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January 30, 2006
Why I Can't be a Wedding Planner...
Although I could do the event planning and work with someone to do the decorating and other stuff, I'd go mad dealing with the Bridezillas and/or their mothers and/or their sisters and/or their Best Friends and/or them all combined.
I was watching some Bridezillas today on WE (Women's Entertainment) and could not believe the fussiness and pickiness of these women. One woman couldn't decide between a navy dress or a gray dress for her rehearsal. The gray was $400 ($400!) and was more classic, more traditional, very pretty, and had a boat-neck neckline. The navy was $600 ($600!!) and was longer, more elegant, very pretty, but with the plunging neckline. She tried to get the boutique owner to modify the neckline of the gray and make it plunge too, but she (sensibly) declined, saying that the gray would look stupid with a plunging neckline. She was right, by the way, and the poor bride had to decide! She decided on the navy--she liked the neckline, and it was very pretty, but $600 ($600!!)? I wore a dress I'd bought a few years before to my rehearsal. I graduated in that dress and got engaged in that dress and then rehearsed in that dress.
Meanwhile, another bride's sisters and bridesmaids were home in the Hamptons getting ready for a bridal shower, and they didn't like the way the party planner set up the outdoor tables' umbrellas. The umbrellas were green, and the women liked the white umbrellas better. The women discussed this for about 10 minutes while they got the gumption to go talk to the party planner about it. It was like they were afraid to go talk to her. (Ladies, here's a secret...she's your employee. You are paying her a large fee to do things your way, and it's her job to do things your way. Are you afraid of hurting her feelings? Sheesh. Be professional, go over there, and say, "Do you mind changing the umbrellas back to the white? We like it better that way. Yes, thank you for changing it. Yes, the green does provide more shade from the sun. But we like the white." They were all scared of just talking to her and telling her...and then the planner was acting offended that they DARED question her. Sheesh.
I'm such a Westerner, such a Coloradan. I would have just marched over there and changed the umbrellas and made small talk about how nice the flower arrangements and the custom-printed napkins and the special solid-silver silverware looked and how cute the pink ice cubes looked while I changed the #^$% green umbrellas.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 05:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 28, 2006
Manor House
There's a great reality show on PBS called Manor House. Unlike Big Brother, Survivor, and those types of reality shows, this one really is reality. It's an experiment: taking about 14 modern-day folks and setting them in an Edwardian Manor House and causing them to live the life of 1910 England.
The Cast:
Upstairs: the Master, Lord John Oliff-Cooper; his wife, Lady Oliff-Cooper; their sons, Mister Jonty (about 16) and Master Guy (about 10) Oliff-Cooper; and Miss Avril Anson, Lady Oliff-Cooper's unmarried sister.
Downstairs: Mr. Edgar, the butler; Charlie, the First Footman; Tristan, the Groom; Rob, the Second Footman, and Kenny, the Hall Boy. Mrs. Davies, the housekeeper; Rebecca, the First Housemaid; Jessica, the Second Housemaid, and Erika, the Third Housemaid. M. Dubiard, the Chef de Cuisine; Antonia, the Kitchen Maid; and Ellen, the Scullery Maid.
Upstairs/Downstairs: Morrison, the Lady's Maid; and Mr. Raj Singh, Master Guy's Tutor.
Several things of note just for this entry: Edwardian life is very strictly stratified. The residents of this house strictly feel the upstairs/downstairs division and live it. They don't mix--except Morrison has become Lady Oliff-Cooper's confidante (she spends all her time dressing Lady Oliff-Cooper, caring for her clothes, and fixing her hair), replacing Miss Anson as Lady Oliff-Cooper's confidante, and Mr. Edgar is Lord Oliff-Cooper's buddy now, caring for his needs and doing the dirty work of overseeing and disciplining the staff.
