Nerd Alert!

I always new I wasn't one of the cool kids, but I never realized just how nerdy I was (thanks foolery).

this is redeemed only by my new-found royalty

here's me as the only Junior in high school in the Math Club - redeemed only by the fact that at least I'm wearing my soccer uniform, and not my typical preppie one (yah, I was one of those too)
The black and white photo has spared you from the hideousness of my navy blue and BRIGHT kelly green outfit (yes, complete with "little whale" motif). The photographer also saved you from the sight of my green rubber "duck shoes" - who came up with that idea?! And, only in the South would you find a preppie with a mullet.

Inspiration for the Week

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived,
yet if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
Maya Angelou

(Someone on their blog recently mentioned what a powerful voice Maya Angelou has; I can share that that power emanates from her very core - she is one solid and deeply spiritual woman. I had the bounty of meeting her at a small political fundraiser in Winston-Salem, NC (her hometown) back in 1992. We were all sitting in a circle of chairs to hear her speak, and she happened to stand next to me while talking. The power in the room while she speaks is unbelievable, but then she placed her hand on my shoulder, and I could literally feel the power of her voice course through my body. She is one amazing woman. Deeply kind and thoughtful and unapologetically honest.)

Fav. Foto Friday

We had a lovely hike and picnic today

right next to this
with this view
Wish you could have joined us!

Inspiration for the Week

"No matter how far you go down a wrong road, turn back."
Turkish proverb

Fav. Foto Friday

Happy Naw-Ruz! ("new day" in Persian)

Bahá'ís celebrate the new year on the first day of spring.
Here's hoping you're having as beautiful a day as we are.

FYI

Did you know that, if you hold a mirror in just the right place, you can walk on the ceiling?

Kitchen Math

This

plus this(saute in a little olive oil: one large onion chopped,
3 stalks celery chopped, 4 sausages (sweet or hot Italian)
with meat squeezed out if the casing)

equals - YUM-A-LICIOUS!(of course, if you have a vegetarian-of-sorts in your house, you may want to set aside a small pot of the bean soup and add the sauteed onion and celery mixture BEFORE you add the sausage to be cooked - and of course, you MUST use a separate spoon to stir the veggie soup, because if the spoon that has touched soup that has sausage in it is used to stir the "veggie" soup, that soup becomes contaminated and inedible)

unfortunately, Elle wasn't able to finish her 4th bowl.

Extra. Extra.

Do you think the Girl Scouts had fun this weekend on their ALL-day-trip to the Aurora Fossil Museum and the Estuarium?

Inspiration for the Week

"I'd rather be hated for who I am
than loved for who I'm not."
Chuck D of Public Enemy

Fav. Foto Friday

Nothing beats a beautiful flute solo, especially with a side of recorder.Faith & Leyla, 1999

Stuff of Life

Yesterday was THE perfect day
for sittin' outside and gigglin' with your girlfriends.

I Burned My Veil Long Ago

O.K. motherbumber, here you go... this is 41 ALL DAY:
I don't even put on warpaint for the ladies.

Though in my head, I'm still this person (who also never wore makeup):Gosh darn-it! Who invented mirrors anyway?!!

p.s. in the spirit of complete "truthiness" and full disclosure, (and after actually READING the original dare), I don't usually look that together - my daily mom uniform is not so stylish (I haven't even discovered loga yants yet) and I don't usually wear earrings. Here is my actual first thing in the mornin' shot, well, not first thing, I did wait a few minutes until my eyes were willing to open under the lights:
Who invented lights anyway?!

This is for Sarah

Wow… when I actually sat down to do this, I realized I was a lot quirkier than I originally thought.

1. Back in 1986, I was the only tree-hugging, peace-loving, punk-rock-listening, atheist in the College Republicans – they weren’t quite sure what to do with me. This is what they recruited for:

and this is what they got:

They tolerated me though, because I was one heck of a debater (“Logic” was one of my favorite classes in high school), and I had a slew of witty, stereotypical, knee-jerk one-liners to take down any reasonable, good-intentioned position that ran counter to “just let everybody pull themselves up by their bootstraps because that’s what I did heard someone did once”.

2. I am obsessed with cleaning my ears – always have been. Back in college, my freshman roommate was constantly brushing her teeth, about 5 times a day, and I was right alongside her at the sink, cleaning my ears. I’ve weened myself back to “Q-tipping” just twice a day, but sometimes, if I’m bored (i.e. am pretending I forgot about the list of 37 things I NEED to get done today) and walk by the bathroom sink, I have to stop for a quick re-check.

