Amanda is taking a history class this year called "New Right, New Left" (or it's "New Left, New Right." I get it mixed up.) that is a study of the political parties in the US since the beginning of the 20th century. She finds it quite interesting, I think, particularly in light of the fact that this will be the first presidential election she will be able to vote in. To a large extent, it's a discussion class with a LOT of writing, and they've been discussing LBJ and Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement lately.
She called today and asked if I had seen The Colbert Report last night. I had not, but it was on the DVR. She said I should be sure and watch it, because Andrew Young was Stephen's guest, and that he (Stephen) kind of broke character during the interview. I was curious, so I made sure to watch it tonight.
If you know me, you know that I have long loved Stephen Colbert. I have always admired not only his quick wit, and his outlook on the world, but I have also loved to see what happens when his STEPHEN COLBERT persona slips, and you get a glimpse of the real Stephen Colbert.
I think we saw that on last night's episode. Stephen and Andrew Young have quite an interesting link.
And then he interviews Andrew Young. His wit comes through in the interview, along with his obvious respect for Mr. Young, but there's also an honest earnestness there:
It was all summed up for me with this one question: "Do you remember my father?" Just imagine - being able to speak with a man who is one of the icons of the American Civil Rights movement, and hearing this response to your question: "Yes, I do. I remember him very, very well."
Stephen is the youngest of 11(!) children, and he actually was born during the time period in which his father and Andrew Young were negotiating the strike settlement. When Stephen was only 10, his father and two of his brothers were killed in a plane crash just outside Charlotte. What a gift it must have been for Stephen to be able to hear someone like Andrew Young speak so admiringly of his father.
And then, in a singularly Colbert-ian touch, he ended the show with a musical tribute that was certainly funny, but also surprising, and touching as he paid tribute to the writing staff he surely misses.
It is SO time for the writers to return. I really miss Tonight's Word.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Construction Zone
For as long as they've been old enough to form their own opinion about design elements, our kids have hated our master bedroom. Oh, they liked the bedroom itself well-enough, but the color? The "decor"? Blech. Gag. And when they discovered that Paula and Ben agreed with them, all the better. Randy and I have never really understood what they object to. I mean, EVERYBODY has a four-foot by three-foot Coca-Cola Santa advertisement on one of their bedroom walls, right?!? Maybe not. But it works for us. And we are the ones who sleep there. Besides Sammie, but she hasn't expressed an opinion one way or the other. Since we redid the bathroom - which EVERYBODY agrees is wonderful - they've been all over us to redo the bedroom.
So, what the heck. We haven't had a really major home improvement project going for a while now. I painted that room when we moved in, 14 years ago, and we really haven't done anything in there since then. And the bed...let's just say that in 1983, when we bought it, it was a right stylin' waterbed. We replaced the water mattress with a real one when we moved into this house, but still.
We've decided on a style that can probably best be described as Frank Lloyd Wright Goes to Tuscany. We ordered furniture from Stacy Furniture in Allen (where the motto is "If you're not shoppin' with us...you're burnin' money!"). A whole, honest-to-goodness bedroom suite! We've never had bedroom furniture that matches! It will be delivered on February 5th, so we have a definite date to be finished with everything else.
Randy is taking all the popcorn off the ceiling in the bedroom and bathroom, and I'm cleaning up after him. He's got a couple of thoughts about a ceiling treatment, but that hasn't come together yet for him. I'm not worried. He always comes up with terrific ideas. On the bedroom walls, I'm going to do a paint treatment from Behr called "Bellagio Faux" in a kind of deep-golden color combination that blends with the bathroom, but has its own particular style. The wall behind the bed presents a unique challenge. It had grasscloth when we moved in - real grasscloth, not the vinyl fake stuff. I painted it, and always thought it looked fine. But it's gonna have to go, and it won't come down without a stinkin' messy fight. We thought about just drywalling over it, but have instead decided to put up a faux stacked stone wall. Unusual? Perhaps. But, AGAIN. It works for us. And I think it'll look just doggone awesome.
We bought several neat prints and some vintage advertising posters in Greece and Italy, and I'll frame those for the walls. Can't get away from the ads. Nope. Can't do it. It's just who we are and what we like.
With a definitive date to be done, we've got a lot of work in front of us! We've got to find somebody to haul this bed away (anybody want a vintage 1980s SOLID oak waterbed frame? It would make good firewood.), and a lot of other stuff to move, sell, and/or donate. But the end result will be well-worth it, I think. And it oughta keep the kids and Paula satisfied for a while!
Santa may not make it back into this room when it's finished, but he'll find a home here somewhere. Count on it.
So, what the heck. We haven't had a really major home improvement project going for a while now. I painted that room when we moved in, 14 years ago, and we really haven't done anything in there since then. And the bed...let's just say that in 1983, when we bought it, it was a right stylin' waterbed. We replaced the water mattress with a real one when we moved into this house, but still.
We've decided on a style that can probably best be described as Frank Lloyd Wright Goes to Tuscany. We ordered furniture from Stacy Furniture in Allen (where the motto is "If you're not shoppin' with us...you're burnin' money!"). A whole, honest-to-goodness bedroom suite! We've never had bedroom furniture that matches! It will be delivered on February 5th, so we have a definite date to be finished with everything else.