The hypocrisy of the Family is astonishing, especially Lord John's hypocrisy. In last night's episode (which we of course recorded), Lord John gave the servants the instruction (via Mr. Edgar) that they were to strictly adhere to Edwardian rules. If they were caught in romantic liaisons, the male was to be horsewhipped and the female was to be dismissed without a reference. They were not to sneak more than one bath a week. They were to work hard and not expect their days off.
Meanwhile, Miss Anson is feeling depressed and out-of-sorts. She's lost her friendship with her sister, who's getting chummy with Morrison, her ladies' maid; she has lost her career, she's lost her status because she doens't have a man (so very important in this era). She is seriously struggling with depression, and Lord John goes and says that he surely understands her situation, but there's no point in having the experiment if they're not going to do it fully.
So he has no problem making others pay for his vanity in 'the experiment.' Mr. Edgar pays by having to enforce Sir John's edicts to the rest of the staff; Miss Anson pays by being lonely and reduced to being nothing but a hanger-on to her sister's husband's largess. BUT when Sir John needs to pay by eating period food (animal fat compote for breakfast, for example; lots of potatoes, rice, and other starches, and no fruit or vegetables that aren't stewed), he puts his foot down. He refuses to eat the types of foods that period Edwardians ate and complains to his dinner companions in front of his butler and footmen. When the manor hosts a Saturday-to-Monday hunting party, Sir John complains about the food and the servants to his guests in front of the staff--what an insult to all of them, but especially to Mr. Edgar.
I've got an interesting analogy coming here, but I've got to get to ironing and laundry, so I'll finish/update this later, so you all can get to readin' it.
In conclusion, Manor House is fascinating. It's on PBS, 11pm on Friday nights. Set your VCR if that's too late, but this show is simply fascinating. I highly recommend it--and all of PBS's "House" series.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 04:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 21, 2006
Widowhood
When young women make their wedding vows, they are seldom pondering how they will prepare for widowhood. And yet, many women, sooner or later, do become widows....Women need to understand some important principles that will help them now, equip them for later, or just enable them to encourage widows they know. What are some of these principles?
First of all, it is fundamental that every Christian woman comprehend that "your Maker is your husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name." If you are a child of God, you are part of the Bride of Christ....Though earthly husbands may be called away from the family through death, you heavenly Husband has promised never to leave you or forsake you. Wives, while your earthly husband is alive, cultivate biblical thinking about this....
--Nancy Wilson. The Fruit of Her Hands: Respect and the Christian Woman. Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 1997.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 04:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 19, 2006
Note to self
Restart here.
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Tidbits
The Spring/Summer ChattState catalog came in the mail. Here are a few classes you can partake in, if you so choose, which range from interesting to not bad to, um, 'what?':
- PowerPoint for Teachers "...Learn basic PowerPoint skills such as creating slides, using templates, inserting text..." Yawn.
- Pilates Introduction "Participants in this gentle, low impact exercise class will focus on toning, stretching, and stregthening to create long, lean muscles."
- Sudoku-Level I "For those who want to solve the daily game in the Chattanooga Times Free Press [sic], this beginning class will present a system of logic to unlock the problems." Why pay tuition for this?
- Beginning Crocheting "Learn all the basics needed to create warm afghans, beautiful doilies and endless options of clothing and home decorating accessories. Learn to master all basic stitches as well as learn to read patterns. [sic] You will be introduced to both, [sic] yarn and thread crochet, filet crochet, assembly instructions and time allowing some complex stitches [sic]." Holy crap, the inner grammar police officer just wants to go arrest the COLLEGE that published this. Don't they have a proofreader? Don't they know better?
- Beginning Uphostery I
- Beginning Mountain Dulcimer "Skills covered include basic tunings, strum patterns, chords and various playing techniques. Students will learn songs every class meeting that illustrate that day's lesson. Students must bring their own dulcimer to class."
- Centerpiece and Wreath Design "Create your own table centerpieces and wreaths for year round decorating and entertaining..."
- Beginning Ballroom Dancing I--Smooth Dances
- Strictly Tango "This Argentine Dance sets the standard for couples who want to spice up their dancing. It's [sic] provocative moves can add..." Again with the grammar.
- Champagne "This is the definitive class on sparkling wines..."
- Japanese Cooking "Learn about history and present day ppularity of rice miso, dashi seaweed and tofu. Hands-on classes for home style Japanese dishes such as fried rice, sukiyaki, tempura, teriyaki sauce, salad dressing and decorative display techniques." I'd take this if I had the money. They also have an Italian Cooking class.
And the most valuable class, bar none:
- Tips for Surviving Your Divorce "Does the possibility of divorce seem to be an imminent reality in your life? This course may be an empowering resource! Learn the strategies for successfully navigating financial issues related to divorce...before, during and after. These strategies include retirement plans, shared custody and child support, who get [sic] alimony and much more." Wow. That sounds like fun. And what a great encourager to those whose marriages are struggling. Notice there's no class on 'Surviving a Struggling Marriage by Working at Making it Work.' Grr. Sigh.
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Stuffed Shells for dinner soon.
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Littlemissreformed came over for dinner a couple nights ago. I saw pictures of her family. I saw pictures of her niece. I saw your picture, TulipGirl! I heard about your kiddoes--they sound neat. I saw pictures of Kyiv and heard some things Littlemiss learned while there. That ponderation is still in process...stay tuned for a post devoted to publishing those ponderations.
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MIL gave me a ton of leftover turkey from the rehearsal dinner. I made Turkey Pot Pie. It was yummy. Here's the series of recipes, which are all from Joy of Cooking:
Creamed Turkey for Pot Pie:
4 T unsalted butter
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. chicken stock
1 1/2 c. whole milk, half-and-half, or light cream
cooked turkey (I used about 3 c. chopped bite-size)
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and whisk till smooth. Cook, whisking contantly, 1 minute.
Add the chicken stock. Whisk till smooth and add the milk. (I used 2% milk and it was fine.) Increase heat to medium, bring just to simmer, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, scrape sides with rubber spatula, and whisk to remove lumps. Return to heat, bring to simmer and cook for 1 minute. Whisk constantly. Stir in cooked poultry, 2-3 T sherry (optional), and cook for 1 more minute. Season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and lemon juice.
Pot Pie:
2 T unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 small celery stalks, sliced 1/4 inch thick (I also de-stringed mine...that's basically peeling them)
3/4 frozen peas, thawed
3 T fresh minced parsley (tho I didn't have any on hand and didn't use any)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place oven rack in top third of oven. Butter a 13x9 inch baking pan or other shallow dish.
Melt the butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat till the foam begins to subside. Add veggies (all but peas), stirring often, till barely tender. Stir the veggies into creamed turkey, along with peas and parsley. Pour into prepared pan and top with Drop Biscuit Dough.
Bake 25-25 minutes.
Drop Biscuit Dough for Pot Pie Topping:
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 to 3/4 t. salt
5-6 T cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 c. milk
Whisk flour and baking soda together. Cut in the butter, using a pastry cutter or two knives (I used my food processor.) Be sure the butter does not melt or form a paste; the butter should be simply cut into the flour! For layered, crunchy biscuits, butter should be the texture of peas-breadcrumbs. For classic fluffy biscuits, butter should be the texture of fine breadcrumbs. (Remember, don't let it turn into a paste.)
Add milk all at once. Use fork or rubber spatula or wooden spoon to combine until most dry ingredients are combined.
It was really delicious!!
Posted by The Newest Worker at 04:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19th
Can you believe it's almost the Jan 20's? I find it incomprehensible that it's nearly the end of the third week of the year.
I've been cold in my apartment for two days (though not cold last night, thanks to The Dude's body heat, my sweatshirt, my long pants, and my wool socks. And all the blankets.
Oooh! Look at that--a new button. Let me try it out, since this verse has been in my mind for a while:
For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:14
In fact, here's the entire Psalm. Read it and remember the Lord's goodness to us:
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the LORD, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Psalm 103
I've never used that before...I like how it has turned out now that I've tweaked it. Well, there is more to come for today...
