Picture
from the afternoon. One of the boys twisted his ankle, so we took the
couch outside so he could rest in comfort and still watch Capture the Flag and Ultimate Frisbee. I blurred some non-Xanga faces. They really are better
looking than their melting countenances would suggest. We missed our
GhostFroggy, though.
And Now, a Blogring?
Wow, she does have her own blogring. JuliePersons, I mean. I have one on Facebook. Does that count? Hee hee. (I noticed the date for her ring. It has nothing to do with this voting since it was started in January.)
Oh, it has been such fun, this competition. I fully expect that when we all head off to church on Sunday morning, the vote will not be so close and we will spend the evening drinking warm soda and reciting long portions of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Do I dare/Disturb the universe?/In a minute there is time/For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. Or, perhaps not. No defeatist attitudes allowed here!
Remember when I asked a week or two ago for diet tips? I decided to try words_are_things‘s mom’s plan. It was simple, so I figured I could handle it. Don’t eat anything but raw fruit/fresh fruit juice/water before noon. Not so hard, eh? I’ve been at it since then, and even though I can’t say that I’m now fewer in pounds, I’m certainly getting in my servings of fruits! I’ve never used my cutting board so consistently. My girls love it. Fresh fruit salad again! Yum! I concur. Perhaps the benefits would be greater if I didn’t end the day with a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream…
This afternoon, a whole herd of teens will descend upon my house for whatever it is they feel like doing. I predict football, Ultimate Frisbee, and board games. We’re planning to have a hot dog roast in the fire pit, too. Sounds like fun! Tomorrow, Gockel (which is my new name for Michael the 10 year old), will be playing special music in church for the first time. He’s worked up an arrangement of What a Friend We Have in Jesus. It sounds really good. He plays much better than I ever did (which really isn’t much of a compliment).
Did you ever do special music in church or perform somewhere? Do tell!
Free Cheese?
JuliePersons is offering free cheese to her voters. I have no such incentive. Plus, she has 64 comments on her latest post (more now, I’m sure). Sigh. And, she’s beating me again. I feel like Gideon against the Amalekites. “A sword for Xanga and for Teacherperson!” Okay, WAAAAY to melodramatic. (Does anyone have a trumpet or a pitcher they’d like to break on my behalf?) Actually, she has a great site and appears to be quite entertaining. But, if you want to keep voting for yours truly, HERE is the link again. Just go to the left-hand side. While there, The Theologian has some interesting things to think about.
On Tuesday, TGD and I had a wonderful time going out to dinner and to see the Nittany Valley Symphony. (Go, bkroeker! He should be called OboeDad!) While there, as the music, a tribute to Shakespeare, washed over me, I thought about puns and how to explain them to my children, a la Grammar of Poetry. “Take a word with two meanings and use it both ways” was the best explanation I could think of at the time. I thought of the pun my friend Rachel made in high school about our band director: Did you hear Mr. B. was struck by lightning? He was such a good conductor.
Now, here’s the lame one I thought up Tuesday night. Why can’t you play a baby grand loudly? Because it is piano! (That is only funny if you know that “piano” is the musical term for soft, and even then, it’s not so funny, although I hope Jimmy and his lil sis will find it at least a bit amusing.)
Hit me with your best pun! (Lame puns especially welcome!)
Happy Birthday to GhostFroggy!
This is all so exciting! First of all, you are all the bee’s knees (and other various attractive parts of the bee) for voting so that as of this second, I’m in first place for Most Engaging Xanga! It’s causing quite a stir at my house. The first thing one of my sons said to me this morning was not, “Mom, why are you beating on my door howling, ‘Bring out your dead!’” (which I was doing), but, “How are you in the polls?” Fun! If you want to vote again (which you can do each day through Sunday), go HERE and scroll down to the left-hand side and click on my name, TeacherPerson.
Yesterday, a funny thing happened. In November, we bought a $300 exercise bike. About a month after we got it, the display and control panel started to fade and fade until they finally died a few days ago. I kept replacing the batteries and occasionally thumping it, but to no avail. Once it died, I called Sears to get warranty work.
“I’m sorry. You’ve had it four months. Your warranty was only 90 days.”
GRRR!
“If you want a service call, it will be $96 plus parts and labor.”
GRRR! Do you have the number for the bike manufacturer?
(Dial, dial, ring, ring)
“I’m sorry. Sears handles all our warranties.”
Well, how much to replace the entire control panel?
“Give us your model number located on the underside of the front of the bike.”
(Much grunting and effort since the bike is shoved in a corner. Accidentally hang up while trying to lift bike with phone held by shoulder and ear. Call back the company with bike perched on the edge of the couch with me crouched under it, looking at model number.)
“That control panel would cost $196 plus shipping.”
(Notices something never seen before since viewing the bike from a different angle. There are TWO places where batteries are needed, not one!)
