LuLu's Land of the Fey

All the news that bores the pants off anyone who cares.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Tears of Pride

My Grandparents, who live with my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Paul in the southwest corner of Arkansas, have bunny rabbits living in their house. They had two, but, as is often the case with rabbits, they very quickly had eleven. They have pared the litter down to two baby bunnies and the two parent bunnies.

My nine-year-old first-cousin-once-removed (read: my cousin Rhonda's son), Bradley, told his Ag teacer that his 84 year old Great-Grandma told him her rabbits were named Bill and Monica. The reasoning behind this, she told him, is that the girl rabbit was getting too much action to be named Hillary.

I love my Grandma.

.: posted by amy 1:39 PM

Friday, September 03, 2004

The fallabilities of the common Peep

I ran across these websites because I'm a quilter.

I belong to this online quilting guild and people often post pictures of their finished products, links to interesting sites, etc. A lot of the time, I ignore these links because they tend to get tedious. There is this one woman who, it seems, has nothing better to do than to post ten to fifteen times a day with links to all sorts of quilting ephemera. While I appreciated it at first ("My, what useful links!"), after a while I noticed that a) the links she posted were often repeated, as if she were going through a cycle of links that she wanted to make sure everyone had; and b) that, usually, the links went to pages that were not related to any current topics of conversation. It seemed as if she were saying (through her clever use of links), "Look at the obscure links I have access to and that I am so graciously sharing with you out of the goodness of my heart." On top of that, if anyone asked a question, this woman would reply instantly with five to ten links that potentially answered said question. Every time. Who has time for sitting around and looking up stuff all day? Because this is how she operates--no matter what time you ask your question, within an hour or two she has links for you.

Rereading this, I realize two things. One, I sound really petty. I'm not--I don't hate this woman, I just get tired of constantly seeing her name in the digest of quilting emails I get every day. I mean, there are something like 2,500 members in this "guild," so why isn't anyone else posting? I get tired of seeing an endless supply of links to things that I'm not necessarily interested in.

Secondly, I have gotten waaaaaaaay off track, which should be heading in the general direction of Peeps, as the title above suggests. So, long story short, I was reading my quilting email today and saw the link to a woman's photos of finished products. When I decided to go check out her stuff, I noticed she also had a blog. This is kind of an anomaly, as quilters are notorious for not having enough time to sew, much less post their personal stories on the internet. (Which, in retrospect, gives me a little insight into two of my problems above--the other quilters aren't posting because they are busy QUILTING, while this verbose woman is NOT quilting, but rather sitting on her computer all day looking at quilting stuff. Hmmmm.)

Anyway, I started to read her blog, since she seemed like an interesting person and as before mentioned, I don't often see this kind of thing out of quilters. About halfway through I found links to some of the funniest stuff I've seen on the web in a while.

And so without further ado, here are links to Peeps Research, a site that explores the resiliency of that favorite Easter confection, and The Lord of the Peeps: Fellowship of the Peep, something you must see to really appreciate. Those who know me know that I'm not a big LOTR fan, but apparently, if you involve food, I'm there. Finally, here is a link to perhaps the most obsessed person I have ever seen. Must be seen to be believed.

Anyway, hope you enjoy as I did. Sorry for the rant, but if nothing else, I feel better having vented my frustrations. So there.

.: posted by amy 4:19 PM

Friday, August 06, 2004

More geeking

This land is MY land.

(play the video - duh!)

.: posted by amy 11:06 PM

Geeking out for a minute

I've always been interested in Stonehenge, the huge pile of stones in England that have confused and confounded people throughout history. This guy thinks he might have figured out how they got there. I think he may be on to something.

.: posted by amy 10:51 PM

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Baby update

Apparently, when we got our first sonogram about 3 months ago, they changed the due date for Harrison. They neglected to tell us this, and so I've been happily going about thinking that he'd be here the 19th of July. At my last appointment, they did another sonogram to measure him because they though he was running too large for his time, and said that his due date was consistent "with the July 11, as we discussed a few months ago."

This was either not discussed with me, or I was so enraptured with pictures of my little boy that I didn't pay attention (not really that out of the question).

So, long story short, here is his updated timeline.

.: posted by amy 8:31 AM

I'm not nesting, dammit!

So I've got this baby shower coming up this weekend and a few weeks ago I had a great idea. I've been holding on to this decorating magazine for ages--about five years, if I'm not mistaken--and have wanted to try this really cool wallpaper/anti-wallpaper treatment that's in it. Problem is, I'm remarkably lazy and not very motivated. Also, I had to paint paper that would eventually be used to wallpaper the room, and, well, as already stated, I'm remarkably lazy.

So during the last few weeks of the school year, I got my students to paint it for me. Offered them extra credit or some such bribe that I'm sure I never came through on. Whatever.

I knew that I'd need to get it done in the first month of summer since Harrison will be here in the second month and I wouldn't have time or inclination after he arrived. Here's where my great idea comes in: to up the ante, I decided I wanted to get the guest room papered and decorated before the shower so that everyone could "oooh" and "aaaaah" over it and praise me for my keen decorating skills.

So here I am, two days before my shower date when lots of people will be coming into my house and looking around and I've got two wallpapered walls and two semi-painted walls in my guest room (we ran out of wallpaper--don't ask). I've got the bookcase from that room on its side in my hallway and all the books from it in my living room. The bed frame that I conned the home ec class into repainting for me (it started out life looking like a refuge from a garage sale at a Mexican whorehouse--I had to do something) is leaning up against the couch in my living room. The bed that goes on the frame, along with all decorations, art, etc. now resides in my son's future bedroom. I am almost unable to open the baby's room because of how much crap I have crammed in there.

