I realize that Feb. 26 is probably a little too early to be wishing (asking/begging) for the end of snow storms. But a girl has to have hope!

Wouldn't it be lovely if this was the last snow of the season?
It doesn't even have to be warm - I'll take a snowless 33 degrees for a couple of weeks!
But I'm really tired of the snow and wish it would just go away!

Wedding planning is going slowly.
There are so many things I just don't care about
I just want to get married - not worry about ribbons for the favors!
But this piece was just the thing to brighten my day.
Excerpt posted here for my future reference/benefit!

Pretty much everything in the world is unnecessary. I'm tempted to say everything in this world is unnecessary, but I'll wait to the end to say that.

For starters, pork loin in a tomatillo & chipotle sauce is unnecessary. So are pine cones. Golf is unnecessary. Golf really is unnecessary. The accordian is unnecessary. Churches sitting on the edge of a hill overlooking a bay of water are unnecessary. Panes of glass reaching 20 feet into the air. Black and white photography. An Armani suit. An Ethiopian gold cross. Medieval chanting in Latin. All unnecessary.

You know what else is unnecessary? The 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It's nice, but not necessary. Not really. Seriously. We appreciate it. It helps us, but ultimately unnecessary. And priests? They're not necessary either--not to formalize a marriage vow. That only happened post Council of Trent.

The Celtic goose and the paisley design and a 10 Year-Old Tawny port are unnecessary. John Keble's poetry is unnecessary and he lived from 1792-1866, so he should know. China is definitely unnecessary--both kinds.

The cha-cha-cha is ridiculous. Nobody needs cha-cha-cha. Nobody would ever die if cha-cha-cha never existed. And I hate to say this, ladies, but chocolote is thoroughly unnecessary. Not milk, not white, not dark, not bitter, not any frufy kind of it, none of it. Deal with it.

All the flowers in this world are categorically unnecessary. They don't need us, we don't need them. I wish them gone.

Small talk is out. Trucks should never have been invented in the first place. And calligraphy is for people who can't handle the straight truth.

Glitter is for sissies.

And every single thing I've mentioned here is a part of our wedding. None of it is necessary, not a lick of it.

You may think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I'm dead serious. You know the only thing we need to be wedded? It's this: I stand in front of Phaedra, she in front of me, and we say, "Do you want to get married? Yes." And we're married. That's it. Two people witness it and we're through. Worked for the first family east of Eden, works for us.

We don't need colors, we don't need fancy sounds, we don't need tasty foods, we don't need special movement, we don't need flowers that smell good. We don't need art. We don't.

And we don't need frolicking underwear.
That was bonus.

Read the Rest

My Beloved and I made (and then ate) these fries last night.
And they were yummy!
You should try it out RIGHT NOW

4 medium potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Cut the potatoes into long strips, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch on each side. Toss with olive oil. Add seasoning and toss again to coat.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, tossing several times during the cooking process. The fries are done when they are a light brown, cooked through and a bit crispy on the outside.

If you find your working relationships deteriorate as the day wears on, take a nap. In a study yet to be published, Matt Walker from the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues showed people pictures of faces expressing different emotions, including fear, anger, sadness and happiness, and asked them to rate how emotional they thought these faces were. They did this at midday and again at 6 pm. Participants were significantly more sensitive to angry and fearful faces at the second session. However, this change did not happen if volunteers were allowed a 90-minute lunchtime nap during which they managed to achieve REM sleep. What's more, these people also became more receptive to happy faces. Walker concludes that REM sleep refreshes our civilising emotional reactions. "Sleep is essentially changing the magnetic north of your emotional compass, in a good way," he says. Full Article

"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to ,ake us love one another"
- Jonathan Swift

This weekend the temperatures (and wind chills!) were above freezing.
AND fresh ripe strawberries were on sale at the grocery store

I know this seems little and insignificant - but having lots of sunlight, and the "springy smell" of melting snow, and the juicy taste of fresh strawberries (in February!) make for a happy Julie.

There's still a long way to go until spring. But tody was a refreshing break from winter that made me happy!

And thus concludes this mundane tale.

I find it odd that people who wouldn't be my real life friend 20 years ago suddenly want to be my facebook friend now? I'm still the same dorky kid I was in 5th grade (except I live in a colder climate!)

