Sunday, October 21, 2007
Me-Me-Me-Meme
I have been tagged by Kim at Knit Whimsies. The purpose of this particular meme is to post eight random things about myself. But there's some language to include - the not-so-fine print, which is below:
The Rules:Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.
Once again, I'm going to have trouble listing eight other people to tag, but I'll give it the old college try. So, eight random things about me . . .
1. I keep a stack of books beside my bed. I can't live without reading material. Sometimes I don't get to them all.
2. I heard a Moby song today at the grocery store and it made me realize how much I like his music and how much I miss it. I haven't listened to any Moby in months. I really must buy some of his albums, rather than borrow them from the library.
3. I'm obsessive about backing up my writing files.
4. I'm not obsessive about editing my writing. I edit as I write (I know - it's a sin in the writing world to do this), so my stories and essays are pretty much finished by the time I'm done writing. (Please help your editor friends off the floor. I think they've fainted.)
5. I'm totally envious of Neil Gaiman's writing output. Does this guy fret over editing?
6. Eldest Son and Daughter are both taller than I am. Young Son is not far behind.
7. While I'm glad I have an art degree, I'm really jonesing for the sociology degree my husband is working toward.
8. I own an original Geek Squad t-shirt, handed to me by Robert Stevens (Stephens?) himself, while I was at the Minnesota State Fair. Stevens (Stephens? - Somebody please give me the proper spelling!) was a co-founder of Geek Squad, which is now owned by Best Buy.
Okay, now it's time to tag. I'll tag Livy, Lex, Ariel, Rianna, Soloist, and Reeva Dubois. Hey, that's six people. Not bad.
The Rules:Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.
Once again, I'm going to have trouble listing eight other people to tag, but I'll give it the old college try. So, eight random things about me . . .
1. I keep a stack of books beside my bed. I can't live without reading material. Sometimes I don't get to them all.
2. I heard a Moby song today at the grocery store and it made me realize how much I like his music and how much I miss it. I haven't listened to any Moby in months. I really must buy some of his albums, rather than borrow them from the library.
3. I'm obsessive about backing up my writing files.
4. I'm not obsessive about editing my writing. I edit as I write (I know - it's a sin in the writing world to do this), so my stories and essays are pretty much finished by the time I'm done writing. (Please help your editor friends off the floor. I think they've fainted.)
5. I'm totally envious of Neil Gaiman's writing output. Does this guy fret over editing?
6. Eldest Son and Daughter are both taller than I am. Young Son is not far behind.
7. While I'm glad I have an art degree, I'm really jonesing for the sociology degree my husband is working toward.
8. I own an original Geek Squad t-shirt, handed to me by Robert Stevens (Stephens?) himself, while I was at the Minnesota State Fair. Stevens (Stephens? - Somebody please give me the proper spelling!) was a co-founder of Geek Squad, which is now owned by Best Buy.
Okay, now it's time to tag. I'll tag Livy, Lex, Ariel, Rianna, Soloist, and Reeva Dubois. Hey, that's six people. Not bad.
Labels: daughter, editing, eldest son, geek squad, husband, meme, moby, neil gaiman, random stuff about me, reading, sociology, writing, young son
Sunday, August 12, 2007
All the Rage
Stephanie Meyer's Twight series is all the rage. I should know, my children and their friends are reading the books and twittering on about this vampire romance. Daughter's friends introduced her to the first book, "Twilight." The second book in the series is "New Moon," and the third, "Eclipse," was just released. On Friday, Daughter's friend (and said friend's mommy) took her to a book signing in Woodbury, Minnesota. There were over 500 people there and Stephanie was willing to sign as many copies of her books as people wanted. Daughter introduced Young Son to the books and he couldn't stand that she and her friends kept talking about them without him having read them. So he set about reading "Twilight," quickly taking in a couple of hundred pages in a couple of days. This is quite something for Young Son because he prefers books with images and romance is just yuck. He decided he wanted a signed copy of "Eclipse," too. Daughter took her copy and his (both purchased by Daughter's friend's mommy) and had them signed. If I ever get time, I'll have to see what all the fuss is about.
Labels: books, daughter, reading, stephanie meyer, twilight, young son
Sunday, August 05, 2007
A Mom's Gotta Do What a Mom's Gotta Do
This morning I wandered up to Young Son's room, ostensibly to retrieve his dirty laundry. Several hours later, I finally brought the laundry down to the basement and threw it in the washing machine.
I got sidetracked, waylaid by the maid that lives inside my body. Flotsam and jetsam builds up in Young Son's room until I simply can't stand it anymore. He is a collector from the word go, which doesn't help in keeping his room tidy. There's too much stuff to put in too little space - and he's got the biggest bedroom in the house. Understand that I was only going to neaten things up a bit, make sure the garbage was thrown away, sweep around the edges. Nothing too serious. Hah! Young Son's room was repainted a year or two ago, but we still hadn't hung any art on the walls. That changed today. He loves all things Asian, so we hung his giant Asian fan, several Asian calendars, his "Wisdom" brush painting picture, and his gentle orange Asian field hat. They look fabulous against the Zen Mist (light yellow-green) walls. There's another picture of brush painting in a black frame that we hung on his small red wall. Very cool.
