself up to the tub and then with her front paws on the sink, pulls herself up from the tub. Likewise, she used to jump onto the bed, but now climbs onto the footboard and scrambles up the quilt from there.

I said above that ol'Dan is king of this end of the block and the house as well. He may be king, but Francie is Empress of this house, and Dan really respects her loud opinions when they are in the same vicinity.

Francie's days are surely numbered, but hey, I've been saying that for about 10 years now, so who knows? Maybe she'll outlive us all.

The Emporer Has No Clothes

I usually prefer to do my own writing for the blog here, but having sat through Keith Olberman's excellent, intelligent, articulate, and scathing 4 minutes of searing truth, I raced to the computer to see if the transcript were available online. It is.

Not sure if anyone who reads this would have seen it, or heard it. Here it is. Thanks to DH for running to the kitchen to make me sit and watch it -- and thanks to Bill and KO for (finally) coming out and saying it: THE EMPORER HAS NO CLOTHES.

Here is the transcript:

......... well, I copied and pasted the whole thing and then I came to the last line:

"© 2006 MSNBC Interactive"

So, in a rare fit of pure conscience, I have NOT included the text of KO's genius here. What a shame. My right-wing friends will not click on the hyperlink and read the thing. Here it is, just the same:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15004160/

Hats off to you, Keith. Never in a million years could I have articulated this half as well as you.

Will Wonders Never Cease

There is someone in my life whom I love dearly, yet we have to agree to disagree on most things. I'll keep this person's identity private, but let's just say I like to think I had a major impact on his life. Yet and still, we do not ever discuss anything remotely close to politics.

All this in mind, I was amazed and astounded to find the following quote on his blog today.
Maybe he reads it differently than I do. Here it is:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. – C. S. Lewis

Little One's New Room

We re-did Little One's room this summer, and really, really re-did it. Totally emptied the room, sanded, stained and poly'ed the floor. That is, Little One and ol' Nana did. DH did not help a bit. Ta-da. She helped vacuum while I sanded, and then she stained half the floor. I put 7 coats of poly on the floor.

A gf helped me paint the room (LO picked the colors) and we stayed up til 2am getting it done.

The tall bookshelf was custom made to fit between the windows. We painted the interior rear a limey sort of green and the remainder white.


I made the roll-up window shades by sewing room-darkening lining to the dotted fabric, and tacking the fabric shade to the structure from some old rice paper blinds. (Note: the sun rots rice paper so don't buy those blinds unless you're crafty enough to recycle the framework into fabric blinds like these.)








The strings and bottom dowels have the cutest beads painted in matching colors by LO.




The reading chair is covered in limey chenille and feels sososo good and soft. The big blue button was my idea. I made it and asked the upholsterer to place it in the center of the back. Her response: "Well, if that's what you want..." lol. The chair is trimmed in piping made of blue baby-cord.














The desk serves as both homework center and vanity. The chair was a castoff of some sort, very cute, but no longer used. My DMIL gave it to DH several years ago and I asked if we could use it. It's been in a corner of the basement for years. Painted it the same white as the room trim, upholstered the seat, and voila. Don't know if you can see, but I put blue baby-cord piping around the sit, too. I had hoped to upholster the back, too, but DH can't make me a board to base it on, because the little circle bends in two different directions. So I plan to spackle the little holes shut, sand it, and repaint that portion. (The chair originally had caning in the seat and back, hence the holes.) Don't know if you can see the light switch plate but it has the fabric in it. LO did this project, too. You can use wallpaper here, too. The kit comes from Lowe's and is cheap. Cute deal.

The closet has curtains because LO used to leave her closet door open all the time, partially blocking the window, and generally just looking slummy. Of course I nagged about it all the time. So I removed the door, put it in the basement, and made curtains. There are little hooks beside the closet (and windows as well) to hold the curtains back if needed.

The shelves above the window are a good place to keep the stuff rarely needed -- trophies, medals, certificates, and dolls. The "museum molding" was a great way to hook the medals up.













The canopy shelf was made by DH. I sketched what I wanted, he went to the basement, and a couple hours later, he said, "Was this what you wanted?" All this was before the accident. ..

The bed does not have a dust ruffle and we are thinking we may not ever make one. Having it open lets the air circulate and it's easier to clean. Of course, one added bonus is there is no place to HIDE candy wrappers, dirty clothes, etc.

