Try it again?

My first edit. I am almost in love with my mac.






If you still can't see it, try this. Let me know what works...

Spring

I am sharing this from a FLYlady email. It just made me really thankful for not only the beauty and grandeur of our natural world, but also grateful for the (so called) simple things.


Spring-

What if we had to pay for it?

I imagined Terry [authors husband] saying,

"Pam, we have to talk."

"What?"

"With the economy the way it is right now, we just don't have the
money to pay for a full blown spring. So you're gonna to have to make
some decisions about what you absolutely have to have bloom as far as
your roses go and we REALLY have a tree dilemma!"

"A tree dilemma? What d'ya mean?"

"I mean you're gonna to have to pick which ones you want to leaf out
and which ones we can leave bare. We can't afford to pay for them
all. Like I know how much you love the walnut tree, but do you have
any idea how many leaves have to go on just that one tree to fill it
out? And then there are the birds."

"What about the birds?"

"We just can't afford to bring `em all in this year. Do you realize
how much it costs to travel these days? So again, you need to decide
which birds you can do without out. You can choose ONE. Pick a bird."

"Pick a bird?"

"That's what I said."

"But I need my Rufus's, and the robins and the finches and the
chickadees and my quail and my crows and those little "walnut" birds
(they're really called bushtits but I don't like that name) oh and I
have to have my blue birds!"

"I wish we could afford all of `em, Honey, but just take those blue
birds for example, they ship from 3,000 miles away! And as much as
you love the robins, the cost of feathers (especially red ones) has
gone up 150% in the last year. Oh and those humming birds you love so
much are energy guzzlers and we just can't afford to have them this
year. Pick a bird."

When I came out of my fantasy dialogue I was filled with gratitude!
Spring is FREE! ALL my trees get to leaf, ALL my roses get to bloom,
ALL my birds get to come, ALL my chipmunks, squirrels, deer, bob cats,
elk, yes and even bear and cougar will be enjoying a very free spring
right along with me.

Thank you God!

anti-intellectualism and virulent ignorance

Simple. Just simple people. Don't confuse, condemn, or try to show them the error of their ways, for there is no error. Just ask them. There seems to be a perverse pride in their belief that it is not important to be educated. Forget even educated, how about even aware. "Pardon me whilst I bury my head in that lovely sand mound right over there."

There is a new book on my list, The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby. In it she examines this anti-intellectualism:

"Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing their hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations."

"According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important."

"That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge."

"The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it's the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place."

"Call this anti-rationalism -- a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism."


"Far too many of those who think they're knowledgeable on some very important subjects have in fact been educated into even greater ignorance, swallowing a series of falsehoods and half-truths that make them think they know what they're talking about when they don't..." ~Ed Brayton

ho hum

Not too much to report, even though it has been quite a stretch in between posts. The vacation was the best ever. It worked out that we got a larger room (wonderful with the kids) and access to a private pool. That in itself almost made the vacation. But we also did some very fun stuff. And who wouldn't just be happy to leave this dreariness for blue water, cloudless skies, sand, and warmth? That alone was worth it. SO it was great. I'll stop reveling now, but it was great.

I came home to cram for two days for the psychopharm test. It's all over and i made it through. I start back march 31.

I am trying to get back into my flylady routine, I miss it. I feel like I have been aimless, wandering around with nothing to study and not sure what to clean (I assure you, there are no shortages of options). J really likes it when I am on it, I think he was so impressed that he was going to let some of his married buddies know about it. I call him my flyguy when he chips in and takes some of the routine off my hands. He would probably kill me if he knew I shared that. Good thing he isn't a reader of this blog.

But overall, things are pretty much back to normal. I ordered a new film scanner to scan my negatives to convert to digital. That is going to take months so I thought I can do it when i am studying and whatever. It takes almost a minute per frame! So that is a project. It can run while i am otherwise occupied, but at the computer.

BTW- does anybody have any experience with macbooks? I am also thinking about one of those to do all of my photo and video stuff on. Just not sure if it would be worth it or not.

Ahhhh....we're back

Bye!

Bye guys!

I am still running around trying to get everything packed and things crossed of my to do list in typical fashion, not Flyladying it here at all. So, the floors aren't vacuumed, sorry Anna!

We are leaving extra early to try and avoid the nasty weather.

I hope.

I am going to try to send photos to my blog from my cell, I haven't ever tried, but apparently it is something you can do.

I will miss you but will catch up with everyone when I get back.
The ship has email, but I don't remember what my email address is there, or how often I will be checking it.