In the middle of all the straightening and hanging, Daughter came into the room. She is keen on interior design and she thought the room might look better with the furniture rearranged. She drew up a sketchy floor plan and Young Son was agreeable, so the slight cleaning became a major moving project. By the time we were finished - well past lunchtime, according to my stomach - Young Son was amazed at the cleanliness and the space we had created. While I normally leave the kids' rooms in the care of my kids, sometimes a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do.
By the way, Young Son did help with all of this. While I may have a crazy maid living inside me, I don't have "Doormat" printed on my forehead.
I got sidetracked, waylaid by the maid that lives inside my body. Flotsam and jetsam builds up in Young Son's room until I simply can't stand it anymore. He is a collector from the word go, which doesn't help in keeping his room tidy. There's too much stuff to put in too little space - and he's got the biggest bedroom in the house. Understand that I was only going to neaten things up a bit, make sure the garbage was thrown away, sweep around the edges. Nothing too serious. Hah! Young Son's room was repainted a year or two ago, but we still hadn't hung any art on the walls. That changed today. He loves all things Asian, so we hung his giant Asian fan, several Asian calendars, his "Wisdom" brush painting picture, and his gentle orange Asian field hat. They look fabulous against the Zen Mist (light yellow-green) walls. There's another picture of brush painting in a black frame that we hung on his small red wall. Very cool.
In the middle of all the straightening and hanging, Daughter came into the room. She is keen on interior design and she thought the room might look better with the furniture rearranged. She drew up a sketchy floor plan and Young Son was agreeable, so the slight cleaning became a major moving project. By the time we were finished - well past lunchtime, according to my stomach - Young Son was amazed at the cleanliness and the space we had created. While I normally leave the kids' rooms in the care of my kids, sometimes a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do.
By the way, Young Son did help with all of this. While I may have a crazy maid living inside me, I don't have "Doormat" printed on my forehead.
Labels: asian art, cleaning, daughter, interior design, kids, young son
Friday, August 03, 2007
My Sister, the Revolutionary
I took a vacation day today in order to try on dresses. Let me 'xplain. My sister is getting married in September and she has asked me to be her matron (gack! that word! so old!) of honor. I'm honored to be asked. Of course, this means that I need a dress. She bought her wedding dress a couple of months ago and has been after me to come try on dresses so that she has this part of the wedding figured out. We've been so busy this summer that I've had trouble finding time, so I finally just took a day off. My sister also asked my daughter to be one of the bridesmaids, so she had to try on dresses too.
We did the dress thing and went back to my sister's house. She and her fiance (a really fabulous, kind guy) have a house in the country, where they've been moving more deeply into farming. It started with a garden and progressed to chickens and now pigs. I can't believe how much pig poop stinks. Yech! They have three pigs, Grizzly, Priscilla, and Wilbur. Grizzly has another name - W.D. It stands for Wedding Dinner. (Alright, go ahead and get all Charlotte's Web on me.) When we were finished looking over the pigs and chickens, making special note of the one-legged chicken who had accidentally stepped into a trap, we went to the garden.
I love my sister's garden. She's got a wide variety of veggies, including broccoli, spinach, carrots, peas, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, corn, lettuce, the ubiquitous zucchini, and kohlrabi. She also has berries and watermelon, and I'm probably missing some other things. Most years the garden is a riot of production and we can wander through picking what we like. It's a personal farmer's market; it's all organic and they don't water it. In the spirit of my Yard and Patio Revolutionaries post, I asked if they saved the seeds. They do and they've found that the seeds they've saved actually work better than store-bought ones. I asked if they thought the seeds had evolved to deal with their soil and growing conditions and they thought maybe so. How cool is that? My sister and her soon-to-be husband are already Yard Revolutionaries. My sister also does her own canning, which is one of those old-fashioned tasks I previously mentioned. A dying art, really, but not in my sister's household.
We did the dress thing and went back to my sister's house. She and her fiance (a really fabulous, kind guy) have a house in the country, where they've been moving more deeply into farming. It started with a garden and progressed to chickens and now pigs. I can't believe how much pig poop stinks. Yech! They have three pigs, Grizzly, Priscilla, and Wilbur. Grizzly has another name - W.D. It stands for Wedding Dinner. (Alright, go ahead and get all Charlotte's Web on me.) When we were finished looking over the pigs and chickens, making special note of the one-legged chicken who had accidentally stepped into a trap, we went to the garden.
