T-13: China Needed for 1st T-Giving @ My House

Thirteen Things pieces of China I still need… for the first Thanksgiving at my place.1. Four more place settings, (the most expensive part!) I have my eye on an EBay auction. 2. Large Platter 3. Small Platter 4. Glasses: water/ tumbler, six 5. Vegetable Bowl, Large 6. Soup/Cereal Bowls, six 7. Accent Plate, six 8. mathcing table cloth, linens 9. Silver and ivory (cheap accent plates) 10. Pasta Bowl, six 11. Sugar Bowl & Lid 12. Gravy Boat 13. Salt & Pepper Shakers [IMG]http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h91/pen63/CourtyardPlatinumLENOXChina.jpg[/IMG] Good thing I live by a Lenox outlet!

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Original Content

6th grade science  – - – we are studying soil and I introduced two days ago (outloud, honest) that microbes and worms are at work in the topsoil and they benefit the plants in the topsoil.

I asked a question today and this is the answer:
STDT: “The micro-bees…..”
*this is me NOT laughing*
TCHR: “Microbes.”
*this is me keeping it together, barely*
STDT: “Yeah, the microbes…..”

Ah, original content, that almost makes the whole gig worthwhile!

Five Favorite Folks

1. My Husband
   He is so much like me, but with some stellar qualities I do not want to posses.  He can fix anything, just ask him.  He is brave beyond what I think I capable of being.
2. My Dad
   I loved that he would yell so loud at every meet I ever had.  If he missed one or two I hardly noticed, because I knew he was cheering for me anyway.  He had high standards for me and was not embarrassed at appearing ‘hypocritical,’ he was busy being a parent & wanted better for me.  I loved him first & I love him still.
3. Uncle Lonnie
   (AKA my kindred spirit) Talking to him is like reading a reading motivational book.  He can talk things through with me and is not threatened by my differing ideas.  He always has something to talk about that I am interested in, I just like talking to him every chance I get.
4. Coach Phelps
   He was better than a great coach, he was there for me when my family couldn’t be, he modeled a great attitude for life and I love his willingness to grow and change.  He was an excellent just-in-time role model.
5. Grandma Bailey
   She does not talk about people.  I mean it, at all.  Who does that anymore?  She is someone I would never want to disappoint…ever.  I think that much of her, I love her so much for not giving me everything I wanted or putting up with crap when I was a kid.  I knew she loved me as much as anyone who might have been tempted to do such things, but she made the right call not to try & solve my childhood with things/money.  I love her.

Why aren’t you Reading……Top Thirteen Books to Read

Thirteen Thirteen Books You Should Read Friday Night Lights, (of course the book is better than the movie…God help us now with the TV show!) This is such a vivid description of what it must be like to be a part of a team that is an empire. Favorite Quote? “…the words of a father with a son who had gone to Permian and had later become a world class sprinter in track. He saw the irresistible allure of High School sports but he also saw the inevitable danger in adult’s living vicariously through their young. And he knew of no candle that burned out more quickly than that of the High School athlete. ‘Athletics lasts for such a short period of time. It ends for people. But while it lasts, it creates this make believe world where normal rules don’t apply. We build this false sense atmosphere. When it;s over and the harsh reality sets in, that;s the real joke we play on people….’ Everybody wants to experience that superlative moment and being an athlete can give you that. It’s Camelot for them. But there’s even life after it.” That resonates with me everytime I read it. My Losing Season This book shows the power of a good coach, the importance and what happens to a team that does not have a good coach…. It reminds me of a quote from another Pat Conroy book, Prince of Tides:”A coach occupies a high place in a boy’s life. If they are lucky, good coaches can become the perfect, unobtainable fathers that young boys dream about and rarely find in their own homes.” The Water is Wide It is all about this first year teacher (in Georgia) and how he learns to deal with crap….see my favorite quote. Failure is Not an Option Remember watching the Tom Hanks Apollo XIII movie? This is by the guy in the white vest & it is EXCELLENT! Remember the scene from the movie where they “have to fit a square peg in a round hole“? Well, the WHOLE BOOK is riddled with those goosebump moments…..from Mercury to Apollo. Longitude; The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Wow, this combines old world Europe and science in the old country…….fab read! Undaunted Courage Stephen Ambrose is an all time fav, true, but the story itself! Jefferson dreamed such a big dream and Lewis & Clark carried out the seemingly impossible. All the scientific details of “undiscovered” flora and fauna – - – amazing! The Giver This book is set in a utopia and will blow your mind. Drop me a line when you read about the apple. All Harry Potter books – Don’t make me explain that they are not evil, they are well written and have gotten MANY children to turn MANY pages. 1776 This gave me a new appreciation for the fragility of the American Revolution from a military point of view – - and it drew me straight into the recent The Revolution Sunday evening episodes on the History Channel. This is only a history of that one year, but includes details I did not retain from American History. The DaVinci Code Okay, I do love a good controversy – it involves The Church too as a bonus! Seriously, you set in Europe, invoke centuries past, and write a good narrative on top of it and I will buy it. The Poisonwood Bible Yes, I found it through Oprah. This combines a few interesting themes for me: missionaries and colonial Africa…… a good historically based fiction read. Anything by Jane Austen (start with Pride & Prejudice, end with Emma); all young girls shoudl read this during middle school and beyond…….. I love Mr. Darcy! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

If you have to ask if it is terrorism, maybe it is.

The Yankees lost a pitcher in Cory Lidle today in a freak accident involving a plane and a hig rise building in New York City today.

And, yes, everyone else DID have the same reaction you did when they first heard about it…..”was it terrorism?”

It does not look like an intentional incident (I will insert a reference to the Detroit Tigers HERE after this initial solemn feeling wears off), but what is most interesting to me is that five years afer 9-11 we are still waiting for the next, seemingly ineviable attack.   Collectively we do not seem stronger, safer or more secure color coded advisories or not. 

If every time something happens that used to be just a tragedy we not have the knee jerk reaction that it coudl be terrorism, isn’t it a type of terrorism already?

T13 – How to Make A Democrat

Caroline Langston – NPR’s All Things Considered – had a very interesting audio article about how she had shifted her political views over the course of growing wise (AKA ‘older).  I agree with a good bit of what she has to say, save the obvs. . .

So, she got me thinking about how I shifted myself into the positions I find myself defending lately…..Here are the top things that have pushed me toward the liberal spot I find myself in nowadays…

Thirteen Things about YOUR NAME My husband was in the military and I teach in a public school. The bumper sticker says it all: “…when schools have all the money they need, and the military has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber…” People are trying to overturn Roe vs. Wade; *checking my calendar* what decade is this? I have had government cheese and powdered milk. I watched my younger brother & sister sit on a Santa’s lap at the union hall one Christmas and get ‘decent’ gifts. My mother & father would always vote just to “cancel each other out.” Education in a liberal arts college opened my eyes to new types of people I hadn’t even read about in books. I read a lot of good books, and believe it or not, watched a lot of good television. I voted yes on a union confidence vote when I was anything but confident striking was best for my budget, but felt that solidarity and knew it was right for my conscience. My father and mother worked countless part time jobs for things like health benefits. I believe in opportunities, for everyone. I know that life is fragile and it is our charge to protect the weakest among us, because we are all going to be weak at some time in this life. I built houses, boiled water to use, ate whatever they offered me and could squat & hit a dime in a third world country. My father made $19,xxx the year that I filled out my financial aid forms for a college that cost just about that much per year. I was accepted & the government paid for it. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants