Tick tock…tick tock…tick tock…2008 is nearly gone. I am anticipating my first meal of the New Year; Hoppin John, boiled cabbage, baked ham and perhaps a donut or two just for good measure. I will spend most of New Years Eve cooking my delectable traditional feast so I can sit and eat some of it right after we pop off a few fireworks at the stroke of Midnight. Then I will pack some of my feast so I can eat it for lunch when I go to work.
Yes I am going to go to work on New Years Day. I read once that what ever you do on New Years Day is what you will be doing the rest of the year. I believe it too. For a few years it seemed like I spent all day doing laundry while Scott played games with the girls. I was inundated with mountains of laundry after that!
Last year I made the effort to have my house neat and all the laundry finished and folded neatly or hanging in the closets. Then I went to work.. That worked just fine for me. The laundry hasn’t been as overwhelming as in past years and I now have a great job. So I will keep that little ‘tradition’ going for me. I write birth certificates for all the babies born at Baptist Hospital North Mississippi. I can’t wait to see the first baby of 2009.
This year it seems that I will have to wait one extra second to ring in the New Year tho. It’s time for that pesky extra leap second to be added to the atomic clock. Those eager to put 2008 behind them will have to hold their good-byes for just a moment this New Year's Eve.
The world's official timekeepers have added a "leap second" to the last day of the year on Wednesday, to help match clocks to the Earth's slowing spin on its axis, which takes place at ever-changing rates affected by tides and other factors like solar wind and space dust.
The U.S. Naval Observatory, keeper of the Pentagon's master clock, said it would add the extra second on Wednesday in coordination with the world's atomic clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC. That corresponds to 5:59:59 p.m. CST (23:59:59 GMT), when an extra second will tick by -- the 24th to be added to UTC since 1972, when the practice began. The first leap second was introduced into UTC on June 30, 1972. The last was added on December 31, 2005.
So what does this mean for my New Years Feast? Well I will have to wait just one second longer to dig into my Hoppin John. Traditional New Year foods are thought to bring luck. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes "coming full circle," completing a year's cycle. For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year's Day will bring good fortune. I’m not the least bit Dutch but I love donuts and I think I will have one with chocolate on it just for good measure.
Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the New Year by consuming black-eyed peas. The peas are typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. I love baked ham so that is on my menu. Black-eyed peas have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another "good luck" vegetable that is consumed on New Year's Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year's Day. That is why I love Hoppin John. That dish incorporates black-eyed peas and rice and I throw in a few jalapenos so I know that I can look forward to a rather lively 2009!
I gave up on resolutions years ago. I never could keep them so I resolved to never have a News Years Resolution. That is one that I have been able to keep. I do however have some goals I would like to attain. Oh now you didn’t think I was going to tell you did you? Rest assured that as I reach each goal, I will write about it.
For now, I am just ready to put 2008 behind and go forward into 2009. Yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery. I will live in the present and give it my all. Right after I have consumed my peas and ham and cabbage. Look out 2009! Here I am!
And a Prosperous Happy New Year to every one.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
A Christmas Story
It was the day before Christmas but she didn’t feel any Christmas spirit. “Christmas spirit. Ha! Just what is that emotion?” she thought to herself as she bustled around getting ready to go work. She had tried to find someone to take care of her baby because the day care decided at the last minute to close early and she really needed to go to work.
In her frustration, hot tears started streaming down her cheeks. She threw her purse across the room and lay down in the floor and prayed. “Lord” she cried, “please help me to find Christmas spirit. I don’t seem to feel it like I should.”
She watched as her precious little girl was playing contentedly in front of the sparse little Christmas tree that she fondly referred to as the ‘Charlie Brown’ tree. She had found it one day when she took the trash out. There it stood leaning on the dumpster, a huge box filled with fake evergreen limbs. She dragged it back to the little apartment and took out all of the pieces.
The poor tree had seen better days so she had improvised and just used the top of the tree and a few extra branches and made a short table top tree. Her daughter’s eyes sparkled with delight as she put on a single string of lights and plugged it in. The lights transformed the pathetic little tree into something magical. For ornaments she had dug all of the little Happy Meal toys from the toy box and hot glued ribbon to them and tied them to the little branches. It didn’t look like all of the beautiful trees in the department stores but it was still a special tree to her child and that was all that mattered.
Since she couldn’t find a sitter, she decided to bundle up her daughter and take her into work, after all it was the day before Christmas and there wouldn’t be much for her to do. Most people had already taken their Christmas holiday and wouldn’t be there so a coloring book and a few crayons would occupy her daughter while she did some paperwork. She didn’t have any Christmas holiday time because she had already used up any time off that she had accrued. The tension headaches were pretty bad some days and she couldn’t work when those hit. And sometimes her precious daughter was sick and she would stay home with her. It was tough being a single mother but she didn’t complain.
She didn’t have many friends. There wasn’t any time to make friends and the only people she ever saw was the other women that she worked with. They were all wrapped up in their own lives anyway she thought. Why would they want to be her friend? She just kept to herself and didn’t offer too much information about her life. She went to work, then picked up her daughter at day care and then home. Whatever she cooked for supper the night before became the next days lunch at work. She preferred to eat alone so that no one would see that she sometimes ate Mac and cheese over and over again.
They arrived at her office and when she went to her desk she noticed a large envelope taped to her monitor. She opened it and it was a musical card playing some little Christmas ditty. In it her boss had written that an anonymous someone in the office had donated some of their extra vacation hours to her so that she could take off a few days for Christmas.
She could not believe what she was reading! She scooped up her daughter and they ran back out to their car. There were still many errands that she had to run and paying the electric bill before her power was cut off was first on her to do list.
The ladies at the Power Company were just getting ready to close and go home early when she ran through the door. She laid the bill down and counted out the money while the clerk pulled up her file on the computer. Then the lady smiled at her and said,”why honey, you must have forgotten. Your bill has already been paid and you have a credit for the next month.”
She stood there in disbelief. “There must be a mistake” she stammered. She didn’t remember paying the bill. She had just gotten paid and the money was still in her purse. Before she could ask the question that was on her mind, the clerk smiled at her and said, “maybe Christmas is arriving a little early for you Sweetie.”
She slowly turned and walked out the door into the cold and got back into her car. As she was buckling her daughter into the car seat, the little girl just giggled and said “mare Chrism Mama!”
She was pondering many thoughts as she drove back to the little apartment, like who donated time to her and how did the electric bill get paid? She stopped and checked her mail box and there was a bright red envelope in it addressed to her and her daughter but no return address was on it. When she opened it there was a Wal-Mart gift card and a Kroger card. She just sat there looking at them. The Wal-Mart card had the words ‘go to customer service’ printed on it and the Kroger card had the words ‘go to the deli’ printed on it. The only other thing that was in the envelope was a slip of paper that said “Merry Christmas.”
“This is so bizarre” she said partly to herself and partly to her daughter. Her daughter just smiled and rocked in her car seat and said “Mare Chrism Mama”. They drove to Wal-Mart and she and her daughter went and stood in the long line of grouchy people at the Customer Service desk. Finally it was her turn and she told the cashier that she had gotten the gift card and when she showed it the cashier smiled and said “Oh we have been waiting for you to come.” With that said, the cashier called someone and they came out of the back pushing a large buggy filled to the top with many brightly wrapped presents some with tags addressed to her and some addressed to her daughter. The cashier smiled and said “Merry Christmas Miss. Do you need help getting that into your car?” She couldn’t speak any more. She just shook her head no and pushed the buggy out to her car.
By this time she was numb. She drove on to Kroger and went to the Deli. She showed them the card and they asked her for her name. Then they started getting all sorts of things together. There was a large pan of chicken and dressing and all the trimmings and a small baked ham and sweet potato pie and a fruit salad. It was a feast fit for a queen and little princess. She quizzed the Deli staff about who ordered the food but they said they didn’t know that the order came over the phone.
She and her daughter took all of the goodies back to the car. The little girl was clapping her hands and singing softly ‘Mare Chrism Mama.”
That evening, as she was heating up the wonderful Christmas dinner, she remembered the prayer of desperation earlier that day and how she had prayed for Christmas Spirit. She realized that the Lord had answered her prayer as she looked at the many packages under the tree and watched her daughter as she sat gazing at the twinkling lights. She was filled with wonder at the events of the day and the generosity of anonymous Christmas angels.
Her little daughter turned to her and cocked her head to one side and smiled. “Mare Chrism Mama!” “Merry Christmas to you my precious!” she replied. “Merry Christmas to all on this Night before Jesus. And God Bless us everyone”
In her frustration, hot tears started streaming down her cheeks. She threw her purse across the room and lay down in the floor and prayed. “Lord” she cried, “please help me to find Christmas spirit. I don’t seem to feel it like I should.”
She watched as her precious little girl was playing contentedly in front of the sparse little Christmas tree that she fondly referred to as the ‘Charlie Brown’ tree. She had found it one day when she took the trash out. There it stood leaning on the dumpster, a huge box filled with fake evergreen limbs. She dragged it back to the little apartment and took out all of the pieces.
The poor tree had seen better days so she had improvised and just used the top of the tree and a few extra branches and made a short table top tree. Her daughter’s eyes sparkled with delight as she put on a single string of lights and plugged it in. The lights transformed the pathetic little tree into something magical. For ornaments she had dug all of the little Happy Meal toys from the toy box and hot glued ribbon to them and tied them to the little branches. It didn’t look like all of the beautiful trees in the department stores but it was still a special tree to her child and that was all that mattered.
Since she couldn’t find a sitter, she decided to bundle up her daughter and take her into work, after all it was the day before Christmas and there wouldn’t be much for her to do. Most people had already taken their Christmas holiday and wouldn’t be there so a coloring book and a few crayons would occupy her daughter while she did some paperwork. She didn’t have any Christmas holiday time because she had already used up any time off that she had accrued. The tension headaches were pretty bad some days and she couldn’t work when those hit. And sometimes her precious daughter was sick and she would stay home with her. It was tough being a single mother but she didn’t complain.
She didn’t have many friends. There wasn’t any time to make friends and the only people she ever saw was the other women that she worked with. They were all wrapped up in their own lives anyway she thought. Why would they want to be her friend? She just kept to herself and didn’t offer too much information about her life. She went to work, then picked up her daughter at day care and then home. Whatever she cooked for supper the night before became the next days lunch at work. She preferred to eat alone so that no one would see that she sometimes ate Mac and cheese over and over again.
They arrived at her office and when she went to her desk she noticed a large envelope taped to her monitor. She opened it and it was a musical card playing some little Christmas ditty. In it her boss had written that an anonymous someone in the office had donated some of their extra vacation hours to her so that she could take off a few days for Christmas.
She could not believe what she was reading! She scooped up her daughter and they ran back out to their car. There were still many errands that she had to run and paying the electric bill before her power was cut off was first on her to do list.
The ladies at the Power Company were just getting ready to close and go home early when she ran through the door. She laid the bill down and counted out the money while the clerk pulled up her file on the computer. Then the lady smiled at her and said,”why honey, you must have forgotten. Your bill has already been paid and you have a credit for the next month.”
She stood there in disbelief. “There must be a mistake” she stammered. She didn’t remember paying the bill. She had just gotten paid and the money was still in her purse. Before she could ask the question that was on her mind, the clerk smiled at her and said, “maybe Christmas is arriving a little early for you Sweetie.”
She slowly turned and walked out the door into the cold and got back into her car. As she was buckling her daughter into the car seat, the little girl just giggled and said “mare Chrism Mama!”
She was pondering many thoughts as she drove back to the little apartment, like who donated time to her and how did the electric bill get paid? She stopped and checked her mail box and there was a bright red envelope in it addressed to her and her daughter but no return address was on it. When she opened it there was a Wal-Mart gift card and a Kroger card. She just sat there looking at them. The Wal-Mart card had the words ‘go to customer service’ printed on it and the Kroger card had the words ‘go to the deli’ printed on it. The only other thing that was in the envelope was a slip of paper that said “Merry Christmas.”
“This is so bizarre” she said partly to herself and partly to her daughter. Her daughter just smiled and rocked in her car seat and said “Mare Chrism Mama”. They drove to Wal-Mart and she and her daughter went and stood in the long line of grouchy people at the Customer Service desk. Finally it was her turn and she told the cashier that she had gotten the gift card and when she showed it the cashier smiled and said “Oh we have been waiting for you to come.” With that said, the cashier called someone and they came out of the back pushing a large buggy filled to the top with many brightly wrapped presents some with tags addressed to her and some addressed to her daughter. The cashier smiled and said “Merry Christmas Miss. Do you need help getting that into your car?” She couldn’t speak any more. She just shook her head no and pushed the buggy out to her car.
By this time she was numb. She drove on to Kroger and went to the Deli. She showed them the card and they asked her for her name. Then they started getting all sorts of things together. There was a large pan of chicken and dressing and all the trimmings and a small baked ham and sweet potato pie and a fruit salad. It was a feast fit for a queen and little princess. She quizzed the Deli staff about who ordered the food but they said they didn’t know that the order came over the phone.
She and her daughter took all of the goodies back to the car. The little girl was clapping her hands and singing softly ‘Mare Chrism Mama.”
That evening, as she was heating up the wonderful Christmas dinner, she remembered the prayer of desperation earlier that day and how she had prayed for Christmas Spirit. She realized that the Lord had answered her prayer as she looked at the many packages under the tree and watched her daughter as she sat gazing at the twinkling lights. She was filled with wonder at the events of the day and the generosity of anonymous Christmas angels.
Her little daughter turned to her and cocked her head to one side and smiled. “Mare Chrism Mama!” “Merry Christmas to you my precious!” she replied. “Merry Christmas to all on this Night before Jesus. And God Bless us everyone”
Monday, December 15, 2008
its a Wonderful Life
Saturday was not going well for me for some reason. I didn’t feel good, I was looking at the stack of bills that seems to never end, and trying to figure out where I was going to find a jar of blackberry preserves with seeds for the jam cake. The cake has to be made with blackberry preserves with seeds or it doesn’t taste right. So as I sat there moping, I noticed that It’s a Wonderful Life was starting on the television. I rarely watch TV so it was providential that the talking box was on or I would have missed it.
It’s the time of year when I watch all of Christmas favorites on TV. When I was a child it was always Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer and anything with Santa Claus in it. But my all time favorite is It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. I can watch that over and over and over again. I know some folks that love that movie like I do and I know a select few that would consider it torture to watch it. I have watched that movie so many times I can almost tell you the dialog word for word.
So I settled back wrapped snuggly in my blankie and a hanky for my eyes because I knew that I was in a good squall. Sure enough, watching poor old George Bailey deal with his ups and downs and waylaid dreams did not let me down. I wept when he wept, railed at old man Potter when he did and laughed and jumped for joy when I heard the bell ring for Clarence.
This is what I get out of watching It’s a Wonderful Life. Close your eyes and imagine with me. You wake up each day and find a beautifully wrapped package sitting on your bed. Out of curiosity, you rip open the gift before you do anything else because you want to know what is inside. Maybe you find something in the box that you don’t really care for so you just put it back in the box and set it aside, wondering what to do about it.
The next day you wake up to find another box sitting there and this time when you open it, there is something wonderful inside. It could be a card from someone far away, a memory of someone, a beautiful outfit you saw in a store, the keys to a fuel-efficient car, a warm coat, a job or a pretty flower from someone that is thinking about you.
This happens every day but you don’t realize it….every day when you wake up, it is there in front of you, a present sent to you by God….a whole day to use in the best way possible. Sometimes it comes with problems and issues that you don’t seem to be able to solve. Sometimes the present comes with sadness and deception and tears. Other times it comes full of happiness, success and achievements.
The important thing to remember is that every day you receive a present, wrapped up especially for you while you sleep. Today is your PRESENT. And the next day is another gift and you wake up to find that every morning is a PRESENT. It is the Present of Life.
Life is not always what you wished and hoped for…. God does give us what is best for you, what you need most, what you have to learn and what you need to grow mentally and spiritually. If you don’t receive the present you wanted today, wait until the next one and appreciate what you received today. Open your Present everyday by giving Thanks first to God who made you and second to the Son who gave you new birth…and do this before you find out what is in your box.
Tomorrow, when you wake up and open you present, do it with love and enthusiasm because one day your dreams and life plan will be inside that box and you will finally realize the riches that have been given to you. Life is not about what you want. It’s about what you need. And The Lord will gift you with a new present everyday.
Does life have a soundtrack or a script like the movies? Sometimes I think it does. Or maybe I just wish it did. Or perhaps I pretend it does just to make it through some of the things that life throws in my way.
In this economy there is going to be some hard times. People were counting on the Toyota jobs. What will the people that do that are being laid off from other factories? What is going to happen now? I don’t know. I don’t have a magic wand to wave. But I hope that each person can find the good in their Present and as for me…I am going to make my own blackberry preserves and bake my cake and then I am going to ring some bells so an angel somewhere will earn his wings.
It’s the time of year when I watch all of Christmas favorites on TV. When I was a child it was always Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer and anything with Santa Claus in it. But my all time favorite is It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. I can watch that over and over and over again. I know some folks that love that movie like I do and I know a select few that would consider it torture to watch it. I have watched that movie so many times I can almost tell you the dialog word for word.
So I settled back wrapped snuggly in my blankie and a hanky for my eyes because I knew that I was in a good squall. Sure enough, watching poor old George Bailey deal with his ups and downs and waylaid dreams did not let me down. I wept when he wept, railed at old man Potter when he did and laughed and jumped for joy when I heard the bell ring for Clarence.
This is what I get out of watching It’s a Wonderful Life. Close your eyes and imagine with me. You wake up each day and find a beautifully wrapped package sitting on your bed. Out of curiosity, you rip open the gift before you do anything else because you want to know what is inside. Maybe you find something in the box that you don’t really care for so you just put it back in the box and set it aside, wondering what to do about it.
The next day you wake up to find another box sitting there and this time when you open it, there is something wonderful inside. It could be a card from someone far away, a memory of someone, a beautiful outfit you saw in a store, the keys to a fuel-efficient car, a warm coat, a job or a pretty flower from someone that is thinking about you.
This happens every day but you don’t realize it….every day when you wake up, it is there in front of you, a present sent to you by God….a whole day to use in the best way possible. Sometimes it comes with problems and issues that you don’t seem to be able to solve. Sometimes the present comes with sadness and deception and tears. Other times it comes full of happiness, success and achievements.
The important thing to remember is that every day you receive a present, wrapped up especially for you while you sleep. Today is your PRESENT. And the next day is another gift and you wake up to find that every morning is a PRESENT. It is the Present of Life.