I had delayed taking all these pictures as I still need to make the duvet. However, DMIL is weary of waiting for pics, and she patiently said on the phone, "I'd still like to see pics of LO's room..." so here it is. The duvet will be of the same fabric as the blinds with a solid trim the same color as the walls, but I have not located that solid fabric yet, so it is still on hold.

Note that LO picked all the colors and fabrics (with a little guidance) and I think she did an awesome job.


I wanted her to have a little mirror above her jewelry box to slip on her earrings or whatever, and an earring holder, and maybe a "tree" for her necklaces. So of course I headed to Claire's, the only place that has that sort of thing. No trees. No mirrors. BUT they had the little round earring holder shown here. It's rimmed in these little blue shells that resemble abalone, but aren't. So I bought TWO in the off-chance that I could find a round mirror the same size as the interior and glue it in, and turn one of them into a mirror. Went by Dollar Tree on the way home, and they had hand mirrors exactly the same size. In fact, they were the only mirrors they had. So I grabbed one, (for only a buck!!) brought it home and broke off the handle and rim, and glued that baby right in. I got stiff wire and strung blue and green beads on it and threaded it through the back where the stand had been, to create arms for her necklaces to hang on. I just love re-working things. The framed letter in the pic has a vc story and I will share it later, if I remember.

Last few pics....

The cosmetic bag is where she keeps all her brushes and hair stuff. The wooden box was unfinished and I painted it with the paint used in the bookshelf. This is where she keeps her electronics -- Nintendo DS, Tamagachis, electronic journal, Walkman, etc.

Well, it's been about 2 months since we did most of it, and she is still keeping it clean. I guess that says something.

I felt the area above the chair was too blank and talked with her about what kind of art we could put there. (Area past bed, beside window, too.) Her response: "Nana! It's "just right" now. Don't go cluttering up my room. I do not want anything else in it."

The Queen... has Spoken.

What's a Blog?

I was reminded this afternoon that many out there are still unfamiliar with the concept of blogs. I guess most families actually talk, whereas ours reads each other's blogs to see what's going on. When we DO finally talk, we say things like, "So, I saw you went to so-and-so...". It's also nice with our DS2 and family who live pretty far away, and also my DDIL2's family, who are actually not relatives of ours, but we love anyway, we can keep up with them as well.

Our neighborhood has had a rash of petty crime this summer and decided to blog our various incidents and "unusual sightings" to form a running account. One of my favorite neighbors, pretty and brilliant, and wears the most colorful and original clothing, emailed to ask, "What the ham fat IS a blog?" (I think that's what she said. Yes, I'm pretty sure. Guess that's a polite alternative to the rather crude euphemism I usually use...)

So in the process of defining a blog to her, I introduced her to my own, and then had a momentary panic about the appropriateness of my blog. Yes, most of it IS quite boring, and even my wittiest observations pale in the company of true wit. But, have I said anything ugly about anyone? Have I hinted at not liking anyone? (There are lots of folks I truly don't like..)

But I blithely pointed her to the address and will suffer the consequences. I try to keep the blog on the real up & up, so that what I say today doesn't come back to haunt me later. It has worked so far, with one exception, but hey, there's always got to be one in the crowd.

I hope she, and anyone who has the time to waste reading this stuff, enjoys. Namaste.

I LOVE MY IPOD

I have had my iPod about 3 months now and just love it. I believe it is the single most effective electronic item I have ever had.

Mine is a 60gb version with video. On it I have playlists for everyone in the immediate family, and several playlists for myself, including "Maggie in the Mood," "Maggie Upbeat," "Maggie Working Out," "Maggie On the Road," and more. In addition, I subscribe to several regular podcasts, including a great meditation one, 2 workout ones, NPR's "Driveway Moments," Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac," and National Geographic Nature. For our recent vacation, I experimented with loading a movie, choosing the free "30 Days" feature made by the guy who did the movie, "Supersize Me," which btw is a great movie. I have it if any friends want to watch it, but you have to watch it here as it is a Google download. The video i put on my iPod was an hour long and worked great. With all the music, podcasts, and the movie, I have used only about 3 gb of my 60, and I tend to delete the podcasts after hearing them once or twice -- in fact -- that's one of the beauties of the thing -- it's fluid. What I have on it now doesn't even resemble what I had on it at first, when I got it. It changes and evolves with your tastes and mood.

To me the beauty of the iPod is you can put your own personal favorites on it and it's your own customized music machine. Happy? Play your upbeat songs. Passing time? Tune in to the educational stories. Some are half an hour, some are 5 minutes. Pick the one that fits your timeframe and your mood. Riding on the subway last week, it occurred to me how perfectly private an iPod is. You can look at someone who is listening and you have no clue -- they might be listening to rap, classical, or How to Speak French, which btw is another set I have on mine and forgot to mention.

