One True Kim

Essence of an Echo

2012-01-16T22:44:00.001-05:00

I am fascinated by forgotten, lost and discarded items. I wonder about the people who used them, and muse over the moment when something is touched by human hands for the last time before it's left to the dirt and dust and destruction of time.

These pictures were taken on our first excursion of the new year.... technically it was still December 2011, but I like to think of our treasure-finding as emblematic of a new beginning.

Farm implements and metal chairs are about as ordinary as you can get...but together? In an old abandoned airplane hanger?

This pile of trophies made me infinitely sad. They must have meant something to someone, to have been gathered together in the first place....how did they end up broken and rusting in a place no one comes to anymore?

How long has it been since people sat in these chairs? They are at the edge of a nearly dry lake bed, not far from old row boats and other relics of recreation. It was an artificial lake, filled with waste water from a defunct quarry. Even if our drought ends, the days when people gathered here to relax and socialize are over.

From a distance, we entertained tantalizing ideas of fallout shelters and innovative playhouses, so the mundane reality of a grain feeder was a bit of a let down. Still, I thought it made for a cool picture, and I wonder when and why it was just left there to rust in the weeds.

It's not unusual to see an old outhouse or pump house at the edge of a field in rural Georgia. But, I gotta say we sure didn't expect to see this inside....

It remains to be seen whether this is an omen of things to come, or assurance that all the crap from last year has been flushed away with the turn of the calendar. I am kinda hoping it's both, and that this is a sign that even the crappiest stuff takes on a layer of cool bizarrity given enough time.

Here's to a new year of adventuring and finding treasures.

I Can Read Her Like a Book

2012-01-05T17:34:00.000-05:00

I pledged to use my days off for writing and this is my first free day. Thus far, I’ve devoted three hours to my pledge. First I Prepared to Write (loaded up the laptop to come to the library where it’s quiet;) then I Gathered Inspiration (pulled out old journals and got drawn into reading rather pathetic outpourings of past Januaries;) and finally, I practiced a new avoidance technique (scouring the stacks to see how many of my GoodReads books are in this small town library.)( I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few.)

Right now I am using every ounce of willpower to resist choosing this moment to redesign my blog or clean up my computer files….

Why, then, it is so damn important that I even write this?

Well for one thing, my niece and I made a pact and she’s already posted twice this year….

When Callie was little, I loved hearing people say she was a lot like me. Now she is a young wife and mother, and I am conflicted about our similarities. In her adulthood she is so much like me that I’m a little sad – because she shows signs of carrying all the same baggage.

Carrying baggage. At first I thought that was a terrible metaphor, because baggage can be put away and walked away from. The thing is, walking away from it doesn’t mean it’s gone. Eventually we do have to go back for it, don’t we?

That’s what Callie and I do, really. We stuff our dreams and drama and disturbing realities into emotional suitcases, then push them into the dark corners of our heads.

Every once in a while, in a fit of organizational optimism, we open up all our cases, determined to examine each and every item and explore its meaning. Of course we focus on all the pretty, shiny stuff at first and get all excited about sharing all our pretty, shiny stuff and we’re convinced that we can use it to make even more pretty, shiny stuff. (Exactly how many times can a person create a ‘new’ online profile, album or blog anyway?)

But soon we start finding a lot of old crap we’d rather not deal with, and things we don’t remember keeping but are too afraid to throw away. It becomes so terribly overwhelming that we stuff it all back into the dark corners. And the cycle begins again.

The funny thing is that we do this in real time, with real stuff, as well as metaphorically.

It’s really rather exhausting.

……Just ask our husbands!

Callie also shares my “need” to write. Writing helps keep the baggage from spilling open unexpectedly and inconveniently. So, we made a pact to devote time to our respective blogs in 2012. And this is me trying to take that first step to fulfill my pledge.

When Callie writes, she typically avoids falling into the tortured metaphors and overdone language I favor. But if blogging helps me figure out how to save the pretty shiny treasures of memory, while yet letting go of the dirt and deadweight, I’ll be grateful to pass that gift along to Callie even if an overwrought writing style goes along with it.

Happy New Year, L.P.! ILYx3

It's A Christmas Miracle!

2011-12-19T16:36:00.003-05:00

I have some new blog posts sketched out in Live Writer! As always, I am mostly writing to sort things out in my own head, and posting it here just to make myself accountable to it.

I am not actually going to upload anything until after the new year, but I wanted to let all two of my readers know that I am still alive. (And eager to hear from you with post ideas, questions, even memes and blog challenges.)

To stir my brain up a bit, organize my computer files and facilitate really putting the past into perspective (if not necessarily behind me,) I have uploaded two collections of pictures. One is the "Grantville related" pictures I have collected over the years. As I work through my paper files I'll no doubt find more to scan and upload. The same is true for the second collection, pictures from both versions of our pizzeria. The pictures are set for public access so if you need some content for procrastination, have at it!

I Got a Feelin'

2011-08-17T22:46:00.002-04:00

We've closed the pizzeria and are spending a lot of time packing things and tying up loose ends, but when I am not at my day job I've finally started writing again... in my head, anyway!

I'm waiting until things settle into a new post-pizza routine to contemplate and rant and play with words here on my blog.

Occasional glimmers of my current reality are revealed on my personal facebook page and my creative urges are emerging in the form of a Pinterest obsession.

I've decided I love having friends I never actually met, so if you stumble on this blog and feel a connection with anything I've posted here, please feel free to come visit me on Facebook or Pinterest. Or Goodreads. Or Google+ . Or Etsy. Or Linked In. ...Or just send an email!

This blog is also on Facebook in case you prefer that to using a Feed reader.

I'm Still Here....

2011-08-10T22:13:00.001-04:00

So many changes in the past few months.....lots of thoughts and observations churning, but I think I am waiting for "Part II" to really begin before I start writing again. I'm thinking that will be sometime around Labor Day.....

Ch-ch-changes

2011-07-25T07:39:00.003-04:00

Dealt with the Big Family Issue that was making it so hard to blog, and now THIS has been addressed so there are no more secrets. In the next month or so I think I'll be able to blog again. And I'll have new stuff to write about. Yay!

Going Underground

2011-05-03T19:20:00.000-04:00

This blog just isnt' happening for me. I have very little time to do the 'active' things on my "Year 47" list, much less write about them, and there is a bigger problem when it comes to the nitty-gritty stuff on my mind.

Lately I've had time (mostly in the car) to contemplate a lot of somewhat serious issues, and I've considered blogging about them because I'd like some outside perspective. But I can't bring myself to do it.

It may be a character flaw, it might be self-protection and it might even be (gasp) sensitivity on my part; I simply don't want to share thoughts on topics like motherhood, memories, my mental state, the meaning of life and more when what I talk about is quite literally "close to home" for many of my readers - many of you are family members, or might as well be. There are too many land mines, and I don't want loved ones to be caught up in the debris.

Perhaps this means I have failed the Accountability test I set up for myself when embarking on this blog....but I wanted to be accountable, not self-destructive or hurtful.

I appreciate the blogging buddies and other cyberspace friends who supported this endeavor, especially those who had enjoyed my previous blogs. For what it is worth, I'll continue share fun lighthearted stuff like "Listography"on Facebook (Afterall, I've already drafted most of my lists!!)

I may try discussion forums and guest blogging, and I would definitely like to exchange personal letters with other thought-full people. If you were particularly interested in seeing where I was going with something I mentioned here, please drop me a line.

This blog site will stay active for a while yet....I may even keep modifying my Year 47 list, but there will not be any new blog entries in the foreseeable future.

GoodReads: How To Be Lost

2011-05-01T17:12:00.002-04:00

How to Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wouldn't say I loved this book, but I did like it well enough. (Too few books manage to hold my attention these days.)

The story fell just a little bit short of what I'd hoped for in terms of the final resolution of the central mystery....and I saw where it was headed far too many pages ahead of it actually getting there.

Still, it was mostly well written and original enough that I'd like to see what else Amanda Ward has written.

My GoodReads Reviews

Listography #18: Qualities I Look For in a Friend

2011-04-27T07:50:00.005-04:00

Listography 2011

This week, we are asked to ponder what qualities we look for in a friend.

When I think about the friends I already have, the pattern is clear. They are all incredibly brilliant, witty, talented, beautiful and kind.

Oh,wait. That's just my imaginary friends.

All it takes to be my real friend is that you read my blog and post encouraging comments.

Either that, or you clean my house.

I'm kidding!

Mostly.

It's true that if you cleaned my house, I would love you forever. Because it would take you forever to finish cleaning, and I'd keep telling you how much I loved you so you would stay motivated.

Seriously, I don’t even know how to go about making this list. I either hit it off with someone, or I don’t. I don’t have a checklist of qualifications. Not one I'm going to post here anyway because then everyone would know the secret!

Doing this Listography project sometimes makes me feel like I am in fifth grade all over again!

I Like You.

Do You Like Me Too?

Check ( ) Yes or ( ) No

After All, It Really Is All About Me...

2011-04-21T14:31:00.002-04:00

...this blog, I mean (** Potential Provocation Warning **)

My beautiful virtual friend Karen shared this amazing video. It gave rise to some half-formed thoughts I don't have time to fully explore today, but I thought I'd go ahead and throw them out and see what kind of feedback I get.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Pictures and videos like this tend to elicit comments characterizing nature as evidence of the existence of God and/or the veracity of a particular religious perspective. Today, one of these comments struck me as doing a disservice to the majesty of the universe. As if it's all about us and how impressed we are with the pretty night skies and strong, bendy trees!

I find many religions precepts to be fairly narcissistic. That is, all about how God (or the gods) is/are totally concerned about ME and what I am doing. Even all the talk about "worship" and "glorifying" typically ends up being about how faithful and devoted the worshipER and glorifiER is.

I just askin' here, but if one truly believes that a deity (or deities) created the sun and the stars and the moon and the mountains and the trees and all the millions of living creatures out there, isn't it pretty self-centered to believe He/She/It did all that just to give humans a playground (and/or proving ground to earn our way into an even more amazing place created just for us)?

All that spectacular creative energy, all the suffering of Jesus, the many aspects of Shiva, the awesome power of Allah, even the terrifying evil power of Satan...somehow in the end it is all about US?

I just don't get that.

Listography #17 - Ideas for Earth Friendly Living

2011-04-20T08:45:00.001-04:00

Listography 2011

I am really tempted to just lift some suggestions from “50 Things You Can Do to Save the Earth” but that wouldn’t be very honest, would it? Still, I am pretty sure that anything I could come up with is already in that book or a similar one.

Ah! Here’s one:

Write all my Lists electronically instead of on paper.

Course, um, I can’t claim that I actually do that. But at least I use scrap paper instead of fancy note pads!

My Muse is Back!

2011-04-19T23:26:00.001-04:00

......Unfortunately, she mostly visits when I am driving to and from work so thus far I've mostly been composing thoughtful and entertaining essays in my head, with just a few rough drafts saved in my Blogger dashboard.

I am determined to get a handle on my schedule and start writing down all the stuff I've been thinking and wondering lately. With luck I'll strike a chord with a few folks out there.

Some of the stuff I've been thinking about: movies, religion, roller skating, business ownership, pop culture, art, politics, drama, gratitude, cats, old mills, ebay, family, old boyfriends, ghosts, growing up, growing older, books, respect, Facebook, babies, coupons, picnics, yard sales, history, crafting, language, college, small town life, road trips, cartography, electricity, historic preservation, baking, sex, photography, prayer, memories, and popcorn. ...And pretty much all the stuff that's already listed on my blog homepage as Stuff I Think About!

I'll want some feedback from you guys! (And suggestions for stuff to write about - always welcomed!)

Back from the Abyss

2011-04-18T07:36:00.001-04:00

...and I'll be back to blogging as soon as I have a little time!

Listography #16 Favorite Romantic Comedies

2011-04-13T07:11:00.003-04:00

Thanks to the Scheduled Post feature I can post even when I am not really here.

Up for Listography this week, one of my favorite past times - movies!!

I’ve seen a lot of Romantic Comedies so to keep the list of favorites reasonably short I’ll start with any one starring:

Doris Day
Sandra Bullock
Drew Barrymore
Julia Roberts
Meg Ryan

And then throw in:

Yeah, the 80's were kind of a golden age for romantic comedies. The only ones I can recall from the 1970s are Grease (which is more musical than comedy) and Love at First Bite (which I remember enjoying, but I wouldn't say it's a favorite.)

I also like some of the oldies (thank you, Ted Turner and the original TBS for showing them to my generation!) like this one:

I haven't seen a really good romantic comedy in a while, have you?

Preventative Maintenance

2011-04-10T22:09:00.001-04:00

After about 25 years, I am pretty good at recognizing depression in the early stages of decent. A dark storm is a'brewin'.

I've learned that giving in to it is the fasted way to get it over with. Pretending it isn't happening just throws anxiety into the mix.

My primary coping mechanisms are being a hermit (conserving my energy 'cause talking with people at work takes alot out of me) and cleaning house (I think maybe it is a metaphor for cleaning out my heart and/or head.)

