Marriage Secrets

This is from Tim's Mom, of the turbo charged knitting needles ...

Question

What's one thing you have learned to do differently to make your marriage better? Or one thing you think is important to a good marriage?

The Not-So-Fine-Print: If you're not married, look at your parents or a couple you know that has a good marriage and tell something you admire about their relationship. And no pressure to tell the most important thing; in fact, try to write something different than what's already been written, if you get tagged after several other people have already done it. If you get tagged, link back to whoever tagged you, so we can follow the trail and see what others have said.

My Answer

I am learning that it’s not 50 / 50 in the marriage relationship. It’s *100 /100*.

I am learning to identify what real love is, and I’m glad it’s so totally blind. It’s not getting the perfect gift for your birthday, but it’s a tired man who will go with you down the block to give the cake to the neighbors even though his day turned out way, way longer than he ever thought it would be.

I am learning a successful marriage involves trust and it’s a big step to trust, but it’s the best thing you can do.

I am learning how to practice my communication skills!

I am learning that if I want to sing or dance or read aloud something or be silly or create something or whistle a tune, that I always have a willing audience.

I am learning that everything in a marriage is not fair, and there’s just no point in worrying about it because the Fair Train goes round and round following the Unfair Train, so each of you will get a turn and in the end there will end up being plenty of rides on both.

I am learning that it really is fun to do something nice for someone who loves you.

I am learning that ‘you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need.’ (.....rolling stones....)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now the tag part ....
How about

Athena in a Minivan?

Crazy Needles Here

You are interchangeable.
Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every

eventuality covered and every opportunity

just has to be taken. Every fiber is

wonderful, and every day is a new beginning.

You are good at so many things, it's amazing,

but you can easily lose your place and forget

to show up. They have row counters for

people like you!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I took the quiz that I picked up from Tim's Mom. And I don't knit either, but I am going to learn some day!

Babies in Movies

Mr. B and I recently watched a movie called Daltry Calhoun. It was a sweet little movie, featuring Johnny Knoxville, who made a pleasant presentation of Daltry. It's not really about Daltry, exactly, it's more about his daughter, June, who finds her father when she is 14, and comes to live with him because her mother is dying. She is the narrator of the story. Mr. B picked it up from the video store because the DVD case said the character of June had been homeschooled.

I'm not recommending the movie to anyone (but it was a sweet little film aside from the fact that it was rated PG-13 and I'm not saying I agree with that rating). The reason I'm even mentioning it is because of the baby crying in an opening scene.

In that scene, the parents are yelling at each other, and June, as a baby, is in a playpen, just crying her heart out. I sat silent for a second, and then I said, "I cannot believe they are just letting that child cry." And Mr. B said, "I was just thinking the same thing."

It seems odd somehow, that, in the making of a film, one can't even appear to hurt an animal, but it's okay to let a baby cry. To actually put a crying baby in someone's arms, or a playpen (or whatever), and just let them cry.

And I know that they did just that because they showed it in the bloopers. As a matter of fact, the baby wanted his mother, or whomever put the child in the playpen, so badly, that the baby attempted to get *out* of the playpen, almost hitting the ground, but Johnny Knoxville ran over and caught the baby. It's all on tape.

I have watched other films in which there was a baby crying, and each time, something seemed wrong about it. But this time, seeing the actual outtake, it just seems incredibly wrong. And even a little cruel and mean.

What I like about the Craziness of Now

1. We are all working together.

2. We are decluttering. (What is in those boxes anyway?)

3. We are surely not overbuying anything! (As it would end up in a box)

4. Life is becoming simple (in a complicated sort of a way).

5. Several of us are moving and making job changes, at one time! That is freaky weird. We should go on some kind of a show or something. My sister-in-law's family, my oldest son, middle son, my husband parents, and, of course, us. We are all relocating to the same city. Mysteriously magic?

6. It feels good to finish a project, and we keep having to finish some project so someone is always feeling good. Okay, so it's not me that often, but I do feel good about some things, I just need to get a grip on the physical demands of the whole ordeal. Secretly, I want to be able to do more things than I am able.

7. We agree that the house should always be clean. It's not always. But we agree that it should be.


When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind. ~Seneca

Trade offs

Regarding Oprah's The Debt Diet show again ~ my other post began it ~~ I may keep this up because it is a great diversion to going nuts ... And thinking about how other people live their lives, sometimes, gives you a deeper reflection on how you live your own. Sometimes we do not want to look at the rusty, chipped, and moldy places. We only want to look at the clean counters and neat drawers.

There is another couple on the show who spends money on their children because they want their children to feel really, really good about themselves. And apparently, they are thinking How You Look and What You Drive are the ticket to these feelings of inner peace. The mom does, anyway; I'm not sure what the dad thinks, except that he thinks that their two girls should do some kind of work (chores, we in regular-land call them) around the house in order to have an entitlement to what they are given on a regular basis just because they say they want it ...

One of the daughters has a brand new car, which is a nicer car than her parents have, and the parents (the mother) will not give up the car or the car payment, when the couselor suggested that the child should work and actually pay for the car.

This couple also does not want to give up Friday Night Dinner Hosting for what looks like 4 couples and themselves at their house every week. The counselor suggested they get together, but instead of paying for everything themselves, have a potluck. A concept which has, apparently again, never occured to them. Which I thought was quite reasonable and whole lot more fun. But again, I'm not on television. I'm plain and simple, probably a little cheaper than some, and I hate going to the mall.

