and many more!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Read This!
I decided to just copy this whole article from Salon.
Of course it's BY GARRISON KEILLOR so, of course, after reading
it I feel clearer, more hopeful and have smile on my face.
TUESDAY, MAR 23, 2010 17:24 EDT
The mind glazes over at the sight of the words so let's just refer to it as "hrothgar reform" and congratulate the president and Mrs. Pelosi for pushing it through Congress, a rational reform that the stonewall opposition depicted as a flock of hooded vampires rising from the steaming swamps of Stalinism. That strategy fell a few votes short.
Good hrothgar in America is a privilege and now Congress has, by a narrow margin, offered it up as a basic human right even if a person is unemployed and in poor hroth. This is a landmark bill, achieved through the messy and maddening processes of representative democracy, like harnessing tabby cats to push a plastic garden hose uphill, during which you read dozens of interesting articles about the fatal flaws of the Democratic Party and the twilight of the Obama administration, but what a difference a day can make. Goodbye, Sen. Scott Brown. Hello, Hrothgar.
The Republicans fought long and hard for people's right to wait three hours in an emergency room for someone to take their blood pressure, and they went down to defeat, and now they should stop and rethink their Waterloo strategy. The picture of the grinning GOP congressmen holding "Kill the Bill" posters was not an attractive one. Those guys all get excellent hrothgar from the government, at bargain prices. If you choke on your shoe during a speech in the House of Representatives, you'll be whisked away to Walter Reed, and specialists will extract your hoof from your mouth and your head from your colon and clean you up and all for a tiny annual premium. It does not behoove men who are enjoying a huge pork sandwich to deny a few pork rinds to others and to grin in the process.
Insurance is not an inherently interesting subject, not even hroth insurance. It is the province of short-haired men in pressed khakis and vest sweaters, poring over actuarial tables. The Republicans tried to add some spice. They brought in pictures of deadly vipers, ticking time bombs, death panels, flesh-eating plants, crazed zombies and the hounds of hell. They did not prevail.
Now Sen. McCain says there will be no further cooperation with the administration. OK then. Thanks for clearing that up. Now that bipartisanship has been buried for good, Democrats can get about the business of running the government, which is their duty as the majority party, and let the Republicans sulk in their rooms and work on their Facebook updates. They've made it clear that if Mr. Obama suddenly decided to come out in favor of Mother's Day, they would fight against it as a ruthless exercise of federal power and a violation of due process. Fine. Talk to the hand.
As for the hroth of the Republican Party, no doubt they will survive this setback. They will fume and prevaricate for a few weeks and then, if their pollsters read the owl droppings and find omens of the American People Moving On, the party will find a new issue. Here's one that is tailor-made for them. The federal government is spending $615,000 to help organize the Grateful Dead archive at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Here's a chance to lash out at the '60s and San Francisco and the irresponsibility of hippies playing 23-minute versions of four-minute songs for stadiums full of stoned people in T-shirts of many colors, shaking their ponytails. Apparently, the Dead hung onto every scrap of paper and now $615,000 of taxpayer money is going toward the digitization of the drug-crazed chicken-scratchings of songwriters and their admirers. This may be your last best chance to lash out at the counterculture. All those people who used to get stoned are heading toward Alzheimer Land and soon will be old and pitiful and not worth your ammunition. You could easily tie Jerry Garcia to Nancy Pelosi and link both of them to ACORN, the defeat of Chiang Kai-shek, the failure of Lehman Brothers, the use of growth hormones by professional athletes, and the Mayan prediction of apocalypse in 2012.
Meanwhile, life goes on. Some people believe that God has revealed Himself to them and their tribe and not to the barbarians. He despises all the same people they despise. Others feel that God has given gifts to be shared with others, and we should walk softly and not be cruel in His name. The prospect of perfect harmony is not good at the present time. Happy Easter. Good hroth. Be garful.
(Garrison Keillor is the author of "77 Love Sonnets," published by Common Good Books.)
(c) 2010 by Garrison Keillor. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.
