Very important lesson

So Amber and I have been trying to be very proactively healthy this semester. And so we've been trying new things in the line of healthiness (special thanks to Trader Joe's for moving into the city so we can play with various foods that have the words 'healthy' slapped on them. Just kidding, we're doing more research on it then that) Amber is a lot better about researching the stuff and I show moral support by eating it with her. So yesterday she found a recipe for brownies with black beans as substitution for flour. She whipped up a batch while I did research for my Theology 1 paper. She used stevia instead of sugar and put nutella swirled on the top for extra appetizing delightful visual effects. The smell of chocolate.nutella wafted around her cozy apartment while I researched various views on angels and demons throughout history.

Here are the scrumptious LOOKING results. Unfortunately we didn't get much past cutting it, because we tried the crumbs. Well she forgot to check the difference between stevia and sugar. So when you ate it, an overpowering taste of black beans hit, then a hint of chocolate, then an overpowering taste of stevia. So we decided not to eat it. :-) Oh well. Out of all our experiments, this is the first failure. So our ratio isn't so bad, but this was a definite, absolute failure :-)

Otherwise

It was nice being back in the English class today after two weeks of absence. However they all made me jealous, because last week they had everyone bring food from their home countries, and of course that was the week that I was gone in D.C.! However we decided that we will have another party in May the week of Graduation, and they said they would also celebrate my graduation with me! So pretty excited.

We were discussing the weather today, and were trying to communicate the concept of hot, dry, humid, cold, wet, etc. I wrote the word 'Umbrella' on the white board and drew a picture. Do you know how hard it is for Chinese and Koreans to pronounce the word umbrella? We had to spend a few minutes breaking down the syllables just so they could wrap their mouths around 'b,' 'r' and 'l', which just happen to be three of the four hardest consonants for Asians to say! Then I tried to communicate the concept of humidity. Ha! That one was a little easier because they are all from countries that have humidity. But then I made a mistake and wrote a sentence on the white board for us to all say together to practice pronunciation: If it is raining you will need an umbrella, otherwise you will get wet.' First mistake: What is the difference between 'will' and 'is'? Will is future tense of course and is = present tense. However when the majority of your communication is through hand signals and drawn pictures on the white board, how do you communicate this? So we kept saying, 'future,' 'to come,' and tossing our hands hopefully indicating future, and saying, 'is,' 'present' 'now,' and pointing to the ground or our wrists for time that is right now. They eventually got it.


But then all the Chinese began jabbering together and pointing to the white board, and finally one little old lady shuffled up to it and banged her finger on the word 'otherwise.'
Otherwise?
Now you don't think about 'otherwise' being such a profound word or concept, but try explaining it to a bunch of senior-adults whose vocabulary consists mainly of 'good morning teacher, how are you,' and a smattering of other off-the-wall vocabulary words and its quite the challenge!
We tried writing 'because,' and 'then' but they weren't satisfied until I just erased all of the words and wrote 'OR' in big letters.
Altogether it was really fun. However it never ceases to amaze me which words they comprehend immedietly, and which ones befuddle and baffle them endlessly :-)

I demand cheesepuffs!

