Saintly

Today is Saint Andrews Day!!!!  St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland.  I've been wearing blue and white all week. He was an apostle, a fisherman, and the brother of Simon Peter.  Some of his relics ended up in Saint Andrews (the city in Scotland) and he became the patron saint of Scotland.  The saltire cross of St Andrew is the Scottish Flag.

The Wikipedia article on St Andrew states: "According to legend, in 832 AD, Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles, led by Æthelstan, near modern-day Athelstaneford, East Lothian. The legend states that whilst engaged in prayer on the eve of battle, Óengus vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. On the morning of battle white clouds forming an X shape in the sky were said to have appeared. Óengus and his combined force, emboldened by this apparent divine intervention, took to the field and despite being inferior in terms of numbers were victorious. Having interpreted the cloud phenomenon as representing the crux decussata upon which Saint Andrew was crucified, Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland on the basis of this legend."

It's enough to state that I completely miss my future homeland.  Oh Scotland...I miss you!

Retro That!

I did a few things I have not done in a while - I tested out being retro...of myself!

I busted out the journal, my knitting needles (with the same scarf I've been knitting since 2008 still on them), and my 8 Minute workout DVDs. After knitting for a bit, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep right away at 9pm. I woke up at 4:15am and after attempting to fall asleep again until 5:45am, I decided to get up and work out. Ouch does my body hurt (buns, thighs, arms, abs, stretch, and pilates).

I have to admit, I miss knitting. I used to do it all the time but my wrist tendinitis makes it sucky! I'm going to get back into it and just take it slowly.

Test out being retro! And pick up something you used to do all the time and just haven't done in a while!

Death, Love, Death

So I have finished quite a few books in the last week.

I finished the book about death and traditions since the beginning of time to now. I'll have to get back to you with the author and full title...it slips my mind at the moment. It was a really interesting book - I would have never known that there was so much debate on death and the afterlife. Some of the traditions behind death were really interesting as well. I had no idea that it wasn't until more modern times that people actually started burying people and leaving them in the ground. Equally astounding is how much harm cremation is doing to the environment - many mountainous places in Wales and Scotland have asked people not to spread their ashes there since it is destroying the habitat/ecosystem. There's also a "Green" burial where you get buried in a cardboard box and have a tree or other kind of plant placed as a marker/headstone. Personally, I always thought it would be cool to be but on a boat with a bunch of kindling (herbs and pine boughs) and lit on fire as I was pushed out to sea. I don't know why I find that idea so intriguing and interesting.

I also finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I really enjoyed this book, even if it did make me slightly depressed while reading it. It was really interesting to see her shift between the 3 stages of eating, praying, and learning how to love. Her journey was really interesting to hear and inspiring. It was inspiring to see someone struggle to get out of the darkness that had begun to surround their life. It can be a scary thing to stand up and say: "I'm not happy."






I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Just a side note - that boy be CUTE! Anyways, I was reading it slowly and surely...until I realized that I needed to have it done by this Thursday. I read quite a bit last Friday as I sat around with my grammy. I drove home, hung out with my family, and when I went home around 10:30 I started to read again. I didn't want to put it down and I ended up finishing sometime around 3:30am. It was nice though, it has been a while since I've stayed up the majority of a night just to read a book! The story of Leisle is so depressing and yet touching. Leisle is put in the foster care system of Germany around 1939 when her communist mother can no longer take care of her and her brother. On their way to their new family, Leisle's brother ends up dying. After the burial of her brother and her first time stealing a book, she ends up on Himmel Street with Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans is a perfectly loving father and he dotes upon Leisle. He teaches her to read and spends almost all of his nights coming to comfort Leisle after her reoccurring nightmare. Leisle develops a deep love for Hans, books, and her best friend Rudy. The story is told from death's perspective and he tells the painful story of Leisle's life in Nazi Germany. I am really excited to discuss this at book club.

How Beautiful She Looked

This last week kept me busy - work and migraines and holidays...oh my!

I haven't really watched all that many movies recently either.  I went back and I watched some bad Nick Cage movie and 13 Going on 30. I read a lot this week too - my book group (aka me) picked a 500 some paged book to read in 2 weeks (with a holiday in between). 

