Four Minutes of Science, and Ten Minutes of Me Hurting Myself

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-06-24T17:11:00

2008-06-24T21:12:34Z

Nothing much to say, just... wasting time. Trying to avoid housework and writing. Being lazy and procrastinating.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-06-10T14:18:00

2008-06-10T18:20:47Z

I met this guy at work who had been a clinical psycologist, and decided he didn't like the job. He told me about all the patients he had seen. One of the most interesting cases he told me about involved a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder. At times this person believed himself to be a temptress in a Bizet opera. At other times he was convinced that he was the head of the German Luftwaffe in WW II. The poor fellow didn't know if he was Carmen or Goerring...

Sycamore Shoals Native Festival

2008-06-10T04:34:29Z

I had a pretty awesome day on Sunday. My mom and sisters and I went down to Sycamore Shoals for the Native American Festival day. They hold it every year, and this was the first time I'd gone, so I didn't know what to expect.

At first, I was disappointed, because there were so many vendors, all selling the same things: beaded jewelry (and EVERYONE had hand made them, if you want to believe that), dream catchers, and arrowheads. Way to reinforce the stereotype, guys! Well, there was a lady selling dried herbs, and a book seller.

Then the event actually started, and I was relieved.

First, there was a flute player. He showed us different types of flutes, played a song on each, and described how he made the flutes and out of what materials.

Afterward, there was a Storyteller. He was a professor at the University of North Carolina, his name was Freeman Owle. He told the story about his great-grandparents on the Trail of Tears, and how his grandmother escaped in a snowstorm, and made her way back to North Carolina with her small children. Only one survived.

We got to sit and talk with him in detail while we ate lunch. Indian Tacos! Flatbread, pinto beans, spices, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and onions. I hadn't had real Indian Tacos since Oklahoma, ten years ago! Ohh, they were so good. And the vender has a restaurant in Cherokee, so next time I'm down, I'm gonna track that place down.

Then, there was a Drum Group, and dancing. The ceremony clothes were beautiful

The dancer below was a Hopi, doing a traditional ring dance. This is one of the single most impressive things I've ever seen, and I know he must have fallen a hundred times while he was learning. He swung those rings into all sorts of patterns, and knotted himself up so many times, and never missed a beat.

The picture below was a traditional women's dance. The picture is so great because the women here are three generations of the same family. And that little six year old girl was SO adorable.

This was from the kids dance, sort of like musical chairs, only with candy. While the drums are beating, you have to dance. When they stop, scramble to pick up the candy! Drum beats! Go back to dancing! Fun!

One of the dancers was a man we know, he used to go to our old church. Mama went to talk to him and find out how the kids are doing. His son that was Anna's age is going Pre-Med, and that was nice to hear. Here he is with my mom.

Oh! I didn't show you the picture of Professor Owle.

I was glad we sort of had lunch with him. My mom stood there and talked to him while Anna and I ate, then then we talked to him while she ate. (Caitlyn sat down under a tree and called her boyfriend on the cell phone.) I would've taken a better picture if I'd known how much I'd enjoy talking to him. Turns out, he's got Reagan ancestors, too! Always nice to meet a cousin.

Honestly, this man understood me right off, and that was odd. Only Doug has ever understood me that much, and Dr. Owle had only just met me. He gave me an assignment: Apparently, there are no fourth grade reading level books from Tennessean authors, and none from the Appalachian view point. After talking to me, he told me he thought I should write one.

And Gosh Darnnit! He's right! Just that little statement: There are none, you have the viewpoint, and the skill, WRITE! I've been thinking about it for two days now, and as soon as I figure out what makes a book "Fourth Grade Reading Level" I have a bunch of ideas, and the first urge to write in months. He must be a great teacher to be able to inspire like that.

