As this has been a rather uneventful time in my life since the last 2 posts (which have all the exciting stuff in it) I haven't come up with much to write about. No life changing experiences. Mostly silly mundane. I've only read 1 1/2 books since then and they are both books I've read before.
So, what to write?
Random thoughts of course.
1--Does it ever feel to you like we are being forced, in a way, to go back to an agrarian society? We have lived through this fabulous age in which science has advanced us so far, and yet that same science is teaching us that we must, in some respects, go back to times before to survive.
Think about it.
A recession causes financial confusion which in turn makes us revert back to the good old fashioned "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do or do without" philosophy.
The concerns in the environment and the high gas prices (yes I know they've lowered, but they are still high) cause us to try and walk more and drive less. They also cause us to stay closer to home, trying to save environment and money by doing things close instead of traveling far away. I wish I knew where the link was, but I even read an article where some dentist in Florida had started riding his horse to work to save on gas. Now, I don't think that we are all going to run out and buy horses, but it did make me stop and think about the decisions we are making.
Food prices cause us to cook our own meals instead of eat out--which is probably better for us anyway. And I know a lot more people who are canning for all their worth so they can save even more money that way.
Speaking of, I have got to get on my applesauce.
It's just interesting to me that we are practically being forced back to some old fashioned values that we as a society have been ignoring for years.
2--The fabulous Angel tagged me for the seven random things meme. I've done this before in another blogging life, but as most of you who read this now didn't then, I'll do it again. I wonder what I'll come up with this time?
1-As stated above, I do my own canning, but not as much because it saves me money as because I really hate the store bought versions of the things I can. Applesauce? If you've never had it chunky, you don't know what you're missing. Peaches? Store bought peaches are flavorless. And Jam? Also flavorless, although the lower sugar varieties get a little closer. I promise you I make better jam than the store does. I love making jam. It makes me happy.
2-I love puzzles. I buy them frequently--though not to an excessive level. Sadly, I don't have a place that I can just put up a puzzle and work on it, so many of my puzzles have never been done.
3--Fox in Socks is my all time favorite Dr. Seuss book. I take any excuse I can to read it out loud to my kids. I'm almost to the point where I can read it perfectly, but I get going too fast because it's fun to read and then I trip over my tongue. My favorite part is the Tweetle Beetles. The hardest part is Bim and Ben.
4--I'm not a vegetarian. I loves me a good juicy medium-rare steak. However, my favorite pizzas are vegetarian pizzas. Papa Murphy's gourmet vegetarian rocks the house. And there's a local joint here call The Pie Pizzeria (or maybe it's national and I just don't know it) and their vegetarian is the best pizza on the planet--in my un-humble opinion. I love it, right down to the fresh tomatoes sliced across the top after it has been cooked. My mouth is now watering and I just finished dinner.
5--If you want me to color a picture for you, give me colored pencils.
6--I live a double life when it comes to my clothes. I wear jeans and t-shirts most of the time. I love them. But I also love dressing up and looking sassy. In my imaginary/too expensive to make reality world I would shop at places like Anthropologie and look like Audrey Hepburn all the time. Of course, in my imaginary world I would also be thin enough to look like Audrey Hepburn all the time. In the meantime, I run around in jeans and layered t-shirts and dream of a time when I will have the money and the ability to dress like the sassy chick I want to be.
7--I'm a well trained closet Mary Kay consultant. Make-up makes me happy, and my favorite part of doing Mary Kay, when I was doing it for serious, was doing the makeovers. I loved putting some color on a woman that they would never do in real life and having them love it. However, since I'm a walking mass of contradictions, I rarely put make-up on in real life, especially as I'm no longer a real consultant. I'm trying to do better at this. My goal now is to get it on on Sundays. Once I conquer that I will work towards every day of the week.
3--I don't like Halloween. I've been to two Halloween parties this year. I actually hosted one of them. I didn't like being at the first party. Usually I can avoid the things I don't like about Halloween--the skanky/bloody/gory costumes and the skulls and all that crap. Unfortunately, this time around I didn't. Of course, I didn't know what I was getting in to. It was a family hosted party. There were three costumes that showed a bit too much of the people in question, and the food was all purposely themed to be Halloween-ish, like hot dogs wrapped as mummies. I could barely eat. And I felt bad, because these people are family. I would have had a much better time but about halfway through the time we were there a guy came in dressed as the Savior--complete with thorns and it made me sick. I got a bloody nose while I was there (no idea why or how, it just happened) and therefore was able to seclude myself for a while, but I felt as if a burden had lifted when we left. Next year, quite frankly, I'll be finding a way either to be busy that night or suggesting a separate party for our half of the family.