Posted by The Newest Worker at 02:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 16, 2006
No longer the newest...and this entry also turned into a 2005 year in review retrospective.
We got brother-in-law married to his bride. Well, actually 'we' didn't--her family did all the work and Our Clan just showed up. We did the rehearsal dinner.
Can I say how strange it is to call my in-law family My Clan?
Here's a thought for the day: You know it's a tough day when I say to myself, "I wish I could be sitting with MIL and FIL where I belong; at least they like me and know me." NOT because they're bad in-laws, not by any means! But suffice it to say we didn't start out with the strongest of friendships, and after this weekend I'm amazed that I feel so at home with them, enough to say "I wish I could just sit with them where I belong."
WHOA such changes in the last 12 months.
This wasn't going to be a New Year's Retrospective entry, but I might as well put in a little something to that effect.
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2005 Year in Review
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
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Well, it's been quite a year. All this writing has been good for me. I'm going to go putter in my kitchen, looking for a turkey pot pie recipe.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 09:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Discombobulated, Restless, Restive at 8:00
We left Beaver Valley yesterday at 3:30 and didn't leave Pittsburgh till 5:30. Sigh. Shame on Tuxedo Jct-Cranberry. (Cranberry is the name of a town north of Pittsburgh proper. A suburb.)
We drove south on I-79 to West Virginia route 19, to I-77, to I-81, to I-40, to I-75.
The Dude drove from 5:30pm till about 11pm and the moonlight was so bright on the fresh snow in the West Virginia Appalachians. I drove till about 1 am and the moonlight was so lovely on the puffy frozen ice-crystal clouds, making a faint rainbow around the moon. The Dude drove again all the way to Covenant while SIL finished reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader aloud, read a chapter from a Patrick McManus book and I fell asleep. We arrived at SIL's house at about 3:15am, unloaded her baggage and chatted with her before we left for our apartment, and we arrived home at about 3:45am, falling asleep finally (after unloading the car and the cooler, and changing into PJ's) at about 4:30. Ante meridiem.
We slept till 12:30pm today (we have never slept that late, not even on our honeymoon). We lounged in bed till about 2:30pm; The Dude worked on money matters, and we began our 4 Hours of 24 a bit after 6pm. (I recorded last night's by setting the timer on the VCR. There is still another 1:15 to go of tonight's TV broadcast.
So my body is tired and I am uptight and don't know how to work my jitters out. Maybe I'll go for a short walk. I thought blogging would help but hasn't so far. A glass of wine? A well-cooked meal? Bed in about three hours? (Should I get back in bed? I only emerged 6 hours ago!) What a strange day.
Oh, and I had a great weekend. Please stay tuned and I'll blog about my many Adventures with My New In-Law Family.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 08:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 11, 2006
LiveBlogging my afternoon
2:30 cleaning guest room. waiting for laundry. james is skipping in the cd player.
2:59 just hung several pictures and running awards around guest room. hot spot of clutter on bed is clearing out. will change laundry over on the way out at 4:30. only 1.5 hours left.
3:34 checking email etc. still cleaning guest room.
3:38 thinking about serving dinner tonight, realized i don't have any pineapple juice. sigh.
4:07 cleaned guest bathroom and am still redding up the home. feel more in control of the messes and more motivated to clean but am running out of time!!
4:15 have looked thru the frig and decided on leftovers and grilled cheese and tomato soup. boring, but o well. have aired the guest bed and have only a few more things to clean up and will head out to erranding, getting The Dude, and getting SIL.
4:21 realized I need a headband or something cause my hair is dirty.
4:24 bye
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Countdown to New Work:
3 days.
Countdown to leaving for The North: tomorrow.
Countown to SIL coming here and seeing the mess: this evening.
