A Day in the Snow

Harley apparently loves snow, snowballs, catching them, and eating them. It actually snowed here the other day, but only lasted a full 24 hours, before melting all over us.
Poor Miah was sick all break long, and is still out of it, so she missed all the fun. I let her go out for a minute to walk through the snow, and just wait till you see how her Daddy let her leave the house. (You can't see it in the pic, but she's wearing a floor length pink nightgown under the sweatshirt, and her Daddy's tennis shoes)
I forgot to post about WW last week, so as of today I've lost 5.5 lbs! Slow going, but I have no complaints.
The rest of the post is just going to be pictures...enjoy!

Agricultural Revolution Ended Human Evolution

Fall Asleep Each Night Unashamed

Thursday's Thoughts

Today's thought

No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection - PVT Murphy's Laws

We are getting inspected here in the next few days. We've known about this for a few months, and therefore the flourish of activity to prepare ourselves has been amazing. Polishing, shining, deep cleaning, book updating, the works. It makes me wonder who we are fooling. Anyone with sufficient rank to do an inspection knows than an announced inspection has been prepared for. What could this man possibly learn about the efficiency and effectiveness of our day to day operations from this? From my limited vantage point it would appear that the only worthwhile inspection is a surprise one.
Also, does this happen in the civilian sector as well?

Repression.....Compression.....Critical Mass...Explosion

Thursday's Thoughts

The Thought of the Day

The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and
bear the deepest wounds and scars of war - General Douglas McArthur

Please people, please, please, please stop talking about the American soldier like you know him. I understand that many of you have family that serve. But for you to say that any soldier would "gladly give his life for freedom" means that you likely don't understand the soldier at all. I, of course, can not speak for every soldier either. I will therefore concentrate on my own feelings for a moment. I am honored to be a member of the United States Army. We are a fine and necessary tradition. I follow the orders of the President and the officers appointed over me. So when They tell me it's time to leave my family, I do so. This is not something we as soldiers vote on, we do not get an option of supporting the fight, (the army wouldn't work if we did) we simply do as we are told. I will fight to defend my fellow soldier, and I know that this fight may cause me harm, but I never do so "gladly". I would gladly live in a world of peace, I would gladly sit down with our enemies and discuss a non-violent solution to our differences, but I would not gladly kill or be killed war. There are heroes that do give their life for others. These are the men and women that throw themselves on a hand-grenade or charge a bunker to protect their fellow soldiers. These men could be said to have given their lives, but the soldier that is killed by a roadside bomb placed by an insurgent would very likely say that his life was taken from him. And I believe that this is an important distinction. I think that perhaps the fallen soldiers families would think so too.

So I ask that in the future you refrain from speaking of soldiers giving their lives for freedom. If you must thank us, thank us for the sacrifice of leaving our families, thank us for the risk we take, or more importantly thank our families for the losses they incur. But the best support you can show is a desire for a peaceful resolution.

I always say,

give a small person a little power, and they will turn into Hitler. Well, maybe not so bad in THIS situation, but bad enough to send me to my treadmill to try to sweat out my anger. Someone needs to tell my weight watchers leader that exercise doesn't make the anger go away. It did however make me too tired to go back to the kitchen to GET the food. So maybe she was right, after all.

Every afternoon I spend about two hours in my car waiting for my kids after school. You have to get to the school to start the line if you are going to get out of the parking lot at any sort of decent hour. After picking Laurel up, I drive over to Miah's school, where I wait another hour. At Miah's school they have these evil little kids who are supposed to open your car door to let your kid in the car, teachers to micromanage how and when you drive, and more teachers to call out the name of students who's parents are ready to pick them up. Too many small people, with just enough power to make a regular gal crazy. Normally everything runs smoothly, not to include the time one of the kids slammed Miah's foot in the sliding van door. (Kids don't touch my car any more. The VP made sure of this. It's a huge bone of contention for me. My nine year old knows how to OPEN a CAR door!, but I digress) yesterday there was a substitute teacher on the sidewalk. I'm assuming that her job there was to keep order and make sure that there are no students running off. I've never seen her before, and she has no clue who I am, or which car Miah is supposed to go to, so she couldn't possibly be in charge of students getting to the proper car! I was parked where I always am, in line, ready to pull up. Miah saw my van and starts walking towards me like she always does, when this broad throws her arm up to cut her off and tells her to walk in the opposite direction. Miah tried to pipe up and let her know that I was a mere five feet away, well within the safety zone, but the woman refused to listen to Miah, and cut her off. Miah sighed and started walking, while I am starting to wonder what the bleep is going on. I pull forward to get into Miah's line of sight and tell her to hurry up and get into the car. We have a limited amount of time in which she needs to get home, do homework, do her chores, and get ready to do spelling with Daddy when he gets home. We have two hours a night with Jay, in which dinner, spelling practice, how was your day talk, and possibly a little tv and kids cuddling with their dad on the couch. So I'm not messing around. The dog needs to go out as soon as we get home, and she won't wait! Miah does as she is told, like the good little girl she is. SHE knows who her boss is. The teacher actually walked up to MY car, and grabbed Miah's shoulder as if to pull her out of the car, and tells her that she WILL walk to the end of the sidewalk, and she WILL follow the rules. I told her (the teacher) at least three times to please just let Miah in the car b/c hell, she's already half in! She starts talking about how the rules this and the rules that, and blah blah blah....and how if I stop there then I'm holding up the line. Was the line moving at this point, you ask? NO! WHY you say? Well, because this woman is yelling into my car, that's why! She actually started to correct Miah in my presence, and tell her to not listen to me, that there are rules, and poor Miah has a look on her face, as Laurel described it that said "Oh, some one's HEAD is going to come off" She was actually ducking and cowering in the opening of the door! I saw all this and told Miah under no uncertain terms that she was to get in the car and buckle up. The teacher said, well, I'll just go talk to Mr. (*****) the principal. So I said, "Go ahead, but it won't matter, because I'M her MOTHER!)
She never did talk to the principal....but I DID. I was up half the night yelling at them in my head. I wanted to yank her ear off. This morning Jay and I dropped Miah off in the Lobby, and headed to the office. Thankfully the principal was nice, he listened, and offered to talk to Miah (Which we did already, she was disturbed to say the least) Needless to say, that teacher won't be getting any jobs any time soon at that school. I'm still so irritated I could choke someone. I can't believe that any woman would dare put a hand on my kid. Jay's main concern was that if she was willing to grab Miah and get physical in front of me, what is she willing to do when alone? I've met some evil subs, some of which went home crying after my dad got a hold of them, but even at their worst, I've NEVER seen a teacher put a hand on a student!

