The Insomniac-Poetess

Lying in bed, turning and tossing, is one of my least favorite hobbies, and yet, I seem to partake in it quite regularly. Thus you see before you tonight's (this morning's?) post.

I started to write this poem on our trip to Oregon and finished it a few days after we returned home. It is about how Time is simply a measurement of the Earth's rotation on its axis and its progress around the sun. Therefore, would Time cease if the Earth stopped in its movements?

Each instance of the Earth's parade
About its maypole sun
Officiates a year's demise--
Declares four seasons done

A year is meted out oblong
And into twelfths is sliced--
The portions thus produced are months
Which into weeks are diced

A week sequesters seven days
Of hours, twenty four
Which julienned with sharper tools
Make sixty segments more

Each minute's divvied sixty times
Into tidy seconds--
Today spins into yesterday
As tomorrow beckons

All lives are measured constantly
And shorter ever found--
Each period unrolls outstretched-
A skein of yarn unwound

If cosmic brakes applied could halt
The planet's pirouette
Or stop the sphere's race 'round the sun
To tick would clocks forget?

(Arrrgh...I'm still not tired.)

New Post Elsewhere

On August 16th, I started a new post and kept a draft of it. Tonight, I finished it, but when I published it, it appeared in its chronological order, so it's several posts back. I'm not blog-savvy enough to figure out how to alter the original date and place the post here. Oh well...So, if you want to read it, scroll down about six posts. It's called "Report to Carousel".

A Bit of Unexpected Encouragment

A couple of days ago, I was discouraged to see my hand emerge from my mailbox with a very fat envelope. You see, it was a group of my poems that had been sent back to me, rejected by yet another poetry journal (and no, I did not send them "Ode to Snot" nor the one about the wart on my foot.)

At dinner, though, Jeff said something that cheered me considerably.

Jeff: "You're quite popular at my work."

Me: "Huh?" (You see, I've only met one of the people he's presently working with. That was at Walmart and I couldn't imagine what charming thing I could have done or said while standing next to a large stack of Dial Soaps that would have endeared me to everyone in the Transpo Office.)

Jeff: "Yeah, Mrs. So and so says that you should be nominated for Wife of the Year."

Me, with an eyebrow raised: "Huh?" (At this point, I was beginning to think that he was being sarcastic and I almost slipped into defense mode.)

Jeff: "Yeah, she saw that you had packed me a lunch again today and said you deserved an award. Everybody sees the meals you send with me and says that you're awesome."

At this point, I started laughing because some of the meals I send with him are quite paltry. I mean, they're all edible (except for that one piece of cornbread that I didn't realize had turned rancid) but as for quality...they're just not very inspiring unless you're really into leftovers slopped into tupperware.

This made me so happy. I mean, I've been faithfully doing something that isn't really a big deal in my mind at all and apparently a number of people have noticed and appreciated it.

This doesn't thrill me because of my own "fame" at Jeff's office (in fact, if they actually tasted some of the food I send then they might withhold all future praise), but rather because they can see how our Christ-centered family functions. Jeff cares for me by going to a less-than-fabulous job every day and I care for him by packing him less-than-fabulous meals. Jeff's not shy about his beliefs so I'm sure everyone there knows He follows Christ and they probably suspect that I, Jeff's unseen wife, follow Christ as well.

Now, I realize this might not be something that you do, but that's okay. You don't need to pack meals for your husband to prove your love for Jesus to the world. If you truly do love Jesus then you are doing all sorts of things that convey that to others.

Christ's commandments to us to 1)Love God and 2)Love others automatically result in our actions shining brightly in this dark place and we are a witness of His love in even our most mundane tasks.

I hope that encourages you as much as it encourages me.

Feeling Blue?

If so:

1. Go to abc.go.com
2. Click on "Full Episodes" near the top left corner
3. Click on "Wipeout"
4. Choose an episode (week 8 is quite amusing)
5. Enjoy

If this doesn't bring a smile to your face then you should look into getting some counseling.

Pertinent Info That You May Never Get To Use

Tonight, Jeff was stuck at work, so the kids and I had dinner without him. Over the course of the meal, I was informed that I am a "mean mother" because I was forcing them to eat butter beans. They were just kidding...sort of.

Afraid that my "cool mom" status was on the blink, I pulled out a sure-fire child pleaser from my arsenal...a mango!

