Pike Place Market

Just a little post about one of our favorite places: Pike Place Market. Yeah, yeah, it's touristy! But it's got so much to do and see! When we first moved to Seattle from Texas, we went to the Market about every other weekend. The sights and smells. We don't go as often now, but when we do it's such a wonderful time! Here's some images for you! Have a fabulous week!

Thank you, Mr. Frost (and Mrs. Young!)

I've mentioned my high school English teacher Mrs. Young in a prior post. I took her English class for both 10th and 11th grade honors English. In 10th grade she gave us an assignment to memorize Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken", and I HATED that assignment! At the time, I couldn't memorize things very well, so I had a bear of a time trying to get the words down in the correct order.

Needless to say, I got it down and recited it (nervously) to her after school in front of her huge white podium. God, I was so nervous!

And now, 24 years after my 10th grade year of high school, I STILL remember that poem! A few years ago I wrote her a letter specifically recalling that assignment. I expressed to her how much I disliked it. (She and I write quite often, or else I wouldn't dream of sharing my frustrations of her assignment actually TO her!!!!) Anyway, I continued to say that I now appreciate that assignment because it has proven true many times over in my life. Sometimes I've chosen a path in life that appeared more challenging or more potentially frustrating. I often think of that poem and those awkward moments standing in front of her reciting that poem wringing my sweaty hands in fear of making a mistake and disappointing her. As I recall that scene in my mind, I get a little perspective and comfort as I struggle through a particularly difficult "stretch of road" in my life.

And I now have the privilege of passing on that torch of initial terror to my current students!! I will be giving my students that very same assignment of memorizing Mr. Frost's poem and reciting it back to me. It is an assignment that I have held very precious in my life. And while I know and accept the fact that my students will grumble, complain, whine, and beg about the project, I hope (I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope) that someday several of them or maybe just a few of them or perhaps only one of them will remember this assignment and feel the slightest measure of comfort in the fact that I saw their road before them and wanted to give them love and hope on their journey as Mrs. Young did for me so many years ago.

So, in honor of Mr. Robert Frost (and Mrs. Young), I will recite the poem to you. I still remember it word for word (though my punctuation may be off a bit). My palms are no longer sweaty and my throat is now moist and clear. Enjoy...

"The Road Not Taken"

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both.
And be one traveler, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim,
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that the passing there
had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay,
in leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh,
somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference."

May you appreciate your path!

Cheers!

A Room with a View...

At the prompting of the Angry Blue man (:P), I thought I would post some pictures occasionally of Seattle and the surrounding areas. Seattle can be a pretty place, and contrary to popular opinion, it doesn't rain as much as most think. It's just a constant drizzle in the winter, so people tend to think that we get more rain than most places in the US. Not so. While we don't get much solid, slap-you-in-the-face kind of drenching rain like Texas (God, I miss the torrential thunder/lightening storms in Texas!), it's just a constant slow trickle that makes you wear a hoodie.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the Ho Rainforest on the Olympic peninsula. It's about a 4-hour drive west of Seattle. I liked it as much for the beauty as the actual name: Ho! :)

The last one in this line is my favorite!!!

Hope the beginning to your week is going well!

Cheers to all! :)

Amnesia Lane

Just read a post by Matthew at AbodeOneThree (Why homeless boys make lousy role models) and it got me to thinking about life in reverse. When we are young (or even old) we can make some stupid choices in our lives and if we're lucky we get to survive them. I grew up in a good family. Only child. Small town. Bought groceries at the Piggly Wiggly. Everyone knows everyone else's business. Mom got calls from my teachers at school telling her that she shouldn't let me play with Carrie Chambers because her dad was an alcoholic and her mother was "checked out" and the older brother was in and out of trouble a lot so Carrie might be a bad influence on me. I lived a pretty sheltered life.

