I Didn't Make the Rule

Today I'm venting!

As a grammar teacher, I have to teach certain rules. Sometimes the rules make sense, and sometimes I just shake my head. (I do a lot of shaking with spelling!)

I'm still going to include the planet Pluto (although it was demoted as a planet), but just let me say that all the planets, except earth, are capitalized. Earth, for some strange reason, isn't unless it begins a sentence or is listed with other heavenly bodies. The same is true with the words moon and sun.

Yes, it's weird. It is the name of the specific planet, but some dead guy designed this rule. There are two ways I try to make it clear to my students.
1) We don't capitalize the word home, and since earth is our home planet, don't capitalize it.
2) With the exception of earth, all the other planets are named after Roman gods. They are names, and they know to capitalize names! (Mercury/Hermes-messenger god; Venus/Aphrodite - goddess of love; Mars/Ares-god of war; Pluto/Hades-god of the underworld; Neptune/Poseidon-god of the sea; Uranus-original/creator god-overthrown by son Saturn/Cronus; Jupiter/Zeus-ruler of gods-overthrew his father, Cronus.) Sorry, no god named Earth. The goddess of the earth was called Gaea. Why we don't call this planet Gaea instead, I don't know.

It irks me to no end when the science teacher gives my students a twenty minute lecture telling them that I'm wrong. That's like me teaching science and trying to correct her.
G-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-!!!!!!!!!

Suggestions, anyone?

Being Supportive

Last week driving home, I was listening to NPR, and they were reporting on the anti-war demonstrations at the White House. It was reported that one protester held a sign that read "The Emperor has no (is wearing no) clothes," and it depicted Bush in the nude with a pink cowboy hat hanging on his you-know-what.

I hope these protesters kiss the ground and thank God every single day that they live in America, because if they were living in a "Post-Bush" Iraq and had signs like that about Sadaam Hussein, they would either be imprisoned or dead. The irony of it...

Now personally, I never really understood why Bush invaded Iraq. After he attacked Afghanastan looking for Osama bin Laden, he should have followed him into Pakistan and kept pursuing him. Hussein "had" WMD's? Well, there's no doubt North Korea does, and I don't see us going there. Bush doesn't think China has WMD's? Or Cuba? Again, I think it was a personal vendetta, a left-over from his father. But once again, I digress...

I don't know if the Iraqi people really want democracy - maybe at first they did, but who knows now. But what I do know is that we need to pray for our President, and if we're going to criticize him, then we need to offer an alternative solution. Think of your occupation, whether it be a stay-at-home mom, a teacher, a doctor, a scientist. Think of the daily stresses that come with it. Our President isn't trying to run a household or a business; he's trying to run America, a Superpower, with two whining, complaining children (the Democratics and Republicans -Yes, I know there are some Liberals and Independents, but the the donkeys and the elephants are the majority), and he's trying to keep the peace. Pray for him! He doesn't needs a country full of PAMS (pissing and moaning).

For God to bless America, we need to ask him to bless our leaders as well!

Agree to Disagree

I have this great friend who is also a co-worker. And the thing about this friend is that if we didn't have work in common, we would have never met, much less became friends. I met her once at a get-together another friend had several years ago, and we both attended. We left that party with no intention of seeing each other, unless our paths just happened to cross.

Now here we are, six years later.

Talk about opposites. Being married to a Baptist minister, she's about as far right as they come. Even if she wasn't married to a Baptist minister, she'd probably still be about as far right as they come. I , on the other hand, am more liberal. I wouldn't say I'm as far left as she's right; I'm more of a moderate, but we have our differences.

Our fall-outs have been over school stuff, and it's been heated. (You know it's bad when the students look worried and have that "deer in the headlights" expression.) We've both acquired the taste for crow; it's not our favorite, but we eat it when we have to.

What we've learned is that it's okay to agree to disagree. We both have strong personalities. I guess that's what has drawn us together.

What I do find interesting is how over the years we have "taken-on" traits that before were the opposites. I'm much more calm than I used to be, while G**, although still the diplomat, is more easily riled. While I'm still tough on the students, she's not so lenient anymore. Just some examples...

But one of the best things about G**, is that when we have Bible discussions, she explains it without being condescending. Sometimes I have to tell her she's sounding a little too righteous, but I always leave with a clearer understanding. Whether I agree or disagree, it's still clearer.

All of us are passionate about a lot of issues, and there are times when we're not going to see eye to eye. Let's agree to disagree and love each other still.

