Well-Mannered Frivolity

New Moon

I took Mary Jane and Lila to see New Moon today. Katherine bowed out because she is so sick of vampire love stories. I have to say that I am inclined to agree with her. I'm starting to grow a little weary of the undead.

I thought New Moon dragged a little in some places, but then again it was my least favorite book in the Twilight series. Too much mooning over Edward, not enough action.

After seeing both Edward and Jacob with their shirts off, I think I am more inclined to join Team Jacob. Edward is a little pale and scrawny. Jacob is ....WHOA MAMA! Of course, I feel pretty pervy for saying that. I think I could be Jacob's mother. A girl old lady can dream, though.

I'm a fairly laid back person. I don't let much bother me. (I'll pause now while the people who know me IRL compose themselves after reading that) One thing that drives me insane is eating noise. I thought it was bad in the past having to listen to a movie theater full of people munching on popcorn. Today I was surrounded on all 4 sides by nacho eaters. I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin! Why they serve food in a movie theater has always been beyond me.

MJ and Lila watched in rapt attention. I would highly recommend New Moon if you are an 11 year old girl. (or a 37 year old perv who likes muscular 16 year old boys)

Wendy

Glenn Beck signed my book!

I'll post more tomorrow when I'm not quite so wiped out. Enjoy the somewhat blurry, non-zoomed picture of Glenn's head.

Wendy

Forced Charity

I overheard a woman talking about how spoiled her child was. How he had all these gaming systems, all these toys. etc. Well, she was going to teach him a lesson. He was going to work at her church's Thanksgiving dinner for the poor. He was going to learn that not every one was a privileged as he was.

I overheard another woman talking about her overindulged triplets. Every year she makes them make up gift boxes for poor elderly people. She makes her children go with her to shop for the items, she makes them pack the boxes, and she drags them along while they deliver them. By God, her children are going to learn that not every one has the advantages they do.

There is something seriously wrong with these two scenarios. You can't undo years of spoiling with forcing charity out of your children. If you want your children to be loving and giving then you need to model that behavior yourself.  There are not shortcuts or easy paths. If you are giving and charitable chances are your children will be too.  If you are materialistic guess what kind of behavior you can expect from your kids.

Just something to think about...

Wendy

PS My children are obviously going to grow up to be eavesdroppers :)

I hab a code

I have a cold. I have a stuffy nose, a sore throat, a cough, chills, body aches, and general anguish. I just took some Nyquil. I am only posting because I have to post everyday this month. Here's to hoping I am better by Friday in order to take Mary Jane and Lila to see New Moon.

Wendy

Facebook games

I'm addicted to Farmville. I will freely admit it. I think my brother and I drive our mom crazy with all of our Farmville talk. It's our main topic of conversation. Katherine kept telling me how my farm looked lame compared to all my friends farms so I let her redo it. She spent 2 hours on it. Now I have a cool farm, apparently.

I let my children play games on my Facebook account. This makes it appear that I spend all my time playing Facebook games. Mary Jane plays Farmtown. Katherine plays Fishville and Roller Coaster Kingdom. Lila plays Cafeville. The three of them play in a very responsible manner.

The twins saw how much fun their sisters were having and wanted to play a game. I set them up on Yoville. Big mistake. I figured they would play it for a day or two and lose interest. Nope. They play it for about an hour each every day. They named their character Chavo (after our bearded dragon). My friends who play have made characters that look like themselves. Not Will and James. Chavo is an African-American gentleman with a handlebar mustache and a giant afro. Oh, and did I mention that he is gay and doesn't wear any clothes? I'm quite sure my friends who play Yoville think I have lost my mind.

If you are reading this please know that I don't play  2 haphazard hours of Yoville every day.

Wendy

Sunday Salon Hate Edition

This week I read the most disturbing book I have ever read in my life--The Turner Diaries I knew The Turner Diaries was the book that inspired Timothy McVeigh to bomb the OKC Federal Building, and I knew it was something of a super-far right wing, neo-nazi manifesto, but I just wasn't prepared for that hatred that oozed from it. I will admit I have had a morbid curiosity about this book for some time. On one hand I wish I had just ignored that urge, but on the other  hand I'm glad I did read it, because it's important to know just what kind of evil is out there.