Books 40-44

2008-05-28T03:54:29Z

40) The Rose Rent - A Brother Cadfael book, a murder and a missing persons case, oddly enough not directly connected. - A-

41) The Hermit of Eyton Forest - Wherein Cadfael solves two murder cases, because he is that good. - A

42) Master and Commander - Another book I got out of Mimi's house. I haven't seen this movie, the one with Russel Crowe, but the book is NOT a very good testament to how good the movie might be. Unless they changed, like, the whole book. Oh, my SWEET LORD. First, it was boring. Second, when it was interesting, you couldn't understand what was going on because they were using 18th century nautical terms, and I only know two: Port and starboard. If you ask me, a jig is a dance, and Topsail is an island, and a loblolly boy is probably from the Lollipop Guild. - D

43) Archaeology in the land of the Bible - From the Stone Age to the destruction of Isreal and Judah. Fascinating, but it was basically a textbook, so I skipped a lot of things. I don't need to know the exact classification of pottery shards or how many earthquakes there were in the region. Still, it took me an entire week of work to get through it, that shows how thick it was. - A

44) Stalking the Wild Asparagus - Euell Gibbons, I decided to catch up on my foraging knowledge, even though I read about it more than I ever go out and pick stuff. This is primarily because I have no one who will go with me, and no good places where I know I can pick guilt free. A+

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-05-27T00:36:00

2008-05-27T04:37:52Z

Somehow, somewhere, I knew that this would exist. I just didn't imagine that it would ever be this well done. And unintentionally amusing.

"What's OK, and what's not OK, for a married couple to do in bed"

http://www.themarriagebed.com/pages/bible/app/whatisokay.shtml#manual

They've decided that masturbation is not a sin:

"Johnny began to come to a new understanding of how God wanted him to use even the act of masturbation to bring glory to Him."

They decided that sex toys are okay, if you can get a hold of them without "being exposed to objectionable products and pornography. "

They also have a map to the G-Spot.

Most of it is pretty much scientific, though. Oh, you bad fundies, bringing the scientists into it!

Content? You decide!

2008-05-27T04:10:28Z

I guess I should offer some actual content, huh? I have a a four day weekend, and nothing to do, no one to do it with, and no money to put toward it. I'm pretty much sitting at home and watching movies, and House.

House is sexy. So is Hawkeye Pierce. I guess I have a thing for sarcastic TV doctors who are always right. Someone told House that the most annoying thing about him is that he always assumes he's right, and the second most annoying thing was that he usually was. That sounds a lot like Doug.

When I get angry, I cry. Not sobbing, or sniffing, but I'll stand there and look at you with no expression at all, except these huge crocodile tears that just suddenly appear. I have to be really, really angry though. I've only been that angry twice.

My sister and I are going to Sycamore Shoals on June 8th, they're having a Native American Culture day, which means a whole bunch of Cherokee crafts and storytellers and things like that. Looking forward to it.

Honeybear and I went to visit Mimi, our great grandmother on her birthday. She didn't know who Anna was. She thought Anna was my daughter, and was shocked that she was married. Anna reminded her that she'd been to the wedding, but it was clear that Mimi was confused. I suppose being 94 will do that to you.

I miss being able to call mlfoley after work. I don't get off until midnight, though, and I was always taught not to call that late. My days off, everybody in the world needs me to do things, and I also do housework. Fun.

My boss gives everyone nicknames, some of them funny, and some of them cute. For example, one girl is always standing up and raising her hand because she needs help, which is fine, because she's new, but Boss Lady calls her "Whack-a-mole." (Up, down, up, down.) One girl is called "Wilson" because when she stands by Boss Lady's cubicle, you can only see her eyes, like the Tool Time Character. One of my best friends is "Jo Herm" because she looks like a cross between Jodie Foster and Hermie the elf, the dentist from Rudolph. I get called "Britannica," which is a lot more pressure than you'd expect from a nickname. One of the guys, "Germy" (because is name is Jeremy, and people around here condense it, get it?) is always trying to stump me. He usually does!

I got two new Euell Gibbons books I can't wait to read, Stalking the Healthful Herbs and Stalking the Blue-eyed scallop. Not sure I'll use the second one, it's about beach combing. No beaches to comb around here.

I've got Lego Star Wars for the DS. Also, still playing Harvest Moon. Mostly late nights at work when we're dead and people aren't trying to call us. My boss likes to watch me play Cooking Mama. She wants it for her Wii.

Honeybear got a Wii. Tennis is awesome. If I was ever going to do sports, it would've been Tennis. Or Water Ballet.

Had a Doctors appointment a couple weeks ago. I'd had some burning in my feet, like my mom and her parents who all three have diabetic neuropathy. Tests all came back negative, I'm not diabetic... yet. I've avoided meals based on rice, potatoes and bread all at once, which is what I had the night before the burning, and I haven't had it since. Doc said just to keep it up.

Doug and Brian aren't playing WOW anymore. It's not fun when I'm on alone, so I don't play as much, but I'm having trouble giving it up completely. Instead, I created an Alliance character, a gnome. She's cute.