Today at Friendship they were short-staffed in the nursery/daycare, so I opted to help out there instead of teaching English like I usually do.
Parenting is an art form, science, and stranger than science fiction. Okay granted it will be easier when its just one-on-one and not a flock of a dozen bi-lingual ducklings all the same age, but still.
They have free breakfast downstairs and I hadn't eaten anything, so I brought it back into the playroom with the 2-4 year olds. One little boy came and put his elbows on the table and grinned at me charmingly.
'That's mine.' he said, with all the smooths suave possible.
'Nope. It's mine.' I replied and smiled. He blinked. This was apparently not the usual response he was used to. He tried again, as maybe it was just a fluke.
'That is my food.' again, the dashing, charming smile.
'Nope. Its my food. And I am going to eat it all, and you can't have any.' I retorted politely. Yes, I was getting sadistic delight in being ornery and contrary and not having anyone quote some doctrine or theological retort followed by an exhortation for my sanctification. Unfortunately this poor kid was getting the brunt of it. However, he was not to be deterred.
'That's mine.' he said pointing at my coffee. Smart kid, willing to compromise. However, no way I'm giving a charming, calm 3 year old caffeine!
'That is my coffee. You can't have it. You can have juice, but not coffee.'
"I demand juice." a little voice chirped behind me. I turned and a tiny little girl bundled in a snow coat was looking at me with the seriousness of a United Nations Diplomat discussing human trafficking.
"You what?"
"I demand juice." she repeated.
'you demand juice?'
'Yes. I demand juice.'
Now, my friend Amber has told me about this child and her vocabulary, so I assumed it was unique to her. However, as the day progressed, either all the kids heard her and noticed the positive results, or that is just how one says it in Hindi. Or they've learned that asking doesn't yield the same results as demanding with a stone-cold face.
One little boy liked bringing me a book and having me point to the various animals, and we would say their names and the sounds that they made. Or we'd say colors and shapes. However the rest of them caught on and all would try to close the book I was reading and shove the book of their choice into my hands.
'but this mickey mouse!!' they would wheedle when I would insist that I'd finish the book on bugs before I started the book on Mickey's outdoor activities. In the midst of the girls calling for Simba and the one kid insisting that a sheep sounded like a goat throwing up, a little voice cheeped into my ear,
'Chai?' and proceeded to shove a plastic teacup into my nose.
'Oh, is this a cup of chai?'
'Yes teacher. This is chai.'
So now I was explaining that sheep 'baa' they don't "bloooeehgh,' assuring the one girl that yes we WOULD read Simba again AND I was drinking pretend chai.
"I demand this book.' the future diplomat stated again.
'Look what is with the demands?! You are in no position to demand anything.'
"I demand this book.' she repeated.
'Say please or I won't read it.'
"I demand this book please.'
'No. You say, 'will you read this book please?'
'Dis book please.'
Close enough.
Kids are smart little boogers, and the strange new word 'please' spread rather quickly. One kid went so far when I still insisted on finishing one book before starting another,
'Teacher teacher teacher pleeeeaaaase please this book please!'
Alright I've got to cave at SOME point so I gave in to this kid. But then he realized that he could now get his way and kept interrupting the books that he himself chose for a different book. Finally I said,
"Why don't you read to me?" The kid didn't have a problem with it and began pointing out animals and sounds but then discovered he didn't like this role reversal so much so went back to 'teacher teacher you please!'
Now not to get stereotypical, because I merely mean this following statement as a matter of observation and nothing more, but all these kids were from India. There were two girls from Korea who were quiet all this time until we got to snack time. Then when they wanted more cheesepuffs, but didn't want to finish their goldfish, they would tilt their head back and nod it down violently, with a firm declaration of 'PLEASE! Cheesepuffs PLEASE!' and then look at us expectantly.
'Finish your goldfish first.'
"PLEASE!" with the same violent nod, 'Cheesepuffs PLEASE!' And it was rather funny and 'polite' so we caved.
'I demand more cheesepuffs.' the diplomat tried.
'Nope. How do you ask? Ask nicely.'
'Cheesepuffs... please?' she tried with halfhearted shyness.

Well we had tamed this flock of international children, and in the nursery there were about eight babies and it sounded like all of them were crying at the same time. I was dismissed from the very rational, easy-looking 2 and 3 year olds and sent to the den of irrational and demanding creatures under the age of 2.
They were all crying but for no apparent reason.
Well, it turned out the little Asian boy wasn't used to napping without being held the entire nap (yeah there's been this thread on my Mom's homeschool board about how Asians are all 'tiger mothers' and super-disciplined and stuff. I call false on that one. This kid had to be held in the right position with his blanket just so and rocked at the right speed to lull him to sleep and then you could stop with the specifics but don't you dare put him down. Discipline? Ha!) The little girl from India wouldn't drink anything besides chocolate milk (#1, why does any child under 1 year know what chocolate milk and 2 why are we capitulating to said demands?) The others were crying for various reasons and I discovered one little girl from India hiding under a table with her eyes about as big as saucers. She eventually came out to eat some crackers, which quieted down her friend who came to steal said crackers from her.
We eventually got them all quieted down except for a few whimpers here and there.
Yeesh.
I did walk down the stairs with two of the momma's when I went to get some food earlier and they were just about wringing their hands about how painful it was to leave their small children with someone else for two hours.
'In India we don't do this. We are with them or if we must go out we leave with relatives. Never with someone we don't know.'
'Well, you gotta do what you gotta do,' I replied, 'and it is for so short a time only once a week. It is good for them to meet new people and learn to be flexible.'
'Oh yes but they cry and it hurts my heart to hear my little one cry so! I cannot bear it.'
'A good cry is good for them every now and then. Strengthens their lungs to they can breathe better and become good singers in the future. That's what my mom said anyway.'
'Ohhh... your mother is very wise... this is a good thing for us to think on. At least it may bring us some comfort in the following times when we must be parted!'

Now, I realize that I am VERY single and have no offspring of my own. I do realize this. And I realize that the momma-bear/tiger/ferocious animal/nurturing hormones and instincts don't kick in until one bears one's own posterity.
HOWEVER.
I was telling my boyfriend about this over lunch and his reply was, 'Sorry but do these mom's ever spank their kids? They sound waaay spoiled. Like, a good smack every now and then is healthy for a kid.'
No we are not advocating for abuse at all, just some common-sense discipline. Kids LAY DOWN FOR NAPS, in a BED, not your arms!
Not to bash on international mommas, because the mothers here in the states need plenty of lessons as well (i.e. if your child owns an ipod they gosh darned as well have earned that money themselves through their own sweat and occupation. Not through you giving it to them because they deserve it!!! They don't!)

Anyway. It was really fun and as you can see makes for a good story. There were a couple points where I thought I'd go mad when the one 3 year old would not stop screaming in a high-pitched dying rabbit sort of way, but other than that it was fun. :-)
However, I am looking forward to being back with the adults teaching them English and how to master the difficult 'b,' 'p' 'th' 'v' 'r' and 'l' sounds. We have mostly Asians in our class and these consonants/diphthong/sounds are especially hard for them to pronounce.

Off to clean the bathroom and study for Apologetics 3 before work.

~Princess Ouch~

Semester so far

Well, I logged onto my blog to make a quick update, and was distracted by a pop-up advertisement. It was an opportunity to give my blog a 'new and improved look.' I allowed myself a 10 minute distraction, clicking on different layouts etc. and finally decided to stick with the same-o-same-o. Sometimes the old ways are best. ;-) It looked cool but slightly confusing, so when I have time (HA!) I'll give it a more in-depth look.
In other words, midterms were this last week! Remarkably, I think I did alright on my exams. Surprising to me, given the fact that I was bedridden with a serious cold and then a viral inner-ear infection for two weeks, and not really myself trying to recover for going on two and a half weeks afterward. I have tried to stay on top of homework, but will give the glory and praise to the Holy Spirit directing me on which sections to focus on studying when trying to cram on the exams. :-)
Anyway. My professors have been saying some pretty funny stuff this semester, so I thought I'd quit moaning about my physical ailments and give you a peek at some more college humor. Hope you enjoy. Warning, though, we are NOT politically correct. So if you are part of any kind of rights group or take life too seriously or whatever, this post is not for you ;-) For those of you who go to this school, if you think you know who said these quotes you are probably right.

Anyone ever tasted a medicine that tastes like the lobby of hell put into liquid form? Oh yeah, some o'yo momma's washed your mouth out with soap? Yeah. Yeah, some 'o you know the pain of repentance and how it tastes!

Student: Oh my gosh, we sound NERDY!
Prof: Hey hey hey, who said the 'N' word in my classroom?
Student 2 : C'mon, man, I embrace it!

I'm from the South, so I may say stuff that ya'll don't git. That may be one of 'em.
Here's the problem. We have a block class at 11:30. How many of you are from the South? And I don't mean Kentucky, I mean the REAL south? OKay those of you from the REAL south know that this is dinnertime. Right? 'Cause supper is at nighttime.

Prof: What do you say in the West?
Student: All ya'll.
Student 2: Well it depends on how far west. In California its just 'you.'
Professor: We don't count California as west! That's LEFT coast!
Student 2: Hey. We voted proposition 8!
Professor: Yeah and the Mormon's helped you git it. That don't count.

Professor: I'm a HUGE college football fan. Fall is NOT a good semester to have me. I'll have extra credit questions on the exams based SOLELY on football.