Life is not always what you wished and hoped for…. God does give us what is best for you, what you need most, what you have to learn and what you need to grow mentally and spiritually. If you don’t receive the present you wanted today, wait until the next one and appreciate what you received today. Open your Present everyday by giving Thanks first to God who made you and second to the Son who gave you new birth…and do this before you find out what is in your box.
Tomorrow, when you wake up and open you present, do it with love and enthusiasm because one day your dreams and life plan will be inside that box and you will finally realize the riches that have been given to you. Life is not about what you want. It’s about what you need. And The Lord will gift you with a new present everyday.
Does life have a soundtrack or a script like the movies? Sometimes I think it does. Or maybe I just wish it did. Or perhaps I pretend it does just to make it through some of the things that life throws in my way.
In this economy there is going to be some hard times. People were counting on the Toyota jobs. What will the people that do that are being laid off from other factories? What is going to happen now? I don’t know. I don’t have a magic wand to wave. But I hope that each person can find the good in their Present and as for me…I am going to make my own blackberry preserves and bake my cake and then I am going to ring some bells so an angel somewhere will earn his wings.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Where are you Christmas? Why can't I find You?
Blogging from Bruce
December 7, 2008
Vonda Keon
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, around my house, in case anyone has missed it. Scott flipped the switch on Thanksgiving night and our Christmas Season officially began. The lights are blinking in sync to the music, which is a miracle in itself because while he is very computer savvy, he isn’t really musically inclined. While I am musically inclined, Computer illiterate is a better description of my computing abilities. So each time we watch the lights and listen to the music that it goes with, we are pleasantly surprised when it works.
There are times when we both just look at each other and go WOW! And then there are times we scratch our heads and wonder just what we were thinking. I just love to see the lights going on and off in time with the different music parts. My favorite thing Scott has created for us is the ‘leaping’ arch lights. Last year we had one. This year there are two. Next year, I want a whole yard full to go along with the trees. We still haven’t convinced Mom to let us use her lighted deer as part of the show. I think it would be so cool to add her trees and deer to the action. The lights are on each night from 5pm until 10:30. All we ask is that you put your parking lights on and don’t block the road or our neighbors’ driveways.
We have placed a red barrel at the end of our driveway for donations to the food pantry. Any canned foods or coffee would be greatly appreciated. The Food Pantry will be handing out its Christmas boxes on Saturday December 20th so we are gathering food fast and furiously now.
Christmas seems to get harder and harder for me each year. I don’t like getting caught up in the mind set of ‘gotta buy this and that and the other’. Years ago, I worked in a large department store chain and I had to start Christmas in September. The last year that I worked for that company, I had to decorate 72 trees throughout the store. Then the ‘Pre-Christmas sale in October happened AND black Friday; after undecorating many of the trees to sell the ornaments and stings of lights and listening to the bickering and rudeness of customers, I lost all of my Christmas spirit. I did not put up a tree in my home for several years. The year Scott and I married was when I started decorating again.
The decorating pendulum has swung the other direction now. I never take down my tree now. Yep. I admit it. My tree stays up and decorated year round. I got the idea from my friend Betty in Tupelo. Her tree is huge and after several years of taking it down and storing it and then pulling it out and restringing the lights and putting all the ornaments back on it, her husband got her a large folding screen and that magnificent tree resides behind that screen until Thanksgiving when she uncovers it and plugs it in.
My tree is not as large as Betty’s tree but it sits in the corner and has a screen in front of it. This year I picked out a new color scheme and Ariel put white lights on it and my new ornaments. She packed the ornaments that were special to her and Erin and separated them so that one day they can decorate their own trees with their first ornaments.
Christmas changes for us as we grow older. I would rather just go and buy what I really like instead of having to hint around for something and hope to goodness that someone will pick up on the hint and get the right size or right color or right book. My husband would rather order some component for his every expanding light display hobby. That stuff goes on sale in June so he likes his ‘Christmas’ gift in the summer time.
The daughters don’t really like to be surprised any longer and like to choose what they really need. Erin needed a new coat this year so we went coat hunting and found what she wanted and she wore it out of the store.
I love to watch all my favorite Christmas movies, Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite. I have added the Tim Allen Santa Clause movies to my collection. Even the Grinch has its place. When little Cindy Lou Who starts singing “where are you Christmas, why can’t I find you?” I start tearing up. (And if you hear Faith Hill sing it you will cry!) Christmas is not about the presents. It’s about the birth of Christ and HIS message of hope. It’s about being kind to your fellow man. It’s about lending a helping hand to someone that needs it. It’s about giving a hug to someone or smiling when we don’t feel like it. It’s about love. Unconditional love.
“Christmas is here everywhere….Christmas is here if you care
If there is love in your heart and your mind, you will feel like Christmas all the time.
I feel you ChristmasI know I’ve found youYou never fade awayThe joy of ChristmasStays here in silenceFills each and every heart with love.”
December 7, 2008
Vonda Keon
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, around my house, in case anyone has missed it. Scott flipped the switch on Thanksgiving night and our Christmas Season officially began. The lights are blinking in sync to the music, which is a miracle in itself because while he is very computer savvy, he isn’t really musically inclined. While I am musically inclined, Computer illiterate is a better description of my computing abilities. So each time we watch the lights and listen to the music that it goes with, we are pleasantly surprised when it works.
There are times when we both just look at each other and go WOW! And then there are times we scratch our heads and wonder just what we were thinking. I just love to see the lights going on and off in time with the different music parts. My favorite thing Scott has created for us is the ‘leaping’ arch lights. Last year we had one. This year there are two. Next year, I want a whole yard full to go along with the trees. We still haven’t convinced Mom to let us use her lighted deer as part of the show. I think it would be so cool to add her trees and deer to the action. The lights are on each night from 5pm until 10:30. All we ask is that you put your parking lights on and don’t block the road or our neighbors’ driveways.
We have placed a red barrel at the end of our driveway for donations to the food pantry. Any canned foods or coffee would be greatly appreciated. The Food Pantry will be handing out its Christmas boxes on Saturday December 20th so we are gathering food fast and furiously now.
Christmas seems to get harder and harder for me each year. I don’t like getting caught up in the mind set of ‘gotta buy this and that and the other’. Years ago, I worked in a large department store chain and I had to start Christmas in September. The last year that I worked for that company, I had to decorate 72 trees throughout the store. Then the ‘Pre-Christmas sale in October happened AND black Friday; after undecorating many of the trees to sell the ornaments and stings of lights and listening to the bickering and rudeness of customers, I lost all of my Christmas spirit. I did not put up a tree in my home for several years. The year Scott and I married was when I started decorating again.
The decorating pendulum has swung the other direction now. I never take down my tree now. Yep. I admit it. My tree stays up and decorated year round. I got the idea from my friend Betty in Tupelo. Her tree is huge and after several years of taking it down and storing it and then pulling it out and restringing the lights and putting all the ornaments back on it, her husband got her a large folding screen and that magnificent tree resides behind that screen until Thanksgiving when she uncovers it and plugs it in.
My tree is not as large as Betty’s tree but it sits in the corner and has a screen in front of it. This year I picked out a new color scheme and Ariel put white lights on it and my new ornaments. She packed the ornaments that were special to her and Erin and separated them so that one day they can decorate their own trees with their first ornaments.
Christmas changes for us as we grow older. I would rather just go and buy what I really like instead of having to hint around for something and hope to goodness that someone will pick up on the hint and get the right size or right color or right book. My husband would rather order some component for his every expanding light display hobby. That stuff goes on sale in June so he likes his ‘Christmas’ gift in the summer time.
The daughters don’t really like to be surprised any longer and like to choose what they really need. Erin needed a new coat this year so we went coat hunting and found what she wanted and she wore it out of the store.
I love to watch all my favorite Christmas movies, Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite. I have added the Tim Allen Santa Clause movies to my collection. Even the Grinch has its place. When little Cindy Lou Who starts singing “where are you Christmas, why can’t I find you?” I start tearing up. (And if you hear Faith Hill sing it you will cry!) Christmas is not about the presents. It’s about the birth of Christ and HIS message of hope. It’s about being kind to your fellow man. It’s about lending a helping hand to someone that needs it. It’s about giving a hug to someone or smiling when we don’t feel like it. It’s about love. Unconditional love.
“Christmas is here everywhere….Christmas is here if you care
If there is love in your heart and your mind, you will feel like Christmas all the time.
I feel you ChristmasI know I’ve found youYou never fade awayThe joy of ChristmasStays here in silenceFills each and every heart with love.”
Monday, December 01, 2008
The Domino Effect
The domino effect was in place this week. I love to line my dominoes up in a pattern and topple the first one and then watch them connect with the next one and on and on. The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on. It typically refers to a linked sequence of events where the time between successive events is relatively small.
It all began with an email from my childhood friend Butch. He sent an email to me and a few other classmates letting us know that our favorite English and Drama teacher from high school was going to be passing through Bruce and she wanted to try and see her favorite students.
Doris Ann Schmidt had a special connection to the class of 1971. We had her for our Junior and Senior years studying Drama and Speech and English. She taught us how to deliver every conceivable kind of speech and do it convincingly. When it came to writing papers, she held our feet to the fire when we had to do research papers. There were many little confrontations with Mrs. Willis in the library. We needed to use the reference materials and she guarded those like they were gold. Eventually Mrs. Schmidt reached a truce with Mrs. Willis and we were able to do our work. The training we received in those classes would probably be called AP now. Back in 1970 and 71 it was just hard work! We studied Literature and learned it well. When I went off to the W, I was well versed in Shakespeare, English and American Literature, and it worked to my advantage during my college years.
The Class of 1971 was full of people that tended to push the envelope. If Mr. Hamblin was still alive he would whole heartedly agree that we were a royal pain! We were very vocal about many things; the draft, the Viet Nam War, Nixon, and closer to home, the fact that our class was not allowed to carry out our school Traditions. Bruce School and North Calhoun school were fully consolidated our senior year. There was a loss of many things for all the blended students. No longer was there a May Day parade. The Junior/Senior Banquet was not allowed. There was no Homecoming, no after the football game dances at the Community Building, no field trips, no Senior Play. We only went to school and that was that.
If it had not been for the ingenuity of Mrs. Schmidt, the seniors would have probably really gone crazy. She helped most of us channel our energies and creativity into becoming better speakers and writers. None of us were true ‘long haired hippie freaks’. Yet! We were just coming of age at a turbulent time in our nation and world and state.
Graduation from high school and then college was scary for those of us that left the safe confines of Calhoun County to go off to the hallowed halls of higher learning. We saw the world through the eyes of liberal professors. We saw doors open to us that would not have been possible if we had not been taught by a visionary teacher. Mrs. Schmidt wrote something personal in each of our annuals when we graduated. I don’t know what she wrote in anyone else’s but in mine she praised my creative writing ability. I now get a chance to write a weekly column for this newspaper. I have always tried to live up to the words she wrote to me.
Mrs. Schmidt arrived in Bruce Sunday and stopped for a visit with my neighbor, Nell Logan. Nell was on the phone Sunday afternoon calling everyone she could find. She called my Mom and Mom called me at work and told me Doris Ann was in town. Earlier in the day, Sarah Quillen and I had talked about trying to get in touch with her not knowing she was already in town trying to find all of us. A few of us managed to make it to Vera Cruz and it was good to sit down for a quick meal and rapid conversation with the few classmates that were able to come together Sunday evening on short notice.
We missed having a 35 year reunion and I wonder if having a 38 year reunion is viable. It would certainly not be tradition and Lord knows there is absolutely nothing traditional about the BHS Class of 1971. So to all you graduates of BHS in 1971, send me your address and email and phone numbers. We are going to have a reunion some time next year and Doris Ann Schmidt Stanton will be there.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay awhile, make footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same. Mrs. Schmidt, you made a lasting impression on our class. You worked us hard for the two years you were here in Bruce. You taught us what we needed to know in order to survive in college. I suppose you could say that you were the domino that unleashed the creativity of the Class of 1971 and I think you should be proud.
It all began with an email from my childhood friend Butch. He sent an email to me and a few other classmates letting us know that our favorite English and Drama teacher from high school was going to be passing through Bruce and she wanted to try and see her favorite students.
Doris Ann Schmidt had a special connection to the class of 1971. We had her for our Junior and Senior years studying Drama and Speech and English. She taught us how to deliver every conceivable kind of speech and do it convincingly. When it came to writing papers, she held our feet to the fire when we had to do research papers. There were many little confrontations with Mrs. Willis in the library. We needed to use the reference materials and she guarded those like they were gold. Eventually Mrs. Schmidt reached a truce with Mrs. Willis and we were able to do our work. The training we received in those classes would probably be called AP now. Back in 1970 and 71 it was just hard work! We studied Literature and learned it well. When I went off to the W, I was well versed in Shakespeare, English and American Literature, and it worked to my advantage during my college years.
The Class of 1971 was full of people that tended to push the envelope. If Mr. Hamblin was still alive he would whole heartedly agree that we were a royal pain! We were very vocal about many things; the draft, the Viet Nam War, Nixon, and closer to home, the fact that our class was not allowed to carry out our school Traditions. Bruce School and North Calhoun school were fully consolidated our senior year. There was a loss of many things for all the blended students. No longer was there a May Day parade. The Junior/Senior Banquet was not allowed. There was no Homecoming, no after the football game dances at the Community Building, no field trips, no Senior Play. We only went to school and that was that.
If it had not been for the ingenuity of Mrs. Schmidt, the seniors would have probably really gone crazy. She helped most of us channel our energies and creativity into becoming better speakers and writers. None of us were true ‘long haired hippie freaks’. Yet! We were just coming of age at a turbulent time in our nation and world and state.
Graduation from high school and then college was scary for those of us that left the safe confines of Calhoun County to go off to the hallowed halls of higher learning. We saw the world through the eyes of liberal professors. We saw doors open to us that would not have been possible if we had not been taught by a visionary teacher. Mrs. Schmidt wrote something personal in each of our annuals when we graduated. I don’t know what she wrote in anyone else’s but in mine she praised my creative writing ability. I now get a chance to write a weekly column for this newspaper. I have always tried to live up to the words she wrote to me.
Mrs. Schmidt arrived in Bruce Sunday and stopped for a visit with my neighbor, Nell Logan. Nell was on the phone Sunday afternoon calling everyone she could find. She called my Mom and Mom called me at work and told me Doris Ann was in town. Earlier in the day, Sarah Quillen and I had talked about trying to get in touch with her not knowing she was already in town trying to find all of us. A few of us managed to make it to Vera Cruz and it was good to sit down for a quick meal and rapid conversation with the few classmates that were able to come together Sunday evening on short notice.
We missed having a 35 year reunion and I wonder if having a 38 year reunion is viable. It would certainly not be tradition and Lord knows there is absolutely nothing traditional about the BHS Class of 1971. So to all you graduates of BHS in 1971, send me your address and email and phone numbers. We are going to have a reunion some time next year and Doris Ann Schmidt Stanton will be there.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay awhile, make footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever the same. Mrs. Schmidt, you made a lasting impression on our class. You worked us hard for the two years you were here in Bruce. You taught us what we needed to know in order to survive in college. I suppose you could say that you were the domino that unleashed the creativity of the Class of 1971 and I think you should be proud.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Syzygy
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
November 23, 2008
You have one hand, I have the other. Put them together, We have each other. You help me, and I'll help you, and together, we will see it through.
Thursday night, while at box up night at the Food Pantry, one of our loyal ‘friends’ of the pantry asked me how I came up with ideas for my weekly columns. I had to laugh as I thought about how to answer his question. I keep a notebook/journal in my purse and I am constantly jotting down thoughts about things that occur or odd thoughts that just pop into my head. Sometimes hearing a song triggers a column. Other times I hear a word and go off on that rabbit trail in search of something. I finally told him it was pure SYZYGY.
Syzygy is pronounced sizzajee. Its meanings are a really good explanation for my columns. Meaning #1 is: a straight line conjunction or opposition of 3 objects; i.e. the sun, the earth and the moon. Meaning #2 is: a pair of related things that are either similar or opposite. I do have a tendency to see things in relation to the second meaning.
Here is how the Syzygy worked last week. Keegan Coleman called me Sunday evening and told me that he had a donation from the CREATE Foundation for the Food Pantry so we made the appointment to meet at CCHS on my day off Tuesday for the presentation and to have our photo op. This time of year we really like to make the food boxes as special as we can and we have been truly blessed with donations of food and money to buy more items so we can give to those that need it. Keegan’s call was an answer to prayer.
When all the ‘friends’ of the Pantry came together Thursday evening, we were all just amazed at how much we had to pack into the boxes and how many we were able to make. Saturday morning arrived and it was bitter cold and anyone that knows me well, knows that I absolutely can’t stand being cold. I had polio in 1954 and cold affects me a bit differently than most. I can’t cut extreme heat but I sure don’t like the cold. I usually bundle up pretty good before I go out to walk to each car and mark off the names and give them the ticket to pick up their boxes. I get out into the cold so the older folks don’t have too. So, if you happened to be in that line on Saturday and you noticed that I was getting a ‘wee’ bit cranky, forgive me. I was really longing to be sitting in your nice warm car.
When I had finished marking off the names of the people that had come for a box, I walked back to the Food Pantry building and there were all of our ‘Friends’ busily putting the boxes into the cars as they rolled up. And then I saw the sweet potatoes. I could not believe my eyes. There on the back of a trailer sat two of those big wooden crates packed full of Vardaman sweet potatoes. The Lord will bless a wonderful ‘tater farmer’ for his gift to us. Those potatoes were met with oohs and ahhs and “thank you so much”.
After the Pantry, I had to start running around getting two girls ready for the Beauty Revue at BHS. Erin was at the Kim’s waiting in line with the bevy of beauties all awaiting the magical transformation. Ping was doing her own thing at home preparing herself. She had a gorgeous dress that her mom had sent her and she and Ji Eun were working their own brand of Asian magic. I stuck my head in the door from time to time to check on them but the two friends quickly assured me that they had every thing under control.
One of Erin’s friend’s from Tupelo arrived to see the Review and joined us at the BHS Auditorium. Ji Eun and Ping were joined by their Asian friend Rachael and they sat together waiting until it would time for Ping to go back to get ready. Erin went back first and then later on Ping’s group was called. She disappeared through the swinging doors and then a few minutes later we saw her reappear very upset. As she was getting dressed, the zipper on the beautiful fairy princess dress broke. Ji Eun was heart broken because she thought she had broken it and she was crying Ping was just devastated. She said she wanted to walk home and I watched her as she walked out of the auditorium with huge silent tears rolling down her cheeks. I felt helpless.