Life marches on, nothing exciting, nothing surprising, nothing dismaying, nothing interesting.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-05-12T00:51:00

2008-05-12T04:59:37Z

I finally saw Sweeny Todd.

There's two hours of my life I'll never get back. I mean, I could've been straightening my stereo wires, practicing self-flagellation, or learning Esperanto!

Good news though, our best man, Mike, and his girlfriend, Amanda, had their baby boy today. Welcome to the world, Isaac! I hope it treats you much better than it has your dad. He's been through a bunch, and he deserves to have a ~~little~~ lot of happiness now.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-05-06T22:14:00

2008-05-07T02:19:23Z

My phone broke. The screen went all white so i can't see what I'm doing, making a call? Sending a text? Who's that calling me?

Oh well. I'm due for an upgrade soon, anyway.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/05/china/guizhou/amy-tan-text

Read that article. I wrote in to the Editor about it. It was good. The article, I mean. I'm sure the letter was good, but the article was extra special.

Oh, well. Here's the letter.

Mr. Editor,

While reading the article by Amy Tan in May's issue of your wonderful magazine, I found it difficult not to draw parallels between Dimen today and Appalachia seventy years ago; both are areas where the modern world has intruded on traditional folk life, altering it irreparably. Lynn Johnson's pictures were all lovely, but the image of the granddaughter sharing her TV performance with her grandmother was truly eloquent. The living room may have been the same room in the black and white pictures of my great-grandmother in her childhood home in Newport, Tennessee; right down to the newspapers on the walls for decoration and insulation. If not for the ethnic differences, (and the very new television!) the photograph could've been taken in any Great Smoky Mountain Logging camp, right after the Great Depression.

I look around at my home, and though I love it, I do weep for the knowledge and culture that is gone with my great-great grandparents, and will too soon be lost with my great-grandmother. I hope and pray that Dimen's people will be wiser than we were, and refuse to let their unique folk life die with the zas.

Emily Monroe
Bristol, TN

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-04-29T01:04:00

2008-04-29T05:04:24Z

see more funny political pictures

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-04-28T14:25:00

2008-04-28T18:38:52Z

Last night I dreamed. I dreamed I was so tired and frustrated with my life that I went for a drive, a looong drive. Seriously, fifteen minutes of dream driving, is swear. Finally, i reached a small town that was familiar to me, I stopped in at a hotel that I'd been in before, and called my mom and Doug to let them know I was okay. I had stopped in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

In the summer of 1997, I stayed in Shawnee for a week. My aunt's church had answered a request to go to the Reservation and conduct a Vacation Bible School. My mom and I tagged along, so to speak. I still do have a reputation for remembering silly, obscure facts, and at the time my brain meats were dedicated to Bible trivia, and my aunts church was the church she and my mother were raised in, from the time they were toddlers.

I enjoyed the trip, for two reasons. First, it made me much more interested in my own Native Heritage. We attended a Pow-wow, which I've written about before, ages ago. It was the single most powerful experience in my life. When I even see a Pow-wow on TV, I have the same, gut reaction, as if I want to dance and stomp along with the dancers, and my head becomes light and I feel like anything can happen.

Second, it really opened my eyes to life on a reservation. The children we taught were hungry, they were poor, they were starving for the things I had always taken for granted. The first night, Sunday, we had seven kids. The adults became afraid that the food we'd taken with us was too much, so we gave the kids a box of pop-tarts. Monday morning, the kids told their friends, and we had fifty kids show up because we were handing out food. Each night we had more and more kids, impressed with us because we were feeding them. The kids were brutally honest about their parents and issues such as alcoholism, drug use, poverty...

That one week, only one week changed me so profoundly that ten years later, I'm still thinking of that time and those people. But I have never dreamed about them like last night.

This morning, I felt guilty that while I was thinking about them, I had never kept in touch like we'd all meant to. I googled the church to find this:

I have no details. The only news article I've been able to find was from the Native American Times, which you need a subscription for to get the full article.

I have no words. I've emailed my aunt, and called my mom. Hopefully my aunts church will be able to help, will be able to do something. If they go back, I'm there. I don't care what it takes.

Books 31-39

2008-04-27T02:46:48Z

31) The Great Smokies: Yesterday and Today: Another guidebook, heavier on the history and Cherokee folklore, also mentions things to do in the general area, outside of the park.

