lynnspotter

let's try this~http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://topnews.in/light/files/Tim-Roth963.jpg&imgrefur l=http://www.topnews.in/light/people/tim-roth&usg=__0JU3yaDoks6XvuhPGQel08DVtEc=&h=504& amp;w=396&sz=26&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=-I3uuLBvMsKVmM:&tbnh=125& ;tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtim%2Broth%2Bpics%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsa fari%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1352%26bih%3D657%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=h c&vpx=1082&vpy=66&dur=591&hovh=125&hovw=98&tx=97&ty=126&ei=qUjM TISFPMP_lgeesoDqCA&oei=qUjMTISFPMP_lgeesoDqCA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=39&ved=1t:4 29,r:8,s:0

lynnspotter

Still no go! If you type in Tim Roth's name there many pics will come up & you can see the resemblance!

marius

marius is wondering if Baldur went off to the annual Halloween event. Didn't he do this last year? Dressed as a pirate?


And now time for a rather strange Missouri Moment ...

The past two weeks have been ... um ... er ... well ... difficult. Very. But, as with many difficulties, there often comes a moment of epiphany and mercifully marius just had one!

Here's the story. Since retirement marius has toyed around with the idea of being a reading tutor. Unfortunately, the only place offering such a program requires driving on highways marius does not like. Finally though, she bit the proverbial bullet and committed to the three training sessions (although why a person with an elementary education degree should have to learn about phonics, spelling and such remains a mystery).

Marius felt most triumphant on the first day because she'd managed the dreaded highway system without too much fuss. However, class (training) began and marius nearly died. No, there was no heart attack. But something was really wrong. The fluorescent lights, SIX HOURS UNDER THEM, made marius' skin feel like fat-greasy things were attached, feeding off her body. Then the eyes got wonky and ... hard to think, hard to think ... hope the occular migraine thing doesn't happen.

After that first day marius seriously doubted she would be able to complete the training but during the week between the first and second training session, the light began to dawn and what a discovery!

This is the big epiphany folks: classroom settings are designed for extroverts!

Yes, probably many of you knew this but marius had not figured it out. Indeed, she could name many reasons why she always hated school but finally ... after twenty-one years of school ... and after having not been in school for another 20+ years ... marius realized that most ALL of the pain she had felt about school was probably the pain of an introvert having to survive in an extrovert setting!

Now, lest folks are not clear on introversion/extroversion, it is really quite simple and has NOTHING to do with how much one likes people. The difference between extroverts and introverts is where they get energy. Extroverts fill up with energy when they are with other people. (Take an extrovert, put him alone in a room for a day and he will go nuts.) Introverts fill up with energy when they are ALONE. (Take an introvert, put her in a room full of people for a day and she will go nuts.)

This was all such a big relief to discover why marius was having issues in the literacy training class. So, she informed her instructors of said issues (introversion/fluorescent lights) and during the next training session, marius took several small breaks. Indeed, the restroom had a comfy chair where one could sit, cover the eyes, breathe, and regroup. Ahhhhh.

marius is astounded to realize that it was never really SCHOOL she hated, but just the environment of it. Had she been able to attend schools that used incandescent lighting, spent only half of her days with people and the other half alone ...THEN, school might have been fun. At least it would not have been painful.

The other thing marius realized is that she does not like lecture format. Give her the material and let her read it, or else, if there MUST be a lecture, get someone very energetic and entertaining so there is something to watch because marius needs visuals. She also needs movement. Let her do jumping jacks or yoga stretches while you tell her about phonetic sounds. Seriously!

Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, if you can read, be thankful for that blessing. In our metropolitan area it is estimated that 250K adults cannot read. According to statistics, many of these people have learning disabilities and in almost all cases, adults who cannot read had parents who could not read.

One of the most interesting things I've learned in class is that people who are illiterate, or barely literate, are poor consumers: if you can't read labels, contracts, and so forth, you will not be able to make informed decisions.

So count your blessings if you can read, and for all the introverts out there ... if you didn't like school it might be because school was not designed with you in mind. : )

Have a great day everyone!

Baldur

Baldur is back. Thanks to everyone for their help in filling the empty aetherwaves in my absence.
Halloween was a lot of fun but it was also quite chilly and windy in Provincetown. The town is at the very end of a peninsula sticking out into the North Atlantic. There is a good chance that it will be blustery even in the warmest weather.
What amazes me is the informal Halloween parade that takes over the main street in town after sundown on Halloween.
There were men there wearing nothing but makeup and a couple of strategically placed feathers.
Baldur was cold in his plus-fours, wool stockings, waistcoat and heavy wool tweed jacket. I imagine that it takes a lot of alcohol to be dressed skimpily in such conditions.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Coco Crisp, Bo Bice, Jenny McCarthy, Tina Arena, Sophie B. Hawkins, Fernando Valenzuela, Lyle Lovett, David Foster, Jim Steinman, Marcia Wallace, Larry Flint, Bill Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson and Stephen Crane.

polenta

Baldur has taken over luckily and Marius seems so extroverted when she writes! LOL