(very sheepishly) “Oh, okay! Thanks very much!”
(Hangs up, gets two more batteries. Bike works perfectly.)
Today promises to be delightful. It’s Thursday (always my favorite day), it’s sunny, it’s GhostFroggy_123‘s birthday, and it’s play practice! We are all eating out at Long John Silver’s with GF and her family. I don’t have enough grease and cole slaw in my life.
Do you like cole slaw? Also, when I’m at LJS, I always use about 20 napkins to squeeze as much grease as possible out of my fish. Does anyone else degrease with napkins? My family just shakes their heads at me.
What an Honor!
Today, I had a Xanga message from TheTheologiansCafe. Now, this fellow gets about 300 comments a day, and he was messaging me? But, guess why! Here’s what the message said:
“I just wanted to let you know that you have been nominated for “Most
Engaging Site.” The voting is taking place on the left side of my site.
Your friends can vote once a day. Good luck. It will go until Sunday
Night.”
Did one of you nominate me? I’m so honored! If you are so inclined to make a few clicks, go HERE every day until Sunday and tell the world how engaging this site is! Tell your friends! I don’t believe you even have to have a Xanga, which is good for those loyal readers who are non-Xanga. It’s a computer thing with IP address, not Xanga name, so each machine is a vote, not each Xanga person. Bummer for us, as we have five Xangans in the house.
What will this mean in general? Nothing, I’m sure. But, I’m still tickled! Ah–I went there, and it turns out the voting is titled, “Xanga Talent Writing Search.” It’s like Xanga American Idol, perhaps, except you are all spared my singing. Maybe I’ll get to write for TobyMac.
In other news, yesterday I did something for the first time ever. I bought a real, whole pineapple and sliced it up. Yes, it’s only taken me 37 years to accomplish the mundane. The strange thing is, I do love fresh pineapple, as do my girls.
PS–I’m totally losing to JuliePersons. At least we’re both persons.
What’s the Story, Facebook?
So, now I have a Facebook, Mary Sellers.
So far, it is sort of confusing to me. Perhaps it is because I expect there to be more there than there is. One thing which is cool is the number of nifty groups to which you can belong. Someone has been clever with naming. I joined “I judge you when you use poor grammar” (which is just baiting me to use poor grammar in this post!) and “No, I haven’t read that great literary classic–But I’ve seen the Wishbone!”
Speaking of Wishbone, wasn’t it just the best? I must confess that most of my Odysseus knowledge comes from Wishbone. (Sorry, Arohk!) I wish they’d bring it back and have all new episodes, although David, Sam, and Joe must be in college now. Geesh, I checked, and that show aired from 1995 to 1998. They could be married with kids!
Do you remember Wishbone? Do you have a show you wish they’d bring back? I also fondly remember QED and Pretender.
I’m Back
The youth retreat is over, and I had a nap today, so I’m feeling fairly normal. It was a fun time at the YR, although I still didn’t feel wildly happy about our talks. God can take whatever we said and use it for His glory despite what I might feel! Several teens said how much they enjoyed and were challenged by what we had to say. They are such a gracious bunch!
Seriously, though, the youth at our church, all thirty or so of them, 7th to 12th grade, are amazing. I hear horror stories of youth groups which are worldly and bad examples to the kids. Not ours! I feel so blessed to be in a church where there are so many godly families who have raised such outstanding kids. (And that means you, too, KK, GF, CGatH, BSgirl, Wit, and Hunter!)
One nifty thing about the retreat was that I got to talk to the friend of one of our youth who came. She is a Quaker. I always thought that Quakers were basically fundamental Christians who were pacifists and had no preachers. I was wrong. They are much different, with the ideas of “universal light” and each person finding his own path to God based on experience and examples as key components. I gave her a copy of Mere Christianity and my email, so I hope we can chat further!
It was nice and mild here today, so we did a bit of raking up dead plants and burning. I also took a nice walk and bought some lemonade from a group of young entrepreneurs. Aren’t neighborhoods wonderful?
So, how is your week shaping up? Do you have any nifty things going on? To what are you looking forward?
Hee-Haw
How many of you remember Hee-Haw? I recall many a Saturday night in my jammies watching Hee-Haw with my brother. “Gloom, despair, and agony on me. Deep, dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all (oooh-oooh!). Gloom, despair, and agony on me-eee!” “You’ll never hear one of us repeating gossip. So you’d better be sure and listen close the first time!” Minnie Pearl and her price tag hat–so fun!
I have a feeling if I watched it now, I might not find it so wonderful.
In one month from today, The King of Peach Fuzz will be over. Eek! We don’t have a single set painted, Hunter’s and Wit’s costumes aren’t finished, and we haven’t even blocked some of the songs yet! In other words, things are right on schedule.
If you ever wondered about life at my house, you can see something which my boys long to pass off as school hours HERE.