A toast to your health
Raise a glass for a landmark bill, achieved through the messy, maddening processes of representative democracy
The mind glazes over at the sight of the words so let's just refer to it as "hrothgar reform" and congratulate the president and Mrs. Pelosi for pushing it through Congress, a rational reform that the stonewall opposition depicted as a flock of hooded vampires rising from the steaming swamps of Stalinism. That strategy fell a few votes short.
Good hrothgar in America is a privilege and now Congress has, by a narrow margin, offered it up as a basic human right even if a person is unemployed and in poor hroth. This is a landmark bill, achieved through the messy and maddening processes of representative democracy, like harnessing tabby cats to push a plastic garden hose uphill, during which you read dozens of interesting articles about the fatal flaws of the Democratic Party and the twilight of the Obama administration, but what a difference a day can make. Goodbye, Sen. Scott Brown. Hello, Hrothgar.
The Republicans fought long and hard for people's right to wait three hours in an emergency room for someone to take their blood pressure, and they went down to defeat, and now they should stop and rethink their Waterloo strategy. The picture of the grinning GOP congressmen holding "Kill the Bill" posters was not an attractive one. Those guys all get excellent hrothgar from the government, at bargain prices. If you choke on your shoe during a speech in the House of Representatives, you'll be whisked away to Walter Reed, and specialists will extract your hoof from your mouth and your head from your colon and clean you up and all for a tiny annual premium. It does not behoove men who are enjoying a huge pork sandwich to deny a few pork rinds to others and to grin in the process.
Insurance is not an inherently interesting subject, not even hroth insurance. It is the province of short-haired men in pressed khakis and vest sweaters, poring over actuarial tables. The Republicans tried to add some spice. They brought in pictures of deadly vipers, ticking time bombs, death panels, flesh-eating plants, crazed zombies and the hounds of hell. They did not prevail.
Now Sen. McCain says there will be no further cooperation with the administration. OK then. Thanks for clearing that up. Now that bipartisanship has been buried for good, Democrats can get about the business of running the government, which is their duty as the majority party, and let the Republicans sulk in their rooms and work on their Facebook updates. They've made it clear that if Mr. Obama suddenly decided to come out in favor of Mother's Day, they would fight against it as a ruthless exercise of federal power and a violation of due process. Fine. Talk to the hand.
As for the hroth of the Republican Party, no doubt they will survive this setback. They will fume and prevaricate for a few weeks and then, if their pollsters read the owl droppings and find omens of the American People Moving On, the party will find a new issue. Here's one that is tailor-made for them. The federal government is spending $615,000 to help organize the Grateful Dead archive at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Here's a chance to lash out at the '60s and San Francisco and the irresponsibility of hippies playing 23-minute versions of four-minute songs for stadiums full of stoned people in T-shirts of many colors, shaking their ponytails. Apparently, the Dead hung onto every scrap of paper and now $615,000 of taxpayer money is going toward the digitization of the drug-crazed chicken-scratchings of songwriters and their admirers. This may be your last best chance to lash out at the counterculture. All those people who used to get stoned are heading toward Alzheimer Land and soon will be old and pitiful and not worth your ammunition. You could easily tie Jerry Garcia to Nancy Pelosi and link both of them to ACORN, the defeat of Chiang Kai-shek, the failure of Lehman Brothers, the use of growth hormones by professional athletes, and the Mayan prediction of apocalypse in 2012.
Meanwhile, life goes on. Some people believe that God has revealed Himself to them and their tribe and not to the barbarians. He despises all the same people they despise. Others feel that God has given gifts to be shared with others, and we should walk softly and not be cruel in His name. The prospect of perfect harmony is not good at the present time. Happy Easter. Good hroth. Be garful.
(Garrison Keillor is the author of "77 Love Sonnets," published by Common Good Books.)
(c) 2010 by Garrison Keillor. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.
The E-mail Picture that is Floating Around Matt's Work
I am sure he has love/hate feelings about this.
I am all about the love with this one!
Mac was a Fabulous "Klang"!!!
Mac is happy to have her morsels of free time returned to her...but, in the end, misses Pippi!
Next up, Junior Theatre Camp!!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
This Child Cracks Me Up!
Come ON!
We love you Baby Feee and we can't wait to get us some of THAT!
It won't be long and we will all be playing in this....