But there's a point that some of us come to when we have to explore that dark side. I believe we all have a dark side. For some it might be just a muted grey color and for others it's full-on inky blackness. I've always had that dark side lurking in the shadows waiting to rear his beautiful head and whisper warm, sweet nothings in my ear. I believe that we shouldn't regret. Regret is pointless. Do you like who you are now? If your answer is yes, I would hope it is, then everything you've gone through has made you who you are right now. Every choice I have made in my life has brought me to this very moment. I've made some wtf-was-I-thinking decisions, some impulsive and some carefully, deliberately plotted but yet ruined my life for a period of time. Some affected just me. Some affected and absorbed my family as well.

But thank God for the shit of life! Like Monty Python's Life of Brian: "Life's a piece of shit when you look at it." I like who I am now. Sometimes you have those conversations with people, "If you could change anything in your life..." I wouldn't change a thing. Not one step. Not one particle of my life from this instant backwards. Because if I did change something I wouldn't be who I am right here and now. I would be a version of me. I am grateful for the inky black spectre that lurks in the shadows of my life. He keeps me grounded. Keeps me real. Makes me honest. He reminds me that I have choices. He also resides in the consequences of my choices. Forcing me to eat crow. Making me face the mirror. I welcome his presence because without him, I wouldn't be as aware of hope and life and breath and laughter as I am.

Those things in life are the sweetest when coupled with the equal taste of bitter.

! Awards !

I received my first awards last week and have been hoarding them, basking in the glow of their glory! Reluctant to let them go wishing I could keep them just a bit longer, it is now time to pass them on to their next amazing recipients who will, too, feel goodness and know the glory of all things "truth"!

Ironically, I won these awards during a few weeks of insanity when I wasn't blogging and felt totally cut off and out of touch with all things cyber-reality. I came back after having not read a single blog nor posted a blog for some time to these two awards and felt, here in my own little universe, like someone out there likes me. (I know, I know, it's pathetic and puppy-dog sad...) The words I've said, the pictures I've put up, the emotions I've tried to convey through my posts have made sense and given someone something important enough that they want to return to me a token of thanks. And for these tokens, Indigo and Carlos, I thank you more than you know!!!

This one's from Indigo... (can't you tell?!)

And this one's from Carlos (see, CLEARLY different that the other one!!)

These two awards, also ironically, are the same: The "Honest Scrap" Award (love the name!) And yes, I'm showing both of them because I WANT to! :) And as I understand the guidelines (I've tweaked them a bit...):

1) “The Honest Scrap” award is like a pint in a bar...better when shared with friends!

2) The recipient has to tell 10 true but unknown facts about themself.

3) The recipient has to buy a pint for 10 other bloggers.

4) Those 10 bloggers all have to be notified that they have a pint waiting to be enjoyed.

5) Those 10 bloggers should link back to the one who bought them the pint.

So, now that a few pints have let my guard drop a bit, here's my list of 10 facts:

1. Kylie Minogue's song "I Believe in You" is just for me! When I listen to that, I feel like such a goober because I know she wrote that for those times I need a little pick-me-up!

2. The Power of Prime: when I'm in my car listening to the stereo, the volume number MUST be on a prime number. Even numbers scare me. Odd numbers are better. But Prime Numbers are most auspicious!

3. I have a full sleeve tattoo on my left arm that goes across my shoulders to my right shoulder and covers half my back.

4. I love tomatoes but hate ketchup.

5. When I'm drinking something, like milk or tea, I can't help but count how many swallows I take. It's not on purpose. Before I know it, I'm counting.

6. I am an only child.

7. I can write with both hands at the same time. BUT, what's really cool is, what I'm writing are mirror images of each other. The right hand writes normally, but the left hand is writing everything backwards.

8. I still keep in touch with my English teacher from high school...I graduated in 1988! She is an amazing person, and I am blessed to still have her in my life!

9. I really and truly don't care if there is life on other planets.

10. I peed in my pants when I was in 8th grade because Suzanne Goff wouldn't get out of the restroom in the band hall fast enough. When she finally got out, I rushed in but didn't have time to latch the door shut. I just straddled the seat, and she saw my feet facing the wall and opened the door to ask me what the heck I was doing!

Now, I must provide one pint to each of my bloggies. These are people who make me laugh, make me think, make me shake my head wondering why I couldn't word it just like they do. And thank you Carlos for emailing me how to "link" in a post!

1. Tudor City Girl 's NYC adventures...

2. Mr London Street 's menu porn...

3. Hillbilly Duhn 's TMI...

4. Omchelsea 's Suzuki...

5. JM 's travels everywhere I wish I were...

6. Lora 's, well, she's. just. the. shit!

7. Tennyson ee Hemingway 's blah...

8. lollipop26 's girlie style...

9. Rae 's Wal*Mart shopper in Florida...

10. Shangri-La 's soundtrack...

Enjoy the moments! The good ones don't come around near as often enough but they sure can outweigh the bad ones!

Enjoy your day! Cheers!

Go or Stop

I've always had difficulty with living on the fence: liking chocolate all the way or not, cleaning the house completely or not, going to the gym on a regular basis or not, etc. I have such difficulty living in the "between". If I'm going to go to the gym, it's going to be a strict schedule: 5/6 days a week or not at all. Cleaning the house: clean it all top to bottom or don't clean it at all. It's either go at full speed or don't go at all. I can't window shop either. The thought of "shopping" without the actual exchange of money is ridiculous. Torture. Just putting $10 of gas in the car rather than filling it up. Huh? Only putting on makeup without doing the hair too. What were you thinking? Cutting the grass without doing the edging/weedeating. Washing the outside of the car but not vacuuming the inside. I don't understand the vast wasteland of the space between "this" and "that". I don't get the gray areas. Either it is or it isn't. To me, there is no gray area. Either you did shower this morning or you didn't. How can you be a left wing conservative? I don't make half a pot of coffee. Life for me is either a red light or green light. I don't understand the yellow. Life either is or it isn't.

I think maybe for me that if there is a middle ground there is no commitment. The proverbial "shit or get off the pot". It frustrates me that people continue to exist in the middle. Pick something. If it's wrong, change it. But don't do something half way, half ass. If there is too much middle, it grows and devours what "is". It allows room for excuses. Did you bring your homework or not? No? Then it's a zero. End of discussion. Did you vote? No? Then shut up about how you don't like this or that.

Pick a team. Root for them. If they lose, ok. If they win, ok. Life doesn't end up in a tie. Either you're alive or you're dead. There is no middle ground, no gray area. We don't move through life in a crouching position half-sitting half-standing. Either our butts are in the chair or they aren't. I just get tired of the, "Well, that's true except when...." or the "Yeah, I agree with you, but what about..."

As Jedi Master Yoda says: "Do or do not. There is no try."

Tom & Ona pt 3

She sat on the front edge of the dressing table bench while I scrunched up on my knees behind her. Her dressing gown worn down from once heavy cotton to now a thin veil of pink threads, like gossamer. In the dusty dressing table mirror I caught glimpses of her face. Peaceful. Looking into her lap. Still. Quiet. She sat so still. Peaceful. I grasped the big paddle brush in my tiny hand and moved it down through her hair. The brush was heavy in my hand. Bristles bent this way and that. Worn. Aged. Ona's hair hung to the bench, and I brushed from her small head all the way to where we sat. Her grey hair flowing through my fingers like goose down, soft, almost like it wasn't there. She held the strips of multi-color ribbon in her hands, her tiny hands. Smelled like Chantilly. I twisted separated strands of hair around each other in a "braid" and tied a colored strip to the end. After a time, her hair danced with thin ribbons of color. Her long grey hair ablaze with color. Completed with my masterpiece and feeling proud and excited, I called out to Tom, "Come and see! Come and see!"

Can't think of a catchy title, so....

here goes...

*edit: this is the longest freakin' blog I've done, but please please read to the end! :)

I've been outta the loop the past couple of weeks. As you know, school started again, and I've returned to the high school classroom after a looooong absence (7 years!) Well, seems like a long absence to me...I feel OLD!!