Free MangoTutorial:

Knowing that my quality of life has improved since I began buying these little beauties on a regular basis, I've decided to share my mango knowledge with those of you who may be lacking in this regard in hopes that you, too, will benefit.

You see, I experimented with mangoes once in my mid-twenties with uninspiring results, so it was not until about a year ago that I began enriching my existence with mangoes on a regular basis.

It is easy to become frustrated while preparing mangoes for consumption because they are slippery little buggers. Thus, I offer to you tips to make your experience easier and more fulfilling.

(Note: Never try to peel a whole mango. You will be left with a squishy mess and you may have destroyed much of the edible flesh in the process. Another note: Never try to remove the seed from a mango as you would do from an avocado. It WON'T work. Mango seeds are very mysterious. I doubt anyone has ever seen one completely devoid of mango meat.)

Step One:

Cut the sides off of the mango, circumnavigating the knife past the large and oddly shaped seed in the middle of the fruit.

Step Two:

With a knife, score the juicy flesh of the fruit in a checkerboard fashion, being careful not to pierce all the way through the skin. Then, "pop" the cubes of fruit out, thus preparing for palatable edification.


Step Three:

Eat.

Notice Tobias' eye-rolling state of mango-induced bliss and Delaney's covetous gaze as she struggles on with her portion of butter beans. (You may want to ingest these delectable bits in private until you master the art of controlling your reactions.)

Step Four:

While your children are partaking in the pleasure entitled "Mango", you can return to the cutting board and easily cut off the strip of skin that remains around the cross-sectioned, seeded portion of the mango.


Now it is your turn. Position yourself over the kitchen sink (your chin is about to start dripping) and bite all the remaining juicy flesh off of the seed. This is not the easiest part of the mango to eat--you gave those parts to your children. (Parenthood is full of such sacrifices.)

So...go out and buy some mangoes! If your first couple aren't that fabulous then try, try again. Some are definitely better than others, but once you get a really good one, you'll be hooked. I've had the best luck with mangoes that I bought at small Asian markets or fruit stands as opposed to those from supermarkets.

A Possible Farewell:

The reason why I entitled this post as I did is because the Large Hadron Collider is set to be activated sometime within the next three hours. I'll take this moment to bid you all adieu in case this is our last bit of communication.

(Fade out to REM's "It's The End Of The World As We Know It.")

It's Almost Over...

...Summer, that is.

I must confess that just about the only things I like about Summer are the family trips and the coleslaw. (Mix 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup buttermilk, 1 and 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar, 1 teaspoon granulated onion powder, 2 and 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour over 16 ounces of shredded cabbage. Mix well and refrigerate for at least an hour. Voila! Yum.)

The heat of Summer feels like an assault on my soul. Every year, I feel like I'm just holding my breath until the end of September. It's almost here... :)

DEUTSCH:

I've been spending a lot of time at livemocha.com. Maybe a little too much. It seems that my English is suffering as a result of my quest for learning German. Yesterday, I was reading an article in Newsweek while at the gym and I stumbled on the word "only".

"On-lee?" I thought for an instant. "What's that? Oh, ah yes...own-lee as in 'singularly'."

Not only is my English suffering, but my German is about that of a 1 year old Berliner. I thought I had learned a lot, but Jeff had a co-worker who is a native German call me on the phone. She asked me, "Wie heisst du?" (What's your name?)

My brain totally seized. I asked, "Uh, can you say that again, but verrrrrry sloooooowly?" Yeah, I'm lame.

I love German because it seems like an amusing, trumpt up version of English. A lot of the words are the same or at least similar and they have a bunch of fabulous words that we can only tilt our heads at. This week's picks are:

Radiergummi = eraser
Zimmerschlussel = roomkey
Lebensmittelgeschaft = supermarket

Technically, there are supposed to be some umlauts thrown in there, but my keyboard is ill-equipt.

Jeff's New Experience:

Jeff's off on an overnight "extraction" for work. He and two partners will remove a couple of minors from the places they're in and bring them back to Juvenile Hall. The minors aren't expecting this turn of events and apparently it can sometimes get a bit scrappy since they aren't necessarily happy about going back to the Hall. One of the minors they're extracting this time is a big football player. Jeff says I shouldn't be worried about anything because one of Jeff's partners looks like he could be Djimon Hounsou's fraternal twin:Okay, that's cool.