I can't believe I am saying it....but....WOOT!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
A Farmer's Market in Our Very Own School
I have pretty much been out of the garden loop since December but it was wonderful and re-inspiring to see all the harvest from those early September and October plantings. (check out the school blog for more pictures!)Amy spent the day with the 3rd graders picking and washing and bunching everything. Thank God for her dedication!! Now who is gonna get this woman PAID so she's able to keep up this level of commitment? ???!!! Who's gonna find the grant, write the grant to pay her for the 5-10 hours a WEEK she spends tending and teaching our kids???.... because, truly, without her continuous work and organization it all falls apart. No matter how many parents volunteer to weed! (Maybe you can sense my frustration.)
I know that a co-op school is about volunteerism but my worry is that when something is created that is really
valuable and an asset that becomes part of the schools identity, it needs to be consistent. Volunteers are inconsistent but Amy is not because she's NOT doing a little volunteering, she is working for free. The goal was to make it more of a cooperative garden but its just not. Amy does 90% of the work. And it will take years of organization to get more teachers on board in a meaningful way (like the model of commitment from Merrill and Dmitry), where the parents from each classroom are actually involved. This is a huge undertaking really. Especially considering that this is only year 3 and we spent the first two years mainly just building boxes and fences and a (sadly underutilized) outdoor classroom.The things of value in this school need to be focused on and supported. How can we make that happen??? Just look what our kids have grown, thanks to Amy.
Isn't it beautiful!!!
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
such a hippie...
Two things I have been hearing and reading about everywhere are watercress and kombucha.
It turns out that watercress is the best of the best super foods for you and has everything good in it and you don't have to eat bowls and bowls of it to see the benefits, only a handful here and there. (Plus I love it in salad). Check the link and make sure you click on the comparison chart where it tells you how much better it is than just about anything on the planet. And its easy to grow!
watercress, the superfood
And Kombucha! I just heard an NPR thing about it from this hilarious British guy who's doing a BBC series called "Grow Your Own Drugs". He's a scientist who was very skeptical about all the hippy-dippy stuff so he decided to test it all, grow it all and now he makes tinctures of this and that and herbal salves etc right along with his antibiotics and aspirin.And he raved about kombucha, while reminding all of us that the process of making it at home is very similar to making beer and therefore it is necessary to take uber precautions sterilizing everything.
But I like the store kind. The one with ginger is incredible. It tastes a little like fermented cider and might not be good if you don't like a boozy taste. But it has very little actual acohol!
Check it out! kombucha, fricken delicious to me and good for you
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Thursday, March 04, 2010
to my girlfriends out there...
...you must go out and buy this book and read it in about a day and a half. It is completely compelling and well written. About a marriage and a divorce and kids and family history.
It takes place in Ohio and NYC and Maine but really it takes place in the heart and mind of a woman our age doing many of the things we do everyday. It is familiar and insightful.
Check it out!
It is called Happens Everyday by Isabel Gillies.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
fantasy island
I am loving watching the first seasons episodes of LOST (netflix) with Mac (and sometimes Emmett, when it's not too scary and we are all snuggled in bed.)
It is perfect cliff hanger material and really great for Macs age. Completely appropriate without seeming like it!
Kinda like Love Boat and Fantasy Island was for my generation. Without the cheese...and with lots of suspense and trippy music.
I am a Jack fan all around, so far anyway, and Mac likes Sawyers face but Charlie's personality.
And we both think Hurley is just the best.
Funny conversations abound.
Love it.
Monday, March 01, 2010
too delicious
sweet potato pine nuts arugula sesame seeds blue cheese
My new favorite salad ingredients. Of course all the usual salad stuff works in there too but there is just nothing like this list of tasty yummy proteiny perfection. Says me.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
From the Washing Machine to the Garden, Oh Yeah, Baby!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
I am liking...
...two new CD's
Dawes "North Hills" and Grizzly Bear "Veckatimest"
check 'em out
both beautiful and different and kinda cast a spell...
Dawes "North Hills" and Grizzly Bear "Veckatimest"
check 'em out
both beautiful and different and kinda cast a spell...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
peaceful moment
(I turn my back and he's naked. Again.)