Anyway, to get you up to scratch... I teach high school English grades 9,10,11, and a class of 11th honors. I taught for 10 years in Texas in public education (anyone ever read the book Friday Night Lights or see the movie or tv show? Well, I taught at that school: Permian High School! That's my 15 seconds of fame!) (And, oh yeah, high school football in Texas is INSANE!!!! :D) Now, I'm teaching in a private school in the middle of the woods. Small classes. Involved parents *choirs of angels singing in background!* No school uniforms so a little more relaxed. Aggressive curriculum. Bee-yutiful woodland campus. 145 students total at the high school. *cue second choir of angels singing.*

So school started Sept 1st. I left EVERY SINGLE STITCH of teaching materials to the wonderful English department at Permian HS when I left! 10 years of collecting materials, creating study guides/quizzes/tests for every novel imaginable, transparencies.... Three XL Uhaul boxes full of binders and folders painstakingly organized with every scrap of paper in its own protected plastic sleeve!!! I didn't think I'd ever return to the classroom and left all my materials with them. And now.... Holy Crap, Batman! I'm toast! I've got nothin' but lint in my pockets!

So...needless to say, my fingers have callouses from the computer typing I'm doing trying to prep materials. I'm anal retentive about my presentation and organization. EVERY story needs my own personally created study guide questions (I don't like the quizzes and tests that you copy from the supplemental materials: ugh! generic!) At this moment right now, my curriculum looks like this:

9th graders are studying:
*Mondays: VERY aggressive vocabulary development program developed by the other English teacher (he's Brilliant by the way!!!)
*Tuesdays: short stories/poetry from the Anthology
*Wednesdays: writing a 5-paragraph descriptive essay on a short story we read
*Thursdays: formal in-class reading (right now it's Antigone and Greek tragedy)
*Fridays: out-of-class reading (they read the novel outside of class and we discuss during classtime) right now it's To Kill a Mockingbird
*ongoing...the students read a novel completely outside of class (right now The Good Earth) and will have a test at the end of the quarter

10th graders:
*Mondays: part 2 of the ongoing vocabulary development program
*Tuesdays: short stories/poetry from Anthology
*Wednesdays: writing a 5-paragraph essay about the high school
*Thursdays: formal in-class reading (right now Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution)
*Fridays: out-of-class reading (Wuthering Heights and Gothic writing)
*ongoing...Silas Marner is their independent reading with test at end of quarter

11th graders:
*Mondays: part 3 of vocabulary
*Tuesdays: Anthology as above...
*Wednesdays: 5-paragraph essay about theocracy in the world and why it is ineffective
*Thursdays: in-class reading (The Crucible and the Salem witch trials...tie-in to theocracy...)
*Fridays: out-of-class reading (The Scarlet Letter and Puritan America...theocracy...)
*ongoing: The Old Man and the Sea

11th honors:
*Mondays: vocabulary
*Tuesdays: Anthology and responsive writing
*Wednesdays: 2 essays: theocracy as above and 5-paragraph essay discussing Herman Melville's antithesis of Transcendentalism with Moby Dick
*Thursdays: Moby Dick
*Fridays: The Scarlet Letter
*ongoing: Frederick Douglass' Narrative

!!!!!! YIKES !!!!! Didn't I say "Holy Crap, Batman! earlier?!"

Yup, so my life the last two weeks looks like this:
4am: get up, brew first pot of coffee, feed dogs, breakfast, get dressed, make lunch for me and husband Matt, brew second pot of coffee and put in thermos for the day (I also have a coffee maker in my classroom....the Java God loves me, his faithful follower...
6:30am: get to school, prep white boards, check email, organize all the paperwork for the day, etc...
8am: let the school day begin!!!!
3pm: school's over, gather all above said paperwork that needs to be graded, determine the details for each of the classes for tomorrow, create study guides, quizzes, tests, handouts, check email again, pull reference materials together, refresh myself on Wuthering Heights (just how many Catherines can there possibly be??!!!!)
6pm: leave school for home...relish the 15 minutes it takes me to get home by blasting Rammstein, Slipknot, Static X, or some other cathartic, putrid noise
6-8pm: watch movie, take a walk with Matt, play with pups, 2 blessed hours of non-school!!!
8-midnite (or after): continuing to prep materials for the week, research, grade, grade, grade
midnite (or after) - 4am: fitful sleep with strange dreams like: I moved a student desk and broke all my fingernails off in the process! wtf?!
4am: get up and do all over again....