I'm taking a little break from the Internet world and being social.

Who knows, maybe I'll even get some spring cleaning done.

See you in a week or so.

Listography #15 Calgon, Take Me Away

2011-04-06T06:59:00.011-04:00

This week on Listography: “List Where Your Daydreams Take You For Spring Break”

Well, I can assure you, it isn’t back to Panama City Beach! That one trip in tenth grade was all I ever need of that (still have the scars from the sunburn.) And anyway, I don’t get a “Spring Break.”

But for the record, when the weather begins to turn, and I’m getting road-fever I’m most likely to think of:

Rome, Georgia
Madison, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Most anywhere, Georgia
(so long as there is no big Interstate exit with a string of fast food restaurants)

If I get ambitious, but am still thinking in terms of quickie get-a-ways:

Charleston, South Carolina
Montgomery, Alabama (to watch the Biscuits play Baseball!)
Memphis, Tennessee

And not-so quick get-a-ways:

Boston
Baltimore / Annapolis
San Diego
(gee, are you sensing a theme here? I kinda have a “thing” for port cities)

I really loved the Hotel Coronado across the bay from San Diego, and think of it often.

If it’s raining, well, my daydreams take me to the magnificent Birmingham Library, or the National Archives, or to a cabin in the woods (preferably one with a tin roof.)

But my most favorite place to dream about when I'm not already there?

In my husbands arms.

Friday Five: 5-Minute Breakfast Poems

2011-04-01T16:00:00.002-04:00

Home from the day job and got the welcome news our employee's baby has arrived! (I'll be devoting a full post to Madeleine Elyse soon, no doubt!)

Nick and I have a rare Friday night off because of the baby, and I thought I'd spend a little time catching up on Facebook posts (my niece has a new house!) and reading blogs.

The first blog post I read was about 5 minute breakfast poems. Even though it isn't breakfast time, I ate cereal for lunch (Special K with raisins, with Quisp for dessert!) I considered that to be a message from the universe that I should participate in the poetry fun. I didn't take the whole five minutes and it's not nearly as moving as Amy's first poem but here goes:

April First
Not a fool's day at all
Not this year, anyway...

New baby arrived this morning
New home to explore for another.

Windfall date night for two of us,
And being married means beginning anew
Every day.

And this blogging experiment
New, too

'tho poetry used to be an old familiar thing
For me

Feels Good
This old-is-new-again wordplay.

April First
Not a fool's day at all,
Just a new day
Full of beginnings.

Join the fun! Leave your link in the comments (or post your poem there if you don't have your own blog.)

Thankful Thursday 2

2011-03-31T14:45:00.001-04:00

Since last week's post, I've tried to be more mindful of the little things and cultivate a better spirit of appreciation. Making this a regular blog topic seemed like a good way to make it a habit.

Today I've been especially thankful for:

comfortable shoes
interstate highways
these little mandarin oranges
The Brady Bunch (seriously! you can't find this kind of happiness anywhere else) (except maybe giggapudding commercials, but that's another post all together)
my cat, Miss Jennie:

And one other thing I've been especially mindful of all day - I am thankful for modern medicine and all the people who are helping my friends Nicole and Micheal prepare to welcome baby Madeleine into the world.

What do you appreciate today?

Listograpy #14 Scams I’ve Encountered

2011-03-30T06:47:00.003-04:00

Listography 2011

I am lucky that the list of scams I've actually fallen for is pretty short. I can't even think of one, but I am sure if I say "it's never happened to me," someone will point out a forgotten incident.

My husband and I have gotten royally screwed to alarming proportions with regard to car repairs on the old Hyundai and Izuzu, but I am not sure the perpetrators actually set out to scam us. I think they just turned out to be major jerks.

But this list calls for scams "encountered" so I supposed it qualifies that I’ve gotten the ubiquitous emails:

[insert African country name here] royalty asking for help reclaiming their fortune
Microsoft and/or Bill Gates will pay me to forward an email

I’ve also received fake emails telling me:

My IRS direct deposit has been rejected
My e-bay account will be closed if I don’t verify my information immediately (oh, the horror!!!)

…and I've gotten a few zillion pop-up windows (before the Glorious Arrival of Pop-Up Blockers) shouting out things like, “Congratulations, You May Have Won!” (I am confident those all involved scamatization)

The pizzeria has received a couple of counterfeit bills and a handful of bad checks that turned out to be outright fraud (fortunately, most of the few customer checks ever returned were genuine mistakes.) I also do consider at least one of our “bad” former tenants to be a scammer of sorts, since in the end it became clear that she bald-faced lied to us from the very beginning (lesson learned, huh?)

Just recently, a customer at the bank brought in a big fat unsolicited check they received in the mail (they were wisely suspicious!) I've received a couple of those 'windfall checks' in the mail myself.

I’ve also had my share of shady people knocking on my door offering to cut my grass, or claiming to be on a search for a former resident, etc., all the while peering over my shoulder at the stuff in my house.

Now faced with this Listography query, I’m wondering if suckered by a handsome man in a nightclub counts as being scammed???.....Not that it’s ever happened to me, mind you…

Quickie Questionaire Lifted from the Internets

2011-03-29T16:29:00.000-04:00

1. Make a list of 5 things that you can see without getting up
Sleeping cat; scanner; space heater; wedding picture; beloved husband

2. How do you style your hair?
I don't! I like it short and care-free.

3. What are you wearing now?
Fleece pants, Smokey Road Middle School T-shirt and fleece jacket 'cause it's COLD

4. What’s your occupation?
Pizzeria owner by Night, Bank Teller by Day

5. What do you hear right now?
Fan blowing on space heater, Beloved Husband typing, and me typing

6. Who was the last person you hugged?
Beloved Husband

7. What is/was for dinner?
Last night, awesome yummy chicken chowder. Tonight, don't know yet!

8. What did you do today?
Errands! Two Banks, Post Office, Library, Accountant, and Doctor's office. Also wrote a lame blog entry (almost as lame as this one)

9. Dog person or cat person?
Used to be neither one, than I became a cat person. Now I want a dog too.

10. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?
Lucia (Lu-chee-uh). But I kinda like Kimberli.

11. What was the last thing that you bought?
Gasoline.

12. If you could afford to go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Scotland. Then Italy.

13. Where do you see yourself in five years?
That's a secret :-)

14. What are you doing this weekend?
If all goes as planned, the big deal for this weekend will be news of Nicole's baby being born.

15. If you could play any musical instrument, which one would you play?
Piano

16. How are you?
Two-score and a half dozen

17. What are you doing tomorrow?
Working. And wondering when Nicole's baby is going to come.

18. What are you looking forward to the most?
A whole weekend off. I think I might get one in June.

'Tis the Season for Savings

2011-03-29T15:11:00.006-04:00

Some of my Facebook friends are a bit bewildered by the photographs Nick has been posting when he comes back from the hunt. Bargain Hunting, that is.

We've caught the couponing bug in a big way in this household, the result being stockpiles of product that may take us until next year (or longer) to use up.

I'll admit, it helps to have some extra shelving you can bring home from your pizzeria!

For some folks that seems just nuts, especially if they grew up in the days when coupons just saved a few cents on items already on your shopping list. But what we (and many others) are doing these days is more akin to the old agrarian way of thinking.

Putting food by used to be the norm - you canned fruits and cured meat on a seasonal basis so you'd have them year-round. And there was a time when you'd buy household goods when the peddler came around, keeping in mind that you would not see him again until he passed through again six months down the road.

That kind of thinking isn't very common in a world where we can dash into Kroger or Target at the drop of a hat. But waiting until you need something often means paying top-dollar for it, and thanks to the Internet that really isn't necessary anymore. Nick and I are becoming certified penny-pinchers, and it turns out it's a bit of a thrill to do so.

Illustration of two different weeks' shopping results. OOP is cash spent out of pocket. Store rewards are in addition to savings.

Making coupons worthwhile is all about timing, because applying a coupon to a discounted price can sometimes result in free or nearly free product. With the proliferation of in-store rewards and cash back deals, it's even possible to come out with more spending money than you started out with. The catch is that you may need to buy more of a given product than you need, at that moment, to generate real savings. Thus, the need for a cyclical mindset (and a bit of storage space .)

Some kind soul has already mapped out the seasonal sales cycles (most brands and item types do have recognizable cycles) and posted them on the Internet. Coupons and deals from various sources are tracked, tagged, matched and sometimes even printed on demand. Most of the work is already done! Finding the coupon website that makes the most sense to you is probably the most difficult part of this whole endeavor.

I think most beginners start with Coupon Mom. These three are Nick's current faves:

Couponing no longer requires hours of scissoring, sorting, filing and sorting-through-to-toss-the-expired-ones. It does require that you think ahead about what products your family uses on a regular basis and how quickly one bottle or box gets used up. The new approach is much more efficient in the shopping aisle. Once you get the hang of it, it doesn't require much more time than traditional comparison shopping and coupon clipping. And when you start seeing those savings stack up you'll wonder why you ever paid the shelf price for anything. Couponing works even with a limited cash flow - it's not about spending a fortune to stock pile just because a product is on sale, it's about spending less for more.

....And it's about the freebies. Don't forget the freebies!

I really love freebies.

Especially chocolate freebies.

Nick would never pay actual money for cute little Easter eggs.

For me and Nick, the discovery of couponing has been a blessing in another way as well. The past few years we've been stretched really, really thin. That meant, among other things, no gift-giving, no dinner parties, and no donations in support of favorite causes.

My new job eases the pressure on paying bills, but it's because of Nick's coupon work that we are in a position to think about care packages for soldiers and sending products to a local women's shelter. We can actually think about baking treats for friends and hosting a cook out sometime soon.


Yep, that is deodorant. Even soldiers prefer not to smell!

Now that Nick has nearly perfected the art of grocery and household shopping, I am getting pretty psyched about finding ways to pinch pennies on spring work clothes, and a road trip for our tenth anniversary!

Got any suggestions on where to begin?

Five For Friday: First Anniversary

2011-03-25T06:47:00.000-04:00

For our first wedding anniversary in October 2002, Nick and I spent four days wandering mountain roads.

These are five of my favorite pictures from that trip:

In our pre-pizza days, Nick and I considered hitting the festival circuit as Funnel Cake vendors.
This place in Gatlinburg was the only pre-planned stop in the whole trip.


We also considered barbecue vending. This guy at the Balsam (NC) flea market was very friendly (good 'Q, too!)

I still think a neon "open" sign on a Haunted Mansion is hilarious.

Where ever we go, we take a ride - usually on a boat, trolley or horse carriage - this picture was taken during a helicopter ride in Pigeon Forge.

No place is more beautiful than the Appalachian mountains in autumn!

Seems like forever since we took this trip. Our traveling days have been increasingly curtailed in recent years but I am determined to get back to our wandering ways after our next anniversary. We'll content ourselves with Georgia backroads for 2011!

Thankful Thursday

2011-03-24T07:59:00.000-04:00

Perhaps it's because I am mindful of events in Japan, but I found myself feeling extraordinarily thankful this morning as I dressed for work.

I felt grateful for everything from running water to clean underwear. The refrigerator seems wondrous and the fact that I found strawberry yogurt inside is a small miracle. And then thinking about Libya I felt grateful for all the Presidents, even the ones I thought kinda sucked.

Sitting here with this glass of clean tap water and watching my healthy cat try to tip it over, in the same house where people once relied on the well beneath my pantry and had cats mostly for rodent control, all the irritating concerns of modern day living seem trivial.

I am thankful for the job I am headed off too, full of awareness that no matter how "bad" a day I may ever have there, it is a blessing to spend my days with good people, doing something useful for others.

I suspect there are lots of people who go for days on end without even seeing a smile but I'd venture to say I hear laughter at least once a day. And for that, I am thankful.

Listography #13 Fictional Places I Wish Existed

2011-03-23T04:25:00.033-04:00

Listography 2011
This week the list mavens suggest we consider our favorite fictional places. Here are some of mine:

Avonlea: I know Prince Edward Island is real and there is a tourist-trap version of Avonlea, but that’s not the same. I wish there were a place just like the one depicted in the Sullivan movies, and I wish I was friends with Anne, as portrayed by Megan Follows.

I totally want to live in Stars Hollow and be besties with Lorelei Gilmore

Come to think of of Stars Hollow is kinda like a more modern version of Avonlea, but without the flowing stream for the Lady of Shalott.
the Fairy Realm: but only as it involves friendly non-Disney fairies living idyllic lives in my back yard
the world of Harry Potter (especially Hogwarts and the Burrow) ……but without Voldemort of course!
Meridies: and all the other SCA kingdoms, where the middle ages are recreated “as we wish they were rather than how they actually were.” (That is, no plague, no actual battlefield casualties and progressive roles for women… not to mention modern conveniences cleverly hidden behind the medieval facade.)