32) Dorie: Woman of the Mountains: Apparently the true life story of one Dora Woodruff Cope. The woman on the cover looks like my great-grandmothers long lost sister (if she had one), but is not directly related to us that I could tell. I'm sure we're related through marriage somehow.

33) Barefoot in the Smokies: A collection of poems about growing up in the park. Mostly bad poems. But the girl on the cover looks like my bosses best friend. She and her friend ogled the picture for ages, but Lorelei swore she didn't have any family at all down in Tennessee, all of it was up in Virginia.

34) A White Clearing: A novel about another lady growing up at the same time as Dorie, and, being fiction, was much more interesting.

35) Call me Hillbilly: Yet another book about growing up in the park, by Gladys Trentham Russell, a lady who is related to me on the Ogle side, a distant cousin. (Aren't they all?) Instead of being one long narrative, it was a series of remembrances.

36) It Happened in the Smokies: by the same Ms. Russell. Honestly, most of it was the same set of stories.

37) Great Tales from the Great Smokies: More of the same.

All this put me in a very unique head space, and it was jarring to go on to

38) An Excellent Mystery (1985, set in August 1141) - Brother Cadfael solves the mystery, which was more of a missing persons case than a murder mystery. - A+

39) The Raven in the Foregate (1986, set in December 1141) - Elis Peters made a mistake in having the victim be such a raging asshole that the only thing she could do was make his death an accident in the end. No gets the ~~credit~~ blamed. - C

Shakespeare Reborn

2008-04-21T16:32:17Z

For posterity, here's the link, and the content. Yay, verilly, I lolled.

http://evilrooster.livejournal.com/1042.html
SERENITY by William Shakespeare

Capt: A dozen years have pass'd since this took place,
And all that time hath Parliament kept hid
The secret of this world, till River here
Unearth'd it from their minds. They feared she knew.
And right they were to dread, since many more
Among the spinning worlds would know it too.
And someone has to speak for those now dead.
For divers reasons did you join my crew
But all have come together to this place.
I've in the past demanded much of you.
Today I ask yet more; perhaps for all.
For this I know, as I know anything:
That they will try again. Another world
Will be the lab for this experiment.
Or maybe they will sweep this landscape clean
And in a year or ten attempt again.
They'll swing back like the needle to the north
To the belief that they can better men.
And I hold not to that. Here from this grave
I will not run. I aim to misbehave.

- o0o -

Capt: There's more to flight than buttons, albatross,
More to the pilot's role than charts and maps.
You know the foremost rule of flying? Aye,
I know you do, since you know what I'll say
Before I part my lips.
Riv: I do, but yet
I like to hear you say it nonetheless.
Capt: 'Tis love. Though you know all the math the 'verse
Contains, if in the sky you take a ship unloved
She'll shake you off as sure as worlds turn.
Love keeps her in the air when she should fall
And tells you that she hurts before she keens.
It makes her home.
Riv: The storm is getting worse.
Capt: We will endure a while, till it disperse.

http://community.livejournal.com/metaquotes/6644038.html
PULP FICTION by William Shakespeare

ACT I SCENE 2. A road, morning. Enter a carriage, with JULES and VINCENT, murderers.

J: And know'st thou what the French name cottage pie?
V: Say they not cottage pie, in their own tongue?
J: But nay, their tongues, for speech and taste alike
Are strange to ours, with their own history:
Gaul knoweth not a cottage from a house.
V: What say they then, pray?
J: Hachis Parmentier.
V: Hachis Parmentier! What name they cream?
J: Cream is but cream, only they say le crème.
V: What do they name black pudding?
J: I know not;
I visited no inn it could be bought.

...

J: My pardon; did I break thy concentration?
Continue! Ah, but now thy tongue is still.
Allow me then to offer a response.
Describe Marsellus Wallace to me, pray.
B: What?
J: What country dost thou hail from?
B: What?
J: How passing strange, for I have traveled far,
And never have I heard tell of this What.
What language speak they in the land of What?
B: What?
J: The Queen's own English, base knave, dost thou speak it?
B: Aye!
J: Then hearken to my words and answer them!
Describe to me Marsellus Wallace!
B: What?
JULES presses his knife to BRETT's throat
J: Speak 'What' again! Thou cur, cry 'What' again!
I dare thee utter 'What' again but once!
I dare thee twice and spit upon thy name!
Now, paint for me a portraiture in words,
If thou hast any in thy head but 'What',
Of Marsellus Wallace!
B: He is dark.
J: Aye, and what more?
B: His head is shaven bald.
J: Has he the semblance of a harlot?
B: What?
JULES strikes and BRETT cries out
J: Has he the semblance of a harlot?
B: Nay!
J: Then why didst thou attempt to bed him thus?
B: I did not!
J: Aye, thou didst! O, aye, thou didst!
Thou hoped to rape him like a chattel whore,
And sooth, Lord Wallace is displeased to bed
With anyone but she to whom he wed.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-04-21T12:09:00

