Flowers were needed

Wordless Wednesday

A Long Rant and Made it Monday

Wow. Umm... sorry about letting the dust gather around here for so long. Teaching always sucks the life out of me. Well, that and the reading that I've been doing.

I started reading the Game of Thrones books a few weeks ago and have been steadily working my way through the series. I finished book 4 this weekend and am debating the purchase of book 5. Have you ever noticed how a series of books seems to go downhill after book three or so? I often find this is the case but I continue reading in the hopes that it improves or thinking that I'll be missing something important that will have significant impact on the (vastly improved) next book in the series. This happens over and over.

One such example is the Earth's Children series by J. Auel. The last two books were, frankly, complete crap and definitely not worth the money I spent on them when they came out initially. Another example is the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire. The last book in the series is now out but the previous book (the lion one) was just so awful that I haven't made the purchase yet. And I love almost anything Oz related so that is saying something. I mean, even the Harry Potter books got to the point that I was sure Rowling's editor had given up on the editing and said "Hey, you make us lots of money. Write whatever." All of this to say, book 4 in the Game of Thrones was just "meh" for me and I don't know if I want to invest money in something that may be more of the same. I suppose that might be what the library is for. I can probably wait through the 20 people who have it on reserve.

Series that aren't terrible like this? The one I can think of is the Sookie Stackhouse series. I have enjoyed those up to this point and I don't feel bad springing for a hard copy when the new ones come out. At least, not yet. I wonder if it has to do with the mystery element. There's always some problem to be solved, some sort of drama to keep the story moving. I gave up on the television series in season four.

If you've made it this far I'm impressed. I did want to share with you the stockings I made for my mom, dad, and myself way back before Christmas. Our normal stockings were left in Colorado with the assumption that we would be returning there. But we didn't this year so we were stocking-less. So I decided about three days before I visited my parents that we must have stockings! And I must make them. Crazy last minute sewing. Who doesn't do it?
So here are some crappy pictures from my phone.
This is the one I made for the padre. It's a manly maroon with a green wreath cuff. My dad likes maroon. He also just painted his new man-cave a peachy color. Apparently. I haven't seen it yet but I've given him a hard time about it.

This is the madre's stocking. You can't tell but the poinsettia and magnolia fabric has gold highlights. It's a bit frou-frou, like my mom. And she probably has wrapping paper to match this exactly. I was hoping for intricate angel fabric but they were very low on the fabric choices when I decided this needed to happen. Still, it fits my mom.

And this is mine. I love the red and white fabric. I bought much more than I needed for the stocking. I also love the green and red dots that I used for the cuff and lining.

As a reward for making all the way down here, I've got a few more bad cell phone pictures. This is from the parental unit's neighborhood. These folks do crazy things for Christmas. They'll pick one tree and go nuts on it or do several like red and white mushrooms. It's fun to drive around and view the lights during the holidays.
See what I mean?

I come from a family of educators; teachers, administrators, professors, pastors. I teach non-traditional students at the college level. I went to an Ivy League school. When the education system fails it is an awful thing to see. I am reading papers from the students in my class and it is scary and depressing. I am almost in tears. Grammar and mechanics in writing don't seem to exist and the content is almost non-existent. Fluff and nonsense doesn't meet the standard.

Ugh. My happiness is being sucked out of my body with the awfulness of grading.

Thrifting Thursday

I left y'all hanging last week. I apologize. I just need to have a photo session where I take pictures of things I've thrifted that I would like to share and then have a stock of them to choose from on Thursday. I usually feel a moment of panic as I leave my apartment Thursday morning thinking "Oh no! Do I have something for Thrifting Thursday?" and realizing that I don't.

My pantry and kitchen are full of thrifted goodness so that is where I headed this morning for a few pictures even though I was already running a bit late.

Side bar - the cat. Leo sneaks out the door when I'm leaving my apartment. Usually when I'm in a hurry to get somewhere. This requires me to wait on him and his explorations of the staircase and strange doors until he's ready to come home. I've learned that he'll come back eventually without me going to find him. This morning was no exception.

There is a chain of stores in the area called the Brown Elephant. They are thrift stores with a better than usual selection of wares. They also research what they receive and so things can get pricey if someone donates a mid-century dining room set or fabulous Lane coffee table. The profit goes to support various hospitals in the area. A while ago I was having dinner with a friend and next door to where we were eating was one such store. I couldn't resist the siren song so I wandered over for a few moments as I was running a bit early.

I found these lovely little Pyrex cup and saucer sets:

If you look closely in the photo above you might notice that the quality of striping on the two cups is different. They do have different numbers on the bottom of each: 26 & 17.
I think they are lovely. I've been trying to find more turquoise Pyrex. I've a few bowls and serving dishes and they just make me happy to see them in use in the kitchen. Sadly, because I like a big mug of coffee, I don't use these very often. People used to be much more dainty in their drinking of coffee or tea. It was probably better for them than the way we guzzle it nowadays.

Insert title here

Let's talk about hierarchy and titles. I am teaching a course right now in which there is someone who has a church title. This person insists on putting that title on whatever is turned in. This annoys the snot out of me. I have been trying to view it as a cultural issue. In many Latino and Black churches titles are important. Pastor is revered and honored. Sister, Prophet, Apostle, and Elder are all titles that I have seen used. I honestly do not know what they all mean and why these distinctions are necessary. What I do know is that I have seen many people with these titles not be people of God. I've encountered people without a title who are pastoral and insightful. I do not put much stock in titles. It does not make me respect you; insisting on a title does quite the opposite. If you need the letters before or after your name it indicates a level of insecurity that craves acknowledgement of your position and importance.

Somewhat related.

Last Sunday I visited a Friends Meeting here in Chicago. I haven't been to an unprogrammed Meeting in years, probably over a decade. It was strange and good all at the same time. We were silent for about an hour. Well, those of us who showed up on time were silent for an hour. The organization was a bit... shaky. The people were very nice. It was a very different style to how I was raised though. Also, I miss singing. Overall, I do not think it will become home but I might visit again. There is another larger, more stable Meeting a bit north so I might try them out as well.

Friends, as you may or may not know, are very egalitarian. While the churches in which I grew up were planned and had a person delivering a message, there was still that sense of equality. I like that and value that in a church and in an organization. No one is worth more than anybody else. We all have work to do. It is important.