I haven't intentionally abandoned my blog; I signed up as a Tupperware consultant in late December and, whaddaya know, suddenly I'm busier than ever!
I'm working hard to master various aspects of the Tupperware direct sales business... I'm figuring out how to make it work well in my life... I'm working hard to improve my time management skills... I THINK I'm getting more done around the house than I had been. Also, I've noticed that my seasonal depression thing is GONE. Very interesting.
I believe the parties, the customer contacts, the Tupperware sales challenges and monthly schedule, and to a certain extent my director's training calendar, are keeping me on track and focused. My Tupperware horizon for what I'm working on is very short -- this week, next week, maybe the week after -- and I find it very interesting that it seems to match my, er, 'project personality.'
So, that's what's up with me. I've had all sorts of thoughts to blog about, so I plan to start making little tiny blog posts, little notes on things, and not fuss over long thoughtful posts. We'll see how it goes; I love to write things out!
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Eastern bluebird of happiness
This morning, on my way home from errands, I saw an Eastern bluebird on the pasture fence along the road about a third of a mile from my house. That distinctive bird of bright blue with red made my heart happy!
My ancient, unused, beginner birder's knowledge was gained in Pennsylvania, so I have no idea whether here in Oklahoma I might see a Mountain Bluebird. From what I can remember of that wonderful bright blue and where the red breast color was, though, I'm pretty sure that it was an Eastern bluebird. Love it!
My ancient, unused, beginner birder's knowledge was gained in Pennsylvania, so I have no idea whether here in Oklahoma I might see a Mountain Bluebird. From what I can remember of that wonderful bright blue and where the red breast color was, though, I'm pretty sure that it was an Eastern bluebird. Love it!
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
A problem from hell
Ever since I read The Bone Woman: A Forensic Anthropologist's Search for Truth in the Mass Graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo by Clea Koff (was it last summer? last year? I forget), I've wanted to learn more about the "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans, Rwanda, and other places.
In November, at the first meeting of a nonfiction book club that I'm in, we discussed Guns, Germs, and Steel and talked briefly about genocide. At that time I suggested The Bone Woman for a future book. Last week I hosted the meeting at which we discussed it, so over the last month or so I've been reading various books about Bosnia, Kosovo, the Balkans, Rwanda, and genocide in general. Almost all are from the local public library system.
The first one I started was The Balkans: A Short History -- and I'm still reading it. I got to about 1820 by the time of the book club meeting!
Alongside that, I started the one book that I actually bought (thank you, Half.com!): A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, by Samantha Power. WOW! After her hard-hitting intro, we are examining the Turks's actions against the Armenians in 1915-1916. This book will take me a while to get through, but I appreciate that the journey will also include the Holocaust, Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, and Iraqi attacks on Kurdish populations, as well as Rwanda and Bosnian "ethnic cleansing." Gonna be a good, tough, frustrating read, I think.
Then I read Beyond the Mountains of the Damned: The War Inside Kosovo. A journalist's view of the story of the town of Pec/Peja and some of its inhabitants. Very focused on 1999. At nearly the end of the book, UN forensic anthropologists are in the town, examining those buried who had died during the Serb "cleansing" of the town in that spring of 1999. I sure did wonder whether Clea Koff was one of them!
After the book club met, I read some more of The Balkans and started Madness Visible: A Memoir of War. This book concerns the entire 1990s Balkan war, with a focus on that spring of 1999 in Kosovo, and somewhat on Bosnia and the siege of Sarajevo. I'm writing this while still barely knowing anything beyond these words I based on the Amazon reviews, sigh. I suspect by the end of this book I'll have a better grasp of what, where, when, and certainly how, and I hope I'll begin to get hints of why, as well.
I quickly got sidetracked when the library told me We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families: Stories from Rwanda was waiting for me. I picked that up and started reading it, too. I was feeling a bit Balkan-centric when that wasn't necessarily my intention. Probably at some point I'll start educating myself about the Sudan and Darfur.
