sometimes i get mixed up

With so many ways to receive input and to generate output of information, I get mixed up sometimes. I can't remember what I posted where and sometimes I can't remember from where things came. Did I get that by email...text...blog...it's hard getting old. Or maybe the world is just getting more complicated.

In any case, this is the picture of Regis and me when we did our Shuffle Function gig which was a total hoot. We got there at 5:30 a.m. and spent two hours live on the air with Tim and Shelley, playing our music that we had thoughtfully chosen over the last two weeks. Here is our playlist if you want to see what we like. You have to scroll down a ways. We were on November 2nd. We love independent radio.

I have been enamored of etsy lately. I can spend hours shopping for this and that...handmade and vintage. What a hoot. Vintage clothes are really tempting because they look so cool but it's hard to know what they look like in real life. All the stuff coming out of China and Indonesia are a little scary, too. Really? I send a paypal payment to someone in China and they ship me a dress? I like local better.

Regis is on his way home with our groceries for the next two weeks. We like to go to the store twice a month and can usually manage that pretty well. Our next big trip will be the Monday before Thanksgiving. He called, disappointed, because the pepper selection was pitiful. We love stuffed peppers on the grill and were hoping for one more meal of them before it gets too cold.

Gus is agitated when Regis is gone. Heck, he doesn't even like it when Regis closes the bathroom door. He sits and scratches at the door. Good grief.

Here is a perfect poem for this time of year:

Praise Song by Barbara Crooker.

Praise the light of late November,

the thin sunlight that goes deep in the bones.

Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees;

though they are clothed in night, they do not

despair. Praise what little there's left:

the small boats of milkweed pods, husks, hulls,

shells, the architecture of trees. Praise the meadow

of dried weeds: yarrow, goldenrod, chicory,

the remains of summer. Praise the blue sky

that hasn't cracked yet. Praise the sun slipping down

behind the beechnuts, praise the quilt of leaves

that covers the grass: Scarlet Oak, Sweet Gum,

Sugar Maple. Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy

fallen world; it's all we have, and it's never enough.

I was making Thanksgiving cards today (thanks, Mom) and was digging through some old files. It's one of the things I love about my blog...I have a lot of crap archived and it's a hoot to read later. Yes, I realize I have used the word hoot three times in this post. Anyway, here is a list of things for which I was grateful in 2008. I think it needs to be revised:


(I copied this list and I know that the formatting is messed up but I have better things to do than try to fix it right now. One of the things that irritates me...)

What I’m thankful for as 2008 rolls around


  1. iTunes, Barnes and Noble online, and Netflix. I used to spend a lot of time looking for books, music and movies with no idea what I wanted. I made a lot of mistakes. Now with modern technology, my tastes can be compared to others and recommendations made for me based on our similarities. I may never have to watch a movie like Joe Versus the Volcano again, read a book like Echoes by Danielle Steele or buy a CD that ends up being a coaster. I’m not saying it’s never going to happen, just that the risk is minimized.

2.      The realization that I’m not going to have a clean and organized house. It’s really taken a burden off to know this and to say it out loud. Kathy’s tried to help and we did make some progress but the stress is overwhelming. Regis and I are not good at getting all like things in one place. Say socks, for example. It’s really not a bad thing to be disorganized and I think we’ll live a rich and happy life in our slovenly ways.

3.      
3.  The Minnesota Board of Teaching. I forget about my anger over the inequity of the secondary principal job market and stop ranting about it toward the end of every year, then I get the letter from the BOT reminding me that I haven’t paid the 75 dollar licensing fee (authorized by the MN legislature and in addition to the regular license fee) since I hold a principal’s license BUT NOT A JOB.  I read the letter and it starts the fire all over again: 70% of high school teachers are women, more than 50% of students in ed leadership programs are women, and yet only 10% of secondary principals are women. Some dude at the school board association tells me that by law, school boards are required to hire the most qualified candidate and therefore it must be true. No need to say more.

4.     Technology. I love podcasts, my blog, digital photos, Picassa, and the Google/Picassa website. Think of what the internet will do for human intelligence. Ten years ago, if you had an idea,  you could tell a few friends or write an article for a newspaper but very few people had much of an audience. Now I can send pictures or rants clear across the country in a matter of seconds. Even goofballs can have a national audience.

5.       Babies. Just when you think you’re too cynical to live, someone you know has a baby and adults who used to be reasonable sit around for hours and stare at it and think that everything it does is fascinating. We’re in the grandbaby age now and not only are these grandbabies, ours and those of our friends, the smartest and the cutest but we don’t have to be awake all night when they’re teething. All the joy and none of the responsibility.

6.     Sleep. I listen to people who talk with a sense of shame about sleeping in until ten, or better yet noon. If I sleep until 5 o’clock, I’m grateful. Most nights I wake up at 3 and have trouble going back to sleep. I’ve always been a champion napper, but now I get my best sleep during the day. Not at work, of course.

7.    
5.        Brain development. I read an article in Newsweek about how the human brain develops slower than what was previously assumed to be true. Right about that time, my son who had given me fits through his teen years, expressed a desire to go to school, moved in with his grandma, got a job where he is admired and respected, and became helpful and social. Yes! If that ain’t proof…

I might come back occasionally and add to my list but that’s enough for now. Of course, I’m also thankful for the usual things: my mom, my kids, my husband, friends, my dog, a warm place to live, enough to eat, enough to drink, and pants with elastic waists.

That's how I felt about it in 2008. Some of those things make me glad that a few years have passed and I don't have to spend time being thankful for that bit of stuff anymore. (BOT)

See ya. Happy Monday.