We had a really great day today. Mellow, outside, healthy, thankful!!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
I am trying to turn it around: Bright-Side.
I am officially getting old(er) and since this year is starting out as a bit of a challenge AND, with future surgeries on the horizon for Matt(feet) and Silas (ear tubes), 2010 will be the year of health issues/fixes.
These are just the facts.
Kinda like renovating the house except without the sawdust. (And NO... plastic surgery is NOT involved. hahaha.)
Maybe I will also extend this to-do list to include wisdom teeth, orthodontia and hernia repair...and we can't forget the metaphorical surgeries and extractions (as in, extract mom from the job she hates, bye-bye)
The hope is that all of this will have positive consequences : My migraines may go away due to an immediate shunning of the progesterone birth control pill that also increases chances of ectopic pregnancy (yup, the culprit) and also no pill means less chance of stroke which has always been my worst fear/nightmare. (We always knew these things about birth control but after last week it all seems so very possible for the"side effects" to actually occur....)
Perhaps this year will rid Matt of all the pain he's endured for years with his feet. And Silas will be able to hear and there won't be so sososososo so much shouting in our house as we repeat and repeat at ever increasing volume.
And since we are going solar and working on installing a grey water system too maybe this overall improvement will make 2011 just ridiculously healthy and mellow with lots of time and room for fun. Yes, that's what is happening. This is not the year of disaster but the year for deeply important change and care (and surely some damn miserable days...but I digress...)
So, in an effort to regain a possibly false but definitely necessary sense of control, I have decided to be proactive in every way. That's how I roll. ha.
I will start today, NOW, in the eye/vision department. I haven't been able to see well for a really, really long time. Every time we get a movie with subtitles Matt and I have the same circular argument. So finally...
Matt, YOU WIN. I will get glasses.
So, it's time to vote friends and family that I love. Which do you prefer? The sort of invisible rimmed variety or the black frame-y ones...
......pair #1 or pair #2....... these are just cheapy drugstore glasses but I will be wearing them and then I will be getting the real deal. Sigh.
And one last thing.
After this week that was quite possibly the worst ever for me, I experienced some of the best things. I now know that for the rest of my life when I hear of a friend that is having a hard time
I will bring FOOD. Just about everyone I know brought a delicious vegetarian meal with bread and desert and herbs in baggies to sprinkle on top. Served in their best casserole dishes, often hot out of the oven. This food for us was love love love.
Happy Valentines Day all you wonderful lovers (you know what I mean) and thank you, caring friends, for the meals and the flowers and the calls and the support. With Silas and Emmett and Matt also getting sick, we really really needed it!!!!!
These are just the facts.
Kinda like renovating the house except without the sawdust. (And NO... plastic surgery is NOT involved. hahaha.)
Maybe I will also extend this to-do list to include wisdom teeth, orthodontia and hernia repair...and we can't forget the metaphorical surgeries and extractions (as in, extract mom from the job she hates, bye-bye)
The hope is that all of this will have positive consequences : My migraines may go away due to an immediate shunning of the progesterone birth control pill that also increases chances of ectopic pregnancy (yup, the culprit) and also no pill means less chance of stroke which has always been my worst fear/nightmare. (We always knew these things about birth control but after last week it all seems so very possible for the"side effects" to actually occur....)
Perhaps this year will rid Matt of all the pain he's endured for years with his feet. And Silas will be able to hear and there won't be so sososososo so much shouting in our house as we repeat and repeat at ever increasing volume.
And since we are going solar and working on installing a grey water system too maybe this overall improvement will make 2011 just ridiculously healthy and mellow with lots of time and room for fun. Yes, that's what is happening. This is not the year of disaster but the year for deeply important change and care (and surely some damn miserable days...but I digress...)
So, in an effort to regain a possibly false but definitely necessary sense of control, I have decided to be proactive in every way. That's how I roll. ha.
I will start today, NOW, in the eye/vision department. I haven't been able to see well for a really, really long time. Every time we get a movie with subtitles Matt and I have the same circular argument. So finally...
Matt, YOU WIN. I will get glasses.
So, it's time to vote friends and family that I love. Which do you prefer? The sort of invisible rimmed variety or the black frame-y ones...