3. I am a dishwasher-loading snob. There is only ONE right way to load a dishwasher:

and I am one of, apparently, only a handful of people qualified to perform this delicate task. You would think that with ALL the dishes that are continually piled up in my kitchen:

(hello family of five who’s mom-figure is highly organized, but far, far from neat and tidy – you’ve seen my “office”), that I would be less particular about at least getting something clean to eat off of for the night. But when anyone offers to “help” me with the dishes, I just about go into convulsions because my dishwasher is likely to end up looking like this:

and while I can have this:

I can’t have that.

4. I absolutely LOVE having my hair played with – it relaxes me like nothing else. In fourth grade, I had long hair, and my best friend, Beth, had very short hair (read: hair envy). Our classes would get together to watch films, and no matter whose classroom we were in, I would sit on the floor and Beth would sit in the desk chair and brush/style my hair the whole time. Needless to say, I don’t remember seeing a single film in 4^th grade. My addiction hasn’t abated over time either, and I will tolerate all manner of strange things being done to my head, just to get a little free brushing out of the deal.

5. No matter what my mood, I always cry at some point when watching Sesame Street. Maybe it’s the warm fuzzy memories of innocent times gone by (childhood) or the sweet, tender messages of kindness and tolerance – whatever it is, this show ALWAYS gets at least one insides-tightening, cathartic, “man, the world is so beautiful” tear out of me.

Now that all three girls are in school, I haven’t seen it in a while, and boy do I miss it. And of course, don’t even get me started on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood – just typing that made me blurry-eyed.

6. I have a real knack for silly sweet nicknames (move over Hallie). Here are some samples for each of the girls:

Pouran – Plouper, Ploop-dog, Scoop-de-dooper, Ploup-alopogas, Plouperificals

Gabrielle – Schmee

Faith – “B”, Spaz B, Beeble-weeble, Bee-ster

Here’s some insight into the whole creative process. I’ll walk you through the evolution of Elle’s nicknames.

Gabrielle --> Elle --> Elle-belle --> Elley-belly --> Smelley --> Schmelly --> Schmee

Once you had a good solid core nickname, you can make derivatives of it in all kinds of ways: Schmee-bee, Schmizzle-schmazzle, McSchmozle-ator, … be creative and enjoy!

7. I hate needles. Now I know nobody out there actually enjoys getting a shot, but for me it induces a fit of mild hysteria. During my first pregnancy, I had to have blood drawn for tests. Knowing how terrified I get (and uncooperative), I brought my husband along for comfort. We go in to the lab, I’m breathing slowly and steadily to remain calm, and my darling husband tries to cut the tension a little with some humor. As I’m relaxed and “ready”, he loudly exclaims, “Man! Look at the SIZE of that needle!”, thinking the sarcasm would give everyone a good chuckle. I immediately curl up into a little ball, sobbing and shaking profusely. Needless to say, that was his first AND last prenatal visit with all three of our pregnancies. The all time worst needles – those at the dentist – needles have NO business in a person’s mouth. I’ve actually had cavities drilled without Novocain, because I’ll take pain over needles any day (and I’m a pain “wuss”). Which leads me to the point of this point: because I dread the dentist with a passion, I let a simple cavity devolve into a cavern (chunk of tooth fell off) that exposed the nerve and caused a few months of constant pain (avoiding the dentist the whole time). It finally became unbearable, so I went in, reluctantly, a couple weeks ago...

prognosis: root canal
my response: no way
result: gaping hole in my mouth

Inspiration for the Week

“The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you,

the better you will hear what is sounding outside.”

Dag Hammarskjold, former Sec. Gen. of the U.N., 1953-61

Fav. Foto Friday

As I regularly flip through my boxes and boxes of old photos (and there's a whole closet full of them - my last scrapbook entry: Faith (the 12 y.o.) at 6 mos. old) to supplement blog postings, embarrass old friends on my facebook page, and avoid cleaning, I come across some really great photos. So my "newest feature" here on my blog [read: an easy post to get me up from one a week!] is to share these photos with you, every Friday. Here's my first one:These are some of the girls from our Girl Scout troop during our Troop Campout last October. We're going camping next weekend, and I can't wait - I love camping and these girls are so much fun to hang out with.
p.s. Thandi, we miss you and your family

Inspiration for the Week

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make that Best a part of my life."
Helen Keller, 1903

Inspiration for the Week

"When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you
that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever
see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you
to stand for those things without which
humankind cannot survive.
Love that conquers hate,
peace that rises triumphant over war,
and justice that proves more powerful than greed."
Mister Fred Rogers

p.s. if you're in need for a good, heart-warming cry, here it is.

Can I Brag?

Well, I'm fairly new to this whole blogging thing, and I'm not quite sure if there's an unspoken etiquette on posting, but I simply must do a little bragging about my wonderful husband.

