Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Updated a Little

Hello, just to let you know, I have updated my "side-lines" on the blog...in case you were getting bored with them!

Thanks for checking in!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Who Knew?

I guess I'm surprised, but then again, I don't know much about Marilyn, so I guess if you believe this quiz we had a lot in common!


Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Marilyn!

mm.marilyn_.jpg


You are a Marilyn -- "I am affectionate and skeptical."


Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.






How to Get Along with Me

  • * Be direct and clear

  • * Listen to me carefully

  • * Don't judge me for my anxiety

  • * Work things through with me

  • * Reassure me that everything is OK between us

  • * Laugh and make jokes with me

  • * Gently push me toward new experiences

  • * Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

----these are all so true it's creepy!----



What I Like About Being a Marilyn

  • * being committed and faithful to family and friends

  • * being responsible and hardworking

  • * being compassionate toward others

  • * having intellect and wit

  • * being a nonconformist

  • * confronting danger bravely

  • * being direct and assertive




What's Hard About Being a Marilyn

  • * the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind

  • * procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself

  • * fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of

  • * exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger

  • * wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right---this only lasts for the first few months to a year of a job for me----

  • * being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations---this is true, and even more so when they are expectations I set for myself without anyone else knowing. strange, I know----




Marilyns as Children Often

  • * are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn

  • * are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger

  • * form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent----I don't remember this past the little "girl vs. boy" wars of 5th grade. In jr. High I was somewhat of a uniter---

  • * look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel

  • * are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent




Marilyns as Parents

  • * are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty

  • * are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence---I don't think this one will be a problem---

  • * worry more than most that their children will get hurt

  • * sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Sunday, October 26, 2008

the weather outside is frightful...

...but it's warm inside, so I'm happy! Yes, my 'landlords' finally turned on the heat! I am actually happy to have the "nasty" weather too, since I really like winter and this is a prelude to that. Coming out of church this morning it was sleeting a little, and by the time I got to the car it was snowing a tiny little bit!! Yay!!

Halloween is only a week away and I am stressing out because I am organizing the haunted house and activities for the Fall Fling at our church on Sat. the 1st. Have I ever told you how much I dislike working with type A personalities? It's true. We need to draw a line over which they can not cross. Why can't everyone go with the flow like me?

OK, I don't always go with the flow, and sometimes when I do it ends up being bad. But I think mostly I know when to hang in there or when to cut my losses, and either way, I try not to bring others down with me; to take responsibility for my own actions; to respect others need for details, and lie to them in order to give them the illusion of details... ;)

So, anyway. I chaperoned the lock-in for the high school kids at church last night. It was pretty fun actually, aided by the fact that my crazy best friend (whom I have known forever and grew up with me at church) came and hung out with us after she got off work.

It was good to hang with the kids and fun to get to know some of them a little better. They are all a little too old for me to have baby sat (well, not quite, as one of the seniors was my first charge, but he wasn't there) but too young to have been in youth group with me, which would have been awkward I think. I was still a little nervous, since I didn't know these kids. Would they be rowdy? Would they be disrespectful? What about just plain boring? Luckily they were none of these things.

My favorite story of the night: The youth leader pulled some stuff out of the freezer when I started to make the frozen pizza and said we could make those, too. They were little petite cheese things and some deep fried shrimp. I was thinking, Oookay... interesting choice of snakes to buy for a bunch of teens, but whatev. so I made them and put them out and the kids ate them...and then the youth leader said he had just FOUND them in the freezer. Someone went and checked on the expiration date...over a year ago.

OK, so that's pretty funny right? Everyone was all "eewww!!" and "Your trying to poison us!" and we laughed and it was all good.

Then a few hours later everyone was playing rock band and I thought, these kids need some popcorn. So I went and found the box of microwave pop corn I had purchased that day for them and made some. I brought it in and told them it was there with bowls.

The youngest kid there, the 8th grade friend of a youth group member, turned to me and said, "well, like, how long has it been here?" and I said, "about a minute, I just made it now," thinking to myself that he seemed a little dense. And he said, "no, I mean like here, in the kitchen here...like a year?" I almost started laughing hysterically! But I held it together and said "No, no, I bought it today!" And then I called out to everyone that it was fresh, just bought today!