I must stop wasting time. I'll blog again later...like Monday or even Tuesday.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 09, 2006
Big Bag of Rice
So, one of the recipes I learned from my Church Lady friends involves rice. Here it is:
1 c. rice
1 can Campbell's French Onion Soup
1 can Campbell's Beef Consomme (or Beef Stock)
1/2 stick butter
optional: 1 can mushroom bits
combine all in baking dish and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Stir halfway through baking time.
The Dude and I like this rice, and I opted to work it into my family's Christmas dinner table. This is a bold move, because we have a verrrry traditional menu. In order to work it in, I had to make it and provide all ingredients for this dish.
I decided to make a double batch and have leftovers (cause it's good). While driving from Kansas to Colorado, The Dude and I didn't have cell reception until about 1 hour from my parents' home. I ran my idea past Mom and she didn't say no, so The Dude and I stopped at a grocery on the way in to Colorado Springs.
There I picked up all the ingredients (it would have stressed Mom out on Christmas Eve to be asked if she had rice. "Do you have rice? Do you have butter?" I knew she didn't have the Campbell's I needed--so I got it all.
Now picture this: Christmas Eve in a grocery store. It was a zoo, and there were people everywhere too. Sigh. But I knew where everything was, having been to this particular grocery many times. I went to the Rice Aisle (remember, it was crowded) and looked for the Rice Display. I didn't find the Display because this is the mainland, but I did find plenty of empty shelf space (well, some empty shelf space) and only one variety of rice left: Safeway Select Brand Long-Grain White Rice.
Guess how big the bag was. Yep. It was a 20-pounder.
Mom didn't need all that rice. And I only used 2 c. of this massive bag of rice. (It's actually more like a Big Bag of Rice.) So The Dude and I hauled it all home.
And now I make lots of rice. At least one batch in my steamer for every meal.
But the Rice Dish was yummy, and my Sister's Husband named it French Rice.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 03:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 06, 2006
Advice from POS
POS is Point of Sale, or the register. I work at a department store (think Foley's, Dillard's, Macy's, Proffitt's, JC Penney's, and Kohl's-type place), and I have worked two weeks on POS.
Today I worked for the first time in about a week and a half. Before, it was the Holiday Season (can I call it Holiday Hell?). It was soooo busy! It was a zoo. Today was slower, but still busy. It's a job, after all. And thank heaven: I was not working on Dec 26. But I WAS shopping, and it was almost worse. It's so much more stressful being the subject of that horde, rather than a reliever of the horde.
ANYway, here's the promised advice from me, your friendly register-operator.
- Please hang up your cell phone. It's rude. Plus, if you're yakking with your husband/boyfriend ("I love you! Can't wait to see you! Drive me to the next store, honey!")/sister/mom/best friend ("Oh my goodness, I got the cutest bag...you wouldn't believe the line here...")/child ("no, we're having fried chicken for dinner. What? No! No beans and franks! Chicken! Chicken and rice, and no more backtalk!"), you won't see what your big sale clearance items are ringing up as, and you'll complain when I total your purchase and it's more than you thought it would be, causing you to irritate me, delay yourself, and delay the line of customers behind you when I have to void out your purchase and re-ring each item, hand-adjusting the price of each ratty, skanky Juniors clearance rack tiny belly shirt you're buying. Sheesh. So hang up.
- Speaking of making sure you get your prices, watch the monitor. It's not rude. It's savvy. It's ok to make sure you get the advertised price.
- If you are unhappy with the price something rang as, then ask them to check the price. But then don't get rude or snide or impatient when the register girl pages that department, waits for the call back, and explains the problem. You probably won't get the price you want anyway. The register is rarely wrong. (It's a computer.)
- Many stores have their own credit cards. Don't be rude to the checkout person who asks "Would you like a Jumbo Store Credit Card?" They have to ask. The managers are watching, and if the register girl doesn't ask, she gets in trouble. Politely decline if you don't want it.
- Have your form of payment ready.
- If you pay by cash, it's no skin off the store's nose to give you change. If you want to get rid of all your pennies, then for Pete's sake have them all centralized in your change purse. Don't go digging around in your Mary Poppins purse looking for that one darn penny. (Holy cow! It's a penny! It will not kill you to hand me an extra nickel and just get four more pennies for the next time!)