We don't really "do" holidays or anniversaries or anything, we don't observe them, we never buy gifts or cards, but after almost 13 years of marriage, we do still call each other daily to say "I love you." Needless to say, I was quite surprised last Tues. when Kamyar brought up the issue of Valentine's Day approaching. He asked if I had any plans or thoughts about it, to which I replied, of course, "No." Then he shared that, since we never go out for such things, wouldn't it be nice, if we offered to child-sit for another couple, so that they could have a night together? My heart melted instantly as I was reminded why I love this man so dearly.

There are few gifts which can top getting to make that phone call to friends offering a night out as a couple. They were thrilled - they were planning to go out for dinner as a family, but were thankful for the chance to go to their favorite Thai restaurant - which the kids do not enjoy. Their kids came over and had a great time with our kids, the two hours flew by way too fast, and it was joyous to be a part of such a wonderful win, win, win situation.

Thank you, my love, for being you and for loving me so deeply.

Inspiration for the Week

"You think because you understand
ONE
you must understand
TWO
because one and one makes two.
But you must also understand
AND."
* Sufi teaching

Much Love to You All

Happy Valentine's Day - with the mandatory bow to Ze Frank.

p.s. how do you get a video to embed directly in your blog?

Inspiration for the Week

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God
Who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect
has intended us to forgo their use.
Galileo Galilei, circa 1600

Bossy Shoulda Got Her Hair Done Here

The older sisters organized a fun party for Elle's 6th -- they set up a salon on the back porch (notice the "waiting room" of chairs off to the right), and the construction paper purses they're holding - full of construction paper money to pay for a day at the salon!! [would Antonio take construction paper money?!!],There was a choose-your-own-nail-color bar, hosted by Faith (11.5)

and an upscale hair-do-ery staffed by Pouran (9) and her friends, Ginya, Kyra and Mia
complete with plenty o' chatty gossip with each style. Bossy, at least they wouldn't have done anything irreversible.

Oh, and the oldest sister? Leyla (16) kept the boys off the back porch with a distracting game of Mouse Trap

And when all the "customers" were satisfied... a styling chain!
Later on, even some of the parents tried a new "do"!

Inspiration for the Week

"It isn't enough to talk about peace.
One must believe in it.
And it isn't enough to believe in it.
One must work at it."
Eleanor Roosevelt, 1951

Lordy,lordy, Elle is... 6?!!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABRIELLE!!

Your sisters were so excited when you arrived.
And you grew, um... large, uh... rather quickly.
How do the years fly by so fast? It seems like only yesterday you were one.And eating dirt...And now you're making friends, making music, making goofy faces, and making us love you more each day.

Why I'm glad I'm "out of the loop"

If you haven't run across this wonderful post from Mrs. G, you MUST read it now.

Inspiration for the Week

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy."
* Rabindranath Tagore, nobel poet laureate, 1913

Questions

I like questions. I find myself asking more and more of them. My most enjoyable questions are those directed at me - taking a second look at things I thought I'd "known" for a long time. In that process, I'm working hard to abate my natural tendency to rush in with an answer, and just sit with the uncertainty for a while. Pema Chodron (watch the interview) tells us that's the space from which actual transformation is possible, and I've experienced it, but don't have words for it yet. Questions have never been more important.
"...the most important question facing us at this uncertain juncture in the history of human civilization is whether or not we can begin to ask the correct questions soon enough to halt the deadly consequences of asking the wrong ones for so long. Or perhaps, more accurately, it is important to ask not which questions are right or which are wrong, but rather which are relevant to the healthy and hopeful survival of humanity at this time - because, of course, some of the most destructive questions we have ever asked of one another concern what is right and what wrong." -Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, Asking Questions: A Challenge to Fundamentalism, pg. 4-5.

Thank you for the dream, Dr. King

From a speech to the SCLC, Aug. 1967 - the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

I want to say to you as I move to my conclusion, as we talk about "Where do we go from here?" that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. (Yes) There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, "Why are there forty million poor people in America?" And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. (Yes) And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life's marketplace. (Yes) But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. (All right) It means that questions must be raised. And you see, my friends, when you deal with this you begin to ask the question, "Who owns the oil?" (Yes) You begin to ask the question, "Who owns the iron ore?" (Yes) You begin to ask the question, "Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that's two-thirds water?" (All right) These are words that must be said. (All right)

Now, don't think you have me in a bind today. I'm not talking about communism. What I'm talking about is far beyond communism. (Yeah) My inspiration didn't come from Karl Marx (Speak); my inspiration didn't come from Engels; my inspiration didn't come from Trotsky; my inspiration didn't come from Lenin. Yes, I read Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital a long time ago (Well), and I saw that maybe Marx didn't follow Hegel enough. (All right) He took his dialectics, but he left out his idealism and his spiritualism. And he went over to a German philosopher by the name of Feuerbach, and took his materialism and made it into a system that he called "dialectical materialism." (Speak) I have to reject that.