Village life near the border of Meridies and Trimaris

Along similar lines, wouldn’t it be nice if 1950’s America was really all shiny, and pleasant instead of riddled with racism, classism, and sexism? I could totally get into the idea of hanging out with Nancy Drew in River Heights!

This Picture's Story: Vanelli's

2011-03-22T13:46:00.000-04:00

Every Picture Tells a Story and I've got tons of pictures! Doing something about my collection of photographs is on my Year 47 list, so "yay! me!" for killing two birds with one post. My "This Picture's Story" series of blog posts will serve to document the significance of my photographs and share some of my story with legions of readers.

A year or so after we opened the old Nick's Pizza Stop, Nick and I did a five-state road trip combining a vacation weekend in Memphis with a business trip to New Orleans. As has long been our traveling rule, we only ate at independently-owned restaurants.

For this trip, given our new vocation, we tried to eat mostly at Italian restaurants and the stand-out was Vanelli's in Tupelo, Mississippi. The food was tasty and the ambiance comfy, but the best part was meeting Bill, pictured here, one of two sons carrying-on the restaurant their father established when they were children.

Bill took us on a tour of the 'back of the house' and invited us back to his office where we talked about classical music and life in Mississippi along with Italian food and the restaurant business. His hospitality was heartwarming and encouraging (and you have Vanelli's to thank for the introduction of Crispy Ravioli to the Nick's menu.)

Over the years we've talked about a return visit but until that day arrives we can only spy on Vanelli's from afar. If you happen to be in Tupelo, stop by for dinner and tell Bill we said hello!

Listography #12 – Cocktails I’ve Tried

2011-03-16T11:18:00.005-04:00

Listography 2011

I’ll mix it up (har har) by trying to remember them more or less in the order I tried them, starting with the Sloe Gin Fizz when I was 18. (And yes, I am old enough that the legal age was 18 in my day.)

Note: I’m sticking with true “cocktails;” I don’t think hunch punch served from bathtubs at Briarcliff parties qualifies. (Not that I went to any of those..)

Sloe Gin Fizz
Screwdriver
Rum & Coke
Seven & Seven
Coke & Capt Morgan
Bourbon & Coke
Tom Collins
Vodka Collins
Long Island Tea
Kalua &Cream
White Russian
Madras
Fuzzy Navel
Hawaiian Tea
Black Russian
Yellow Bird
Hot Toddy (is that a cocktail?)
Toasted Almond

I am no doubt missing a slew of exotic beverages sampled in the old days of Copperfields and Timothy John’s (anybody here remember those local variations on the fern bar?) I do have a vague recollection of green drinks involving Midori and some blue ones that looked like the water in Six Flags rides...lots of Mimosas and wine spritzers. And, um, just a few (- I swear!) shooters and mini-cocktails with obscene names (and occasionally obscene rituals involved in drinking them.)

These days I’m doing well to survive a few glasses of wine without falling asleep…but I’ll never say ‘no’ to a shot of Bailey’s in my hot cocoa. Cheers!

Five For Friday: Lessons Learned at My New Job

2011-03-10T23:57:00.002-05:00

That new job that's keeping me too busy for blogging? It's teaching me some very important lessons:

Neatness Counts
All these years, I thought bank deposit slips were basically like crib sheets, and it only mattered to have the correct amount and account number. Little did I know that those sweet, sweet tellers were having to fill in all the blanks and neaten up my scribbles! From now on I pledge to write my full name and address and initial each and every little change I make on any and all forms relating to my bank account.
Big Brother Must be Really, Really Bored
Ya know all this talk about cameras being everywhere and somebody, somewhere spying on us as we go about our daily lives? Take it from someone who has nothing to do at lunch except watch the video feed from the security cameras: People going about their daily lives are simply not all that interesting. It's hard to imagine anyone watching if they don't have to. (P.S. Your fly is open.)
It's A Small World
My family history research has taken me to the teeny, teeny town of Plantersville, Alabama and to the nearby "big city" of Selma. It was coincidence enough that my new boss is from Selma, but how weird is it that I actually work with a girl born and raised in Plantersville? I just know that if I dig around enough, I'll discover we are related. My long lost fourth cousin six times removed! Or something like that. She's having a baby soon, so if nothing else I can use this as an excuse for insisting her baby call me "Auntie Kim."
Temptation is Everywhere
I had forgotten about this particular aspect of working in an office-ish setting. Donuts....Cinnamon Rolls...Girl Scout Cookies...Birthday Cakes. And to top it all off, the month of March is "sell candy bars for March of Dimes" month at your friendly neighborhood banking center. Oh, joy! Kinda makes it hard to get excited about the canned tuna and green bean lunches I've been packing. On the plus side, I hear that a couple of weeks from now they are bringing barbecue in for all the loyal minions.
Money Still Makes the World Go Round
Even in the age of electronic transfers, debit cards, online banking, virtual checks, direct deposits, banking by phone and 'wave your credit card around in front of the little light box,' there is still an awful lot of money changing hands every day. Course, the stash at my bank is no where near as glamorous as what you see in the movies...somehow, it's hard to imagine Jason Statham or some other cool dude executing a daring heist to make off with boxes of rolled pennies.

The average drive-up banking customer does not look like this

I've also learned lots of other wildly interesting stuff but somehow I just can't get motivated to write about Reg CC and the effects of the Patriot Act on banking procedure. Perhaps some other time I can tell you about the jumping frogs, though.

Listography #11- Favorite Ebay Searches

2011-03-09T00:53:00.006-05:00

When I first saw this topic coming up for Listography, I planned to say my Favorite Ebay Searches are “any searches done by other people which lead them to my own items for sale.” But I have yet to get my act together to start selling off all the crap I set aside last year. Uploading a few pictures on Facebook is as far as I’ve come on that particular project.

So then I thought about listing the terms currently in my “Saved Searches,” but since the last time I was Ebay, I’ve stopped collecting stuff relating to our lives in Grantville which generally meant (“Grantville -Pa -gazette”) but also includes the A&WP railroad, Coweta County, and all things pizza.

That leads me to the Searches that WOULD be my favorites right now, if I had not put myself on indefinite Ebay restriction for purposes of fiscal reduction and decluttering:

Knitting Needles and Crochet Needles (for more Batman Blankets)
Ladybug trinkets (to leave as GeoCache giveaways
Lunchboxes (because I love using this one)
Funky, Junky, Cheapie, Jewelry (‘cause that’s the kind of jewelry I really love.) (Well, that and stuff from M J H Designs!)

I recently stumbled across the YardSellr site and have been looking at the Etsy vintage stores…thinking I might try to sell my stuff on those sites instead of on Ebay.

And if all else fails, I am still mulling over the idea of an Anniversary Yard Sale!

Listography #10 – Celluloid Spiritual Twins

2011-03-02T05:29:00.030-05:00

For today’s Listography post, we are supposed to name the film characters most like our own personality.

I have to bend the rules and go with a generalized “captured on film or video” qualifier so I can include T.V. characters. It may not be quite accurate to say they are “like my own personality,” but these are some characters with which (whom?) I strongly I identify:

The "dark and twisty" Meredith of early Grey's Anatomy definitely resonated with me, but I have not seen the show since the season she and Derek got married via sticky notes.

Jo March (“Little Women”) (as portrayed by Winona Ryder)
Finn Dodd ("How to Make An American Quilt") (Winona Ryder again. Come to think of it, I tend to identify with a lot of characters portrayed by Winona Ryder!)
Brenda Lee Johnson (“The Closer”)
Finbar McBride (“The Station Agent”)
Alan Shore (“Boston Legal”) (not linking anywhere because unless you've seen the show, you really can't understand Alan Shore. The online bios just don't do the character justice.)
Mark Thackery ("To Sir, With Love") (this one is probably wishful thinking. I am not this honorable!)
Joey Potter (“Dawson’s Creek”) Yes. Dawson's Creek. You gotta problem with that??

....Even with bent rules, this is very hard for me. I don't see myself very clearly these days (hence the drive to put myself out here on the Internet, so I can see me...)

It would be far more revealing to see which film characters my friends think are "like" me.

Not Much Time For Being Crafty These Days!

2011-03-01T06:19:00.006-05:00

I had my first knitting lesson with Lizzy in early February. It took me a while, but I finally got the hang of it!

Unfortunately, my progress has been stalled for a couple of weeks now. Maybe after the pizzeria closes each night this week, I'll have enough energy to knit while Nick and I catch Criminal Minds or NCIS on TVDome (or Channel31, or whatever!!)

At this rate, my baby nieces will both be full grown before I get one scarf finished. I am thinking I might just add a few more rows, ask Liz how to tie it off, and call this "Batman Blanket" my first finished project.

Perhaps I should whip up a little matching pillow?

Some for Sunday...New Favorite Things

2011-02-27T22:56:00.002-05:00

I am still trying to figure out WHEN I am going to blog, since I am working almost full time (30 hours) at the bank and still doing about that same number of hours at the restaurant. Since I missed last week's Five for Friday I am cheating with this quickie post - perhaps I'll have time for a proper essay later this week. In the meantime, I present to you Some for Sunday:

I am officially a Working Girl (that's Working Girl as in the Melanie Griffith movie, not as in "street walker" ) again, so I decided I should use a proper lunch box. Lucky for me, I already had this one! I found it in a junk shop years ago, and was totally charmed by it. It appears to be someone's experiment in crafting and its imperfections are what makes it so charming. It's fun actually using it!

Last weekend when Nick and I went geo-caching I found an interesting piece of beer bottle glass. As you know, I am obsessed with hearts, so naturally I had to bring this home with me:

Remember Lizzy, my blogger friend, and Girl-Crush? She is officially the most awesome woman I know because she gave me this Mouse pad for my birthday:

Now, if you are my Facebook friend, you probably know why this is so awesome. In case you've forgotten, or missed out on this particular One True Kim obsession, behold, the Puddi:

(You need the sound on to fully appreciate the video.) The song and the graphics in the commercial make me so darn happy, this Mouse Pad is my Happy Place incarnate! I don't think I could stand the joy if I were to actually get hold of some Giga pudding.

Listography #9 – Presidents

2011-02-22T23:53:00.001-05:00

This week's Listography activity challenges us to name all the Presidents we can think of. It would be wrong to Google them! So, here’s what I can come up with:

Contrary to popular misconception,
this man was never President.

Washington; Adams; Other Adams; Jefferson (he'd be my bestie if we lived in the same era); Jackson (the prototype red neck??); Lincoln; Harrison; Teddy Roosevelt (he of safari hunts and teddy bears;)

.....Taft, Cleveland, Wilson (his first wife is buried in the spectacular Myrtle cemetery, in Rome, Georgia;) Truman (one of my favorites...and what an awesome name for a President...True Man); Franklin Roosevelt (I live just a little ways away from his Little White House...it is kinda a sad place to visit.)

Stopping to think....

Eisenhower (Richie Cunningham campaigned for him;) Kennedy (personally, I prefer Robert over JFK); Reagan; Nixon; Ford; Carter (even though he's said some nutty things lately, this Georgia girl will always be a fan!) Bush(es); Clinton; Obama...

Holy Cow. This is embarrassing.

Ah! Second Wind: Monroe; Madison; Polk; Johnson; Van Buren; Grant; Tyler (or was he a VP? hmm); Coolidge; Harding;

Okay. Who’d I miss? Do you have any favorites?

Sunday Sundae Treat: Cookie Stuffed Cookies

2011-02-21T12:44:00.004-05:00

I missed my Saturday post so instead you get a "Sunday Sundae" treat, and you get it on Monday because on Sunday I was busy getting started with Birthday Week celebrations!

I consider myself especially blessed because when I married my husband, I got a package deal. By that, I mean that I also gained some very special lifelong friends. Most particularly, Jon and Heather Jenkins. (I tease Jon sometimes that if Nick (heaven forbid) leaves me a widow, Jon will be the guy who comes over to move heavy boxes and fix broken waterpipes.) The four of us have traveled together, ghost-hunted together, and dined together - at least once in almost every week - for the past ten years.

We go out for special dinners on our birthdays, and last night I was hankering for steak so we went back to a once-familiar haunt, Outback (I say "once familiar," because in the old days when all of us had regular jobs, going to OB didn't require a special occasion!) The meal was delightful, but the big birthday treat followed back at the Jenkins household.

Jon made me Cookie Stuffed Cookies for my birthday!

Jon loves his Kitchenaide mixer!

There are Oreos inside those chocolate chip cookies.

I thought the Marvin plate was appropriate 'cause Jon has a thing for Marvin.

These cookies are rather intense, to say the least. Just ONE is plenty. Unlike most cookies, I think these are actually better after they have cooled completely. The day-after cookie I had a few minutes ago was better than the warm one last night. When they are still hot, the Oreo inside is overpowered by the taste of the chocolate chip cookie.

Stay tuned for more birthday adventures and words of wisdom from the One True (46 Year Old) Kim!