I haven't cleaned house--vaccuuming, sweeping, mopping, dishes, laundry, etc.--in two weeks because I've been so consumed with getting this room finished.

It's going to be a long two days getting the rest of the house ready.

I think I need a nap.

.: posted by amy 8:14 AM

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Fools and Sages

So I've been reading this guy's webpage recently where he shares his philosophies on life and I've been comparing his ideas to my own ideas. He's got some interesting ways of seeing things and points out things that I might not have initially thought of myself.

For example, he says that we learn, not only from the "wise" folk in our lives (teachers, mentors, etc.), but also from the "fools" (in my case, students and the like). While this seems patently obvious, I never really gave it much thought. If I had to be brutally honest, I probably learned more proportionally from the fools than I did from the wise people.

Maybe this is because I feel that I know more "foolish" people than I do truly wise people. I know lots of people who strive for wisdom and knowledge, but in one category of life or another, they fall into foolish thinking. One thing that this guy points out (which I also agree with) is that foolishness is not stupidity, it is merely the "not-knowing better" state of being. I guess it could also be defined as ignorance.

I guess if I had to define true wisdom, it wouldn't be the absense of ignorance, because we are all only human and there is no way to know everything the universe could possibly offer us. Cool as that would be to know "everything," it's just not an option. I would say that one aspect of wisdom is about recognizing that one is ignorant of something and not being hung up on it. To be able to admit ignorance, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

I think another aspect of true wisdom is the ability to know something without the need to let everyone else know that you know that thing. One who brags about all they know probably doesn't know much outside of his own realm of comfort and knowledge. I've known lots of people who were insanely smart in one area--math, science, whatever--but who were social morons or who couldn't string together a complete sentence. Unfortunately, these handicaps didn't stop these people from bragging about all the math/science/whatever they knew. I couldn't get past the fact that they were so obnoxiously out of touch that they didn't recognize their behavior, and so I could never feel that these people were valuable resources of knowledge to whom I could go for help and information. My first thought when these people would approach me was, "Great, now I get to listen to Jethro McHick talk about star formations for hours on end while I wait anxiously for him to take a breath so I can escape to the bathroom. Yippee."

That said, I would definitly have to put myself into the fools category. I have gotten better; my social skills have definitly developed and I'm not the obnoxiously shy, offputting person I was 10 years ago (I hope). I have seen the behaviors of other fools and I think that is where I learned most of my behaviors, only in reverse. For example, one of the most frustrating things about traveling abroad (obnoxious bragging alert!) is seeing other Americans in other countries and the looks they get because of their pompous behavior. As anti-nationalist as it seems, I am always extremely proud when someone from another country thinks I'm European (usually British because, after all, my French is negligible and I'm utterly useless in any other language). It's not that I don't want to be American; I simply don't want to be associated with the way we/they act overseas.

So I'm a fool, but I'm a fool striving for wisdom.

The most wise person I know, then? Tough call, but I'd probably say that my dad is up there. He's not knowledgable of everything there is to know in the universe by any stretch of the imagination. He's not college educated--he's barely high school educated. However, what he knows, he knows in his marrow, in his blood cells, in his breath. The things he doesn't know he has no pretensions about. He's not afraid to ask for help in a situation, be it either the best way to configure a computer or how to pronounce a word. I feel lucky that I was raised by him and hope that I can be as wise as he someday. I also feel pretty psyched since he's influencing one-quarter of my son's genes; I hope that my son is just like my dad.

.: posted by amy 10:26 PM

Monday, March 29, 2004

I have a sickness

I know these little "How far along" bars are getting obnoxious, but I can't seem to help myself. And as a pregnant woman who is full of raging hormones, frankly, I don't give a rat's booger if you're bored with them. It's cute, and dammit, that's enough for me. :)

.: posted by amy 9:14 PM

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Joy

For the first time last night, I felt something "real" in this pregnancy. I've peed on the stick, but for all I know, both of the tests I took could have been defective. I've heard the heartbeat at my doctor's office, but for all I know, she could have the sounds programmed into the Dopplar machine she uses to hear the baby and could be simply placating the crazy lady (that would be me, if you haven't guessed already). I've gained a lot of weight, but that could be that I've been eating like a carb-glutted pig.

But last nigt, I felt something "real." I was laying on my side (the only position comfortable anymore since laying on my back causes the baby--or my massive weight gain, if I'm going with the "no real baby" theory-- to press down on my Vena Cava vein, which cuts off circulation to my legs--fun). I was thinking about how cool it is that I'm almost half way through this pregnancy and how it seems to have flown by so quickly. Suddenly, I felt *something* in my stomach. I quickly ran through the options of what it could be: gas? Nah, wasn't that, much to the joy of my husband. Wuss. Stomach "talking"? Nope, totally different feeling. Alien in my chest ready to burst out? Nope, although the weird dreams I've been having lately and watching Alien the other day make me doubt.

Baby kicking? It appears so. I can only describe it as feeling like a kernel of popcorn went off in my gut. Small, but definitly there. I wasn't sure if it was really what I thought it was, though, so I waited and, sure enough, a few minutes later I felt it again. This time I woke up Robert and let him share the joy. The "popping" was way too light for him to feel yet, but having experienced this much makes me look forward to the day that he gets to feel it too (from the outside, of course).

I feel so blessed, and I finally feel like I have outward (kind of) proof that there's really a baby there who will be joining me in about 145 days. I go to get my sonogram in a few weeks and I'll have further proof (and hopefully an idea of the sex of the baby so can stop calling him/her "it").

Yay!

.: posted by amy 10:09 PM

Sunday, February 22, 2004

In case you were wondering...