I love my sister's garden. She's got a wide variety of veggies, including broccoli, spinach, carrots, peas, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, corn, lettuce, the ubiquitous zucchini, and kohlrabi. She also has berries and watermelon, and I'm probably missing some other things. Most years the garden is a riot of production and we can wander through picking what we like. It's a personal farmer's market; it's all organic and they don't water it. In the spirit of my Yard and Patio Revolutionaries post, I asked if they saved the seeds. They do and they've found that the seeds they've saved actually work better than store-bought ones. I asked if they thought the seeds had evolved to deal with their soil and growing conditions and they thought maybe so. How cool is that? My sister and her soon-to-be husband are already Yard Revolutionaries. My sister also does her own canning, which is one of those old-fashioned tasks I previously mentioned. A dying art, really, but not in my sister's household.
Labels: chickens, daughter, dresses, garden, pigs, seed savers, seeds, vacation, wedding
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
We Can't Even Trust the Ground Beneath Our Feet
The I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul has collapsed. This is not how Minnesota wants to make national news. We first heard at 6:25 p.m. CST, while watching our local news - WCCO. At that time, Jason DeRusha, one of WCCO's reporters, broke in with a special report. It was obvious that he was shaken. He was calling in about the bridge collapse, but there wasn't any video from the scene at that point. We switched channels to the other Twin Cities stations - KARE 11 and KSTP Channel 5 - and saw the video. Holy crap! The entire bridge is flattened, with a portion in the river. The reports say that between 30 and 50 vehicles were involved. The earliest reports concentrated on a school bus, which had kids ages 8-14 returning from a field trip on it. One of the eyewitnesses had actually survived the accident - his vehicle fell around 50 feet - and he climbed out and was helping the kids out of the bus. Other eyewitnesses say that the bridge collapsed from both ends following a rumble. The news coverage seems to be revolving around the river section of the bridge, but from the video it appears that the bridge has collapsed over a couple of other sections of road. Hard to tell.
Hubby was on a chat forum when we first got the news and a lady from Portland, Oregon, had already heard. We were wondering how, because it was a local story. Hubby quickly checked MSNBC and CNN and both were covering the story.
Things are still being sorted out. Emergency vehicles are everywhere. There's been one confirmed death, from drowning. We still don't know, and probably won't for a while, if anyone was under the bridge.
An hour after the bridge collapse, which occurred at 6:09 p.m., the news reported that the FBI will be investigating to rule out terrorism, although after one of the newscasters read a portion of a 2006 report on the structural condition of the bridge, it is most likely that the cause of the collapse was structural damage. The bridge was having repair work done at the time, supposedly on the road deck. Hubby and I were hoping there weren't any construction workers underneath the bridge.
8: 35-8:38 p.m. - Wait . . . this just in . . . another section of the collapsed road was shown. This section had crushed a train. Also, there is a report that there were no construction workers underneath the bridge.
When a tragedy of this magnitude strikes this close to home, it's especially heart-wrenching. Our daughter was in the Twin Cities yesterday and today, but thankfully wasn't on I-35. We're sending our good wishes to all of those involved and are hoping that fatalities are minimal.
Correction (August 3, 2007): The bridge collapsed at 6:05 p.m.
Hubby was on a chat forum when we first got the news and a lady from Portland, Oregon, had already heard. We were wondering how, because it was a local story. Hubby quickly checked MSNBC and CNN and both were covering the story.
Things are still being sorted out. Emergency vehicles are everywhere. There's been one confirmed death, from drowning. We still don't know, and probably won't for a while, if anyone was under the bridge.
An hour after the bridge collapse, which occurred at 6:09 p.m., the news reported that the FBI will be investigating to rule out terrorism, although after one of the newscasters read a portion of a 2006 report on the structural condition of the bridge, it is most likely that the cause of the collapse was structural damage. The bridge was having repair work done at the time, supposedly on the road deck. Hubby and I were hoping there weren't any construction workers underneath the bridge.
8: 35-8:38 p.m. - Wait . . . this just in . . . another section of the collapsed road was shown. This section had crushed a train. Also, there is a report that there were no construction workers underneath the bridge.
When a tragedy of this magnitude strikes this close to home, it's especially heart-wrenching. Our daughter was in the Twin Cities yesterday and today, but thankfully wasn't on I-35. We're sending our good wishes to all of those involved and are hoping that fatalities are minimal.
Correction (August 3, 2007): The bridge collapsed at 6:05 p.m.
