WE'VE GOT TO DO BETTER THAN THIS!

What do the following celebrities have in common?

Reba McEntire (1955 -)
Dirk Bogarde (1921 - )
Dianne Wiest (1948 - )
Vince Vaughn (1970 - )
Edmund Muskie (1914 - 1996)
Click here for complete Biography
Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928 -)

They were all born on March 28th, just like me. This is depressing. I mean, with the exception of Reba, who is kinda cute, these are the least charismatic people I've ever heard of. And I don't even know who Vince Vaughn is!

Your assignment - starting about June 15th, and continuing for the next month or so, I want everybody who can to work on conceiving more exciting people. By this day 25 years from now, I want that list of people born today to SPARKLE!

No more tepid celebrities! Just lots of exciting, creative, FUN people!

---

Update - I knew there had to be more interesting people than the above.

From ThinkExist
St. Teresa of Avila
A lot of writers I never heard of - hey, that's like me!
Russell Banks, writer (at least I've read his stuff)
Julia Styles (now we're talking - and, just like me, she's cute)
August Anheuser Busch, Jr. (I may have a beer on that one)
Lucy Lawless (I may kick some a$$ on that one)

OK, I'm feeling a little better about this, but I still am holding everyone to the assignment.

MIDWAY THROUGH A THOROUGH CLEANING

I started off Thursday on a strong note. I cleared out a caseful of old videotapes, and sorted them into several stacks:

• Classics
  
• Business-related
  
• Educational/school
  
• Fitness
  
• Family/personal
  

I'm left with about 30 tapes that appear to be blank/partly used/unimportant. However, I need to go through them to make sure, before I consign them to the tape-over stack.

So, I'll be spending some time this weekend watching old tapes. I have a strong feeling that this may be a weekend I get seriously sidetracked (not hard for a S.H.E.).

YIPPEE! A DAY AT HOME

I didn't get called in to sub today, as I just returned from an out-of-town funeral. So, I'll finally have a "free" day to clean up. I just have to discipline myself enough to get going, and stay off the computer long enough to clear out the backlog of junk.


If you haven't done so, check out the FlyLady web site. It's probably done the most to move me from apathetic and disorganized to beginning to get on top of the mountain of chaos I'd managed to surround myself with.

They have an easy-to-follow program for control, an email daily reminder list that really helps, and various resources that are nifty. I don't use their famous feather duster, but that's because I have a MAJOR feather allergy.

The program divides your home into zones that you concentrate on each week. By focusing on a single area, and doing minimal cleaning otherwise, you gradually make progress. This week's zone is the Master Bedroom.

Some thoughts from the site:

many of us have the same fundamental problems: we don't pick up after ourselves, we don't get dressed unless we have to, and we procrastinate

That was me. I still tend to fall into that pattern of behavior, and it really helps to have the daily reminders. When an occasional crisis hits, like a death in the family, I can always do what I did - hit the delete key on the messages, and don't even read them until my life calms down again. Then, when I am ready, I just pick up the routine again.

Funny thing, even though I deliberately took myself off the daily readings, I had clearly built some routines. Every day, I took care of things that 6 months or a year ago, I would have left undone. Over time, I have developed some good house habits.

A HOUSEWIFE JUST LIKE ME

I Googled "housewife", and (after filtering out all the porn) found Then Again, by Mary Beth Hicks, who confesses:

When it comes to photos, there are two kinds of parents: those who take pictures and those of us who ask other parents to snap pictures of our kids and send them to us if they get the chance.

Yup, that's me. I'm better now that I have access to digital cameras, but I still manage to lose the cameras (somewhere in the house is a webcam, very small).

Another column:

A truism about bickering is: The intensity of the argument increases disproportionately with the importance of the subject. Ergo, the topic that causes the most vitriolic -- albeit empty -- bickering is the seating arrangement in the van. Seriously.

Anyone with more than one child knows what I'm talking about.

And that's the crux of the issue. Multiple children. Mothers of one can't relate. Even mothers of two have limits on the fussing - partly because they haven't reached the magic numbers of 3 or more.

At that point, I realized, they outnumber you and your husband.

And, they have added the 3-dimensional game of 2 against 1. The teams switch players occasionally, but the game continues.

I consoled myself for years that it was good preparation for office politics.

Funnily, it turned out to be just that. My kids are not dismayed by encountering someone who is "out to get them" - been there, done that.

As adults, they generally get along. They fuss, but they also have great times together.

I MAY BE OVER-BOOKED

I'm beginning to feel like a Martha Stewart - on steroids. Not in the area of housekeeping, but in blogging.

I've created several blogs:

• The main one - Right As Usual - which I post to regularly
  
• Technology in Teaching - less regular posting, but I am working on setting up a schedule for updates
  
• The Family site - VERY irregular at present
  
• Not-So Desparate Housewife - created, but few posts, as yet
  

It's easy to see why I post most regularly to Right as Usual. Just about every one of my posts is created because I'm in a state of venting about current topics. They are written fast, and get stuff off my chest.

But I feel that the other blogs are important, as well. So, I will be making a greater effort to post regularly.

For this blog, I will commit to at least once a week posting for now.

AN OLD IDEA THAT IS WORTH RE-VISITING

As I'm sitting here in the middle of the night, I'm wrapped in a shawl I knitted this winter.

Shawls are an accessory that us Yankees should take up again. They were popular in the pre-20th century, but fell out of fashion - probably about the time central heating became a common feature in most new homes. Occasionally, fashionistas will revive alternative styles (poncho, scarves, shrugs, etc.), but the classic triangle or half-circle type that drapes over the shoulders and upper arms is both easy to make, and comfortable, as well.

The link in the title takes you to a site that shows the classic Paisley shawls of the Victorian ers.

I invented the style I'm wearing now (similar to the type pictured above):

It's approximately 6 feet from side to side, and covers from neck to just below the waist.

I made it as simple to knit as possible:

For 5-6 rows, use large needles and a popcorn-type stitch (alternate knitting and purling, every other row). Then, knit 2, purl 2, decreasing at the ends gradually. You have to play around with how much to decrease it, until you get the shape you want. When complete, it should cover your upper arms, back, and as much of the forearms as you want to - be a little generous with the width, you can adjust the drape. The ribs give it a relaxed fit.

It's great for sedentary work, which makes it ideal for updating your blog.

The trick for making a comfortable shawl is to make it a loose knit, which traps body heat, but isn't bulky or heavy.

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING

Bree is my husband's favorite. She's cool, competent, and red-headed (as am I - OK, at least that last part).

If you'd asked me (or probably anyone else in America) whether this show would even be started, let along last longer than 3 episodes, we'd have weighed in heavily on the negative. The day of the housewife seemed as dead as the dodo.

But, surprise, it's an outrageous hit!

So, what's the attraction to the admittedly retro show? Well, I can think of several things:

• It does provide a non-child (I can't honestly call it adult) humor situation, based on stuff that kids will not generally find funny.
  
• The "housewives" are sensational-looking.
  
• Their lives are emotionally complicated, but nicely cleaned and decorated.
  
• The problems they face are so far outside normal reality, it provides a break from RL - blackmail, murder, home prostitution, etc. This is as far from "reality" as "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor".
  
• The clothes - even the frumpiest are color-coordinated. And their hair never needs washing.
  
• They have paid helpers. I want that!
  
• They never seem to clean house! But, their homes are always clean! How do they do that?
  
• Better, how do they persuade their husbands to pay for the domestic help?
  
• Not to mention the cost of the face and body lifts. Those non-droopy body parts don't come cheap!
  

Well, I have many more questions and comments, but I need to get ready for my temp job, so come back tomorrow.