I'm not sure why this topic has caught my interest to such an extent, and that's okay. I think I feel the need to fill in gaps in my education as well as to see if any of these writers has any explanations that I find compelling for (a) genocidal actions and (b) lack of response on the part of the world community. My best bet is Samantha Powers in her A Problem from Hell, I expect, but I really want glimpses of the individual areas' stories, as well.
In November, at the first meeting of a nonfiction book club that I'm in, we discussed Guns, Germs, and Steel and talked briefly about genocide. At that time I suggested The Bone Woman for a future book. Last week I hosted the meeting at which we discussed it, so over the last month or so I've been reading various books about Bosnia, Kosovo, the Balkans, Rwanda, and genocide in general. Almost all are from the local public library system.
The first one I started was The Balkans: A Short History -- and I'm still reading it. I got to about 1820 by the time of the book club meeting!
Alongside that, I started the one book that I actually bought (thank you, Half.com!): A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, by Samantha Power. WOW! After her hard-hitting intro, we are examining the Turks's actions against the Armenians in 1915-1916. This book will take me a while to get through, but I appreciate that the journey will also include the Holocaust, Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, and Iraqi attacks on Kurdish populations, as well as Rwanda and Bosnian "ethnic cleansing." Gonna be a good, tough, frustrating read, I think.
Then I read Beyond the Mountains of the Damned: The War Inside Kosovo. A journalist's view of the story of the town of Pec/Peja and some of its inhabitants. Very focused on 1999. At nearly the end of the book, UN forensic anthropologists are in the town, examining those buried who had died during the Serb "cleansing" of the town in that spring of 1999. I sure did wonder whether Clea Koff was one of them!
After the book club met, I read some more of The Balkans and started Madness Visible: A Memoir of War. This book concerns the entire 1990s Balkan war, with a focus on that spring of 1999 in Kosovo, and somewhat on Bosnia and the siege of Sarajevo. I'm writing this while still barely knowing anything beyond these words I based on the Amazon reviews, sigh. I suspect by the end of this book I'll have a better grasp of what, where, when, and certainly how, and I hope I'll begin to get hints of why, as well.
I quickly got sidetracked when the library told me We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with our Families: Stories from Rwanda was waiting for me. I picked that up and started reading it, too. I was feeling a bit Balkan-centric when that wasn't necessarily my intention. Probably at some point I'll start educating myself about the Sudan and Darfur.
I'm not sure why this topic has caught my interest to such an extent, and that's okay. I think I feel the need to fill in gaps in my education as well as to see if any of these writers has any explanations that I find compelling for (a) genocidal actions and (b) lack of response on the part of the world community. My best bet is Samantha Powers in her A Problem from Hell, I expect, but I really want glimpses of the individual areas' stories, as well.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Me vs home heating bills
It's a battle to the meter-reading date, that's what it is. Like many Oklahomans, we have natural gas heat (and stovetop and oven and hot water heater) and electric other stuff. Like many folks this winter, a few weeks ago we received our first semi-astronomical home heating bill of this scarily expensive winter. I sure don't want to see a bill for that many dollars again. The electric bill and natural gas bill had both nearly doubled. The battle is on, I said.
Layers: ON! Son2 and I are home most of the day, most days, so the thermostat is set at a comfortable temperature. That is, comfortable if I'm wearing 2-3 layers of clothes (turtleneck, dress, maybe big shirt) and am active (working in kitchen, doing chores, etc.). The kids seem oblivious, but I make them wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, and socks at home. When I'm sitting down for a bit, even with layers I feel a bit cool. So...
Everyone uses lap blankets if they're sitting down anywhere in the evening or on a cloudy day or working on the computer/knitting/reading/etc for a long while. Dear husband and I might even put blankets over our shoulders after the kids are in bed, when...
The thermostat gets set quite low for overnight (as in: shoulders uncovered? brrr!). The thermostat is at the top of an open staircase and cathedral ceiling. Up there it's set at 63-64F for overnight; 68F for daytime; 65F from the kids' bedtime until later evening. One can only imagine what temperature it is down at the house's main level, where...
The main-level floor in the common areas is finished concrete (the foundation, actually). That's a bit cold in winter, you know. So everyone wears socks all the time, and dear husband and I definitely wear shoes or slippers as well.