Labels: accident, bridge collapse, daughter, emergency, fbi, husband, I35W, minnesota, mississippi river, news, twin cities
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Keith Olbermann - A True American Patriot
Keith Olbermann has done it again. He's managed to skewer the President and his administration in a Special Comment that appeared tonight on his MSNBC Countdown show. He called for the President to have the modicum of decency that Nixon had and resign from his position and take Dick Cheney with him. Do it for the good of the country, rather than the good of your party, Sir. This Special Comment follows President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence, which, in effect gives him no sentence at all for lying under oath and obstructing justice. You see, that little $250,000 fine Scooter's supposed to pay? The one that Bush feels is punishment enough for poor Scooter? Well, Scooter's got enough financial backing that he won't have to pay that fine. Our daughter said that Scooter's expression always appears to be on the verge of a sneer - very sly, that one. Of course, you, too, would be grinning like a Cheshire cat if you knew that those you were playing patsy for were going to bail you out at the last minute as a condition of keeping mum.
Bravo to Keith for saying what I'm thinking and for saying it with such force and deserved venom toward the intended target that I'm spellbound. This makes Keith a True American Patriot and the Best Person in the World today.
Bravo to Keith for saying what I'm thinking and for saying it with such force and deserved venom toward the intended target that I'm spellbound. This makes Keith a True American Patriot and the Best Person in the World today.
Labels: daughter, dick cheney, george w. bush, keith olbermann, nixon, scooter libby, special comment, travesty of justice
Monday, July 02, 2007
A Weather Update
There's a misty rain in Minnesota today. We need the rain. We've had unbelievably gorgeous weather the past couple of weeks - sunny, warm, a few humid days, but still tolerable. The grass was getting crunchy, so the rain is good. My mom said that she was told as a kid that when you look up at an oak tree in the summer, you shouldn't be able to see sky through it. This year, lots of sky can be seen through the oaks. We're wondering if it's because we're low on moisture in general, or if there's some other factor causing it.
Rain or not, my big goal for the day was to take the recycling out to the landfill. Our back porch was getting full up. With the help of my daughter and Young Son #2, we got the deed done. Such a simple thing, but such a feeling of accomplishment.
Monday is normally my writing day, and I did get a little writing done, but just a little - a few hundred words. I'm having a little trouble with direction on story nine of my series. I think it needs more thinking. I've got my main characters figured out, which is a quarter of the battle. I've got the thing started, which is another quarter. But, I don't have an idea of the ending, which is a problem because I have to get from here to . . . where? I like to have a sense of my ending, even if I veer from it by the time I'm done, because it's how I get over the hump - and there's always a hump.
Time to moodle.
Rain or not, my big goal for the day was to take the recycling out to the landfill. Our back porch was getting full up. With the help of my daughter and Young Son #2, we got the deed done. Such a simple thing, but such a feeling of accomplishment.
Monday is normally my writing day, and I did get a little writing done, but just a little - a few hundred words. I'm having a little trouble with direction on story nine of my series. I think it needs more thinking. I've got my main characters figured out, which is a quarter of the battle. I've got the thing started, which is another quarter. But, I don't have an idea of the ending, which is a problem because I have to get from here to . . . where? I like to have a sense of my ending, even if I veer from it by the time I'm done, because it's how I get over the hump - and there's always a hump.
Time to moodle.
Labels: daughter, minnesota, moodle, oak trees, rain, recycling, short story, weather, writing, young son
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Appendicitis
Friday night we got word that my niece was having surgery, pretty much with no advance warning. Her brother sent an instant message to our daughter saying that she was having her appendix removed. The previous weekend our niece had returned from her father's with a giant stomachache. She was in tears and couldn't get comfortable. Her mom said she hadn't been feeling well the previous week, but had perked up some toward the end of the week. We were all thinking that she had a stomach bug that was exacerbated by the anticipation our niece felt over taking her written driving test. She took the test and passed, which is quite the achievement considering what we now know about the situation. She had her surgery Friday night and we got word Saturday morning that she was doing fine. We are immensely relieved and wish her a speedy return to good health.
Her situation reminds me of my brother, who is the only other person I know who's had an appendectomy. He, too, had been feeling ill, but no one thought much of it. During his illness, we went sledding and he hit a tree with his back. Within a few days he was having surgery. When the doctor opened him up, he found that his appendix had burst and abscessed, probably as a result of hitting that tree. Normally, the appendix is only as big as the tip of a pinky, but his was the size of a breakfast sausage. If the abscess would have burst, he would not have survived. Scary how something so serious can be so easily missed, or brushed off. Happy, in both situations, that it was caught in time.
Her situation reminds me of my brother, who is the only other person I know who's had an appendectomy. He, too, had been feeling ill, but no one thought much of it. During his illness, we went sledding and he hit a tree with his back. Within a few days he was having surgery. When the doctor opened him up, he found that his appendix had burst and abscessed, probably as a result of hitting that tree. Normally, the appendix is only as big as the tip of a pinky, but his was the size of a breakfast sausage. If the abscess would have burst, he would not have survived. Scary how something so serious can be so easily missed, or brushed off. Happy, in both situations, that it was caught in time.