A short time later, the 11th grade beauties were called onto the stage and Ping walked out wearing another dress! There she was in another beautiful dress but I could tell she was still upset because her eyes were huge. We didn’t know what to think. After it was over, we found out that a student that had already been on stage in an earlier group took her dress off and told to Ping to put it on and go out there. Ping told me later that she could not believe that someone that did not know her would do something so nice for a stranger. I told her that friends come in all shapes and sizes and colors and ages
After we came back home, one of Ping’s friends called me and said he was on his way to Bruce and he wanted to treat Ping and Ji Eun to a pizza. I told him about the wardrobe malfunction when he arrived. His surprise visit lifted both their spirits and he helped them to understand that stuff just happens and things always work out for the good in the end. The two girls were able to laugh about it all later.
As I sit here typing I can see the Syzygy at work with Friends. Totally unrelated things yet it all fits together for me. Across the land, Across the sea, Friends forever, We will always be.
Vonda Keon
November 23, 2008
You have one hand, I have the other. Put them together, We have each other. You help me, and I'll help you, and together, we will see it through.
Thursday night, while at box up night at the Food Pantry, one of our loyal ‘friends’ of the pantry asked me how I came up with ideas for my weekly columns. I had to laugh as I thought about how to answer his question. I keep a notebook/journal in my purse and I am constantly jotting down thoughts about things that occur or odd thoughts that just pop into my head. Sometimes hearing a song triggers a column. Other times I hear a word and go off on that rabbit trail in search of something. I finally told him it was pure SYZYGY.
Syzygy is pronounced sizzajee. Its meanings are a really good explanation for my columns. Meaning #1 is: a straight line conjunction or opposition of 3 objects; i.e. the sun, the earth and the moon. Meaning #2 is: a pair of related things that are either similar or opposite. I do have a tendency to see things in relation to the second meaning.
Here is how the Syzygy worked last week. Keegan Coleman called me Sunday evening and told me that he had a donation from the CREATE Foundation for the Food Pantry so we made the appointment to meet at CCHS on my day off Tuesday for the presentation and to have our photo op. This time of year we really like to make the food boxes as special as we can and we have been truly blessed with donations of food and money to buy more items so we can give to those that need it. Keegan’s call was an answer to prayer.
When all the ‘friends’ of the Pantry came together Thursday evening, we were all just amazed at how much we had to pack into the boxes and how many we were able to make. Saturday morning arrived and it was bitter cold and anyone that knows me well, knows that I absolutely can’t stand being cold. I had polio in 1954 and cold affects me a bit differently than most. I can’t cut extreme heat but I sure don’t like the cold. I usually bundle up pretty good before I go out to walk to each car and mark off the names and give them the ticket to pick up their boxes. I get out into the cold so the older folks don’t have too. So, if you happened to be in that line on Saturday and you noticed that I was getting a ‘wee’ bit cranky, forgive me. I was really longing to be sitting in your nice warm car.
When I had finished marking off the names of the people that had come for a box, I walked back to the Food Pantry building and there were all of our ‘Friends’ busily putting the boxes into the cars as they rolled up. And then I saw the sweet potatoes. I could not believe my eyes. There on the back of a trailer sat two of those big wooden crates packed full of Vardaman sweet potatoes. The Lord will bless a wonderful ‘tater farmer’ for his gift to us. Those potatoes were met with oohs and ahhs and “thank you so much”.
After the Pantry, I had to start running around getting two girls ready for the Beauty Revue at BHS. Erin was at the Kim’s waiting in line with the bevy of beauties all awaiting the magical transformation. Ping was doing her own thing at home preparing herself. She had a gorgeous dress that her mom had sent her and she and Ji Eun were working their own brand of Asian magic. I stuck my head in the door from time to time to check on them but the two friends quickly assured me that they had every thing under control.
One of Erin’s friend’s from Tupelo arrived to see the Review and joined us at the BHS Auditorium. Ji Eun and Ping were joined by their Asian friend Rachael and they sat together waiting until it would time for Ping to go back to get ready. Erin went back first and then later on Ping’s group was called. She disappeared through the swinging doors and then a few minutes later we saw her reappear very upset. As she was getting dressed, the zipper on the beautiful fairy princess dress broke. Ji Eun was heart broken because she thought she had broken it and she was crying Ping was just devastated. She said she wanted to walk home and I watched her as she walked out of the auditorium with huge silent tears rolling down her cheeks. I felt helpless.
A short time later, the 11th grade beauties were called onto the stage and Ping walked out wearing another dress! There she was in another beautiful dress but I could tell she was still upset because her eyes were huge. We didn’t know what to think. After it was over, we found out that a student that had already been on stage in an earlier group took her dress off and told to Ping to put it on and go out there. Ping told me later that she could not believe that someone that did not know her would do something so nice for a stranger. I told her that friends come in all shapes and sizes and colors and ages
After we came back home, one of Ping’s friends called me and said he was on his way to Bruce and he wanted to treat Ping and Ji Eun to a pizza. I told him about the wardrobe malfunction when he arrived. His surprise visit lifted both their spirits and he helped them to understand that stuff just happens and things always work out for the good in the end. The two girls were able to laugh about it all later.
As I sit here typing I can see the Syzygy at work with Friends. Totally unrelated things yet it all fits together for me. Across the land, Across the sea, Friends forever, We will always be.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tradition/Sunrise Sunset
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
November 16, 2008
Tradition, tradition! Tradition!
Have you ever seen ‘Fiddler on the Roof’? It came out on Broadway in 1964 and even though I saw the movie adaptation of it, it is just one of those stories that sticks in my head; especially during this time of the year. It is the story of Tevye, and his attempts to maintain his family and traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. He must cope as his world moves progressively further away from established traditions he holds so dear and close. But sometimes the old Traditions have to be broken and new ones started. The Fiddler on the roof that you see in the beginning is symbolic of survival.
Every family I know has some sort of Traditions, be they religious or other wise. In my family, Thanksgiving and Christmas has always had Mom’s chicken and dressing as the main dish. I never remember a year without it.
No one makes dressing like my Mom. My sister and I have tried and we come pretty darn close but it’s still not the same. We both have stood at her side, just breathing down her neck, watching and trying to measure and capture the precise recipe but it always ‘depends’. The recipe can change ever so slightly depending on the chicken or the eggs or the onions or the sage or how you hold your mouth when you are chopping up the celery! The secret ingredient is just Mama making the dressing. We can help by chopping and peeling and baking the corn bread and getting all the things gathered together but it takes Mama’s touch to make it just right!
There was another traditional food that Mama used to make for Christmas. It was her Jam Cake. That recipe was handed down a couple of generations. It was such a rich cake and it took forever to make not to mention it cost an arm and a leg to make. Mama would make just one each year. I would watch that cake for come together like a fine art masterpiece. After she put the finishing touches on it of the candied pineapple rings and the candied cherries and the absolutely perfect pecan halves, it was ready. The Jam Cake needed to cure to be perfect.
For a couple of days we would be getting the last Christmas gifts wrapped and under the tree and getting the house ready for Christmas Eve dinner and all of us would be looking longingly at that cake. Finally Christmas Eve would arrive and all of the relatives would arrive and everyone would grab a plate and load up with that wonderful chicken and dressing, some honey baked ham, sweet potato casserole, corn and sweet peas and creamy fruit salad and hot buttered rolls and lots of sweet iced tea.
All you could hear was smacking and ummms and very little conversation. Then just when you would think that no one had any room left, someone would be begging to cut that cake. It was usually my Papaw Richards. He was a man of few words, usually just chewing on the stem of his pipe and making little puffs of some really nice aromatic tobacco. But when it came to that cake he would put the pipe out and be all smiles and ready to eat.
Mom’s Jam cake is the only other cake that I like besides the Chocolate cake that my sister will make for me once in a blue moon. When I got married I broke with Tradition and Lisa baked me a 3 tiered Chocolate on Chocolate wedding cake. We haven’t had the Jam Cake in several years. I miss it and can still smell all the spices and taste the wonderful cooked frosting as it hardened around the moist cake. Maybe one day I will pull out the recipe and make it for old times sake but only if Mama will stand behind me and tell me exactly how to stir the batter and help me pick out the perfect pecan halves.
So back to Fiddler on the Roof; Old Tevye didn’t handle changes in his Traditions too well. And while I miss some of the Traditions that we have had through out my life, there is always going to be room to add a new one as my daughters get older and start creating some of their own. Things happen in our lives to create those changes. Family members die, children are born, people get married, family members either move or come back home after a long time away.
I think most of us can perch on our roof and be the Fiddler on the roof in our own way as we survive the many changes of our lives.
Sunrise, sunsetSunrise, sunsetSwiftly fly the yearsOne season following anotherLaden with happiness and tears……
Vonda Keon
November 16, 2008
Tradition, tradition! Tradition!
Have you ever seen ‘Fiddler on the Roof’? It came out on Broadway in 1964 and even though I saw the movie adaptation of it, it is just one of those stories that sticks in my head; especially during this time of the year. It is the story of Tevye, and his attempts to maintain his family and traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. He must cope as his world moves progressively further away from established traditions he holds so dear and close. But sometimes the old Traditions have to be broken and new ones started. The Fiddler on the roof that you see in the beginning is symbolic of survival.
Every family I know has some sort of Traditions, be they religious or other wise. In my family, Thanksgiving and Christmas has always had Mom’s chicken and dressing as the main dish. I never remember a year without it.
No one makes dressing like my Mom. My sister and I have tried and we come pretty darn close but it’s still not the same. We both have stood at her side, just breathing down her neck, watching and trying to measure and capture the precise recipe but it always ‘depends’. The recipe can change ever so slightly depending on the chicken or the eggs or the onions or the sage or how you hold your mouth when you are chopping up the celery! The secret ingredient is just Mama making the dressing. We can help by chopping and peeling and baking the corn bread and getting all the things gathered together but it takes Mama’s touch to make it just right!
There was another traditional food that Mama used to make for Christmas. It was her Jam Cake. That recipe was handed down a couple of generations. It was such a rich cake and it took forever to make not to mention it cost an arm and a leg to make. Mama would make just one each year. I would watch that cake for come together like a fine art masterpiece. After she put the finishing touches on it of the candied pineapple rings and the candied cherries and the absolutely perfect pecan halves, it was ready. The Jam Cake needed to cure to be perfect.
For a couple of days we would be getting the last Christmas gifts wrapped and under the tree and getting the house ready for Christmas Eve dinner and all of us would be looking longingly at that cake. Finally Christmas Eve would arrive and all of the relatives would arrive and everyone would grab a plate and load up with that wonderful chicken and dressing, some honey baked ham, sweet potato casserole, corn and sweet peas and creamy fruit salad and hot buttered rolls and lots of sweet iced tea.
All you could hear was smacking and ummms and very little conversation. Then just when you would think that no one had any room left, someone would be begging to cut that cake. It was usually my Papaw Richards. He was a man of few words, usually just chewing on the stem of his pipe and making little puffs of some really nice aromatic tobacco. But when it came to that cake he would put the pipe out and be all smiles and ready to eat.
Mom’s Jam cake is the only other cake that I like besides the Chocolate cake that my sister will make for me once in a blue moon. When I got married I broke with Tradition and Lisa baked me a 3 tiered Chocolate on Chocolate wedding cake. We haven’t had the Jam Cake in several years. I miss it and can still smell all the spices and taste the wonderful cooked frosting as it hardened around the moist cake. Maybe one day I will pull out the recipe and make it for old times sake but only if Mama will stand behind me and tell me exactly how to stir the batter and help me pick out the perfect pecan halves.
So back to Fiddler on the Roof; Old Tevye didn’t handle changes in his Traditions too well. And while I miss some of the Traditions that we have had through out my life, there is always going to be room to add a new one as my daughters get older and start creating some of their own. Things happen in our lives to create those changes. Family members die, children are born, people get married, family members either move or come back home after a long time away.
I think most of us can perch on our roof and be the Fiddler on the roof in our own way as we survive the many changes of our lives.
Sunrise, sunsetSunrise, sunsetSwiftly fly the yearsOne season following anotherLaden with happiness and tears……
Monday, November 10, 2008
Elvis is Dead. Or IS he? hmmmm
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
November 10, 2008
We had to take a little Saturday road trip to Memphis to pick up a dress for the upcoming beauty review for one daughter and to catch a play for class credit for another daughter. Scott thought it would be a great idea to drive up Elvis Presley Blvd. and show Ji Ehun and Ping Lo the Elvis Shrine.
Elvis is dead. Or so we have been led to believe. I personally have always thought since that fateful day of August 16, 1977, that it was all a farce. I remember the day well. I was working at Seabrook Wallpaper in Tupelo as their in-house interior designer. Yes that is correct. I used to be a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. But that was another life that is full of stories that will make you rock and roll with laughter!
Now where was I? Oh yeah. The day the music died. Nope that was Buddy Holly. The day the jester that stole the crown died. Hmmm yes much was made about ole Elvis. He was found dead in the bathroom at that icon of inferior decorating hell he called home, Graceland!
I was sitting at my desk at work picking out wallpaper and paint colors for someone’s bathroom and bedroom suite when I received the phone call. “ Elvis is dead!” the person on the other end shouted. “Elvis who?” I queried. Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth that followed that statement!
For several days, it was all over the news and in the papers and magazines. But it wasn’t long before the gossip rags started printing what I thought. Elvis wasn’t dead. He was just looking to make a new life and faked it all leaving ole Dr. Nick to take the fall. Why do you think they had to go and exhume him and rebury him on the grounds of Graceland. They didn’t want anyone to break into that mausoleum and find out that one of the wax figures that Madame Tussaud had just recently made was really in that casket.
Ole Elvis wasn’t stupid. He might not have had any taste when it came to clothes and decorating his house, but he knew he would be worth more dead than alive. And he had the money at the time to make such a move. Why not make sure that everyone would be well taken care of and fake the elaborate hoax and live in relative obscurity in Montana and live a normal life? Ole Col. Tom Parker could sure carry it off. He was getting 50% of all Elvis made, the crook. Elvis was tired, overweight, he dressed out of date and he took too many prescription drugs, just like us. Elvis' death did occur at a time when it could only help his reputation. Just before his death, Elvis had been forgotten by society…Except for older women. He was getting older and needed a way out.
There have been Elvis sightings for years as well as weird movies and books. Have you seen Bubba Ho-tep? Elvis is alive and living in a nursing home and an impersonator was the one that died at Graceland. Then a propane explosion destroyed all the records that prove he was the real deal so he can’t come back. Then there was Orion. Orion made the most sense. He was a singer who wore a mask and sounded just like Elvis. (spooky music starts now) and the book of the same name went into great detail about how the death charade was carried out. It was published as fiction but it would make you think that maybe, just maybe, it really could be true.
The Elvis cult touches on so many crucial nerves of American popular culture: the ascent of a working class boy from the most obscure Mississippi beginnings to international fame and fortune; the white man with the soul of black music in his voice; the performer whose music tied together the main strands of American folk music – country, rhythm and blues, and gospel; and, perhaps most compellingly for a weight-obsessed nation, the sexiest man in America's gradual transformation into a fat, sweating parody of his former self, straining the bounds of a jewel-encrusted bodysuit on a Las Vegas stage. The images of fat Elvis and thin Elvis live together in the popular imagination. He continues to be imitated—and parodied—outside the main music industry and Presley songs remain very popular in karaoke bars. People from a diversity of cultures and backgrounds work as Elvis Impersonators and they always chose the raw 1950s Elvis and the kitschy 1970s Elvis.
Before Elvis was campy, he was its opposite: a genuine cultural force... Elvis’s breakthroughs are underappreciated because in this rock-and-roll age, his hard-rocking music and sultry style have triumphed so completely.
Do I really believe Elvis is still alive? Hmmm, in this day and age anything is possible. I mean, just think about it. They didn’t catch the uni-bomber for years. Bin Laden has been on the loose for how many years now and he does send out tapes and messages on a predictable basis. So could Elvis still be alive and just living out his ‘golden years’ in peace and tranquility somewhere? Why not? Rock On Elvis and stay off my blue suede shoes!
Vonda Keon
November 10, 2008
We had to take a little Saturday road trip to Memphis to pick up a dress for the upcoming beauty review for one daughter and to catch a play for class credit for another daughter. Scott thought it would be a great idea to drive up Elvis Presley Blvd. and show Ji Ehun and Ping Lo the Elvis Shrine.
Elvis is dead. Or so we have been led to believe. I personally have always thought since that fateful day of August 16, 1977, that it was all a farce. I remember the day well. I was working at Seabrook Wallpaper in Tupelo as their in-house interior designer. Yes that is correct. I used to be a member of the American Society of Interior Designers. But that was another life that is full of stories that will make you rock and roll with laughter!
Now where was I? Oh yeah. The day the music died. Nope that was Buddy Holly. The day the jester that stole the crown died. Hmmm yes much was made about ole Elvis. He was found dead in the bathroom at that icon of inferior decorating hell he called home, Graceland!
I was sitting at my desk at work picking out wallpaper and paint colors for someone’s bathroom and bedroom suite when I received the phone call. “ Elvis is dead!” the person on the other end shouted. “Elvis who?” I queried. Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth that followed that statement!
For several days, it was all over the news and in the papers and magazines. But it wasn’t long before the gossip rags started printing what I thought. Elvis wasn’t dead. He was just looking to make a new life and faked it all leaving ole Dr. Nick to take the fall. Why do you think they had to go and exhume him and rebury him on the grounds of Graceland. They didn’t want anyone to break into that mausoleum and find out that one of the wax figures that Madame Tussaud had just recently made was really in that casket.
Ole Elvis wasn’t stupid. He might not have had any taste when it came to clothes and decorating his house, but he knew he would be worth more dead than alive. And he had the money at the time to make such a move. Why not make sure that everyone would be well taken care of and fake the elaborate hoax and live in relative obscurity in Montana and live a normal life? Ole Col. Tom Parker could sure carry it off. He was getting 50% of all Elvis made, the crook. Elvis was tired, overweight, he dressed out of date and he took too many prescription drugs, just like us. Elvis' death did occur at a time when it could only help his reputation. Just before his death, Elvis had been forgotten by society…Except for older women. He was getting older and needed a way out.
There have been Elvis sightings for years as well as weird movies and books. Have you seen Bubba Ho-tep? Elvis is alive and living in a nursing home and an impersonator was the one that died at Graceland. Then a propane explosion destroyed all the records that prove he was the real deal so he can’t come back. Then there was Orion. Orion made the most sense. He was a singer who wore a mask and sounded just like Elvis. (spooky music starts now) and the book of the same name went into great detail about how the death charade was carried out. It was published as fiction but it would make you think that maybe, just maybe, it really could be true.