Weight Watchers

Drum roll please......Thank you!
This week I lost 1.4 lbs, and Jay lost 4lbs! (gonna sneak feed him m&m's in his sleep...) This means that with last week's .6b loss, I get to add two more beads to my bracelet! Yay!

What are you afraid of?

Thursday's Thoughts

The thought of the day:

It amazes me to think of how much difference each little change can make.

I'm deep in the middle of Stephen King's latest novel. I don't get a lot of time to read these days, so it is taking me a lot longer than should, but I'm very impressed at how much Mr. King points out that so many things could have turned out drastically different if some nearly insignificant changes had been made. I've discussed chaos theory and the butterfly effect on this blog before, but I come to it again. The novel makes me realize that we tend to define our lives by moments when big things happen, but the "big" moments were no more important than any other moment. They have all had some effect on not only our lives but others. Realizing that each decision you make is important, we should all strive to think more about consequences.

Grandma's Button Box

Inspired by my Grandma's button box. All buttons are antique shell buttons just like the ones I used to run my fingers through when I was little. They even smell the same. Call it a "great memories" necklace. More to come!

I lost .6 lbs this week. No more using my extra weekly points. I hardly used any, but it made a huge difference! I also started exercising more. I hurt. It's worth it. I've been leaving January's O magazine open in the bathroom, to all the incredibly encouraging advice. It reminds me to say this mantra, which is helping, a bit at a time, "I've done it before, I'll do it again!" The year Jay was in Korea, I lost about 80 lbs, so I know I have the strength to do it. I'm going to do it again!

Steaming Broccoli

How to steam broccoli.

Something I've never done before, I had to look up the instructions on this website. Usually I either eat broccoli raw, or stir fry, so this is completely new to me. I thought someone else might benefit as well, so here goes!

Before you cook:

1. Wash the broccoli thoroughly under cool running water.

2. Cut off the thickest portion of the stalks, removing the fibrous, woody bases.

3. Either chop the broccoli into bite-sized pieces or cut it into thin stalks with florets at the top so it looks like a group of small trees.

Stove top steaming:

There are various kitchen implements available for stove top steaming. You may use either a folding metal steaming basket or a hard pan-insert designed for steaming or a steaming basket made of wood. Whichever steaming tool you select, it should be placed in a pan that has a tightly fitting lid.

1. Fill the base of the pan with water so it is up to the level of the steamer, but does not rise up into the steamer.

2. Set the stove burner to high.

3. Once the water is boiling, place the broccoli loosely in the steamer. It is okay to fill the steamer, but it should not be packed with broccoli.

3. Cover the pan.

4. Allow the broccoli to cook three to five minutes. If the pan is really full, you may need additional time.

5. Make sure to remove the pan from the heat source and to remove the lid once the broccoli is done or it will continue to cook.

It turned out perfectly, Laurel especially was happy! I think I'm going to be making my veggies this way from now on. No oil, no huge cleanup and all the vitamins left intact. How can you go wrong?

Just For Funny!

Best potatoes ever!

Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips

From www.wholefoodsmarket.com

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• 4 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 cup milk, hot
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Freshly ground white pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

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Serves 10

Parsnips, which look a bit like cream-colored carrots, add flavor and texture to otherwise traditional mashed potatoes. Stir in a handful of chopped green onions or grated cheddar cheese before serving, if you like.

Ingredients

4 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup milk, hot
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
Freshly ground white pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place potatoes and parsnips in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and summer until tender, 20 to 25 minutes. or until potatoes are very tender. Drain well, return to pot, add milk and butter and mash until almost smooth (or leave slightly chunky, if you prefer). Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Nutrition

Per Serving (292g-wt.): 300 calories (80 from fat), 9g total fat, 6g saturated fat, 7g protein, 46g total carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 25mg cholesterol, 810mg sodium

I told him...

Optimism will be your downfall.

Actively decide who you are!

Thursday's Thoughts

The thought of the day:

What you don't know can't hurt you

Bullshit. Anyone who believes this is lying to themselves. It is often the things that we don't know that come back to hurt us the most. What you don't know you don't have to deal with, but not dealing with something often makes it worse. And this applies to almost every aspect of life.

The reason I bring it up today is that I am soon to be looked at for promotion. A very big part of this is ensuring that my records are complete and accurate. In the course of correcting these records, I had an appointment with the civilian who is in charge of records for the entire base. My personnel departments has either failed to update my records, or updated them incorrectly for so long now that it took her almost an hour just to write down all the changes she needed to make. This is the same record that was looked at last year, the one I was told was good to go. And not only did she make the changes that I needed, but she also ensured that I understood them. What I didn't know last year hurt my chances severely. Now all I need is a lot of open slots and a little luck.