Labels: appendix, brother, daughter, drivers test, illness, nephew, niece, sledding, surgery
Friday, June 08, 2007
Drawing & Such
I took another vacation day today, which resulted in the day feeling like Saturday instead of Friday. Daughter, husband and I went shopping. Daughter is joining cross-country and wanted a pair of running shoes. I took my sewing machine in to be repaired. The zig-zag stitch mechanism isn't working. The machine has seen fairly light use since I bought it back in 1995. My husband can't believe I still have the receipt.
This evening, husband and I took Young Son Number Two out for a walk. Pleasant time for it - breezy, but not cold, sunny, not too many bugs.
Last night (I seem to be backing up in time here), I finished a fiber arts piece that I'm thinking of using for the collection of short stories I'm writing. Let's be honest, I'm really working on a book, but if I think of it as a collection of short stories, it seems more manageable. Now that I'm well on my way toward finishing story #8, I have to think about the format the book will take, which includes the cover. That's what the fiber piece is about. My first love, as far as interests go, is art. I've been drawing and doing some sort of fiber art since I was a kid. Now that I'm coming to book layout and design, my fingers will be all over that as well as the writing.
If I haven't created a piece of art in a while, I tend to forget how much I like the process. This morning I was talking to Eldest Son and spotted a library book on the floor near his bed (the best place for library books, in my opinion). I asked if I could look at it and got the go ahead from Eldest Son. The book is called "Keys to Drawing with Imagination" by Bert Dodson. What a fabulous book. Even if you're not an artist, it's fun to look through with its acres of whimsical drawings. Should you choose to delve in, Dodson starts you out with a chapter called "Doodling and Noodling," which is a no-stress way to get drawing. And I mean no-stress. Trust me on this. I've taken many a college art class in my day and haven't seen the "Take a Line on a Walk" exercise before. I'm just itching to get out my pencils and good paper.
Addendum (just a wee bit later, same day): Here is the link to Bert Dodson's real-deal website. The one above is for his book on Amazon.
This evening, husband and I took Young Son Number Two out for a walk. Pleasant time for it - breezy, but not cold, sunny, not too many bugs.
Last night (I seem to be backing up in time here), I finished a fiber arts piece that I'm thinking of using for the collection of short stories I'm writing. Let's be honest, I'm really working on a book, but if I think of it as a collection of short stories, it seems more manageable. Now that I'm well on my way toward finishing story #8, I have to think about the format the book will take, which includes the cover. That's what the fiber piece is about. My first love, as far as interests go, is art. I've been drawing and doing some sort of fiber art since I was a kid. Now that I'm coming to book layout and design, my fingers will be all over that as well as the writing.
If I haven't created a piece of art in a while, I tend to forget how much I like the process. This morning I was talking to Eldest Son and spotted a library book on the floor near his bed (the best place for library books, in my opinion). I asked if I could look at it and got the go ahead from Eldest Son. The book is called "Keys to Drawing with Imagination" by Bert Dodson. What a fabulous book. Even if you're not an artist, it's fun to look through with its acres of whimsical drawings. Should you choose to delve in, Dodson starts you out with a chapter called "Doodling and Noodling," which is a no-stress way to get drawing. And I mean no-stress. Trust me on this. I've taken many a college art class in my day and haven't seen the "Take a Line on a Walk" exercise before. I'm just itching to get out my pencils and good paper.
Addendum (just a wee bit later, same day): Here is the link to Bert Dodson's real-deal website. The one above is for his book on Amazon.
Labels: album art, bert dodson, books, daughter, drawing, family, husband, minnesota, sewing machine busticated, shopping, short story, sons, vacation, weather, writing
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Does This Make Sense?
My daughter and I saw a commercial for a local business this morning. In explaining the location of the business, the commercial pointed out that the business was located near another local business. Does this make sense to you? Inadvertently marketing another business while advertising your own? I'm pretty sure the two businesses didn't go half-sies on the commercial. Honestly, what are they thinking? To fix the situation, they need to come up with a different (non-business) landmark or make their own store stand out in some way.
Labels: business, commercial, daughter, landmark, marketing
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Photos of Rain
For your viewing pleasure, photos courtesy of my illustrious daughter, of the rain storm we had this past Sunday. We got drenched, which should be obvious from the puddles forming on our sidewalk.
Labels: daughter, minnesota, puddles, rain
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Alec "Holy Crap" Baldwin
I'm sure by now you've heard about Alec Baldwin's over-the-top rant at his eleven-year-old daughter. Here's my two-cent's worth. It doesn't matter how much of a bitch Kim Basinger is being, this was Alec's daughter, not the ex he was speaking to. An eleven-year-old can simply forget about the time and not be dissing her dad on purpose. But, if Alec speaks to his daughter like this all of the time, and who's to say he doesn't, why would she want to make herself available for that? I've seen two situations on a personal level where a nasty parent habitually laces into a child on the phone and the child decides it's not worth the abuse. Kim is being blamed for releasing the audio of Alec's rant to the media, and that may not have been the best thing to do, especially if she was court-ordered not to, but I think it's about time parents get called out when they are being particularly nasty to their children. A healthy adult wouldn't put up with this behavior. Why does society allow people to do this to children?