The Elvis cult touches on so many crucial nerves of American popular culture: the ascent of a working class boy from the most obscure Mississippi beginnings to international fame and fortune; the white man with the soul of black music in his voice; the performer whose music tied together the main strands of American folk music – country, rhythm and blues, and gospel; and, perhaps most compellingly for a weight-obsessed nation, the sexiest man in America's gradual transformation into a fat, sweating parody of his former self, straining the bounds of a jewel-encrusted bodysuit on a Las Vegas stage. The images of fat Elvis and thin Elvis live together in the popular imagination. He continues to be imitated—and parodied—outside the main music industry and Presley songs remain very popular in karaoke bars. People from a diversity of cultures and backgrounds work as Elvis Impersonators and they always chose the raw 1950s Elvis and the kitschy 1970s Elvis.
Before Elvis was campy, he was its opposite: a genuine cultural force... Elvis’s breakthroughs are underappreciated because in this rock-and-roll age, his hard-rocking music and sultry style have triumphed so completely.
Do I really believe Elvis is still alive? Hmmm, in this day and age anything is possible. I mean, just think about it. They didn’t catch the uni-bomber for years. Bin Laden has been on the loose for how many years now and he does send out tapes and messages on a predictable basis. So could Elvis still be alive and just living out his ‘golden years’ in peace and tranquility somewhere? Why not? Rock On Elvis and stay off my blue suede shoes!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Fall Changes are delightful
Blogging from Bruce
November 3, 2008
I am not a creature of habit but I don’t really like change either. Gradual changes are ok as long as I know they are coming and I have time to prepare. Sudden changes make me arch my back and spit like an angry feline.
The changes in weather this past week has been delightful to me. I love the first nips of cold. I may complain about it but I still like it. I like pulling out my favorite sweat shirts and sweaters and getting all snug and comfy on the sofa with a good book and some hot chocolate. This is the time of year when I look at God’s paint brush and I revel in the vast array of colors that are appearing each day in my own yard.
We are blessed to have an honest to goodness Sugar Maple in our yard. It is absolutely gorgeous this time of year. Those two nights of frost last week was all it needed to start its colorful show. First the green leaves start taking on a hint of deep red. Then the green goes away little by little each day until the tree is a flaming mass of fiery reds and oranges. The reds and oranges fade to a brilliant yellow and then the leaves just drop. It’s a sad day when the leaves drop but it’s the cycle for this particular tree.
I know other people notice my tree because I have seen them drive by very slowly each day and look at the splash of colors this magnificent tree produces. Watching this tree as it goes through its changing Fall wardrobe makes me happy indeed.
Another thing about Autumn weather that makes me happy is I can pull out all of soup and chili recipes and I can bake all the sweet potato and pumpkin pies that I want.
Last week Ariel had a special request when she came home for the weekend. She wanted a pan of chicken and dressing with candied sweet potatoes. It just doesn’t seem natural to eat them any other time of the year except in November and December in our family. Scott drove down to Columbus to pick her up Friday and I went to the store to pick up the ingredients for dinner. While she and Erin helped the Ji Eun, Ping and Rachel get dressed up as a mummy, a pirate and a fairy and take them out Trick or Treating, I was in the kitchen chopping celery and onions and cooking the chicken and the corn bread.
It is usually an all day affair when I start cooking a chicken and dressing meal. After the girls spent some time on the front porch handing out candy to the little kids, they finally went out and experienced that unusual bit of American tradition for themselves. Then they went to the football game. By the time they all arrived back home, I had literally thrown together a huge pan of dressing, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes and creamed corn with a sweet potato pie for dessert. The house smelled mighty good when they arrived back home. They all entered the house sniffing the air like puppies on the trail of something to eat.
I had to laugh at the Asian girls as they tried to eat dressing with chopsticks. There are just some foods that don’t lend themselves to those eating sticks. Ariel showed them the best way to eat dressing was with a big spoon.
Halloween night was a good night. The kids got to experience Trick or Treating, Ariel came home for the weekend and we all got to eat some Fall comfort foods. And on Saturday, Scott climbed up on the roof and started putting up the Christmas lights in preparation for this year’s light show. Yep. I love Autumn and all of its sights and smells and tastes. Now that’s the kind of change I can be happy with.
November 3, 2008
I am not a creature of habit but I don’t really like change either. Gradual changes are ok as long as I know they are coming and I have time to prepare. Sudden changes make me arch my back and spit like an angry feline.
The changes in weather this past week has been delightful to me. I love the first nips of cold. I may complain about it but I still like it. I like pulling out my favorite sweat shirts and sweaters and getting all snug and comfy on the sofa with a good book and some hot chocolate. This is the time of year when I look at God’s paint brush and I revel in the vast array of colors that are appearing each day in my own yard.
We are blessed to have an honest to goodness Sugar Maple in our yard. It is absolutely gorgeous this time of year. Those two nights of frost last week was all it needed to start its colorful show. First the green leaves start taking on a hint of deep red. Then the green goes away little by little each day until the tree is a flaming mass of fiery reds and oranges. The reds and oranges fade to a brilliant yellow and then the leaves just drop. It’s a sad day when the leaves drop but it’s the cycle for this particular tree.
I know other people notice my tree because I have seen them drive by very slowly each day and look at the splash of colors this magnificent tree produces. Watching this tree as it goes through its changing Fall wardrobe makes me happy indeed.
Another thing about Autumn weather that makes me happy is I can pull out all of soup and chili recipes and I can bake all the sweet potato and pumpkin pies that I want.
Last week Ariel had a special request when she came home for the weekend. She wanted a pan of chicken and dressing with candied sweet potatoes. It just doesn’t seem natural to eat them any other time of the year except in November and December in our family. Scott drove down to Columbus to pick her up Friday and I went to the store to pick up the ingredients for dinner. While she and Erin helped the Ji Eun, Ping and Rachel get dressed up as a mummy, a pirate and a fairy and take them out Trick or Treating, I was in the kitchen chopping celery and onions and cooking the chicken and the corn bread.
It is usually an all day affair when I start cooking a chicken and dressing meal. After the girls spent some time on the front porch handing out candy to the little kids, they finally went out and experienced that unusual bit of American tradition for themselves. Then they went to the football game. By the time they all arrived back home, I had literally thrown together a huge pan of dressing, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes and creamed corn with a sweet potato pie for dessert. The house smelled mighty good when they arrived back home. They all entered the house sniffing the air like puppies on the trail of something to eat.
I had to laugh at the Asian girls as they tried to eat dressing with chopsticks. There are just some foods that don’t lend themselves to those eating sticks. Ariel showed them the best way to eat dressing was with a big spoon.
Halloween night was a good night. The kids got to experience Trick or Treating, Ariel came home for the weekend and we all got to eat some Fall comfort foods. And on Saturday, Scott climbed up on the roof and started putting up the Christmas lights in preparation for this year’s light show. Yep. I love Autumn and all of its sights and smells and tastes. Now that’s the kind of change I can be happy with.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Deal or No Deal
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
October 26, 2008
I discovered the love of studying history when I was in the 5th grade at Bruce Elementary in the early 1960’s. My 5th grade teacher was Ms. Bobbie Buchanan. I will never forget my history and I still love to read it and study it and analyze it. She taught us that history repeats itself time and time again.
As with any presidential race, I like to stand back and listen to the candidates and political pundits and analyze all the rhetoric that is bandied about. There is so much in our rich historical nation’s past that is trying to repeat itself. Whether you agree with me or not is a moot point. This is what I see.
You can never study Franklin Delano Roosevelt too much. The “New Deal” was the largest peacetime expansion of federal government power in the 20th century. The notion that FDR saved us from the Depression is hogwash; Roosevelt's policies, actually in hind sight, prolonged and deepened it. He did do some good things. TVA and electricity for everyone came about during his time in office. But if we study FDR and his New Deal as a way of dealing with the Depression and the slow economy of that time, the lesson we take away is this: government is an immensely useful means for achieving one's private aspirations, and resorting to this reservoir of potentially appropriable benefits is perfectly legitimate. One thing we have to fear is politicians who believe this.
Roosevelt's revolution began with his inaugural address, which left no doubt about his intentions to seize the moment and harness it to his purposes. Best remembered for its patently false line that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," it also called for extraordinary emergency governmental powers. There's no doubt that Roosevelt changed the character of the American government--for the worse. Many of the reforms of the 1930s remain embedded in policy today: acreage allotments, price supports and marketing controls in agriculture, extensive regulation of private securities, federal intrusion into union-management relations, government lending and insurance activities, the minimum wage mandate on businesses, national unemployment insurance, Social Security and welfare payments, production and sale of electrical power by the federal government, fiat money (loss of the gold standard)--the list goes on.
So let’s talk about this New Deal that Obama is offering. The "tax-cut plan" of Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama is nothing more than another wealth-transference program that, in the "old days of FDR," was known as welfare.
Sen. Obama claim’s that he'll cut taxes for 95 percent of American workers. What he has left unsaid is that to accomplish this, he'll have to levy a massive tax increase against the other 5 percent who already pay nearly 60 percent of all taxes.
Just as troubling, however, is this little factoid: Even the one-third of all American working families who pay no income taxes now will receive a government check under the Obama plan. And that number could rise to about 44 percent under Obama's proposal. And for most, these payments would exceed even the amount they pay in payroll taxes.
Obama is not offering a tax cut. He's proposing welfare payments, and it's a classic welfare program in that it will only encourage lower-income workers to remain as lower-income workers, given the higher marginal tax disincentive should they improve their employment lot.
He says he wants to raise the taxes on the people that make over 250 thousand a year and ‘spread the wealth around’. Well think about this, those people might have a business that brings in that amount but it’s not really what they personally earn. They have to pay payroll and taxes and order supplies and keep inventory on hand. Obama doesn’t seem to understand that aspect of business never having been a small business owner himself. He doesn’t know the difference between income and wealth.
The really wealthy people or businesses will just move their investments out of the US and hide their assets and cause the economy to tank. Tax revenues will hit the bottom, and the wealthy won’t be paying the taxes. The tax burden will end up falling on the shoulders of Joe the Plumbers, or Will the Well Diggers, or Harry the Home Furnishings store owner, or Bob the Building supplier. It’s going to be us, the working middle class, which will be the hardest hit.
It is amazing to me that some individuals feel so entitled to spend other people's money. Imagine your church pastor coming to you and saying the wealthiest 10 percent of church members would have to give the church $10,000 per year and the next 25 percent would have to pay $5,000 so that the "poorer members" don't have to pay anything. And since you are one of the wealthier church members, the pastor wants your $10,000 check. Most people would probably just join another church. I know I would.
Mark my words. You know how I will vote. What about you? Deal or No Deal?
Vonda Keon
October 26, 2008
I discovered the love of studying history when I was in the 5th grade at Bruce Elementary in the early 1960’s. My 5th grade teacher was Ms. Bobbie Buchanan. I will never forget my history and I still love to read it and study it and analyze it. She taught us that history repeats itself time and time again.
As with any presidential race, I like to stand back and listen to the candidates and political pundits and analyze all the rhetoric that is bandied about. There is so much in our rich historical nation’s past that is trying to repeat itself. Whether you agree with me or not is a moot point. This is what I see.
You can never study Franklin Delano Roosevelt too much. The “New Deal” was the largest peacetime expansion of federal government power in the 20th century. The notion that FDR saved us from the Depression is hogwash; Roosevelt's policies, actually in hind sight, prolonged and deepened it. He did do some good things. TVA and electricity for everyone came about during his time in office. But if we study FDR and his New Deal as a way of dealing with the Depression and the slow economy of that time, the lesson we take away is this: government is an immensely useful means for achieving one's private aspirations, and resorting to this reservoir of potentially appropriable benefits is perfectly legitimate. One thing we have to fear is politicians who believe this.
Roosevelt's revolution began with his inaugural address, which left no doubt about his intentions to seize the moment and harness it to his purposes. Best remembered for its patently false line that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," it also called for extraordinary emergency governmental powers. There's no doubt that Roosevelt changed the character of the American government--for the worse. Many of the reforms of the 1930s remain embedded in policy today: acreage allotments, price supports and marketing controls in agriculture, extensive regulation of private securities, federal intrusion into union-management relations, government lending and insurance activities, the minimum wage mandate on businesses, national unemployment insurance, Social Security and welfare payments, production and sale of electrical power by the federal government, fiat money (loss of the gold standard)--the list goes on.
So let’s talk about this New Deal that Obama is offering. The "tax-cut plan" of Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama is nothing more than another wealth-transference program that, in the "old days of FDR," was known as welfare.
Sen. Obama claim’s that he'll cut taxes for 95 percent of American workers. What he has left unsaid is that to accomplish this, he'll have to levy a massive tax increase against the other 5 percent who already pay nearly 60 percent of all taxes.
Just as troubling, however, is this little factoid: Even the one-third of all American working families who pay no income taxes now will receive a government check under the Obama plan. And that number could rise to about 44 percent under Obama's proposal. And for most, these payments would exceed even the amount they pay in payroll taxes.
Obama is not offering a tax cut. He's proposing welfare payments, and it's a classic welfare program in that it will only encourage lower-income workers to remain as lower-income workers, given the higher marginal tax disincentive should they improve their employment lot.
He says he wants to raise the taxes on the people that make over 250 thousand a year and ‘spread the wealth around’. Well think about this, those people might have a business that brings in that amount but it’s not really what they personally earn. They have to pay payroll and taxes and order supplies and keep inventory on hand. Obama doesn’t seem to understand that aspect of business never having been a small business owner himself. He doesn’t know the difference between income and wealth.
The really wealthy people or businesses will just move their investments out of the US and hide their assets and cause the economy to tank. Tax revenues will hit the bottom, and the wealthy won’t be paying the taxes. The tax burden will end up falling on the shoulders of Joe the Plumbers, or Will the Well Diggers, or Harry the Home Furnishings store owner, or Bob the Building supplier. It’s going to be us, the working middle class, which will be the hardest hit.
It is amazing to me that some individuals feel so entitled to spend other people's money. Imagine your church pastor coming to you and saying the wealthiest 10 percent of church members would have to give the church $10,000 per year and the next 25 percent would have to pay $5,000 so that the "poorer members" don't have to pay anything. And since you are one of the wealthier church members, the pastor wants your $10,000 check. Most people would probably just join another church. I know I would.
Mark my words. You know how I will vote. What about you? Deal or No Deal?
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not going to take it any more
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
October 21, 2008
As I type this, it’s less than 2 weeks till Election Day. Or perhaps its Judgement day. Who knows which way we are headed. Being a moderate conservative, I can only hope and pray that these United States of America will truly be united and not headed blindly toward what smacks of socialism, pure and simple.
I am reminded of a movie that I saw back in 1976. Do you remember 1976? I sure do. Gerald Ford was president. He has the distinction of being the only president that was never elected as either Vice President or President. Gerald Ford was a good man but the Watergate scandal and the Viet Nam War tainted him. He was saddled with a slow and shaky economy so when the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter came onto the political scene with his folksy down home Carter Peanuts, people thought they had seen the light and the messiah. Carter was a new comer to the Washington scene and seen as a reformer. He won by a narrow margin that year. Sound eerily familiar yet?
So, back to the movie I saw in 1976. It was Network; A rather bizarre movie at the time, starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch and Ned Beatty. Peter Finch played a character named Howard Beale and he is the main event in this movie which shows how low TV news will go for ratings and how they exploited the poor guys’ madness. There is one memorable piece of rhetoric that has always stuck in my mind.
I now give you ‘Howard Beales’ speech from the 1976 movie Network. You can change a few of the words and this speech or rant is just as relevant today as it was in 1976.
“I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression (recession). Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster (microwave) and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression (recession) and the inflation and the Russians (Iranains) and the crime in the street.
All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
You've gotta say, "I'm a human being! My life has value!"
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
See what I mean? It works doesn’t it? Are you mad yet? Are you ready to get up off your couch and get out and vote? Are you ready to finally take a stand and vote for what is you know is right? Are you ready to stand up for the freedoms that men and women have given their lives to protect for those of us that have never fought in a war? Are you ready to fight for the Pledge of Allegiance and that flag pin on your lapel and Old Glory flying on that pole in your front yard? Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is and reclaim America from the liberals? Well are you? Go vote on November 4th or you won’t have any right to complain if things don’t go your way. Voting is a privilege. It is our right to vote. I have never missed voting in an election since I was 18. Like old Howard Beale, I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!! Go vote. It’s your duty to yourself and your country.
Vonda Keon
October 21, 2008
As I type this, it’s less than 2 weeks till Election Day. Or perhaps its Judgement day. Who knows which way we are headed. Being a moderate conservative, I can only hope and pray that these United States of America will truly be united and not headed blindly toward what smacks of socialism, pure and simple.
I am reminded of a movie that I saw back in 1976. Do you remember 1976? I sure do. Gerald Ford was president. He has the distinction of being the only president that was never elected as either Vice President or President. Gerald Ford was a good man but the Watergate scandal and the Viet Nam War tainted him. He was saddled with a slow and shaky economy so when the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter came onto the political scene with his folksy down home Carter Peanuts, people thought they had seen the light and the messiah. Carter was a new comer to the Washington scene and seen as a reformer. He won by a narrow margin that year. Sound eerily familiar yet?
So, back to the movie I saw in 1976. It was Network; A rather bizarre movie at the time, starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch and Ned Beatty. Peter Finch played a character named Howard Beale and he is the main event in this movie which shows how low TV news will go for ratings and how they exploited the poor guys’ madness. There is one memorable piece of rhetoric that has always stuck in my mind.
I now give you ‘Howard Beales’ speech from the 1976 movie Network. You can change a few of the words and this speech or rant is just as relevant today as it was in 1976.
“I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression (recession). Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster (microwave) and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression (recession) and the inflation and the Russians (Iranains) and the crime in the street.
All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
You've gotta say, "I'm a human being! My life has value!"
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
See what I mean? It works doesn’t it? Are you mad yet? Are you ready to get up off your couch and get out and vote? Are you ready to finally take a stand and vote for what is you know is right? Are you ready to stand up for the freedoms that men and women have given their lives to protect for those of us that have never fought in a war? Are you ready to fight for the Pledge of Allegiance and that flag pin on your lapel and Old Glory flying on that pole in your front yard? Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is and reclaim America from the liberals? Well are you? Go vote on November 4th or you won’t have any right to complain if things don’t go your way. Voting is a privilege. It is our right to vote. I have never missed voting in an election since I was 18. Like old Howard Beale, I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!! Go vote. It’s your duty to yourself and your country.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
October 13, 2008
Mirror, Mirror on the wall?
Who’s playing with our money in the hall?
I feel the need to get up on my political soapbox. So whether you agree with me or not, in the interest of our country and our collective futures just bear with me ok? I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m not even asking you to vote for ‘this one or that one’. I’m just going to throw out some information so that YOU can make an informed decision. This will make you sick
It’s been what……two weeks since the bailout went into effect. Has anyone looked up the definition of bailout?
