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Friday Fill-in

And…here we go!

1. When it’s quiet I enjoy the respite, knowing it will be brief.
2. My daughter is having her 9th birthday in what seems like a month.
3. My heart is strong and resilient.
4. Hot, hazy, and humid with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms describes July.
5. In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea (OH come ON — how could I resist).
6. Dishwasher loading skills is something I really love about my significant other / friend.  (HEY – that’s important in a spouse)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to watching the movie Up, tomorrow my plans include going to see my favorite sister, and possibly my new great niece and Sunday, I want to sleep in but I told Dean I’d help with sound at the 8:30 service!

(How does this fit into “saved” well, I’ve been “saved” from having to think up another idea by a Friday Fill-In — WHEW)

I’m rusty – bear with me

“Write…. Writing is a muscular activity as well as an intellectual activity. You actually have to do it, and the play will come through the combination of thinking and moving a pen or fingers on a keyboard.”  Tony Kushner

Well — okay then.

I’ve been spending far too much time on Facebook and at 420 characters it helps get points across in a pithy manner but doesn’t give much in the way of “intellectual activity”

This month Nablopomos topic of the month is “saved” and today’s writing prompt is “What is your favorite movie.”  At first thought I wasn’t seeing the relationship but I can actually make this work.  Though it will take more than 420 characters.

Of course, the first order of business is trying to figure out what my “favorite” movie is.  I have maybe about 10 “favorite” movies.  Do I want a love story?  A fantasy?  An adventure?  A tragedy?  A comedy? Something familiar? Something peculiar?

NO NO NO — I’m not going to go all Sondheim on you (A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum is not in my top ten list — it is a fun movie to watch).  But I can twist the “saved” topic to relate to one of  my favorite movies.

I would have to say that this movie is, undoubtedly, one of the best movies of all time.  I can probably recite about every line from memory.  It has an unforgettable soundtrack, a “love story” of sorts, comedy, and even religion.

And, throughout the movie, you actually are reminded how to get “saved” because you are always reminded that if you are lost – you just need to try Hare Krishna.

(okay okay — like I said, I’m rusty)

Wizards and religion

I was rereading the Harry Potter series (to reacquaint myself before the movie release this summer) and I got to wondering … Nowhere in the books does J. K. Rowling bring up the religious practices of witches, wizards, muggles, or squibs.  I also theorized that there might be a few possible reasons:

• She didn’t want to give away too much of the ending (King’s Cross and all that)
• She had enough to fill all those books already
• She didn’t want to alienate any religious groups (you know, she might alienate the Muslims if we find out that Dean Thomas is actually Jewish).

I don’t think that last one’s the case, as she alienated enough religious groups.  So I’m thinking it’s probably one of the first two.

But then I got to thinking — in a country where (according to one pool) only 14% of people do not affiliate themselves with any religion, and with magical and non magical students attending Hogwarts, there would have to be some students that have some type of religious affiliation.  There is no talk of prayer or medition or any type of services at Hogwarts, but there is belief in an afterlife (the “next great adventure).

So — my question to anyone reading this (Doc Thelma — I’m expecting some input from you on this :^) ) is what kind of thoughts might you have (in sheer speculation) on wizards (in the Harry Potter universe) and religion.

I will give the one thought I’ve had … according to one estimate I ran across (on Wikipedia so we all know what THAT is worth) approximately 10% of the population of the U.K. attends church regularly.  So you’d think that really, of the wizarding (and muggle) families there would be that many that are active religiously.  HOWEVER even though there is some evidence to the contrary (the “owl post” in Sorcerer’s Stone – when the Dursleys were not at church on Sunday but home to be attacked by the letters) I think that the Dursleys did regularly attend church.  And I can back this up by a few assumptions.

• It is of utmost importance to the Dursleys that they have every appearance of being a perfectly normal family.
• Vernon just might find some people to see drills to at church.
• Petunia would totally love to gossip about all the other people at church (or all the people not there this week)
• I bet Petunia would love to show off her cooking at potlucks

Just thinking.  What do you think.

Friday fill in

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting common sense. (When will I learn)

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you a winner. (Because if you can have cheerfulness and grace when losing — you’re not really a loser after all).

3. A Guinness is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time.

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy having children and driving carpools.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine _____ and _____.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without _____ or _____ in it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to I saw a young couple get married — awwwwwwwwww, tomorrow my plans include yard work and Sunday, I want to dance in the streets (summer is here and the time is right after all)!

Buy American

This is my response/comment to a post by Ragtop Day.

Like Ragtop, I am somewhat of a pragmatist.  I understand that idea of supporting my local economy, but I also understand that my own pocket only goes so deep.  I’m also married to Spouse, a/k/a skinflint, so that carries into the equation. I do find it a conundrum but I also try to keep local and global issues in mind when purchasing.

Back in the late 80s I was shopping for a new car.  During my expeditions I wandered into a Ford dealer.  After being treated like a “woman car shopper” I started to leave.  One of the salesmen made a snide comment about me going to buy a “foreign” car.  I responded “OH — so you’re saying that instead of buying a Honda made in Ohio I should get a Ford made in MEXICO.”  Which really brings to mind a lot of questions in this global economy.  Which is more “patriotic,” driving a car with the “right” label, or buying a car that provides American jobs, or buying a car that provides profits to an American corporation.   It’s an interesting question.  But seriously when it comes to buying cars my FIRST priority is RELIABILITY.  I’ve had too many cars that had mechanical issues (and have walked tooooo many frickin’ miles in the snow in the middle of the night) to ever again want to be saddled with a car that I’m not SURE of.