- If you pay by check, have your ID handy. The checkout girl needs to write the Driver's License number on the check.
- If you pay by card (credit/debit Visa/Mastercard/American Express/Discover), be ready to sign. Have your ID handy if your signature is worn off the card. Have your ID handy if you have not signed your card. Have your ID handy if you wrote "See ID" on the signature strip on your card.
- If the register girl asks for your ID, show it.
- If the register girl needs to type the ID number in her computer, either take the ID out or let her hold the whole darn wallet. She won't steal from you. She just needs the ID number!
- Have your ID handy.
- Wait patiently while your register girl rings your items, takes them off hangers, folds them, tells the register how you are going to pay, gets your receipt, hands you a pen, compares signatures or asks for ID, and bags your clothes.
- If you shop with children, please try not to push them so hard that they have crying, hungry, exhausted meltdowns in the register area. Let them shop with you, but do it in short bursts.
- If your kids are buying something under your supervision, then let them hand the register girl the item, let them hand the register girl the money, let them take the change from the register girl. Let them suffer the consequences if they went over their allowance ("No, Judy, you don't have enough money for those jeans. You'll have to get something else."). Where else will they learn responsibility?
Whew. All that after only two weeks.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 05:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 05, 2006
Where did her personality go?
I've been an Enya fan for a long time. I suppose it started on all those summer cross-country road trips we took when I was a girl. Colorado Springs to Oakley, Kansas, to Kansas City, to St. Louis, to Chicago (to visit Aunt and Uncle), to Center Hill, Pennsylvania. That's rougly 30 hours of driving. Some years we added side trips, extra legs: one year we went to Pensacola, Florida; there was the year Sister was looking at colleges and we did the College Tour Trip which featured every small Christian college in the Southeast that offered scholarships for women's soccer and in which we spent a few days at the beach in North Carolina; one year we drove to Chicago via I-80, instead of 70. (Ick. Turns out it can get worse than Kansas!)
All that driving needs good music (backgroundy music!) in the family minivan's tape deck.
So every year Mom and Dad would get two new cassette tapes: Enya, for background music, and Phil Collins, for sing-along music. (Even anti-Phil people have to admit that he can be pretty catchy and fun for families to sing along to.)
So, I like each of Enya's albums:
Watermark. My godmother hosted a dinner party and I remember hearing "Sail Away." There was also a commercial I vaguely remember that had one of her big-hit songs. But I mainly remember this album and it's last track (the one with the thunderstorm!) while driving west to Las Vegas. Although I grew up in Colorado Springs (the cradle of the Rockies) and knew Eastern Landscapes also, seeing the deserts and the rock formations and the canyony canyons in Utah astounded me, and this album was in the tape deck at the time, and I link the astonishment of the canyons with this album, particularly the last track, "Storms in Africa II." Wow.
The Celts. Although this came out before Watermark, we purchased The Celts later. I like the mix, but no tracks or memories really stick out in my memory, even though I like this album for itself.
Shepherd Moons. As Sister called it, "the blue one." This was when I noticed that Enya likes photos of herself that make her look ethereal, or unearthly. "Look, the title has the word moon in it, and she looks like she's standing in the moonlight. Maybe she is a moonbeam!" My favorite tracks here are "How Can I Keep from Singing?" and "Book of Days"...which, by the way, was somewhere in the movie Far and Away.
Those were the albums from my childhood. From college years, I recall the following:
Paint the Sky with Stars. I bought this before another Las Vegas road trip (hey! my aunt and uncle lived there! not the Chicago ones, other ones), and I remember wanting time to process the transition between being an Independent Dorm-Dwelling College Student and being The Younger Sister At Home Again. Not much sticks out from this one (mostly because they're from other albums!), except for "Only If..." and "Anywhere Is." Mom loves "Paint the Sky with Stars," and I play it for her when I want to soothe her.