You don't have to read the entire book. You'll just read 98% of it. So skip the preface, skip the index, you'll be good. That was an attempted joke. Go 'head, ya'll can laugh. Good. Ya'll can pass.

If you really love someone, and they feel that you really love them, you can teach them anything!

If you fall asleep in my class I may very well make fun of you. I will find the biggest book I can find and drop it right next to your sleeping head- from ten feet in the air if I can. You will wake up, shoot up, shout up, maybe even throw up.

Time for some investigative research. Find out what time those professors, especially Dr. L, have class and which one of your friends are in it; and how many of them have cell phones they will leave on. If you breathe a word of it I will lie. I will put all the blame on you. And those of you who are sympathetic to Dr. L, I will find you out. Unless you post another video of him dancing on Facebook.

Professor: There are men who read the Scripture, and I know they love it as the inerrant word of God. But it is a good thing I know it ahead of time because I never would have guessed it by the way they read the Bible.

Professor: I have six daughters. Our most recent one is probably last, as my wife has gotten old on me.
Student, also Prof's daughter: I'm tellin' Mom on YOU, Dad; tellin' people she's old!
Prof: I will fail you in this class if you do!!

Good teaching is communicating through personality; transformation/formation of Character, not the transfer or acquisition of information.

Why is he quoting David? 'Cause back in that day, David was the MAN. It'd be like walking around here saying, 'Well John Piper said..." or "McArthur said," or 'insert your favorite puritan here said."

Student: That's like, white trash gourmet!
Student 2: That's the caviar of the south!
Prof: Well, there are more deer than people in Kentucky. Its like Baptists in Texas - more Baptists than people!

Did you think you'd get an hour and a half discussion out of ten pages? That's what happens when you let a philosopher on the loose!

That may sound harsh but I am just telling you what the facts are. If all you have is head knowledge and no heart knowledge then you and Satan could be room mates.

Francis Schaeffer speaking of C. S. Lewis on a topic they disagreed on: Oh, if we could have talked, I'm sure he would have come around.

Tell me what that has to do with anything besides nothing!

Some of you are like, "John Piper said it therefore its the case." Its like the 67th book of the Bible.

If you ever feel that you are good enough for ministry you ought to reconsider.

Remember, throughout our lives, in God's sight there are no little people with little lives. Through God's grace little people with little lives can change the course of our society.

Ya'll are thinking too general. Think specifically, right? Start's with 'G' ends in "od.' Right. Had to find the right drawer int he filing cabinet for that one.

Yes, you should study for the glory of God. I know that hurts some of you a little bit. It doesn't mean you have to make an 'A' it means doing it to the best of your ability.

Anything is improved by friend bread crumbs. You know you're in for some good eatin' when the recipe calls for 2 cups of lard or butter.

Student: Can we use our Bible's on the exam?
Professor: Here's what I always say: I feel like if I tell you that you can't use your Bible I'll go to hell. So yes, you can use your Bibles!

You are so engaged in kicking yourself in the proverbial spiritual rear-end... actually... I guess a spiritual rear-end is not so proverbial...

Now, I know you've got a lot of homework... but good lord, go outside!

Two more points on the outline and then we're done with class for the day. The time of your jail-break is coming! The end is near!

I can't wait until I'm 110 years old because you can get away with saying anything and no one says anything because you are old! My wife is kind of nervous, because she's like, 'You know... you already kind of have no filter..."

We think that dressing like a certain community in Seattle is missional. I mean... I'm going to hear about this later but that's okay. We're going to do this. We're just gonna do this and take the blue pill... or was it the red pill? Well, whichever pill it was, we're gonna take it and go with it, and see what happens. Have you seen John Piper? The man is a dweeb! He is SO nerdy. He's worn the same coat, shirt and loafers, its like, GO SHOPPING DUDE! But some of you are really struggling that I just called John Piper a dweeb because you don't care what he wears, because he's so relevant! A powerful and passionate speaker and you love him.

Dr. B and Dr. J are self-professed Greek nerds. Thanks, I'll stay with being a self-professed evangelist-to-Mormons nerd. They can have their present infinitive craziness. I'll stick with Joseph Smith.

I really must confess... I really have no idea how we got on that tangent... Oh the sticky note hanging on my pant-leg! Next time just let it hang.