Weekend

The weekend was good. The wedding went fine. It went and that was the major thing. The boys had an absolute blast. There were a few other children, but not too many so they played, danced, and got sugar stoned from the open bar (they got sodas whenever they liked). It was awesome for them. A little awkward for me, if you know the backstory you know why. If not, it will have to wait, it isn't bloggable I'm afraid. But overall, tolerable and at times enjoyable. Jeff and I had a good time together, and it has been a while for that, so that was good.

I am again, chained to my desk trying to finish all of my reading and assignments. There are only 2 weeks left of this (insert own pejorative here) class. We leave on Saturday for our cruise and I really can't wait. I don't want to have to do too much on the boat. Nathan will have schoolwork, so we will have to take some time, but I don't want it to interfere with our fun! Alright, I am off to it.

BTW-I need a house/dog sitter. Anybody know of anybody?

Happy Happy

It has been an exciting 24 hours. I say that tongue-in-cheek. I am such a spaz sometimes. I become so focused, consumed, and tunnel-visioned with the most ridiculous stuff. The internet went out yesterday afternoon. This was after all of the hullabaloo with my new template and no links. I still have to figure that one out, every time I try to change it to a new color or italicize my words it wipes out my links and comments, but I digress. sort of. So I was already stirred up over that, I wasted too much time on it then I find in the middle of the day nothing is loading. I wait a couple of hours, hoping. I have 2 assignments due. crap.

So I call comcast. I have no bill, they are not in the yellow pages, and I have no internet to look them up, so I dial 1800comcast and sure enough, there they are. So the guy has me unplug my router so he can "look at" my modem. hmmmmmm, not seeing anything, it must be a bad modem or something outside of the house, he has to send someone out but not until tomorrow.

Tomorrow?!?!?!?

I deduce that if it is the modem, I should save some time by trying that first, so I go to kmart to buy a new modem. Not sure if anyone goes to our kmart for electronics, but if you are planning on it, save yourself the time and go to best buy. They had nothing.

SO I buy some pantry organizers (I am a new flylady remember) and leave. I answer my phone and curse and spit at my husband. Poor guy, it isn't his fault. (at least I don't think so).

I go home resigned to just wait until tomorrow. Maybe I can do my assignment with the books I have, save it to a file and upload it from a friends house. I am looking forward to the comcast guy coming, he is always so friendly. We have had several dealings with him since moving. My contractor even gave him the name "Happy" when they were working here. *dripping sarcasm*

So Jeff comes home early and volunteers to take the kids to Wal-Mart to get a new modem. I agree and there is a riot. "I DON"T WANNA GO!" "I WANT YOU TO GO MOMMY!" Then Jeff mentions chinese buffet and I relent.

SO off we go to Sayre. I have no work done whatsoever. But hey, chinese is involved.

We get home and I resist the urge to fiddle with setting up the new modem. We decide that since it is so late we will wait until happy gets here to see for sure before we open the new modem. Jeff monkeys with it a bit, resets it or something to no avail.

This morning I go in and plug the router back in, the lights come on and I have internet.

I call the nice guy back at comcast to cancel Happy. I can only hope the cancellation will reach him in time so as not to disrupt his day, and also so that I don't have to give him the news that I don't need him anymore when he shows up at my door.

I am out the door at 11:35 to pick up my drycleaning and head to Scranton. All is well and no Happy. My day at the new practice is good, very different than from where I was, but good. I am looking forward to being there, however the drive is a bit killer, about 1hr40min. But it is temporary. It got me thinking about a lot of stuff (the drive), but that will have to wait until another blog. The natives are starting to circle...

No links!

I am not sure why, but after I played with my template yesterday I am no longer able to link to anything or view my comments. Except on my laptop from which I do all of my playing since my desktop does not like pop-up windows. (It freezes up and causes me to curse and spit every time)

I have no idea what is going on, my comments are enabled, everything looks the same. I am stressing a bit here, does anyone know what it could be? All the links are enabled on my laptop, but not my other computer and Tiff emailed me this morning to say she could not get into my comments either. Augh!

little help?

FLYing

I have decided to reign in the CHAOS. Do ya wanna know what that is? Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. Plus I generally have a lack of routine and organization. So I joined flylady. Some of you know her, I met her once years ago, but she was too hardcore for me at the time. Well, I need to develop some monotony (just kidding) but I do need a routine, and after having a blogiscussion with the housewife about lack of structure at home, I decided to look her (flylady)up again. I am taking my own approach to this so far, but I am going to start her daily routine very soon. I just had to get a jumpstart on the kitchen and let me tell you, it hasn't been this clean since we moved in. I just have the floor to do. I took almost 3 huge trashcans full of junk out of just my kitchen. scary. I even inventoried all foodstuffs to mealplan. I KNOW!