I Don't Think So, Tim!

There is no way in hell I will ever fly again. This is a huge privacy violation! My Dr. has never even seen this much of me! How can anyone agree to this? It's just another one of those stupid security measures that takes away a little bit more of our freedom (from embarrassment this time) just to make everyone feel safe. Did anyone catch the tiny news flash that the "Under ware Bomber" went through an airport that used these machines? No one knows if HE went through one, and there's the problem! The guy was acting strangely throughout the airport, had no luggage on a country to country flight....this was clearly a failing of the personnel, not the security measures.
I'm angry. This country gave away it's freedom for safety. As Thomas Jefferson said:

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.

I truly believe that 9/11 was a special case. I'm not going to say it will never happen again, but I doubt that something of that magnitude will again. It's not because of the war, or security measures...it's because they blew their wad with that one! Every attempt (that the powers that be let us know about) has been tiny. All of which have been stopped by the people around them. The only thing we need to do to be safe is keep our government under control and in it's place, and be personally vigilant. Pay attention to what's going on around you. Certainly not by showing my naked body to a bunch of airline jerks who will (I promise) find a way to record these images and post them on the Internet. There will be jokes about fat people, and pretty girls will be singled out. Maybe not everywhere, but you know there are a certain group of people in the world that will take advantage.
The world is starting to look more and more like George Orwell's nightmares....

Old Idea, New Application

I was thinking in the car, waiting for the girls to get out of school, that I need a visual reminder of my weight loss journey. If I had something I could keep with me all the time that would remind me of my ultimate goal, it might be easier to stick to it. I got to thinking about other ways I had marked time, or achievements and thought I'd steal from one of my own favorite ideas. When Jay leaves for training or war (Said so casually now, how sad.) The girls and I make either pie charts out of paper plates marking the passage of months, or paper chains marking the days. I didn't want to start a chain mail sort of project to mark each pound lost because it wouldn't be wearable for a long while, so rather I thought to make a bracelet that I could mark each pound lost with a bead. So, above you have the start of my project. Every week (hopefully) I will be able to add another bead...I'm just not sure yet if I will draw from the same few beads, or if it will be a mishmash of many different kinds. Maybe for particularly hard weeks, or special goals met I'll find something special to add, like a charm, or elaborate silver bead. I'm just not sure yet. I used brass, copper and sterling silver metals together to give myself some versatility, the large round beads are those luscious garnet beads I love so much, and the dangles are pearl, and a mystery bead I have a strand of. I hate it when bead shops don't label things. I'll never remember what it is, and it would be so helpful to have the knowledge!
I have a couple of projects in the works, so I hope to get those posted soon.

Weight Watchers!

I lost two pounds this week!
In other news, the man I'm married to lost five. Bah!

Locks of Love Part Deux

Me, before:


Me, after:





Isn't it funny sometimes, how life puts you exactly where you need to be? I made an appointment at a salon that was literally around the corner from my house. It's the only one that I've seen down here and remembered the location, because the name is Sybil's which reminds me of the novel of the same name about a girl with multiple personalities. It's funny, because the place sells wigs....Get it? Each time one of my girls dons a wig, they have a different personality, grandma, princess....maybe it's just me. I think it's funny, and that's why this place stuck in my memory. It turns out that these guys do so many Locks of Love donations that now they put them in a box and send them all off for the customer instead of having them sent off individually. Sue played with my now short hair, and talked me into trusting her (I know!) and I ended up with this cute little bob. The picture doesn't do it justice, because it's fluffy and bouncy, and curled under just so...Sue even showed me how to do it. How cool is that? I have never walked into a place with a picture of the cut I want and had anyone have the guts to tell me it wasn't right for me. And sure as heck never showed me how to fix it up!
As soon as I was done I had just enough time to run to target while I still remembered all the things she told me I needed. I spent a little too much, but it was fun to be girly for once. The problem is that with all of this arctic wind, my hair fell flat as soon a a gust hit me in the face! Bah!
I can't tell you how good it feels to have 12 inches cut off my hair. My head felt lighter immediately! Also, instead of a half an hour to blow dry my hair, it too maybe 5 minutes to get done, and it swishes when I tip my head. I love it. It feels free! I did notice under all those nasty lights that I have the widest jaw on the planet! When did that happen, and why is it that your mirror at home tells you you look great, and when you go out every reflective surface you encounter calls your mirror a lying bastard? I call bullshit! I resolve to never glimpse in someone Else's mirror again....
In other news, I've been sooooo good this week. I actually can't wait to get on the scale! I'll pretend that I'm not getting the munchies at 3 every day, if only this extra weight will go away faster. Hopefully this time next year I'll be laughing at three o' clock!
So, what do you think of the new do?

Locks of Love

I have an appointment in about an hour to chop off all of my hair! I've been holding off for a while, waiting for it to be long enough to donate to http://www.locksoflove.org/ I'm going to post pictures after the deed is done. I haven't had hair off my shoulder since Virgil came over one day, saw my new do, and said, "Oh, Stacy, What have you DONE!" Hahaha! That WAS a really bad cut. No kidding, the only pic of that hair was my driver's license, and thank god it's long expired now! I have a pic of the cut I want, so hopefully all will be well. Gulp. See you here in a couple of hours with the results!
From the site:

WHAT IS LOCKS OF LOVE?

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. We meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The prostheses we provide help to restore their self-esteem and their confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers.

And that's just awesome! It's easy to do too.

Desperate people do desperate things

Thursday's Thoughts

Today's thought:

The world does not have a ctrl-z function.

This is a kind of nerdy way to state an obvious thing; obvious to most people anyway. You can not undo that which has been done. Although you can hit ctrl-z on your computer, undoing the last action, you can not do so in life. The actions you take have repercussions, they have effect on the world, and those effects have effect as well. Some things look like they can be undone, you can tear down a wall, but remember that you can't un-build it. The resources were still used and free movement was for a time suspended. You can fix a broken window, but you can't un-break it. You can clean up pollution, but you can't un-pollute. And although you may pay for your crimes or even seek forgiveness for them, but you can't un-commit them. This knowledge throws a monkey wrench in most religions for me, but but the fact remains that the world does not have an undo.

Never, Ever, Ever

I repeat...Never....



Try to cut your own bangs. Just don't do it.

New Year, New Me?

So, here we go again. I finally went back to weight watchers today. After having issues, I'm good to go back. Err. I forgot what a whole lot of work it is. I have to do something though, because I seem to be sick an awful lot lately, and I need to get healthy. So starting this afternoon I'm back on the wagon. Don't wish me luck, wish me motivation, and will power!
I've really been lax in my blogging lately, mostly because there isn't anything going on that I can talk about. Certainly not anything I'd want to read if I were an outsider reading this blog! The kid went to Florida with Mom and Ron for two weeks over the holidays, which meant that amongst the every-fourth-day staff duty, Jay and I were alone! What did we do with this time? I'm not ashamed to say that we mostly watched every single rated R movie that has come out in the past two years. Oh, was it fun! The two stand outs for me were Inglorious Bastards, and Dead Girl. The former because any type of Hitler era movie/story gets me excited (can't go into detail, b/c a friend hasn't seen it yet, but the movie was intense!) and the latter because it was just so absolutely raw and disturbing.
The other big thing we did was shopping. We went on a hunt for a new table for the front room. We had had a trunk in between the two couches, but it was heavy, hard to move, and too darned tall. We went to South Carolina, several antique shops here, and finally after seeing a huge amount of over priced tables that we'd have top saw the legs off of anyway, we found a rugged, painted, worn down and beat up table that had just enough leg height that we could saw them down to our desired size. It's a funky green now, but as soon as it gets warm out I'll be out there with my sander and some stain. My favorite feature of the table is that it has a leaf, and pulls out really far, so we have enough space to play games, sit Japanese style and eat dinner, or simply plop our stuff and our feet down. We bought a new miter box and took it down about a foot as soon as we got home, and it's perfect!
I spent a lot of time alone too. Between Staff Duty, and the day after catching up on sleep, I spent many an hour trying to entertain myself. Some of which was spent making jewelry See below picture for my latest) and some was spent reading. I read the new thousand page Stephen King novel in less than a week, and started a trashy historical novel I had first read as a kid. Oh, Stephen, your constant reader was not disappointed! As a matter of fact I was quite happy with the ending, which sometimes doesn't happen with one of his novels. Again, I cannot go into the story line because Jay is still reading it, but I'll tell you, it was worth the wait.
Well, sadly, it's time for me to let the dogs back in and go get the girls. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my latest necklace...

New Year, Full of Possibilities

Thursday's Thoughts

Today's thought:

When the power of love is stronger than the love of power the world will know peace - Jimi Hendrix

What a wonderful thought on the eve of a new year. Yet despite how much of an optimist I tend to be, I have a hard time believing that humans as a group will ever overcome their love of power. Just look to ex-president (king George) Bush. Or the average dictator. Or on a much smaller scale, look to the day manager of your local fast-food joint, or your elementary school crossing guard. Each of these people, and many others, have such a desire for power that they often loose sight of what they are doing with it, and what they have been charged with, let alone sworn to do. Loving your neighbor is a great idea and the hippies may have stumbled on something great with the free love movement, but it was destined to fail before it started. In every group of humans, regardless of the size, someone will decide to control the group. And the larger the group, the more someone will be willing to do to be the one in control.

Take care and have a great 2010.

December Beads

Try figuring out how to put tiny holed pearls on cotton cord! I decided to go with super strong black thread, and sewed them on. What do you think? Personally, there are a couple of things that bother me, but nothing that I think anyone would be able to point out while it's on. I LOVE the pendant, which Sara bought in Alaska from the artist herself. Very cool!

The Truth Is Out There

What the hell is Kwanzaa, anyway?

This question has plagued me every year since I first heard of it in the nineties. Jay inspired me to go ahead and google it. Why not? I have to confess, as with all religious customs (Is it even religious? We'll find out in a moment.) I roll my eyes, and assume its some made up, based in craziness, excuse to party. I have never known anyone that celebrated the holiday, hence the lack of knowledge. I usually get a whole earful about some religion or other whether I like it or not. This leads me to roll my eyes again, and think, crazy humans....
So, Kwanzaa....
As defined at the above website, Kwanzaa is a celebration of family, community, and culture created by Dr. Maulana Karenga.
I admit that after reading through the pdf on this site I needed to get a fresh site that was a little more straight forward.
This site is easier to navigate, so I start reading. The simplest definition is:

"Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa, or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba—the seven principles of blackness), which Karenga said "is a communitarian African philosophy," consisting of what Karenga called "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." These seven principles comprise Kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:

• Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems, and to solve them together.
• Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Imani (Faith): To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle."

During the celebrations, the above are recited, as well as the African Pledge:

We will remember the humanity, glory and sufferings of our ancestors,

And honor the struggle of our elders;
We will strive to bring new values, and new life to our people;
We will have peace and harmony among us.