For the stoics, reason is kind of done away with. So where then do we find ‘the norm’? Can’t look inside yourself, that would be existential. Can’t do that for the sake of being good, because that teleological.There’s this thing out there called the World Soul. “Yeah ya’ll were like, ‘that’s what I wanted to say I was just afraid. Ddn’t want to dumb it down.”

Professor: Have ya'll heard of the Board of Education? Its a paddle for your B-hind. Or, have you heard the 'young man!' then heard your daddy whip his belt off? I take my belt off at night it still gives me shudders. I know ya’ll don’t do that in CA but in the South-
Student: Oh no, but we do use extension cords.”
Professor: Wow, plugged in? Fray ‘em a little bit and then git a little ‘nyeeeum!

J-term

Quotes so far from the Prof, who always wears a suit, a silver belt-buckle, and snakeskin cowboy boots, quotes Church Fathers left and right from memory, and delves into the etymology of theological Latin and Greek vocabulary words on the white board. My room mate and I are taking Theology 3 this week as a J-term. Yes, I know. We're brave souls. :-D Anyway these quotes are from the first fourth of the first day. :-)

The reason why I haven’t listed the grader’s e-mail is that he just got married, and I’m not using him. He’ll be worthless for a couple of months.

I’ve served as the head of every ministerial position in a church imaginable… except the WMU. Gender issues kind of complicate that. Well, with the way things are today, that might not be an issue anymore.

I am deeply familiar with the depravity of students. Because I was one myself.

We’ll deal with a controversial subject first. We’ll get our blood-letting done early on a Monday. (Doctrine of Election)

With some of these theology students, its almost like you gotta lock ‘em into a room, feed ‘em good teaching under the door and file off their fangs… not let them out until you’ve calmed them down.

Apparently Abram’s wife was a pretty foxy lady – turning heads even at the age of 90. You know, I saw this (famous person) the other day, and she looks pretty good even at the age of 56. You all probably don’t think that… don’t get me wrong, my wife looks better!

My grandkids are in the ‘noun’ stage, - where they want me to help them identify things. “Whassat?” “That’s Poppy’s car… by the way (students), its Dr. Poppy to you!” Eventually they move from the Noun stage to the Verb stage, ‘WHY do you do this.” And eventually you just say ‘Because’ because you know that there will NEVER BE AN END until they fall asleep. And ‘why’ stage isn’t the end. After THAT comes ‘why NOT’ a year later!

Why did God choose Israel? Well some people say it’s because He knew Israel would be faithful. Really?! Have you READ the rest of the Old Testament?!

Judges 3 is a GREAT story for little boys. By the way, the book of Judges isn’t like Judge Judy in a black robe. These are charismatic warriors!

Judges 3 is one of those passages that you’ve got to read in the King James. When Ehud thrusts the sword into the wicket King and the flab covers the handle, the KJV says, ‘until the dirt came out.’ Obviously it wasn’t REAL dirt… Even in those days they had euphamisms for embarrassing activities. The euphemism for ‘going to the bathroom’ or relieving oneself was ‘he’s covering his feet.’