I have to say my favorite thing I got to watch this week was my grandma.  Everyone had left and it was just her and I and the dog sitting and reading.  Boys had headed into the woods, kids went to stores and aunt's places, and grandpa went out to through tools around in the garage...we got the house to ourselves.  She eventually tired and began to snore in her chair.  Her hands twitched with little movements and she breathed in and out through her mouth until she'd suddenly inhale through her nose and blow a noisy puff from between her lips.  Her book hung delicately on her chest as she continued to inhale and exhale.  The sleeping dog on the floor began to mimic her motions as his legs began to twitch with his dream world.  I sat silently, with a book in my lap and tears streaming down my face.  I thought about how beautiful she was and how much I'm going to miss her, how that stupid cancer is riddling its way through her body and 4 of her organs, and how much I wish I was still tiny enough to crawl into her lap and rock like I used to.

John Cusack Has a Mullet

Yup - I'm watching Serendipity at this moment...because it is on and I am bored....all I keep thinking is: John Cusack has a Mullet.  It honest to God looks like a Mullet.  It's better than Twilight that is on the channel above...and The Mummy ended a little bit ago (I love Brendan Fraser!) and I refuse to watch the Walking Dead...I have scary enough dreams as it is.  Te he.

This weekend our family movie was The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  It was a rather cute movie...but it was lacking something.  It had beautiful, wonderful Johnny Depp (I still can't get over how beautiful his eyes are!) but it was very anticlimactic. The funniest part in the whole movie was the line: "I support the missionary's position."  My mom and I had a hearty laugh at that but both of us thought it was lacking - not very memorable. The story of the fountain of youth should have been better - it seemed like they tried too hard to make it very dramatic and it just fell flat.





Oh my - I am having way too much fun watching Serendipity!  Well off to eat dinner and watch my romantic movie....where John Cusack has a mullet!  Look at it ----------->  Mullet-tastic! lols

It's getting hot in here!

It's kind of funny (not really) how fast a dark mood can set in on you and then dissipate. I went to bed Wednesday with the thought: "I'm just going to wash today off my skin and go on with life." The next morning I woke up and was perfectly content.

So my book club was last night. Only one person showed up. Oh well! It was still fun and I wouldn't have picked a better person to spend the night with - we picked The Book Thief as our first book. I'm excited and the next one should bring 2 more people to our group.

I've been working out and using the posture pump this week. Posture pump is a contraption that helps put the curve back into your neck. The cervical section of my spine goes in the other direction! The addition of a humidifier to my room at night has made and extreme difference in my health as well. I'm still hotter than hot at night. It stays 74 in my apartment at all times (I don't even have my heat on!!!!). I have consistently woken up around 4am every morning just to open my window because I am so hot. I am about ready to walk downstairs and tell the guys that live below me that they at least need to turn down their heat at night. I didn't even sleep under the covers last night in my light pajamas and I still had to wake up and open a window!

Fear and Self Loathing

So today I was confronted by this cute little old man as the "single one."  As if it were some horrible sin that I should be single.  Today was bad enough to begin with.  There is a line from a song I love and it goes like this: "Darkness is a harsh term don't you think, and yet it dominates the things I see."  Today was one of those days were everything was a shade of black.  I don't know if listening to all the depression and issues in Eat, Pray, Love is getting to me, but I was not a happy person this morning.  I hated life, I hated my job, and most of all - I hated myself.  The pretty, but can't quite be beautiful girl that is too clever for her own good and somehow completely unlovable and easily forgettable.  I kept pushing those things from my mind but pop, pop, pop - up they'd come again.  Like mental vomit - I honestly felt sick.  This single comment added to it - failure me still can't get a man!  What a pity for someone as cute as me to be single.  The "Daily Challenge" that popped into my inbox the other day was to genuinely compliment someone - I scoffed as I thought, I can't honestly compliment myself about anything. What can I do right?!?  I'm just the ugly, unrefined, unmarried, and unaccomplished.  Am I just afraid of me - fearful of accepting myself? 