Discovering The Beauty of Different

2011-02-21T11:48:00.007-05:00

I recently told you I'd won a copy of The Beauty of Different by Karen Walrond. It was a random giveaway and I was not asked to review or recommend the book, but I want to share my impression of it with you.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. From the moment it arrived it surprised me, because I anticipated a little paperback and it is in fact a generously sized hardback. I also expected lots of pictures, which I got….but the pictures are a part of the whole...it's not just a photo book.

When I noted it had a series of essays profiling different people, I was afraid it was going to be an ordinary “self-help” book with stories of people who triumph in life by virtue of their healthy self-love, or perhaps a kind of adult version of “Free to Be You and Me.” In fact, when I first browsed though the book, my head was filled with a chorus of “Everything is Beautiful (in its own way.)” However, I asked three people to fill in missing words for me and discovered that song is not in fact one of those which “everybody knows,” so you are probably safe.

There are worse songs to be stuck on, and I trust The Bloggess (she’s how I found Karen Walrond to begin with,) so I set aside my cynicism and started reading. Soon, Helen talked about self-respect and Patrick mentioned Carl Jung and Laurie reminded me about creating my own story…and I realized that I really liked all these people in Karen’s book!

I began to pay more attention to the photographs and the quotes sprinkled throughout, and briefly considered tearing the book apart so I could pin my many favorites to the wall! By the time I finished reading the mini-profile of Jenny (the aforementioned Bloggess and my spiritual twin…as if she needs yet another one,) I was totally hooked.

This book is not just a “skin deep/inner beauty” cliche you’d expect from a photographer/writer. It’s about reaching more deeply within and finding beauty in character and conviction, and the courage required to fully experience and enjoy our individuality. The Beauty of Different has affected my way of thinking. And I am the better for it. Since reading it, I have found myself being much more observant - and appreciative - of the precious distinctiveness among the people I encounter each day.

Now it’s your turn. I’ll set up a “round-robin”to share this book among my readers (all three of you ). Comment here before March 1st if you want to participate by borrowing the book and passing it along to the next reader. I’ll figure out the logistics once I see who is interested.

Kim is Truly a Sorry Blogger

2011-02-16T21:57:00.000-05:00

I have not replied to any of your kind emails, or comments here or on Facebook. Please forgive me. I've got to get this routine down...but first I need to settle into my NEW Day Job. Back Soon with replies AND a new post.

Listography #8 – Same-Sex Crushes

2011-02-16T07:26:00.010-05:00

Hmmm. I used to tell my friend Casey I had a Girl-Crush on her, but that was part of a generalized Family Crush so I don’t think it counts. And anyway these days I don't see the Houstons as much as I used to.

My current family crush is on the "NewtonSteinFordKlaubers," that is, Kathy Newton and her assorted children, children-in-law and grandchildren. I would say I have a Girl-Crush on Lizzy Ford, but she reads my blog and I think it would totally creep her out. So I ain't sayin' it. Even though it's mostly true.

Stolen from WireImage.come

If we go with Celebrity crushes, top of my Girl-crush list is Kiera Knightly. I am absolutely dazzled by her in the bridal video scene from Love, Actually. And she totally kicks ass in Domino.

Most of you probably know her as Elizabeth Swann from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Speaking of which, are a boone for me when it comes to regular celebrity crushes since I adore Bill Nighy, have a healthy appreciation for Orlando Bloom, and, as any sensible person will do, I recognize Johnny Depp as One of the Most Spectacular Men on the Planet.) (As IF you need a link to go find out who Johnny Depp is!!!)

But I digress.

Um. Let's see. Celebrity Girl Crushes.....Gosh, I don't think there's anyone else but Kiera.

Guess I am a one-woman kind of girl.

On a related note, at work recently we invented a new word, "Crusting" for those times when Crushing coexists with Lusting (see the aforementioned Johnny Depp.) (and Taylor Kitsch.) (It's sick, I know, I am old enough to be Tim Riggins' mother. Probably old enough to be Taylor's, too, but I don't like to think about that.) Are you Crusting for (on?) anyone these days? Do Tell!!!

The Adventures of Hedgie and the Ladybug

2011-02-15T14:18:00.005-05:00

I recently wrote about my Life Equity investment plan, which included more dates with my husband and pursuit of the Geocaching hobby listed for Year 47.

The plan was implemented this weekend when we discovered our first cache right here in Grantville!

It turns out that neither of our phones can utilize a GPS app, so we had to improvise with printed maps and other resources. (We decided I need to get at least one paycheck before investing in a good GPS device.) But between my long-neglected Cemetery Kit (for genealogy) and my Adventuring Bag (for, well, adventuring) I had everything else we might need:

It's amazing what you can fit into a LandsEnd canvas bag!

As it happens, there are several caches in and around Grantville. The very best picture of the day reveals too much so I have to content myself with this shot of Nick showing one of the goodie bags stored inside a local cache:

HedgieNick finds a hidden treasure.

And this picture of the TravelBugs and Hitchhikers we found at "Martin's Hi-Rise Hotel"

Eeyore the hitchhiker caught a ride with us - we'll drop him at another cache soon.

We had so much fun on Sunday that we decided to go out again on Monday (our "weekends" are Sundays/Mondays.) We had a few busts, but we scored when we slipped out between Valentine Date movies (double-header date at the cheap theater in Fayetteville):

Our "Lowe Expectations" were exceeded with this find!

This last find was a fairly sizeable cache and other cachers had left some trinkets inside for seekers. (We choose the green dice beads....'cause we're planning to get our friend Jon "Diceman" Jenkins and his wife roped into Geocaching with us.)

Yeah, I know, we are pretty geeky when it comes to how we entertain ourselves - we always have been. To each his own, huh? We are so very geeky in fact, that I'm sure we'll check out Letterboxing and BookCrossing as well. (I already track bills on Where's George )

What do YOU do for fun??

P.S. If you are a GeoCacher, hook up with LadybugKim and HedgieNick on the official Geocaching site, and keep an eye out for our markers (which will typically be Ladybug beads and other LadyBugish items, and things green and/or hedgehog-ish.)

Yay! I Won!

2011-02-13T12:55:00.001-05:00

Guess what the mail lady left for me yesterday?

A lush, lovely book by Karen Walrond. I won a giveway on her Chookooloonks blog.

Click the image to visit The Beauty of Different website

I have only just begun to immerse myself in this splendid work, but I already have some thoughts about how I might share this beauty before too long. I'll post more about that soon, but I'm off for a bit of Sunday reading right now....

Five For Friday: I Love...

2011-02-11T15:44:00.001-05:00

With Valentine's Day coming up, I thought I'd share five things I absolutely love:

Handmade Queen of Hearts Sketchbook/Journal from Somavenus. It's perfect for me, really.

Home made Pop Tarts. Seriously? Yaaaaah! Seriously Awesome!

Headband Featured by Mighty Margaret! I need this. I don't even care how absurd I'd look wearing it.

Quite possibly the Most Awesome cake ever. Julie should have given herself at least 100 Martha Points.


Torrie made these too cute Valentine Favors for a party. I might have to make some too. Just Because. Found anything lately that you just LOVE????

Life Equity : Investment Plan for 2011

2011-02-10T13:53:00.015-05:00

Nick has a friend who talks often of "life equity." For a while, Nick and I had a lot of that...perfect love, countless friends, satisfying work and generalized contentment in abundance. But it turns out that life equity can be a lot like regular equity, and the value can drop seemingly overnight! I've decided to revisit my Year 47 list with an eye towards redefining, restoring, and creating new and richer Life Equity than ever before.

I think that will start with planning more dates with my husband! Many of the items on my original list were husband-related. Putting more focus on them will generate significant returns on my "investment."

Minor League Baseball Scoring: Since the Columbus Catfish franchise closed, this has become more difficult, and not having money for road trips and tickets is another challenge. Solution? I'm thinking we'll check out some university ball. Who's up first? Columbus Cougars? LaGrange Panthers? West Georgia Wolves?

Courthouse Project: A few years ago, Nick and I set out to visit every courthouse in Georgia. But Weekend Road Trips - already a challenge when we have a business to open on Saturday nights - were all but abandoned for economic reasons a while back. My new job will help with the economy part, but will almost certainly take Saturday trips out of the equation.

Solution? For starters, Nick and I can work together to sort through the photographs from the county seats visited so far, and decide together what we are going to do with them. (Which, incidentally, figures into my Y47 goal of doing something about our out-of-control digital Photograph Collection.) Once we figure out where we still need to go, then we can figure out how to do it. If you have some neat ideas about fun ways to handle the photo collection/courthouse progress tracking, please share!

Something important I left off the original Y47 list is More Friend Time...I miss the old adventures with Jon and Heather, and want us to find some other adventuring buddies to spend time with. When the weather clears and things shake out with our work schedules, I am sure we'll find some time for at least a few quick Road Trips....hopefully to involve some GeoCaching, Ghost Hunting, Eating Local, and TrainRiding (even if it's just a short line like this one.) ....And more regular visits with our friend and Life Equity Investment Ccounselor for challenging board games and wisdom.

DeCluttering Project: Okay, so preparing stuff for Ebay and planning a garage sale are hardly what you'd consider romantic activities, except that in this case it will help me and Nick work through some disappointments and make way for the anticipation of new dreams and plans. Not to mention the practical benefits of getting a little cash, and getting rid of stuff that no longer reflects our priorities and interests. I'm thinking we might have to take a page from Trish the Yard Sale Diva's book, and have a themed yard sale. Maybe something involving hearts and romance since it's a "date"...any suggestions?

Festival Vending: This is going to be tricky since I'll be working a lot of Saturdays. But our friends and Taste of Time co-conspirators Jon and Heather are already on tap to help Nick cover events I can't attend. Now all we need to do is get our act together and sign up for booths. I'd love to hear about craft fairs, festivals and "home grown" markets where our cooking products might be well received.

Anniversary Events: Nick and I celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary this year! We've been through some rough patches like most folks, but we've been blessed to emerge with more strength and love than before, so that's definitely reason to celebrate. I saw a very cool home-made Advent calendar last year, with activities behind the little paper doors; I think it would be fun to make one for counting-off time until our Time Capsule Party. Not sure I can convince Nick to get crafty with me, but I'm sure he'll help with activity ideas.

Our wedding guests placed mystery items in a fine chest hand-made by our amazing friend Carl, and we've kept our pledge not to peek all these years! We promised to have a 10 Year Anniversary / Wedding Guest Reunion Party to open it....just gotta figure out where and how to pull that off. Who knows... maybe we'll have a Wedding Anniversary Yard Sale and sell off pictures of courthouses and college baseball players.

Most of the remaining items on my original Year 47 list were Grantville-specific projects we will re-work, or abandon all together, or they are truly personal pursuits (like my 50 by 50 Reading Challenge,) which I'll contemplate soon enough. For now I'm just going to confirm the new list and invite friends to suggest fun ways to enhance the goals and activities I have on it.

Here's to "getting richer" in 2011!

Listography #7: Sports Teams I’ve Seen Play

2011-02-09T06:27:00.025-05:00

I wish I could say I'd been there to see the Packers win the Superbowl (my beloved is a naturally aged Cheesehead.) The closest I've come to a pro football game is an Atlanta Falcons exhibition game celebrating the opening of the Georgia Dome.

However, I do claim the local honor of having actually attended a Georgia – Georgia Tech football game!

If we’re talking pro sports, I’ve also seen:

Atlanta Thrashers (just once, but I'd love to go again)
Atlanta Rowdies (a short-lived soccer franchise few people ever heard of.)
Atlanta Braves, and their opponents (including lots of games during the awesome '95 season!)
Rome Braves; Columbus Catfish; Memphis Redbirds; Montgomery Biscuits; and assorted other minor league baseball teams. I much prefer minor league games to the majors.

Basketball is one of my favorite sports to watch, so I don’t know why I’ve never seen the Hawks play. I saw John Salley play for Ga Tech in '85, but I can't remember if we knew at the time that the Jackets were destined for the ACC championship that year. Also saw quite a few court battles involving the Stormy Petrels (don't laugh, the average Oglethorpe University basketball player is probably a whole lot smarter than me and you put together.)

I've seen a whole lotta high school ball in my day. My dad coached baseball and football, and was the gymnasium manager during basketball season. I used to hang out during the games even long before I myself was in high school....and I grew to love the creak of wooden fold-out bleachers, the squeak of rubber shoes on the court...and the deafening buzz when the clock ran out. Go, Blue Devils!

Oh! I also got to see Team USA compete in various Olympic sports at the ‘96 games in Atlanta. (Unfortunately, I also got caught up in the Centennial Park insanity...we had walked about a block away from the park when it happened.)

Have you seen any "name brand" sports teams play? Any related stories? Tell us all about it in the comments.....lemme know if you have already joined the Listography fun and where we can find your lists!

Those Word Fairies Can Be Kinda Brutal

2011-02-07T17:20:00.002-05:00

I’ve been wanting to start flexing my brain with vocabulary. (I miss you, Mrs. Elrod!) Creating posts around new or little-used words seemed one way to do that, but I’d been waiting for the right inspiration.