Everyone has their winter blankets for their bed, and flannel sheets. The kids wear thermal pajamas. When it's especially cold and/or windy outside (rare for us so far this winter), and the house is losing heat more rapidly, the thought crosses my mind that nightcaps are not a bad idea at all.
I love sunny days!! When it's sunny, I take full advantage of the heat our downstairs sunroom and upstairs little sunny room pump into the house in the afternoon. I also open all of the blinds and let as much sunlight into the house as possible...
And keep closets and cupboards closed all the time. And keep our bedroom, at the top of our open staircase/cathedral ceiling, closed during the day to avoid heating that room unnecessarily with ambient heat.
I strategically choose when to (a) use the gas oven and (b) use the electric clothes dryer, because they heat the house. Typically I try to dry clothes in mid-morning, when I'm a bit cold; use the oven by noon or before dinner; and dry clothes in the evening.
Cold plates cool off dinner pretty quickly, so we're heating our plates in the microwave if the oven is not warm! I try to use the microwave oven for at least some cooking and reheating. I think I need to get out the crockpot and do some dinners in that.
As for the water heater, we have always used cold water for most clothes washer cycles, and the new dishwasher is fairly frugal with hot water and electricity (we don't use the heated dry cycle).
To warm up from the inside, I eventually get moving and do chores if I get cold, and I try to remember to make a pot of hot tea for the afternoon and another for the evening. My nighttime chocolate treat is now a cup of instant hot cocoa!
I'm contemplating ways to rig a clothesline in the sunroom. Sunlight is cheaper than the clothes dryer...
I looked up how to read the gas meter, and tried it. I think we're wayyyy below last month's use, and the prices has only gone up a small(er) amount. (The gas company's Web site lists the current month's cost we'll be charged.) That's if I read the meter correctly. We shall see.
Time to read the electric meter, too, and see how that's going. That would be mostly: the heat pump (for heat on mild-yet-cool/cloudy days), the clothes washer and dryer, the fridge, the freezer, computers, and lighting (though we switched almost every bulb that's on for more than a few minutes at a time to compact fluorescents in the fall).
As I'm writing this, I am wearing a turtleneck, a denim dress, wool socks and shoes; I'm sitting in the upstairs loft at my computer with a heavy lap blanket over my lap and legs, and a fleece shawl over my neck, back, and arms; I'm drinking hot tea; and I'm comfortable. When I go downstairs to watch a little TV and knit for a bit, I'll leave this blanket and shawl at my office chair, fill up my mug with more hot tea, grab a down lap blanket for my legs, and make a cozy nest on the sofa for an hour or two.
With all of this effort, I am very grateful that our winter has been quite mild so far. I think with a more normal winter our indoor attire would include hats, fingerless gloves, and vests or pullover sweaters, plus maybe I'd have bought long underwear for myself. Or at least wool- or silk-blend tights...
WOOHOO! I just checked the gas company's Web site; they've read our meter and we dropped from 10.3 Mcf delivered (billed this month) to just 4.1 Mcf delivered (to be billed shortly)!!! Woohoo!!
Layers: ON! Son2 and I are home most of the day, most days, so the thermostat is set at a comfortable temperature. That is, comfortable if I'm wearing 2-3 layers of clothes (turtleneck, dress, maybe big shirt) and am active (working in kitchen, doing chores, etc.). The kids seem oblivious, but I make them wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, and socks at home. When I'm sitting down for a bit, even with layers I feel a bit cool. So...
Everyone uses lap blankets if they're sitting down anywhere in the evening or on a cloudy day or working on the computer/knitting/reading/etc for a long while. Dear husband and I might even put blankets over our shoulders after the kids are in bed, when...
The thermostat gets set quite low for overnight (as in: shoulders uncovered? brrr!). The thermostat is at the top of an open staircase and cathedral ceiling. Up there it's set at 63-64F for overnight; 68F for daytime; 65F from the kids' bedtime until later evening. One can only imagine what temperature it is down at the house's main level, where...