I have reached the point in the wedding planning process where eloping is really looking like a good idea. I'm trying to keep things simple and am very lucky that my mom and My Beloved's mom are pretty laid back in letting me do what I want. But the rest of the world (including people who don't even know me) are not shy about telling me everything that I ought to do (or telling other people what I should want!)

But I'm not going to whine. . . there are enough happy things going on to keep me from running off to Vegas with my beloved. And the people who matter are giving me help when I need it (and space when I don't!)

* I am so very happy to be marrying a man who inspires me, protects me, loves me, and sweeps me off my feet (literally and figuratively). He is someone who makes me so very happy, someone will tell me stories whenever I ask, someone who plays with The Kitty, and someone who can deal with Stubborn Julie! I am the luckiest kid in the universe!

* I am going to have some fabulous friends doing the ceremony music. It is looking like I'll have a flute, violin, cello trio playing some stuff together as well as some solo stuff with piano accompaniment. (And Pachabell Cannon / Jesu Joy are NOT on the list of music!)

* My sister made me a mixed tape of stress relieving songs (including the song "Shut up" and Headstrong as well as Don't Worry Be Happy!

* Finding a place for the ceremony was initially a challenge (the mega-church were I occasionally attend services is not the most wedding-friendly place - AND they require couples to attend group classes which are only offered once or twice a year and seem to be at the most inconvenient times!) HOWEVER, my parent's church is graciously allowing us to use their space (and for much cheaper than we could get anywhere else!)

* For several reasons (outlined in a seperate post) I am not going to a bridal store to find a pre-made dress (which will just require too much money and millions of alternations). Rather I found a nice dress pattern (and Dear "ole Dad helped me find a seamstress) who will make me a beautifully elegant dress. (It's a very pretty dress, and I'm happy that I don't have to have a crew of people dressing me, or hoisting up the skit when I need to use the bathroom!)

* The big day is less than five months away!

* I am so very lucky to have a sister-in-law who is a pastry chef. (I am going to have the yummiest bestest wedding cheesecake EVER!)

Cows can sleep standing up, but they can only dream lying down.

Whales and dolphins have to swim and breathe as they sleep, so only one-half of their brains fall asleep at a time.

Read more about sleep here

An Australian researcher is claiming that he has convincing evidence that several of J.S. Bach's better-known works were, in fact, composed by his wife, Anna Magdalena. "Dr Jarvis has used forensic analysis to examine various Bach scores, bar by bar, focusing on the musical structure and language, handwriting and the musical calligraphy."
Full Article via ArtsJournal

Politicians and policymakers have fallen in love with the idea of eighth-grade algebra for all. Their ardor is not likely to cool off soon. California is moving toward making the course mandatory for eighth-graders, a shift Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) compared to President John F. Kennedy's pledge to put a man on the moon. Some see the flourishing eighth-grade algebra movement as a triumph for equity. Activist educator Robert Moses calls it "the new civil right." Full Article

I am one of the people who is not-so-sure about 8th grade algebra (having suffered through it at the hand of an incompetent teacher who will not be named).
With much help form my mom, a super summer class at the community college, and lots of tears, I was able to catch on before I started High School Algebra - but it was tough.

Years later, when I started to learn about child development, someone told me that often 8th graders are not developmentally ready to deal with Algebra (see Piaget and Formal Operational Stage).

I don't really have a point with all of this - except I wish I had better math teachers - and I wish I wasn't pushed into higher math just because I had learned "enough" arithmetic. That's all.

University of Minnesota researchers recently found that over a 20-year-period, people who never owned a cat were 40 percent more likely to die of heart attacks than people who owned cats or who did so in the past.

Why mess around with low sodium ketchups and exercise when kitty can save me from a heart attack!?
Link

When one of your former students gets a piece published on the CNN website - it's a big deal!
Check out Regina's piece while I try to bask in the reflected glory!

1. Play with fire
2. Own a pocket knife
3. Throw a spear
4. Deconstruct appliances
5. Break the digital millennium copyright act and/or drive a car
Watch the entire presentation here

Ryan writes, "People who sign their name M.Ed. annoy me"
Me too.