I say all this having experienced the perfect iPod moment today. Bright and early I was scheduled for a root canal with our dear old dentist who attends the same church as we. He is delightful, white-haired, gentle, and amazingly savvy with technology. He's been practicing for 46 years. After about an hour of root-canaling me, he announced I would have to go to the endodontist as he had accidentally broken off the head of an instrument and it was down in my canal. He printed off the x-ray, wrote a note to the endo, and sent me on my way. BTW, he did not charge me for his hour-plus. Please note I have no hard feelings. I really love this guy.

Not feeling the best, I came home to rest and called DH with the news. He was quite concerned for me and offered to call the endo for me. He called back to say they would have me at 12:30 and they said I really needed to have it settled today.

So at 12:30 I went back for the SECOND root canal of the day -- on the same tooth. This time I remembered my iPod.

"Are you still numb?" she asked. "Not at all," I replied. So she shot me up and left me for 15 minutes or so for Sir Novacaine to do his job. Whipped my iPod out of my bag and turned to a 10-minute Meditation podcast. My muscles relaxed. I felt my body slipping into the meditative state. By the time she returned to work on me, I was relaxed and had moved on to Barry White, Lionel Ritchie, Joe Cocker, and Van Morrison. Having my own personal sounds actually "in" my head helped me not to notice the 3 hands and 4 instruments crammed into my mouth, the annoying sound of the drill, and the discomfort. With the iPod lying on my belly and the aforementioned hands between my head and the iPod, it could've been difficult to adjust volume, or skip a song, if the iPod were not so amazingly intuitive, which it definitely is. I can do those functions and more by touch without looking at it at all.

I LOVE MY IPOD.

Last Day of Vacation

Well, the last day of vacation was, in my book, the best. Having no tour appointments, we slept in, then puttered around the apt, packing for the trip home. Before noon we set out on bicycles for uptown, where we toured the Supreme Court bldg and had lunch.

Leisurely biked around the Mall, remembering our experiences at all the buildings -- the Capitol, National Gallery, Archives, Museum of Natural History, American History, White House, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Holocaust Museum, the Smith Castle, and Air & Space.

Then we biked over to the Jefferson Memorial, where we enjoyed some time just sitting on the steps and enjoying the breeze across the water. The bike ride home to the apt was long but not too terrible, and we had an hour or so before setting out for Union Station.

The train ride was our best ever with conductors who actually gave a care and definitely idiosyncratic fellow passengers..

We arrived at SmallTown about 2am and were greeted by our friend's smiling face. He had kindly driven us to our depot in the wee hours and then picked us back up so we did not have to leave our car in the parking lot for several days.

All of us were pretty wide awake when we got to HSH (that's Home, Sweet Home), and it took us a couple hours to settle down. The pets were beside themselves to see us, except for old Francie, who we could not find anywhere. Finally, about 3:45 we all settled down and got some Z's.

At 7am the phone rang. It was DS1 announcing the New Baby is on the way. So now I am in Nearby Larger City with DGD4 while DS1 and DDIL have labor and delivery. LO has her first day of school tomorrow and DH is at home planning how to pack her lunch, where to put all the suitcase stuff. lol. Wish I were a fly on the wall. No. Wait. Correction. Glad I'm not there to see it.

Big picture, great vacation, good trip, glad to be here, and DGD4 seems pretty happy to have me here. Will announce DGS4 soon.

More Adventures in DC

Today we had a pretty off day so I will focus on yesterday!!

Our little tour guide at the Capitol was delightful. She’s a rising senior in Virginia at boarding school, working for Senator Dole for the month of August. She had plenty of crib cards to help her through our tour, but it went fine and she had a good bank of knowledge. We walked through the tunnels from the Dirksen Senate Building to the Russell Senate Building, then took the Senate trolley through the tunnel from the Russell under the street over to the Capitol.

I had not at all expected the Capitol to be so beautiful. I had expected lots of marble, and businesslike offices, which were centainly there, but the breathtaking mosaics and handpainted walls and ceilings took me by total surprise. The frieze around the Capitol dome in the rotunda was wonderful….it begins with pioneers hacking down trees and finishes with scenes from the Civil War. The "whisper spot" in the rotunda really works and all in all we had a delightful time.

From the Capitol we went over to the Library of Congress, Jefferson Building. Missing the 11:30 tour by only 2 minutes, we hopped into another tour nearby that had just gotten started. Boy was that our lucky day. Our docent was a man who clearly loves the place and had stories galore as to how and why each component of the building came to be. DH and I have been to the LOC before, but did not have the underlying reason as to why this or that is included in the ornament, and boy is there plenty of that. LO seemed to enjoy it, too, and even though 2/3 of the folks in the tour group ebbed away, probably due to his long stories, we stuck it out and learned more than we ever dreamed.

As we left, we asked a couple of security guards where they recommended for a good lunch, and they suggested the LOC cafeteria on the 6th floor of the Madison bldg. I guess this place is mostly for employees, but it was great and we all got exactly what we wanted. I lucked up on some soup! I rarely eat soup publicly as it usually has a chicken or beef base, but DC is sososo veggie-friendly and this soup’s ingredients were posted in case you were vegan. Vegetable broth, shitake mushrooms, spinach and tofu, and boy was it yummy. I paired that with a salad with balsamic vinegar and an apple for dessert.

Every day so far we have spent $36 for lunch for the 3 of us – not much more, not much less -- $36 – and boy does that suck. We haven’t been eating a lot, or elaborate stuff, sandwiches and wraps and the like – but $36 seemed to be the magic number. Yesterday at the LOC cafeteria we came in just under $25 and were thrilled. (Today we ate lunch for $26 but only b/c I got pbj and plain water in a glass. If I had gotten real food we would’ve been at $36 again!!)

After that yummy lunch we ventured out to Air and Space. Everyone was happy there as we looked and looked to our hearts’ delight. LO and DH rode an F18 Hornet simulator and the three of us went to the Albert Einstein planetarium, which I heartily recommend. Many times we really felt as if we were in the images. Learned a lot, too. The Wright Brothers’ exhibit was quite rich and I guess that’s where I spent most of my time.

Walking home from the subway, we stopped at the neighborhood Safeway, where we have shopped every night since arriving. I got a little Gouda cheese, some fresh cherries, and some sourdough bread. A little Perrier and I was set. LO hit the salad bar and DH picked up some HOT wings at the neighborhood deli to take home.

I won’t go into today, but will give one clue: a block away from the Holocaust Museum, I was still sobbing. DH was hapless. On the train home tonight, I asked LO what part of it meant the most to her. " I can’t talk about it for a few days, Nana," she said. "It’s too sad."

Who'da Thought

Most American families, in visiting our Nation's Capital, plan way too much into a few short days. As a result, they become tired, crabby, and unfit for pleasant companionship. We are no different.
On Saturday, we visited the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, and Museum of Natural History.
Yesterday, we visited the Museum of American History, National Gallery, and the National Archives.
The Museum of American History (and Technology -- they seem to have augmented their name!) seemed promising for holding the attention of a fickle eleven-year old. She is "into" computers now and we had read that it had quite a display tracking all the computers and how they developed. Unbeknownst to us, it is closing in two short weeks for a three year renovation. And, apparently, they begin shutting down this display and that one as they prepare to close the museum altogether. All told, less than half this venerable museum was open for display and turned out to be a bitter disappointment At one point, Little One was racing through an exhibit searching for anything computer, with her poor old harried gparents madly chasing her so no one would grab her in our absence. By the time we caught up to her and had quite a loud chat about running away from us, NOBODY was happy. Ruby slippers did not help. Nor did Kermit the Frog, the famous old dollhouse, or the Star Spangled Banner. We all were disappointed.
A short trip to the National Gallery was just that – short, as her attention was short to match. As we were leaving, DH turned to me and said, "Next time we come here, we’ll send her to camp first."
In an effort to please somebody in the group, I suggested we go to the National Archives next, as it was the one place DH had expressed a desire to visit. LO perked up at this suggestion as she really wanted to see the Declaration of Independence.

I've been to Washington several times and had never visited the National Archives before. It seemed to me to be a dusty collection of boring old papers. We stayed over three hours and left only because they were closing the building down. It was by far the best experience we’ve had, -- and we have really had many, yesterday notwithstanding – and LO was thrilled to actually see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The security guards were downright personable as they described to us the $5million vaults housing the documents.
The remainder of the Archives was fascinating as well, with the telephone-like devices we used narrating the stories behind each display. Each of us had one and moved independently throughout the exhibits, although always within sight of each other.
In the shop, LO especially wanted her very own copy of the Declaration of Independence, and bought one for her GF as well. Dollhouses, schmollhouses. Ruby Slippers – bah. Declaration of Independence. That’s the real stuff. Who’da thought???
As we left last night, I remarked to a guard that it was the best museum we’ve seen yet.
Now we are getting ready to take the subway downtown for our tour of the Capitol.

Traveling Light

Our first experience with "traveling light" is, predictably, not too light. Lol. While we all did cooperate with the 2 outfits per person, the accoutrements seem to take up an incredible space. Blow dryer. Flat iron. Shampoo & conditioner. Camera. Laptop. Ipod. Phones. Chargers for camera, laptop, Ipod and phones. Tour books. Maps. Our trip notebook with index tabs for days of the week and pages within for activities on each day and printouts of which subway to take + directions to the appropriate subway station. Nintendo DS and 6 Tamagachis, plus charger for the DS. Magazines and cosmetics. Vitamins + Rx. All told, it took us one rolling suitcase, one cosmetic bag and 4 backpacks to travel light. Each of us has a personal backpack plus the laptop got its own padded laptop. As we traveled, each of was responsible for his own backpack and one other bag. Traveling light! This seems to be about as light as we can go.
Turned out to be a good thing that we had the entertainment along as our train was 4 hours late in arriving. Train ride was 6 hrs or so to DC. Each of us nestled down with his electronic babysitter of choice and bore out the ride.
The train itself was quite comfy. Nobody provides legroom like Amtrak (although I hear British Airways does, I have never tried em) and our traveling companions were, well, companionable. LO noticed a woman sitting alone on the dining car when we ate breakfast this morning and said, "Oh, don’t sit alone. Please join us. We’d be happy to have you." So the lady came over and we all chatted over breakfast.
The apartment exceeds our expectations in every way. It’s roomy and provides every comfort. LO and DH are watching Spiderman on the TV as I type this, and the DVD collection and music collection they have provided for us are spookily to our taste. Because I had mentioned that LO wanted to visit the Holocaust Museum, the LL thoughtfully left out guides to the Holocaust Museum.
This afternoon we walked about 1.5 miles to the Market area where a centuries-old building houses poultry vendors – bakers – flower peddlers, fishmongers and produce farmers. Everything fresh you might need can be found there : organic milk, cheese, fresh eggs, fruits and veggies of every sort.
We asked a local about where we might find granola and she directed us to an organic store just around the corner. We filled one backpack with the essentials and walked the 1.5 miles back home, where we all stretched out for a nap. DH, Mr. "I Never Take A Nap," snored til 8:10 when we finally awoke him. He had said he wanted to go out for dinner tonight, but, we felt it was a little late to start out on a quest for unknown restaurants. It would be 10pm before we ate. So, we ventured out again, this time for the local Safeway, about a mile each way. Hunted down a little sushi, a beer and headed home.
Now our bellies are full, mindless entertainment is on the TV, and we are taking our turns at the shower. Tomorrow we have passes for the Washington Monument in the morning and we explore the Mall the remainder of the day. Unfortunately, I failed to remember this laptop does not have a port for the MD card used by the digicam so I will have to post pics after our return home.
Well, my turn for the shower. Good night for now.

How Much does a Yale Degree Cost?

"That's George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing
about him is that I read three—three or four books about him last year. Isn't
that interesting? "

--George W. Bush Washington, DC 05/05/2006

If you're thinking, 'oh, that isn't so bad. she just looks for these things...' think again. There are a zillion of them. Or a Brazilian. Heard that one? Another great W story...

How bout just one more? Let's see... so hard to choose...

"Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better. "

--George w. Bush 09/24/2001
in a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien

Little One's Outdoor Challenge

Little One preparing to take off in her kayak..

















The Middle School Youth Leader. Check out her beautiful muscles. She is Fitness Director at our local Y.

















Little One and a friend outside the camp store.













The gang on the New River. Little One is 2nd from right end.

















All the advisors from our church. The guy with his shirt off was also in Mexico with DH. He is a very cool guy -- but all these folks are cool.













Another kayak shot.







Little One forgot her camera when they went caving and rock climbing / rapelling. She had several more shots but most were pics of the camp itself and scenery for her Papaw to understand how beautiful it all was. :)

If you think YOU've got it rough...

Hi, folks, I just had a reality check here and thought it might be worth sharing.

We have a family here in the neighborhood: a mom and dad and 2 daughters. The mom is my sometimes-editor when I write for Smalltown News, a truly nice person to the bone, not like me at all, I may seem nice sometimes, but it's just because I'm trying hard. :) The dad is a middle school guidance counselor in a nearby small town; the older sister just qualified to go to our state's prestigious school of science and math. The school is a residential school for high school juniors and seniors near our state's capital. Competition is fierce for entry to this school, and graduation from it qualifies students for a total "free ride" at any of our state's fine universities. This older sister is Little One's favorite-est babysitter. She truly talks with Little One, teaches her new pieces on the piano, gives her true attention. Little One asks us to go out so she can have time with this older girl.

The younger sister is 14 years old and has been battling a brain tumor since she was 9. The courage, brightness and faith of this girl is phenomenal.

In years past, she has undergone surgeries and chemotherapy. Last year with all that traditional medicine had to offer, the tumor showed more growth so the family tried some unorthodox methods as well, altering their diets to exclude the common trace elements that are beneficial to us but are thought to feed tumors; and subscribing to other fringe ideas. This spring, the tumor again showed growth and the family, after all their hard work, was devestated.

They were fortunate to find a surgeon at Columbia who said he could radically remove much of the growth in her brain by way of two brain surgeries this summer. The family went to NY and settled in for the process. While the first surgery was considered successful, our friend developed a very painful case of shingles immediately afterward, so the family trekked back to the South to wait them out before the 2nd surgery could be scheduled.

Finally the shingles are gone and the 2nd surgery was effected earlier this week. Our friend has been in quite a bit of pain with her eye swollen shut and severe pain in her jaw. Today, they have diagnosed her with diabetes insipidus, which is a side-effect they were concerned might develop, but had hoped would not occur. Apparently it has the potential to be quite dangerous.

The older sister is scheduled to head for her premier boarding school within a few weeks.

We all love this family and cannot imagine how this is draining them financially, emotionally, and physically. Not a one of them, however, would complain. They all have their game faces and keep on keeping on.

I have to think back to the summer when I was fourteen. I learned tennis that summer -- I have never played well, but I really enjoyed hitting the ball and spent countless hours hitting the ball at nearby courts, against our carport wall, and back & forth with neighbors, in the street. Every now and then someone would yell, "Car!" and we would retreat to the side for a moment and then play again. Girlfriends and I would take their tandem and ride around town, miles from home, and return to lay in front of the new color TV and drink sodas.

It was a carefree and liberating summer, and such a contrast to the summer our young friend has had.

The old saying is trite but so true: When you think you have problems, just look around. There are folks 'way worse off than you.

If you'd like to say a prayer for our friend, her name is Quinn.

Long Weekend

America has come to use the term "long weekend" for the 3 days that occur when we irrevently move a holiday to the nearest Monday, forming a 3-day holiday for workers. I have already informed my family that, after my demise, if my birthday becomes a national holiday, it is *not* to be moved to the nearest Monday, but is to give workers a delightful holiday right there in the middle of the week, wherever it falls.

All that aside, we are having a true "long weekend."Meaning, Little One is gone away for a whole weekend. She has only been gone this long once before, and that is not the best story to share.

The Middle School Youth Group at church has the Outdoor Challenge every year at this time. It's three days at an outdoor camp in VA with a whirlwind of activity. Yesterday they went caving; today they will kayak and tomorrow they will rock climb and rappel. It's sort of a kickoff of the new year for the Youth Group, and is meant to create bonding among the youth, including the new members, rising 6th graders. Little One is one.

The Youth Director mailed her a list of what to pack. Funny, all the other kids seemed able to lift their own duffles, but Little One's was so heavy even I could not lift it.

We gathered at the church parking lot yesterday morning to see them off. As is always the case, this took forever, as various parents remembered they had forgotten this or that and zoomed back home to grab it and bring it back: a pillow, a spoon. We stood in the church parking lot, making small talk and wishing they could just get on with it.

Little One did not feel her best yesterday and was unusually clingy to me. She did not know anyone in the group and felt worried. DH and I tried to be exceptionally chipper, despite our hearts being heavy at her going away from us.

Finally the group took off. DH and I headed to the Middle School to paint the teachers' bathrooms, the PTA project for the summer. While there, we got FIVE im's from Little One, --(DH loaned her his cell phone) -- telling us where they were on the road, and, finally, "we got here." That was the last one we received.

Last night we went to a nearby Larger City for sushi and a little shopping. I sent her a pic of DH's sushi salad, but she did not reply. I'm going to say she has gotten into the spirit of the thing and is having a ball.

We sent her with two disposable cameras, one flash, one waterproof. We'll have pics developed on the way home from picking her up, and will scan and post here soon.