Oh, and did I mention that I also have a part-time job as well continuing to work with the jewelry company I was with prior to my leaving management. That's about 20-25 hours a week: about 3 days a week and every other weekend....

But, with all this having been said, I truly have NEVER BEEN HAPPIER!!! I have gotten so frustrated with some of my students acting like blabber-mouthed dorks in class and emailed parents already. Yes, it's only the second week of school.... But I also haven't laughed from the gut so much like I have. Talking about Antigone being the daughter of a man who killed his father and married his mother then gouged out his eyes when he found out the truth and that she has siblings who are also her cousins...say wha????? I have had so much fun! I'm strict and run a very tight ship; my boundaries are boldly defined! But the kids can find their own voice and freedom inside my borders and we'll find that we're all just along for the ride!

So, I had almost given up on blogging because I didn't think I would have a life again. But today I had an EXCEPTIONAL day!! The kids were totally in synch, and I felt smart, witty, and powerful (and I was having a great hair day, too, just so you know! :D ) I was even so organized that I don't actually have any "homework" for myself for tonight!! Yippee!!

I thought I'd get back on the blogs after not reading any of my favs for almost 3 weeks. And I found I am the proud and humbled recipient of not one but 2 awards! Both Indigo Wrath and Carlos at The Tired One awarded me the "Honest Scrap!" award! This has turned out to be a 5-star day! I will gather my goods and post my response to you this weekend. I can't believe it! *jumping up and down* *giggles* I have awards!! Thank you!!!

To those who read my blog, thank you! I have been challenged by this thing called blogging. Challenged to be more open and forthright. To be creative. To let my guard down (a bit) *beat of sweat trickling from temple*. And I will continue. I want to continue. Please don't give up on me... I'm dreadfully co-dependent and sometimes just want/need to know that I matter! (Lora/Fever, thanks for your quick response to a blog of mine...your words made me smile!)

Oh! With these awards, I have to include links back to the 10 blogs I forward the award to. I don't know how to link????? Someone help please!!!

Sorry so long. Hope you've lasted to the end here. Have a great Friday, and I'll catch up more on the weekend!

Cheers!!

Rave & Rant

Today is my Rave & Rant posting. Oddly enough (I say that because I err on the cynical/bleak side of life), I don't have anything to report for the week in the "Rant" category! :D Wow, that's weird to say because I ALWAYS have something negative that I could dig up, and all too often I have to fight like mad to keep my tongue in check. I'm forever wanting to disagree, pose a sarcastic barb, or just go off -- even if I might agree with the person -- I sometimes just want to get someone's goat.

But.... I have had a great week! School inservice started this week, and since I'm returning to the classroom after many years absent, I have quite a bit to catch up on. For the last several years I've done high-end retail management. I am also new to Washington state education (I taught for 10 years in Texas) as well as new to private school (all my years were in public education). I probably have 50 students on my roster right now, whereas in Texas I had anywhere between 180 to 210!!!! INSANITY!!!! I had to get certified in CPR and First Aid today, and it was quite fun. Yes, I enjoyed blowing the dummies and learning that soy sauce is good for a burn! The facilitator had a wicked sense of humor and made the time spent entertaining and informative (love it when you have to sit in a class and you actually LIKE the time instead of feeling like it was 8 hours of your life you'll never get back!) There were other staff members at the class who teach in the elementary schools or the middle school who came to me asking if I was the new English teacher. (It's not intimidating AT ALL when teachers/parents know all about you before you've even been introduced...) Anyway, it's private school and everyone knows everyone's business... But I received the most welcoming introductions and responses. Again, the cynic in me is battling the Zen peacemaker: cynic says they're all wolves in sheep's clothing and they'll stab me in the back as soon as I let my guard down; Zen says to let the goodness flow through me and what I think so shall I receive. Let the battle wage on...I've got a job to do, and I am so grateful and jazzed to be able to work with the students again!!!! I even had one parent get teary eyed after our conversation and give me a hug saying she was so happy I was going to teach her daughter. That made me feel sooooo good!!! I'm teaching 9th, 10th, 11th and 11th honors. 4 preps! But you know how you feel when do something "right" or the pieces of a puzzle all came together? That's how I am feeling. Yes, this school year is going to be a busy one because I also have to work a part-time job as well. Living a dream does not come without sacrifice, after all!! We have a BBQ tomorrow night after the day of inservice for new students and the parents, and since I teach both classes of 9th grade English, I'll have a chance to meet most of the parents and students prior to the first day of school. I cannot wait!!! So, I'm glad this post is all about the "happy"!