(Though — as a sidenote Ragtop and I both have children adopted from China so we do have an excuse to buy Chinese made products as supporting the country that our children came from and where their birth families live … hey it might work).

To sleep, perchance to dream??

As I have mentioned before, in 2006,  in 2007, and in 2008, my spouse snores.  This is NOT a new thing.  This has been bothering me for years (and even years before 2006).  Last year we went to a family reunion and had a lengthy talk with his cousin-in-law, a sleep doctor, and he still didn’t have my preferred response (which was to get his durned rear to a doctor).  FINALLY this year he had a sleep study done.  During the night of his first sleep study he had 40 apnea episodes per hour (8 is when treatment is needed), and I later discovered during that night he had no R.E.M. sleep.

NO R.E.M. sleep.

Anyway — this process is kinda longish — first he had to go to the doctor to have the study ordered, then he had to go to the study, then he had to go back to the doctor to get the results, then he had to have another study ordered, and then he has to go back and get the results again from the doctor (this will happen Thursday) and THEN he’ll get the script for the beloved CPAP machine, my new best friend.  So the end is in sight.

Meantime, he’s also under contract where he’s employed, and that contract is set to end at the end of this month.  He’s seeking a new job (in THIS market!!!) but hasn’t found anything yet.

The other night I went out for tea (as mentioned previously, I’m trying to quit coffee) with my BFF Crem.  I filled him in on the latest going ons around here including the lack of REM during the sleep study.  He also knows about the job situation.

So I’m living with someone that’s stressed (and rightfully so) about whether or not there’s going to be an income coming in, who also has some nights with *NO* REM sleep.  Crem looked at me and said “gee, he must be fun to live with these days.”

YA THINK!!!

Why is is that even though I’m always right, people never listen to me???

Weaning

I’ve been thinking about weaning.  NO NO — not weaning a child (but it’s rather related).

When Chip was a youngun I didn’t much think about weaning.  Oh — probably when his birthday rolled around I’d think “hmm should I start weaning” and then I’d realize that we’d be heading into cold and flu season and I might as well not force things at that time (and then I wouldn’t think about it again).  Gradually (very gradually) he weaned.

So why now, however many years later am I thinking about weaning?  Well, I am currently undergoing a “weaning” process of my own.

I’ve been suffering from fatigue.  I’m pretty much always tired.  And I pretty much always self medicate with caffeine in order to overcome the fatigue.  And then, if I end up having too much caffeine or at the wrong time, then I have trouble sleeping and then the next day I’m tired and…..  well, just think of our pal Sisyphus, keeps pushing that boulder up the hill, and it NEVER gets all the way up.

As a side note, recently Spouse has undergone a sleep study (which is another blog post — YEAH two topics) and, while talking to friends my BFF Crem, he mentioned that he’s sleeping quite a bit better since he gave up caffeine.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to go for it.  I’m going to give up caffeine.

Last week, I did a 75% dose (made my coffee with 1/4 decaf) and this week I’m going half caf.  I’m REALLY tired.

So, I’m thinking about weaning.  Years (and years and years) ago I quit smoking.  Actually that took a few tries, and eventually only worked due to the gum.  At the time I’d never nursed a child, so I never related it to a child’s weaning (but that might be why I was so gradual with Chip).

It is incredibly difficult to give up something that you’re completely dependent on and today as I was thinking of how tired I am, I thought of babies.

Here you have a sweet little innocent brand new life.  They have all the essentials of life provided in one convenient (and lovely :^) ) package, the have nutrition, thirst quenching goodness, and snuggling.  It has got to be sooo hard to give that up.  But they all do eventually, some with a bit of encouraging from mom, some enthusiastically when they get into solids, and some slowly but surely.  But every single one of those children eventually moves on and moves away from breastmilk.

So I think, somehow, that I might be able to manage to brave moving away from caffeine.

I mean, I quit smoking cigarettes, and if I can do that I can do about anything.

But — keep me in your thoughts thanks :^) I’ll need it.

Friday Fill-in

Yeah Yeah — I said last week I’d be more consistent.  So shoot me.  Maybe as the summer goes on.

Anyway …
1. I grew up thinking I was an oddball and I’d never fit in.

2. Kick Start was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don’t you get drunk and screw?  (I’m SORRY — but for some reason that just brought a certain Jimmy Buffett song to mind).

4. Breathing helps me relax.

5. Thanks for the Memory (of things I can’t forget, journeys on a jet, our wonderous week in Martinque and Vegas and roulette).

6. The smell of dead fish is very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to relaxing (perhaps at home), tomorrow my plans include a concert of Christian Contemporary Music and Sunday, I want to go to a “pignic” (a picnic for a guinea pig rescue)!

Thank goddess it’s over

For the past 8 months I’ve been working as a “lunch lady” in a nearby school.  I can say a few good things about this.  I got INSURANCE, my supervisor was a nice guy, and the hours melded well with my children.

I can also say a number of bad things about this –  but I won’t — I’ll summarize though — working with toxic, bitchy, bossy bitches is the pits, and I hope by all means to avoid it in the future.  I have bucked up and taken the hit for the family in order to bring in the insurance, but I hope like heck I find something with more normal people before next school year starts.

Just sayin’