The basic plot is that this is the diary of Earl Turner, a member of an underground militia that stages a revolution to rid the world of "non-Whites." Now, I'm not stupid, and I wasn't born yesterday, and I do live in the deep South. I am aware that racism exists. But until I read this book I guess it never really hit me how truly awful racism really is. I just can't wrap my mind around hating someone just because they have a different skin color than me. Or that the Holocaust didn't happen and all my problems are because Jewish people are running the media and the banking system. WTF?  It literally makes me sick to my stomach to think that there are people out there who would read a book like the Turner Diaries and identify with the protagonists. But they are certainly out there.  A quick Google search will turn up hundreds and hundreds of neo Nazi websites.

Here's what really kills me--some of these groups claim to be Christians! Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Jesus his very self a JEW? And the bible describes Him as having hair like lamb's wool. I somehow doubt He was a blond haired, blue eyed, goose steppin' Aryan. And then there's that whole pesky second greatest commandment of the New Testament. What is it again???? Oh yeah, LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.

It sickens me that these ass hats can print out this crap and hide behind the 1st amendment.

Wendy

I'm a Virgo. What's your sign?

It's going to crush me

My TBR pile has taken on a life of it's own. I don't know if I'll be able to plow through it or not.

South of Broad by Pat Conroy

John the Baptizer: A Novel by Brooks Hansen

Chocolat by Joanne Harris

The Red Tent: A Novel by Anita Diamant

Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel by Audrey Niffenegger

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of Englishby John McWhorter

My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

I Am One of You Forever: A Novel by Fred Chappell

Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir by Susan Issacs

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Sleeping Naked Is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days by Vanessa Farquharson

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Belong to Me: A Novel by Maria de los Santos

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life by Donald Miller

These are just the library books I have in my posession. A few of them are two week books. Most of them are 4 weekers that I can renew for another 4 weeks. I also have about 10 or so books on hold that haven't come in yet. I think my eyes are bigger than my brain.

And what am reading right now, you may be asking yourself? Neo-Nazi manifesto "The Turner Diaries." The Turner Diaries sickens me. Look for a review on the Sunday Salon.

Wendy

Poor, neglected Mark

I have started to ease my way back into bible study. I decided a good starting place would be the gospels. Whenever I get a notion to read the gospels I always start with Matthew. I've read Matthew about 25 times. I once did a Beth Moore study, Jesus The One and Only, on Luke. If you are familiar with Beth Moore then you know that I am intimately familiar with Luke's words. I was reading John with my small group when I was hospitalized for depression 2 years ago, and I brought my bible with me to the hospital. Let's just say that I got really deep into John. I realized that I don't think I have ever read Mark all the way through, so I thought that would be a good starting point.

Last night I read the parable of the sower. I think I am guilty of being the seeds sown in among thorns.

"They are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Mark 4:18-19

I am very easily swayed by the cares of the world. I worry that people will look down on me for being a Christian. I hide it. I do not bear fruit.

I want to be the person in Mark 4:20

"But these are the ones sown on the good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty and some a hundred"

I wrote a post about praying about a year and a half ago. A very prominent blogger, someone that I really admired left a comment making fun of me for praying. I never blogged about praying again. I cared more about what someone I will never meet thinks about me than I cared about myself. I don't want to be like that anymore.

Wendy

Help! They're out to get me!

On Monday I asked if anyone had any questions about me, and while I had no takers on the blog, I did  on Facebook.

Dale, my old high school German class comrade, wants to know what conspiracy sites I frequent.  Well, I'm not going to publicly share the sketchier sites because I don't want to give them publicity, but I will share my all around favorite--

www.d*program.net (remove the * I don't want them tracking me down )is a good all around site. Fairly bipartisan in their wingnut theories. They crackdown pretty hard on Obama, but they also have a tab at the top of the site labeled "Bush&Nazis" . You can get your basic info on 9/11 deception, FEMA work camps, swine flu, and, of course, the NWO. They also frequently feature my secret boyfriend #3, Ron Paul. If you are looking for heavier stuff just checkout some of the links on D*progam's side bars. You won't be disappointed. 

Wendy