Randy is taking all the popcorn off the ceiling in the bedroom and bathroom, and I'm cleaning up after him. He's got a couple of thoughts about a ceiling treatment, but that hasn't come together yet for him. I'm not worried. He always comes up with terrific ideas. On the bedroom walls, I'm going to do a paint treatment from Behr called "Bellagio Faux" in a kind of deep-golden color combination that blends with the bathroom, but has its own particular style. The wall behind the bed presents a unique challenge. It had grasscloth when we moved in - real grasscloth, not the vinyl fake stuff. I painted it, and always thought it looked fine. But it's gonna have to go, and it won't come down without a stinkin' messy fight. We thought about just drywalling over it, but have instead decided to put up a faux stacked stone wall. Unusual? Perhaps. But, AGAIN. It works for us. And I think it'll look just doggone awesome.
We bought several neat prints and some vintage advertising posters in Greece and Italy, and I'll frame those for the walls. Can't get away from the ads. Nope. Can't do it. It's just who we are and what we like.
With a definitive date to be done, we've got a lot of work in front of us! We've got to find somebody to haul this bed away (anybody want a vintage 1980s SOLID oak waterbed frame? It would make good firewood.), and a lot of other stuff to move, sell, and/or donate. But the end result will be well-worth it, I think. And it oughta keep the kids and Paula satisfied for a while!
Santa may not make it back into this room when it's finished, but he'll find a home here somewhere. Count on it.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
New Routines
Miss Sammie seems to be settling in nicely around here. She's been a very easy dog. She's obviously a creature of habit, and since I do like my routines, it works well for both of us!
The absolute funniest thing is this: she's learned that every morning, I do pretty much the same thing. I get up, get dressed, eat breakfast while I read the newspaper and watch/listen to Mike and Mike on ESPN2, and when I am finished with that, I take her for a walk.
So she just kind of hangs out, either in the kitchen or downstairs in the den, until I get up and either give the rest of the paper to Randy, if he's home, or put it in the recycle basket. Then Sammie goes into overdrive! She just knows that her walk is FINALLY about to happen, and she runs and jumps and looks about as happy as a dog can look. And when I get the leash off the hook, she jumps and jumps until she finally remembers that I won't put the leash on her until she's still, so she sits and lets me snap on the leash, and then we're off!!
It was too, too funny on Sunday - her internal clock must've been telling her that it was about time for me to be done, because she started getting kind of restless and pawing and nosing at me. I tried to explain that on Sunday, we get TWO papers, and they're both a good bit bigger than normal! I'm not sure she quite got my point, but we went for a little bit longer walk to make up for it.
We walk most of Morningside now, and I keep extending it a little further each week, until I hope for us to be able to walk up 42nd St. to Lamar, then back down at least to Brandyn and back up 38th St. to home. That ought to be a mile and a half or two miles.
This is great for me. I've been wanting to walk more, and since Sammie so obviously loves it, it's quite the motivation to get on out there and go! So far, we've walked in the rain (it didn't start to rain until we were more than halfway through, so there wasn't anything else to do but keep on going!) and in really cold and windy weather. I hate to disappoint her, but I'm telling you - my face was freezing this morning when we got back home! I'm not sure what I will do when the day comes that the weather is really too bad to go out. I don't believe Sammie will accept "Sorry, Pup, Mom just doesn't want to go out today!"
The absolute funniest thing is this: she's learned that every morning, I do pretty much the same thing. I get up, get dressed, eat breakfast while I read the newspaper and watch/listen to Mike and Mike on ESPN2, and when I am finished with that, I take her for a walk.
So she just kind of hangs out, either in the kitchen or downstairs in the den, until I get up and either give the rest of the paper to Randy, if he's home, or put it in the recycle basket. Then Sammie goes into overdrive! She just knows that her walk is FINALLY about to happen, and she runs and jumps and looks about as happy as a dog can look. And when I get the leash off the hook, she jumps and jumps until she finally remembers that I won't put the leash on her until she's still, so she sits and lets me snap on the leash, and then we're off!!
It was too, too funny on Sunday - her internal clock must've been telling her that it was about time for me to be done, because she started getting kind of restless and pawing and nosing at me. I tried to explain that on Sunday, we get TWO papers, and they're both a good bit bigger than normal! I'm not sure she quite got my point, but we went for a little bit longer walk to make up for it.
We walk most of Morningside now, and I keep extending it a little further each week, until I hope for us to be able to walk up 42nd St. to Lamar, then back down at least to Brandyn and back up 38th St. to home. That ought to be a mile and a half or two miles.
This is great for me. I've been wanting to walk more, and since Sammie so obviously loves it, it's quite the motivation to get on out there and go! So far, we've walked in the rain (it didn't start to rain until we were more than halfway through, so there wasn't anything else to do but keep on going!) and in really cold and windy weather. I hate to disappoint her, but I'm telling you - my face was freezing this morning when we got back home! I'm not sure what I will do when the day comes that the weather is really too bad to go out. I don't believe Sammie will accept "Sorry, Pup, Mom just doesn't want to go out today!"
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Wired!
The kids and I gave Randy an iPod Touch for Christmas. After a tutorial from James, along with helpful hints from Amanda and me...looks like he's settling in to the Wired World nicely!!