The Memory of Trees. I loved "The Memory of Trees" the summer after I graduated from college. I'd lie in my bed in the Student Apartments, just inside an open window, and listen to the wind in the trees in the dark outside the window, feeling the cool air after a long day in the hot AraMark kitchen, and listen to this on constant repeat till I fell asleep. I also like "On My Way Home."
A Day Without Rain was a gift from Aunt (the Chicago Aunt) sometime after college. I liked it a lot, and still do, but it never enthralled me like the others did. Still, it's a Good Enya Album, dependable and sound, if a little short.
You may ask what brings all this on. "What brings all this on, Worker?" I'll tell you: she's made a new album!
Amarantine. As part of my Post-Christmas "Merry Christmas to me!" birthday-money-and-Christmas-money-shopping-spree, I bought this album. I listened to it in the car as soon as I could, and studied the liner notes, and have yet to form an opinion. I guess it was pretty insipid, since I don't have a strong attachment to it.
Sigh. What began as exclamation points in my mind turned into commas and ellipses once I began listening to it. I listened to a lot of studying music in college, and this can go into that collection: background, background, background music. One Amazon reviewer called it "Music to slit your wrists by." It's not that bad, but it certainly doesn't seem to have personality.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 04:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 04, 2006
I just want to say...
...thank you.
Your inventor truly was inspired. Truly.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 10:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Faith as a Floor
"I believe in the floor. I put it into place and I walk on it. Faith is a floor. If you don't work at making it for yourself, you have nothing to walk on."
--The Mason in Gregory Maguire's Mirror Mirror.
(Ok, if it's true about the floor, then who puts in the subfloor? Who provides the joists that hold up the subfloor? Who puts in the foundation that hold up the joists that hold up the subfloor? And who maintains the ground for the foundation for the joists for the subfloor? And who provides stability for the planet for the ground for the foundation for the joists for the subfloor for the floor?)
Posted by The Newest Worker at 04:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 03, 2006
Soon, I'll just be the "Second-Newest Worker"
So, on my/our way to my homestead in Colorado Springs, we pass right by The Dude's homestead in Kansas. It's a tiny town, but it merits its own exit on I-70! (Wow, it's the big time!) I really enjoyed my time there with The Dude's Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother (called MIL, FIL, SIL, and BIL(2)).
SIL and I were sitting at the dinner table and visiting, and talking about how much we enjoy each other's company, and I was praising God and saying, "Truly, Lord, you have accomplished this." A while ago I certainly never imagined a friendship with SIL and MIL, and now I find I really enjoy their company! Truly He has done what is marvelous in our eyes.
Well, SIL and I were talking about next year--it's a Kansas Christmas. See, this year for my side of the family was a home Christmas (Sister will have Christmas in ATL next year)...and so The Dude and I had Christmas in Colorado. Next year will be a Kansas Christmas, and The Dude and I will be there...and SIL and I were hoping BIL(1) will be there with his new wife, too. It'll be fun! This year's drive-by visits were fun...on the way back east, MIL wanted to play fussball, and she said "Let's play the two Mrs. Workers vs. others!" Holy cow, did I hop on that bandwagon or what? Yes, I did; if she shows that kind of (noticeable to me) excitement about having the same name as me, I'll get excited and stay excited! Seriously, she's a great MIL.
The Dude finally had a chance to raise his brother (BIL(1)) on the phone on New Year's Eve, and we got some arrangements made. BIL(1) is getting married in a week and a half, and what with his graduate school, her job, their driving need to earn money to afford ____, we haven't raised him on the phone once since our wedding! In addition, they (BIL(1) and fiance) didn't make it to Kansas for Christmas at all--not even a drive-by, which we managed to accomplish.
But we will all be together in a week and a half, and next year it'll be a Kansas Christmas. I'll have to change my blog 'name' to something else, since it's only a few more days of being the Newest Worker.
Posted by The Newest Worker at 05:19 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack