mandalei

Followed this link at Making Light, where you can read the article, with her comments, about the Ankara School’s work on revising the haditha.

… in my blogroll, but this post really struck me.  It’s funny to read something you weren’t even aware you were thinking.

We have three feeders outside right now, one for suet, one for thistle, and one for safflowe.  After a length of time where they were unpopular, we now have a good number of daily visitors, including
Tufted titmice
Black-capped Chickadees
Goldfinches with winter plumage
A lone white-breasted nuthatch

and occasionally we have a downy woodpecker.  Jack likes to watch out the window with me, and from his vantage point in the walker, he also likes to look up through the window at the leaves rustling in the wind.  I love that he will move himself to places that provide him with good views.  I think it’s time to load him up in his backpack and go for a walk today, since it’s 42 out, and sunny, and we’re going to have two days of winter storms starting tomorrow.

I always watch the red carpet at the Oscars, because I love seeing all the dresses and what people are wearing.  Sometimes, though, you see a train wreck like Gary Busey accosting Ryan Seacrest (weirdest red carpet scene I’ve ever seen!).

But what’s got me pondering the line of annoying is that RS just heckled asked Jessica Alba, and yeah yeah, I know that’s sort of his job to find out how far along she is, what the due date is and whatnot… but he just asked her if she was going to breastfeed her child. And I sure don’t think it’s because he’s interested in the well-being of her child, but more is interested in what will be going on with the mammaries of  a movie star.

Ass.

Sick–as the doc said so graciously, “you have grey slime on your tonsils.”  First test was negative for strep, so I just have to wait and see if tomorrow’s test is positive, and then we’ll go from there.  Hopefully I won’t pass this to Jack, but I wouldn’t bet on it–he’s been sucking on my face more or less successfully today (since I am more or less successful fending him off).

I can spell, I promise.  I sometimes forget to use the spell check (because it’s kind of annoying on this thing), but the biggest problem is that I had this computer while I was pregnant.  Pineapple juice (from those vitamin C cravings) made the F, D, and S keys stick.  Apparently, the dead zone has migrated to include all keys around the letter D.

I have gotten The Bug of Doom.  More when the vomiting is done.

When I taught middle school, there was a young girl who came to me and asked me why, when she worked so hard to be nice and friendly and a good friend to others, she was still on the outside.  She saw her other friends being invited to things in front of her, yet she was not; she was a smart, funny girl who had a different take on the world than those around her, but sometimes things just didn’t seem to work for her and she was on the fringe.  Does it get better, she asked?  Feeling as if there is something wrong with you, feeling lonely even when you’re in a group of people?

I  wanted to tell her that it did get better, but I didn’t want to lie to her because I don’t think it does.  What changes is how we learn how to deal with it, but I didn’t want to lie to her about that, either, because the feelings of loneliness and unease… they don’t really change all that much.   I think about her, sometimes, when I feel the same things she was struggling with.

A little boy-doll to give to a new friend’s little girl who’s moving away.  I am very sad.  I will post pictures after I have actually given it to her, but as I was making it I realize how much more I needed to be creative. I have lots of potential, I just need to *do* it.  I really want to get my painting kit set up, but I need some space with good light to do that, and I also need to just start sketching and doodling some, to get back in the habit. I think it would have a big impact not only on my painting and drawing, but get me out of my analytical rut, so to speak.  I want to paint a mural in Jack’s room, too, but don’t want to start it until I have something quality.  I know the argument there is “when will it ever be time?” and part of me feels like I am always saying “I need to research this first before I begin,” so maybe the trick is to just wing it an let my creative juices flow.  I have really gotten away from that, in the last decade or so–I used to be alot more free with what I did.  Maybe each day I just need to do something spontaneous and it will come back.

Still working on: grampa’s quilt.  I am almost done with quilting the grid, then it’s time to FMQ (free motion quilt) the center motif, and then the border (and the binding, finally, but who cares about that with all this quilting to be done?)  Promise I will put some pics up once these things are off to their new owners! Before then, maybe I’ll post some close-up shots…

Saw this while I was getting groceries today… Reese isn’t looking so good these days (sorry this is the best pic of the cover I could find).

Something about this cover makes her seem so tired.  Is she wearing a bathrobe?  just rawled out of bed?  What’s up with that lantern jaw?  It’s a far cry from this cover from September 2006:

As we say in the South, “Bless her heart.”