The new name of it is the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Another term to go down into the history books.
There has been a whole lot of finger pointing going on in the world of politics the last couple of weeks. For those of you, who would rather stay in the dark, stop reading. I would never want to upset your political party's talking points and ruin your day. But for those who just enjoy history or want to understand how or why we got to this point in financial chaos read on. 1970 Freddie Mac was created by Democrats in Congress 57-43 Senate and 234-192 House.1977 the Community Reinvestment Act was passed by the Democratic Congress (61-39 Senate and 292-143 House) and signed into law by Jimmy Carter. It encouraged banks and mortgage lenders to loan money for housing to people who would not otherwise qualify (with Freddie and Fannie backing same by taking the paper).1995 President Clinton signed the executive order mandating lenders expand their lending for mortgages to sub-prime borrowers (that means people who would not qualify under any criteria in a sane world). Failure to do so would result in the lending institution not having access to federal funds or the quasi governmental Fannie and Freddie.1999 Republican Senator Phil Gramm pushed through congress deregulation laws (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) removing Depression era laws separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities... (a really stupid move...in my humble, yet financially under educated opinion) The vote in the Senate was 98-1-1. McCain was the one who did not vote, another republican was the lone no vote. Biden and Harry Reid, who are now saying it's all Bush's fault, voted for the bill. Even Obama this week places the blamed on Gramm, but fails to mention that his running mate voted for it, and Clinton signed it into law.2003 President Bush tried to get congress to amend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules to disallow loans to people who would not qualify under normal lending institution rules for making loans. In other words, rescind the Clinton Executive order which had by now become the rules of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The Democrats in the Senate (48) used the threat of filibuster to kill the bill (got to have that magic 60 in the Senate to stop a filibuster). George should have jumped up and down and yelled a little louder. Better yet he should have used stronger tactics and told the American people over and over and over again that we needed to watch these folks. Why weren’t we listening?2006 Greenspan testified before congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were both a house of cards and needed a lot more oversight and controls in case this country found itself in a recession in the future. That duty falls to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Democrat Chris Dodd is Chairman. He wasn't thrilled with Greenspan's advice, because he was the number one campaign money receiver from Fannie and Freddie over the years. Obama was number 2, and he raked his in two years.Now Dodd has gotten the 700 billion to bailout the house of cards, but he wants more oversight, which he had in the first place, but doesn't want to point his finger at himself for not doing his job, even when the whole mess is exposed.Every single piece of legislation the Republicans have put up to regulate the financial industry since 2000 has been killed in the Senate by Democrats. These folks have been living large with OUR hard earned tax dollars people! Its not their assets they are playing games with. Its Ours…yours….mine!95% of the homeowners are paying their monthly mortgage payments. It's those 5% that are facing foreclosure that are costing you and me, the sweet little hardworking middle class taxpayers, a trillion or so. Have you checked your 401K lately? Well don’t! You will fall on your knees in front of the great white throne and throw up! Your 401K is probably gone or greatly diminished. I hope your health is good because Boomers like me will be working as long as they can get to work and still do the job! But when the politicians start pointing fingers, watch closely. Notice they will not be near a mirror. Either they don’t want to see themselves or they have no reflection at all.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall?
Who’s the dumbest ones of all?
We, the middle class, are if we don’t get up off our assets and go vote on November 4!
Vonda Keon
October 13, 2008
Mirror, Mirror on the wall?
Who’s playing with our money in the hall?
I feel the need to get up on my political soapbox. So whether you agree with me or not, in the interest of our country and our collective futures just bear with me ok? I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m not even asking you to vote for ‘this one or that one’. I’m just going to throw out some information so that YOU can make an informed decision. This will make you sick
It’s been what……two weeks since the bailout went into effect. Has anyone looked up the definition of bailout?
The new name of it is the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Another term to go down into the history books.
There has been a whole lot of finger pointing going on in the world of politics the last couple of weeks. For those of you, who would rather stay in the dark, stop reading. I would never want to upset your political party's talking points and ruin your day. But for those who just enjoy history or want to understand how or why we got to this point in financial chaos read on. 1970 Freddie Mac was created by Democrats in Congress 57-43 Senate and 234-192 House.1977 the Community Reinvestment Act was passed by the Democratic Congress (61-39 Senate and 292-143 House) and signed into law by Jimmy Carter. It encouraged banks and mortgage lenders to loan money for housing to people who would not otherwise qualify (with Freddie and Fannie backing same by taking the paper).1995 President Clinton signed the executive order mandating lenders expand their lending for mortgages to sub-prime borrowers (that means people who would not qualify under any criteria in a sane world). Failure to do so would result in the lending institution not having access to federal funds or the quasi governmental Fannie and Freddie.1999 Republican Senator Phil Gramm pushed through congress deregulation laws (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) removing Depression era laws separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities... (a really stupid move...in my humble, yet financially under educated opinion) The vote in the Senate was 98-1-1. McCain was the one who did not vote, another republican was the lone no vote. Biden and Harry Reid, who are now saying it's all Bush's fault, voted for the bill. Even Obama this week places the blamed on Gramm, but fails to mention that his running mate voted for it, and Clinton signed it into law.2003 President Bush tried to get congress to amend Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules to disallow loans to people who would not qualify under normal lending institution rules for making loans. In other words, rescind the Clinton Executive order which had by now become the rules of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The Democrats in the Senate (48) used the threat of filibuster to kill the bill (got to have that magic 60 in the Senate to stop a filibuster). George should have jumped up and down and yelled a little louder. Better yet he should have used stronger tactics and told the American people over and over and over again that we needed to watch these folks. Why weren’t we listening?2006 Greenspan testified before congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were both a house of cards and needed a lot more oversight and controls in case this country found itself in a recession in the future. That duty falls to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Democrat Chris Dodd is Chairman. He wasn't thrilled with Greenspan's advice, because he was the number one campaign money receiver from Fannie and Freddie over the years. Obama was number 2, and he raked his in two years.Now Dodd has gotten the 700 billion to bailout the house of cards, but he wants more oversight, which he had in the first place, but doesn't want to point his finger at himself for not doing his job, even when the whole mess is exposed.Every single piece of legislation the Republicans have put up to regulate the financial industry since 2000 has been killed in the Senate by Democrats. These folks have been living large with OUR hard earned tax dollars people! Its not their assets they are playing games with. Its Ours…yours….mine!95% of the homeowners are paying their monthly mortgage payments. It's those 5% that are facing foreclosure that are costing you and me, the sweet little hardworking middle class taxpayers, a trillion or so. Have you checked your 401K lately? Well don’t! You will fall on your knees in front of the great white throne and throw up! Your 401K is probably gone or greatly diminished. I hope your health is good because Boomers like me will be working as long as they can get to work and still do the job! But when the politicians start pointing fingers, watch closely. Notice they will not be near a mirror. Either they don’t want to see themselves or they have no reflection at all.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall?
Who’s the dumbest ones of all?
We, the middle class, are if we don’t get up off our assets and go vote on November 4!
Monday, October 06, 2008
Where's the Beef?
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
October 7, 2008
I was walking across the parking lot at the Piggly Wiggly in Bruce last week when I heard someone call my name. I looked around to see who was hollering at me and a man drove up to me and said he wanted me to do some investigative reporting. I just laughed at that thought. Me? Investigative reporting? Nahhh. I write more on the side of thought provoking entertainment…..I hope.
At any rate, my curiosity was piqued so I asked him just what did I need to be doing an expose’ on. He said just two words. “Angus Beef”. I knew the second he said it that I would have to do it because I have long wondered about it myself. Just what the heck is the deal with Angus Beef and what have we been eating all these years. Chopped liver? Or perhaps I should say beef jerky?
What is Angus beef, and why is it suddenly such a big deal? Who was Angus and why did he highjack my steaks and burgers? Can I Lojack my trusty sirloins and New York strip steaks or am I doomed to have to purchase this high priced beef when the craving for red meat flings itself upon me? Certified "Angus beef" seems to be all the rage these days. Is it just a buzzword, or is it as something distinguished as the commercials would have me believe?
Why is it that we are inundated with commercials and posters and bill boards touting the wonders of Angus Beef? I walk into Burger King and thank goodness I don’t see that creepy big headed Burger King guy but there are all the signs that say Angus Beef Burgers are better. Go to McDonalds and Ronald has his dollar menu up there and then the premium Angus Burgers. And they sure aren’t priced at a dollar. So what the heck kind of meat is in that one Dollar burger? Tastes like beef to me!
Wendy’s, Subway for heavens sake! Hardees! They all have your whimpy little, low on the totem pole, beef burgers and then they have the high priced Angus Beef Burgers. And of course the Angus burger comes on the specialty bun. Now that last bastion of Americana has succumbed to the dreaded trend. Sonic has an Angus Bacon Cheeseburger! Oh the humanity of it all!
As I walk through the grocery stores, the food section of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the Kroger supermarkets, SAMS Club, all I notice are the sections of meat. There is the assortment of steaks and roasts and ground beefs and then there is the section of the same except it proudly proclaims ANGUS BEEF is better. It is going to cost more that is for certain.
So this is what I found out after doing some digging around and snooping on the internet and asking the butchers.
Angus beef is the meat from a specific breed of cattle, generally referred to as Angus cattle. (There are different types of Angus cattle though, not just one specific breed.) The beef producers of this country are marketing Angus cattle as a superior beef source, just as different car manufacturers promote different brands as superior. Certified Angus Beef (C.A.B.) must be prime or choice grades only. Since many grocery stores sell lesser grades of beef, this establishes the Certified Angus Beef as a premium line, giving both the beef producer and the grocery store a chance for additional profits.
According to the National Cattleman's Beef Association, only about 8% of U.S. beef is entitled to the label "Certified Angus." Just because something is labeled "Angus" or "Black Angus" doesn't mean it's the same quality as "Certified Angus Beef." Angus beef is further differentiated by USDA grades such as "prime," "choice," and "select," giving us such labels as "Certified Angus Prime," indicating the best Certified Angus Beef.
There are Black Angus and Brown Angus but apparently it’s the Black Angus beef that has it origins in Scotland, that is far more superior. How now Brown Cow? How do you feel about that?
I am not a steak aficionado but I could actually care less about whether or not I am eating a superior ground up Certified Black Angus or a lowly store brand Hereford. When I want a burger I want a burger and I am not checking its pedigree. Just give me a big old patty of charbroiled beef well done. Slap it on a toasted bun along with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes. A big kosher pickle and and a cold glass of 7UP. 7UP! That is another thing that is hard to find now adays. Where the heck did that soft drink? Sprite is ok and I do the Dew at times. But there is nothing like a 7UP to wash done my plain ole beefy burger.
So people I challenge you to stand up and let your voice be heard. Ask what the deal is with the Angus beef. Where’s the BEEF? (and the 7Up?)
Vonda Keon
October 7, 2008
I was walking across the parking lot at the Piggly Wiggly in Bruce last week when I heard someone call my name. I looked around to see who was hollering at me and a man drove up to me and said he wanted me to do some investigative reporting. I just laughed at that thought. Me? Investigative reporting? Nahhh. I write more on the side of thought provoking entertainment…..I hope.
At any rate, my curiosity was piqued so I asked him just what did I need to be doing an expose’ on. He said just two words. “Angus Beef”. I knew the second he said it that I would have to do it because I have long wondered about it myself. Just what the heck is the deal with Angus Beef and what have we been eating all these years. Chopped liver? Or perhaps I should say beef jerky?
What is Angus beef, and why is it suddenly such a big deal? Who was Angus and why did he highjack my steaks and burgers? Can I Lojack my trusty sirloins and New York strip steaks or am I doomed to have to purchase this high priced beef when the craving for red meat flings itself upon me? Certified "Angus beef" seems to be all the rage these days. Is it just a buzzword, or is it as something distinguished as the commercials would have me believe?
Why is it that we are inundated with commercials and posters and bill boards touting the wonders of Angus Beef? I walk into Burger King and thank goodness I don’t see that creepy big headed Burger King guy but there are all the signs that say Angus Beef Burgers are better. Go to McDonalds and Ronald has his dollar menu up there and then the premium Angus Burgers. And they sure aren’t priced at a dollar. So what the heck kind of meat is in that one Dollar burger? Tastes like beef to me!
Wendy’s, Subway for heavens sake! Hardees! They all have your whimpy little, low on the totem pole, beef burgers and then they have the high priced Angus Beef Burgers. And of course the Angus burger comes on the specialty bun. Now that last bastion of Americana has succumbed to the dreaded trend. Sonic has an Angus Bacon Cheeseburger! Oh the humanity of it all!
As I walk through the grocery stores, the food section of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the Kroger supermarkets, SAMS Club, all I notice are the sections of meat. There is the assortment of steaks and roasts and ground beefs and then there is the section of the same except it proudly proclaims ANGUS BEEF is better. It is going to cost more that is for certain.
So this is what I found out after doing some digging around and snooping on the internet and asking the butchers.
Angus beef is the meat from a specific breed of cattle, generally referred to as Angus cattle. (There are different types of Angus cattle though, not just one specific breed.) The beef producers of this country are marketing Angus cattle as a superior beef source, just as different car manufacturers promote different brands as superior. Certified Angus Beef (C.A.B.) must be prime or choice grades only. Since many grocery stores sell lesser grades of beef, this establishes the Certified Angus Beef as a premium line, giving both the beef producer and the grocery store a chance for additional profits.
According to the National Cattleman's Beef Association, only about 8% of U.S. beef is entitled to the label "Certified Angus." Just because something is labeled "Angus" or "Black Angus" doesn't mean it's the same quality as "Certified Angus Beef." Angus beef is further differentiated by USDA grades such as "prime," "choice," and "select," giving us such labels as "Certified Angus Prime," indicating the best Certified Angus Beef.
There are Black Angus and Brown Angus but apparently it’s the Black Angus beef that has it origins in Scotland, that is far more superior. How now Brown Cow? How do you feel about that?
I am not a steak aficionado but I could actually care less about whether or not I am eating a superior ground up Certified Black Angus or a lowly store brand Hereford. When I want a burger I want a burger and I am not checking its pedigree. Just give me a big old patty of charbroiled beef well done. Slap it on a toasted bun along with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French fried potatoes. A big kosher pickle and and a cold glass of 7UP. 7UP! That is another thing that is hard to find now adays. Where the heck did that soft drink? Sprite is ok and I do the Dew at times. But there is nothing like a 7UP to wash done my plain ole beefy burger.
So people I challenge you to stand up and let your voice be heard. Ask what the deal is with the Angus beef. Where’s the BEEF? (and the 7Up?)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The evil mutant attack squirrel of death
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
September 22, 2008
I ran across a story of a motorcyclist in South Mississippi that had a really bad encounter with an angry squirrel. It made me laugh so hard because I started remembering my own encounter with a Mutant Attack Squirrel.
I opened a pre-school on North McSweyn in 1997. Four days a week, I taught ABC’s and 123’s and computer skills and read stories and sang songs with 3 and 4 year olds for a couple of hours each day. We had so much fun finger painting and doing puzzles and playing dress up and of course going outside and playing games.
I always taught things about nature, how to identify trees and flowers and good bugs and bad bugs. We looked for snakes, mainly to avoid them, and watched for turtles in the creek. Then there were the many squirrels that roamed freely in the yard between Mom’s pecan orchard and the little house that was my preschool.
At that time I drove a Chevy van that held maybe 9 kids max. I didn’t drive them around so space wasn’t an issue. Until the day that the Mutant Attack Squirrel of Death appeared.
I had the little ones outside and we were marching and singing at the top of our lungs trying to shake the sillies out when Matthew noticed a baby squirrel just sitting on the ground by the redbud tree in the front yard. We all got very quiet and slowly approached the little gray furry creature and it just looked at us with its little beady eyes. It didn’t hardly have any fluff on its tail it was so young. I told the children to stand back as I searched all over for its mama. The kids looked below the trees and bushes and I looked high into the trees. Nope, no mama, but the neighbor’s cat had spied the baby and had that lean and hungry look in its eyes. I knew that little squirrel was about to become lunch for that cat and I sure didn’t want the kids to witness that carnage.
I went over to the little squirrel and talked to it in soothing tones and gently picked it up and put it up into the tree. It still looked at me with those little beady eyes. Then it threw its head back, stood up on its little teeny hind legs, opened its little mouth and screamed what I am pretty sure was squirrel for “ BANZAI! You pecan loving, heathen!” The sound that escaped from that tiny little creature was amazing. But then I heard the same scream and a crashing noise that sounded like a miniature herd of elephants coming out of the giant oak across the street.
We all turned around and observed what was apparently the mama squirrel, coming toward us. Except this was no ordinary squirrel. This was the Crazed Evil Mutant Attack Squirrel of Death. The leap that squirrel executed was something that an Olympian would be proud of. It would have pulled 10’s straight across the board. Snarling, hissing and chattering loudly, the little furry tornado came running across the busy street only to run under a car. I just knew that squirrel was a Frisbee at that point. But noooo.
When that car drove on, there she was, hunkered down on the street. She was now the
Crazed Evil Mutant Nazi Attack Squirrel of Death and she was on a mission. She ran toward my legs and proceeded to run in circles up my legs. I yelled at the kids to run and get into the van. All 15 kids obeyed! They ran as fast as their little 3 and 4 year old legs would carry them and packed into the van while I was doing the Mexican hat dance in the yard trying to get that screaming banshee of a squirrel off my body. She was like a Tasmanian Devil. I was screaming, the crazy squirrel was screaming, the baby squirrel was still screaming and the kids were in the can screaming!
I grabbed the squirrel by it’s fluffy tail and did a couple of swings round my head and turned loose and she went sailing across the yard only to land on her feet and she was REALLY mad at me then. By this time, I realized that I needed to get into the van with the kids or they were going to witness me being eaten alive by that Wicked, Vile Crazed Evil Mutant Nazi Attack Squirrel of Death. I sprinted for the van only to find the children had locked the doors. So there I was, locked out of the van that was packed full of screaming preschoolers, with a dangerous squirrel running at me intent on shredding me.
I finally convinced the children to open the door and let me in. That squirrel jumped on the windshield of the van and shook its little fists at me. Then she jumped off the van, climbed the redbud tree, grabbed her baby by the nape of its neck and dragged it back across the street and up into the large oak tree. I tried to get out of the van after a while and she ran back down the tree and chattered at me. So there the kids and I sat for a while. Matthew finally said from somewhere in the back of the van, that next time we should just let the cat eat the squirrel.
I totally agreed.