The one I hosted, on the other hand, went well. I knew no-one would come in a costume skanky or sacrilegious. It was the other side of the family and we had a donut eating contest, ate lots of soup and rolls and generally had a good time talking. The feel was incredibly different. I also have a church party (a soup-tack-u-lar where we all bring soup and sample soup and socialize) and then Halloween itself. I stay home and hand out candy while Faramir takes the kids trick-or-treating.
What I hope someday will happen on Halloween? We will stay home as a family, maybe let the kids invite some friends over, and watch a movie and eat good food. I'd rather avoid the whole thing all together. Unfortunately, that's not the general consensus in my house.
4--What do you think of this quote? I'm not going to say who said it, since I haven't checked my sources yet. If you know who said it, please don't tell just yet. I'm not going to tell you what I thought of it. I want to hear what your take is.
“But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendancy to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change.”
5--How about this one?
"Real change is finally giving our kids everything they need to have a fighting chance in today's world. That begins with recognizing that the single most important factor in determining a child's achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from; it's not who their parents are or how much money they have. It's who their teacher is." (emphasis added)
Just curious to see if you react the same or differently than I did.
So, what to write?
Random thoughts of course.
1--Does it ever feel to you like we are being forced, in a way, to go back to an agrarian society? We have lived through this fabulous age in which science has advanced us so far, and yet that same science is teaching us that we must, in some respects, go back to times before to survive.
Think about it.
A recession causes financial confusion which in turn makes us revert back to the good old fashioned "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do or do without" philosophy.
The concerns in the environment and the high gas prices (yes I know they've lowered, but they are still high) cause us to try and walk more and drive less. They also cause us to stay closer to home, trying to save environment and money by doing things close instead of traveling far away. I wish I knew where the link was, but I even read an article where some dentist in Florida had started riding his horse to work to save on gas. Now, I don't think that we are all going to run out and buy horses, but it did make me stop and think about the decisions we are making.
Food prices cause us to cook our own meals instead of eat out--which is probably better for us anyway. And I know a lot more people who are canning for all their worth so they can save even more money that way.
Speaking of, I have got to get on my applesauce.
It's just interesting to me that we are practically being forced back to some old fashioned values that we as a society have been ignoring for years.
2--The fabulous Angel tagged me for the seven random things meme. I've done this before in another blogging life, but as most of you who read this now didn't then, I'll do it again. I wonder what I'll come up with this time?
1-As stated above, I do my own canning, but not as much because it saves me money as because I really hate the store bought versions of the things I can. Applesauce? If you've never had it chunky, you don't know what you're missing. Peaches? Store bought peaches are flavorless. And Jam? Also flavorless, although the lower sugar varieties get a little closer. I promise you I make better jam than the store does. I love making jam. It makes me happy.
2-I love puzzles. I buy them frequently--though not to an excessive level. Sadly, I don't have a place that I can just put up a puzzle and work on it, so many of my puzzles have never been done.
3--Fox in Socks is my all time favorite Dr. Seuss book. I take any excuse I can to read it out loud to my kids. I'm almost to the point where I can read it perfectly, but I get going too fast because it's fun to read and then I trip over my tongue. My favorite part is the Tweetle Beetles. The hardest part is Bim and Ben.
4--I'm not a vegetarian. I loves me a good juicy medium-rare steak. However, my favorite pizzas are vegetarian pizzas. Papa Murphy's gourmet vegetarian rocks the house. And there's a local joint here call The Pie Pizzeria (or maybe it's national and I just don't know it) and their vegetarian is the best pizza on the planet--in my un-humble opinion. I love it, right down to the fresh tomatoes sliced across the top after it has been cooked. My mouth is now watering and I just finished dinner.
5--If you want me to color a picture for you, give me colored pencils.
6--I live a double life when it comes to my clothes. I wear jeans and t-shirts most of the time. I love them. But I also love dressing up and looking sassy. In my imaginary/too expensive to make reality world I would shop at places like Anthropologie and look like Audrey Hepburn all the time. Of course, in my imaginary world I would also be thin enough to look like Audrey Hepburn all the time. In the meantime, I run around in jeans and layered t-shirts and dream of a time when I will have the money and the ability to dress like the sassy chick I want to be.
7--I'm a well trained closet Mary Kay consultant. Make-up makes me happy, and my favorite part of doing Mary Kay, when I was doing it for serious, was doing the makeovers. I loved putting some color on a woman that they would never do in real life and having them love it. However, since I'm a walking mass of contradictions, I rarely put make-up on in real life, especially as I'm no longer a real consultant. I'm trying to do better at this. My goal now is to get it on on Sundays. Once I conquer that I will work towards every day of the week.