So, I have been doing that for 2 straight days, no interruptions, no plans. It amazes me how much time a house takes. I just want to not always feel like I am cleaning and then having it all undone seconds later. So this is really a change in habits, not a cleaning style. It will hopefully go better than weight watchers. I am not a huge fan of delayed gratification or deprivation. Now is better. ya know?

The next 2 days will be devoted solely to psychopharm, then off to my clinical site in Scranton on Friday.

Then as far as we all still know, my BIL is getting married on saturday.

Then another week of FLYing, psychopharm, then that next saturday my family and I are off to the Bahamas bay bay! Then I return to take my retched final exam. Then 2 weeks of freedom, sweet, sweet freedom.

Intro

I just wanted to let my blooger gals know of another great blog (with a really nice blogger gal on the other end) The (not so) reluctant housewife. She is a very, very old friend, even older than I am. (Sorry kat) Seriously, Kathy was one of my closest friends in high school and we have kept in touch sporadically through the years, but we were real tight for time and I am thrilled to be able to keep up with her a little more regularly now. Don'tcha justlove blogs? Or B-Lawgs if you prefer ;)
Anyhoo, if you could actually meet her you would love her. She is brand spankin new to blogging so if you want, give her a shout.

mid life crisis

I was just visiting an old friends blog and listened to some of her new tunes. Her new tunes usually consist of hippie bands or hair bands, but just the same, I like them. I scrolled down and listened to a Gin blossoms song and it was painful. I know, I know, it is the Gin Blossoms after all (sorry kat). Seriously though, they were all that several years ago and I even had the cassette. But it was painful in that way that only certain sensory elements can grab you and throttle you sometimes, like smells, music is incredibly evocative for me.

Instantly I was hit by the wave. I was just starting out, I had just graduated from college, just bought my first new car, just moved to Phila., just moved into possibly the best apartment ever, just started a great job in a big hospital, and was shoring up the romantic relationship that was to be my last. It was all exciting, scary, but empowering. I was in my very early 20's but I felt I had done all the things an early 20's chick should have done-dated and partied. Now I was done with all that, I was moving on to adulthood and it felt great. I did not fear the movement into the next phase of my life at all.

The song comes in because I used to listen to it frequently (on my tape deck) in that brand new car on the way to work. I thought I had everything wrapped up. I had the world by the short one so to speak. I didn't fear anything.

Over the next 15 or so years things have continued to be more or less great, and fairly routine. Nothing shocking or unusual. Hmmm......

I think back to those times and I realize that the reason that everything was great and I didn't really fear anything is because I had the rest of my life to do whatever I wanted. I had no limitations. I wasn't too old for anything! I know I am not old-old, but it is a little late for some things. I sort of feel like I have been carelessly meandering down this road and now I see where I am heading and I want to slow down or go back a little. My kids are growing up so fast, our young family is maturing and soon I will be sending them off. There are so many things that I enjoy that I think "a girl almost 40 should be more mature". I never, ever, ever want to be the lady that doesn't know she is middle aged. You know, the one who still shops at Abercrombie even though she is 50. Please lady, go across the hall to Eddie Bauer.

Anyway, I have felt over the last few years (pretty much after 35 for me and after the toddler years for the kids) that even though I am looking forward to the next phase(s), I fear them because they are one more phase closer to the end. And I am afraid they won't be as sweet as the last. I guess I just don't feel older sometimes, but I know that I am.

my demise?

Well, it is official. This class is going to kill me. I had an exam last night, I don't remember if I complained about it specifically in my last blog or not but I don't want to go back and check. So, let me just say that the average grade for the class was 56. Yes, that is correct, 56%, like out of 100%. Now I am nothing if not modest, but I would like to add that mine was slightly higher, slightly. 50 questions. multiple choice no less. apparently taken from material that our class was not privvy to.

I am slightly angry at this point, I don't expect it to be easy, nor do I want him to spoon feed us the info directly from the literature. He explained to us that exam questions directly from the readings were appropriate for bachelors level, not masters. oh. pardon me. But perhaps you could give us questions that are somewhat relevant to the work we just neglected our families, homes, (and for some, personal hygiene) for!? I know there are people who studied far more than me and no one did well. So why bother? Is this some teaching technique that I am not familiar with? C'mon, I know there are teachers reading this, divulge! It's torture isn't it, it isn't really techniqe. There is sadism behind this, I know it!

There is a happy ending, he curved it 28 points. Go figure. No,no don't write applicable questions, just provide the most anxiety provoking experience of my academic career to date ( I think I might have PTSD now) and then throw in some extra, unearned points. I think everybody will be happy with that.