I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog – 
To tell one's name – the livelong June – 
To an admiring Bog!

--Emily Dickinson

My Latest Project

I've gone back to work this fall, and my creative projects have taken a back seat to teaching 12-15 preschoolers for 7 hours a day. Which is exhausting, btw.

But I've had the urge to make a Professor Sprout costume for the past several years, so I finally did it. Why? Beats me. Maybe I'll wear it for Halloween. Maybe I'll wear it when the new HP movie debuts in November. Maybe I'm just a nerd who likes the idea of having a Prof Sprout costume hanging in my closet in case of emergency. Doesn't really matter. It's done.

Of all the Hogwarts characters, I feel closest to Pomona. In every online Sorting Hat poll I've ever taken, I'm always placed in Hufflepuff. No, I don't have a green thumb, and I try to stay relatively clean. But the rest of her description (as taken from the WikiPotter page) and her attitude towards her students seem to fit me well:

Professor Sprout was described as being a small and squat woman with grey, flyaway hair.^[6] She usually wore a patched and battered hat.^[6] Her clothes were noted to almost always be covered in dirt and earth, as were her dirty fingernails.^[6] Sprout also almost always had a smile on her face.^[6]

Professor Sprout was noted to be very cheerful, positive and loyal,^[6] but was also very professional and just and would chide her students if necessary.^[38] Thus, Sprout possessed all of the virtues and aspects belonging to Hufflepuff House. She was kind and nurturing to the students...

Besides, I got to make a baby Mandrake root. I found the most gosh-awful looking baby doll at a thrift store, poked a giant hole in its head, shoved fake greenery in it, covered in in dirt and threw it in a pot. Score!!!

The brown graduation robe was also a thrift store find. The pattern for the hat? 99 cents at a Hancock's sale. The Mandrake label? Printed off someone else's blog. All-in-all, a fairly reasonably priced bit of silliness. Yes, I know I need earmuffs. A pair is on its way via Ebay as I type.

What do you think?

"The Kids Are All Right" a review:
Spoiler Alert!!!

My husband and I just returned from seeing the new movie, "The Kids Are All Right" starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. The plot is basically this:

A long married couple has 2 teenagers fathered from a sperm donor. The kids get curious about him, and initiate contact. He has no family, and soon is enjoying being apart of theirs. Soon he and the kids' mom have an affair, which the family finds out about. Here the plot thickens. Will Mom run off with him or return to her family? She decides to return to her family, full of remorse and begging for forgiveness and admitting her behavior was wrong. She gives an impassioned speech about how marriage is a marathon; it's not easy slogging through life with the same person. Marriage takes commitment and forgiveness. In the end, all is forgiven and the family is a happy unit once again.

Amazing to see a Hollywood movie preaching the sanctity of marriage and the importance of keeping vows, isn't it? Well, here's the rub. The married couple in the film are not man and wife, they are lesbians. Why did Hollywood feel it was important to make the couple lesbians and not straight? The answer, I believe, is Hollywood's agenda.

There are countless Hollywood films about married spouses having extra-marital affairs, finding themselves, being true to their bliss, or whatever. Rarely, if ever, does the wayward spouse return begging for forgiveness. So why show it now in this movie? I believe Hollywood feels the need to present gays/lesbians in the most positive light possible, and that includes showing them as ideal committed, loyal, forgiving, loving spouses, and not as flawed, selfish human beings, as all people are.

This movie would have been just as powerful if the main characters were straight. Here's how that plot summary would have worked:

A long married couple has 2 teenagers fathered from a sperm donor. The kids get curious about him, and initiate contact. He has no family, and soon is enjoying being apart of theirs. Soon he and the kids' dad have an affair, which the family finds out about. Here the plot thickens. Will Dad run off with him or return to his family? He decides to return to his family, full of remorse and begging for forgiveness and admitting his behavior was wrong. He gives an impassioned speech about how marriage is a marathon; it's not easy slogging through life with the same person. Marriage takes commitment and forgiveness. In the end, all is forgiven and the family is a happy unit once again.