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Best Available
We went to the Independence Bowl on Sunday to see Bama play the Colorado Buffaloes. As people around us found their seats, one of our neighbors was most displeased with his seats: "I ordered these tickets online within 15 minutes of the time they went on sale, and the website said I'd get the best available!! THIS was the best available that soon after tickets went on sale?!?" Everyone around us laughed and agreed that we had all done the same thing - gotten the Best Available.
They weren't the greatest seats, to be sure, near the top of the stadium, and at the far end of the upper tier of seats. Randy teased that he'd start using that as his excuse... sorry these flowers are wilted, honey, but they were the best available! Heh-heh.
But you know what? The weather was good, the people around us were all friendly and enthusiastic Bama fans, and Bama won the game, so I think there wasn't anything any of us would have changed by the end of the evening. The Best Available really wasn't that bad at all.
So that got me thinking, here on the first day of this new year: How would our outlook on life change if we adopted Best Available as our philosophy of life?
Think about it: for most of our lives, we make choices without ever really knowing if we're making the correct ones. Choices both big and small. Paper or plastic? Democrat or Republican? Do I...pick this major, quit that job, marry this person, move to that city, eat this box of chocolates, take that trip? Sometimes we know right away if we made the right choice (I can't believe I ate the whole thing!), but oftentimes we don't know until months or even years later whether or not we've chosen wisely.
We can worry, second-guess ourselves, worry, fret, then worry some more - but frequently, the passage of time is the only judge.
How does Best Available fit into all this worrying? It doesn't, and that's the point.
When we make a choice, a decision, the Best Available philosophy tells us we need to examine the situation, weigh our options, then make the best decision we can, based on everything we know at that moment.
And then let it go, and see where it takes us. That's the hard part!
When we moved to Paris in 1990, it was with every intention of reopening the Wendy's in Paris. We examined, researched, weighed options, and made our choice. Our Best Available decision was to pack up the babies, the schnauzer, and everything we owned that would fit into a 25 foot Ryder rent truck, and hit the road back to Texas. When the Wendy's thing didn't work out quite like we planned, we swallowed hard, then looked around to see where our decision was taking us.
It took us to a really nice life. Certainly, there have been bumps and bruises, and even some pretty deep cuts, along the way, but ultimately, we can look back and see how well it all worked out.
Best Available doesn't mean settling. It doesn't mean just not making any decision and lollygagging around, waiting to see how it all works out.
It DOES mean doing your research. Your due-diligence. Asking for advice. Seeking a mentor. Praying.
Can a Best Available decision turn out badly? Surely it can. A bad job. A harmful relationship. The wrong...box of chocolates. But in just about every situation, even if the choice is a bad one, if we can LEARN from it, then nothing that happened was in vain.
So. Best Available. Do your homework, swallow hard, and make your decision.
Because even if your seats aren't all that good, you'll still be in the arena for a terrific show.
They weren't the greatest seats, to be sure, near the top of the stadium, and at the far end of the upper tier of seats. Randy teased that he'd start using that as his excuse... sorry these flowers are wilted, honey, but they were the best available! Heh-heh.
But you know what? The weather was good, the people around us were all friendly and enthusiastic Bama fans, and Bama won the game, so I think there wasn't anything any of us would have changed by the end of the evening. The Best Available really wasn't that bad at all.
So that got me thinking, here on the first day of this new year: How would our outlook on life change if we adopted Best Available as our philosophy of life?
Think about it: for most of our lives, we make choices without ever really knowing if we're making the correct ones. Choices both big and small. Paper or plastic? Democrat or Republican? Do I...pick this major, quit that job, marry this person, move to that city, eat this box of chocolates, take that trip? Sometimes we know right away if we made the right choice (I can't believe I ate the whole thing!), but oftentimes we don't know until months or even years later whether or not we've chosen wisely.
We can worry, second-guess ourselves, worry, fret, then worry some more - but frequently, the passage of time is the only judge.
How does Best Available fit into all this worrying? It doesn't, and that's the point.
When we make a choice, a decision, the Best Available philosophy tells us we need to examine the situation, weigh our options, then make the best decision we can, based on everything we know at that moment.
And then let it go, and see where it takes us. That's the hard part!
When we moved to Paris in 1990, it was with every intention of reopening the Wendy's in Paris. We examined, researched, weighed options, and made our choice. Our Best Available decision was to pack up the babies, the schnauzer, and everything we owned that would fit into a 25 foot Ryder rent truck, and hit the road back to Texas. When the Wendy's thing didn't work out quite like we planned, we swallowed hard, then looked around to see where our decision was taking us.
It took us to a really nice life. Certainly, there have been bumps and bruises, and even some pretty deep cuts, along the way, but ultimately, we can look back and see how well it all worked out.
Best Available doesn't mean settling. It doesn't mean just not making any decision and lollygagging around, waiting to see how it all works out.
It DOES mean doing your research. Your due-diligence. Asking for advice. Seeking a mentor. Praying.
Can a Best Available decision turn out badly? Surely it can. A bad job. A harmful relationship. The wrong...box of chocolates. But in just about every situation, even if the choice is a bad one, if we can LEARN from it, then nothing that happened was in vain.