Pondering Quotes

I like reading quotes from different people-dead, alive, famous, not-so-famous. Some quotes also include the situation, and others are just left for your own interpretation.

My mom, for a long time, has bought me a subscription to Reader's Digest. There are two sections I read right away: "Word Power" and "Quotable Quotes." I thought I'd share this issues of "Quotable Quotes" and my thoughts concerning them.

They say marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightning. - Clint Eastwood
Well, Clint, behind every cloud is a silver lining. No one's marriage is "perfect." How dull it would be without the occasional thunderstorm!

Want to improve your relationships? See love as a verb rather than as a feeling.
- Stephen Covey
Hear, hear! We could all do better on this one!

The heart ages last. - Sylvester Stallone
For someone who just made another Rocky movie (at what age 60?), this just goes to show one can do anything if you have the "heart" for it. We are only as old as we make ourselves believe.

Natural beauty takes at least two hours in front of the mirror. - Pamela Anderson
Oh pu-leese. This woman has more plastic than my pen. (Okay, not a nice thing to say.) But really, what does she know about it? Natural beauty is getting up, brushing teeth, pulling hair back in a ponytail, putting on some deo, and ready to face the day. Not me. I need at least some mascara and lipstick/gloss. (My mom always said her mother never left the house without lipstick. )

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
-Theodore Hesburgh
True, especially if "love" is used as a verb. Also, he needs to love himself.

Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything. - Billy Graham
Yes, but what about "hot heads and hot hearts"? To me, a "hot heart" is being passionate about it. I guess it would depend on how it's presented. Don't cram it down my throat and don't "talk down" to me.

It's just like magic. When you live by yourself, all of your annoying habits are gone.
-Merril Markoe
Haha! But sometimes our annoying habits are picked up by others and we can really see how it is.

The last three were my favorites:

The formula for a successful relationship is simple: Treat all disasters as if they were trivialitues, but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster. - Quentin Crisp
This goes across the board - personal and professional relationships. If parents would realize that making below an 80 is NOT the end of the world! If I didn't care that Clay can't find something...

To say my fate is not tied to your fate is like saying, "Your end of the boat is sinking."
-Hugh Downs
Wow. We are all on this planet together. We have got to learn to be more accepting.

And last...

Having to explain it means you probably shouldn't have said it. - Cary Clack


Have you come across anything lately?

Nevers

Since I was one of the reader's of Andrea's "Nevers," I was tagged to think of a list of my own.

1. I never thought I would be a middle school teacher. When I left high school I thought I wanted to be a forest ranger. (good grief!) Later when I did return to college, I thought I wanted to teach high school. Two years of those grades taught me better!

2. I never thought I wouldn't have children. When Clay and I first got married, I thought I wanted to have three: two boys and a girl (not that I would get that). Now I'm glad that I didn't. I'm selfish with my time. There are times when I think, "What if..." but I don't let it bother me. I love spending time with children, but I like coming home, too, and not having to cook supper if I don't feel like it (and Clay doesn't either).

3. I never thought I would get married so soon (19!) because I barely dated in high school.

4. I never thought my brother would get married.

5. I never thought I would be involved with a church and have the relationship I do now with God.

6. I never thought I would make excuses to not ride my horse.

7. I never thought I would enjoy Brussel sprouts. (you just don't know...)

In Langston Hughes short story, "Thank You, Ma'am," Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones tells Roger, I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son - neither tell God, if He didn't already know.

And since my mom reads these, I'll stop here! <smile!>

Musings on MLK,Jr. Holiday

Have you ever read archy and mehitabel by don marquis? It is a great collection of poems. Archy is a cockroach who thinks he was once a poet whose soul went into the body of a cockroach. Everynight he climbs his way onto a computer and after an hour of "frightfully difficult literary labor," he creeps away. (Working on an old-timey typewriter, all his works are in lower case; he can't hold down the "shift" key and type the letter at the same time. That's also the same reason there's no punctuation marks.) His friend, Mehitabal the cat, thinks she was once Cleopatra. (But don't all cats think that?) Anyway, this collection of poems is great. Today being Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, I got to thinking about one of these poems, "the lesson of the moth," and I thought I'd share it:

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what doesn that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves

and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myselft i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity

but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself
archy

Then I think about a poster I have in my room:

Those who
Stand for nothing
Fall for anything

This day, for me, is more than upholding the words, "All men are created equal." Today is a day that gives me time to reflect upon the people who were so passionate about a cause that they risked ridicule or death (and at times paid that price): Jesus Christ, the men at the Alamo, our soldiers past and present, astronauts, firefighters, policemen, our Founding Fathers, Galileo, the pioneers who traveled west for the first time, Gandhi, all those women who broke the barrier of positions held by men, and the list goes on and on....