If Alec had had his head on straight, and had not taken out his rage at his ex on his daughter, he could have said something like this: "I'm disappointed in you, darling. I've taken time off to speak to you and you're not available. While this is your choice and it hurts, I'm not going to force you to talk to me. I'll be always available if you should want to call me, but the ball's in your court now." Which message would you have been more likely to respond to?
If Alec had had his head on straight, and had not taken out his rage at his ex on his daughter, he could have said something like this: "I'm disappointed in you, darling. I've taken time off to speak to you and you're not available. While this is your choice and it hurts, I'm not going to force you to talk to me. I'll be always available if you should want to call me, but the ball's in your court now." Which message would you have been more likely to respond to?
Labels: alec baldwin, children, daughter, kim basinger, parents behaving badly, rant
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Placed Expectations
When you have children, you try your darndest not to screw them up too badly in raising them. (For example, you'd like them not to leave cracker crumbs all over the computer keyboard, which is the current state of my keyboard, thank you very much.) I think one of the ways we subconsciously mess with our kids is by pigeon-holing them, placing expectations on them based on what they show us. Our oldest son showed a particular artistic genius early on, creating realistic drawings replete with foreshortening and correct perspective when he was five or six years old. He has so consistently shown this ability that he's been pegged as an artist and, of course, we brag about it. Our daughter is gifted with money managing abilities that would put most adults to shame. She's sensible and responsible, not only with money, but with many other things. Our youngest son is energetic and physical and has a sparkling personality that acts as a magnet and attracts people to him. He started talking when he was seven months old and has a magnificient gift of the gab. Innocently enough, and by following their original leads, we've come to expect these things of our children. We don't want to lock them into these molds, but it has happened without our quite realizing it. When I attended my youngest son's conferences and his art teacher said that he was really creative, I was pleased as punch, and thought, why, of course he is, but, honestly, I hadn't really attributed artistic creativity to him as much as I had to his older brother. This is silly. Traits can be mixed and matched between children and our kids can share qualities such as creativity. Sharing is good. I have noticed that all are good writers and interested in science and history. All are creative, but each expresses it differently.
This thought process makes me wonder if siblings from other families that appear to be diametrically opposed to each other in interests and personalities were shunted along these lines by the parents' placed expectations. It makes me want to try harder not to do this.
This thought process makes me wonder if siblings from other families that appear to be diametrically opposed to each other in interests and personalities were shunted along these lines by the parents' placed expectations. It makes me want to try harder not to do this.
Labels: artist, children, creativity, daughter, expectations, money, parents, personality traits, son
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Fingerless Gloves
Woohoo! I finished knitting a pair of fingerless gloves tonight. While they are no more than tubes with a thumb hole, I'd say it's quite an accomplishment, especially considering my first knitting-in-the-round project happened in December 2006. I'm eyeing up a pair of socks, have even read the instructions (little nervous about the gusset for the heel), nice thick, short things. They'd make good house slippers, something I can slip over my regular socks. In the winter, I'm most assuredly a two-pair of socks woman. My engine runs a little cold. Those who know me know why. I'm a skinny slip of a thing, not much body fat to keep me warm. It's the blessing of a high-running metabolism. My body operates like a hummingbird's. I can eat whatever I want, but I also have to make sure I eat enough, or I go into a woozy state from low blood sugar. I would not do well in a famine, which makes me wonder how my skinny ancestors survived in order to pass their genes along to me.
My daughter just read the opening sentence of this post and said that now I can make her some fingerless gloves. Isn't she a gem?
My daughter just read the opening sentence of this post and said that now I can make her some fingerless gloves. Isn't she a gem?
Labels: ancestors, blood sugar, body, cold, daughter, fat, gloves, knitting, skinny, socks, weight, winter
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Sobering
The hubby and I just watched Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" movie last night. Sobering. Our daughter said she didn't want to watch it because the subject of global warming is depressing to her. Or, as she puts it, "We're all gonna die!" Al Gore has been working on this topic for decades and we could have made some progress by now, if it hadn't been for the ostrich-like politicians and the short-sighted petroleum companies. (Of course, GREED is their middle name.) And, now we get to live with the results. Glaciers disappearing. Antarctica & Greenland breaking up and raising the level of the oceans. We're seeing the effects first-hand in Minnesota, with the dreadful lack of snow this winter.
Do we really think that Earth is wedded to having homo sapiens living on her surface? Or, are we a bad case of dandruff she wants to shake off? Can't say as I blame her, really. (What did those Neaderthals do to tick her off?)