These seem like reasonable suggestions for unreasonable situations to have gotten into. I wonder, how did Oprah and her staff choose these particular people?

But the trade-offs - I was thinking, as I think in my Life Theories, that everything is a trade off. I mean you could trade something good for something bad, but you could also trade something bad for something worse, or something good for something better.You have to think about it as It's Always going to Be Something. It is. You can't have nothing and no problems ~ UNLESS ~ you use your mind to control the idea that a thing is not a problem, it's just a situation and therefore Life is Grand at all times ...You see, it's really only a head trip, and all, but still, stuff does happen, and one must deal.
Anyway, the rambler continues on with their song ~

. In the Debt Diet group, I was thinking in particular of the lady who has to do her hair every week; Perhaps, if she didn't do her hair every week, she would have to go to counseling because it would so sorely upset her about her hair. Then that might uncover more underlying reasons for having to have her hair done every week, and then more counseling and in the end, cost more money.

And although, it may solve some other problems regarding the whole entire over spending thing, the time it takes her, may not weigh out in balancing with the money she's spending now. So, maybe The Mistress Oprah sees something in the big picture here that we are not privy, too. Especially since they have the same kind of hair, sort of, there may be a bigger and clearer understanding, as Oprah had said of the situation, "I understand. I completely understand.".
Or not. It just could be that Oprah has listened to a lot of people talk and might be able to recognize when there is a brick wall not worth running into.

Also, I'm thinking perhaps Oprah selected some people that could be helped, that could really be successful at this Debt Diet concept. So that's smart programming and it's a good feeling for all that vested time in watching people go through stuff, if the peope do succeed. (Which makes me think that Simon Cowell is out there somewhere thinking) And my guess, into the universe, is that she is trying to figure out a way to help those people who really, really don't have another log to throw on the fire.

I watched televsion this week

Oprah is featuring a series on what she has titled something like The Debt Diet. I watched the first two parts. But, it seems that the people on the show, do have places they can cut things and still survive just fine. I wonder about the people who have no places to cut. I guess they just don't do the extra things they might need, like fix things that are broken. like their houses, or cars, or teeth....

One lady, from the couples on the show, got into an argument with her Debt Counselor about her hair, as she has her hair done every week at $30.00 a week. This lady has bills from years that she has _not_ even_ opened. Which I'm not sure how one does that? - - and because they are in debt, the counselor said the weekly hair dressing should go, and the lady said no, and in the end, she kept going to her hair appointments every week because it was important to her, and Oprah agreed with her, so obviously, that's the final answer, and my opinion is that they have money to survive or one would think one would want to save $120.00 a month. I don't really call that having a debt problem, but really, what do I know? I'm not on television. I look at life in a totally different way.

But.... In fairness to the Debt Counselor, she was trying to figure out a way to cut back the amount of times going to the hairdresser, not give it up entirely. And the ladies got into a big fight in the salon. Got a few eyebrows raised in that scene! Wonder how much got edited?

The Debt Counselor was trying to show them about what she thought was wasting money. My opinion: Wasting money is one thing, wasting time is another...but I'm digressing and don't want to give an opinion about getting one's hair done once a week as a waste of time (I am, after all, a retired hairdresser and I understand those in the field need to make money)...but People see things how they see things, and certain things are just important to them. So, *Whatever* on that one.

I'm not a great economist or anything, and I think Oprah is trying to do a good thing in her own powerful-I-am-the-Oprah Way, but I think the show should be called *Ways to Stop Overspending When you Have Money as you are Not being Very Wise with the Money you have and you also need to Stop spoiling your Children and bringing them up Thinking that living with Credit Cards is the Way that the World should Go*.

But like I said ~ What do I know? But basically, I should think that if these people look at the tapes of what they have done with their days ~ then they should either be happy with what they saw, or use it as a motivation for change. Right? When we think about our actions at the end of our day, aren't we either satisfied or seeing room for improvement? You know, the unexamined life and all? That's right, they did kill Socrates ~ maybe that scared a lot of people and they are now afraid to examine their lives? Oh well, I am digressing again...

I watched American Idol this week, also. Because I've been exhausted - and I did read some material about S-T-R-E-S-S this week and exhaustion is a phase of it - and so I watched mindless televsion, so I might relax (hahahaha). Actually, I thought it was a bit entertaining. I don't care for the Vote Off part of the show and didn't watch that, but I think that watching Simon Cowell was interesting. He gets a bad ribbing because he 'tells the brutal honest truth' in front of everyone. I thought at first, I didn't like Simon, but in some way, I think it was because I thought I wasn't suppose to like Simon, but really, I began to pay attention to the singers and realized that 9 3/4 times out of 10, I agreed with Simon, and began to realize when it was that Simon was going to cut someone off at the knees with his commentary. And watching the show became a game between Mr. B and I about what Simon was going to say. They made it more fun really.

I was thinking that Simon, being right most of the time - actually, almost all of the time - about the reality of these peoples long term talents, and speaking to them bluntly, did upset so many people, and how we have become such a polite (lying) society, and 'oh you are never wrong about yourself' society - anyway, I did a search on line for the correct spelling of Simon's name in the middle of that thought process , and found this article, from the Catholic Exchange, which I thought was a strange place to find an article about American Idol, but I read it and I thought it was rather interesting and says the things I was thinking about much better than I could.