May your day be filled with more Raves than Rants! Cheers!

Tom and Ona (pt 2)

Blackish-red blood smeared his fingers. I held the grey metal bucket in my small hands. Texas summer heat caused the air to shimmer, and the dust devils played hide and seek in alley in the occasional breath of breeze. I could not understand why he didn't try to wipe the blood from his fingertips. If my mom's hands looked like his, she would have washed them immediately. But he didn't care. He just carefully continued to search through the bush and mumbled to himself that he had to pick just the right ones...too early and they would be sour...too late and they would be mushy. The bees flitting and weaving through the branches in the bush caught my attention, but he was calm and didn't seem to mind, so neither did I. Every few seconds he quietly exclaimed, like discovering a new treasure in a library, "Ah! Just look at that one! It's perfect!" And he carefully dropped the freshly picked blackberry in my bucket. We'd been standing there gathering those precious blackberries for what seemed like an eternity to my 3-year old attention span. Asking that I hold the bucket up for him, he peered in, looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes, and said we had enough. As we walked to the house, he said Ona would be thrilled to see our sweet treasures. I rushed ahead of him, up the steps, and into the house calling out to her to come in the kitchen because we had a surprise. He rinsed his hands in the sink and dried them off on a threadbare cup towel. He took three small cups from the cupboard and took the jar of milk from the refrigerator. As he poured the milk into the glasses, I caught his familiar smell. Stronger now because of our time spent outside -- age. He smelled old. Comforting. Like home. I heard the floor boards creak as Ona slowly and carefully walked to the kitchen from her bedroom. My mouth began to water as Tom poured the rinsed blackberries into a delicate blue bowl and handed my milk glass to me. I was thrilled to share such a treat with my wonderful friends.

...to be continued

No Post

This is a post to say I won't be posting tonight. Interesting day... Will post both today's and tomorrow's topics tomorrow.

Sleep Tight and Sweet Dreams.....

End of Summer Concerts

Tonight brings a close to the summer concert series for our house. This summer we saw a lot of concerts, mostly of the metal variety. We did see Adele in May which was fabulous!!!! We also saw VNV Nation in June which was a dream come true for me!!! The rest of the concerts were festivals where several bands played and the fest was an all-day event starting about noon and ending between 10-midnite. Here's a list of what we saw:
Mayhem Festival:
Cannibal Corpse
Black Dahlia Murder
All that Remains
Behemouth
God Forbid
Job for a Cowboy
Trivium
Killswitch Engage
Marilyn Manson
Slayer

Crue Fest:
Motley Crue
Godsmack
Theory of a Deadman
Drowning Pool
*this fest pretty much sucked! started at 5:00. Crue sucks out loud live. Godsmack was the only good band!

Pain in the Grass:
Static X
Steel Panther
Mudvayne
Chevelle
Saliva
Slipknot
*Slipknot's drummer broke his shoulder on the day of the concert and they headlined, so Slipknot canceled. But we saw them last summer, so no big loss.

Been a good run with concerts. That's one thing I love about Seattle is that the music scene is off the hook!

Hope y'all are having a good weekend!

All things girlie...

