February 2012

What not to Wear
February 24, 2012 | 0 comments

I admit I’m hooked on reality shows.  Not the survivor type where people eat spiders and worms or live on islands and vote each other off, but the real reality shows like Clean House, Intervention, Hoarders, Curb Appeal, Dirty Jobs, What Not to Wear, Antiques Roadshow.

Perhaps I should have added this to my “ways I waste time” list of last week. 

I justify my time watching these shows as education.  I am learning what makes people tick.  I’m dreaming of things I can do with my, or better yet, my daughter’s yard.  I’m learning what to wear that is age appropriate.  Sadly, someday I may have to give up my jeans.   Well, maybe…

What have I learned from my favorite shows? 

Clean as you go.  You can have all the pots and pans washed and put away before you serve dinner.

Don’t let your mind go where you don’t want your body to follow.

There...

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Spam
February 19, 2012 | 0 comments

Oh, how easily I am distracted.  I don’t know about you, but it seems, even with filters and blockers, I am facing more and more spam each day.  I dump it into the junk box and the same ad in new format pops up again the next day.  Spammers are becoming increasingly cunning in sneaking through ours walls and eating up our time.  Imagine little demons chuckling as they watch us be diverted.

Unfortunately, spam isn’t limited to computers.  It can be the little trivial, unimportant things that eat up our time and energy on a daily basis.  I’d like to say housework and cooking come under the heading of spam, but that would be stretching the definition.  It’s the things that wouldn’t be missed, but still take time, that strip away my time.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older that I am noticing!

Here’s my confession of ways I waste time and energy:

            Reading all...

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Tuskegee Airmen
February 10, 2012 | 0 comments

Last week, Rick and I went with friends to “Red Tails” about the Tuskegee Airmen.  Rick and I had both been to the Travis Air Force Base Aviation Museum and spent time in the Tuskegee Airmen exhibit there.  These men overcame immense difficulties in order to serve our country, and were one of the most highly decorated units in World War II history. 

 

I liked “Red Tails”, but I kept leaning over and whispering to Rick, “I like the older movie better.”  When we got home, we went through our movie collection and found “The Tuskegee Airmen” (1995).  Cuba Gooding, Jr. was in that one, too.  Other wonderful actors included Lawrence Fishburne, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Allen Payne, Courtney B. Vance and Andre Braugher.  It is a more difficult and uncomfortable movie to watch because it deals openly with the bigotry the Tuskegee Airmen faced from instructors and politicians.  There were good men of conscience on their side.  In...

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Phantom Sculptor
February 3, 2012 | 0 comments

There are all kinds of ways books can be used.  Some people use them to gain knowledge and understanding.  Some use them to escape.  Others line shelves with leather-bound volumes to impress.  Some use them as a door stops or stack them up to reach a high shelf.  Some use them as a sleeping pill.  Some use them to hurl at a yowling cat, or spend a few minutes, hours, or days to be transported into another body, time and place.  Some toss them in the recycling bin or cash them in at the used book store and bring home another bagful. 

One particular phantom sculptor uses them for art.  She cuts, folds, carves and molds bits pages into amazing gifts left in Edinburgh, Scotland libraries and one in the national museum “in support of special places”.   Ten in all, each unique, exquisite, humbly offered in thanksgiving.

If you want to see them, Google images of “book art, Edinburgh”.  A story made into a story,...

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