Further lessons in humility…

Heaven knows I’m sure I need them.
We found lice eggs on my baby son’s head, so it was time for the buzz.  He’s 20 months old and had just grown in the sweetest curls.  But he’s too squirmy to have to search through his head all the time, and I hate the thought of putting [...]

Pigskin-r-ific

Yesterday was a fun end for us to the 2008 regular season of NFL, watching Carolina and Miami carve themselves a path to the post-season excitement.
First off, let me say congrats to Joy and her Vikings, and best of luck in the playoffs!
Secondly, my son’s Panthers ended up top in their division, as did my [...]

49er Fantasy

No, not the football team.  Euw.
The miner kind of 49ers.
I’m from California, and the Gold Rush of 1849 has always been one of my most favorite periods in history.
The other day my daughter and I were watching a documentary of the pioneers and the Gold Rush.  It told the story of a family who went [...]

“What is the What”

Since I have almost zero time free to read, when I do read something it had better be good!
The book I just finished fit the bill.  What is the What by Dave Eggers is part autobiography and part fiction, recounting the life of Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese man who survived the civil war that destroyed [...]

Vanity

I like having my hair long.  I think it’s fun, and it exploits my hair’s natural tendency to curl, which used to manifest itself as tight ringlets (what I like to call “sproings” on my daughter’s head) but now, my hair being old and laid back, is usually no more than loose loop-dee-loops.
My husband likes [...]

Top Five: Historical Figures

Okay, you’ve found a genie in a bottle, and instead of three wishes you get five!  
Unfortunately, the only thing you are allowed to wish for is a visit with a person from history (you would also be able to understand each other, no matter if they spoke English or not).
Which five is it going [...]

Laziness is not civilized!

Okay people, por favor, don’t let’s get completely pathetic.
I was walking through the parking lot at Target yesterday and I saw a perfectly able-bodied woman who, having loaded her SUV with Christmas surplus, was standing there watching the hatch close itself!!!  
I am disgusted.  This is not an awesome use of technology, people!  This is [...]

My Original Inspiration

When listing my favorite writers, my husband comes second, then Ousmane Sembène, Carlos Fuentes, Assia Djebar, and Beryl Markham.  It’s impossible to list every author I admire and can’t get enough of, so I just toss out whichever names come to mind at the time.
But my husband is always second.  And the name I always [...]

O Christmas Tree…

We went on a trek to a place called Santa’s Forest in Lincolnton, NC to pick out a tree.  It was a blast.

It was really kid friendly and had all kinds of animals for them to see.  Hank was crowing back at the rooster.

They had free hot chocolate, popcorn, cookies, and the kids got to [...]

Criminal Element

I am on a bit of a low due to the rash of robberies in our area.  My husband, as you may not know or remember, is a cops & courts newspaper reporter, so every local criminal event is, in some way, a personal event in our household.  
Before you say that maybe my husband [...]

More Facebook Insights…

Every once in a while a few new observations occur to me about this social networking site.
Or maybe the observations are simply about my own life.
For example, you can organize your friends into categories.  I currently have five: people from high school, people from college, friends my husband and I met through his job in [...]

Top Five: Places You’ve Never Been

If you could have five all-expense-paid trips to anywhere you’ve never been, where would you go?
Mine:
1. Costa Rica (I’d have to do some research to figure out which town, exactly, but it would have to be near both beach and forest!)
2. Dakar, Senegal
3. Paris, France
4. Italy (again, not sure where exactly!  Wherever they have the [...]

“I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas”

Here is a post by a guest blogger: my sister, Emily Horton.  She recently took a course called “Master Recycler Program” from a local agency aiming to maximize sustainability in the Eugene/Springfield area of Oregon.  After having taken the course, she tells me that she feels her life has new direction and purpose as she [...]

Language and Psychology

They say we are what we eat, but is it also true that we are what we say?
As I sit here pondering how to integrate all our techniques for grounding and calming, how to develop habits to overcome my tendency to panic and to face life with an attitude that results in capable, adult handling [...]

Top Five: Most Beloved Things About School

Okay, since I’ve been fantasizing lately about creating a school, I thought I’d see what people dug about it, from the most down-to-earth to the most sublime aspects.  (If you completely despised school feel free to change it to “Top Five Most Crappy Things About School.”)
If I ever get the chance to start one up, [...]

Fantasizing about a school…

All this talk of grounding techniques reminds me of a trick I came up with a couple of years ago to get my worrying mind off the poisonous thoughts of “oh no!” and “what if?”  while I’m trying to get to sleep.  I simply turn my mind loose on the fantasy of a school.
Okay, you [...]

Top Five: Things that Ground You

This may seem like a froo-froo dingy top five, but something else I took away from my Thanksgiving trip is a burning desire and steely resolve not to be such a stress-case, not to be so high strung, not to so easily fly off the handle, freak out, make a mountain out of a molehill, [...]

The world is still spinning…

And I didn’t have anything to drink!  Just the whirlwind of vacation that leaves one needing a vacation…
Being around so much family made me want so much to bring it back with me somehow.  I am getting to know some people in my new area but my level of community is nothing like when we [...]