We will be loving, sharing, and creative.
We will work, study and listen, so we may learn;
learn so we may teach.
We will cultivate self-reliance.

We will struggle to resurrect and unify our homeland;
We will raise many children for our nation;
We will have discipline, patience, devotion and courage;
We will live as models to provide new direction for our people.

We will be free and self-determining;
We are African people...We will win!

I feel bad now...I just wanted to know what it meant, now I feel discriminated against! Assuming that the above is correct (it is from Wikipedia) it seems like this celebration is in place to keep the culture completely separate from all others in America. This seems to be counterproductive. Aren't we all supposed to be a cohesive unit? One country? United we stand? I love the idea of knowing your culture, and loving each other, but I feel like this is more a manifesto I might read in a KKK meeting. I have always hated how white people have treated African Americans in the past, and I grew up thinking that there needed to be unity, not more separatism. "Separate but equal" seemed nasty and unfair, but are there some African Americans that would have like things to stay that way? I wonder if there is anyone brave enough to let my readers in on the secret. If you have answers, please enlighten me! Perhaps there is a better website? Maybe I'm reading too much into the whole thing.

Boredom inspires creativity!

Well, so does procrastinating. Who wants to clean while all these beads are calling your name? It all started out innocently enough. I did have to clean off my bead table. It was all down hill from there.
The clasp on the river rock necklace isn't what I would have liked to use, but I'm fresh out of sterling silver, and I can't stand to let a project sit unfinished. I bought the river rock at a bead convention in Memphis, the large carved wooden bead is from a cute little bead store in Pennsylvania, the Kazuri beads are from Maine, and the Sterling silver swirls are from Kentucky. I tend to buy beads on trips, and let them sit until they speak to me. These guys were meant to be! Very simple design to show off the cool beads. I think it works. I think I may go back and work on something more complicated after dinner. Jay's on Staff Duty again, so I have nothing better to do.
The girls are in Florida with Manny and Poppy, so they will both post about their adventures later. I hear that Miah finally learned to ride a two wheeler! Until next time!

12 Days of Truth - The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Twelfth Day of Truth - The Reason For the Season

A little baby in a manger, surrounded by loved ones in the deep of December? That could not be farther from the truth. I will not even begin to dissect the inconsistencies with the common nativity mythology. Let's instead look at why it's happening on December 25th at all. First we have to look well before the earliest days of chritianity. The Persians as well as the Greeks and Romans celebrated what was known as Sol Ivicitus. It was called such so that many different sun gods could be celebrated as one. The winter solstice was chosen as the ideal day to celebrate the birth of the sun, as it was the shortest day of the year, and the sun would soon be gaining strength again. Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus. One named Cyprian wrote: "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born" But in fact early christians would have been very unlikely to have celebrated Jesus' birthday at all. According to Jewish law, the celebration of anyone's birth was a pagan custom. It was not for several hundred years that his birth was celebrated in December. What was celebrated between those times most prevalently was Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the week long celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman. The christians often hid their celebrations in the existing roman celebrations, to avoid persecution. It was far easier to just go along in most cases. Around the 4th century the christians actually adopted the festival date in order to try to win over the masses by Pope Julius I. As christianity spread to northern Europe the christians adopted more and more pagan traditions, such as the tree, the wreath, and the yule log. All of this assimilation was an attempt to win over the "ignorant pagans". Pagan in that day did not define a religion, simply meaning rural workers. Following the protestant reformation, groups such as the puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of property." The catholics responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old style Christmas generosity. As the puritans became outnumbered in America, the holiday ceased to be outlawed, and became popular again, becoming what we know it to be today.

Just for reference, below is a popular day to celebrate around the world. The following is a list of holidays celebrated on or around the solstice abridged from the list found on wikipedia. So what are you really celebrating on this day? Is it one of the ancient sun gods, the willingness of the church to add to the religion to garner more followers, or are you just happily paying lip service to one of the holidays below? Because when you look at history, there is NO reason for this season.

And know you know.

Buddhist
o Bodhi Day: 8 December - Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Guatama) experienced enlightenment (also known as Bodhi).
Celtic
o Winter Solstice: 21 December-22 December - midwinter
Germanic
o Modranect: or Mothers' Night, the Saxon winter solstice festival.
o Yule: the Germanic winter solstice festival
Jewish
o Hanukkah: Starting on 25 Kislev (Hebrew) or various dates in November or December (Gregorian) - eight day festival commemorating the miracle of the oil after the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his defeat in 165 BCE.
Muslim
o Eid ul-Adha: Starting on the 10th of Dhul Hijja, a four day holiday commemorating the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismael.
Pagan
o Yule: (Winter Solstice) - Germanic and Egyptian Pagan festival of the rebirth of the Sun
Andean
o Inti Raymi: Festival of the Sun in Quechua, winter solstice festival in areas of the former Inca empire, still celebrated every June in Cuzco.
Persian
o Yalda: The turning point, Winter Solstice (December 21). End of the longest night of the year (Darkness), and beginning of growing of the days (Lights). A celebration of Good over Evil.

o Shabe Yaldā (Persian: یلدا) or Shabe Chelle (Persian: شب چله) is an Iranian festival originally celebrated on the Northern Hemisphere's longest night of the year, that is, on the eve of the Winter Solstice.
Slavic
o Karachun - the ancient Slavs polytheistic winter solstice festival

Thursday's Thoughts

Today's Thought:

Some things we do, even if we detest them ourselves; define us. -1618 16DEC03

It's been a few years since I wrote this in my book. I do not remember what in specific I was writing about, but I feel that I need to change the thought a bit. Everything we do, especially the things we detest, define us. To do what you are morally or ethically opposed to, that changes you irrevocably. Once you violate your beliefs, you can not go back. Not a lot else to say this week, just please think about that before you allow yourself to compromise your integrity.