But I believe Hollywood can't go there and here's why. Hollywood can't admit that people have a choice about gay/lesbian behavior; you're born that way. Period. To make a movie where Dad or Mom has a same sex fling, realizing it hurts the family, having remorse about it, and begging for forgiveness is inconceivable in Hollywood. People have to be able to find their bliss, especially if that means participating guilt-free in gay or lesbian activities.

I'm all for Hollywood making a picture which preaches the importance of marriage vows, commitment, love, and forgiveness. I just wish they'd use a heterosexual couple for the message, and not a gay/lesbian one. Hollywood seems to be full of "morality" when presenting homosexuality. I just wish they show it with heterosexuals, too.

LOST

Yes, I confess, I am a "LOSTIE". I looked forward to the finale with great anticipation, and I was not disappointed. My son-in-law likes to theorize about "Mystics" and "Mechanics", and I'm fairly sure I fall into the "Mystic" category. I take things on faith; I don't crave logical explanations for everything.

I have read volumes of blogs and threads both praising and berating the LOST finale. But the one that best sums up my feelings is this:

I was wrong... it all makes sense now.

Submitted by WhatTheFoucault on 3:03 PM

I was one of the people bashing the finale last night. After processing what I saw, I am still disappointed from an intellectual perspective. There were questions asked that I would have liked to have seen answered. I think the writers did a poor job connecting the mysteries from seasons 1-5 to season 6. The final chapter of Lost had flaws, and last night, many of us had an emotional reaction to those flaws. After all, the mystery of the island became a character. The island's mysteries kept many of us watching for six years.

But...

Today, I rewatched the finale with new lenses. I didn't focus on the mysteries (because I already knew the conclusion). Instead, I focused on the characters. The people. The relationships. And, I have to say, I loved "The End."

Again, you have to forget the island for a minute (I know, that was hard for me to do). Focus on the characters we came to love for six years. Stories of redemption (Ben). Stories of love (Bernard and Rose, Jin and Sun, Desmond and Penny). Stories of forgiveness (Locke). Stories of finding faith in oneself and the universe (Jack). Stories of sacrifice (Charlie and Sayid).

We all die. Lost became a story about faith. So many mysteries will be left unanswered in our lives, but do we believe in something more powerful than ourselves? Do we believe our loved ones will be waiting on the other side of this reality? Do we have the courage to let go of our past to pursue a better future?

I fumed watching the finale last night. I cried watching the finale today. The finale is poetic. Unfulfilling for my mind, but it spoke to my heart. Jack sacrificing for his friends...finally finding faith...finally letting go...and how can you not love Vincent lying by Jack's side as he leaves this world?

Rewatch the episode. Turn off your brain for a couple of hours, and let the true message of Lost penetrate your heart.

Yep.

Another grandbaby means another quilt!

My daughter and her husband had little Lucy a year ago. So for her 1st birthday I made....what else?..an "I Love Lucy" quilt! I didn't want it to scream the classic tv show, so I used the small red and white heart "ILL" logo fabric, along with other coordinating fabrics.

Here's the result.

I think she likes it :-)

My grandson, who just turned 3, loves the Disney movie "Cars". So for a blanket to keep at my house for his snuggle time when he visits me, I made him a "Cars" quilt.

Now I'm not a talented quilter, but I do enjoy making quilts. And I'm a firm believer that quilts are to be used, not merely displayed. So all those imperfections be darned...have a quilt!!

As of today my grandson has made a tent with it, snuggled on the couch with it while watching "Dora", and hidden under it while I played "Where's Connor?"

I think my quilt is a hit :-)

We now are safely settled in Louisville. And no, our MN house has not sold yet.

So we are renting a townhouse. It has its pluses and minuses, mainly pluses:

It's much smaller, so it's a breeze to clean. It's a rental, so when something breaks (and it already has), we call maintenance and that's that.

It's close to my new church (another story for another day). It's close to shopping, restaurants, theatres and concerts.

My son's family is 15 minutes away so I see my grandson regularly.

There's a great 1.4 mile walking circuit steps from my front door.

Starbuck's is a 5 minute walk...in 2 directions!!

I'm back with my husband!!!!

I just realized I haven't listed any minuses. Yay!