Vonda Keon
September 22, 2008
I ran across a story of a motorcyclist in South Mississippi that had a really bad encounter with an angry squirrel. It made me laugh so hard because I started remembering my own encounter with a Mutant Attack Squirrel.
I opened a pre-school on North McSweyn in 1997. Four days a week, I taught ABC’s and 123’s and computer skills and read stories and sang songs with 3 and 4 year olds for a couple of hours each day. We had so much fun finger painting and doing puzzles and playing dress up and of course going outside and playing games.
I always taught things about nature, how to identify trees and flowers and good bugs and bad bugs. We looked for snakes, mainly to avoid them, and watched for turtles in the creek. Then there were the many squirrels that roamed freely in the yard between Mom’s pecan orchard and the little house that was my preschool.
At that time I drove a Chevy van that held maybe 9 kids max. I didn’t drive them around so space wasn’t an issue. Until the day that the Mutant Attack Squirrel of Death appeared.
I had the little ones outside and we were marching and singing at the top of our lungs trying to shake the sillies out when Matthew noticed a baby squirrel just sitting on the ground by the redbud tree in the front yard. We all got very quiet and slowly approached the little gray furry creature and it just looked at us with its little beady eyes. It didn’t hardly have any fluff on its tail it was so young. I told the children to stand back as I searched all over for its mama. The kids looked below the trees and bushes and I looked high into the trees. Nope, no mama, but the neighbor’s cat had spied the baby and had that lean and hungry look in its eyes. I knew that little squirrel was about to become lunch for that cat and I sure didn’t want the kids to witness that carnage.
I went over to the little squirrel and talked to it in soothing tones and gently picked it up and put it up into the tree. It still looked at me with those little beady eyes. Then it threw its head back, stood up on its little teeny hind legs, opened its little mouth and screamed what I am pretty sure was squirrel for “ BANZAI! You pecan loving, heathen!” The sound that escaped from that tiny little creature was amazing. But then I heard the same scream and a crashing noise that sounded like a miniature herd of elephants coming out of the giant oak across the street.
We all turned around and observed what was apparently the mama squirrel, coming toward us. Except this was no ordinary squirrel. This was the Crazed Evil Mutant Attack Squirrel of Death. The leap that squirrel executed was something that an Olympian would be proud of. It would have pulled 10’s straight across the board. Snarling, hissing and chattering loudly, the little furry tornado came running across the busy street only to run under a car. I just knew that squirrel was a Frisbee at that point. But noooo.
When that car drove on, there she was, hunkered down on the street. She was now the
Crazed Evil Mutant Nazi Attack Squirrel of Death and she was on a mission. She ran toward my legs and proceeded to run in circles up my legs. I yelled at the kids to run and get into the van. All 15 kids obeyed! They ran as fast as their little 3 and 4 year old legs would carry them and packed into the van while I was doing the Mexican hat dance in the yard trying to get that screaming banshee of a squirrel off my body. She was like a Tasmanian Devil. I was screaming, the crazy squirrel was screaming, the baby squirrel was still screaming and the kids were in the can screaming!
I grabbed the squirrel by it’s fluffy tail and did a couple of swings round my head and turned loose and she went sailing across the yard only to land on her feet and she was REALLY mad at me then. By this time, I realized that I needed to get into the van with the kids or they were going to witness me being eaten alive by that Wicked, Vile Crazed Evil Mutant Nazi Attack Squirrel of Death. I sprinted for the van only to find the children had locked the doors. So there I was, locked out of the van that was packed full of screaming preschoolers, with a dangerous squirrel running at me intent on shredding me.
I finally convinced the children to open the door and let me in. That squirrel jumped on the windshield of the van and shook its little fists at me. Then she jumped off the van, climbed the redbud tree, grabbed her baby by the nape of its neck and dragged it back across the street and up into the large oak tree. I tried to get out of the van after a while and she ran back down the tree and chattered at me. So there the kids and I sat for a while. Matthew finally said from somewhere in the back of the van, that next time we should just let the cat eat the squirrel.
I totally agreed.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Burma Shave signs and showing my age!
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
September 7, 2008
This is going to show my age!
Remember the Burma Shave signs that used to be on spaced on along the road sides? They sort of went by the wayside as cars got to where they could travel faster and they were replaced with big ugly bill boards. During my morning drive to work in Oxford each day, I have time to think and ponder about other people that are driving on along the highways and several of those old Burma Shave slogans come to mind..
Proper DistanceTo him was bunk They pulled him outOf some guy's trunk
That one goes to the people that ride my bumper. I drive a huge white whale of a van. It does NOT stop on a dime. I have to plan pretty far down the road when I am going to stop that heavy vehicle. And I am sorry but I drive 55 MPH. I set my cruise on that big ole V-10 and I don’t care how much you think you are going to intimidate me into going faster, it ain’t happening. I cannot tell you how many times I have to hold my breath some days when people are riding my bumper on Highway 9W. The rule of thumb on that road is if you can see a car waiting to pull out on the highway, chances are they will do it and just about cause you to have to hit them or the nearest ditch. So to all you folks out there, if you see a big white van in front of you, don’t ride my bumper. I’m not going any faster than the speed limit, I can’t stop it on a dime, and I really don’t want to peel you off of the back door of that thing!
Passing cars When you can't seeMay get you A glimpse Of eternity
Oh yeah. I am constantly amazed at how many people pass on curves and going up a hill. Doesn’t anyone remember what those yellow lines on painted on the highway mean? Don’t pass Stupid. What really eats my lunch is the jerk that rides my bumper and then passes me on a hill only to travel about a half mile up the road until they turn! And what is the deal with swerving into the wrong lane and traveling in it for a while until you finally get to the road you are turning on? This is America not Europe. We drive in the right hand lane not the left. I have many special thoughts about those drivers; none of which can be printed in a public paper!
Dim your lightsBehind a carLet folks seeHow bright you are
Saturday evening, I was called back into work because it was my week as Team Leader and the weekend nightshift person called in sick. So I had to cover the 11pm to 7am shift. I quickly got ready for work, stopped at Sonic for a large Caramel Java Chiller and I headed out to work. It was 10 pm so I had plenty of time to get to Oxford and punch the clock at 11pm. It should have been a quiet drive. I was keeping my eyes peeled for the green glint of light from the deer that were munching the grass in the roadside ditches. My deer whistles really work. They hear me, look up and stand still. It’s like they are thinking, “If I don’t move she won’t notice me!” I just pray they keep standing still and not suddenly jump in front of me. I’ve hit one deer in my driving lifetime. That was one time enough for me.
What I really hate are the new halogen head lights. Coming toward me, they are very intense but coming up behind is murder on the retina. I have automatic mirror controls and I have gotten pretty good at redirecting the head lights back into the bumper hugger’s car. I can always tell when they finally get that reflection back in their face. They will dim their lights. But then they pass on the hills and curves too. Go figure.
Yep, those little signs are a thing of the past but they could still be quite timely today.
Farewell O verse, Along the road. How sad to see, You're out of mode.Burma Shave
Vonda Keon
September 7, 2008
This is going to show my age!
Remember the Burma Shave signs that used to be on spaced on along the road sides? They sort of went by the wayside as cars got to where they could travel faster and they were replaced with big ugly bill boards. During my morning drive to work in Oxford each day, I have time to think and ponder about other people that are driving on along the highways and several of those old Burma Shave slogans come to mind..
Proper DistanceTo him was bunk They pulled him outOf some guy's trunk
That one goes to the people that ride my bumper. I drive a huge white whale of a van. It does NOT stop on a dime. I have to plan pretty far down the road when I am going to stop that heavy vehicle. And I am sorry but I drive 55 MPH. I set my cruise on that big ole V-10 and I don’t care how much you think you are going to intimidate me into going faster, it ain’t happening. I cannot tell you how many times I have to hold my breath some days when people are riding my bumper on Highway 9W. The rule of thumb on that road is if you can see a car waiting to pull out on the highway, chances are they will do it and just about cause you to have to hit them or the nearest ditch. So to all you folks out there, if you see a big white van in front of you, don’t ride my bumper. I’m not going any faster than the speed limit, I can’t stop it on a dime, and I really don’t want to peel you off of the back door of that thing!
Passing cars When you can't seeMay get you A glimpse Of eternity
Oh yeah. I am constantly amazed at how many people pass on curves and going up a hill. Doesn’t anyone remember what those yellow lines on painted on the highway mean? Don’t pass Stupid. What really eats my lunch is the jerk that rides my bumper and then passes me on a hill only to travel about a half mile up the road until they turn! And what is the deal with swerving into the wrong lane and traveling in it for a while until you finally get to the road you are turning on? This is America not Europe. We drive in the right hand lane not the left. I have many special thoughts about those drivers; none of which can be printed in a public paper!
Dim your lightsBehind a carLet folks seeHow bright you are
Saturday evening, I was called back into work because it was my week as Team Leader and the weekend nightshift person called in sick. So I had to cover the 11pm to 7am shift. I quickly got ready for work, stopped at Sonic for a large Caramel Java Chiller and I headed out to work. It was 10 pm so I had plenty of time to get to Oxford and punch the clock at 11pm. It should have been a quiet drive. I was keeping my eyes peeled for the green glint of light from the deer that were munching the grass in the roadside ditches. My deer whistles really work. They hear me, look up and stand still. It’s like they are thinking, “If I don’t move she won’t notice me!” I just pray they keep standing still and not suddenly jump in front of me. I’ve hit one deer in my driving lifetime. That was one time enough for me.
What I really hate are the new halogen head lights. Coming toward me, they are very intense but coming up behind is murder on the retina. I have automatic mirror controls and I have gotten pretty good at redirecting the head lights back into the bumper hugger’s car. I can always tell when they finally get that reflection back in their face. They will dim their lights. But then they pass on the hills and curves too. Go figure.
Yep, those little signs are a thing of the past but they could still be quite timely today.
Farewell O verse, Along the road. How sad to see, You're out of mode.Burma Shave
Monday, September 01, 2008
This and That about This and That
Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
August 31, 2008
To gently borrow an opening phrase from a dear friend, This and That about This and That.
There comes a time in your life when you sit down and ponder on the many people that have come and gone through your life. Some encounters are brief like a shooting star and others are recurring like a comet that keeps on coming back into your orbit. In my life I can truthfully say that there have been two iconic characters that have had a profound lasting effect on me. One was my father, David Tedford and the other was Gale Denley.
My daddy was a prankster, a self made man, who would tell you that he was the boss because my Mama told him he could be, and he was a dreamer. He could come up with some of the most hair-brained ideas, most of which was going to involve some sweat equity on my sisters’ or my part.
The other character in my life that has been an influence on me was ‘Buddy’. I went to the funeral of S.Gale Denley on Sunday and it was an event that was a truly fitting send off. It hurts that he will no longer be with us in person, but his spirit will live on in the many lives that he touched in one way or another.
When I moved back to Bruce in the summer of 1996 after my Dad died, I ran into Gale Denley at Jeffery’s eating lunch. We sat and drank tea, mine as sweet as they could make it and his was unsweetened, and got reacquainted. I had not lived in Calhoun County for over 25 years and he wanted to know just what I had been up to. I learned very quickly NOT to tell Buddy very much or it would end up in his weekly column. I kept calling him Mr. Denley because Gale was just a bit too informal for me. But he said that Mr. Denley was his dad so I called him what his kids called him. Calling him Buddy fit like a glove.
Buddy knew that I liked to write and there were many times when he would visit me at work and ask to read what I had written lately. He would critique it and tell me how to make it better. Or he would make some smart comment about what I had written with a twinkle in his eyes and a sly little smirk playing around the edges of his mouth.
Politics was something I would not argue Buddy. He was a self proclaimed Yellow Dog Democrat and I was not. Oh don’t you think that we didn’t talk about politics. I would ask him questions about politicians I wanted to know about. He knew that I didn’t like being pigeon-holed into any one political party but that didn’t stop him from trying. He just called me hard headed and I thanked him.
Over the last 12 years I watched him as he went up and down in weight and as he battled his many health issues. It broke my heart to see him changing so profoundly. Sometimes he was in high spirits and other times he was quite melancholy. But underneath it all he was still Buddy; the man with the strong opinions and the big heart. He might complain, sometimes just a little. But often he did not. He just went on the best that he could.
The last time I got to really sit down and talk with him was in the late spring when Ariel was selected as the Rotary student of the month. He offered me a little of his ever present oxygen. I declined and commented his hair was long enough to pull back into a pony tail. He looked at me and said “it’s not that long. Is it?” When I offered to pull it back with one of Ariel’s pony tail bands, he quickly stopped me and then told Joann that she needed to make him an appointment that day to have his hair cut. I saw him a few days later, nicely coiffured and when I told him how nice and gentlemanly he looked, he just sort of grunted at me and kept on sipping his tea.
My lasting memory of Buddy will always be one of a Southern Gentleman. I told him he needed to wear a big ole white Panama hat. I tried once to get him to sit for a portrait for me wearing a white suit and wearing just such a hat holding one of his canes and leaning back in a porch rocker. He just gave me that sly little grin.
To his daughters, I will cherish my times with your father. He was a fine man and a
true character. Will time ease your pain of missing him? I will tell you no. It has been 12 years since my Dad died and I still miss him every day. When I hear an ag-plane flying or even pass by a freshly sprayed field and smell the chemicals, memories of Daddy come flooding in. I can only offer you this; somewhere along the way, things will happen. You will hear something that sounds like he is walking up behind you. Or you will be questioning doing something and his voice will sound within your head giving you the answer. Buddy is still with you. He is in your heart. And THAT is all I can tell you about this and that.
Vonda Keon
August 31, 2008
To gently borrow an opening phrase from a dear friend, This and That about This and That.
There comes a time in your life when you sit down and ponder on the many people that have come and gone through your life. Some encounters are brief like a shooting star and others are recurring like a comet that keeps on coming back into your orbit. In my life I can truthfully say that there have been two iconic characters that have had a profound lasting effect on me. One was my father, David Tedford and the other was Gale Denley.
My daddy was a prankster, a self made man, who would tell you that he was the boss because my Mama told him he could be, and he was a dreamer. He could come up with some of the most hair-brained ideas, most of which was going to involve some sweat equity on my sisters’ or my part.
The other character in my life that has been an influence on me was ‘Buddy’. I went to the funeral of S.Gale Denley on Sunday and it was an event that was a truly fitting send off. It hurts that he will no longer be with us in person, but his spirit will live on in the many lives that he touched in one way or another.
When I moved back to Bruce in the summer of 1996 after my Dad died, I ran into Gale Denley at Jeffery’s eating lunch. We sat and drank tea, mine as sweet as they could make it and his was unsweetened, and got reacquainted. I had not lived in Calhoun County for over 25 years and he wanted to know just what I had been up to. I learned very quickly NOT to tell Buddy very much or it would end up in his weekly column. I kept calling him Mr. Denley because Gale was just a bit too informal for me. But he said that Mr. Denley was his dad so I called him what his kids called him. Calling him Buddy fit like a glove.
Buddy knew that I liked to write and there were many times when he would visit me at work and ask to read what I had written lately. He would critique it and tell me how to make it better. Or he would make some smart comment about what I had written with a twinkle in his eyes and a sly little smirk playing around the edges of his mouth.
Politics was something I would not argue Buddy. He was a self proclaimed Yellow Dog Democrat and I was not. Oh don’t you think that we didn’t talk about politics. I would ask him questions about politicians I wanted to know about. He knew that I didn’t like being pigeon-holed into any one political party but that didn’t stop him from trying. He just called me hard headed and I thanked him.
Over the last 12 years I watched him as he went up and down in weight and as he battled his many health issues. It broke my heart to see him changing so profoundly. Sometimes he was in high spirits and other times he was quite melancholy. But underneath it all he was still Buddy; the man with the strong opinions and the big heart. He might complain, sometimes just a little. But often he did not. He just went on the best that he could.
The last time I got to really sit down and talk with him was in the late spring when Ariel was selected as the Rotary student of the month. He offered me a little of his ever present oxygen. I declined and commented his hair was long enough to pull back into a pony tail. He looked at me and said “it’s not that long. Is it?” When I offered to pull it back with one of Ariel’s pony tail bands, he quickly stopped me and then told Joann that she needed to make him an appointment that day to have his hair cut. I saw him a few days later, nicely coiffured and when I told him how nice and gentlemanly he looked, he just sort of grunted at me and kept on sipping his tea.
My lasting memory of Buddy will always be one of a Southern Gentleman. I told him he needed to wear a big ole white Panama hat. I tried once to get him to sit for a portrait for me wearing a white suit and wearing just such a hat holding one of his canes and leaning back in a porch rocker. He just gave me that sly little grin.
To his daughters, I will cherish my times with your father. He was a fine man and a
true character. Will time ease your pain of missing him? I will tell you no. It has been 12 years since my Dad died and I still miss him every day. When I hear an ag-plane flying or even pass by a freshly sprayed field and smell the chemicals, memories of Daddy come flooding in. I can only offer you this; somewhere along the way, things will happen. You will hear something that sounds like he is walking up behind you. Or you will be questioning doing something and his voice will sound within your head giving you the answer. Buddy is still with you. He is in your heart. And THAT is all I can tell you about this and that.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Life is like a game, or is it a box of chocolate?
Blogging from Bruce
August 25, 2008
Vonda Keon
I’m going to fling a little ‘Forest Gump’ you. Instead of chocolate, I think life is like a game of baseball. Sometimes you are running the bases, sometimes you are sliding in home, and other times it throws you curve balls. I have no clue what position I am playing in my ball game. Or maybe I am in the army and I am the drill sergeant.
I feel like the umpire at times during homework and then later on when its shower time. The 3 girls all seem to want to take their showers at the same time and that’s not happening in a house with 2 showers and one hot water heater. So after being late for a couple of things over the weekend due to everyone messing around and not getting ready on time, the drill sergeant has resorted to making out a schedule and hanging it in the hall by the bathroom door.
This isn’t just any old schedule. This is a 2 foot by 4 foot dry erase board on which I have written with a permanent sharpie the schedule I have chosen for my daughter and the two exchange students. They will be ready for dorm life in college by the time this school year is over. It has all sorts of things on. Dance schedule, voice schedule, homework time, shower time, bed time, computer/TV time, miscellaneous chores and the all important ‘clean up your room and do your laundry’ time.
Laundry baskets have been issued and lessons have been given on how to use the washer and dryer. That lesson came after they all decided their jeans needed washing at 11pm on Sunday night and they forgot to tell me. So I didn’t get the wet jeans into the dryer until Monday morning at 6:30. They all had to wear slightly damp jeans to school that day. I have noticed that they are all better about doing their laundry well in advance this week.