Domestic moment

I don't know why, but for some reason working 7 hours two days in a row made me walk into my apartment and simply want to bake something. Wacky? Yes indeed. However... this is ME after all.
Over the summer my team and I were near Amish country and we went to one of their whole foods stores and I picked up some non-conventional ingredients for when I had time and inclination to play around with tastes. (its what I do...) My mom has frequented health food stores since I was little and she always would buy the bizarre flours and weird whole grains and try to substitute them for actual real white flour (you know, the kind that causes cancer that we put in everything. That one. The tasty one!!!) when she wasn't abandoning normal western eating habits altogether and overdosing on some lentil combination and forsaking bread completely. (I'm not traumatized AT ALL). So out-of-the-box powders lurking on pantry shelves is now integrated into my bloodstream but I tend to lean more on the side that still listens to taste buds.
All that to say, I picked up a pound carob powder. I bought carob powder because my mom did occasionally take pity on my poor taste buds and buy these carob bars that had seaweed and kelp in them. You didn't mind the sea stuff because the carob redeemed it. So I knew carob was one of those powders that were not only healthy but tasty. (you CAN have both in the same dish! I promise!!)
And, hoping Mom would take the hint, I generously bought her pound as well. The end to that story is that I presented it to her with a flourish and she sort of wrinkled her nose and asked what in the world one put Carob in, muttered something about how I always bring home weird things that only tribal people cook with, and the lonely little pound of carob is somewhere in exile in my parent's pantry, not being eaten. (I bring home weird things?! and how many different NON WHEAT flours are in the SDian pantry I ask? Ever so complacently and un-emphatically I ask this...)
SO. To bring it back to last night, I walked in the door and was like, "I need to cook with my carob powder." Oh, the other deciding influence you need to know about is that my friend/coworker has been giving me grief ever since I treated my hair with Henna. He's called me either Carrots (which he did immediately before ordering food at the coffee shop when I was preparing food... I ask you, does that demonstrate smarts? Logical thinking? Superiority of the graduate program over the undergrad? I think not. And I reminded the dear fellow about what happened in the movie 'Anne of Green Gables' when she was called carrots, and said that since there were no slates to break over his head I would have to improvise on his sandwich. Since he's my co worker and not an ordinary customer I can do that) OR told me that I need to put my hair in two braids and hand him a frosty, as clearly I escaped from a Wendy's restaurant advertisement. So I left work wondering if I should find some way to acquire a frosty and do something devious to it, but that would take money and I didn't want to waste money. But I did want to cook with carob.
So. I got online and googled Carob recipes. Apparently it is high in protein and very healthy. There are a few historical armies that are said to have lived off of carob right before they invaded something significant... and I came across a recipe that looked as delicious as it was healthy. So I decided to not only make it, but to post it on here should it turn out well, which apparently it did. So here ya go. For whenever you have some extra carob lying around. If you don't, I think you can substitute cocoa powder. It just won't be as healthy.


Cake: 1 cup flour, Frosting: 1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup carob 1/3 cup honey (i used 1/2 honey, 1/2 sugar for
1 tsp baking soda this part)
1/2 tsp salt 1 cup dry milk powder
1/2 cup butter 1/4 cup water
2/3 cup honey 1 tsp vanilla
1 mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 8 inch pan. Sift together flour, carob, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and honey until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in banana and vanilla. Beat in flour alternating with water. Stir in chopped (wal)nuts if you so desire (which I neither had nor desired)
Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted in middle comes out clean.


Frosting: Cream butter and honey until smooth. Blend in milk powder, carob powder, vanilla and water. Beat until smooth and spread on cooled cake.

The conclusion is that it came out amazing. My harassing friend and his two co-workers/my other two friends had joked when I left work that I ought to stay and close with them. Saturdays are insane, and anyone who works automatically gets several thousand years knocked off purgatory along with a few jewels in their crowns. (yes, I mixed up doctrines and theology. I did that on purpose!) I had worked from 9 to 4, and wasn't in any kind of mood to deal with a mob of voracious undergrad students. And I also knew that since I was working with all guys, guess who would be on food duty, as I am about 3 times as fast as making sandwiches as they are. I say this in all humility and it comes solely through working at Starbucks for a year and getting the 'faster than the speed of light' policy down, along with the fact that I've worked in this coffee shop two to three times as long as any of these guys. But I felt kinda sorry for them. And I had to return some theology books I had borrowed to one of them, and I knew despite the external trials and tribulations of demanding 'customers' it would have been fun to work with the three of them. So I cut three generous slices and skipped over to the coffee shop after it was thoroughly closed. The two were appropriately impressed and thankful, but the third - the one who teases me about carrot hair - didn't hear, see or smell the ambrosia-like scent wafting from the freshly cooked brownies. And I guess he didn't like the hip-hop that they were blaring full-blast. In a word, he was grumpy.
"Smile! You look awful!" I said, and he proceeded to grumble about how there was nothing to smile about, and he would only smile once the cutting-board he was bleaching was thoroughly cleaned. So I picked up the container with the brownies and held them over the counter and under his nose.
"Smell this and tell me there is nothing to smile about."
"NO! There is absolutely nothing..." and then he caught a waft... and then he inhaled deeply... and as he breathed a smile stole over his features and he began expounding upon the glories of the Lord.
I told him that i couldn't get a frosty for him and he said he hoped I could NEVER get my hands on frosties again. I also told him this was a result of his cruel harassment on my hair and it was God's sanctifying work in my heart that caused me to not only forgive him but bless him. The twirp then said that he was so thankful for Gods grace that he was going to harass me EVERY time he saw me so that I would cook more. Woops. That backfired. I said he shouldn't count on me being so receptive to conviction in the future but he said don't worry about that, he would pray conviction-resulting-in-brownies into my heart. Ha.