Dragon

Dragon thinks she lies somewhere in the middle of marius' introvert/extrovert scale leaning more toward the extrovert. I can happily spend the days by myself in a room without other people without going crazy but I do enjoy spending time with people and large group don't drive me mad. My sweetie tends heavily towards the extrovert end and can make friends with anyone at any party, in fact there are times when I get frustrated with him because we'll be at a party where I know very few people other than him and he'll be off flitting around being the social butterfly. I recall one party we were at where every time I found him and thought 'Oh thank god' then he was off doing something else again. I think one of the problems (besides the fact that I had forgotten my medications that day and was feeling very overwhelmed) was that he feels he need to be helping the host. At that party he was pretty much always doing something helpful like managing the buffet table or making sure the drink table was in order, things that no one asked him to do but he just felt like he needed to help with so our host wouldn't have to worry about it. I love that he's so thoughful but I also kind of feel like if we were guests at the party it's not really our job to make sure everything goes smoothly and I pretty much felt abandoned among 200 people I didn't know until I had a little mental breakdown and had to go lie down in a quiet room and pretend to be asleep when people came through.
Anyway, that was more of an introvert moment for me I guess. Now when I have those days where I feel like the whole world is just too overwhelming I don't go out to visit or to parties. Thank god those days are extremely rare for me but I think I have some idea of what people mean when they say they had a panic attack and I can totally understand the need to just get away from people and regroup calmly in a quiet place.

Dragon

Must tell a little Halloween tale of my own. I have lived in Red Deer for 11 years now and in all that time I have never gotten a single trick-or-treater to my house. I've always lived in basement suites with back door access or now in an apartment style condo building. So the kids never come to my door and I long since gave up on buying Halloween candy as it just means I'll have to eat it myself. This year we were getting ready to sit down to dinner when we heard a knock at our door. Sure enough we opened it up to hear "Trick Or Treat". We were at a bit of a loss, it seems the kids had come in behind someone who was entering the building and decided to start with our door. There were 5 of them (I think) and they were just at that age where people start thinking 'Aren't you a little bit old to be trick-or-treating?' but still young enough that it wasn't unacceptable. We told them we didn't have any candy but I offered them some granola bars. 4 of the 5 happily said that would be great, the fifth said "I don't know, what flavour is it?" to which my fella responded "Hey, you should just be happy to get anything for free!" Ungrateful little punk.
I am of the opinion that you can keep trick-or-treating past the age of about 12 but if you do you really should have a damn good costume. I want to see a little effort and thought put into the costumes, then it's worth my while to give you something. I remember my best friend's family always had 2 candy bowls, one filled with the really good stuff for the little kids and one filled with things like peanuts and raisins for the kids who were too old to be going out. That always gave me a laugh.

lynnspotter

Dragon, must tell you THANKS for your Turkey pot pie recipe! I made it with chicken + Baldur's spice suggestion + Auntie B's egg brush & course salt. Also baked chicken breasts with coating of chopped fresh rosemary, garlic paste & olive oil. served it at a small women's retreat in Montreat NC during peak leaf week! Everyone loved it!! sooooooo...Bless you for listing it & Baldur and auntie's embellishments!!!

Baldur

I'm glad the recipe worked out so well lynn.

As for Halloween, there were only 3 trick-or-treaters here at Boughbreak, the very young children of our neighbors, this was their first time going door to door.
Of course we now have a large bowl of candy that I will not eat.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Nelly, k.d. lang, Maxine Nightingale, Stefanie Powers, Queen Sofia of Spain, Pat Buchanan, Sidney Luft, Burt Lancaster, Warren G. Harding, James Knox Polk, Marie Antoinette and Daniel Boone.

Dragon

Glad you enjoyed that recipe lynnspotter, it was so good when I made it I just couldn't let it go unshared. Looking forward to trying Baldur and Auntie B' s embellishments when I try it next.

Baldur

Baldur just improvised some black bean and sweet potato veggie burgers for dinner... actually for many dinners. I ended up making 12 patties.
I'll freeze 11 of them LOL.
They are made of bulgar, mashed roasted sweet potatoes, mashed cooked black beans, sauteed onions and garlic, hot red pepper flakes, cumin, parsley, chili powder, ground dried ancho peppers and smoked spanish paprika.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Smart, Adam Ant, Dennis Miller, Kate Capshaw, Roseanne Barr, Larry Holmes, Lulu, J.D. Souther, Michael Dukakis, Ken Berry, Valdas Adamkus, Charles Bronson, Leopold III of Belgium, Vincenzo Bellini, Stephen F. Austin, Benevuto Cellini and Lucan.

Qsilv

(Thanks for that recipe... bulgar just went on my shopping list!)


Here's a small treat for you-- (we think the cat's done this before.. lol)
http://laughingsquid.com/how-to-gift-wrap-a-cat/?ref=nf

Baldur

Now that was a great idea Qsilv, especially considering we have 3 kittens that need new homes soon.

Baldur

Yesterday Robert and I went to buy groceries at the very cheap place we call 'Ghettomart'.
This is a discount grocer, the type of place without fancy displays, lots of brands one has never heard of and where you need to pay for shopping bags (or bring some with you) and then bag everything yourself.
We had forgotten it was the wrong day to go there until it was too late.
The government distributes 'food stamps' to the needy on the first of the month, because of this the cheap markets are rather crowded until the end of the first week. Anyway....
I was in the meat department to see what looked reasonable when Baldur encountered something rather new.
A package with bold yellow letters outlined in red that said:
'CHICKEN PAWS' !!!!
Paws? I'd seen chicken feet sold before, but paws? Never.
They indeed looked just like feet to me. In any case I did not buy any.

mdawrcn

How to gift wrap a cat video is too cute. I have one that loves to be rolled up in a rug. Funny.

And I have never seen chicken paws either. Glad to hear you didn't buy any.

Baldur

Qsilv, I didn't state it in the recipe, but i cooked the bulgar before adding it.

Baldur

You could also use a little leftover cooked rice, quinoa, or whatever.
Even breadcrumbs for that matter.