TCBY

I talked on the phone with friend Ken, drove and ate a fabulous TCBY yogurt today after contemplating spending thousands of dollars on new appliances. I put multi-tasking (a phrase I loathe) to shame.

Finding TCBY yogurt near the appliance store was fortuitous serendipity. (As was getting home tonight and realizing that there were enough leftovers for the children to have dinner without having to cook those pork chops in the meat drawer.)

I had a LARGE, white CHOCOLATE mousse and peanut BUTTER yogurt and it was FABulous. mug, mug, mug. There should be many more TCBY yogurt shops conveniently located for me to have this treat more often.

I remember being in front of a the TCBY yogurt shop in Austin with my old friend Linda during an odd time in my life when I was strangely disconnected from my core group of pals. They had all moved to NYC and I was still in Austin. TCBY was very close to Amy's Ice Creams and it was heresy to have any kind of frozen dessert that wasn't Amy's Ice Creams. So, when I went to TCBY I donned a mouse-y brown wig and a pair of cat eye glasses. On the day I remember so vividly, Linda and I got our yogurt and did cheers in front of the store. We practiced Tigers and Susies (cheerleader jumps) in front of the plate glass window. I must have been 22? 23? I can't imagine. My body wouldn't be so obedient today. Even if I wanted to risk such humiliation, I don't think I could jump and leap that way. It's sort of sad to reckon with that...

Spider Daddy

Daddy Long Legs, Opilliones
Originally uploaded by Wilson Jian

Today on the way home from school Wilbur said he saw a long leg Daddy. I had no idea what he meant and then Em and I realized he meant Daddy Long Legs...

He had a stuffed animal his teacher gave him - it was a hummingbird, but he kept calling it a hunting bird...

One time we were all eating dinner and he gave me a big, toothy smile and I said something about his Cheesy Grin. He said, "I have a Greasy Chin?" We still laugh about that.

I never correct him when he says humbrella or hunting bird or long leg daddy - I think that his malaprops are much better phrases than the things the rest of us say.

Worry Wolf

Yesterday's lectionary was the 6th chapter of Matthew where Jesus talks about worry and anxiety:

26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

I've always loved these verses, but anxiety creeps into my life and sometimes it feels as though there is no defense against it. As I told Ken yesterday, I have not reached lily status. I worry. I worry that my happiness is too good and too complete - something will happen to it. I worry that the prosperity I enjoy is just temporary. I worry that I feel gratitude now because it's easy to feel it and someday, when the trials of my life befall me, I will be piteous and petty and will prove once and for all that I didn't have the stuff to experience grace.

I think the essential problem for me is NOT doing something is way harder than doing something different. Like being on a diet or waiting... I can't diet and I am supremely impatient.

But Cynthia, our pastor, began the sermon yesterday with this story:

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
“Which wolf wins?”


The old Cherokee simply replied,
“The one you feed.”

I had a profound moment of understanding after she spoke these words. I don't have to not worry. I have to stop fixing lavish meals for the worry wolf. This activates the 'Don't Worry' message. Feed the happines. Starve the worry.

Indianana Jones

We are going to see the new Indiana Jones movie tonight - Doug, me and the boys. I went to the theater at lunch and got our tickets. We've watched Temple of Doom, Last Crusade and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Wilbur, however, insists on calling Indy "Indian-ana Jones." He just can't say Indiana without putting an extra ANA in there.

The 50 Worst Album Covers of All Time

Must scroll through all of these. My eyes are burning and itching from crying. Thanks to Helene for this!

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-worstalbumcovers-pg,0,531818.photogallery

Roofing begins tomorrow

We chose Certainteed shingles in Birchwood. It's a 40-year roof and it's odd to think about how old we'll be and how old the roof will be in 40 years. I start thinking, 'do we really need a 40-year roof? I'll be 81 and Doug will be 83.' Yikes. Let's move onto the appliances and their forced obsolesence so I don't have my mortality staring me in the face. Let me think about something that might need to be replaced when I'm 48 or something like that.

Z Channel

We watched a really fascinating documentary: Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession about this LA station which, during the 1970s, broadcast a very eclectic assortment of films. Its head of programming was a guy named Jerry Harvey who ended up killing his wife and then himself. Many of the films they broadcast would have languished in obscurity without the build-up that Z Channel gave them. They also originated the director's cut and promoted the letter box format.

Ladybug Humbrella

Wilbur loves humbrellas. We all call them that now because that's what he calls them and we've come to think it's a much better word than umbrella. One of the joys of pre-school is the stuff you get serendipitously not knowing from whence it came. You also have to be willing to let things go serendipitously (I'm not as good at that), as items disappear: hence the appearance of random items in backpacks.

The Ladybug Humbrella is one of those items. It has been in Wilbur's cubby for weeks and weeks and weeks. Knowing that it wasn't his, I insisted that he leave it at school. But finally I gave in and let him bring it home. The sheer joy I see on his face is worth all the worry about who is missing his ladybug humbrella and will we get in trouble for taking it. Emery used to have a dinosaur humbrella but it's so Wilbur to love a flying insect humbrella. Wilbur is irrationally afraid of any flying insect (flies, butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs, moths), but it's a love/hate relationship. He loves this ladybug and he dressed as a butterfly for Halloween. One of his favorite books is about a caterpillar changing into a butterfly.

House

Thought for the Day...

Truth and inspiration are everywhere if you're willing to let them in.

Hear the music?

Makin' it
whoo whoo whoo
Makin' it
I'm solid gold
I've got the goods
They stand when I walk through the neighborhood
I'm makin' it
I've got the chance I'm takin' it
No more, no more fakin' it
This time in life I'm makin' it

whoo whoo whoo

Makin' it

Hello uptown, goodbye poverty
The top of the ladder is waiting for me
I'm makin' it
I've got the chance I'm takin' it
No more, no more fakin' it
This time in life I'm makin' it
whoo whoo whoo

Makin' it
Makin' it


(key change)


Listen everyone here
This coming year's gonna be my year
I'm as bad as they come
I'm a tool to no one
I've got looks, I've got brains and I'm breakin these chains


(key change)


Make some room now
Dig what you see
Success is mine
Cause I've got the key
I'm makin' it
I've got the chance I'm takin' it
No more, no more fakin' it
This time in life I'm makin' it
whoo whoo whoo

I'm makin' it
Non stop
Makin' it
To the top

Makin' it

This time in life
I'm makin' it

Makin' It
I'm Makin' it

Makin' it
I'm makin' it

Listen everyone here
this coming year's gonna be my year
I'm makin' it
I've got the chance I'm takin' it
No more, no more fakin' it
This time in life I'm makin' it
whoo whoo whoo

I'm makin' it
non stop
out here out here
makin' it

to the top

makin it
right here right now

What's wrong with Elitism?

Paid for by Ohio Republican Party
Originally uploaded by J. Star

I've never been able to figure out what exactly is wrong with being an elitist snob. I've enjoyed every moment of it. And I appreciate other elitist snobs who know more about certain subjects than I do (Science, Mathematics, et al) and grant them their elitist perch high atop the font of knowledge, looking forward to the erudite theories and illuminations that will fall from their lips. I don't begrudge them their knowledge. So, I've never really understood the view that some republicans have that knowing a whole bunch and informing others of your studies is this bad thing.

Obama has not done as well with uneducated people. Shouldn't this be a light-bulb moment? Shouldn't we all say, "hmm, I think I'll hang my hat on that Obama fella because people who aren't educated beyond the 12th grade don't seem to like him much!"