So. Best Available. Do your homework, swallow hard, and make your decision.
Because even if your seats aren't all that good, you'll still be in the arena for a terrific show.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
"It was not the life I planned, but it is the life I have."
"My husband and children accept and understand that my political responsibilities to the people of Pakistan come first, as painful as that personally is to all of us. I would like to be planning my son's move to his first year at college later this month, but instead I am planning my return to Pakistan and my party's parliamentary election campaign.
I didn't choose this life. It chose me." Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) (Written on September 1, 2007, and published on The Huffington Post)
She was born the month before Randy.
Her son entered his freshman year in college at the same time James did.
Say what you will - and I don't pretend to understand all the underlying political implications - but she was one hell of a woman to make the choice to return to Pakistan, knowing that in all likelihood she would not survive.
I didn't choose this life. It chose me." Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) (Written on September 1, 2007, and published on The Huffington Post)
She was born the month before Randy.
Her son entered his freshman year in college at the same time James did.
Say what you will - and I don't pretend to understand all the underlying political implications - but she was one hell of a woman to make the choice to return to Pakistan, knowing that in all likelihood she would not survive.
Friday, December 21, 2007
And With Thy Heart As Offering
Seems to me that all too often we make things more complicated than they need to be. Maybe we could try to realize that even if someone sees things in a different way than we do...we're still looking at the same thing.
This is Tennessee Ernie Ford, singing "Some Children See Him." This was a live broadcast of The Ford Show, on December 25, 1958. The little boy in his lap is Jon Provost, who played Timmy in the old Lassie series. Look for Lassie herself sleeping among the other children. Click here if the video doesn't load.
How wonderful this is! Merry Christmas!!
This is Tennessee Ernie Ford, singing "Some Children See Him." This was a live broadcast of The Ford Show, on December 25, 1958. The little boy in his lap is Jon Provost, who played Timmy in the old Lassie series. Look for Lassie herself sleeping among the other children. Click here if the video doesn't load.
How wonderful this is! Merry Christmas!!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Samantha...New!
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Meet the newest addition to the Reed family! She is Samantha Gorgeous Reed, and we found her at the Animal Shelter yesterday. Her Samantha name came from Will Smith's dog in "I Am Legend," which James saw on Saturday, and Gorgeous is what Amanda has called her from the beginning. We call her Sam, or Sammie. She was an owner surrender, meaning that she was brought in by her previous owners, who told the shelter that the husband has heart trouble, and they couldn't take care of her any longer.
She's about two years old, and has obviously been cared for. She is housebroken (although I'm still a little jumpy about that), and she understands "NO". This is SUCH a good thing.
She apparently is accustomed to sleeping on the bed. When Randy and I went to bed last night, after making a nice little pallet for her on the floor - where she immediately laid down, causing us to prematurely think we were home free - we turned out the light, she waited about a two-count, then hopped right up on to the bed, laid down...and stayed there until about 6:30 this morning.
She is just so mellow. Seems really happy to be here, becomes very concerned when someone leaves the room, already is attached to Randy, but is quite fond of the rest of us, too. Hangs out with James in his room, watching movies. Tries to climb up on Amanda to get closer to her face for kisses. She has slept quite a bit, and while I attribute some of that to being exhausted from her whole adoption ordeal, it appears that she'd just as soon hang out in the house with us as sniff around the back yard.
She is not Cinnamon, and while we really didn't want her to be, it looks like she's a really good fit for us. It was just one of those meant to be kind of things - the kids are home, Randy will be here for a couple of weeks, and we were all really missing having a dog around. She arrived at the shelter on Friday, and we found her on Monday.
Sammie will be a really great dog for all of us. She has landed in a really good place, and we are just happy as clams to have her here!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Neither bare, nor naked, nor even ladies
Okay, so it's a bootlegged video of a live performance, and not a particularly good one at that...but a really FABULOUS rendition of a couple of my favorite Christmas songs. It's Barenaked Ladies featuring Sarah MacLachlan.
A MUCH better studio version is available on iTunes (without the video) from the album "Barenaked for the Holidays."
UPDATE: If the video doesn't work, try copying and pasting this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unLYrtx8aKA
A MUCH better studio version is available on iTunes (without the video) from the album "Barenaked for the Holidays."
UPDATE: If the video doesn't work, try copying and pasting this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unLYrtx8aKA
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Cause and Effect
Our tenants have moved out of Brandyn, and the guy tells Randy "you probably want to have the air conditioner checked. It runs all the time, and our power bills have been real high." We thought that to be odd, as we had replaced the whole unit, inside and out, about 9 months ago.
So in our normal cleaning up process, we changed the filters. Here's a picture of the ones we took out. Hm-m-m...
So in our normal cleaning up process, we changed the filters. Here's a picture of the ones we took out. Hm-m-m...
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Acronym of the Day
WOMBAT:
Waste of money, brains, and time. As in: The trip to Denver was not a total WOMBAT, because the new commercials are pretty cool, but Erik Weihenmayer and Buzzword Bingo were really the only other highlights to be found."
Waste of money, brains, and time. As in: The trip to Denver was not a total WOMBAT, because the new commercials are pretty cool, but Erik Weihenmayer and Buzzword Bingo were really the only other highlights to be found."
Friday, November 30, 2007
Two Things
I will miss this Christmas:
Hiding a squeaky toy in the top branches of the Christmas tree.
Uncle Bill's Godiva Chocolates.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Delicious Irony
Reckon there's a recipe for Forbidden Fruit Jam in the cookbook?!?
We saw this in Dumas, Texas, this week.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Delilah, here's to you...
This summer, one of the songs the kids listened to frequently was "Hey There Delilah," by a group called Plain White T's. It's just a lovely little acoustic love song that to me is one of those timeless kind of songs - if you didn't already know, you might think it was from the sixties or seventies, and I came to love it as much as the kids did.
When Randy and I were in Rome, we left our tour and walked to the Hard Rock Cafe on the Via Veneto in search of Amanda's souvenir bear. If you've ever been to a Hard Rock, you know that what you usually hear on the sound system is mostly LOUD classic rock, and after a while it just becomes the same-old, same-old noise that just kind of fades into the background. So I found the bear and picked out some t-shirts, and while I was standing in line to pay, the noise went silent...and then, the opening guitar line, and Tom Higginson's quiet voice: Hey there, Delilah, what's it like in New York City? and I nearly lost it.
We were on the next to the last day of a long, incredibly wonderful trip, and I was rather tired and mildly homesick, but when I heard the song that the kids and I had enjoyed together all summer, I thought: "This is such a perfect moment. Here I am, and way over there they are, and even here there is something that connects us."
I told them about it when we got home, and they thought that was sort of cool also, in a gee, isn't our Mom odd? kind of way.
Tonight, they went on a road trip. They've been looking forward to this for months now. Fall Out Boy is in concert at the Wharf in Orange Beach, and being the FOB fans that they are, they bought tickets and went. They're staying at Grand Beach for the weekend. They had said that Plain White T's were going to open for FOB, and they promised they'd take a picture for me.
But then something even better happened: Amanda called about 8:15, and when I answered, what did I hear? Tom Higginson again: Hey there Delilah...what's it like in New York City? She kept the phone on for the whole song, and cool thing at the end - instead of "Hey there Delilah, here's to you," he sang, "Hey Alabama, here's to you," and I could hear the crowd just go nuts.
At the end of the song, she hung up, and then seconds later came a text message: LYB! which is our shorthand for love you bunches
And my tears just flowed. It was one of those sweet reminders that even when I am here and they are way over there, these two kids - no, these young adults, whom I so adore - and I still have things that connect us.
A thousand miles seems pretty far,
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way.
When Randy and I were in Rome, we left our tour and walked to the Hard Rock Cafe on the Via Veneto in search of Amanda's souvenir bear. If you've ever been to a Hard Rock, you know that what you usually hear on the sound system is mostly LOUD classic rock, and after a while it just becomes the same-old, same-old noise that just kind of fades into the background. So I found the bear and picked out some t-shirts, and while I was standing in line to pay, the noise went silent...and then, the opening guitar line, and Tom Higginson's quiet voice: Hey there, Delilah, what's it like in New York City? and I nearly lost it.
We were on the next to the last day of a long, incredibly wonderful trip, and I was rather tired and mildly homesick, but when I heard the song that the kids and I had enjoyed together all summer, I thought: "This is such a perfect moment. Here I am, and way over there they are, and even here there is something that connects us."
I told them about it when we got home, and they thought that was sort of cool also, in a gee, isn't our Mom odd? kind of way.
Tonight, they went on a road trip. They've been looking forward to this for months now. Fall Out Boy is in concert at the Wharf in Orange Beach, and being the FOB fans that they are, they bought tickets and went. They're staying at Grand Beach for the weekend. They had said that Plain White T's were going to open for FOB, and they promised they'd take a picture for me.
But then something even better happened: Amanda called about 8:15, and when I answered, what did I hear? Tom Higginson again: Hey there Delilah...what's it like in New York City? She kept the phone on for the whole song, and cool thing at the end - instead of "Hey there Delilah, here's to you," he sang, "Hey Alabama, here's to you," and I could hear the crowd just go nuts.
At the end of the song, she hung up, and then seconds later came a text message: LYB! which is our shorthand for love you bunches
And my tears just flowed. It was one of those sweet reminders that even when I am here and they are way over there, these two kids - no, these young adults, whom I so adore - and I still have things that connect us.
A thousand miles seems pretty far,
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
More Baby Steps, With Help
Very often, something nice happens when you start making an effort to change. People you know start trying to help you out!
After my last post, Denise commented that they take newspapers from the high school to Christians in Action for recycling, so I called them to get more details. Turns out, they take more than just newsprint - also cardboard, plastics, and aluminum! So recycling CAN be done locally - what a great thing this is! Already got a basket for newspapers in the den, and I'll figure out a way to keep the other stuff corralled for what I hope will be weekly trips to CIA.
Then, last week I was in my favorite coffee place...★$$... and I was telling Roger, their crackerjack manager, that I've started working on not throwing away so much stuff, and he said "wait here for just a second!" He went into the back and came out with this neat, washable container that holds my Iced Venti Latte just perfectly. So now I pull up, place my order and say "I've got my cup!" and they wait till I get to the window, then make my drink right in the cup for me. Extremely awesome.