I know this is a weird picture for a post, but hang with me, follow these steps, and you'll have great looking skin with little hassle and even less money being spent!! NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN WILL I PURCHASE ANOTHER OVER-THE-COUNTER EXFOLIATOR OR MASK!!! This 2-ingredient aspirin/milk mask is all I will ever use!!!

What you'll need for your aspirin face mask:

1. 3 generic aspirin (non-coated!)

2. small dish

3. spoon (or something to crush the aspirin)

4. 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of milk

What you do:

Crush the 3 aspirin in the dish until most of the big bits are made into a powder. (You can use BC Powder, but I prefer the larger granules of the hand-crushed aspirin.) Drop about 1/4 teaspoon of milk into the powdered aspirin and mix. Add a few more drops until it becomes a paste. (You don't want too much liquid because it will be too difficult to work with -- you want a paste.) Put the dish in the microwave for about 5 seconds just to warm it up. With your fingers, rub the paste in a circular motion on your face as you would as exfoliator. If you have red bumps, make sure to leave a little more paste on those areas. Explanation is below. The 3 aspirin will be more than enough to cover the entire face. When you've rubbed the entire paste on your face, leave it to dry on the skin for about 5-10 minutes. Then rinse and pat dry. Follow this regime about every other day. In about a week, you'll feel your skin become softer: dry patches will the sloughed away, and oily patches will lessen in oil production. In about 2 weeks, your skin will continue to balance out with dry/oil areas. White bumps will go away, and your foundation will apply more smoothly and stay on longer.

Why it works:

There are 3 key ingredients in this simple mixture: salicylic acid, lactic acid, and acetaminophin/paracetamol. The lactic acid in the milk is a natural ingredient and helps to bring oxygen to the skin and is an exfoliator and anti-oxidant. Salicylic acid is the aspirin and is an anti-inflammatory and helps to shed the top layer of skin (especially when it's massaged into the skin). Acetaminophin/paracetamol in the aspirin is also an anti-inflammatory and helps to restrict blood vessels (will help the red bumps to reduce in size).

I hope you find this recipe useful. Share this with your friends, girlfriends, wives, and mothers. Like I said, after using this mask for about 6 weeks now, I will NEVER purchase another gimmick again...why would I pay $20, $30, $40+ for a product when all I need costs less than $5?!

Cheers!!!

Tom and Ona (part 1)

"Come and see! Come and see!"

I would be in the backyard playing on the swing set and call out to our next door neighbor to come and see me play. I would try to swing as high as I could before he would get there so he would clap and cheer for me. It took forever for him to finally get to our back gate. He would push me on the swing so I could keep going. Tom made me laugh, and I liked him.

Tom and his sister Ona lived next door to us. We lived in an older part of town. Not much traffic. Big trees with a lot of shade. Sidewalks. Screen doors that creaked open and slapped shut. Houses had a porch where the brick of the post formed a sort of pyramid and came up halfway. Where the brick stopped, the big square wooden column began and pushed its way up to the porch roof. I loved our street. Not many children either as I remember. But I didn't seem to care because I had the perfect playmates! I don't remember who was older, Tom or Ona. Both of them were much older than my parents. The time I remember them I was 2 and 3 years old. We moved away when I was 3, so it had to be before then. I remember that Tom was tall and thin. His hair was grey and stuck out all over. Ona was much smaller, a little stooped, and had beautiful long grey hair that hung below her waist. She seemed older to me than Tom, but I don't know for sure. I haven't talked much about Tom and Ona since I have grown; that time is a very precious box of memories in my childhood, and I don't want it tainted by the facts of adulthood. The more I peek inside that box and rustle through its belongings, the more I remember, and I want it to remain fresh and innocent for me forever.