Actually, Simon is making a lot of money from this show. He is a brilliant man when it comes to seeing what can make a dollar and now he is starting a new show called the American Inventor.

Well, duty is calling me in the name of cleaning a bathroom ~ I need to accomplish some things here today so I can perhaps feel better and unlock my jaw. And maybe that will help with the destressing of myself. I am working on that, but boy tell you what, it is hard. And I do have a spiritual life and I do pray - but this stress is coming from somewhere else, like body stress along with mind stress and I can't quite get a grip on it without just getting away from it, and I can't get away from it right now....Hmmmm. Little bit of a Catch-22 going on...But, I will have learned something from this when it's all over.

Here is a joke that I found on the 'net ....

A rookie police officer was assigned to ride in a cruiser with an experienced partner. A call came over the car's radio telling them to disperse some people who were loitering.

The officers drove to the street and observed a small crowd standing on a corner. The rookie rolled down his window and said,

"Let's get off the corner."

No one moved, so he barked again, "Let's get off the corner!"

Intimidated, the group of people began to leave, casting puzzled glances in his direction. Proud of his first official act, the young policeman turned to his partner and asked, "Well, how did I do?"

"Pretty good," replied the veteran, "especially since this is a bus stop."

~~~~~~~~~
That's a bit how I feel. Like I'm not sure what I'm seeing is really what I'm seeing but I do know that I am seeing it.

Tu tranquilo,

Miss Roxie

On a very rainy day....

I had a post in here but there was a brief power blurb and all disappeared ...

I had meandered on about how I lose motivation to go out on Rainy Days. I feel like I want to stay home and be cozy. Which I did. Madam B and I caught up on a lot of school work with reading and discussion and checking base on projects. She is self motivated these days, and Thank You Lord for that, because this is my very crazy year with moving or acting like we're moving (LOL) ...But she's been great.

I am going out now ~ not that I feel like it, but I'm needing to run a couple of errands. I am a bit angry with myself for not going to the gym (again) today. Don't know what's wrong with me in that area, but I am under the spell of divine avoidance.

My passion for doing these extra things is not springing forth. I need a surge from somewhere.

We welcome passion, for the mind is briefly let off duty. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Today is her birthday

Today is her birthday
Today she's sixteen
and it's me that God has blessed...

If I had to express to the world how I feel about her,
there would be all lovely things
floating about
like
Soft clouds, and candy,
and Butterfly wings,
Marshmallows, and chocolates
and charming sweet dreams,
The best sounding music
Of the world's favorite band,
A most magnificent dance
performed in the land,
The sun shining perfectly
on a bright shiny day
with
Kittens and faeries
all come over to play ...

Ahhhh,
I'm sounding so sentimental and silly.

My darling daughter is just the most wonderful young lady I could ever hope to be the parent of, and I am so proud of her. She is beautiful...inside and out. She is braver than people know, she is kind, and she is loyal and she is such a sweetheart.

I hope she had a very Happy Birthday!
May God Bless her today and always ...


And an Irish Blessing or two never hurt anybody ~

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