Anyway that is my domestic moment for the semester, as well as my compassionate, reaching out to brothers in Christ moment, so please do not count on any more sweet smells wafting out of my apartment because mid terms, group projects, papers and finals are within sight, and I think I won't have time to make anything else scrumptious for a while at least.
~Princess Ouch~

1759 Personal ad

My sister bought one of those quote-calendar thingys for one of my Christmas presents. Here's what yesterday's said:

"On this date in 1759, the Boston Evening Post ran the following: "To the Ladies: Any young lady between the age of eighteen and twenty three of a midling stature; brown hair, regular features and a lively brisk eye; of good morals and not tinctured with anything that may sully so distinguishable a form possessed of 3 or 400 pounds entirely her own disposal and where there will be no necessity of going through the tiresome talk of addressing parents or guardians for their consent. Such a one by leaving a line directed for A. W. at the British Coffee House in King Street appointing where an interview may be had will meet with a person who flatters himself he shall not be thought disagreeable by any lady answering the above description. Profound secrecy will be observ'd. No trifling answers will be regarded."

1. I wonder if Mr. A. W. had someone in mind, 'cause this seems pretty dang specific or just plain ridiculous
2. I would REALLY like to know if anybody answered this!!!

For copyright reasons, the calendar is Jeffrey Kacirk's "Forgotten English" calendar.

Kendra and LOTR

Kendra was reading the section of "Fellowship of the Ring" where the Hobbits and Aragorn are fleeing the Black Riders after WeatherTop, trying to make it safely to Rivendell. Pippen - to whom I often relate - dashes back to the group reporting a Troll sighting. Aragorn says bravely, "Then let us go and meet them!" and picks up a stick.

Kendra stopped, as I was fairly sure she was, to interject.

"a STICK?! He's going to go after TROLLS with sticks?! What are they, his pet dogs??? Aragorn WOULD have a troll for a pet. What is wrong with him! He's got that dumb sword he never uses; what about THAT?"

"The sword is BROKEN, Kendra." I answered, choking back laughter.

"It's still got a pointy end! He could still use it to thrust into the enemy! What's wrong with him, I thought he was a WARRIOR and would KNOW THAT!!!"

With a huff and a harumph she continued, and then discovered that the Trolls were stone, and Aragorn new that.

"Well, he could at least stop being a pessimistic wet-blanket! He is so mean to those hobbits. Whats wrong with him!"

*sigh*

"Well, if you were fleeing black-riders and there was a good chance that the end of the world as you knew it were about to transpire, and the fate of said world rested in the hands of a happy-go-lucky-hobbit who kept getting into dire distress that only you could bail him out of, I suppose you'd be slightly grumpy, too."



This is merely a small sampling of the running commentary that flowed whilst Kendra read five chapters of Lord of the Rings out loud today. See, we're snow-locked during the beginning of Winter, and suddenly the ancient Scandinavian Bards and intricate carving and needle-work is making so much more sense now. I often wondered, when we lived in warmer climates, who on earth would have time to make all the detailed-sagas and life-like wood monsters and stone decorations that decorate Northern Europe. Having suffered long winters in the land in which that people goups descendants immigrated to, I suddenly understand.

You either become very certain of your opinions and create long, flowery stories to better communicate those opinions, or you almost loose the gift of speech altogether.



That being said, it is funny hearing Kendra's rendition of the heroes of Middle Earth. I got quite a bit done on the House-Blessing cross stitch I'm working on, Mom has discovered why Dad and I are so nuts about Tolkien, Ethan is entertained and getting his horizon broadened beyond mere Star Wars and Bionicles, and we are altogether having a fun time passing winter afternoons together.



Am soaking it all up before I have to squeeze all my creativity into organizing my life so that this next semester goes more smoothly academically and socially than last Semester.



~Princess Ouch~