......pair #1 or pair #2....... these are just cheapy drugstore glasses but I will be wearing them and then I will be getting the real deal. Sigh.
And one last thing.
After this week that was quite possibly the worst ever for me, I experienced some of the best things. I now know that for the rest of my life when I hear of a friend that is having a hard time
I will bring FOOD. Just about everyone I know brought a delicious vegetarian meal with bread and desert and herbs in baggies to sprinkle on top. Served in their best casserole dishes, often hot out of the oven. This food for us was love love love.Happy Valentines Day all you wonderful lovers (you know what I mean) and thank you, caring friends, for the meals and the flowers and the calls and the support. With Silas and Emmett and Matt also getting sick, we really really needed it!!!!!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Annie is Okay!
We had quite a day on Monday. Annie finally couldn't take it anymore, she had the stomach flu for a week, so she went to the emergency room with Nana. Well, it wasn't the stomach flu....Annie had to have emergency surgery! Carlie watched the kids at home once I arrived and Megan came to the hospital to stay with me (bringing me late night snacks cop style, coffee, Gatorade and trail mix). I was all weepy when I got there because I felt bad I wasn't nicer to Annie during the week she was sick. But seriously folks, who besides Annie gets sick and repaints the bathroom? Then when they started to put her under I got all verklempt again, sheesh. Annie did really well in the surgery and was out in an hour and half, a couple of hours in recovery and we were on our way home. This chick is tough, she once had a baby, walked out of the hospital three hours later and painted a tree on a door.I am now home with Annie and Silas. Mac and Emmett are at school. Annie is mostly resting, she is taking little walks around and talking on the phone some. She just told me that she feels she is going to get better. Silas has a cough and a fever, so he is laying down next to Mama and they are telling each other stories.
I want to send out some special thanks to Nana/Carlie and Megan for their help and love and all things that they have always given. Thank you to Chris Mackes, my friend who brought us veggie burritos last night. Thanks to all who have included Annie in their thoughts.
Now, for this Mr. Mom thing....Who in their right mind can figure out this car pool schedule? I would rather reread the Immigration and Nationality Act's 2300 pages than look at this again. You need to be half lawyer/half Egyptoligist. Also, whoever thought of waking up surly kids at the crack of dawn and asking them what to eat, convincing them brushing their teeth is a good idea, finding their accoutrements for school etc , is a crazy bastard and needs to be dealt with severely. I have had an easier time managing 92 federal agents in a critical incident/officer involved shooting than I did this morning. I'd also rather hunt armed fugitives through dark alleys before I look for a pair of matching socks in my children's bedroom. I'm actually secretly enjoying this, but don't post it on my blog or Facebook as someone I know might see it. The boys at work are hot on the trail of some bad guys and giving me secret text message updates so I don't miss out on the chase.
All in all this is part of life/marriage and adulthood I guess and I'm glad that we all got to do it together. I wouldn't have it any other way (except without the pain, fear, regrets, anxiety, rude Kaiser receptionists, lack of sleep). No, even with it all put together I think it was quite a day, certainly one we will not forget anytime soon. In sickness and in health and in love.
Matt
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Nana, just in case you need this insult tomorrow at work......
...just walk right in there and begin...
"you're nothing but the yellow-bellied offspring of a canker-ridden bunter. You are a bastard, you are, an unlicked cub. A dung-splattered tallow-faced rock-gnasher. A puking villian. A noxious toad. A runting mewling spawn of a greasy sow. I wouldn't give you my last crust if you were starving or a drop of water if you were burning or a beggars grave if you were dead. You have pus for marrow and fungus for brains. You are a scug-backed cheek-biter."
page 90 of BRISINGR by Christopher Paolini
"you're nothing but the yellow-bellied offspring of a canker-ridden bunter. You are a bastard, you are, an unlicked cub. A dung-splattered tallow-faced rock-gnasher. A puking villian. A noxious toad. A runting mewling spawn of a greasy sow. I wouldn't give you my last crust if you were starving or a drop of water if you were burning or a beggars grave if you were dead. You have pus for marrow and fungus for brains. You are a scug-backed cheek-biter."
page 90 of BRISINGR by Christopher Paolini
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