When I grew tired of swinging, Tom would take me on walks around the neighborhood. We often went to the laundromat a few streets over. An old man and woman were always in the laundromat when we went there. Tom would buy a grape soda in the bottle for me from the vending machine, and he would get a Baby Ruth candy bar and split it in half for us. He would prop me up on the folding table while I drank my soda and he talked to his friends. The summer in Texas was already hot enough, but the air in the laundromat was sticky and heavy. My long hair stuck to the back of my neck and forehead as I sat there. But, oh, that grape soda was sooo good and sweet. Tom would help me down off the table, and as they continued to talk, I looked inside the dryers as the clothes spun around. I felt the heat radiating from the machines. Sometimes, Tom would take a couple of loads of laundry with us and would let me put the money into the machines. I loved pushing in the metal plate for the washer because that meant the water would start pouring into the bin. I was fascinated with the movements and sounds and smells and colors in the laundromat.

When I finished my soda, we would begin walking back home. I held his hand as we walked across the street. His fingers weren't as big as my dad's and weren't as rough. I could see the veins in his hands and arms. He also smelled different. A little of sweat and a little sweet. He smelled just like the old books in the cupboard at my MeMa's house. I don't remember thinking that he was old, just different looking than my dad. He always wore dress pants, dress shoes, and button-up shirts, and my dad wore jeans, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. Nothing as a very young child is good or bad, just different. There is no judgment or criticism, just an attempt at understanding. Children have to absorb so much so quickly. Maybe as children we have a huge mental toy box. Our questions of "Why do you...?" or "Why don't you...?" are not meant as criticism but as an attempt to understand how the puzzle pieces fit. How they compare. When we have been given an answer that is satisfactory to us, we put that information in a section of the toy box that seems to make sense so we can come back to it later when we need.

*Please note: I am remembering my relationship with Tom and Ona when I was very young. This time was about 1973-4. There's no devastating or traumatic portion to these memories like you might find on the nightly news. Just happy, innocent, good. And as I am writing I am remembering more and more; I look forward to visiting them again.

Enjoy your day! Cheers!

Rave & Rant

My Raves and Rants for this week...

Rave: the new Star Trek movie!!! We went to see it on opening night and LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!!! Those familiar beeps within the first 30 seconds of the film immediately takes you there! We went to see it again yesterday at the dollar movie. Soooo great!

Rant: movies that are under 2 hours long. Look, if actors make the INSANE amount of money they do and a movie makes the kind of dough they are capable of, I'd better be highly entertained for more than an hour and half! Movies cost waaaaaay too much money to go and see: $9.50 per ticket!!! That's 20 bucks for Matt and me to go see a movie -- sorry, we don't want to drop that kind of dough when we can see 5 movies at the $2 theater! I refuse to see a movie on the big screen unless it will be some kick-ass action/killer scary if it's less than 2 hrs!

Rant: along the same vein as above..... CDs that are under 10 songs (unless the songs are more conceptual and are longer than 5mins each. Look, each CD holds about 74 minutes of music. Again, if I'm gonna pay $10-$15 for a CD, I'd better be entertained! If the musician doesn't have enough music to use up the full space on the album, don't release the CD until it's full!!! I like U2, Madonna, Sting, Norah Jones, Hatebreed, etc. And each of these artists bring in a grip-load of money! And yet, each of these artists have albums that are less than 70 minutes! One of them has an album that is only 48 minutes! What??!!

Rave: the leaves are beginning to change color on some of the trees here, which means summer will be ending soon....which means this heat will soon cease!! I love the cold, drizzly, gloomy, overcast, dreary weather!!! I've lived in Montana and didn't particularly enjoy digging my car out of 4ft of snow every morning. That's not what I'm talking about. I love the cold, wet weather. I love bundling up in layers, smelling the crisp fresh air, hearing the drizzle plink on the mailbox. I love how it makes me feel cozy when I'm inside enjoying a cup of hot tea or cocoa.

Rave: speaking of weather... This is one thing I miss about Texas: the thunder and lightning storms!!! Massive crashes of thunder that rattle the house! Cracks of thunder that sound like a mighty bullwhip shredding the skies. Streaks of lightning of such awesome power to make me feel small and vulnerable. Counting the seconds between the flash of light and the boom of thunder that lets me know how far away the storm is. I miss the storms...

May your day be balanced and may your raves outweigh your rants! Cheers!