`````````````````````
May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow.
May the soft winds freshen your spirit.
May the sunshine brighten your heart
May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you.
And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.

``````````````````````

Have a good day

As you embrace your day, may it go well.
May you feel peace in your thoughts,
and may you be able to reflect on the joyous things of your life.
Remember someone else will look upon your presence today.
Pass on something good.

Tu tranquilo,

Miss Roxie

Menu/Meal Meme

My best friend Tim’s mom tagged me to play this game.

We don't hate cooking here; we find it fun and entertaining. So I will do the best to play the game. I have addressed some of the answer as 'we' ~ meaning Madam B and myself ~ as we cook together and separately. She has become someone, if you like good food, i.e. nutritious good food cooked for you with love, than you want her as your chef.

1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week? How many are in your family?

We probably eat 30 meals or more at home weekly ~ actually, we never eat out, might we order out on occasion, but we're not big on actually going to a place and listening to people make a lot of stranger noise while we dine, nothing personal, we are just reclusive people.. We plan and cook things everyone likes. Right now we are a family of 3 here, but our boys like us to cook when we visit them, but ordering out and our footing the bill is good for them, also..

2. How many cookbooks do you own?

Maybe a dozen or more. Falls under the number ALOT. We are most fond of cookbooks with lovely pictures to look at. We're part visual leaner.

3. How often do you refer to a cookbook each week?

We look at them often for recreation, creation appreciation, and ideas.

4. Do you collect recipes from other sources? If so, what are some of your favorite sources (relatives, friends, magazines, advertisements, packages, the internet, etc)

We prefer information on cooking ideas with photos these days. We use our cookbooks, and the Internet, and the television (our cooking channel is 50) has the shows on the Internet, which is very handy. But we still check out magazines, and food packages for extra ideas, read blogs, listen to suggestions, the ear is always open. We know key buzzwords now for the things that interest us.


5. How do you store those recipes?

In Madam B's folder and on line. I'd like to have the ones she's discovered this year put in a nice (water proof) binder. Left around the house somewhere. And we have one drawer, if all else fails, where recipes go.


6. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas?

We follow it closely the first time. We do read it over before starting to get the idea of the most efficient way to work. After the meal is cooked, we critique it for changes should it need any for next time.

7. Is there a particular ethnic style or flavor that predominates in your cooking? If so, what is it?

We try things that sound good, and have good foods as ingredients and fiber and spinach and blueberries and pecans, oh my, in the recipes! LOL.

8. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? (Eating the finished product does not count)

The prep work. Chopping and dicing, sautéing all the ingredients together in the pan, adding the spices, when you smell and see the beginning, it's a unique experience.

Even if you feel that you will never make a recipe again, you have been enlightened. You have graduated to a new level of knowledge. Research, planning, gathering, and actually preparing the meal from it’s beginning to end in a very personal and enriching experience...


9. What's your least favorite part?

Clean up?

10. Do you plan menus before you shop?

Yes, usually. It's the most logical and successful way to do it.

11. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances?

Whisker, beater, perfect measuring utensils for Madam B, and mine would be the food processor...and I would add, it is nice to work with attractive or sentimental tools. Tools are very important.

12. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have?

A total kitchen makeover!!! Oh so many things!!!

13. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next?

Therapy sessions. (hahahaha) ~ only gee, only one?

14. Do you have a separate freezer for storage?

No.

15. Grocery shop alone or with others?

When the others won't come, I go alone.

16. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week?

Most are meatless. But we use fish and chicken. But prefer the vegetarian fare for ourselves.

17. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors?

Got a bit of a Tuscany thing going in thought - faux pas finished walls in a lovely peach good charm, white blinds, nice pieces of art work....if I could continue after I win the lottery (hahahahahaha), I would put in the blues and gold’s and Tuscany finishes. I have a spoon rest that has the colors! I'll try to show a picture of it! But mostly, in our kitchen, the love is there, the decorating, actual decorating details, are not.

18. What's the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you?

Using an actual heating element? Scrambled eggs and spaghetti. I was 17.

19. How did you learn to cook?

I had a basic Betty Crocker Cook Book, but even with that, I made some perfectly horrible first meals. Roast so tough you could play basketball with them….oh those days…


20. Tag two other people to play.

Ummm, how does a new blogger tag people??
So here's a try ~ maybe they will see it!

Mommy 22SS
Thimble Cottage

Twelfth Night

We finally saw the Twelfth Night (This version) ~ at Madam Blueberry's request, and It was really good! Hopefully, I'll be adding it to our collection.

Madam B and I love to read a book (especially a Shakespeare play) and then rent the movie version and compare. However, this time I didn't get the book read. But her narrations were just excellent, as I think she loved this book so much! She laughed out loud more than I've heard her laugh from the comic writtings of any book, and she keep declaring that I just _had_ to read this! And I want to, as I love the wit of Shakespeare, but I just haven't had the time. I can't find much to match the brilliance of Wills anywhere,as the man, in my opinion, is just the most brilliant with words, I can hardly stand it sometimes when I find such great wording in his writings ... but alas, here I am digressing!

So, back to the film --
Of course, all the great lines could not be left in, so reading the play is always better, but they did well in showing the humor - there is a scene or two that happened in ways you might not have thought of, but I guess for 1996, it was configured in their minds that that's how it could have gone and it is said to be one of Wills' more 'mature' comedies ...(although, I think, much of Shakespeare's writing is for a mature audience.)

We did recognize a few of the faces - Viola played Miss Lucy Steele in Sense and Sensibility and Maria was the nutty constant talking lady, Charlotte, from the same film. But I've not the need to tell you, as you'll recognize them for yourselves ...

This type of movie might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is truly mine! And when it comes to entertainment and escaping for awhile, to mine ownself I must be true ....




"But be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

"If music be the food of love, play on..."

"Still you keep o' the windy side of the law."

(I love) "How now" (as a greeting)

I so needed a good laugh

These are answers provided by 7th to 12th graders on exams. Laughter is good for the body, soul and spirit. See if these don't make you laugh ~

On the subject of Science:

• "When you breathe, you inspire. When you do not breathe, you expire."

• "H₂O is hot water, and CO₂ is cold water."

• "To collect fumes of suphur, hold on a deacon over a flame in a test tube."

• "When you smell an odorless gas, it is probably carbon monoxide."

• "Nitrogen is not found in Ireland because it is not found in a free state."

• "Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes, and caterpillars."

• "The largest organ in the human body is the head."

• "Respiration is composed of two acts, first inspiration, then expectoration."

• "Dew is formed on leaves when the sun shines down on them and makes them perspire."

• "A super-saturated solution is one that holds more than it can hold."

• "The pistol of a flower is its only protections against insects."

• "Germinate means to become a naturalized German."

• "The skeleton is what is left after the insides have been taken out and the outsides have been taken off."

• "A planet is a body of Earth surrounded by sky."

• "A fossil is an extinct animal. The older it is, the more extinct it is."

• "To remove air from a flask, fill it with water, tip the water out, and put the cork in quick before the air can get back in."

• "The process of turning steam back into water again is called conversation."

• "The earth makes a resolution every 24 hours."

• "Algebracial symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about."

• "We believe that the reptiles came from the amphibians by spontaneous generation and the study of rocks."

• "The dodo is a bird that is almost decent by now."

• "English sparrows and starlings eat the farmers grain and soil his corpse."

• "People shouldn't be allowed to shoot extinct animals."

• "Humans are more intelligent than beasts because human branes have more convulsions."

• "If conditions are not favorable, bacteria go into a period of adolescence."

• "A triangle which has an angle of 135 degrees is called an obscene triangle."

College Answers

• The following are real answers from college students on exams.
  
• The subject - Music
  
• 
  
• 
  
• "The piano finishes off the piece."

• "[Beethoven] went death but still kept on writing and producing music. He wrote one more symphony after his death."

• "Smetana suffered the same fate as Beethoven and went death."

• "The computer-generated sounds came in with a screeching nose."

• "It was the most fun self-culturing experience I have endured."

• "Shania Twain, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson." -- A student naming "three female vocal ranges, from low to high."

• "Claude Debussy weekend the tonality."

• "The piece continues on with shirt notes."

• "[I was] uninterested in leaving before I could here more."

• "The cello and harpsichord were playing in a very fast beast."

• "Now tuba, Trump bone, and French horn play..."

• "I enjoyed the song immensely and was pretty."

• "It was fun to recognize the Rhonda format and predict what forms would be coming up next."

• "It started out with all the instruments giving out a welcoming horning."

• "[It] ends with all of them playing a short long note."

• "The movement ends with a final foul note."

• "The trumpets play tonged notes."

• "I really like how they would sometimes hold their beat and jump to the other."

• "[The group played] the Second Suite in F by Gustav Hoist."

• "The third movement was a lower pitched, the flute as if it represented one person and the orchestra a few others, the harsh tones and the melancholy feeling that felt as the orchestra with its brass section the cymbals and the strings all expressed a very angry and vengeful melody."

• "When the tempo got fast it got me in an exiting mood."

• "[Meter is] how many beats may be heard before one is stressed."

• "The melody was plaid for the most part."

• "This piece got my attention from begging to end."

• "The horn blowed the piano."

• "Robert Schumann wanted to become a virtuoso but became a composer because of a disabling finger."

• "The orchestra sounds like they [are] not worming up yet."

It's not life in the fast lane....

The Promise by When in Rome

When you need a friend, don't look to a stranger,
You know in the end, I'll always be there.
But when you're in doubt, and when you're in danger,
Take a look all around, and I'll be there.

I'm suffering from bloggers block. I don't like days to go by without posting to my blog, but I feel like it's been justonelongday since, what day was it ...ummm, the other day.

Today, I found myself painting the outside of my house. I wanted to sell the house As Is - lived in - not run down but ready for a makeover, you know? And Mr. B said, 'yeah, okay' ...pause...I should have known at the ....pause....
He thought about new windows. Well, he did more than think about them, he went and bought three and someone helped him put them in. Three is all we can afford right now and that was weird too, because I said, "how much are they?" and he said, "their $103.00, and that's not a bad price."
I thought, "Wow that is a great price!"
Then later, after the lovely windows are in, and we are looking at them thinking how nice they look in the living room, he says, "not bad for $300.00."
I'm ....pause....gulp, "Did you say $300.00? I thought you said they were $103.00?"
"Well," he said no pause, "Each. $103.00 each."
Then we got into a discussion of the meaning of 'their' ... which I had always thought was a plural pronoun ....but so goes life and communication with the people that you interact with everyday!

So, the windows being replaced lead to some boards out front being replaced, and with the 'threat' of rain coming (so I was told), I found myself painting the front of my house.

Madam B stepped up to the plate and helped. So the first coat of primer is on before the rain. At least, I was told it was going to rain ...we will see.

Anyway, I feel like I'm in over my head. But there's nothing else I can do, so I'll just keep going till I drop.

View from the middle

The School day during the packing --

Madam Blueberry has finished The Twelfth Night and loved it! The first thing she did upon completion was fly into the computer, and see if there was a recent movie about it, (there is one from 1996), and hope that it did the real story justice. Having listened to her oral narrations daily on this story, I have laughed out loud with her. We did want to, when we have the time, look up some of the things that might have been found humorous in Wills days, because sometimes we'd look at each other like, ummmm, don't quite get that one ...

She wanted me to call the local video store right away to see if they had it in. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I just thought that was funny, but I do hope that the most recent effort of the film, that we found on line, is a good adaptation.

I don't know which Shakespeare she will read next. The one I have here at home that she hasn't read is Henry V. Her high school plan this year was to include Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Pericles Prince of Tyre, Richard II, Hamlet Prince of Denmark, but we have read Othello and TN ... I think I’ll just let her choose the next one herself.

The reading in Johnny Tremain today was fun because it just happen to overlap her American History and given me a new interest in Sam Adams. Madam B wants to know why they named a beer after him...and I didn't really know. I hadn't read much about him, except to know that he had some guts about being a Patriot -- found this quote by Mr. Adams:

Samuel Adams, the political leader in the American Revolution (1722-1803) who said:

He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.

The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.

From little we read of him in the history books, he was a stern and serious man, no fooling about, but crust more serious about being a Patriot, and seem to know exactly what that should entail. A little gutsier than his cousin John, whom we studied early in the year. They both seem like good men in different ways.

While we were doing Math we began to talk about how many calories in a gram of fat and next thing we never we were making soup and figured out – Now, I’ll have to check Madam Blueberry’s records to be exact, but it was about less than 100 calories per cup.

I’ll get the recipe posted tomorrow with the exact calorie amounts – I will tell you it’s an easy and good soup; it’s one of those that you can add other things of your choice and it will work for you. Even for company!

In poetry she began a unit on Phillis Wheatley ~~~~

~~On Being Brought From Africa To America

'Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land,
Taught my beknighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Savior too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their color is a diabolic dye."
Remember Christians; Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.

----Phillis Wheatley

In our Scarlet Letter read aloud, we are tempted to just fly on through, as Hester has told the Reverend that he must go, and told him, also, he was not meant to go alone…could it be that she is proposing that she and Pearl go with him? Should they sail away from the people who are judging them so harshly?

It’s Hester’s who is more free with her Red and Gold Scarlet Letter on her chest for all the world to know about. It’s the Reverend in whom the secret, of not being found out, causes a Scarlet Letter of his own making to burn from the outside in and spread the burning fire of slow damnation to his very soul. He condems himself so harshly, he cannot see a way to let God forgive him.

The people in the town confess their sins in quiet to Reverend Dimmensdale, and he forgives them all, and allows them to feel God’s forgiveness, but he himself, for himself, cannot…. What will happen? We are almost to the end. About 70 more pages to go.

And weather wise - it cold here in the nights and in the mornings -- the type of weather that doesn't encourage you to get up and get moving!! So we have to draw the movitation up from practical reasons and standpoints.

I miss some relaxation! Maybe next week....

The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running. ~Author Unknown, in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. ~Earl Nightingale

Happy Valentine's Day

Madam B baked some cupcakes for our friend's class at her school. It was quite a project since I had managed to break our big oven so she had to labor with the little toaster oven cooking 6 at a time ... so here are some of results, I call them CupBake Creations -- oh and she used both chocolate and white cake mix so each CupBake has a swirled effect.

The first photo is of the little heart cookies she made so that each Cupbake would have a little heart on it.







And if Mommy doesn't mind...This is a picture I took ( and darkened) of my (sweet) baby, James.
(Madam Blueberry ~)

The First Call

Apparently, the number on the For Sale sign can be read. We got our first call.

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!!"

New Buzz Words

I am always the last to know ~

Culture jamming - apparently this is acting out against a main stream idea, that in itself seems to influence people with no foundation as being good other than it is the current idea. Such as, the over purchasing or consumtion of goods for no purpose other than just to own said goods, or the thought that these said goods will make you happy. I think what I mean to say is it's a form of activism against commercialism. This leads us to ...

Whirl-Marters - apparently Whirl-Marters are activist against ove- consumerism, and at any given time they will whirl-mart a superchain store, with no announcement or plan, they walk the aisles of major stores (such as Walmart) just walking slowly and pushing an empty shopping cart. It has something to be with quiet protest, as apparently Walmart does not allow protesters in the store. Of course, I don't know any store that allows protesters in the store, but anyway,
They walk aimlessly up and down the maze of the aisles in the store with an empty cart. This has something to do with being entitled to that space without purchasing anything. That leads to...

Buy Nothing Day ~ apparently that day is November 26th which is, I think, suppose to be the biggest shopping day of the year. I did not realize that I have been participating in Buy Nothing Day all my life as I have never, that I can recall in my conscious mind, shopped after Thanksgiving. I detest busy stores. Once, at a Walmart grand opening my mother talked me into going to, I was so overwhelmed by all the traffic and the people that I locked my keys in the car with the car running. And no one could help me. The police officer asked me if my child was in the car. "No," I said, "I'm holding my child right here." "Sorry then," he said, "I can't leave my post to help you." So I made a couple of phone calls and everyone I called ,but no one could help, so we called a locksmith and he was laughing but he broke us in before the car ran out of gas. It took so long, we never got in the store to shop. But I would have hated it, I know.

Anti-preneur - now this is the word that lead me to the other words above. It seems there is a Canadian magazine called Adbusters that is trying to break the chain of name brand and being so mind-fixed on name brands, so are encouraging people to come up with their own brand of item and not buy the name brand item. It sounds like a fighting fire with fire method. So the people who come up with the items that aren't the name brand items, but maybe more organic or something but definitely doesn't feed the corporate machine, is an anti-preneur.

So anti-preneurs are culture jammers, but don't necessarily whirl-mart, but would probably give a shout out to those that do especially on Buy Nothing Day.

It's all new to me....
As long as I live, I can't believe some of the things that people come up with in order not to go along with that which is going on.

Why not take all that good time and energy and put it into feeding the poor or buying a child in need a pair of shoes. I'm being to cynical. I can't judge others for peaceful protest and finding a legal way to express their outrage of the things that go on around them.

I guess I have an activist bone in my body somewhere, as I did take to being a pirate by wearing one gold hoop earring in my protest of Aging Boringly. But being old, which got here before the boring part, I misplaced my earring so my pirating days have been put on hold.

I know I am not an over consumer. I know I don't need material things to make me happy. But what I don't know is, should I silently walk about stores with empty carts to pass along this message? Some how, I think, it works out better to bake a cake for your neighbor.

Oh well, free world, and all that, I suppose -- some people don't even like baking!

tu tranquilo,

Miss Roxie

The Captain by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Captain by Tennyson is one of my favorite poems. I remember the first time I read it aloud to my kids, I caused such laughter because of the way I read *doeth grievous wrong* - I said "do-eth gre-veth wrong." Of course, the first verse goes like this:

He that only rules by terror
doeth grievous wrong
Deep as hell I count his error.
Let him hear my song.


I linked the rest should anyone like to read it. It just really makes me think about taking a gentle hand in relationships.

The Captain
~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

Stardate - Captain's Log

Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar territory. ~G. Behn

Moving out (date still unknown) update -

What a day. I don't think I wanted to wake up. Mr. B woke me at 9:30!! That is late for me. He came in armed with a cup of hot coffee, and I heard his voice in my dream! I was still dreaming! I was up late last night with Madam B. We watched a movie called The Constant Gardner. I don't recommend it to anyone, but it was heavy and brought up a lot of questions about the (awful) state of the world, and we talked about everyone from ourselves to past Presidents and administrations to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt! You just can't go to sleep after a heavy conversation, so we sat on the couch for awhile until the heaviness went away, and then we searched on line a bit for recipes, until we felt we had laughed about a few things and then went to bed.

Mr. B. also woke Madam Blueberry out of a dream this morning, too. He was saying quietly to her, "Waffles....waffles....waffles" She said the word kept coming into her dream, and she couldn't make sense of it...but her dad wanted her to make waffles for breakfast. Blueberry, of course! They are good!
So she made breakfast, and I made lunch - spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread and spinach casserole,
and we decided Mr. B. was responsible for dinner (we've not been fed yet)...
and we proceeded to drink waaaay too much coffee ...

So as of right now,
My dryer is in my family room, and my family room looks like the liquor store warehouse. Did I ask Mr. B to pick up boxes? Yes, I did.
And did he? Yes, he did ~ but he made sure he wasn't going to have to go again .... I should post a photo.

He ran into one of our neighbors at the liquor store, and she said she almost had a heart attack when she saw our For Sale sign out front. She was very complimentary to us as neighbors, so that was nice to hear.

In my packing I came across some books to donate to my church library and then thought, what will they think if I give them the books in a Crown Royal box? I know this is probably too politically correct of me and shallow, but I put them in the most neutral box I could find. I am weak.

My laundry room is so cute right now. Nothing in there but the washer and the hot water heater. Madam B and I painted the walls a mauve color last week. It was a color that I mixed with some paint I had left over -- It was actually the dumbest thing I've ever done to paint those unfinished walls a color because it was just absorbing the paint so, it made it a long and tedious task, but it just didn't dawn on me at the time I should have just painted them white as it would have been a whole lot easier, but 'oh well' ....win some, lose some.
Anyway,
the floor in the laundry room, Mr B. painted gray with concrete paint and it looks cute! Treat yourself to a cute laundry room. I wish I had done this years ago. Why do I not treat myself nicely?

The rooms are all still a mess. Tomorrow I have to have some orderliness somewhere. I just have to. Please.

We spend our days in deliberating, and we end them without coming to any resolve. ~L'Estrange

Nope...I resolve, one of these rooms will be peaceful tonight before I retire.

An Unsettled State of Being

Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire to seem so. ~François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, 1678


This state of life we are in right now, I'm not enjoying it's unsettling feeling. It seems to be taking to long. Every room is a mess, and I can't feel peace in that. It's like too much of a mess and then I can't function.

Constant questions: What do you keep? What do you discard forever? What do you need? What do you really, really need? Are we out of boxes?

In the current run, how do you have a life while you are leaving one and going to enter into another one, that will be for the long run? I have to have one now. I know I'll work it out, I'm sure of that. I'll survive, I'm sure. But I feel so lonely in the process. I wonder why that is?

So it's just the process that is annoying. In the middle of it all, you can't see but so much to do that it is paralyzing....and all that has to be done, must be done. So there then. I must go and do it. Settled.

It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing. ~Mariane Moore, "A Grave," Collected Poems, 1951

Losing Track of Time

Without double checking, I'm not sure what day it is. I know the date, but I'm not sure of the day. It's just been one of those weeks and somehow I lost a day in there. Wah. I needed that day I think.

School is interesting here. It's a 24 hour around the clock session. Actually, it's been quite interesting working the shifts we are working as it is showing me that learning is definitely not 8 to 3! LOL. But I am proud of my daughter. She could just easily slide by on her school work as she is working so hard with us on other things around the house, but she is trying to do each and every subject without being reminded. Of course, I am like an arobotron ..."did you do your math?....did you do your math?....did you do your math?...." comes out on autopilot.

This week in Cooking Class, it seemed to be a good week for trying subsitutions in recipes as I am just about out of everything!
Just today:
We have adjusted the Banana Bread recipe (again) and added some charming oats on the top, and have adjusted (our favorite) Spinach Casserole recipe.
Reading is our best and, I think, most favorite thing.
Last night, or maybe it was in the wee hours of the morning, Madam B drilled me on a bunch of history dates from her last semester, and I didn't know but one. I did make a couple of real good guess though! ...but I guess that shows how much I've been paying attention! LOL.

Madam B will be 16 in 12 days. I wish I could think of something BIG to do, but this year is lean pickins and so much other stuff going on. She such a great girl, I am so blessed. I love her so much. She is so good to me. She can pick up my steps as I'm going along and she keeps me from stumbling. She's the best song anyone has ever sung to me. She's my little girl grown up so beautifully. I have to look twice sometimes just for the wanting of the pleasure of knowing 'that's my child.' Sweet Emotions, that's her.

We put our For Sale sign out, but you can't read the number I noticed, (a little Freudian slip there?) so I'll be buying some more black marker when I go out later. Putting the sign up was emotional.

"We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everyhwere."
---Tim McGraw

So the credits roll

Madam Blueberry

made these hiakus for you

while the muffins bake

Literature Hiaku

The Scarlet Letter

Misery lies and deceit

Someone dies but who?

Poetry and Michelangelo haiku

Poetry flows through

The pen that spills words anew

Tempers meanings do

Michelangelo

Sculpting out his way through life

And painting through strife

History Hiaku

History is far

The making of a new world

Is at our door steps

Johnny Tremain haiku

Johnny, where art thou?

Silver all around you now

Silversmith no more?

(Just at chapter four)

More school Haiku

Shakespeare has no fear

On the Twelfth Night of the year

The play brings a cheer

Math Haiku

She uses a pen
Serious about her math
When she's done there's peace

Some days ya' just gotta ramble....

Is the glass half empty, half full, or twice as large as it needs to be? ~Author Unknown

and
Home again. Looking for the groove of things. Still packing, still planning, but still maintaining a daily schedule of some type for living in the now. Now Here as opposed to No Where is the constant struggle....as in, I can't leave before I go.
and
Speaking of Nowhere.
Madam B was examining this word the other day. She felt that nowhere was also now here more than we think....basically, 'nowhere' and 'now here' is the same thing. You are nowhere but now here at the same time. She's been examining these words that come together. I should encourage her to write about this because when she originally has a thought about them .... she leaves me going "huh?".....that's the way I feel some days after her dissections.

Last Sunday night on the ride home from church, Madam B told her Dad she couldn't wait to get back to 'Johnny Tremain' and 'The Twelfth Night.' That is so cool, I thought. It's great when there is pleasure in a book that you are assigned for your schoolwork!

We did one of our up till 1 AM school days -- sometimes we just can't sleep, so we do some school work. I think my child is a true night owl because I get more discussion from her in the wee hours of the morning than in the center of the day.

Haiku ~
Here's a flash from Madam B -

Look how cool this is
I can write a haiku
James just ate a bug.

Twelfth Night ~ Yesterday morning, right before coffee I was greeted with "Olivia told Viola she loved her and I think the fool is awesome, he is _so_ funny." My head was fuzzy, 'Olivia loves Viola? And you love the fool? My gosh...what are we talking about?'
brain - tick, tick, tick, and finally the wheels fall into place -- 'Oh, Oh....kay. Shakespeare'. I feel better now. I thought maybe she was watching some weird thing on the TV while I was gone....

The more she narrated from the book, I began to marvel at the fact that Shakespeare could be the foundation idea of soap operas. This story is just plain silliness with a twirly plot.

I told Madam B that the real reason she was so enjoying the 12th Night is because she would like to talk like that! They are very sarcastic to each other .... but it truly is a comedy. It leaves her laughing out loud and never before have I heard so much, "Mom, I gotta read this to you!"

I just returned from a southern run to the area of the new house to drop off some boxes and take my inlaws home, and I was more tired than I wished I were. Sometimes I don't think it's the fatigue of driving, I think it's the thinking of all that awaits me. Okay, and the fatigue of driving.

I hear advice - and from others, from their mountaintop view of things, I suppose they look around and see clearly the order of things I should do. I listen. But regardless of all the good advice, I still have mine own self to contend with. Sometimes my view is a little foggy, looking through weary haze and clouds which might be misty tears. But I'll manage to get it all done. "All things work together for good...."

I saw many police officers on my trip, drank lots of coffee and had a flash thought that I didn't have my drivers license. After all the coffee and seeing all the police officers, I began to feel a tad stressed at that fact. I checked and it wasn't there! Panic. I pulled over - for another coffee -I let someone else look in my purse, and there it was - in an odd spot. You know that's always the way. You do one thing different from your little routine and there you are - lost in (the) space (between your ears).


Back to Madam B ~ She tried a blueberry pie this week, but it didn't hold to specs. I never got to try it. She fooled around with altering some ingredients in our favorite banana bread recipe and made it healthier and that's always a good thing! Next experience was to take the chocolate chip recipe we love and see if it could be shaped into hearts.

Before I left she had baked some really cute cupcakes! I'll put some pictures up later.

She's been successful with her recipe gatherings and has some breakfast, lunch and dinner menus together. We were just thinking, we need to go into planning for * leftover menus* like the magazines do. It's a practical world on certain days. Not here. But somewhere.

I would like to share with you two poems we were discussing. I like them both.

Love's Secret
~~ William Blake

Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.
Ah! she did depart!

Soon after she was gone from me,
A traveller came by,
Silently, invisibly:
He took her with a sigh.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come not, when I am dead
~~ Lord Alfred Tennyson

Come not, when I am dead,
  To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave,
To trample round my fallen head,
  And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save.
There let the wind sweep and the plover cry;
         But thou, go by.

Child, if it were thine error or thy crime
  I care no longer, being all unblest:
Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of Time,
  And I desire to rest.
Pass on, weak heart, and leave me where I lie:
         Go by, go by.


Tu Tranquilo,

Miss Roxie