2008-04-21T16:19:30Z

I am Scottish, Irish, Cherokee, and French. I am American, I am Appalachian. My family has been moved from their homeland not once, (in the Trail of Tears), but twice (when the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was made). For ten generations my family have lived in these mountains, eight of them in Tennessee, versus Virginia or North Carolina.

I will never have another home but these mountains. I will never feel my roots so deeply as I feel them here. This area, these hills and rocks, speak to me in their own language, and I am only beginning to understand.

How can anyone live without knowing that there is a place where they belong, where their family belongs, where their great-great-grandparents lived and worked and died? I've heard stories about Susie Ogle, and Lafayette and Roda Mabe, and Susannah Hale, Timothy Reagan, and Jacob Webb for years. They are as close to me as friends, even though I could never have met them. I can tell you their stories as easily and as excitedly as I could tell about Jason and the Argonauts, or Frodo and the Ring.

And yet, there are people who don't know their history, who don't have a homeland. This thought saddens me. My husband is like this. His family only recently immigrated. His grandfathers father was the first generation born in America. Each generation moved to a new state. He not only doesn't know anything about the first Yezek that came, he doesn't care! I can recite my lineage back to the Revolutionary War, I can name at least five Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate. Doug knows only his grandparents.

I feel sorry for him. Not because he doesn't know, but because he doesn't want to.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-04-21T11:54:00

2008-04-21T15:55:12Z

This is the day that the Lord hath made...

What the heck was He thinking?

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-04-19T22:50:00

2008-04-20T02:54:04Z

I'm thinking about planting a garden. My mom has been complaining about the high cost of food, and I've been wanting to get my hands dirty, so to speak, and get back to the earth. I feel so disconnected, and I'm sure WOW doesn't exactly help, but I'd like to do something I can be proud of. A garden seems like it would be the right step.

My grandparents used to keep a garden every year, with green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. Maybe some peas, or green peppers, too. Maybe I should also plant an apple tree, and a grape vine. My mom has a whole yard that's really only getting mowed. Well, and I pull the poke out every early summer, but I don't get much.

I wonder if I have the time to create a productive garden? I'll have to talk to my grandparents and see. They still keep a small one with flowers, I can even use their tools.

Medieval Monks, Appalachain Mountains, and the Sonoran Desert

2008-04-15T03:07:14Z

24) Foxfire 4 - A++ - The best thing about this book was not the butter churning, or the sled making, or the spring houses, it was that there was an inscription in the front of the book: "To the best mother-in-law in the world, love Don. Christmas of 78." This was my grandfather, giving the book to my great-grandmother, four years before I was born.

25) A Marriage Made in Heaven, or Too Tired for an Affair - by Erma Bombeck. This was really funny, the story of her life as a wife and mother of three and trying to hold down a job as a newspaper columnist, basically, being supermom. With a great sense of humor.

26) Catlow - Louis L'Amour. - A- - Not one of his best, but certainly good.

27) Shalako - Louis L'Amour - A+ - If I made movies, I would be trying to make this one.

28) Dead Man's Ransom - Brother Cadfael solves the mystery of the dead sherriff, the murderer gets away because he's sympathetic, and they all live happily ever after. B-

29) The Pilgrim of Hate - Featuring the dashing Olivier d'Bretagne, my favorite of Cadfael's characters. Also, Cadfael solves the murder without ever having seen the victim, the scene of the crime, or even having been within 50 miles of the act. He's just that good. A+

30) Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains - Basically that explains it. It contains information about the trails, the history, flora and fauna, geology, camping facilities, pretty much anything you'd need to know if you were going to visit. And gosh, do I want to go back and visit again soon. A+

Books, 18-23

2008-04-05T14:02:44Z

17) Virgin in the Ice - A+ - A solidly decent Brother Cadfael book that has a knock-you-out-of-your-chair surprise at the end, which was just perfect. One of my favorites.