I liked Flyboys. It was clean (no sex, very little language), with some violence. (It’s a war, remember!) When we get to WW I in history, I’ll have all the kids watch it, although Little Miss will not care and will wander off. It was amazing to see how they flew: open cockpits, machine guns stuck in front of them, filthy-faced. Wow.
Book Survey LaDamedeShallot tagged me, and even though I tried to ignore her, guilt prevailed. (Hee hee!) So, here is my book survey. If you are so inclined to take it yourself, by all means, do! Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? Ooh, tough. The one which feels best in my hand and has the nicest font? Amazon or brick and mortar? Amazon, since Schlow Memorial Library was not a choice Bookmark or dogear? Keep, throw away, or sell? Was this quiz written by a sadist? Throw away books? I tend to keep and loan out. Keep dust jacket or toss it? I tend to lose dust jackets, but I do mean to keep them. Read with dust jacket or remove it? Without. Otherwise, it might fall into the tub. Short story or novel? Novel, but, I’m eclectic. I like short stories, too. Neighbor Rosicky is still a favorite. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Read all the Potters. Gave up on Snicket, although he has wit. “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Once Buy or Borrow? Borrow. I buy school reading, P&P sequels, things I’d like to loan out to others, missionary bios, and books my library doesn’t have IF I think they are worth it. New or used? Whichever is cheaper and in nicer condition. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? All of the above? Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Uh, I’m getting bored with this survey. Are you? Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Evening. I feel guilty reading for pleasure before 9:00 p.m. Favorite series? Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton, Little House on the Prairie, uh…Stephenie Myers? Favorite children’s book? The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Thursday’s Child, The Nickel-Plated Beauty, Ella Enchanted Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? The Family Nobody Wanted. It’s the story of a pastor and his wife who adopt 12 children.
Dogear, as in deliberately fold the page? AAAAH! I have a lovely selection of bookmarks.
Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? I don’t alphabetize. I organize by category. All the Civil War books on this shelf, all the Pride and Prejudice sequels on this one.
upon a time, hands down. I love fairy tales, and I’m not too keen on murder mystery, although I just finished a Dean Koontz.
Favorite books read last year? Oh, I don't know. Let me go get my book log.
(Pause while I walk upstairs and return) Okay, here's what got stars.
What Jane Austen Ate and What Charles Dickens Knew
Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
The Historian
The Penderwicks
The Hidden Hand
Twilight
An Elegant Madness
Sheridan: The Track of a Comet
Ishmael by EDEN Southworth
Self-Raised
Ark Angel
The whole Princess Diaries series
Jane Eyre
The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands
Honey for a Woman's Heart
Lost Horizon
Beach Road
All Louise Rennison's books
Evidence Not Seen
Ender's Game
Teacher Man
My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student
The Eyre Affair
The Chosen
Captain Cook by Allistair MacLean
My Love Affair with England
The Great Divorce
The Tipping Point
Notes from a Small Island
That’s a substantial list. Sorry. I don’t give every book a star. I promise! Only about 25% or so at most.
Favorite books of all time? See the favorite children’s books section for most of my favorites. Add Cold Mountain, P&P, Northanger Abbey, and others I forget. Least favorite book you finished last year? Someday My Prince by Christina Dodd ranks up there. It contains the immortal line, “They had known each other for three days only; they knew each other better than any two people in the world. They had discovered everything about each other that mattered; they had everything to discover about each other.” So, for that abberation alone, it can’t be a least favorite, can it? Oh, I almost forgot. The It Girl takes the prize! What are you reading right now? There. Now you know. Off to watch a video with TGD. Life is good!
Mere Christianity
Imagined London
What are you reading next? I might start Jan Karon’s Mitford series. Never read a-one of them. Also, the newest installment of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is in at the library for me. I must know what happens with Kostos and Lena!
Happy Birthday, Wyatt Earp!
Well, well. It’s Wyatt Earp’s birthday again, or rather, it would be if he hadn’t died in 1929. Who is Wyatt Earp? Remember all those western movies? Well, Earp was the real deal: prospector, silver miner, gambler, railroad worker, lawman, Wells Fargo agent, stagecoach driver, buffalo hunter, and McDonald’s fry cook. (Okay, one of those isn’t for real. Can you figure out which one? Huh?)
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (a name which is ridiculously fun to say and sounds very much like something one should take antibiotics to cure) was born on March 19, 1848. He eventually moved to Dodge City (“get outta Dodge”), and the famous shootout at the OK Corral happened in Tombstone, AZ. It was between the infamous Clanton gang (Hilary and Bill?) and the Earp brothers. So, shoot a gun into the air and “Yee-haw!” It’s also an excellent reason to eat the dessert of your choice. I know he’d have wanted it that way.
If you didn’t see it,
aj1965 wrote an amazing poem just for me! It’s in the second page of comments two posts ago. I’m tickled to death. (And, I want a cookie.)