The good thing about the movie's popularity is that global warming is now undeniable and if we pull together, we can help Earth to heal herself. The trailer for the movie shows a bunch of small steps we can take that will drastically cut global warming emissions. In watching them flick by, I realized that we're already doing about half of them. We have a ways to go. If we could just put a windmill in our yard . . . .
Do we really think that Earth is wedded to having homo sapiens living on her surface? Or, are we a bad case of dandruff she wants to shake off? Can't say as I blame her, really. (What did those Neaderthals do to tick her off?)
The good thing about the movie's popularity is that global warming is now undeniable and if we pull together, we can help Earth to heal herself. The trailer for the movie shows a bunch of small steps we can take that will drastically cut global warming emissions. In watching them flick by, I realized that we're already doing about half of them. We have a ways to go. If we could just put a windmill in our yard . . . .
Labels: al gore, daughter, earth, glaciers, global warming, homo sapiens, husband, inconvenient truth, minnesota, snow, winter
Friday, January 19, 2007
Movie Recommendation
If you haven't already seen it, I recommend renting the movie Little Miss Sunshine, which hubby and daughter and I watched tonight. Fabulous, quirky story.
Labels: daughter, husband, little miss sunshine, movie, story
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Album Art & Lyrics Cards
Until a solution is presented, I'm going keep coming back to this. Now that music is going digital, what's going to happen to album art and printed lyrics? We're so quick to jump ship toward something new that we forget to look for sharks in the water. We're so quick to embrace the newest in technology that we forget to examine what we might be giving up. When it comes to album art, some think, "Good riddance to bad rubbish. No tears here if there is no album art. " On MPR's The Current music blog, Hans Eisenbeis posted "Album art! Does it matter anymore?" The title says it all, but there are several wonky album covers pictured in the post. If we want to have a discussion about album art, why don't we pick the cream of the crop, rather that the crap? I, of course, think that album art is important. I am an artist and album art is a great way to bring fine art to the masses. Album art gives fans a physical representation of musicians and bands. It allows us to connect with musicians along another dimension. Album art helps to brand musicians. It is also one avenue of employment for visual artists. If pictures of the musician or band members are included, we get to know what people look like. Another important part of album art is the printed lyrics. How often have we misinterpreted a song because the singer or our hearing wasn't as clear as desired?
I asked my daughter, who did not grow up with 12-inch albums, if she liked CD booklets with their album art. She answered in the affirmative. She especially liked being able to read the lyrics. Daughter has an iPod, and she said, "Mom, the album art comes with the downloads." I asked her to show me this album art. There it was, in postage stamp form on her iPod screen. If that's what album art has come to, why bother?
Of course, with music becoming available solely through the digital realm, album art can't remain the way it has. For one, most people download singles, rather than entire albums. We're not going to want an entire CD booklet for one song. You can find lyrics for most any song online, but I, for one, don't want to be intravenously connected to a computer 24/7. I listen to music away from the computer and want to be able to have quick access to those lyrics.
I've been pondering this problem of dying album art & lack of lyrics for a while and have a possible solution: Lyrics Cards. For each song a band creates, there could be a card produced that has lyrics on one side & art on the other. Think of playing cards, no . . . that's not quite right . . . think of Tarot cards. Lyrics cards would have to be bigger than playing cards so the lyrics would fit. I suggest cards about the size of current CD booklets, if only because most of us have CD holders we could fit them into. They'd also be big enough to show some decent artwork and allow the lyrics to be seen without a magnifying glass. I imagine Lyrics Cards to be like trading cards. We can mix-and-match with friends. We can arrange our own playlists with them. When someone downloads a song, if they desire, they could have a Lyrics Card mailed to them. Bands could use them as promotional items.
So, there you have it. My crazy idea for saving album art: Lyrics Cards. Will it work? I have no idea. Maybe I'm just an old codger at the tender age of 39. Maybe I'm not with it and the majority of people want to see album art and printed lyrics leave in a whimpering fizzle. I, however, am not ready to give up without a fight.
I asked my daughter, who did not grow up with 12-inch albums, if she liked CD booklets with their album art. She answered in the affirmative. She especially liked being able to read the lyrics. Daughter has an iPod, and she said, "Mom, the album art comes with the downloads." I asked her to show me this album art. There it was, in postage stamp form on her iPod screen. If that's what album art has come to, why bother?
Of course, with music becoming available solely through the digital realm, album art can't remain the way it has. For one, most people download singles, rather than entire albums. We're not going to want an entire CD booklet for one song. You can find lyrics for most any song online, but I, for one, don't want to be intravenously connected to a computer 24/7. I listen to music away from the computer and want to be able to have quick access to those lyrics.