And just what are Hollywood values? Sappy, smarmy, everything-turns-out-ok-in-the-end views of life? The Brokeback Mountains are pretty few and far between. If the artistic value of that film were matched regularly by most Hollywood fare instead of the schlock that so often fills the billboard of my local Loew's Cineplex, we'd be going to the movies a whole lot more than we do.

But this is the one that really gets me. Conservatives, it seems, are happier than Liberals: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080507/sc_livescience/conservativeshappierthanliberals;_ylt=ApQOWUbSRW7e6eDExGg3wYADW7oF

And apparently this is true because Liberals are less able to rationalize away the notion that some of us are having a hard time in this life. We tend to see the inequities and are BOTHERED by them whereas many Conservatives rationalize that people who are sick, cold, hungry and poor really deserve their fate. It's sort of the devilish version of The Secret.

What's so funny really, is that I absolutely dislike most people and think that, by virtue of the fact that I am smarter than 90% of the population, I am just a little bit better. And yet, I cannot rationalize away the very un-level playing fields that I see in the world... It's a puzzlement.

First Swim Lesson

am with Wilbur and Emat their swim lesson, Wilbur's very first time - so exciting. They are chomping at the bit to get in there too.

We go to Linda Riggins swimming. She teaches at her home and at this time of year she has a big bubble enclosing her pool. The kids like the bubble as much as the pool.

Iowa Test of Basic Skills, not so basic

We got Emery's ITBS results this week and we were so relieved that the results were so good. We know he's smart - I don't mean that we don't. But having that validated by an independent source was reassuring. His results were such that he qualified for the Center for Talented Youth program at Johns Hopkins University. To qualify, a student must score at the 95th percentile or higher in 2 or more areas on a nationally accredited standardized test.

I told Leigh that dealing with a gifted child has been a pain in the ass - and I mean that in the best way. It is very taxing to parent our 8-year-old child but I've often questioned my judgement, wondering if he was really 'gifted' or if I was just lazy. I often think that if I were a better parent, I wouldn't get exhausted by my son and his relentless questions that just beget more questions that simply lead to assertions and finally pose interesting hypotheses that we should sit around and debate on a Sunday afternoon. Surely I was just kind of lame and any *good* parent would enjoy all this chattiness. I am often certain that a parent who was really making the grade would find all that debating and I-find-fault-with-your-flawed-logic-mom fun and entertaining in a (sitcom music here) Waa-wah-wah-wah sort of way.

So, we await the other testing that we put the boy through and all the while I feel a little silly for wondering what on earth is wrong with the child. The ITBS scores just patted the head of the inner voice and told her that she has intuition and a good gut. She should just keep it simple and not worry so much.

Emancipation isn't Free

May is Foster Care Month.

I first became cognizant of our flawed foster care systems during my years in the Junior League of Seattle. Improving the lives of children in foster care is compelling but it's difficult for people to think of children suffering and, I think, even more difficult to think that it's going on right under your nose.

One of the big issues facing children in foster care is emancipation. These are children who reach the age of 18 while in the foster system and who have not been adopted. They 'age out' of the system and are emancipated at 18 to start their own lives. But think of it, what do they carry with them into the future?

'The Child Welfare League of America reports that as many as 36 percent of foster youth who have aged out of the system become homeless, 56 percent become unemployed, 27 percent of male former foster youth become jailed. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that less than half of emancipated youth who have aged out graduate from high school, compared to 85 percent of all 18-to-24-year-olds; fewer than 1 in 8 graduate from a four-year college; two-thirds had not maintained employment for a year; fewer than 1 in 5 was completely self-supporting; more than a quarter of the males spent time in jail; and four of 10 had become parents as a result of an unplanned pregnancy.' (wikipedia)

Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation work to improve the lives of children in foster care. And there are lots of things we can do - easy things - particularly for foster kids who are heading to college this May or June. http://orphan.org/index.php?id=27

I am recommending to our outreach board that we write letters to be included in care packages for new college freshmen moving from foster care to college. What tenacity to get through that system and actually head off to college.