Who knew being "conservative" could be so much fun!
After my last post, Denise commented that they take newspapers from the high school to Christians in Action for recycling, so I called them to get more details. Turns out, they take more than just newsprint - also cardboard, plastics, and aluminum! So recycling CAN be done locally - what a great thing this is! Already got a basket for newspapers in the den, and I'll figure out a way to keep the other stuff corralled for what I hope will be weekly trips to CIA.
Then, last week I was in my favorite coffee place...★$$... and I was telling Roger, their crackerjack manager, that I've started working on not throwing away so much stuff, and he said "wait here for just a second!" He went into the back and came out with this neat, washable container that holds my Iced Venti Latte just perfectly. So now I pull up, place my order and say "I've got my cup!" and they wait till I get to the window, then make my drink right in the cup for me. Extremely awesome.
Who knew being "conservative" could be so much fun!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Baby Steps
When I was a kid, and when my kids were kids, we used to sing this song in Vacation Bible School:
This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
he shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me everywhere.
Lately, I've been thinking about the words of this song in terms of what our responsibilities are to the earth we live on. It seems to me that environmentalism has become, to many on the religious and/or political right, something that's considered silly or trivial or even somehow evil, but at most, unnecessary. As if we oughtn't concern ourselves with caring for the environment because, you know, what's going to happen is going to happen.
I dunno.
Because, if we take the lyrics of the hymn to heart? This IS our Father's world. If we accept that, then aren't we compelled to act? To be good stewards of the "rocks and trees...skies and seas" that were wrought by His hand? Isn't that the Christian thing to do?
I am as guilty as anyone of being wasteful. Of throwing something away when I could do something else with it instead of consigning it to the dump. Of turning down the air conditioner instead of turning up the ceiling fan. Of driving to places I could walk to. Of tossing ink cartridges in the trash instead of taking them to Office Max to be recycled.
So I'm taking baby steps. Gotta start somewhere.
Paris doesn't offer any kind of a recycling program that I know of, so we're sending a LOT of paper, glass and plastic to the landfill that I wish we weren't. Maybe that will come. We live about a quarter mile (as the crow flies) from Walmart. It's a good bit longer walking, I'll grant you that...but I'll bet if I walked there instead of driving, I'd make a list, and then shorten it, if I knew I had to walk home carrying what I bought! I have purchased some reusable string bags to help eliminate the Walmart bags that have threatened at times to take over the kitchen. I'm trying to use more Tupperware and less plastic wrap and ziploc bags. Fewer paper towels and more cloth towels. We've replaced almost all of our incandescent bulbs with CFLs. I'm trying to think ahead before I get in the car, so that I combine errands instead of going one place on one trip. I'm trying to talk Randy into buying one of the little Smartfortwo cars and giving up a larger car, but I'm not having luck on that front. So far. We've almost (but not totally) eliminated the need for electric heat with our propane logs and some really wonderful down comforters! I'm reading Hints from Heloise - go ahead and laugh, but she was a woman ahead of her time, and so is her daughter - for tips on using regular, more earth-friendly household items like vinegar and baking soda to do things we've been buying too many cleaning chemicals to do.
Baby steps.
Right after we got back from Europe, Randy and I read an article in The Dallas Morning News that really resonated with us. One of the points the author made was that "conservative" means something different to most Europeans than to most Americans. He speaks of a conversation with his German father-in-law like this: "In a revealing moment, my father-in-law pointed to the solar panels and the wood piles and the gardens and the compost heaps and told me that they were conservative – meaning that they represented the effort to conserve the goods of life, to preserve a community that can sustain itself and to pass on a cultural inheritance that has been bestowed upon them."
I freely admit that I am a child of technology. I love what technology has brought to our lives. We have so many things we don't NEED, but which make our lives so much more pleasant. I adore our DVR. Do I need it? Um-m-m...no. Do I need a dishwasher? A clothes dryer? Well, not in the strictest sense, but PLEASE let's don't get ridiculous here.
What I want to do - and what I am coming to believe is my responsibility as a citizen, as a Mom, and as a follower of Christ - is to recognize what I can do to be a conservator of my Father's world. I'd like for Jackson and Ethan, for my great-nieces and great-nephews, and for my grandkids...my FAR IN THE FUTURE grandkids...to be able to sing "This is My Father's World" and for them to be able to see for themselves what wonders His Hand has wrought.
This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
he shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me everywhere.
Lately, I've been thinking about the words of this song in terms of what our responsibilities are to the earth we live on. It seems to me that environmentalism has become, to many on the religious and/or political right, something that's considered silly or trivial or even somehow evil, but at most, unnecessary. As if we oughtn't concern ourselves with caring for the environment because, you know, what's going to happen is going to happen.
I dunno.
Because, if we take the lyrics of the hymn to heart? This IS our Father's world. If we accept that, then aren't we compelled to act? To be good stewards of the "rocks and trees...skies and seas" that were wrought by His hand? Isn't that the Christian thing to do?
I am as guilty as anyone of being wasteful. Of throwing something away when I could do something else with it instead of consigning it to the dump. Of turning down the air conditioner instead of turning up the ceiling fan. Of driving to places I could walk to. Of tossing ink cartridges in the trash instead of taking them to Office Max to be recycled.
So I'm taking baby steps. Gotta start somewhere.
Paris doesn't offer any kind of a recycling program that I know of, so we're sending a LOT of paper, glass and plastic to the landfill that I wish we weren't. Maybe that will come. We live about a quarter mile (as the crow flies) from Walmart. It's a good bit longer walking, I'll grant you that...but I'll bet if I walked there instead of driving, I'd make a list, and then shorten it, if I knew I had to walk home carrying what I bought! I have purchased some reusable string bags to help eliminate the Walmart bags that have threatened at times to take over the kitchen. I'm trying to use more Tupperware and less plastic wrap and ziploc bags. Fewer paper towels and more cloth towels. We've replaced almost all of our incandescent bulbs with CFLs. I'm trying to think ahead before I get in the car, so that I combine errands instead of going one place on one trip. I'm trying to talk Randy into buying one of the little Smartfortwo cars and giving up a larger car, but I'm not having luck on that front. So far. We've almost (but not totally) eliminated the need for electric heat with our propane logs and some really wonderful down comforters! I'm reading Hints from Heloise - go ahead and laugh, but she was a woman ahead of her time, and so is her daughter - for tips on using regular, more earth-friendly household items like vinegar and baking soda to do things we've been buying too many cleaning chemicals to do.
Baby steps.
Right after we got back from Europe, Randy and I read an article in The Dallas Morning News that really resonated with us. One of the points the author made was that "conservative" means something different to most Europeans than to most Americans. He speaks of a conversation with his German father-in-law like this: "In a revealing moment, my father-in-law pointed to the solar panels and the wood piles and the gardens and the compost heaps and told me that they were conservative – meaning that they represented the effort to conserve the goods of life, to preserve a community that can sustain itself and to pass on a cultural inheritance that has been bestowed upon them."
I freely admit that I am a child of technology. I love what technology has brought to our lives. We have so many things we don't NEED, but which make our lives so much more pleasant. I adore our DVR. Do I need it? Um-m-m...no. Do I need a dishwasher? A clothes dryer? Well, not in the strictest sense, but PLEASE let's don't get ridiculous here.
What I want to do - and what I am coming to believe is my responsibility as a citizen, as a Mom, and as a follower of Christ - is to recognize what I can do to be a conservator of my Father's world. I'd like for Jackson and Ethan, for my great-nieces and great-nephews, and for my grandkids...my FAR IN THE FUTURE grandkids...to be able to sing "This is My Father's World" and for them to be able to see for themselves what wonders His Hand has wrought.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Scenes from a Happy Life
October 1994:
Mom: "We'd like a girl puppy. A sweet one that will love the kids."
Nice Lady in Lake Creek who raised Golden Retrievers: "I only have two girls right now. This one is big and feisty and will be a fun dog for the kids. That one over there is the runt of the litter. She's so small, I almost hate to let her go. I don't think she'll make it."
Mom: "We'll take THAT one. She needs us. We need her. She's
perfect."
Ten Minutes Later:
Nice Lady: "This dog is a retriever. So when your Daddy shoots a duck, this dog will be able to swim out into the pond and fetch it and bring it back."
Kindergarten James (in a horrified tone): "My Daddy would NEVER shoot a duck!"
Summer, 1998:
6th grade Amanda: "Mom!! Cinnamon got out of the yard!! The boys are chasing her down the street!"
Mom (on seeing James, Philip, Zac, Reece, Elizabeth, Sarah and Jeffrey running after a delighted dog): "Guys! Don't run after her! She thinks you're racing! Turn around and run this way!"
She still beat them all home.
Christmas, 2001:
Gulf Shores State Park Ranger: "Ma'am, you may not know this, but there's a state law outlawing dogs on the beach. It's a $500 fine."
Mom: "Oh, I apologize, sir. We didn't know. We'll drag her out of the water and take her on home."
7th grade James: "That's a stupid law."
Thanksgiving, 2002:
Dad: "Let's take Cinnamon out to the beach."
10th grade Amanda: "Dad! Remember the $500 fine!!"
Dad: "I'll pay the damn fine if I have to. She loves walking on the beach."
8th grade James: "It's a stupid law anyway."
September, 2005:
Amanda has just left for college. Cinnamon walks into her room, walks around, sniffs, comes into the office and glares at Mom as if to say: "Hello-o-o? Am I the only one who realizes that someone is missing??"
July, 2007:
College Freshman James: "I wish I could freeze some of Cinnamon's blood, so that when I have kids, I could clone her so they could have a dog like mine."
August 25, 2007:
Randy (in an email to our friends): "As a friend of the family, I wanted to let you know that Cinnamon Sugar Reed passed away this morning just six days shy of her 13th birthday. Cinnamon stayed with us long enough to get both of her kids out of the house, and safely to college. I believe that Cinnamon lived a life that many dogs would have loved, and yet still gave much more than she got."
Flashback to 1994:
Nice Lady: "Now, if this puppy doesn't make it, you be sure and come back out here and I'll let you pick out another pup. I want you folks to get your money's worth."
Oh, my. Did we ever.
Mom: "We'd like a girl puppy. A sweet one that will love the kids."