The main-level floor in the common areas is finished concrete (the foundation, actually). That's a bit cold in winter, you know. So everyone wears socks all the time, and dear husband and I definitely wear shoes or slippers as well.
Everyone has their winter blankets for their bed, and flannel sheets. The kids wear thermal pajamas. When it's especially cold and/or windy outside (rare for us so far this winter), and the house is losing heat more rapidly, the thought crosses my mind that nightcaps are not a bad idea at all.
I love sunny days!! When it's sunny, I take full advantage of the heat our downstairs sunroom and upstairs little sunny room pump into the house in the afternoon. I also open all of the blinds and let as much sunlight into the house as possible...
And keep closets and cupboards closed all the time. And keep our bedroom, at the top of our open staircase/cathedral ceiling, closed during the day to avoid heating that room unnecessarily with ambient heat.
I strategically choose when to (a) use the gas oven and (b) use the electric clothes dryer, because they heat the house. Typically I try to dry clothes in mid-morning, when I'm a bit cold; use the oven by noon or before dinner; and dry clothes in the evening.
Cold plates cool off dinner pretty quickly, so we're heating our plates in the microwave if the oven is not warm! I try to use the microwave oven for at least some cooking and reheating. I think I need to get out the crockpot and do some dinners in that.
As for the water heater, we have always used cold water for most clothes washer cycles, and the new dishwasher is fairly frugal with hot water and electricity (we don't use the heated dry cycle).
To warm up from the inside, I eventually get moving and do chores if I get cold, and I try to remember to make a pot of hot tea for the afternoon and another for the evening. My nighttime chocolate treat is now a cup of instant hot cocoa!
I'm contemplating ways to rig a clothesline in the sunroom. Sunlight is cheaper than the clothes dryer...
I looked up how to read the gas meter, and tried it. I think we're wayyyy below last month's use, and the prices has only gone up a small(er) amount. (The gas company's Web site lists the current month's cost we'll be charged.) That's if I read the meter correctly. We shall see.
Time to read the electric meter, too, and see how that's going. That would be mostly: the heat pump (for heat on mild-yet-cool/cloudy days), the clothes washer and dryer, the fridge, the freezer, computers, and lighting (though we switched almost every bulb that's on for more than a few minutes at a time to compact fluorescents in the fall).
As I'm writing this, I am wearing a turtleneck, a denim dress, wool socks and shoes; I'm sitting in the upstairs loft at my computer with a heavy lap blanket over my lap and legs, and a fleece shawl over my neck, back, and arms; I'm drinking hot tea; and I'm comfortable. When I go downstairs to watch a little TV and knit for a bit, I'll leave this blanket and shawl at my office chair, fill up my mug with more hot tea, grab a down lap blanket for my legs, and make a cozy nest on the sofa for an hour or two.
With all of this effort, I am very grateful that our winter has been quite mild so far. I think with a more normal winter our indoor attire would include hats, fingerless gloves, and vests or pullover sweaters, plus maybe I'd have bought long underwear for myself. Or at least wool- or silk-blend tights...
WOOHOO! I just checked the gas company's Web site; they've read our meter and we dropped from 10.3 Mcf delivered (billed this month) to just 4.1 Mcf delivered (to be billed shortly)!!! Woohoo!!
Starry, starry nights
On Tuesday morning I hosted a Starry Nights activities get-together for my MOMS Club chapter. I did a bit of online research and looked through my own books. Ultimately I figured that besides the fun of simply looking at stars and the moon on winter evenings, any child who can recognize a few letters or numbers can learn two simple constellations or parts of constellations in our winter sky. AND if we moms learn them too, it will help us at the MC star party evening in February!
I think the best starter constellations for all ages are the lazy W of the constellation Cassiopeia (it's her throne, cast into the night sky for spite by a Greek/Roman god) and, in winter and spring, the row of three stars that marks Orion's belt.
Then you can pick out the stars that mark Orion's two shoulders and two knees, and also the row of stars-and-fuzzy-nebula that make Orion the Hunter's sword, hanging from his belt. A starry connect-the-dots or shape-finding game, that's what this is!