Today I got a spam email with the subject “Cogent,” and I considered it a gift from the Word Fairies - their way of encouraging me and my blogging inclinations.

I was already familiar with the word, but for certainty I looked up the formal definitions, one of which is: to the point; relevant; pertinent.

Then I went to a site that showed the word used in a sentence and the first entry was: Aim at conciseness; the ability to say something cogent and interesting is valued over the ability to write at great length.

..wait a minute...are those word fairies trying to encourage me or critique my work?

Rainy Day Reads in Kim's World

2011-02-04T16:30:00.001-05:00

I dropped by the library on impulse today (rain = reading so far as I am concerned!)

Except for Jane Austen, I could not remember the suggestions y'all made regarding my 50 By 50 challenge...but their few Austen books are on loan. I also looked for To Kill a Mockingbird, having just read an essay about Harper Lee in the Newnan-Coweta Magazine. Alas, librarian extraordinaire Emmanuel looked high and low, but both the library's copies of Mockingbird appear to have fallen victim to five finger discounts.

I resorted to shelf-by-shelf browsing and picked up:

A collection of Saul Bellow novels: Dangling Man; The Victum; The Adventures of Augie March
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (I did not see the movie, but I did remember the book was on Barb's Goodreads "to Read" list and I trust her judgment!
Wild Nights by Joyce Carol Oates
The Red Badge of Courage (It's true...I did not read this in high school.) by Stephen Crane
Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead

and also decided to amend my "no Non-Fiction" rule to exclude only the topics stuff I've been stuck on for the past ten years (namely, books about business and text-booky reads like the previously mentioned, Introduction to Quantam Physics.)

I am allowing myself biographies and other books like:

Copernicus' Secret by Jack Repcheck (but maybe I'll understand astronomy better than quantum theory.)

I really wanted to get the Writings of Thomas Jefferson, which I started reading a year ago and never finished because I didn't have time. It's been moved to a different library branch and I had to order it, so I settled on Collected Writings of Thomas Paine (Common Sense; The Crisis: Rights of Man; The Age of Reason.)

I also got a copy of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, mostly because I suspect I've already read most of the writings referenced in it, but also because my friend Wendi keeps writing about it on Facebook. I am not including it in my 50 By 50 because I doubt I'll actually read it cover to cover and it's a little too close to my restricted list - I've read a lot of religion and philosophy in the past few years. Still, if any of you have read it, I'd be curious about your opinion.

You can read details about these books and more on my Goodreads profile. If you post comments there, please let me know here or via my Facebook profile so I will know to go look.

Happy Reading!

Five For Friday: Blogging Buddies

2011-02-04T00:03:00.004-05:00

I know a few other bloggers personally and thought I'd spread a little link love today:

Some of them have multiple online activities so you're getting almost twice the Friday Five fun!

Lisa: (I went to grade school with her husband!) BookSmart Mom

Callie: (my infamous and and ubiquitous niece) CallieMommy
....and to get up to speed on her "old" blog DeeganDaily

Bonus! If you are a parent (or have a business that caters to families) in metro-Atlanta, you'll want to check out Callie's Macaroni Kids website and newsletter.

Lizzy: (once my customer, now my friend!) My Mind-My Life
....and Sister, Sister , the clever photo blog Liz shares with her sister Katie

Barbara: (she's like Martha Stewart on speed) Tumped Duck (her knitting/crafty blog)
....and RobbingPeter (her cooking/kitcheny blog, which is feeling neglected right now.)
Bernice: (we went to high school together a lifetime ago) Ramblings of a Woman
....and her blog/site about Living a Balanced Life

I know there are more of you out there! (With luck, a few of my fellow Listographers are reading this.) Please include your blog URL or link in the comments. And whether or not you blog yourself, tell us about your favorite blogger(s) and/or bloggish websites you like to read!

What’s a Blog? Why Blog?

2011-02-03T14:15:00.000-05:00

Merlin Mann said it best:

At its heart, your blog represents the evolving expression of your most passionately held ideas. It’s a conversation you’re holding up with the world and with yourself — a place where you can watch your own thoughts take different shapes and occasionally surprise you with where they end up…

- Merlin Mann (43 Folders) Feb 15 2007

Listography #6: List Your Favorite Artists

2011-02-02T06:55:00.005-05:00

That Listography chick isn’t very specific, is she? Is she talking about fine arts? musical arts? performing arts?

I’m going to assume she’s referring to people who wield a paint brush. On the further assumption that she means artists generally considered to be Masters, mine is a short list. If forced to choose, I’d go with:

Van Gogh
Matisse
Edmond Leighton (Yes, he’s somewhat the cliché, but I’ll take him over Thomas Kincaid any day!)

I have favorite works among The Great Masterpieces, but in most cases I have at least as many ‘unfavorites.’ (I love many of da Vinci’s pencil sketches, but (gasp!) I think the Mona Lisa kinda sucks.)

It is probably because I am a history geek, but for whatever reason I tend to be drawn to vedute, especially works by Panini.

50 by 50 - Your Recommendations, Please?

2011-02-01T16:29:00.001-05:00

Last year I set a goal of reading 50 fiction books before I turn 50. That should be easy to do since I won't be 50 until 2015, but I keep getting sidetracked.

The past decade or so I've read mostly non-fiction and I have found few fiction books that hold my interest these days. So I am looking for suggestions! Some baseline info:

Growing up I liked historical fiction, and Sarum is still one of my favorite books. Sweeping historical tales and multi-generational stories are usually winners with me. I was a big John Jakes fan as a teenager...and Eugenia Price, too.

I also used to like books like Thomas Covenant and Dragonlance series, (and loved The Mists of Avalon,) I just hate it when authors try too hard to use made-up languages as a means of creating their world. And complexity is good...except when it gets completely out of control (see: The Wheel of Time series.)

Not much for crime stories, and I got my Vampire fix years ago with Anne Rice. (Although the first Twilight book was surprisingly compelling.) And not big on romance unless it is secondary to the main story. (But I did love the Calder Sky books by Janet Dailey back in the day!)

The only recent authors I've found that appealed to me are Elizabeth Berg and Diane Satterfield. I was totally bored by a lot of the recently trendy authors like Nora Roberts and Ian McEwan, and I thought The Glass Castle was a horrific read.

Maybe I should stick with classics? (I am ashamed to admit that I've never read any Jane Austen...)

* sorry, no book links, but you can find me on Good Reads

Broken Hearted Me

2011-01-31T20:24:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had a really, really intense love affair? The kind that comes out of nowhere with genuine Love at First Sight, and just intoxicates you with the overwhelming desire to know everything there is to know about your beloved?

Have you ever poured your heart and soul into a relationship, stubbornly planning your future together despite warning signs that All is not what it seems? And have you ever felt that sickening punch to the gut that comes with the truth finally becomes clear to you that the relationship is entirely one sided? When you realize you are not only "not meant for each other," but that your beloved is beginning to tear away at your very soul? And yet even so, the heartbreak is so unbearable that you keep wishing and hoping and imagining that things will get better, until one day something snaps and you suddenly stop and face the facts:

This. Just. Isn't. Working. Out.

I've had one of those...

I'm not talking about Nick. But he is caught up in this heartbreak.

When we first visited our town in 1998, we were immediately smitten. After our wedding in 2001, we never seriously considered buying a home anywhere else. We couldn't wait to begin building our lives here and before long we had invested everything....our money, our lives, our future. Traded in our old hobbies for local history research, small town events, and civic engagement. Spent more time with our New Local Friends than our families and old friends. Heck, I even wrote love letters, like the one here and here and here (and here)....and created a website (supplanted by a Facebook page) to express my devotion.

I could torture the analogy by comparing the Internet hate boards to bathroom walls and city governance to junior high school, I could characterize the mud slingers as jealous ex-lovers, and go on to talk about how my beloved just won't stop hooking up with the trashiest girls in town...but that takes too much effort and I am through trying to love and respect what doesn't want to be loved and respected.

I know this post won't make much sense to many of you. And those of you who know me will wonder what the hell happened to prompt this essay. Suffice it to say that it's been a long time coming, that tentative steps towards reconciliation have only served to remind me why I started pulling away in the past year or so. Some news I got over the weekend sealed the deal and the love affair is over. I still love the house, still love the pizzeria, and oh, my, how I still love so many of the people. But I must confess that I've reversed my conviction that "we are gonna be buried here."

Nick and I are not actually going anywhere - after all we own a home and commercial property as well as the business. We'll remain here for a long while yet, but it's kinda like staying together for the sake of the kids. I'll do everything I can to try and make it work...but it will simply never be the same.

Disclaimer: these are my personal sentiments and should not be ascribed to Nick. He makes up his own mind about such things.

Shop Local and Bank, um, Global?

2011-01-31T10:43:00.002-05:00

Yep, it’s true. Little Miss Shop-Local, Think-Liberal has gone and signed on with one of the biggest financial institutions in the world. And I feel pretty darn good about that, thank you.

Here’s the thing....

Aside from being too smart to bite the hand that’s about to feed me - I am actually looking forward to my new day job.

I'll continue to operate the pizzeria with my husband at night, but during the day I get to be a little cog in a very big wheel. I won't be responsible for setting the course (navigating and getting there, yes, but choosing the destination and selecting the pathway, no).

I confess, I'm looking forward to being part of something bigger than I am, and enjoying the camaraderie that goes along with that – but not being generally acccountable for the professional happiness of the entire staff. I get to “go get a manager” when there is a big problem, as opposed to being the manager that gets gotten!

I'm also reconciled with the idea of Going Corporate because this particular branch really has the feel of a small town bank. I’ll even be working for a fellow Grantville resident and will no doubt be seeing some familiar faces at the banking counter. (Until this week, I hadn’t noticed so many of our pizzeria customer checks are drawn on BoA accounts.)

And hey, in the past hundred years, no bank of ANY size has seen fit to open an actual branch in Grantville - in practical fact, my new employer bank is as “local’ as any other!

Saturday Sundae: Bourbon Balls

2011-01-29T11:35:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Nick and I visited some of his friends from college. It was my first time meeting them since they reconnected with Nick via Facebook. I am not very comfortable in these situations, so it was kinda nice that we got there before the whole crew arrived.

As it turns out, it was very easy to slip into the comfort zone sitting in the kitchen with Kitty and Mark. It mostly had to do with how friendly they are, but the Bourbon Balls probably helped, too!

This version of the recipe comes from About.com and it's close, if not exactly the same as the one Kitty used. Variations are all over the 'net.

Ingredients:

1 cup fine vanilla wafer crumbs
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup bourbon
1 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
confectioners' sugar, sifted

Preparation:

Thoroughly combine 1 crushed vanilla wafer crumbs, chopped pecans, 1 cup confectioners' sugar, and the cocoa. In a separate bowl, blend the bourbon and corn syrup. Stir this bourbon mixture into the dry mixture; blend well. Cover and chill for at least a few hours. Sift about 1/2 to 1 cup of confectioners' sugar on a cookie sheet. Shape small bits of the dough into balls and roll them in the confectioners'. Store in refrigerator in tightly covered containers. Make these a few days in advance for best flavor, and roll in confectioners' sugar again before serving, if desired. These can also be frozen for longer storage.
Makes about 3 dozen bourbon balls.

Hmm....perhaps we should have a Best Bourbon Ball contest (shouldn't be too hard to find judges!)

Five for Friday: Online, um, Learning?

2011-01-28T01:51:00.003-05:00

Five remarkable resources for useful information that will enable you to become a more effective, informed employee, and which will generally enrich your life and the lives of those around you.*

* AKA Sites to visit when it’s almost time** to leave work.

** “almost time” begins approximately five minutes after your second well-deserved break of the day. (Or the first break, if it is a Friday or any day before you have a day off.)

I’m Getting an “F” in Listography!

2011-01-27T15:07:00.015-05:00

I signed up to join Emily, Torrie, Danielle and a host of other people in working through the Listography calendar. I cheated on the first “assignment,” using my Year 47 page for the 12/29 Goals for the Year list. I’ve missed every week since!

So this is me turning in my overdue homework:

List #2 - Books That Made Me Cry
This is an easy one because I can’t think of any. Unless you count Owen Meany, which made me just about cry because it was SO DAMN ANNOYING TO READ ALL THE SENTENCES THAT APPEARED IN UPPER CASE, or Lolita, which made me cry with regret over being part of that book club in the first place. I may have cried when Matthew died in the Anne books, but that was mostly because I had prepped for that scene by crying when he died in the movie.

List #3 – Things That Are Beyond My Understanding

I’ll limit myself to the first 8 or so that come to mind, in no particular order:

Quantum Physics – I kinda followed it when I listened to the audio version of Dancing Wu Li Masters a long time ago, but in recent years I’ve read that damn “Introducing Quantum Physics” book at least three times and I still don’t really understand it.
Slavery – From ancient Rome to modern-day underground slave trade, I simply can not conceive of what it would be like to actually think it is even possible, let alone acceptable, to own another human being.
How Babies are Made – Of course I understand the ‘conception’ thing; I even have a tenuous grasp on genetics. But having spent five hours a day, five days a week, working side by side with Nicole while she grew a baby, it really blows my mind that there is a little person in there!

hmm…that’s far too wordy for a proper list. To wrap things up:

The size of the Cosmos
The popularity of Sarah Palin
What really happened to Oceanic Flight 815
(yep, I'm in the "I Hated the Ending" camp.)