I've been pondering this problem of dying album art & lack of lyrics for a while and have a possible solution: Lyrics Cards. For each song a band creates, there could be a card produced that has lyrics on one side & art on the other. Think of playing cards, no . . . that's not quite right . . . think of Tarot cards. Lyrics cards would have to be bigger than playing cards so the lyrics would fit. I suggest cards about the size of current CD booklets, if only because most of us have CD holders we could fit them into. They'd also be big enough to show some decent artwork and allow the lyrics to be seen without a magnifying glass. I imagine Lyrics Cards to be like trading cards. We can mix-and-match with friends. We can arrange our own playlists with them. When someone downloads a song, if they desire, they could have a Lyrics Card mailed to them. Bands could use them as promotional items.
So, there you have it. My crazy idea for saving album art: Lyrics Cards. Will it work? I have no idea. Maybe I'm just an old codger at the tender age of 39. Maybe I'm not with it and the majority of people want to see album art and printed lyrics leave in a whimpering fizzle. I, however, am not ready to give up without a fight.
Labels: album art, art, daughter, lyrics, lyrics cards, mpr, music, tarot cards, technology
Monday, January 08, 2007
Knitting a Hat
I was so busy cleaning the bedroom yesterday, and thinking about cleaning the bedroom when I posted, that I forgot to mention that I successfully finished knitting the hat I started a week or so ago. The double-pointed needles were a little difficult to get used to - too many points flying around - until I decided to cap the ones I wasn't working with. My daughter was hankering to start a hat on the circular needles I was using, so I had to finish up lickety split. Last night, after the cleaning streak, I sat down and started the hat my daughter wants to knit. Her cast-on stitches are a little tight and establishing the pattern in the first couple of rows can be a bear, so she asked me to get her going. I'm feeling so confident now that I bought yarn to make fingerless gloves. Obviously, I'm not so confident that I'm willing to attempt gloves with fingers yet. No sense in getting silly about it.
Labels: cleaning, daughter, gloves, hat, knitting
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Poor Bathroom Design
The hubby, daughter and I went shopping today. Before getting started, we stopped at Arby's for lunch. Following the meal, daughter and I made a stop in the bathroom. We came out grousing about the poor design. For one, the coat hook was too low on the stall wall and it was directly over the garbage can, such that when a coat was hung, it touched the garbage can. Eeww! The stall door swung directly into a picture on the wall. Someone had already cracked the frame. The paper towel dispenser was so high on the wall that it could only comfortably be reached by someone seven-feet tall. Underneath was an electric hand dryer, presumably for handicapped accessibility, but there was another garbage can placed underneath it so that a wheelchair couldn't get into the space. Such little things, so easy to fix, but the poor design left a really big bad impression.
Labels: arby's, bathroom, daughter, husband, poor design, shopping
Friday, December 29, 2006
Social Computing
For quite some time now, using a computer has been a solo experience. Sort of a personal productivity machine - one screen, one keyboard. As more interactive programs and websites have popped up and taken over, it is not uncommon to find several people huddled in front of a computer screen. While watching House Hunters on HGTV the other day, I saw a family of four sitting at a table, each with a laptop, looking for properties. My daughter joked that they were probably IMing each other. People have been predicting the demise of social activities because of computer technology and the Internet, but it's not happening. It may have been happening for a while, but human beings simply can't live without other human beings, so the pendulum is swinging back.
In a related story, there was a discussion on MPR today about the changes in media and news broadcasting brought about by the shift to digital media. The prediction was that people would only seek out the stuff they were interested in if there weren't newspapers or broader TV programs that gave people a well-rounded bunch of stories. While I could argue that much of what is presented as news today isn't particularly well-rounded, what strikes me about this is the lack of faith in the ability of humans to search for stuff outside their direct interests. People get bored really quickly, so once something gets old, it gets old, and we start looking for new stuff. Also, as mentioned above, we are social creatures. If I don't happen to hear a particular news story, there's a sure bet that my husband, my children, or my friends have heard it and will pass it along. We're talking the Internet, here, folks. We are not living in fully separated cardboard boxes with blinders on and earplugs in. The news will get through.
In a related story, there was a discussion on MPR today about the changes in media and news broadcasting brought about by the shift to digital media. The prediction was that people would only seek out the stuff they were interested in if there weren't newspapers or broader TV programs that gave people a well-rounded bunch of stories. While I could argue that much of what is presented as news today isn't particularly well-rounded, what strikes me about this is the lack of faith in the ability of humans to search for stuff outside their direct interests. People get bored really quickly, so once something gets old, it gets old, and we start looking for new stuff. Also, as mentioned above, we are social creatures. If I don't happen to hear a particular news story, there's a sure bet that my husband, my children, or my friends have heard it and will pass it along. We're talking the Internet, here, folks. We are not living in fully separated cardboard boxes with blinders on and earplugs in. The news will get through.
Labels: computer, daughter, family, house hunters, husband, media, mpr, news, technology