Nice Lady in Lake Creek who raised Golden Retrievers: "I only have two girls right now. This one is big and feisty and will be a fun dog for the kids. That one over there is the runt of the litter. She's so small, I almost hate to let her go. I don't think she'll make it."
Mom: "We'll take THAT one. She needs us. We need her. She's
perfect."
Ten Minutes Later:
Nice Lady: "This dog is a retriever. So when your Daddy shoots a duck, this dog will be able to swim out into the pond and fetch it and bring it back."
Kindergarten James (in a horrified tone): "My Daddy would NEVER shoot a duck!"
Summer, 1998:
6th grade Amanda: "Mom!! Cinnamon got out of the yard!! The boys are chasing her down the street!"
Mom (on seeing James, Philip, Zac, Reece, Elizabeth, Sarah and Jeffrey running after a delighted dog): "Guys! Don't run after her! She thinks you're racing! Turn around and run this way!"
She still beat them all home.
Christmas, 2001:
Gulf Shores State Park Ranger: "Ma'am, you may not know this, but there's a state law outlawing dogs on the beach. It's a $500 fine."
Mom: "Oh, I apologize, sir. We didn't know. We'll drag her out of the water and take her on home."
7th grade James: "That's a stupid law."
Thanksgiving, 2002:
Dad: "Let's take Cinnamon out to the beach."
10th grade Amanda: "Dad! Remember the $500 fine!!"
Dad: "I'll pay the damn fine if I have to. She loves walking on the beach."
8th grade James: "It's a stupid law anyway."
September, 2005:
Amanda has just left for college. Cinnamon walks into her room, walks around, sniffs, comes into the office and glares at Mom as if to say: "Hello-o-o? Am I the only one who realizes that someone is missing??"
July, 2007:
College Freshman James: "I wish I could freeze some of Cinnamon's blood, so that when I have kids, I could clone her so they could have a dog like mine."
August 25, 2007:
Randy (in an email to our friends): "As a friend of the family, I wanted to let you know that Cinnamon Sugar Reed passed away this morning just six days shy of her 13th birthday. Cinnamon stayed with us long enough to get both of her kids out of the house, and safely to college. I believe that Cinnamon lived a life that many dogs would have loved, and yet still gave much more than she got."
Flashback to 1994:
Nice Lady: "Now, if this puppy doesn't make it, you be sure and come back out here and I'll let you pick out another pup. I want you folks to get your money's worth."
Oh, my. Did we ever.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Come with me to the Emerald City
Amanda and I just got back from our whirlwind tour of the Windy City! WE SAW WICKED!!!! It was stunning. Just absolutely stunning.
I'll finish this later. Just wanted to get the picture up before we leave - TOMORROW - for Tuscaloosa.
Mercy me.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Harry Potter and the Lousy, Stinking Spoilers
When James was, I think, eight years old, we were browsing the book aisle at Sam's one day, and he said "Hey! This is the book that Connor is reading. Can I get it?" Seeing as how James was never hugely into reading the way Amanda was, I bought the book since he was so excited about it, without a clue as to the path we were all going to be heading down.
The book was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and it changed our lives.
Perhaps that's a tad melodramatic.
But the Harry Potter series HAS been a source of great pleasure to us all, even Randy, who dutifully goes to the movies with us, and has listened to the audio books on some of his long drives. The kids and I have enjoyed midnights together at Walmart, waiting for them to move the pallet of books to the front and open it to the delight of the waiting crowds. We always buy three books. We each read one, the kids keep theirs, and I send mine on to the Aikin library. We have laughed and cried together, we've shared theories and hopes about upcoming plot points. We have emailed each other articles about J.K. Rowling and the books and the movies.
James always gets both the US version and the UK version, thanks to amazon.uk. This has really been his deal, although Amanda and I really enjoy Harry too. James was about the age of Harry when he started reading the books, and he's sort of grown along with the characters. And now, he's graduating and going off at the same time Harry is growing up and going out on his own. It's pretty much a perfect circle for kids - boys, especially, of James' age.
We have been in a state of great anticipation since the announcement of the release date for the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and we've made plans for our last trip to Walmart together tonight, then home, where James plans to read all night. Amanda wants to stay up, but poor thing has to work tomorrow, so won't be able to finish it until tomorrow night. I'll stay up as long as I can, but Randy and I need to go to Hot Springs tomorrow for a meeting. I've told Randy he will have to drive, and I will fight my tendency to carsickness the whole way, so that I can read as well. He understands, and even promises to bring dinner in to the condo so that I don't have to stop reading. He's very good about that.
I've been so disappointed in the last few days to see all the spoilers popping up everywhere on the internet, and in the press. What's the point?!? Why can't people leave well-enough alone? Harry Potter is not the Pentagon Papers, nor the Starr Report nor even Dick Cheney's written confession that W. is a robot he's been operating for years. For crying out loud - it's a popular book, and the author and the publishers have asked that shippers and booksellers and reviewers wait until everyone can have access at the same time. I've been afraid to click on anything on the internet, for fear that I'd hit a spoiler...and I want to read the book first!!!! It's just sad when people think that just because they can, also means they should.
Let us have our fun.
Let us celebrate the end of a series that has changed the way young people read.
Let my kids and me have our one last night at Walmart, waiting to read and share with each other the end of the spectacular tale of the Boy Who Lived.
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