List #4– Leaders that Inspire Me

I’m going small-scale with this one and choosing a leading historical figure: Thomas Jefferson; a leading performer: Madonna (but that is a long story I’ll write about some other day;) and a leading brand: Special K, (‘cause seriously, that question, “what will you gain when you lose?” is still inspiring me.)

List #5– Place I’d Like to Visit

the island in France where Mindwalk was filmed
Charles University in Prague
Gran Sasso d'Italia, Abruzzo (from whence my husband’s family originated.

gran sasso

every nook and cranny of Scotland (from whence most of my forbears originated
any place I have not seen before (and many I have!)

There. My work is all caught up. Now all I have to do is finish reading everyone else’s first five lists before the Favorite Artist list is due (2/2)!

I've Been Rented!

2011-01-24T12:21:00.006-05:00

Busy, busy today. I was rented by Jim Sells Properties. I'm working on the new Facebook page for them right now. Thought I'd test out the "Like Box" interface and let all my millions of readers know why I'm not finishing those dozens of blog post drafts I have in progress....

You could totally let me "feel the luv," and also start keeping up with new homes for rent in midwestern Georgia, if you just Like the page. You can always "unlike" it later, but it would be great to have a few fans I know and trust to give me feedback as I start tying Jim's website, FB, YouTube and other stuff all together! (..yes, we know the website needs work, that's why he rented me )

>

"K" is for Kim

2011-01-18T11:55:00.004-05:00

Thanks to a kind of holiday windfall and our newly discovered Coupon-Hunting hobby, Nick and I have stocked our home kitchen for the first time in years. The focus on fresh produce, proteins and whole grains is already making a difference in how we feel each day. (Still lovin' Nick's Pizzeria for dinner, people...it IS possible to dine wisely from our menu.)

We got an awesome deal on Special K cereal, and it got me thinking about the infamous Special K Challenge. I am not prepared to substitute Special K bars and cereal for two meals a day, but I do like their new campaign, which asks, "what will you gain when you lose?" I think it will be very helpful for me to think more about what I can achieve and accomplish by making some changes in my life, rather than thinking in terms of what I want to stop doing or otherwise framing the changes in the negative.

So here are a few reminders about why I've decided to walk more, sleep less, eat wisely, and make different choices:

I am Challenging Myself to Make Better Choices About What I Eat, Do and Think So I Can:

Carry Ella, Kayla, Na'Meless, and other babies around with ease.
Walk up the stairs more easily and enjoy my big old farmhouse more
Enjoy decorating for Christmas again
Be comfortable in that plane when Nick and I finally go to Scotland
Be able to walk the Scottish highlands
Enjoy afternoon entertainment instead of afternoon naps
Be as quick-thinking and well-informed as I used to be
Let go of resentment and hard feelings more easily
(I do truly believe that this is more about the inside than the outside)
Explore new interests like GeoCaching
Live long enough to see Nick give-in and play Santa Claus
Do all the other stuff on my Year Forty Seven List. And Forty-Eight, Forty-Nine....

Last night we went to the discount movie theater, ("Due Date" is pretty good for a cheap date movie.) We took a pre-measured portion of Chex Mix to snack on instead of popcorn (and I LOVE me some theater popcorn!!) It really wasn't all that hard to do without it though, especially once I realized how much more comfortable those seats will be when my ass actually fits into them. Saved us five bucks, too!

So, here's to the Special Kim Challenge of 2011. Wish Me Luck.

Promoted to a Corner Office

2011-01-17T16:42:00.009-05:00

Some of you know that, rather than make a futile attempt to warm up our 140-year old house without using central heat, Nick and I are basically living in one room all winter. Our living room is now 'the cave,' and - thanks to lots of plastic sheeting, hanging blankets and Nick's handiwork in temporarily walling off the double entrance to the dining room -it's actually quite cozy when the little ceramic heater blows my way.

Getting some work done in here was a piece of cake for a while...I'd just sit on the couch with the laptop and surround myself with whatever receipts and documents I was using. Not so good for my posture or the size of my rear end, though. And I really missed my whiteboard and the rolly drawer-thingy from my office!

The Acer laptop died and now I need to work off my computasaurus desktoporaptus, and that prompted the wholesale installation of my new "office" in a corner of the cave. Gina at LifeHacker inspired me to go with a standing desk to try and address that rear-end and posture problem. (Dr. Josh should be so proud.)

So, now that I'm fully (standing) up and running, I suppose I should try to get some work done. Don and Jim are counting on me!

Today We Paid $28 To Eat Burger King Cheeseburgers for Lunch

2011-01-15T16:16:00.012-05:00

Wearing one of my many hats, I own and operate a pizzeria with my husband. We often visit other pizzerias on weekends, not so much in terms of "checking out the competition," but to find out how other owners do things, and to support the efforts of other pizza people.

Most often, we have reasonably satisfying and occasionally outstanding experiences. We (of course,) always come out thinking our pizza is better....but we've found a few gems, too. We've frequently enjoyed visits to Oz Pizza in Fairburn (destroyed by fire last year, but their East Point shop is still open) and were especially impressed by Slices in Griffin. Folks here in Coweta County might be surprised to know that we even eat at Fabiano's on occasion...the fact is that they have a very different style and they do it very well; we consider them peers rather than competition and hope local residents will support us both.

There have been some modest disappointments and "flat" experiences, but even at its worst I've never been tempted to bash another pizzeria. (True, I have been known to rag on "The Big Three" chains, but that's part of my job description and it's always in fun.) Even when we are not impressed, we appreciate the challenges of getting everything "just right," and acknowledge that people have different preferences when it comes to what makes a great pizza.

As for our experience today, I'll say this:
If (heaven forbid,) you are ever so disappointed in Nick's Pizzeria that you look a server/cashier in the eye and tell them that you flatly find our food so distasteful you cannot finish it, I promise you will get a better response than an uncomfortable, "I am sorry that you don't like it."

We sure as heck won't take your money and let you walk out unhappy and hungry.

Today we dined at a new pizzeria that will no doubt be a hit, with its fantastic location, funky feel and prime pedigree. The service is cheerful, the restaurant is spotless and the menu is diverse. However, for the first time in our lives we were unable to finish eating even one full slice of pizza - due to the overwhelming presence of a flavor that Nick immediately identified, but which I only recognized as repulsive.

We did not complain, per se, we were just gently honest when the server cheerily asked what we thought about the pizza. Alas, she had no idea what to do. She simply said that the sauce was "sweeter than she was used to," (sweeter? seriously?) and nodded understandingly when we asked for a box, "on the off chance that we could find someone at home who might actually want to eat this." (Don't worry,...we left a fair tip anyway.)

Our experience with the cashier was similar. She'd clearly heard complaints before. She even let slip that she herself didn't like the sauce....and then she held out her hand for our money. She did try to suggest that, "next time," we try something else, but she stopped talking when we told her there would be no next time after they accepted our money, despite knowing how unhappy we were.

At this point, it seemed wiser not to prolong the agony for everyone involved and just get out of there. We may follow up with management later...but frankly, if the staff didn't already know they should call a manager in this kind of situation, the manager probably isn't a very good one anyway. He/She would probably just attribute the terrible taste to cinnamon, as both the server and cashier had (incorrectly) done. Forgive me for saying so, but there are some things in this world Chef Nick really knows about, and tomato sauce and cinnamon are two of them.

At any rate I was eager to leave because I had skipped breakfast in preparation for this adventure, and I was still hungry!

And that, my friends, is how we ended up paying $28 dollars to eat two Burger King cheeseburgers for lunch today.

More Women Ought to Use "Lysol" for Feminine Hygiene

2011-01-14T14:46:00.000-05:00

PERSONAL Jim: What is the trouble? I've tried to be a perfect wife and mother. Where have I fallen down? At least be fair enough to talk things over. Your silence is cruel. Please phone. Love, Margaret."

"Domestic Tragedies may often be caused by ONE NEGLECT that destroys Romance...."Lysol" helps avoid this.

"It is a sad fact that a woman can be above reproach as a homemaker - and still be guilty of the one neglect that will kill a husband's love. More women ought to use "Lysol" for feminine hygiene.

"Lysol is cleansing, deodorizing, germicidal. Using it regularly for intimate personal hygiene will give you a sense of immaculate cleanliness that adds greatly to your charm...."

Lysol Disinfectant

For Feminine Hygiene

** copyright, 1940, Lehn and Fink Products Corp. **

....wonder if I can still get the "What Every Woman Should Know" booklet if I mail the coupon in?

Thursday Thought

2011-01-13T14:31:00.001-05:00

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions. - Benjamin Franklin

Envisioning 2011

2011-01-12T11:35:00.006-05:00

We were snowed in for a few days, so I decided to try my hand at a simple Visioning board. I was mostly inspired by Karen, but see the concept all over the net these days.

With just one magazine and some scrapbooking supplies to work with, I couldn't quite capture everything I was after, but it was a rewarding process nonetheless.

One of my overarching goals is to be mindful of what I want my life to be about; trying to find words and phrases that resonate was a helpful intellectual and emotional exercise in that respect. I also want to start being crafty again, and this was great way to reacquaint myself with scissors and glue.

As for the big pink flower and the water pouring in to it? I'm not sure what it means, but I like it!

Crafting Family History

2011-01-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

Kayla Crane

In the course of my 'decluttering' last year, I came across two knitted baby caps, which had come to me from my maternal grandmother, and were thus most likely made by her mother-in-law, "Grandma Jones."

With my mother's blessing, I gave one to each of my eldest nieces - both new mothers - with the caveat that the caps must be passed along to the next babies to be born into the family.

Since I have nine nieces and nephews in total, it is unlikely that these two hats will make it all the way down to the last members of "this" generation.

My Year Forty-Seven list now includes learning to crochet and/or knit...and my friend Liz has already agreed to teach me!

Perhaps some of my stories will be passed along with my handiwork, and I won't be as much of a mystery to future generations as Grandma Jones is to me.

Saturday Sundae Post: Quickie Cookies

2011-01-08T06:06:00.011-05:00

I used to think it would be fun to have a "store within a store" and sell ice cream and sweets at our pizzeria on Saturdays only, and call it my Saturday Sundae Shop.

There are still no people walking around our town on Saturdays, so that's not going to happen. I'm going to indulge my sweet tooth by reserving Saturdays for "fun food" posts and christen them Saturday Sundae posts! Since I just enjoyed some of these yummy cookies at Calloway's house over the holidays, they seem like a great way to start:

These cookies are known by many names...in my house when I was growing up, we called them "Quickie Cookies."

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick margerine
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, cocoa, margerine and milk in a saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a boil for one minute. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Place in refrigerator (or cool room) for at least 30 minutes. (If you can wait that long.)

Many years ago, I was snowed in at a cabin in Helen, Georgia with my Scottie friends Leigh and Saliem. We found out the hard way that you should not substitute butter for mergerine in this recipe.

Not that it kept us from eating all the cookies while we waited for the sunshine, mind you!

My Walk-About Begins!

2011-01-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

I am determined to make progress on my Year Forty-Seven list, and despite the dismal weather and a crazy schedule this week, I've launched my WalkAbout!

I am going to walk down each and every street in the city of Grantville this year. So far I've only done the little streets nearest my house - Smith, Cleveland, Magnolia, and Birch - but at least I got it started! I will be posting a little bit about my walks soon....with notes about the history, architecture, plants or other tidbits about what I see on my walks. I'll also post some pictures taken along the way!

Nick is walking some of the streets with me, and I'm hoping to have other friends join me once in a while. I will mostly walk Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during mid-day. Let me know if you want to come along when I walk your street (and/or if you can tell me a little about your neighborhood....even if it is not 'historical' there must be something interesting to share!)

Hearts is Hearts

2011-01-04T08:10:00.003-05:00

Through the years, I've often puzzled over a particular collection that found its way into my possession: I have a collection of hearts. Metal hearts, plastic hearts, stone hearts. They are little bitty hearts - pendants and buttons and so forth.

I've puzzled because, for the most part, I have no memory of whence they came and no explanation as to why I was compelled to keep them. I've never been a "heart person." Sure, I doodled a few on homework back in the day, but I was never obsessed with them like some of my high school peers. I've always avoided clothing decorated with them, and never purchased heart-shaped jewelry for myself. And I absolutely despise those bumper stickers that created a generation of people who say, "I heart such and such," instead of, "I love such-and-such."

But here's the thing...lately I am enamored of hearts. (Enamored...hearts..get it??) Seriously, when Lizzy sent me the photographs she made using a heart-punched card and Christmas lights, I was captivated. (The card itself was an accident, the hole-puncher we meant to order was octagon shaped!) I adore those colorful litle hearts, and dream of making a giant poster of dancing lights of love.