The bed time is the biggest hurdle. I have to get up at 5 AM most mornings and be on my way to work before they are dressed for school. I start banging on bedroom doors at 6. They are all usually eating breakfast or getting dressed for school when I leave. But after I get to work I call because I still worry that someone just laid back down for a quick snooze and then missed going to school.
In talking with Ji Eun and Ping, they tell me that in their countries, they go to school for 10 hours a day. And it’s pretty much a year round thing. Staying up late is not a big deal to them while in the conservative south we tend to try and get our kids in the bed by 10 so they can get the required hours of sleep a growing healthy teenager needs. Oh who am I kidding! I want the kids asleep because I personally need the peace and quiet and sleep.
Lack of sleep is my curve ball in this new game I am in. So whether I am the umpire or the drill sergeant, life is still a game, I still don’t know my position is and like ole Forrest Gump, I’m going to go and get me a box of chocolate and see what turns up.
August 25, 2008
Vonda Keon
I’m going to fling a little ‘Forest Gump’ you. Instead of chocolate, I think life is like a game of baseball. Sometimes you are running the bases, sometimes you are sliding in home, and other times it throws you curve balls. I have no clue what position I am playing in my ball game. Or maybe I am in the army and I am the drill sergeant.
I feel like the umpire at times during homework and then later on when its shower time. The 3 girls all seem to want to take their showers at the same time and that’s not happening in a house with 2 showers and one hot water heater. So after being late for a couple of things over the weekend due to everyone messing around and not getting ready on time, the drill sergeant has resorted to making out a schedule and hanging it in the hall by the bathroom door.
This isn’t just any old schedule. This is a 2 foot by 4 foot dry erase board on which I have written with a permanent sharpie the schedule I have chosen for my daughter and the two exchange students. They will be ready for dorm life in college by the time this school year is over. It has all sorts of things on. Dance schedule, voice schedule, homework time, shower time, bed time, computer/TV time, miscellaneous chores and the all important ‘clean up your room and do your laundry’ time.
Laundry baskets have been issued and lessons have been given on how to use the washer and dryer. That lesson came after they all decided their jeans needed washing at 11pm on Sunday night and they forgot to tell me. So I didn’t get the wet jeans into the dryer until Monday morning at 6:30. They all had to wear slightly damp jeans to school that day. I have noticed that they are all better about doing their laundry well in advance this week.
The bed time is the biggest hurdle. I have to get up at 5 AM most mornings and be on my way to work before they are dressed for school. I start banging on bedroom doors at 6. They are all usually eating breakfast or getting dressed for school when I leave. But after I get to work I call because I still worry that someone just laid back down for a quick snooze and then missed going to school.
In talking with Ji Eun and Ping, they tell me that in their countries, they go to school for 10 hours a day. And it’s pretty much a year round thing. Staying up late is not a big deal to them while in the conservative south we tend to try and get our kids in the bed by 10 so they can get the required hours of sleep a growing healthy teenager needs. Oh who am I kidding! I want the kids asleep because I personally need the peace and quiet and sleep.
Lack of sleep is my curve ball in this new game I am in. So whether I am the umpire or the drill sergeant, life is still a game, I still don’t know my position is and like ole Forrest Gump, I’m going to go and get me a box of chocolate and see what turns up.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Life with exchange students!
Blogging from Bruce
August 17, 2008
Vonda Keon
Nothing is broken, no one is ill; everything is ticking right along just like a clock. There are no songs rewinding in my brain this week.
It has been over 2 weeks now since our adventure as host parents of two international students began. I am so happy to report that life is starting to fall into a routine. Both Ji Eun and Ping come from a time zone that is 12 hours ahead of us. So when you and I are awake and kicking, their internal clock is telling them it is time to sleep and vice versa. Slowly but surely they are starting to get used to the Central time zone.
Doing homework is a new thing for me. I home schooled my daughters for years. Ariel went to finish high school at BHS her junior and senior years. Erin entered BHS this year as a ‘Freshomore’. (You figure it out. With the block system it will all work out in the end.) With Erin and Ji Eun and Ping, I now have homework times 3. I sure hope the teachers all understand why the speeches and reports are going to be similar with these three girls living under one roof and studying at the same table.
Saturday, Scott and I took the girls to a Schwans Company picnic. They learned to play some new games and ate some barbeque and other Southern foods like hot dogs and watermelon and potato salad and cheesecake. After the picnic we went on a little shopping spree. Teenage girls are the same round the world. Say shop and they are already in the car! We had a list of the things we needed; Backpacks, Chuck Taylors or Nikes, shirts, Bath and Body works and then go eat at the Kyoto Japanese Grill.
The shoes proved to the pretty hard to find. I think we hit 6 stores before we finally found the sizes we needed. Don’t let anyone tell you Asian women have small feet. These two girls have good foundations to stand on. They, long with my daughter, finally found what they were looking for. The back packs were a different matter. The backpacks now need to have decent padding on the shoulder straps and plenty of room for the 24 pounds of text books and binders the kids have to lug around all day. Yes, we weighed the books and binders and it came to 24 pounds. That is a lot of weight to carry around on a kid’s back on a daily basis.
Poor Scott said he would never go shopping with us again. I am inclined to agree with him. I don’t want to go shopping with us again either. Wal-Mart runs don’t bother me but Mall shopping is not my cup of tea. Even if its green tea, its not my cup of tea!
Eating at the Japanese Grill was a treat. The girls had their money and after looking at the menu knew exactly how much they would spend and what they would eat. Our cook was from Indonesia and he could converse with them a little in their native languages. The food was good and it was nice to just sit back and watch them as they watched us. Having visited Japan, I hope most people understand that what we are eating here in America is not totally the same as it is in traditional Japanese restaurant. The same goes for eating in any Asian restaurant. The recipes are adjusted to fit our tastes and the meal would be quite different if we were in the native setting. Just think about it. Can you really get Southern Cooking anywhere else in the United States and it be done right? You just try and find sweet iced tea anywhere else but the South. It ain’t happening. Trust me on that one! And yes I know I just used poor grammar but ain’t just fit that spot!
The girls did ask me to cook a southern style meal for them one night so I cooked, blacked peas, corn bread, green beans, corn on the cob, sweet tea and banana pudding. They ate and ate. Ji Eun comes from a very health conscious family and she says Americans use too much salt. Ping is very health conscious also and says we eat too much sweet stuff. They are both right. But I serve small portions and watch what I give them. So we are all eating healthier around here now. I’m not giving up my salt totally; or my sugar.
This coming weekend they will get to experience helping with the Food Pantry. They have to do some type of community service work so the Pantry is going to be their project this week. After the pantry we will go to meet the other exchange students and their host families in Grenada for a little get together. It will be interesting to meet other host families and see and hear how they are adapting to life with a foreign exchange student.
August 17, 2008
Vonda Keon
Nothing is broken, no one is ill; everything is ticking right along just like a clock. There are no songs rewinding in my brain this week.
It has been over 2 weeks now since our adventure as host parents of two international students began. I am so happy to report that life is starting to fall into a routine. Both Ji Eun and Ping come from a time zone that is 12 hours ahead of us. So when you and I are awake and kicking, their internal clock is telling them it is time to sleep and vice versa. Slowly but surely they are starting to get used to the Central time zone.
Doing homework is a new thing for me. I home schooled my daughters for years. Ariel went to finish high school at BHS her junior and senior years. Erin entered BHS this year as a ‘Freshomore’. (You figure it out. With the block system it will all work out in the end.) With Erin and Ji Eun and Ping, I now have homework times 3. I sure hope the teachers all understand why the speeches and reports are going to be similar with these three girls living under one roof and studying at the same table.
Saturday, Scott and I took the girls to a Schwans Company picnic. They learned to play some new games and ate some barbeque and other Southern foods like hot dogs and watermelon and potato salad and cheesecake. After the picnic we went on a little shopping spree. Teenage girls are the same round the world. Say shop and they are already in the car! We had a list of the things we needed; Backpacks, Chuck Taylors or Nikes, shirts, Bath and Body works and then go eat at the Kyoto Japanese Grill.
The shoes proved to the pretty hard to find. I think we hit 6 stores before we finally found the sizes we needed. Don’t let anyone tell you Asian women have small feet. These two girls have good foundations to stand on. They, long with my daughter, finally found what they were looking for. The back packs were a different matter. The backpacks now need to have decent padding on the shoulder straps and plenty of room for the 24 pounds of text books and binders the kids have to lug around all day. Yes, we weighed the books and binders and it came to 24 pounds. That is a lot of weight to carry around on a kid’s back on a daily basis.
Poor Scott said he would never go shopping with us again. I am inclined to agree with him. I don’t want to go shopping with us again either. Wal-Mart runs don’t bother me but Mall shopping is not my cup of tea. Even if its green tea, its not my cup of tea!
Eating at the Japanese Grill was a treat. The girls had their money and after looking at the menu knew exactly how much they would spend and what they would eat. Our cook was from Indonesia and he could converse with them a little in their native languages. The food was good and it was nice to just sit back and watch them as they watched us. Having visited Japan, I hope most people understand that what we are eating here in America is not totally the same as it is in traditional Japanese restaurant. The same goes for eating in any Asian restaurant. The recipes are adjusted to fit our tastes and the meal would be quite different if we were in the native setting. Just think about it. Can you really get Southern Cooking anywhere else in the United States and it be done right? You just try and find sweet iced tea anywhere else but the South. It ain’t happening. Trust me on that one! And yes I know I just used poor grammar but ain’t just fit that spot!
The girls did ask me to cook a southern style meal for them one night so I cooked, blacked peas, corn bread, green beans, corn on the cob, sweet tea and banana pudding. They ate and ate. Ji Eun comes from a very health conscious family and she says Americans use too much salt. Ping is very health conscious also and says we eat too much sweet stuff. They are both right. But I serve small portions and watch what I give them. So we are all eating healthier around here now. I’m not giving up my salt totally; or my sugar.
This coming weekend they will get to experience helping with the Food Pantry. They have to do some type of community service work so the Pantry is going to be their project this week. After the pantry we will go to meet the other exchange students and their host families in Grenada for a little get together. It will be interesting to meet other host families and see and hear how they are adapting to life with a foreign exchange student.
Friday, August 15, 2008
I get by with a little help from my friends.
“Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mm. I get by with a little help from my friendsMm, Gonna try with a little help from my friends”
That classic Beatles tune has rolled around my head all week and I do believe that jet-lag is contagious. I am just as tired as the two newest members of my family.
The Chaos and Insanity looked like it was just going to keep on hanging around. The A/C unit was fixed on the inside and then the outside component went up in smoke. There is nothing like the smell of burning wires in the hot evening to make you feel nice and cozy. Lynn the A/C magician did everything he could but that old outside unit just gave up the ghost. And you know what that means; a new unit had to installed. After a series of SNAFU’s and several phone calls to friends for help, Lynn did get the new unit up and cooling before we left for Columbus Saturday morning to move Ariel down to the W. Thank you Barbara Winter! The weather is fine in my house now!
Move-In Day at MUW was something else. There were people swarming every where. Ariel and her roomie Noelle arrived at the same time and that little room was just packed with parents and siblings and stuff. We were all moving around and putting the beds up on the highest level they could be so that the dressers could be put under the beds. The girls ended up making them into bunk beds that night. By the time we left the shower curtain was up and most of the stuff was stowed away.
We made a mad dash to the airport to wait for the arrival of Ping. Her flight was scheduled to arrive at 4:35 but my gut told me to get there early. We got there at 3:45 and were sitting in the observation area when at 5 minutes till 4 her flight swooped on in. Ping was not the only Asian on the flight but she was the one that was grinning from ear to ear as she bounced down the ramp.
We got her luggage loaded into the white whale and made a side trip to the Wal-Mart in Starkville to see if there were any familiar foods that we might find for them then we turned the van toward the north and headed to Bruce. Ping was full of questions the whole trip. She is very out going.
Sunday was a true day of rest for us all. After church, we just came home and got to know each other better. Monday morning, I took all three of my girls to school and we waited for Mrs. Brower to work on Ping’s schedule and made some changes in Ji Eun’s. I think this year with these two girls learning English and our customs and observing their customs, will be a learning experience for all. I am living in my own reality show here.
I did get a surprise when I found out that I have been called to jury duty this week. Of all the weeks to be called, this is not the one I needed. We are getting ready to upgrade the electronic medical record system at work and I am on the team responsible for training the staff. I want to do my civic duty but not this week.
As we are settling into a school routine and I try to create an evening meal that is appealing to all that sit at my table, this week should be interesting to say the least. I now have homework times 3 and it’s ESL around the dinner table. I have to get used to the Asian way of no one eats until Mama sits. I have a tendency to keep cleaning the kitchen and then I notice that no one is eating. So I have to go sit and pick up my fork and take a bite or the girls won’t eat.
Ariel and I talk on the computer and she tells me about her day, freshman traditions, get to know you mixers, oh and I twisted my ankle today but it’s no big deal, sort of conversations. I am just holding my breath and praying! I have already called my friends in Columbus and given them her phone number and she has theirs ‘in case of emergency’!
I can only hope that I really can “Get by with a little help from my friends!”
Mm. I get by with a little help from my friendsMm, Gonna try with a little help from my friends”
That classic Beatles tune has rolled around my head all week and I do believe that jet-lag is contagious. I am just as tired as the two newest members of my family.
The Chaos and Insanity looked like it was just going to keep on hanging around. The A/C unit was fixed on the inside and then the outside component went up in smoke. There is nothing like the smell of burning wires in the hot evening to make you feel nice and cozy. Lynn the A/C magician did everything he could but that old outside unit just gave up the ghost. And you know what that means; a new unit had to installed. After a series of SNAFU’s and several phone calls to friends for help, Lynn did get the new unit up and cooling before we left for Columbus Saturday morning to move Ariel down to the W. Thank you Barbara Winter! The weather is fine in my house now!
Move-In Day at MUW was something else. There were people swarming every where. Ariel and her roomie Noelle arrived at the same time and that little room was just packed with parents and siblings and stuff. We were all moving around and putting the beds up on the highest level they could be so that the dressers could be put under the beds. The girls ended up making them into bunk beds that night. By the time we left the shower curtain was up and most of the stuff was stowed away.
We made a mad dash to the airport to wait for the arrival of Ping. Her flight was scheduled to arrive at 4:35 but my gut told me to get there early. We got there at 3:45 and were sitting in the observation area when at 5 minutes till 4 her flight swooped on in. Ping was not the only Asian on the flight but she was the one that was grinning from ear to ear as she bounced down the ramp.
We got her luggage loaded into the white whale and made a side trip to the Wal-Mart in Starkville to see if there were any familiar foods that we might find for them then we turned the van toward the north and headed to Bruce. Ping was full of questions the whole trip. She is very out going.
Sunday was a true day of rest for us all. After church, we just came home and got to know each other better. Monday morning, I took all three of my girls to school and we waited for Mrs. Brower to work on Ping’s schedule and made some changes in Ji Eun’s. I think this year with these two girls learning English and our customs and observing their customs, will be a learning experience for all. I am living in my own reality show here.
I did get a surprise when I found out that I have been called to jury duty this week. Of all the weeks to be called, this is not the one I needed. We are getting ready to upgrade the electronic medical record system at work and I am on the team responsible for training the staff. I want to do my civic duty but not this week.
As we are settling into a school routine and I try to create an evening meal that is appealing to all that sit at my table, this week should be interesting to say the least. I now have homework times 3 and it’s ESL around the dinner table. I have to get used to the Asian way of no one eats until Mama sits. I have a tendency to keep cleaning the kitchen and then I notice that no one is eating. So I have to go sit and pick up my fork and take a bite or the girls won’t eat.
Ariel and I talk on the computer and she tells me about her day, freshman traditions, get to know you mixers, oh and I twisted my ankle today but it’s no big deal, sort of conversations. I am just holding my breath and praying! I have already called my friends in Columbus and given them her phone number and she has theirs ‘in case of emergency’!
I can only hope that I really can “Get by with a little help from my friends!”
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Ji Eun has arrived!
Blogging from Bruce
August 5, 2008
Vonda Keon
Well it is still a little bit dicey over here at the corner of Chaos and Insanity Road. Last Friday I arrived home from work to discover that it was a less than cozy, 95 degrees plus inside the house. Our central A/C had gone caput. A quick call to the air conditioner doctor brought some relief as cool air started to blow again. The girls and I decided to make a fast run up to Oxford to pick up groceries and some specialty foods that we needed to make our newest family member Ji Eun feel more at home when she arrived on Saturday afternoon.
While we were in Wal Mart, the power went out. Have you ever been inside a Wal Mart and the lights go out? Well it’s not something I want to do again. You could have heard a pin drop. Finally the generators kicked on and the managers made the announcement that the registers would work for 40 minutes so everyone gingerly made their way slowly to the front of the store to check out with what they had. It was pretty dark in there too! When we made it outside we realized that all of Jackson Avenue was without power. That power outage was just the tip of the iceberg that was out there lurking to try and sink me!
We arrived home to discover that the A/C was not cooling again and the 1960’s, ugly harvest gold refrigerator had hiccupped also due to the power surges of Thursday night’s storms. So I lost what was in the refrigerator. Thankfully, being the pack rat that I am, we do have a much newer model in the downstairs that works just fine. So as the girls loaded all of our perishables in the downstairs fridge, I was upstairs sweating with the oldie and cleaning it out.
After about 5 minutes of sweating dripping off the end of my nose and running down my back, and dealing with melting ice and tossing out questionable food stuffs, I knew the girls could not sleep upstairs, so I did what any red blooded American woman would do. I called my Mama! Now Mom’s A/C is cooling so well, my glasses fog up when I leave her house, so the girls gladly grabbed their little ditty bags and headed down the hill to Grandmommie’s for a much cooler place to sleep while I stayed at home in the basement with many fans blowing on me.
I had to work the weekend shift at my office so I left home at 6AM. I was praying most of the early morning that the A/C would be a fairly simple fix because I didn’t want Ji Eun to come to the USA and to our home and it be like an oven! My phone started ringing at 8:30. First it was Scott calling to tell me that the part on the A/C that needed replacing was in warranty and he was driving back to Tupelo to pick it up. Then I got the call that Ji Eun had missed her flight so she would not arrive until Monday evening at 8:15. Ok. So that was how the Lord answered my prayesr. We still had time to finish her room, get the A/C working and the house cooled back down, and do something about that refrigerator. Plus she got to stay in LA two more days and go to Universal Studios.
We worked the rest of the weekend on the little finishing touches upstairs. The downstairs still has a ways to go but I must brag on the Asian Style bed my industrious husband built me. I actually slept all night long without waking and didn’t have a single ache or pain. The little refrigerator experienced a resurrection and started cooling again. So its primary function will be to keep bottled drinks and snack cold. I still don’t trust it even thought it did chill me a great bowl of peach jello.