12 Days of Truth - The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Eleventh Day of Truth - Christmas Eve

Ever wonder why we celebrate the "eve" of Christmas. This is actually easily explained. Prior to the adoption of the Julian Calender (around 45 AD), the day was known to end at sunset. Thus the new day also began at sunset. A calender day was an evening or "eve" followed by a day. Thus all holiday celebrations began at sunset and worked into the next day. This tradition has most notably continues with Christmas and Halloween, which was new years day on the Celtic Calender.

And now you know.

12 Days of Truth - The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Tenth Day of Truth - Santa Claus

A jolly old man, slipping magically into homes and leaving presents for the good boys and girls of the world. Aside from the disturbing questions that immediately arise, we should ask ourselves how this figure became such a large part of our culture. Santa owes his legend to many sources, and he has undergone many transformations over the years. There are a number of parallels to the Norse god Odin, who would ride an eight legged horse through the sky distributing gifts with his white beard trailing behind him. While these similarities may explain some of the legend, Santa's namesake was much more mortal. Bishop Nicholas of Myra (later sainted) died about 350 AD. His legend was such that by the middle ages, he was mentioned in prayer nearly as much as Mary. Among Nicholas' miracles were saving three girls from poverty by tossing gold down their chimney and resurrecting three murdered boys. The Feast of St. Nicholas on Dec. 6 has been observed with great enthusiasm throughout Medieval Europe over the centuries. This enthusiasm was due to the many legends that had grown up around Nicholas: that he had distributed gifts to the poor at night through their windows, had fasted while a baby, saved a city from famine, had aided a ship in distress, etc. Because of the gift-giving legends associated with Nicholas, it was held (especially in Belgium and Holland) that on the Eve the Feast of Nicholas, the bishop himself would come from heaven and visit children in their homes, giving gifts to those who had been good. Nicholas, decked out in full ecclesiastical garb (bishop's vestments, with miter and cozier), would arrive on a flying gray horse (or white donkey, depending on the custom). In some variations of the legend, he was accompanied by Black Peter, an elf whose job was to punish children who had been bad. And here Santa evolved. The dutch began to call this visitor Sinterclass. Although the reformation during the 16th century abolished the feast of Saint Nicholas (and with it the visits from Sinterclass) due to the detraction from christ, the church created a veneration of the Christkindl (Christ-child) instead, who, it was said, brought gifts to children on Christmas Eve.
When the Dutch came to America in the 17th century and founded New Amsterdam, it was with an amalgamation of these two gift givers. Author Washington Irving (1789-1853), most famous for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," is important for the information he gives us on the Dutch version of Sinter Klaas in the early nineteenth century. Washington's 1809 work "The History of New York (also called the "Knickerbocker History") was a satire on the transplanted customs of the Dutch of New York city. The "History" contained several references to the legend of St. Nicholas as observed by the Dutch. The St. Nicholas described by Irving was an old man in dark robes who arrived on a flying horse on the Eve of St. Nicholas to give gifts to children. Dr. Clement Clark Moore revised this image further when he wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas." Finally Santa got a new image in 1935 for perhaps one of the most fitting reasons. The Coca-Cola Cooperation began running a series of advertisements that depicted Santa, not as a tiny elf, but as an average sized jolly fat man. One who, of course, loved their product.

When you leave those milk and cookies out this christmas eve, as the dutch children left treats in their shoes by the fire, please keep a good picture of whom you are leaving them for. Will you leave them for the Saint on the flying white horse, the sprite-like Christkindl, the tiny elf that Dr. Moore wrote about, or the advertising gimmick thought up to sell soda?

And now you know.

12 Days of Truth - The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Ninth Day of Truth - Christmas Tree

The single most common symbol of christmas. It seems like everyone in the world would recognize an evergreen tree with a star (or and angel) on top and lights, bulbs, and other shiny things adorning it as a christmas tree. But what in the world does a tree have to do with the celebration it is known for? As we've discussed, almost every pre-christian culture celebrated the solstice in one form or another. This celebration was one of joy for the waning of winter and celebration of the coming spring. Nothing represented this perseverance over the cold winter months more than an evergreen tree. The pagan cultures would not kill the whole tree and bring it inside, but just cut boughs to decorate. Most often fruit and candles would be used to decorate the boughs, one a symbol of the bounty to come, the other to symbolize the warmth and power the strengthening sun would bring. The earliest history of using a tree to celebrate christmas tells of it's use in northern Germany around the mid 16th century. By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. The custom had spread to England by Queen Victoria's childhood. There are also traditional dates to put up and take down the tree. It is said that to put it up before the eve of christmas or to fail to take it down by the sixth of January (the 12th day of christmas) was bad luck. But of course the commercialization of the holiday has extended that tradition in some cases to before Thanksgiving.

Each year more than 33 million trees are cut and sold for christmas. They are decorated quite before the tradition dictates and placed in a position of honor that nearly borders on worship. On the day of christmas, children run to it to receive their presents. This year, I suggest taking a good look at what you are really celebrating.

And now you know.

Future world?