3--I don't like Halloween. I've been to two Halloween parties this year. I actually hosted one of them. I didn't like being at the first party. Usually I can avoid the things I don't like about Halloween--the skanky/bloody/gory costumes and the skulls and all that crap. Unfortunately, this time around I didn't. Of course, I didn't know what I was getting in to. It was a family hosted party. There were three costumes that showed a bit too much of the people in question, and the food was all purposely themed to be Halloween-ish, like hot dogs wrapped as mummies. I could barely eat. And I felt bad, because these people are family. I would have had a much better time but about halfway through the time we were there a guy came in dressed as the Savior--complete with thorns and it made me sick. I got a bloody nose while I was there (no idea why or how, it just happened) and therefore was able to seclude myself for a while, but I felt as if a burden had lifted when we left. Next year, quite frankly, I'll be finding a way either to be busy that night or suggesting a separate party for our half of the family.
The one I hosted, on the other hand, went well. I knew no-one would come in a costume skanky or sacrilegious. It was the other side of the family and we had a donut eating contest, ate lots of soup and rolls and generally had a good time talking. The feel was incredibly different. I also have a church party (a soup-tack-u-lar where we all bring soup and sample soup and socialize) and then Halloween itself. I stay home and hand out candy while Faramir takes the kids trick-or-treating.
What I hope someday will happen on Halloween? We will stay home as a family, maybe let the kids invite some friends over, and watch a movie and eat good food. I'd rather avoid the whole thing all together. Unfortunately, that's not the general consensus in my house.
4--What do you think of this quote? I'm not going to say who said it, since I haven't checked my sources yet. If you know who said it, please don't tell just yet. I'm not going to tell you what I thought of it. I want to hear what your take is.
“But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendancy to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change.”
5--How about this one?
"Real change is finally giving our kids everything they need to have a fighting chance in today's world. That begins with recognizing that the single most important factor in determining a child's achievement is not the color of their skin or where they come from; it's not who their parents are or how much money they have. It's who their teacher is." (emphasis added)
Just curious to see if you react the same or differently than I did.
I'm a makeup junkie, too. One of the happier moments in my life was moving closer to a Sephora.
And jeans and t-shirts beat sporting yoga wear everywhere.
And I'll have to digest that first quote to give you a response.
But I like the quote in your liner a lot.
Oh my gosh you have to read thepost I put up today about Halloween. We are twins separated at birth. :)
In lots of other random ways, too, I'm sure.
We are staying home and eating good food and watching a movie--all but The Spouse and the Little Guy who is still young enough to trick or treat. I am looking forward to it!
Ah Halloween..such conflicted feelings there. We're have a big ole feast and watching the Charlie Brown movie with friends. I want to take the spook out of it and make it about the fun, ya know?
Obama freaks me out. Hugely.
Mmm...make up. Savior and bane of my existence both. Sigh.
I HAVE thought about the agrarian society thing actually, a lot.
My fav Dr. Seuss is "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" which I feel should win some sort of creativity award.
:)
One of my new favorite quotes, "real change is finally giving our kids..." posting on the fridge.
I have thought a lot about the agrarian society thing, too. I am just grateful that I don't have to always explain to everyone why my husband and I are being frugal :) ?!? Who ever thought that would become kind of trendy, LOL!
I have my guess at the quotes ... when do we find out?
And as far as Halloween goes, it isn't my favorite holiday either. However, I do like chocolate and I do enjoy watching my kids enjoy the carefreeness of trick-or-treating.
So much to process in this post....
My gut reaction on the second quote:
Seriously? The single most important factor in determining a child's achievement ...is who their teacher is? I have a hard time with a quote that says that a teacher is more important/influential than a parent. That may be right, but I guess that's one huge reason I homeschool. I'm determined to be the primary influence on the achievement of my children. Actually, that's not accurate either. The truth is that my desire is that Christ be the primary influence on my children's achievement. Truly! Interesting that He was left out of this quote altogether...
I'll have to come back and reread the first quote later.
I love you.
Just thought I'd toss that out there.
Love that I'm still learning new things about you after all these years.
I absolutely adore Audrey Hepburn, if I were thin enough, I'd wear my dad's dress shirts tied around my waist with ballet shoes and tights everyday too.
I love the second quote, and agree with it 90% I think parents should be their children's primary teachers. But I agree a really strong, good teacher, can move that child in the right direction.