Stalk What You Love

There is something so refreshing about stalking.  Yes, I said it: STALKING.  I haven't done it lately, but I love finding every youtube video with Mumford and Sons in it.  I am obsessed.  I can't believe it has been over a year since I have seen them.  I started out just youtubing the heck out of the band.  I couldn't get enough.  This song, Lover of the Light, was honestly the reason I fell in love with them...and furthermore, Marcus.  There is something so incredibly powerful and vulnerable in his performance of this song.



After I bought the MP3s, the Deluxe CD, and even 2 of their LPs - I kind of lost track of stalking them via Youtube.  Well, I am back at it and boy do I have a plethora of new songs to watch now that they have been touring and are about to put out a new record. So enjoy...maybe you'll go stalk your favorite band and find out what they have been up to lately!

 

It's sad, but I just thought about how much my former lingustics professor would geek out at the use of youtubing as a verb...kind of like he did over facebook being used as a verb!

Eat, Pray, Love or Die or Speak French

I haven't finished reading a book this week. I am nearly done with my book on death traditions and I have just started "Book 2" of Eat, Pray, Love. The title for this post is based off the fact that the writer of Eat, Pray, Love is always titling a section or so with three different titles; e.g. Happiness or Laziness or Business.

I am exhausted after working, working out, and doing French homework with my sister. I now need sleep...and I have to run 2 humidifiers to make it through the night without a bloody bloody nose! Night

Sweet

I recently just got into a show called Sweet Genius.  It is really interesting.  It's like Chopped, except with desserts.  Yummy!

The most recent movie I watched was The Zookeeper.  That movie was funny beyond funny.  It had some of those moments, like Bridesmaids, where it was almost too painful to watch.  The zoo animals of the zoo decide to help their zookeeper get a mate.  His ex-girlfriend is back in the picture and they are trying to help him get her back...animal style.

I am a little concerned as to why Kevin James is always the "nerdy fat" guy that can't have a hot girl for a girlfriend/spouse.  His TV show was about how he somehow landed a hot chick, in Hitched he needed help landing the hot chick because she was out of his league, and now this movie too.   The effing ton weighing gorilla picks a chick up at the bar faster than Kevin James.  It's like fat is a handicap in the US culture. Guys, most girls are not that shallow and infinitely prefer a SWEET guy to an hot jerk.

That's so Medieval

Ok. I'm giving up on craig's list for the night. That site can be deadly! It is kind of like the vortex of Facebook. You can't escape!

Today I def. ingested too much coffee which put me a little on edge. Not to mention my shoulder is KILLING me. I do not know how I am going to make it through 1ooos of cookies this weekend. I don't think I can scoop that much.

Relationships are meh. Book club starting...don't know if anyone will show up. Especially since my co-leader can't come anymore.

Health - caught cold; however, swallowing plan honey actually does help.

Career - I about ripped off someone's face this morning. Yet again, drank too much coffee when I usually drink none. I'm really beginning to get sick of being constantly compared to the person who had me job earlier this year. I wasn't trained by this person, nor was I really trained by the person who was trained by her....I wasn't really trained at all. In fact, I was left alone at the desk my 3rd day on the job. So I really get sick of "Well so and so always did it this way." That's the way that so and so did this." I admit I cried a bit, talked it out with my mommy and felt better after reading the Heifer International Magazine. Really, I wish I could be a humanitarian aid person. I'd love to go out and help everyone...I probably just don't have the right credentials. I could move to a country where they still have nuns - not like very many nuns in the history of the church have actually adhered to the faith that supports them. Most of them were just the extra kids aristocrats had and couldn't support - so they "donated" them to the church. I used to have a dream when I was younger that I was Mother Teresa. How weird...last night I dreamed I was / was watching Shia LaBeouf in a rather weird movie. He/I ended up locking ourselves into a port-a-potty to escape the cops. This is slightly more interesting than my dream where I was looking for health insurance and slightly less exciting when I was some kind of medieval princess being swirled around in a gorgeous dress in this glorious hall by a gorgeous man. I guess that is what you get for reading about medieval funeral rights before bed.