12 Days Of Truth - The Real Meaning Of Christmas

The Eighth Day of Truth - The Yule Log

A cozy fire on the eve of christmas, such a nice warm tradition. But it's origins are much older than even the holiday that it is being used to celebrate. The Celtic pagans have celebrated the winter solstice for ages before the christian faith started. This holiday was known as Yule. The yule log would be a very large log that had to be cut by the burner, never purchased. The log would sometimes be decorated with holly and burned all night. This would indeed have to have been a rather large log to burn through the longest night of the year. There would also traditionally be a piece of the log left over at dawn, which would be kept in the house until the next yule for good luck. That piece would be used as kindling for the next year's log. By the fourth century the christians had adopted burning a large log overnight on christmas. The original meaning has long since been lost and modern people often have no idea why they traditionally burn a log overnight.

When you light your log on fire this year, remember that it's a little more than warmth that you are bringing into your home, but also one of the very first traditions that the christians adopted.

And now you know.

12 Days Of Truth - The Real Meaning Of Christmas

The Seventh Day of Truth - Candy Canes

A sweet cane shaped mint. Sometimes hung on trees or garland, sometimes in the stocking, sometimes just because they taste good, but where do they come from. About two hundred-thirty years ago in Germany, the children that went to church were really loud and noisy. They often moved around and would not pay attention to the choirmaster. This was especially difficult for the choirmaster when they were supposed to be sitting still for the long living Nativity ceremony. So to keep the children quiet, he gave them a long, white, sugar candy stick. He couldn’t give them chocolate or anything like that because the people at that church would think it was sacrilegious. So he gave them the stick and he bent it on the end to look like a cane. It was meant to look like a shepherd’s cane, and so it reminded the children of the shepherds at Jesus’ birth. In 1847, a German-Swedish immigrant in Wooster, Ohio put candy canes on his Christmas tree and soon others were doing the same. Sometime around 1900 candy canes came to look more like what we know them as today with the red stripes and peppermint flavoring. Some claim that the shape also looks like the letter “J” for Jesus, not just a shepherd’s cane. It is possible that these things were added for religious symbols, but there is no evidence that is true.

And now you know.

12 Days Of Truth - The Real Meaning Of Christmas

The Sixth Day of Truth - Caroling

A group of singers, huddled together in the cold, walking from house to house spreading christmas cheer with only their voices. Where did this start? Caroling is a direct descendant of wassailing. Wassail loosely translates to "good health". The tradition is said to have started in the third or fourth century. At celebrations of the solstice people would toast each other and call out the term wassail. By the fourteenth century, wassailing had become a common feature at christmas parties. The peasants would come to the houses of the rich on christmas, to be wassailed as well as given gifts. As time progressed, the large bowl that held the wassail (also the name of the drink used in the toast by this point) began to be carried from house to house to toast the whole town. Often christmas carols would be sung between houses. Eventually the toast fell away, but the caroling continued.

So next time you go out caroling, do not forget the origins of the custom and be sure to toast to the health of those houses you visit. Just please don't knock on my door.

12 Days Of Truth - The Real Meaning Of Christmas

The Fifth Day of Truth - Mistletoe

Ever snuck a kiss under the mistletoe? This is a favorite christmas tradition for teenagers world-wide. Long before the the events in the new testament, the druids used mistletoe to celebrate the coming of winter. They would gather this evergreen plant and use it to decorate their homes. They believed the plant had special healing powers for everything from female infertility to poison ingestion. Scandinavians also thought of mistletoe as a plant of peace and harmony. They associated mistletoe with their goddess of love, Frigga. The custom of kissing under the mistletoe probably derived from this belief. It was noted as part of the saturnalia celebrations as well as early wedding traditions. The early church banned the use of mistletoe in christmas celebrations because of its pagan origins. Instead, church fathers suggested the use of holly as an appropriate substitute for christmas greenery. By the 18th century mistletoe had become vogue again. So much so, in fact, that large balls would be held known as kissing balls. No girl under the mistletoe could refuse to be kissed, the kiss either signifying true love, or just a lasting friendship. Any girl not kissed by the end of the night would not be married the next year. Some traditions required that the mistletoe be burned on the twelfth day to ensure the happiness of these bonds.

This tradition is mostly harmless, especially in the eyes of a boy who would have been able to kiss any girl he wanted.

And now you know.

Passion is your greatest weapon

12 Days Of Truth - The Real Meaning Of Christmas

The Fourth Day of Truth - The Wreath

A circle of pine branches and assorted greenery; it sounds ripe with symbolism. As it should. The ancient Greeks and Romans used laurel wreaths as a symbol of victory. The origins of this are unclear, but circles and rings have been revered in almost every culture throughout history. The christmas wreath, however, is known as an advent wreath. It's origins are better known. The advent (from the Latin for waiting) wreath has it's origins in the Celtic peoples traditions of making wreaths out of the boughs of the trees that survived the winter still green and adding candles to symbolize that the winter would end and warmer days were to come. No small leap, then, that as the christians spread into the Germanic lands they found the symbolism to be very similar to the four weeks before christmas in which they celebrated awaiting their savior.

This holiday symbol was directly and blatantly re-purposed for use by the christians. I personally am not a fan of waiting, so I can't give this symbol too much support.

And now you know.

Thursday's Thoughts

Today's Thought,

You can only see what is in front of your face.

I tend to think that I can fix systems that are outside of my scope of responsibility. I will look at something that someone else is doing and thin that I know how to better do that thing. I am constantly reminding myself that you can not possibly know the difficulty level of a job until you do it, and that you can not possibly know why a person made a decision until you are faced with their exact circumstances. The old adage about walking a mile in someone's shoes is as correct as it ever was. That said, I still don't know how to stop myself, or to keep myself from getting mad when others do it. Maybe with age I will learn to take a breath just keep my mouth shut, as I would like others to do.