18) Sanctuary Sparrow - A- - Wherein Ellis Peters forgets that this is a murder mystery until halfway through the book. Although, it's still good, I never liked the ending because the murderer was just so hell-bent on revenge it was stupid. She could've just walked away with none of this killing and robbing business, and no one would have gone looking for her. Sad.

19) The Devil's Novice - A+ - This got confusing, as you have a man taking a fall for the man he thinks has done the murder, but that guy is also taking the fall for another guy, and in the end, there are two weddings and a funeral. Sort of like Shakespeare-lite.

20)Foxfire 2 - A+ - I skipped Foxfire 1 because it was "well-loved" as we say about books that are falling apart. My great-grandmother must've spend hours paging through it, so I just skimmed it and looked at a few recipes. Foxfire 2 was very well written for a bunch of high school kids, and I cannot even being to describe how happy I am that these books exist.

21) Foxfire 3 - When I finally get a house of my own, I want to build a Martin house, so we will get birds to come a live there. That would also be great entertainment for the cats. I also want to build my own log cabin and keep chickens, and have a garden, and can preserves, and start quilting, and keep sheep and spin wool, and then my sister can knit things with it. Where I'll find the time, I have no idea. In the moon shining section, I found the receipt for the book, and it was signed by my grandfather, where he paid with his credit card. I am going to keep that in there forever.

23) The Bedford Boys - A - D-day, as told through following the thirty or so men who came from the small Virginia town of Bedford, which is only about two hours, maybe three, north of here. I made the mistake of reading it at work, which meant i was crying for most of the day, especially lunch where there are no callers bothering me. How was I supposed to care about their bill when I was emotionally going through D-Day again, with the wives and mothers of those poor boys?

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-04-01T13:02:00

2008-04-01T17:03:03Z

A debt collector knocked on the door of a country family, that made their living weaving cloth.
"Is Jack home?" he asked the woman who answered the door.
"Im sorry," the woman replied. "Jack's gone for cotton."

A few weeks later the collector tried again. "Is Jack here today?"
Once again the answer was "No, sir, I'm afraid he has gone for cotton."

When he returned for the third time and Jack was still nowhere to be seen, he complained, "I suppose Jack is gone for cotton again?"
"No," the woman answered solemnly, "Jack died yesterday."

Suspicious that he was being avoided, the collector decided to wait a week and investigate the cemetery himself. But sure enough, there was poor Jack's tombstone, with this inscription: ...

"Gone, But Not for Cotton."

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-03-30T14:37:00

2008-03-30T19:42:42Z

One of the only things I don't like about my hometown is the level of poverty. Here, people hold on to things long after they are useless just because they can't afford to really get rid of it and get something new. If you go into a Goodwill, all you find is complete and utter junk, stuff that is not useful at all, anymore. Twelve year old computers, old mis matched silver ware, and the like.

Although, I'm sure someone is buying it. Otherwise the Goodwill wouldn't be staying open, would it?

At any rate, the Goodwill that we went to in Pennsylvania was awesome! I got a nearly brand new juicer for seven bucks! Down here, it would never have been gotten rid of until most of the parts were missing and/or broken.

Also, two very nice cake pans, and a bread pan. For a buck a piece.

Anyway, tell me your favorite juice recipes if you have any. I'm wanting to try the strawberry jelly recipe that came in the juicers intact booklet.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-03-27T15:21:00

2008-03-27T20:21:58Z

Back from PA.

Still unpacking.

Had fun.

Going through WOW withdrawl....

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-03-18T13:25:00

2008-03-18T18:28:12Z

I don't have anything to add to this, only I want to make sure everyone knows I support it:

http://community.livejournal.com/fluidic_icons/44507.html

Livejournal content strike.

I had no idea that SA had canceled free new accounts! That's just wrong! So, I'll strike, like so many others. Although, that's the day we leave for Pennsylvania to visit Doug's family, and I still have to work, so it won't be that difficult.

More Books

2008-03-18T17:53:00Z

14) St. Peters Fair - B - Another Brother Cadfael book. Reading them straight through all in order has made me realized how much Peters depends on a formula. There is a murder, and an obvious suspect who is innocent but can't quite be cleared, and sometimes Cadfael hides him while he and his sidekick, Hugh Beringar the town deputy, go looking for the real killer, even though the sheriff is sure the guy did it. It started getting a bit old, no matter how well written the books are.

15) Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Hair Cut (25 Years of P.J. O'Rourke) - A- - So I took a break and read some new PJ. This one loses points for exerpts from Harry the newspaper PJ was editor (or something) of when he was 20. But seriously, PJ isn't PJ without his dorky, rebellious past. I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said "If a man isn't liberal when he's young he has no soul, if he isn't conservative when he's old, he has no heart" or something like that. PJ is a living example of this.

16) The Leper of St. Giles - A+ - While not breaking from the formula, this book is still one of my favorites. The Leper in question is an old crusader in hiding because of... well, leprosy. He comes back to England to see his granddaughters wedding and finds that she is being forced to marry against her will. Hilarity ensues, so to speak, when the future husband is murdered. The innocent man who the girl is in love with, is hunted by the sheriff hides in the leper house, and befriends the old crusader, and in this way, the grandfather is able to aid his granddaughter in marrying the man she wants to marry. And she never knows it was her grandfather, sadly enough.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-03-16T19:15:00

2008-03-16T23:33:36Z

Today was Christmas in March! Only, it's that depressing kind of Christmas where you're taking things because you have to, or because you don't want anyone else to have them.

My great-grandmother, I call her Mimi, is finally to the point where she has to be taken care of, instead of it just being easier, and there is no longer any hope she will ever live on her own again. (She has begun calling my great-uncle by her late husbands name, and she refers to her own daughter-in-law as "the woman who lives upstairs," and not in a bitter, evil MIL way, but in a nice but confused old lady, way.

Therefore, we have begun to clean out the house. My great-uncle who is caring for her and his family got first dibs, and we went in today to get a lot of things. I felt vaguely guilty, but I'm glad we're doing it now, instead of after she's gone. We'd all be crying to hard for that.

So, Doug and I brought home:

Two matching end tables. I would've left them, except Doug says his grandmother had two just like them, that his aunt still has.

An entire set of blue and white Corell dishes that I remembered her cooking things in from the time I was born.

Lots of antique kitchen utensils; a crank egg beater, canning utensils, an antique meat grinder, melon baller, canning jars, and biscuit cutter.

Two plaster wall ornaments, a banana and an orange with eyes and smiles that my dad made when he was eight.

A tin sheet with holes punched in the shape of a lovely pitcher (what is that called?) that my mother made for Mimi one Christmas.

Her set of Foxfire books, along with about a dozen books written about the Smokey Mountains by men and women who lived there, about 75 percent of which the authors were related to her/us.

A framed picture of her mother, Susie Ogle, and a framed picture of her mother's mother, Nancy Jane Reagan.

A picture book of my grandmother and her brother, along with some pictures thrown in of us as kids, and her and my great-grandfather, Daddy Bill.

A box of negatives of pictures of Daddy Bill and his company, from World War II, Pacific Theater. Also, the tiny army issue can opener he carried, and a Japanese $10 (or whatever) bill.

My father got a lot of things, but the most important, at least to me, was the family Bible, that had all kinds of clippings and articles in it about the family, obituaries, and that sort of stuff. Also found in the Bible, the legal paperwork from where Susie and her husband sued the government for the 5,000 acres that they once owned returned from them. This land was taken to become part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Obviously, they lost the case, as so many others did.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-03-09T22:54:00

2008-03-10T03:03:25Z

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Zangarmarsh&n=Agehya

There I am!

Please note, as far as I know, there are only six or seven people in this guild, and most of those are duplicate characters.

Also, there is another Agehya, which impressed me. I looked up Tsalagi, which is the Cherokee word for, well, Cherokee. There were nearly 30, including one on my server.

There are 15 "Qualla"s, the Qualla Boundary is the land that the Eastern Band bought with their own money, it's not a reservation. It's about two hours south of me.

There are about 30 Tsali's, named after a man who gave up his life so that nearly a hundred other Cherokee would be hidden, and not drug to Oklahoma.

Or, maybe not. Aside from the other Agehya, there are enough so that there could just be a lot of people who stumbled onto a name they liked the sound of, but did not know of any specific meaning.

Although, four pages of characters named "Cherokee" might be evidence that they DID know what they were doing.

rhapsody_98 @ 2008-03-04T18:02:00

2008-03-04T23:04:01Z

WOW is the new meth.

OH MY GOD I HAVEN'T PLAYED IN TWO HOURS. BRB. Sometime.

Whenever.