Cassiopeia chart and Cassiopeia among the circumpolar (northern) stars
Stardate, from the University of Texas McDonald Observatory
Tonight's sky from Earth & Sky
This week's sky almanac from Earth & Sky
Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar
This week's sky at a glance from Sky & Telescope includes this:
Audubon First Field Guide: Night Sky (2005) -- excellent! I borrowed this kids' books from the library and thought it was so good I'd love to have it for our home library.
I highly recommend the following three books I have had for a long time, and there are lots more to be found.
365 Starry Nights: An Introduction to Astronomy for Every Night of the Year, by Chet Raymo (Fireside, 1990), would be the first one for anyone to get, in my opinion. On any day of the year, turn to that date's page and there's something great to learn about the night sky. Or browse through the current week and month, too. Great format, nice writing style, perfect for beginners and yet lots of info for everyone.
Stars and Planets: The Sierra Club Guide to Sky Watching and Direction Finding, by W.S. Kals (Sierra Club Books, 1990). Great orientation to the night sky and how to find what where.
North Star to Southern Cross, by Will Kyselka (University of Hawaii Press, 1976). I bought this many years ago and really like it.
Finally, I gave this away as a gift once and really wish I still had a copy.
The Stars: A New Way to See Them, by H.A. Rey (Houghton Mifflin, 1976). It's by the author of the Curious George books! His book Find the Constellations (Houghton Mifflin, 1976) is geared more for beginners and is also great.
On our next clear evening I'm going to show my sons Orion and Cassiopeia, and look for the fuzzy spot in Orion's sword (that's the Orion Nebula, where stars are being born and lighting the nebula from within!). Go forth and do likewise, y'all.
Starry blessings!
...once upon a time I ran an environmental education center's bookstore...
I think the best starter constellations for all ages are the lazy W of the constellation Cassiopeia (it's her throne, cast into the night sky for spite by a Greek/Roman god) and, in winter and spring, the row of three stars that marks Orion's belt.
Then you can pick out the stars that mark Orion's two shoulders and two knees, and also the row of stars-and-fuzzy-nebula that make Orion the Hunter's sword, hanging from his belt. A starry connect-the-dots or shape-finding game, that's what this is!
::: Online Resources :::
= What Orion and Cassiopeia Look Like =
Orion chart and DonnaYoung.org's Orion pageCassiopeia chart and Cassiopeia among the circumpolar (northern) stars
= Constellations Game =
Pictures in the Night Sky -- constellation games for kids! The COOLEST, simplest online night sky game! Thank you, Australia.= Just Starting Out =
Earth & Sky's Getting Started info is excellentStardate, from the University of Texas McDonald Observatory
= What to See Right Now =
Sky and Telescope has a free downloadable PDF, "Getting Started in Astronomy," with two-month star charts and a map of the moon for binoculars fun (if I remember).Tonight's sky from Earth & Sky
This week's sky almanac from Earth & Sky
Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar
This week's sky at a glance from Sky & Telescope includes this:
Saturday, January 28Also, do a Google on "stargazing" or "night sky" or "star charts" to get lots of good info!
This week, make it a point to teach someone the brightest constellation in the sky: Orion, shining high in the southeast these evenings. In its middle is the easy-to-recognize three-star row of Orion's Belt. The Belt points down lower left to brilliant Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star of Canis Major.
::: Books :::
I highly recommend the following three books I have had for a long time, and there are lots more to be found.
Finally, I gave this away as a gift once and really wish I still had a copy.
On our next clear evening I'm going to show my sons Orion and Cassiopeia, and look for the fuzzy spot in Orion's sword (that's the Orion Nebula, where stars are being born and lighting the nebula from within!). Go forth and do likewise, y'all.
Starry blessings!
...once upon a time I ran an environmental education center's bookstore...
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The Manolo, is to love
Thank you, thank you, Julie D. of Happy Catholic for pointing me to...
Manolo's Shoe Blog: Shoes, Fashion, Celebrity, and Manolo!
HiLARious! Just the thing for me this week!
Manolo's Shoe Blog: Shoes, Fashion, Celebrity, and Manolo!
HiLARious! Just the thing for me this week!
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