Has it been that long?

Yeah, I'm blogging for class now and entertaining the idea of trying to keep this one going again, too.

Before I pick it back up, I feel like paying serious homage to the readers -library peeps- and comments that kept me going the last couple of years. I'm still cranky most of the time (haha) but, man life has turned around. I have to give props to blogging and chuckle at that.

Who knew that writing it up would help so much? Kind of embarrassing, but really, when I consider what the process got me through, nah, I can't be shy. I needed your support. I asked for it. I got it.

Who knew?

Balance

Thought this space perfect for airing misgivings about the 5 year/$20,000 (?) committment I just made to IUPUI by starting the MLS program. I lament the loss of my free time*, which I could be spending learning about childhood development while the girls are still children, cooking and exploring food locally, reading!!, catching up with friends (new and old), gardening!!, keeping up on basic chores and household management (also trying to buy a house), sewing, making things for the girls to keep and use and love and pass on to whomever they please, sustainable living plans, 2.0 learning, etc. Nothing new here. You all know what I am talking about. Balance. Life. Just frustrated that I am now committed to giving up so much of what I have so little of (money and time) in order to be able to have more of the one ($) - though obviously education has more value in and of itself. Still thinking that at 30 (yes!), the things I want to learn may not be available in a class room- and certainly don't require loans (long term and low interest though they may be).

All that said (and guessing some of you are nodding along- and still others shaking angry fists at the screen- funny I thought only 2 people looked at this), I love my classes! Tee hee. Funny how that works out. Still working out the free time bit and personal growth.

*free time for me is precisely: Thurs eve 5-8, every other Fri 5-bedtime, every other Sat 6-bedtime, and every other Sun til 5ish. Weird segments without my children that I didn't have before the divorce and would rather not have if you know what I mean, but that I have been making the most of. Just hoping that having this time set aside means that homework and school stresses won't encroach on the precious few hours I do have with Zelle and Lena. Even if I will have to focus rather strongly to eek out time for Yoga, sewing, learning to knit, relearning Spanish, giving plasma, vacuuming, fixing the vaccuum, folding the laundry, fixing hems and holes- you know this balance thing is tricky!
But a lucky problem to have so many choices~

of interest

(found this through Sojourners and it resonates)

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Archbishop of Canterbury on a 'Green' New Year (by Rose Marie Berger)

The Archbishop of Canterbury posted his New Year's message on YouTube - inviting everyone making a resolution in 2008 to keep asking, "What world do we want to pass on to the next generation?" Filmed between a recycling center and the Canterbury Cathedral, Archbishop Rowan Williams said:

In a society where we think of so many things as disposable, where we expect to be constantly discarding last year's gadget and replacing it with this year's model - do we end up tempted to think of people and relationships as disposable? ... If we live in a context where we construct everything from computers to buildings to relationships on the assumption that they'll need to be replaced before long, what have we lost? ... God is involved in building to last … God doesn't give up on the material of human lives ... and God asks us to approach one another and our physical world with the same commitment ... God doesn't do 'waste' ... .

Rose Marie Berger is an associate editor for Sojourners.

Not asking too much. . .

so I thought wonderfully vindictive thoughts after finding this at The AntiCraft Website:

Bad Juju

They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and rightly so.

Beauregard Lerouge was an ox of a man, broad across the chest and strong of will, but he wasn't a smart man. When he married the powerful voodoun Marie Méprisant, he married untruly and unfaithfully. After the birth of his daughter, he took up with the belle du jour, Kitty Devareaux, beginning an affair that could neither escape the prying eyes of the community, nor the notice of Marie.

Marie knitted effigies of the offending pair and set about exacting her revenge. In short order, Kitty lost her lustrous golden hair, developed sores on her flesh, and suffered a stroke leaving her paralyzed on her left side, the side of her treacherous heart. No longer the beautiful treasure she had been, Beauregard, nor any other man, had a use for her, and she languished in poverty the rest of her days. Kitty, however, was lucky compared to the adulterous Beauregard, who disappeared on his way home from the tavern on a moonless night and was never heard from again. It is said he was attacked by an alligator which brought his body to Marie, ripped to shreds. Denied an afterlife by the voodoun's spells, he lived on only as the secret ingredient in Marie's famous red beans and rice.

by Zabet Stewart

Yay! and a Naked Baby Hug!

Yesterday I got word that I have been accepted to Grad School - yay! And today i hear that the article I co-wrote with Julie Frew, Director of the Milford Public Library will be published in January's issue of Indiana Libraries! yay! It is a basic article really-that anyone who works with teens in libraries could have written- and a trade publication, but I can't contain myself. It feels like young author day all over again, only i'm not 8 and i didn't draw awesome crayolas to go along with it. but still. i am 8 again. maybe i can get some crayola time in over the holiday. . . oh how i needed things to perk up. i will latch on to this.

also, must share that last night, whilst Zelle snoozed on the couch (splayed out in her boots and coat) Lena pulled herself up in the bathtub (dangerous, i know) to give me a hug!! as if the naked chubby baby love wasn't enough- she had to stand up and hug mama. she promptly returned her rump to tub and resumed eating the sailor she plucked from the safety of his sailboat. i love that girl. this little encounter is the greatest development at all, you see. Lena is growing up and her person ness is evolving and she is ready to share it. and so am i.

also, can't wait til you all see our holiday card. i love my work family.

House for Sale

So, here it is. He listed it. I won't profit from it, but the sooner it sales, the sooner I am off the mortgage. One of a kind beauty, with amenities not typically found in West Central. If you know anyone. . . it is worth a look. 1219 West Washington. 92,900 is the asking.
hardwood floors, roomy, front porch w/swing, 2 car garage, privately fenced backyard w/pear tree, grape vine, bricked in patio, walking distance to library, new insulation. 12 ft ceilings, 3 ceiling fans, new thermostat on timer with feedback. new water heater. new paint exterior front. sun porch on rear. dry basement. beautiful grand oak staircase. most updates 07. yeah, we had it all. the harder they fall.

for love of the book

preparing to make booksafes with teens tomorrow and remembered something i saw on boingboing that must be shared. these book autopies are done by Brian Dettmer. If you haven't seen them yet follow the link for much more. so much to say. i heart dictionairies comes to mind.