Now, no one had yet moved to take any, and I thought it was because they were wrapped up in rock band. But sure enough, as soon as I told them it wasn't a year old, there was a rush of kids to get at the bag!

Oh, I laughed and laughed!

(btw, as I was re-reading that for glaring mistakes, I had said "poop" instead of "pop" twice! perhaps I should've left them in!)

OK, I should get to bed even though I took a four hour nap to recover from last night.

Oh, and have I told you I have the cutest/smartest cat EVER? It's tru, and sometime tomorrow you will see that it's true if you check her blog!

Friday, October 17, 2008

FRIDAY FIVE: Coin Toss

Songbird at RevGalBlogPals writes: Well, Gals and Pals, this weekend we'll be rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and that has me thinking about coinage.

1) When was the last time you flipped a coin or even saw one flipped in person?

I think it has been a very long time since I flipped a coin. And I can't recall seeing it in person recently either. However, I have seen two films recently that had coin flipping. The first was the Dark Knight in which TwoFace is born. Before he becomes evil he is a do-gooder who flips a coin his father gave him because he believes in fate. The other one I am having a hard time remembering at the moment, though I feel it must have been a Coen brother's film...any ideas?

2) Do you have any foreign coins in your house? If so, where are they from?

Daddy Hankie pants gave me some of the Iraqi money he brought back from his time there. I am also sure I have some Canadian coins about that the change machines never take.

3) A penny saved is a penny earned, they say. But let's get serious. Is there a special place in heaven for pennies, or do you think they'll find a special place in, well, the other place?

I feel bad for pennies. I have to admit that I don't chase after them if they fall from my purse...on the other hand, I will stop to pick one up, since that is considered good luck and I need all the help I can get! I also save them when I am cleaning out my purse, because they do add up if you have enough!

4) How much did you get from the tooth fairy when you were a child? and if you have children of your own, do they get coins, or paper money? (I hear there may be some inflation.)

As Mommy Knickers points out, we started with quarters. I think my belief in the tooth fairy was shattered earlier then anything else (i.e. Santa, the Easter Bunny, democracy...), but I still always looked forward to it because of the notes she would write me in squiggly handwriting, like there was this ethereal being out there who took an interest in me, even past my oral health.

When I was in high school I had to have a major amount of dental work done, including having my upper wisdom teeth out (the lower ones came out a few years later). I seem to recall getting a kind of under the pillow bonus that night of about $25...yes, I am the youngest, and yes, I am spoiled.

5) Did anyone in your household collect the state quarters? And did anyone in your household manage to sustain the interest required to stick with it?

No one in my household, but a kid I babysat for did. I babysat every Saturday morning, and every week he would want to show it to me, even though there was almost never any new ones! I generally don't have the patience for things that involve big pieces of cardboard, ya know?

Friday, October 3, 2008

A Promise of New Life

I just found out that a Dog Blogger whose blog I lurked on occasionally has died. I don't know, really, anything about his family or the dog. I have no reason to mourn the passing, and yet I do.

For me, mourning is really about mourning a part of our lives that has left and can never return. For the Person (be they human or furry friend) who has left, we as Christians, can be comforted in knowing that they are with the Creator, safe and happy in Her hands, in a way unachievable to those of us still here...

But in my personal theology it doesn't stop there, in that loving embrace. God asks us to return, to do more good works, to make this world a better place.

Jesus promises us all a chance to redeem ourselves through him. He himself is reincarnated when he raises from the dead, and when we take Communion we experience the way in which Jesus/God is part of everything, from the wheat in the fields and grapes in the vines to our worshiping mouths taking in the holy spirit. But where does it say that we are only given this one body to take our journey with?

I came to this belief for myself after many years of feeling I had been here before, and that there is just too much I need to accomplish spiritually in the next 60 to 70 years.

So, I'm thinking about Grendel and how much he is missed and I am thinking that his soul must have gone through some tough times and done some good things to have been lucky enough to come back as Grendel, to such a loving home.