Today is a today to think about your passions in life and what you deem important.

Mothers, Help Future Wives

Having no children, I would like to know why men are babies when they are sick.

I would rather scrub my entire house (7 thousand plus square feet) on my hands and knees rather than put up with my husband when he's sick.

The other day Clay came home, pitiful look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked. (Since he had surgery, I'm trying to be more compassionate-one of my resolutions, too.)

"I don't feel so good; I'm going to go lie down," he replied.

"Does your wrist hurt?" (surgery location)

"No, I took my pain pill without eating anything, and now I feel sick to my stomach," he whined.

"Duh!" I said as I walked off. Then I called back, "That's why they put notices like that on the bottle! It's there for a reason! It's not, 'Let me read this while I'm using the bathroom!'"

Mothers, don't just train your little girls to be nurturers; train your little boys as well! Being nurturers, women can be sick and still do what has to be done. Men, on the other hand, want hospital service! If the saying "Take it like a man" is ever applicable, it's here!

Talk about all-knowing; God knew not to lead me into the healthcare profession!

Resolutions

I've been thinking about my resolutions for the year.

I wanted them to be more than the usual, "Quit biting my fingernails" (I'm 42; it hasn't worked yet) and get in better shape (that's not a resolution; that's my personal mantra). I wanted to be a better person, but that sounds so vague.

This past Sunday I was led to Colossians 3:12-17

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtures put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I think these are worthy goals, and with some members of my family, I'm going to have to work really hard and pray really hard for these virtues. I have to remember my goal isn't to change them, but to change me.

Traditions

When studying literature, my classes get a chance to read stories that have been orally circulated for generations before someone took the notion to write them on paper before they were lost. Zora Neale Hurston is a great black author who has captured some rich stories, and better yet, they are written in the dialect of the people and the time.

I think, too, of Homer and his epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey. If you've ever had to read these two volumes, can you imagine making you living traveling around and telling these tales, let alone memorizing it! (and the students today moan and groan when you ask them to memorize "Jabberwocky"!

One family tradition that has been passed on to me is the making of waffle cookies. I don't know if that's the orginal name, but that's the name I grew up learning. Back in my great-grandmother and grandfather's time (on my dad's side), it was a Christmas tradition to make these cookies. I was told it was probably done just once a year because the ingredients, although basic to us today, where ingredients that weren't meant to be used on "frivolous" cooking. It calls for a pound of butter, a dozen eggs, 2 cups of sugar, 2 tsp. of vanilla, and close to 5 pounds of flour. Personally, I don't think it was so much the ingredients that couldn't be spared; it was the time!

Using these old-fashioned irons, flipping the cookies after a certain amount of minutes, takes 4, count them, 4 hours! I recently received a modified version; my aunt found a recipe in a Paula Deen (I think that's how to spell her last name) cookbook. It's basically the same except the ingredients are halved and almond paste is used. Well, half a recipe, half the time. It still took 2 hours!

But it is a tradition that I have accepted, and although I moan and groan when asked, "Have you made the cookies," I also like knowing that I'm the one who makes them.

I just wish they were sweeter!

New "Kids" in Town

"I can't believe I got two!"

That was Clay's remark as we drove back home after picking up our new additions - two blue heeler pups.

I didn't mind because I thought two would be more productive than one. Also, they learn to work together.

It was a deal that I look for in shoe shopping - "Buy One Pair and Get Another Free!" (I love bargins like that!)

He was (or so I thought) pretty adamant about just getting one. When we were trying to decided, the lady said, "Take two; I'll give you a deal." Clay said, "No, I just need one." He didn't even ask what the deal was!! When she was pulling out the other one, I whispered, "Ask what kind of deal she wants to make." So he did, and the rest is history. But let me clarify - he said yes, not I!

Baby animals are the best! They play 110% and then all of a sudden, they drop and are sleeping away. They're so cute, too! And their breath doesn't stink yet!

Thinking of famous T.V. girlfriends, we picked Ethel and Lucy. Ethel has more brown on her muzzle, and Lucy's muzzle is more boxier shaped.

I can't wait to see how their personalities evolve! Stay tuned!