12 Days Of Truth - The Real Meaning Of Christmas

The Third Day of Truth - Stockings

Hung by the chimney with care, stuffed with little trinkets for the tykes. Where does this tradition come from? The most common myth is about a nobleman who spent himself poor after loosing his wife. Unfortunately he had three daughters and could now not afford their dowry. The myth claims that Saint Nicolais tossed a bag of gold for each daughter down their chimney which was caught by the stockings that they had placed there to dry overnight. Another myth claims that the dutch children would leave presents for Sinterclass in their clogs. The clogs evolved to stockings around the time that Sinterclass evolved into Santa. And the idea for coal? That originated in Italy. Tradition states that the stockings should contain something to eat, a thing that makes a sound, one that gives a pleasant view to the eyes, and a gift which has a lovely fragrance as these are supposed to be the gifts left by Santa. The presents under the tree were to be from family.

A simple tradition, and one of the few that still hearkens to the spirit of christmas as I understand it. The small, simple gifts are in direct contrast to the commercial gluttony that the holiday has become.

And now you know.

Traveling Beads

One of the many things my friend Sara and I have in common is a love of beads and jewelry making. Another thing we have in common is the dubious honor of being Army Wives. Since we met on Fort Campbell five or six (wow) years ago, our families have both moved on. To new Posts that is. She's all the way up in Alaska, and we are all the way down in Georgia. In an effort to keep our connection going, and giving ourselves something to look forward to, we started trading mystery bead mixes. This month, Sara sent a strange mix of bone, amethyst, silver, and glass. I have to say, I paused for a minute over the bones( but anyone would tell you that they are right up my alley!!!) and how they would blend into a design, but a flash of green and copper crossed my mind, and I went hunting in my crazy drawers and containers to add a few items I thought would pull the idea together. I wanted to use copper, but only had one end of a copper toggle, so I grabbed a copper coin and got to work with my files and hole punch. The ammonite has been saved for a long time, waiting for the right project, and I thought that the purple shimmer would be perfect with the mix. I think I was right...
I hope, Sara, that this meets your challenge! I LOVED this mix.
I can't wait for the next box..yours is already on it's way!
-Stacy

12 Days Of Truth - The Real Meaning Of Christmas

Second Day of Truth - Lights

Such pretty little things. They bring cheer and warmth and spread the spirit of the holidays, but what spirit is that? Early pagans lit fires to signify the birthday of the sun, on the longest night of the year. Jewish people have been lighting candles on Hanukkah since the second century. It's no wonder that these and many other winter holidays involve fire and lights, with the long cold nights. History tells that lights were first placed on trees around the sixteenth century, held on by wax or pins. By 1900, department stores started selling strings of lights. Albert Sadacca is credited for producing the first safe brightly colored strands of lights in 1917. Although the lights started out as an expensive novelty, they have since become a cheep mass produced commodity, often used to show that one person's holiday spirit is much better than his neighbor's.

I say that while a few lights may be tasteful and ancient in their traditions, the desperate need to light up the whole block with twinkling and blinking bulbs in every shade of the rainbow is a blatant waste of electricity. So think a little greener this season, and cut down a little.

And now you know.

12 Days Of Truth - The real Meaning Of Christmas

First Day of Truth - Gingerbread Men

One of the most harmless parts of the Christmas tradition? Not even close. The gingerbread man has origins in some of the oldest pagan traditions. The Greek poet Lucian, when describing Saturnalia, made note of consuming human shaped biscuits. These biscuits were, like the animal shaped ones before them, seen as an alternative to ritual sacrifice. As the christians adopted some of the traits of Saturnalia around the 4th century in order to try to bring in the pagan masses, they brought the cookies with them. Later, as the crusaders pillaged the Middle East, they found spices such as ginger and sugar. Early on gingerbread was made by monks, but by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries bakers began to specialize in the treat. In France and England these bakers formed guilds, and were given the exclusive right to make gingerbread, except at Christmas and Easter. This lead to it becoming a holiday tradition.

So next time you bite into your representation of human sacrifice, flavored by spices taken during a war based solely on religious differences, and made into a holiday treat in order to ensure the church maintained a profit; I suggest showing a little mercy and eating it head first.

And now you know.

Five-Word Friday

Compromise society before your integrity.

Esther Ridenour in rememberance

Cockrill, Esther M. Ridenhour
December 11, 2005
Esther M. Ridenour Cockrill 84, Indianapolis, died December 10, 2005. She was born in Indianapolis on September 15, 1921. She was a teletype operator for Western Union retiring in 1976 after 20 years of service. She is survived by her daughters Sharon Plumlee (Ron) and Debbie Engelking (Don); 11 grandchildren and numerous great and great-great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husbands Harry Ridenour and Larry Cockrill, and her son Jim Ridenour. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Monday, December 12, at Flanner & Buchanan Funeral Center – Washington Park East. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the funeral center. Burial will take place in Acton Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made in Esther's name to the Alzheimer's Association. www.flannerbuchanan.com

Orange Marmalade Thumprint Cookies/Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened (two sticks)

1 1/2 cups white sugar (I used a little less, due to lack of correct amount, and they came out better than usual!)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.
( For thumbprint cookies, push center of dough balls in and place SMALL amount of jelly, jam or marmalade in middle. Bake a little longer than usual, keeping a constant eye on them. I used orange marmalade, and they were quickly gobbled up by the very child who proclaimed that they "look yucky".)

Surprise Kitty

Five-Word Friday

Motivation is useless without direction.