Cheers to the Games

I was all set to write yesterday...and then my internet didn't work.  As I was already snug in my pjs under the blankets there was no way I was venturing out again.  I ended up doing my budget instead (what fun!).  I'm so excited that I'll have both of my credit cards and my two new sofas paid off by the end of the year! 

This weekend my aunt and I went exploring our local thrift store - I got two glass mugs (perfect for hot toddies or hot chocolate)  and a wine glass for storing my q-tips.  It sounds a bit odd, but it works! Kind of like these ones...only a shorter stem. I also ended up getting a few games there - Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, and Disney Trivia.  I'm really excited about the Disney game...maybe that makes me a little sad....maybe that makes me SUPER COOL (I'd like to think the latter).  The Trivial Pursuit ended up being so old that my parents hardly recognized the actors in the Pop Culture section (try Olivia de Havilland

- I know who she is because she's in my fav. movie, but I had no idea she had a sister actress let alone what a sister actress was!).  We ended up getting everyone to play (except my one sour puss brother) and it was amazing the learning as well as the fun that was occurring.  Having to take words from a card and then think about how to convey that in pictures to someone else really made my ESL (English as a Second Language) siblings have to think and comprehend words in order for them to draw them.  I think this might
be a fun new way to help them learn and understand English words.
 We might have to implement family game night more often!

 Anyways, I think I have managed to pick up whatever bug one of the kids has been walking around with - fever, cough, sniffles.  I have a horrendous headache right now and would very much like to not have it. This coupled with the first snow of the season has left me a little - bluafh;awoieu.  Yes, that is a literal term - it's meaning is general and broad...encompassing anything you'd like to throw into the mix. As I ran through the sheets of rain this morning, I wasn't planning on having to scrape off my car at lunch.  This weather in Wisconsin can be so flighty.

Resistance to the Assassin's Accomplice

Boy - I have been bad about posting. My Internet has been a little iffy lately, so...still no excuse. 

This weekend I watched Brigadoon.  It was fantastic.  It still makes me want to have a day where I just randomly burst into song an dance. Gene Kelly is so fantastic!  Get it, watch it.  That is all I can say.

I finished reading The Assassin's Accomplice, Resistance, and I started (and am almost finished with) Hatchet.

The Assassin's Accomplice by Kate Clifford Larson was really interesting.  It is definitely a burst to the bubble if, like me, you watched The Conspirator and loved it.  The "real" story is quite a bit different and Mary Surrat is more guilty than she appears in the movie.  The movie version definitely takes on the Southern sympathizer/sympathizers to the female state. It was really interesting hearing all the details, conspiracies, and rumors about the trial and the conspirators. 

Resistance by Agnes Humbert was an interesting story of French resistance during WWII.  Agnes was very involved in organizing one of the first resistance groups in Paris and in creating links.  She took the group from merely writing a resistance newspaper to smuggling documents (like maps).  She was a very strong woman that lasted 4 years in prison for her workings in the resistance movement.  She spent a year in French prison and then was deported to Germany to a labor camp.  The vicious work was horrible on the eyes and hands.  The cruelty of the guards was also a hardship to deal with - thirst can drive people to the brink!  I liked the book and her triumph through resistance, but she annoyed with me by stating about a man on the bus: "There will not be room for that kind of person in the "new France."  It made me angry because what was separating her from the Nazis she so adamantly was protesting against.

I loved the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen when I was younger.   I'm not quite finished!  So I'm off to finish reading it!

Victorians

I honestly cannot think of anything to right about right now.  My mind is a complete blank.  My dream last night was pretty weird though - it was a mix of Criminal Minds and The Assassin's Accomplice.  I was part of the plot to assassinate the president and the Criminal Minds team was tracking us down.  My dress was fantastic though - ugh, I wish I lived in the Victorian Era!

Halloween Aftermath

Wow - I seriously only ate like 5 pieces of candy yesterday (the small fun sized ones) and today I've felt like tossing my cookies - that could also be the extreme migraine I've had since 3am. I am off to sleep again. Night!