Monday afternoon we headed on to Golden Triangle Regional Airport to meet Ji Eun. We stopped over at Coleman’s to fill up the car. They are still helping out the pocket book by selling their gas less than most folks. I visited with Kegan and discussed his school future as Scott was pumping gas. Then we were on our way to the GTR to meet our exchange student.
It’s a good thing we arrived early at GTR. Ji Eun’s flight arrived 30 minutes early. She is so sweet. And TALL. She stands 5 ft 8 in her Chuck Taylors! American flights being what they are now, half of her luggage did not arrive. So we had to fill out a report on that and told them to deliver it to our house. I will have to call them back tomorrow and keep on them about that. She was starving because she had not eaten on the flight so we introduced her to Zaxby’s chicken before hitting the road back to Bruce. She fell asleep on the drive back and woke up about the time we got to the Square.
Ji Eun comes from Seoul Korea which has nearly 23 million people. Can you imagine what Bruce looks like to her with its 2000 plus citizens? This is going to be an adventure for all of us in many ways. As I am writing this, she has fallen asleep exhausted. Ariel is taking her and Erin shopping for school supplies on Tuesday in preparation for school starting on Wednesday. Ariel will leave on Saturday for her college experience at the W and when we leave her we will stop at GTR and pick up the second exchange student, Ping.
Hopefully the Chaos and Insanity will leave here and a little Feng Shui can bring balance back to our lives. I know I can pray about that and God will answer me!
August 5, 2008
Vonda Keon
Well it is still a little bit dicey over here at the corner of Chaos and Insanity Road. Last Friday I arrived home from work to discover that it was a less than cozy, 95 degrees plus inside the house. Our central A/C had gone caput. A quick call to the air conditioner doctor brought some relief as cool air started to blow again. The girls and I decided to make a fast run up to Oxford to pick up groceries and some specialty foods that we needed to make our newest family member Ji Eun feel more at home when she arrived on Saturday afternoon.
While we were in Wal Mart, the power went out. Have you ever been inside a Wal Mart and the lights go out? Well it’s not something I want to do again. You could have heard a pin drop. Finally the generators kicked on and the managers made the announcement that the registers would work for 40 minutes so everyone gingerly made their way slowly to the front of the store to check out with what they had. It was pretty dark in there too! When we made it outside we realized that all of Jackson Avenue was without power. That power outage was just the tip of the iceberg that was out there lurking to try and sink me!
We arrived home to discover that the A/C was not cooling again and the 1960’s, ugly harvest gold refrigerator had hiccupped also due to the power surges of Thursday night’s storms. So I lost what was in the refrigerator. Thankfully, being the pack rat that I am, we do have a much newer model in the downstairs that works just fine. So as the girls loaded all of our perishables in the downstairs fridge, I was upstairs sweating with the oldie and cleaning it out.
After about 5 minutes of sweating dripping off the end of my nose and running down my back, and dealing with melting ice and tossing out questionable food stuffs, I knew the girls could not sleep upstairs, so I did what any red blooded American woman would do. I called my Mama! Now Mom’s A/C is cooling so well, my glasses fog up when I leave her house, so the girls gladly grabbed their little ditty bags and headed down the hill to Grandmommie’s for a much cooler place to sleep while I stayed at home in the basement with many fans blowing on me.
I had to work the weekend shift at my office so I left home at 6AM. I was praying most of the early morning that the A/C would be a fairly simple fix because I didn’t want Ji Eun to come to the USA and to our home and it be like an oven! My phone started ringing at 8:30. First it was Scott calling to tell me that the part on the A/C that needed replacing was in warranty and he was driving back to Tupelo to pick it up. Then I got the call that Ji Eun had missed her flight so she would not arrive until Monday evening at 8:15. Ok. So that was how the Lord answered my prayesr. We still had time to finish her room, get the A/C working and the house cooled back down, and do something about that refrigerator. Plus she got to stay in LA two more days and go to Universal Studios.
We worked the rest of the weekend on the little finishing touches upstairs. The downstairs still has a ways to go but I must brag on the Asian Style bed my industrious husband built me. I actually slept all night long without waking and didn’t have a single ache or pain. The little refrigerator experienced a resurrection and started cooling again. So its primary function will be to keep bottled drinks and snack cold. I still don’t trust it even thought it did chill me a great bowl of peach jello.
Monday afternoon we headed on to Golden Triangle Regional Airport to meet Ji Eun. We stopped over at Coleman’s to fill up the car. They are still helping out the pocket book by selling their gas less than most folks. I visited with Kegan and discussed his school future as Scott was pumping gas. Then we were on our way to the GTR to meet our exchange student.
It’s a good thing we arrived early at GTR. Ji Eun’s flight arrived 30 minutes early. She is so sweet. And TALL. She stands 5 ft 8 in her Chuck Taylors! American flights being what they are now, half of her luggage did not arrive. So we had to fill out a report on that and told them to deliver it to our house. I will have to call them back tomorrow and keep on them about that. She was starving because she had not eaten on the flight so we introduced her to Zaxby’s chicken before hitting the road back to Bruce. She fell asleep on the drive back and woke up about the time we got to the Square.
Ji Eun comes from Seoul Korea which has nearly 23 million people. Can you imagine what Bruce looks like to her with its 2000 plus citizens? This is going to be an adventure for all of us in many ways. As I am writing this, she has fallen asleep exhausted. Ariel is taking her and Erin shopping for school supplies on Tuesday in preparation for school starting on Wednesday. Ariel will leave on Saturday for her college experience at the W and when we leave her we will stop at GTR and pick up the second exchange student, Ping.
Hopefully the Chaos and Insanity will leave here and a little Feng Shui can bring balance back to our lives. I know I can pray about that and God will answer me!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Ch-ch-ch-Changes at the corner of Chaos and Insanity Road!
Ch-ch-ch-changes!
Everyday is bringing something new into our lives here at the Keon household on the corner of Chaos Ave. and Insanity Road.
Oh, we are getting down to the wire. Working full time and trying to get things rearranged and ready for the arrival of the exchange students is both exhausting and exciting and maybe bordering on insanity as we rush to get everything ready this week!.
There are dental appointments and eye check ups for Scott and the girls before school starts, and medical check ups for me and all of the fun little tests that I still have to go through to make sure I am cancer free for another year. Chaos!
We also have been taking out time for some other things. It was milestone birthday celebrations this past week. The darling daughters were 16 and 18 so we took them out to see Mama Mia and to eat at a new Japanese Hibachi Grill in Tupelo. Mama Mia was more than entertaining but it was a bit disconcerting at seeing the Japanese cuisine stir fried by a non-Asian. That was change I didn’t want to see.
We noticed at a recently foray into an Oxford Chinese eatery that the cooks weren’t Chinese. They were Hispanic! I’m sorry but I really want my Chinese food prepared by real Chinese cooks and my Japanese food prepared by Japanese cooks. That also means that I want my Mexican food prepared by a Hispanic. I can make authentic tamales but you won’t see me trying to pass myself off as a Mexican chef! Changes!
I am keeping busy answering the queries from other homeschooling parents about the books I have up for sale on e-bay. That sure has proven to be a good tool. Now if I can just convince the new post mistress that I know exactly what I am talking about when I go in and ask for the media postage rate. I’ve got a lot of textbooks to pass on to the next homeschool family and I would love to mail them out at the best possible rate. I also need to make room for all of the books I want to read just for fun. Chaos!
I finally reached the end of my journey toward my Theology degree in May. My class had its ‘Last Supper’ Sunday evening. It was pot luck and I must say there was quite the diversity in our dishes that we brought to the table just as our class was quite diverse. Over the past 4 years that we have studied together, our class became like family. We shared each others’ ups and downs. One of our members was diagnosed with metastatic
brain cancer and has been going through treatments and surgeries for most of our time together and it has been a blessing to us to see his strong faith and will to live. He was with us for our Last Supper although he could not actually eat the meal. We will continue to pray for a miracle. Changes!
I’m still drinking my bottled water and still recycling those plastic bottles and I wish I could say I have a gas conserving vehicle sitting in the drive way, but alas, the Great White Whale is still part of the family. It will be moving Ariel to the W in just a few short days. It will also be picking up Ji Eun and Ping at the airport and bringing them to a new life in Bruce. I am thankful for Marshall and Bernadette Coleman creating a little chaos at their gas store. I don’t mind that Marshall is a Democrat and he doesn’t mind that I’m not. When you drive a vehicle with a slight drinking problem, it is not insanity to drive to Derma for the lowest gas price is a good change.
Thanks to the good folks at Brasher’s in Bruce, I now have a working dishwasher. Doing without a dishwasher was not a change I wanted to make. Thankfully they had just the right dishwasher for my tiny little budget. So it won’t be chaotic around here trying to get those dishes clean.
Yep. Ch-ch-ch-Changes are happening every day here in our house at the corner of Chaos Ave. and Insanity Road.
Everyday is bringing something new into our lives here at the Keon household on the corner of Chaos Ave. and Insanity Road.
Oh, we are getting down to the wire. Working full time and trying to get things rearranged and ready for the arrival of the exchange students is both exhausting and exciting and maybe bordering on insanity as we rush to get everything ready this week!.
There are dental appointments and eye check ups for Scott and the girls before school starts, and medical check ups for me and all of the fun little tests that I still have to go through to make sure I am cancer free for another year. Chaos!
We also have been taking out time for some other things. It was milestone birthday celebrations this past week. The darling daughters were 16 and 18 so we took them out to see Mama Mia and to eat at a new Japanese Hibachi Grill in Tupelo. Mama Mia was more than entertaining but it was a bit disconcerting at seeing the Japanese cuisine stir fried by a non-Asian. That was change I didn’t want to see.
We noticed at a recently foray into an Oxford Chinese eatery that the cooks weren’t Chinese. They were Hispanic! I’m sorry but I really want my Chinese food prepared by real Chinese cooks and my Japanese food prepared by Japanese cooks. That also means that I want my Mexican food prepared by a Hispanic. I can make authentic tamales but you won’t see me trying to pass myself off as a Mexican chef! Changes!
I am keeping busy answering the queries from other homeschooling parents about the books I have up for sale on e-bay. That sure has proven to be a good tool. Now if I can just convince the new post mistress that I know exactly what I am talking about when I go in and ask for the media postage rate. I’ve got a lot of textbooks to pass on to the next homeschool family and I would love to mail them out at the best possible rate. I also need to make room for all of the books I want to read just for fun. Chaos!
I finally reached the end of my journey toward my Theology degree in May. My class had its ‘Last Supper’ Sunday evening. It was pot luck and I must say there was quite the diversity in our dishes that we brought to the table just as our class was quite diverse. Over the past 4 years that we have studied together, our class became like family. We shared each others’ ups and downs. One of our members was diagnosed with metastatic
brain cancer and has been going through treatments and surgeries for most of our time together and it has been a blessing to us to see his strong faith and will to live. He was with us for our Last Supper although he could not actually eat the meal. We will continue to pray for a miracle. Changes!
I’m still drinking my bottled water and still recycling those plastic bottles and I wish I could say I have a gas conserving vehicle sitting in the drive way, but alas, the Great White Whale is still part of the family. It will be moving Ariel to the W in just a few short days. It will also be picking up Ji Eun and Ping at the airport and bringing them to a new life in Bruce. I am thankful for Marshall and Bernadette Coleman creating a little chaos at their gas store. I don’t mind that Marshall is a Democrat and he doesn’t mind that I’m not. When you drive a vehicle with a slight drinking problem, it is not insanity to drive to Derma for the lowest gas price is a good change.
Thanks to the good folks at Brasher’s in Bruce, I now have a working dishwasher. Doing without a dishwasher was not a change I wanted to make. Thankfully they had just the right dishwasher for my tiny little budget. So it won’t be chaotic around here trying to get those dishes clean.
Yep. Ch-ch-ch-Changes are happening every day here in our house at the corner of Chaos Ave. and Insanity Road.
Monday, July 21, 2008
I/ve seen the Light! Crazy!!
Blogging from Bruce
July 21, 2008
Vonda Tedford Keon
My sister's ring tone is Patsy Cline singing ' Crazy'. It may prove to my personal theme song before long. Alright! I know you are out there giggling and nodding your head yes. There is a rumor that I long ago reached the crazy stage. But let me tell you why I need a theme song. I am truly searching for the light at the end of the tunnel!
We have been knee deep in preparations to welcome a foreign exchange student into our home for the coming school year as well as preparing to take daughter number one off to MUW for her first year of quasi-independence. Then I got an e-mail from our AYUSA contact and she was frantic. Another host family had backed out and that left a student from Taiwan without a host family. I made some calls to people that I thought might be interested and thought we had a couple of good leads but they didn't work out. Not everyone is as crazy as my husband and I. We tend to be a bit spontaneous about things. So we thought, what the hay? Let's take them both.
Lo Ping, or Margaret (the Americanized name she has chosen) was so excited to hear from us that in her letter to me she said "AWESOME". Teenagers are teenagers around the world I guess. She wrote she was really ready to eat 'Fry chicken' and loved light food and vegetables but no spicy. She is going to embrace Southern Food I think.
Ji-Eun wrote that she was leaving for Los Angeles Saturday morning for her "learning to live in America" classes and would be arriving in Mississippi on August 2nd. I panicked on reading that. We thought it was the 10th. Donna, our AYUSA contact is checking on that for us. So in the event that the arrival date has been moved up we have shifted into high gear getting ready.
Our home is like a house sitting on top of another house. It has a walk out basement that was at one point many years ago, used as an apartment. I have been using it for my 'woman cave' and each time I have fallen down those 15 stairs I have made the statement that I thought we should make the downstairs into a master bedroom suite. It now looks like a work in
progress. How can one family accumulate so much stuff. Instead of just throwing out things when they break they seem to have migrated to the back of the inner most corner of the downstairs. Suddenly an empty room became the dreaded 'Junk' room.
Piles of old puzzles, text books from our 10 years of home schooling, the large scrap basket from our sewing projects, every little Happy Meal figurine from the years 1993 till 1996, the boxes that contain a lifetime of photographs and other small mementos that we inherited when Scott's dad died last summer, and pieces and parts from every computer we have owned since we moved to Bruce in 1996. Each day we are making headway and with each old useless thing that I toss, I feel like a weight has been lifted. The whole family has joined in tossing out things that should have been discarded a long time ago.
Now all of this work is not without some snags. Sunday, the dishwasher has decided to bite the dust. Those things just never give warning. You just open the door and reach in to find that your machine went through the motions and made all the sounds and really baked the grease and food particles on your plates. Thankfully, I still have Playtex gloves and scrubbers
and dish soap and washing the dishes was rather therapeutic after all of the purging I have been doing. I'm pretty sure it's the water pump and now I will be knocking on Brasher's door this week looking for a no frills dishwasher.
We had the pleasant surprise of discovering that Home Depot had some basic little compact fluorescents on sale so Scott has been replacing the outdated light fixtures downstairs with newer eco-friendly ones. What a difference that has made. Now I can really see the stuff I need to throw out. Does anyone need a 6-game-in -1 table? It's in mint condition and has all of its parts. I really don't need a foosh ball table in the house any longer. I've got eBay buzzing with selling the textbooks to other homeschoolers and the family photographs and other mementos will just have to wait. Its still too soon to look at those.
Welcome to America Ping and Ji-Eun. I have seen the light!
July 21, 2008
Vonda Tedford Keon
My sister's ring tone is Patsy Cline singing ' Crazy'. It may prove to my personal theme song before long. Alright! I know you are out there giggling and nodding your head yes. There is a rumor that I long ago reached the crazy stage. But let me tell you why I need a theme song. I am truly searching for the light at the end of the tunnel!
We have been knee deep in preparations to welcome a foreign exchange student into our home for the coming school year as well as preparing to take daughter number one off to MUW for her first year of quasi-independence. Then I got an e-mail from our AYUSA contact and she was frantic. Another host family had backed out and that left a student from Taiwan without a host family. I made some calls to people that I thought might be interested and thought we had a couple of good leads but they didn't work out. Not everyone is as crazy as my husband and I. We tend to be a bit spontaneous about things. So we thought, what the hay? Let's take them both.
Lo Ping, or Margaret (the Americanized name she has chosen) was so excited to hear from us that in her letter to me she said "AWESOME". Teenagers are teenagers around the world I guess. She wrote she was really ready to eat 'Fry chicken' and loved light food and vegetables but no spicy. She is going to embrace Southern Food I think.
Ji-Eun wrote that she was leaving for Los Angeles Saturday morning for her "learning to live in America" classes and would be arriving in Mississippi on August 2nd. I panicked on reading that. We thought it was the 10th. Donna, our AYUSA contact is checking on that for us. So in the event that the arrival date has been moved up we have shifted into high gear getting ready.
Our home is like a house sitting on top of another house. It has a walk out basement that was at one point many years ago, used as an apartment. I have been using it for my 'woman cave' and each time I have fallen down those 15 stairs I have made the statement that I thought we should make the downstairs into a master bedroom suite. It now looks like a work in
progress. How can one family accumulate so much stuff. Instead of just throwing out things when they break they seem to have migrated to the back of the inner most corner of the downstairs. Suddenly an empty room became the dreaded 'Junk' room.
Piles of old puzzles, text books from our 10 years of home schooling, the large scrap basket from our sewing projects, every little Happy Meal figurine from the years 1993 till 1996, the boxes that contain a lifetime of photographs and other small mementos that we inherited when Scott's dad died last summer, and pieces and parts from every computer we have owned since we moved to Bruce in 1996. Each day we are making headway and with each old useless thing that I toss, I feel like a weight has been lifted. The whole family has joined in tossing out things that should have been discarded a long time ago.
Now all of this work is not without some snags. Sunday, the dishwasher has decided to bite the dust. Those things just never give warning. You just open the door and reach in to find that your machine went through the motions and made all the sounds and really baked the grease and food particles on your plates. Thankfully, I still have Playtex gloves and scrubbers
and dish soap and washing the dishes was rather therapeutic after all of the purging I have been doing. I'm pretty sure it's the water pump and now I will be knocking on Brasher's door this week looking for a no frills dishwasher.
We had the pleasant surprise of discovering that Home Depot had some basic little compact fluorescents on sale so Scott has been replacing the outdated light fixtures downstairs with newer eco-friendly ones. What a difference that has made. Now I can really see the stuff I need to throw out. Does anyone need a 6-game-in -1 table? It's in mint condition and has all of its parts. I really don't need a foosh ball table in the house any longer. I've got eBay buzzing with selling the textbooks to other homeschoolers and the family photographs and other mementos will just have to wait. Its still too soon to look at those.
Welcome to America Ping and Ji-Eun. I have seen the light!
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