What I'm saying to you this morning is communism forgets that life is individual. (Yes) Capitalism forgets that life is social. (Yes, Go ahead) And the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism, but in a higher synthesis. (Speak) [applause] It is found in a higher synthesis (Come on) that combines the truths of both. (Yes) Now, when I say questioning the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. (All right) These are the triple evils that are interrelated.

And if you will let me be a preacher just a little bit. (Speak) One day [applause], one night, a juror came to Jesus (Yes sir) and he wanted to know what he could do to be saved. (Yeah) Jesus didn't get bogged down on the kind of isolated approach of what you shouldn't do. Jesus didn't say, "Now Nicodemus, you must stop lying." (Oh yeah) He didn't say, "Nicodemus, now you must not commit adultery." He didn't say, "Now Nicodemus, you must stop cheating if you are doing that." He didn't say, "Nicodemus, you must stop drinking liquor if you are doing that excessively." He said something altogether different, because Jesus realized something basic (Yes): that if a man will lie, he will steal. (Yes) And if a man will steal, he will kill. (Yes) So instead of just getting bogged down on one thing, Jesus looked at him and said, "Nicodemus, you must be born again." [applause]

In other words, "Your whole structure (Yes) must be changed." [applause] A nation that will keep people in slavery for 244 years will "thingify" them and make them things. (Speak) And therefore, they will exploit them and poor people generally economically. (Yes) And a nation that will exploit economically will have to have foreign investments and everything else, and it will have to use its military might to protect them. All of these problems are tied together. (Yes) [applause]

What I'm saying today is that we must go from this convention and say, "America, you must be born again!" [applause] (Oh yes)

And so, I conclude by saying today that we have a task, and let us go out with a divine dissatisfaction. (Yes)

Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds. (All right)

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. (Yes sir)

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until those who live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security.

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history (Yes), and every family will live in a decent, sanitary home.

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality integrated education.

Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.

Let us be dissatisfied (All right) until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not on the basis of the color of their skin. (Yeah) Let us be dissatisfied. [applause]

Let us be dissatisfied (Well) until every state capitol (Yes) will be housed by a governor who will do justly, who will love mercy, and who will walk humbly with his God.

Let us be dissatisfied [applause] until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. (Yes)

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes) until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together (Yes), and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid.

Let us be dissatisfied (Yes), and men will recognize that out of one blood (Yes) God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth. (Speak sir)

Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, "White Power!" when nobody will shout, "Black Power!" but everybody will talk about God's power and human power. [applause]

And I must confess, my friends (Yes sir), that the road ahead will not always be smooth. (Yes) There will still be rocky places of frustration (Yes) and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. (Yes) And there will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. (Well) Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. (Yes) We may again, with tear-drenched eyes, have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs. (Well) But difficult and painful as it is (Well), we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. ...

When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair (Well), and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights (Well), let us remember (Yes) that there is a creative force in this universe working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil (Well), a power that is able to make a way out of no way (Yes) and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. (Speak)

Let us realize that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Let us realize that William Cullen Bryant is right: "Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again." Let us go out realizing that the Bible is right: "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. (Oh yeah) Whatsoever a man soweth (Yes), that (Yes) shall he also reap." This is our hope for the future, and with this faith we will be able to sing in some not too distant tomorrow, with a cosmic past tense, "We have overcome! (Yes) We have overcome! Deep in my heart, I did believe (Yes) we would overcome." [applause]

Mandatory Viewing

I had the opportunity last night to watch three amazing short films on the impact that climate change has on the lives and work of three families, from Indonesia, Niger, and Peru. (produced by these folks: http://www.ddcmadagascar.com/index.php The videos I saw aren't on-line yet, but there's similar stuff to check out).
Anyway, thinking about a huge global problem like climate change can be disconcerting as you wonder "What can one person do?" Well, fret no more - watch this short video on The Story of Stuff and you'll realize just how much one person can do.
ENJOY!!

Global Warming, Schmobal Warming

Playing outside (for fourth day in a row - highs in the 70's), Jan. 12th
Oh, wait... high for tomorrow - 39!!!! Nevermind.

The Office

A quick tour of my "office", for a friend in a cornfield somewhere.

Desk, check. (All I need are some cutesy post-its to remind me of stuff I'm not likely to do.)
Bookcase, check.

It's not behind the door, but will an unused corner do as well?