I Don't Know If I Like Them...

I think I'll have to eat another few boxes, just to be sure. Thanks to my friend, Carol, in Australia my family has been converted to the love of Tim Tams. I purchased the originals and the caramel centered ones. Noah has declared his love for the Tim Tam on a couple of occassions. Rachel says the caramel ones are her favorite. Michael says he thinks he doesn't like them, but to be sure I need to buy him several more boxes of each. I think the caramel ones are my favorites, too. The caramel is not runny like on the package photo, but firm and chewy. Chocolate and caramel are a heavenly mix. I want to have an Australian themed food night when I buy more of the Tim Tams and start off with a Shepherd's Pie, which approximates a Meat Pie. Thanks, Carol for the calories, I mean, the recommendation!

::::::::::::
I saw this on Marcus' blog, so here is my outcome:

Your rainbow is shaded violet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

:::::::::::::Snacks

My neighbor, Kristen, invited us over for snacks. It was a ploy for her to get her tasty, high calorie treats out of her house. I am now experiencing the sugar rush that comes from partaking of bar treats.

:::::::::::::Brisk and Breezy

I did 6 miles at the park this morning. The wind was so cold. The Canada Geese have left copious amounts of ecoli mines around the lake. I avoid those.
Yesterday, Michael used a vacation day to help at the elementary school, so he went for a walk before we had to leave. I'm used to listening to Mara Davis, so I'm surprised I didn't try to make him come up with songs to a particular theme while we were walking. Maybe next time.

:::::::::::::Snow Village

Michael got to use exacto knives to cut out house from cardboard with Rachel's class. I got to be hot glue girl with our neighbor Kristen. Kristen's daughter, Lydia, is in Rachel's class. Michael took some photos for me, too. I got hugs from a couple of the kids. They tell me I'm just like Rachel. HMMM...


:::::::::::::I Still have Christmas presents to get, so maybe I will be able to do this like Buddy the Elf:

Take care! :)

Not Camera Shy, Just...

Camera Clueless::::


<sub>Rainbow Kit by Karen Lewis at www.thedigichick.com
Fonts: DJB MICHAEL by Darcy Baldwin, Artistamp Medium


School house freebie and background paper by Jacque Larsen, Doodle frame by Kate Hadfield, Krafty Alpha by Edeline Designs, Font: DJB Mandy by Darcy Baldwin, Word art by Emily Merritt

Studio Paris by Debra Tope, Evitangel freebie by Cinnamon Designs, Bus doodle by Kate Hadfield, Font: DJB Julianna In a Hurry, and DJB Mandy by Darcy Baldwin @ The Sweet Shoppe, Distressed frame overlay by Something Blue Studios, Krafty Alpha by Edeline Designs</sub>


Yesterday, I took out some stuff to recycle, started a load of dishes, then laid down to read my book (Mrs. Dalloway)while waiting the last 30 minutes for the kids to come home on the bus. I set my glasses down for a minute, then I heard banging on the door. Apparently, I can fall asleep! I don't think I have had proper sleep in 14 years and since my short cat nap doesn't really count my record is secure. ;) It is nice to know my body still can sleep okay, if given the chance. I think I must have the need for spontaneous napping because I'm pretty sure if I set out to nap someone would have called, or I would have a thousand things going through my mind that would have distracted me.

:::::::::::::::::::::Jonas Brothers:::::::::

Rachel was invited to go with a friend to see the Jonas Brothers in concert. She called me all giddy around 11:00pm to tell me she was on the way home. She plopped into bed a little after 12:00am. Surprisingly, she was hard to wake up today. I hope she blogs about the concert. She said Demi Lavato was the opening act and it was Demi's birthday, as well. Brynna was so kind to invite Rachel.

::::::::::::::::::::Speaking of Kind::::::::

My neighbor, Kristen, needed some vinegar for a marinade, so I gave her a few tablespoons. In return her daughter brought over two delicious slices of steak. The taste was delightful. I'm hoping for the recipe!

Off to go walking and help in the school library! :)

Aaron Informs Me Today Is Thursday!

I figure most of you are up on all of your dates, but I live in a perpetual fog!

:::::::::::::Eve Swimming:::::::::




:::::::::::::A Family Reunion Layout:::::::::



My niece, Dakotta, and her icy stare!



Text: Dakotta and Corinna were having a very busy and messy day. This is only one look in Dakotta's arsenal. She will sternly stare at people of any age or gender, so watch out paparazzi!

_{Photo by: Marcus John Taylor
Darcy Baldwin: Rubbed Out Alpha and DJB GINAM1 at The Digichick
Christina Renee: Dirty notes, Glitter Splats, Label alpha, Bookplate Alpha, Just for Fun Doodle
Catrine: Chalked Alpha
Sausan Designs: flower from Needful Things
Shabby Miss Jenn: frame from Tree Trimmin' Party
Natalie Braxton: Things on Strings
Nancy Comelab: Vintage Frame
Tia Bennett: All Taped Up brush frame
Paint The Moon: Freebie flower}


::::::::::::::::::Good Deed::::::::::::::

Aaron heard me coughing at the computer and he said, "Mom, let me fix you some chicken soup!" So in 15 minutes I had a steaming hot bowl of soup in front of me and a hug from my 13 year-old. What a nice "Hallmark" moment. Thank you, Aaron!

::::::::::::::::::First Aid:::::::::::::::

Our next door neighbor, Kristen, was kind enough to agree to teach a first aid course to the Scouts last night. She had them realize that there is more to administering aid then just attending the victim. She explained about being aware of the scene of the accident and that you don't want to create more victims by just rushing in without accessing the situation. Michael was hightly impressed with all of the information and how she demonstrated everything to the young men.

::::::::::::::::::Reading Book::::::::::::

I am on chapter 3 of Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) and have already begun to do my classic paper tearing and bookmarking pages to reference when I'm finished. The examples used by the authors are so appropriate. I analyze what I would do in certain situations and realize that the slippery slope of self-justification is quite a busy thoroughfare with a whole lot of casualities at the bottom. Here are a few excerpts that really had me thinking:

"Self-justification has costs and benefits. By itself, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It lets us sleep at night. Without it, we would prolong the awful pangs of embarrassment. We would torture ourselves with regret over the road not taken or over how badly we navigated the road we did take. We would agonize in the aftermath of almost every decision... Yet mindless self-justification, like quicksand, can draw us deeper into disaster. It blocks our abily to even see our errors, let alone correct them."

The chapter of cognitive dissonance was a real eye opener. In the section called "Spirals of Violence-and Virtue the authors explain that the concept of "catharsis" fostered by psychoanayltic beliefs about expressing anger and behaving aggressively gets rid of anger is patently false. They write, "Actually, decades of experimental research have found exactly the opposite: That when people vent their feelings aggressively they often fell worse, pump up their blood pressure, and make themselves angrier." They go onto say, "venting is expecially likely to backfire if a person commits an aggressive act against another person directly, which is exactly what cognitive dissonance theory would predict." What they relate is that once you have harmed someone you must then justify why you would do such a thing, then it creates a need to reduce your dissonance where you blame the victim of your outburst and you are more likely to escalate your next violent outburst.
In regards to the virtous cycle the authors write about how doing something good leads to changing our thinking of others. For example if we don't like someone, but on a whim do something nice for them we may begin to make the connection that that person must not be so bad, or I wouldn't have done something nice for them. That thought leads to the thought that maybe that person is not as bad as I thought.
Later on the book references an experiment by Benjamin Franklin during his time in the Pennsylvania legislature where there was a man who couldn't stand him. Franklin decided to win this guy over. He asked to borrow a rare book from the man's library, which the man agreed to lend. Franklin returned the book within a week with a note of gratitude. After that the man came up to speak to him "with great civility" and they continued from then on to be great friends until the man's death. Franklin wrote, "...the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, 'He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged."

This book is fascinating.


::::::::::::::::::::::We have Advent Calendars Galore::::::::::

There is an advent calendar in the kitchen and in the girls' room, but Rachel still decided to decorate her dry erase board with a Santa Claus and a countdown of the days until Christmas. Oh, the pressure! The kids think I'm not serious when I tell them there are no presents for them in the house...but I'm not. The only day for us to go shopping is today. Michael and Aaron have a campout this weekend and from what the calendar says I'm out of luck come next week. I may be giving the kids my reading book and explaining them the concept of cognitive dissonance during my self-justification speech on why time just got away and...here kids what a bag of Milky Ways...chocolate makes things better...really!

Smiles and Merry Christmas!

Analogies and Metaphors:

My friend Kristen sent this to me and I couldn't stop laughing, so I wanted to share these hilarious ones with you:

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year for the amusement of teachers across the country.
Here are last year's winners...
1. Her face was a perfect oval. Like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room - temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six foot, three inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 PM, instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain, like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 PM traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 PM at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds that had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart were a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law, Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck, and not the proverbial lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.


Here was my response to Kristen's email:

I'm rollin' here...tears flowin' like a pregnant woman who couldn't stiffle a sneeze!


Have a great day!