I've been drawing hearts everywhere. I pour over catalogs from Current and Oriental Trading Company, wishing I had money to throw away on Valentines Day stationary and decorations. I briefly regretted giving Nicole the heart-patterned socks I found at the Dollar Store last year. I was even thinking about making a heart-shaped cake for my own birthday.

Tonight, it all fell together for me.

See, this blog is all about me trying to go back and figure out where I came from, where I went, and where and who the hell I am now. It's part of a process that was kicked into action in the course of very difficult but ultimately very liberating conversations with my husband. Conversations in which it became ever more clear that, well, Nick Hearts Me.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

But that isn't the oddly synchronic episode inspiring this post. The post was inspired because, as I prepared for a new year of blogging and excavating my past, I pulled out one of my old paper journals. Inside the cover, I'd written an African word, sankofo, meaning "go back and fetch it." It very specifically refers to the necessity of revisiting our own roots and our own pasts in order to fully realize our present and future....pretty much what I am in the midst of doing.!

Next to the word I'd drawn a symbol, the adrinka that means sankofo, "go back and fetch it."

I am sure by now you've guessed what it is.

Rent Kim's Brain (and Keyboard)

2011-01-04T06:32:00.001-05:00

I am determined to be productive - and compensated - this year! I have no delusions about making money off of this blog, though, so I've launched a massive "Hire Me" campaign....or more specifically, a Rent Me campaign. I've realized there are quite a few things I can do that other people can't do, whether for lack of knowledge, time or motivation.

I am kinda excited about this. I already do a little work for Simplified Cleaning and have appointments lined up with two potential clients in the coming weeks.

Happy New Year!

Secrets and Secret Places

2011-01-04T00:24:00.003-05:00

A while back, my father gave me a slip of paper he’d been carrying around in his wallet. It was something I’d written when I was seven years old:

Ceci is spinding the night with Laura Hegis and the girls don’t want me so I made some secrits and secrit places.

As it turns out, I kept right on making secrets, and keeping them even from myself. It’s like I was putting myself away for “later.”

It’s taken forty years to arrive, but I think “later” is finally here.

It's Mostly Just For Me, Anyway

2011-01-03T14:00:00.003-05:00

So, I was all discouraged because there are formatting problems with this blog and there are other ways in which I was "not ready" to officially launch it last Saturday as planned.

Today I decided none of that matters. I am not trying to be world-famous like TheBloggess or even come out of the gate running like my old friend, Bernice. And I definitely don't want to revive the pressure of my old GNet days by trying to follow in Callie's footsteps with a weekly schedule!

This blog is really just for me. It's public because that makes me feel more accountable for following through on what I've set out to do here. And because I want to be mindful of what I am thinking and saying and "putting out there" in the world when I make choices about where to focus my energy and emotions.

It's true that I hope some like-minded people will find me and become part of my adventure, but even if I am the only one here, that's okay. It's been a while since I've spent some quality time with myself.

Thoughts I Wrote A Long Time Ago

2010-12-19T21:53:00.013-05:00

The One True Kim blog will launch in the coming weeks. The 2007 posts which follow are imported from a previous blog; posts with earlier dates are uploads of old diary entries and random notes. Future blog content will fall somewhere in between the airy, shallow "Hey Y'all" blog entries and ponderously contemplative diary entries of my um, youth.

Blog entries relating to the split personality days of G.Net and Mrs. Nick are archived in The Grantville Kim files.

Credit Where Credit is Due

2010-12-19T16:17:00.002-05:00

My friend Lizzy created the fabulous heart image I'm using as wallpaper. You can see other cool pictures by Liz and her sister on their photoblog.

Time Flies When You're Having.....Fun???

2007-06-06T18:59:00.000-04:00

I've been terribly busy and frankly too overwhelmed by the world to keep up with this blog. Just got my new websites up for my 'dayjob' and for Nick's. And you should have already received news that Nick's is finally reopened....phase one is, anyway. It may be several more weeks since I post here again. Trying to get my brain organized...and my time organized. There never seems to be enough of it. Took several days off from CTR to try and catch up and barely made a dent in the laundry, much less my very long Project List of tasks relating to Nick's and Grantville.Net and my personal writing projects.

Ah, well, I did at least have a mini-getaway with Nick just before we opened (LaGrange! yee ha.) and now that we are open I am getting lots of baby therapy. Breyson Bullard (10 mos) last Thursday and LolaRain (don't know her last name) on Friday and again tonight. A few more regular doses of baby holding and my stress level should drop quite a bit!

Scott's wedding is this weekend and I've got to pull the Nick's "comeback party" together for July...then we've got the Heritage Banquet and Halloween event and Calico Christmas. Ah! I guess my Fairy Godmothers just turned up the speed on my Merry-Go-Round again.....

Cosmology and Mythology

2007-05-14T04:18:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the recent publication of several books espousing atheism, and the 'who doesn't believe in evolution' question during the Presidential debate, there is a lot of discussion online debating Christianity versus Atheism.

The story of creation is a story of origins - it can perhaps be compared to the "big bang," but not to the entire concept of evolution...so why that issue has become the litmus test of candidate christianity is a mystery to me.

And clearly, one can be a non-Christian without being an Atheist. The Jewish faith is just one example wherein belief in God is not the same thing as Belief in Christ as Savior. There are other monotheistic religions that recognize a God other than the one discussed in the Torah/Old Testament. And then there are the many polytheistic religions to consider! Atheist is the opposite of Theist. Period. So to be a 'non-believer' when it comes to the Christianity or even to the generalized Judeo-Christian God does not equate to being an Atheist.

Seems to me that one can even denounce all religions without being Atheist. There are lots of people who believe there is a God but who abhor 'religion.'

In the current pop-culture discussion, there also seems to be a presumption that all Atheists are Humanists and that all Humanists believe humans to be infallible and 'great' in the same way that God is believed to be infallible and great. I suppose there is an official definition of Humanism somewhere and someday I'll look it up. I always assumed it just referred to a philosophy that holds mankind accountable for the worlds problems and expects mankind to step up to the plate and try to solve them. Is that irreconcilable with Christianity? Whatever the details, I find it ironic that many of the same people who claim God gave us dominion over every other living creature are offended by a philosophy that holds us accountable for what the state of the world. But then, I've always struggled with the concepts of "Free Will" and "God's Will" emerging from the same religious teachings.

For whatever reason, there seems to be a presumption that being non-Christian means believing We're Born / We Live / We Die / That's It without any spiritual, mystical, or philosophical underpinnings what so ever. And that, quite simply, is the wrong assumption indeed.

I am Such a Lucky Woman.

2007-04-29T07:54:00.000-04:00

The sun is shining and a cool breeze is blowing through the window and Blood, Sweat and Tears is in the CD player. I've got Diet Coke and peanut butter crackers, and a fluffy cat sleeping on a basket full of Christmas lights under my desk. I am working on day-job stuff that's at least mildly interesting and satisfying, and Nick is working on his own computer across from me. A beautiful day in the neighborhood, indeed.

Idle Chatter

2007-04-28T05:08:00.000-04:00

Peggy and Frank (Nick's dad) will be here shortly for brunch. They went to a Survivor concert last night and are going to another concert (Van Morrison? I can't remember) tonight. I think that is so cool that they still go to rock concerts. To tell the truth, I am totally jealous! Last year they saw Elton John! The best Nick and I have managed to do - ever - is The Beach Boys at Chastain. It rained, and only one of the guys on stage was truly a Beach Boy! It was still fun, but doesn't really measure up against the likes of Elton John.

Last night we had dinner with the crew from the Virginia office of my employer, CTR. I had met Dave, Capital Finance Director, before, but only knew Amber, Matt and Samantha by phone. They are all staying at my neighbor Maryleigh's house for the weekend (she works for CTR and got me my job.) We checked out the new restaurant "Choo Choo's" in Hogansville. If you are into trains at all, you definitely have to see this place! Lots of people have model trains, but how many of them have a collection of authentic outdoor signage (including an old A&WP Railroad "Georgia/Alabama State Line,") not to mention a couple of actual passenger cars? Oh, and did I mention this restaurant is in a train depot? These guys 'collected' that, too! Very cool!

It's nice taking a bit of a break from work concerns. I am looking forward to brunch and a poolside visit with the CTR folks afterwards. And probably another movie with Nick tonight. We've worked our way through most of Scott's DVD collection while the restaurant has been closed. Some of Scott's movies are really weird, but several of them have been excellent. Criminal, Huckabees, Simian Line and the Transporter movies are all excellent. I loved the quirky The Station Agent so much, Scott is letting me keep it! You can see a list of some of my favorites here. Oh, and for the record Employee of the Month is not the Jessica Simpson movie from last year. You'd have to pay me to watch a Jessica Simpson movie!

Still lots of work to do on the restaurant and new CTR website and assorted other projects. But I did finally get an e-newsletter out. I hope you guys have all read it 'cause it took me forever to complete it - I started it in March! I kept thinking of things I needed to fix on the Nick's and G.Net websites before the newsletter went out, and of course I was squeezing the whole project in amongst my regular work and restaurant stuff.

My old high school friend Staci posted an amazing message on the Grantville.net discussion boards in response to the e-news. Wow. It's a wonderfully sincere and special post. I've also gotten several emails from neighbors and customers cheering us on as we try to get through these last few weeks before we can finally open the shop. ......Gosh, I just love email and the internet!

Speaking of friends and neighbors...remember the story about Scott cutting our grass? Well, I can top that one now. Our neighbor, whom we are sorry to say we have never properly met, cut our front lawn yesterday...unasked, and unexpected. He told Nick he enjoys it and was glad to do it. Wouldn't even let us pay him for gas. How can we ever 'repay' all the kindness and joy we've discovered here in Grantville? We are truly blessed.

To What Should My Wondering Eyes Should Appear

2007-04-27T09:51:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, as I sat glumly at my desk trying to think of something other than bologna to eat for lunch, I heard a knock on the door.

Oh, how quickly our spirits can change from bored self-pity to joy! Brennen was standing on my front porch! Little Brennen! You know, Shelli's baby boy! Ben-Ben! FuzzleHead!

The thing is, he's, well, a man or something now. And a GOOD man who drops by to visit his Auntie Kim unannounced! AND he took me and Nick to lunch! How cool is that? Little Brennen buying ME lunch! I have never been so excited about fried chicken in all my life.

It might seem to you that I am easily excited (and, well, that's true,) but it really was such a wonderful surprise....so very satisfying to sit there and listen to him talk about things...and from such a mature perspective that I am forced to admit I had sorely underestimated him.

I don't know how you moms and dads can even stand it...being an Aunt is enough to make me explode with wildly mixed emotion when I think about how all the little people in our family have grown up. I swell with pride, and I can't even take any credit for how they turned out! (Okay, well, I'm gonna claim a little credit...just a teensy, wheensy bit of credit.)

Spring Has Sprung

2007-04-23T09:22:00.000-04:00

It is a fantastic spring day today and if that isn't enough to lift your spirits, just spend a few moments with my friends Hoops & YoYo.

Truly Amazing

2007-04-15T07:48:00.000-04:00

Modern technology is astonishing. You simply have to see this. Go to moon.google.com (there is no "www") and on the left side, zoom in by clicking on the hashmark just under the Plus Sign. Who would have thought WE would ever get to see the moon up close and personal like this? So cool.

Copy cats!

2007-04-10T16:17:00.000-04:00

First, Callie tells me she is thinking of October for a wedding, and now Leigh says she's looking at October too! Well, from one October bride to two others, an autumn wedding definitely proved to be a good way to start of a happy marriage.

Waiting for a Call that Never Comes

2007-04-10T11:19:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I get an email from Leigh that says she has big news. I write back and say, "so are you pregnant, or getting married, or both?" thinking I am very clever and she has sold another house and made a fat commission.

So then she writes back and says she IS getting married so I tell her to call me...but here we are at the end of the work day and she STILL hasn't called. Man, I hope married life has a good effect on her communication skills.

I can't stand it any longer so I gotta make a phone call.....

Giving Beyond Measure

2007-04-08T14:17:00.000-04:00

With last week's rain the grass and clover in our lawn was at least six inches high. There was no chance of Nick getting the grass cut anytime soon, and it was unlikely that I might be able to do so. My anxiety level was up because I get especially concerned about the grass now that Nick is on the city council... there is no reason to make it easy for folks to take pot shots. But then, on Friday, I looked out my office window to see our friend Scott gliding by on his riding lawnmower. He just appeared out of nowhere, cut the front and back yards, and disappeared again.

And then on Saturday, Carl and Jon - each of whom already gave us a full day down at the shop last week - came down for another grueling day. Six-thirty a.m. they hit the road to Grantville, truck loaded with ladders and tools and soft drinks. And this was after Carl spent several wee morning hours reading liturgies, since Saturday was Easter in the Orthodox Church. Along with Mike Brown and Nick, they nearly completed installation of the beadboard ceiling in the new dining room - no small feat since every board required at least one cut-out for lighting. It was after dark before they headed back to Alpharetta where Carl lives...and Jon was facing a long Sunday drive from Atlanta to Milner for Easter with his family.

I am incredibly humbled today as I reflect on the generosity of our friends. We are truly blessed.

Eureka! I did it!

2007-04-04T11:58:00.000-04:00

Okay, so Nick may be building a restaurant but I did something fairly amazing myself, today....

Our Christmas decorations have been put away!

Ha! And Nick thinks he and Mike are "All That" for puttin' a few walls up.....

It has been 86 days since Christmas. That's a new record (unless you count the time our family's fake tree stayed assembled and standing in our livingroom until Ceci had an end of year party in June, at which time we just moved the whole darn thing into the spare room. Why take it apart when we were halfway back to Christmas? :-D )

If you knew about all the extra decorations that I have because of the Christmas event, you wouldn't think I was so pathetic. (Unless, of course, you also knew that I had Nick take several totes and boxes of Christmas stuff down to the shop before the build-out started.) Now I've gone and told you about that, but confronting my pathetic-ness is good for my soul.

Jennie that cat isn't too happy since that means all her cardboard boxes are gone, but I am pretty pleased with myself. Especially since it means there won't be chewed-up cardboard all over the house anymore. (that is, um, once I get around to sweeping....)

Happy Valentines Day!
Kim

Shop Update

2007-04-04T09:59:00.000-04:00

Our friends Carl Bartz, Jon Jenkins and my brother-in-law David Williams came down over the weekend to help with the build out, and thank heavens they did. It was exciting to get the a-okay from the building inspector to 'cover everything up'last week, but the sheetrock phase of this project is a lot of time consuming drudgery.

Nick and Mike are totally exhausted and our other kitchen guys are, um, not making regular appearances (that's okay, they signed up to cook, not build.) Without the extra help this past weekend we'd probably be stalled out by now. As it is, Nick is down there by himself today doing what he can....Mike has a lawnmower repair business and of course he is in high demand these days.

Nick did some ciphering this morning and we've decided it is costing more in lost revenue to keep doing it this way, than it will cost to hire someone to complete the job, even considering the interest on added debt. We do know of a few local folks we can depend on to do the job right, and possibly right away, so Nick will be checking in with them for quotes tomorrow.

The 'hood guy' is scheduled to be here tomorrow to install the exhaust hood in the kitchen, and the electrician will be back soon to finish up a few details now that the inspection is over. And we've got to get the floors done (that's just pressure-washing the concrete and applyingsome kind of expoxy stuff in the kitchen, and simply cleaning the concrete floors everywhere else)...and put the drop-ceiling in the kitchen.

And all this is JUST for the kitchen, pizzeria dining room, pantry, dish room and staff bathroom AND it is just to get to a point where we can put the kitchen and pantry equipment in place so the health inspector can sign off on it. Never mind painting and other extras!

We hope to open for delivery and dine in by May 1st and will spend the month of May decorating the dining room and building-out the lobby area and public restrooms so we can open for full service this summer.

I imagine we'll try get get rockin' and rolling with pizza business, and go ahead and get our beer license to increase revenues, and the "upscale" dining room and expanded menu will debut sometime this winter. I just made that up while writing this blog and in the end it will be up to Nick, but I think it is a pretty good prediction of how things will go.

See more pictures of the work in progress - click here.

DNA, RNA and What????

2007-03-29T06:32:00.000-04:00

I am trying to make my way through "Introducing Genetics" for at least the second time. Where is my friend Leigh when I need her?? My science education was um, well....did I have a science education? Not much of one that I can remember, except that I did take biology in college when I was 30-something years old and learned more in one semester than I had learned in all three decades before. Nick still thinks it is funny that I always thought "opposable thumb" was "posable thumb." But what the hell, same difference. We can do things the apes can't do because we have thumbs. Which can, in fact, be "posed" in different positions. So there!

I do wish I had more time and the proper background to truly understand all this. I tried to read a book a while back called something like "Our genetic blueprint." I was fascinated by it but understood very little of it. Maybe now that I've had biology and hung out with science majors at Agnes Scott, and especially if I can get through "Introducting Genetics" this time around, I will be ready to try 'blueprint' again!

My Sister, the Star....

2007-03-18T18:51:00.000-04:00

Nikki sent a notice out about her appearance onstage in "Nunsense." Wish we could get up to Atlanta and see it. But, gee, I dunno, I am not sure that any stage performance of Nikki's will ever top the memory of her singing "I Gotta Crow" wearing a Peter Pan outfit in the Miss BHS contest....

http://www.georgiabulletin.org/local/2007/03/15/nunsense/

I Think, Therefore I am Ecstatic

2007-03-04T17:24:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading one of my old college textbooks, Pioneers of Psychology. We only read a chapter here or there and I probably only skimmed the assigned parts back then. But this time I actually read it cover to cover. I guess that makes me a geek but I so love to read all this stuff! And I am so glad to return to thoughts about DesCartes and Kant and Freud - who really had so much more to say about our thought processes than what we grow up hearing in general culture.

Reading this has made me want to get back to studying things I really love...cultural psychology and semiotics. I know there is plenty written about both in all these piles of paper I am trying to get through and record here. But oh, there is never enough time! If I won a billion dollars today, after paying all my bills I think I would just go spend an entire week in a bookstore. Heck, maybe I'd just buy the bookstore and that way whenever I get the craving to go Think, I would have the whole world of wonder to choose from!

My Heart Is Broken!

2007-03-01T05:33:00.000-05:00

No comments? Not a single one! Is anyone out there? hello? hello? I am so distressed that no family members or close friends are reading this blog, I might just decide not to tell you guys that we are finally building walls down at the new restaurant location. Or that we are tentatively planning a grand re-opening party for the week after Easter...with a 'soft' opening a week or two before that if all goes well.

And maybe I won't tell you that I might be bringing a fireworks show to Grantville for Citi-Fest in the fall. You probably don't care that I have a terrible head cold and am having such noisy coughing/hacking fits that Tux thinks I am going to steal the Hairball Queen crown away from her. Or that Nick finally broke his glasses after thirteen years of twisting them around to demonstrate to people that "you can't break them." His new glasses make him look like a professor. I miss the old Santa glasses but I am sure I will get used to the new ones.

Not that any of this matters since none of you are reading this blog.

Ya know, it would serve you guys right if I put some really, really, really big news in here like... I'm Pregnant. Ha! Just kidding. I am forty-two years old, people! ....Not that I received birthday cards from any of you, sniff, sniff, sniff.

Wait! Nick's mom Barb did send me a card, thank's Barb. And all the rest of you, I am totally kidding and do not need birthday cards.

Just send money. Ha! I am kidding again. Geesh, I crack myself up.

I suppose I should get back to working on my 'day job,' ...I just wanted to take a moment to think about my family and close friends and express how deeply I love each and every one of you.

Okay, y'all probably see right through that and have figured out that I don't feel like working today and am just procrastinating by writing this blog entry. Posting jobs is SO boring. If you go to the company job board, which is actually a blog like this one, you will see why I prefer playing with this blog! But it is kinda cool that we are working on finding a real live astro-physicist type person for a big shot company I can not reveal.

Since none of you guys are paying me any attention, I guess that if I want to procrastinate some more today I'll go play with the G.Net website. Not that many people are writing to me over there, either. WaaaaH! I feel so alone! Ah, the agony! The despair! Such a tragedy that I walked ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STAIRS to get to work, only to sit here with my kitty cats and peanut butter crackers, listening to the church bells chime as I look out my great big window and think about my wonderful husband down there creating a restaurant with the help of our fantastically dedicated employees...

Okay, so maybe my solitude is not such a tragedy, but come on y'all, give me a thrill! Write some comments! Tell everyone your news!It doesn't matter if you are not "family"...if I sent you a note about this blog, I consider you part of the extra special inner circle (ooooh...inner circle! don't you feel special?) This internet blog stuff is SO cool! Don't you want in on the fun? It's easy! Just click the word 'comments' at the bottom of this entry (or any earlier entries,) type away, and publish it. You'll be glad you did!

Hurry Up and Wait

2007-02-25T06:17:00.000-05:00

I am sad to say that we are STILL in a holding pattern with the new restaurant. I suppose that's just the name of the game when there is someone else's money involved. We've fronted everything we can while we wait for the loan to come through, but the contract on the lease/purchase is still being fine tuned so we are stuck. We did at least get the loan to pay off our original business loan (guess that's a case of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, but Peter will take lower monthly payments and was willing to give us until May to start paying!)

This is where our commitment to Nicks and to Grantville is really being put to the test...not that there ever was any doubt, but we absolutely had to put our money where our mouth is (and the expense of what little we've done so far promptly ate it all up!) Fortunately, our own staff has been able to handle some of the initial work, so most of our last remaining dollars went into their pockets and we can feel good about that.

We can still feel confident that this IS going to happen, and our customers are fantastic - can't even tell you how many of them have made a point of saying that they are still ready and waiting for us. We've also lined up some good contractors we can feel confident about...only problem is knowing for sure that they will still have room in their schedules for us when everything goes down.

When this is finally over, we are counting on you guys to send folks from far and wide to come down and eat at Nick's Pizzeria in Grantville (and tell them all to buy T-shirts, too!)

Great Idea for Christmas

2007-02-25T05:18:00.000-05:00

Hey! I have a great idea for the family Christmas this year. How 'bout if we make it a rule that all Christmas presents must come from one of the following fabulous internet stores:

http://www.cafepress.com/grantvillenet

http://www.cafepress.com/grantvillenicks

Wouldn't that be GREAT????

Definition of Cuteness

2007-02-24T05:01:00.000-05:00

This is Miss Jennie. She is named for Jennie Farriba Smith, wife of Malberry Smith, who built our house in 1861.

Her basket was made by Louise Brown of Greenville (the basket lady who came to Calico Christmas.) Jennie's kinda gotten over the whole sleeping in a basket thing, which bums me out 'cause it was so much fun having a basket of kitty on my desk. But she does let me hold her, and she occasionally sleeps right up next to me at night, which is something Tux has never done.

Speaking of Tux, she is not particularly happy about the new addition to the household. She'd be fine with it if Jennie would just stop being a butthead by pouncing on her out of nowhere! Tux is a senior citizen now and isn't really into games involving surprise attacks. However, she is willing to play teacher when necessary. For example, she recently taught Jennie the concept of 'payback.' Jennie is a total paper maniac and was gleefully playing inside a paper gift bag the other day. That is, that's what she was doing until Tux climbed off her perch, strolled across the room and trounced the bag (and the kitty inside it!) Just one, big, out-of-nowhere trounce that frighted the bejeebies out of Jennie. Ha! Tux might be old and slow, but she sure knows a good opportunity when she sees one.

Birthday Bonus for Time Traveling

2007-02-23T04:29:00.000-05:00

Nick had a spectacular revelation the other night. He recognized that if I was born at 11:04 p.m. in Louisiana on February 21, than I was born at 12:04 a.m. Georgia time on February 22. Therefore, as I have been living in the eastern time zone for most of my life, I have been celebrating my birthday a day early every year!

In order not to confuse the masses, I have concluded that the only sensible thing to do is celebrate my birthday on February 21 AND February 22. I started that noble tradition this year with a birthday dinner at Casa Maria restaurant with a bunch of my Grantville friends on the 22nd.

Never to Old to Learn

2007-02-22T04:17:00.000-05:00

Nick and I went out with Jon and Heather (see picture for reminder of which of our friends are Jon and Heather) for our traditional birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The old adage "never to old to learn" was proven true that night as we learned at least two lessons. The most important of which was, They Have Taken the Amazing Pork Medallions Entree Off The Menu. It was a stunning blow for our group, since this was our sixth birthday dinner there and on every visit, at least two of us have ordered the Amazing Pork Medallions Entree.

Our next lesson was much more fun. We learned that if the host overhears you say "it's my birthday," but you've given the host a different name for his list..."Nick," for example...than he will conclude that it is "Nick's" birthday, and tell the server as much. And the server won't know any better, and we won't either until she casually asks "who is Nick?" as she turns away after taking our dessert orders. The end result being that Nick gets serenaded by the Cheesecake Factory servers. He may well be the very first person to get a 'happy birthday' song a full sixth months in advance of his actual birthday. (Since I hate being sung to at restaurants, it was a wonderful birthday surprise for me, indeed!)

It's My Birthday!

2007-02-21T04:41:00.000-05:00

42 years ago at this moment, mom was probably feeling pretty damn tired even though it was only mid-morning. I suppose Nikki was in kindergarten by then, maybe even first grade, but mom still would have had a fourteen-month-old and a just-barely-two-year-old to contend with. I suspect that right about now (42 years ago,) mom was really, really, wishing I would hurry up and get here.

It is still about thirteen hours until the actual anniversary of my birth. I was born at 11:04 p.m., in-between the birthdays of two women that I've long thought of as 'kindred spirits.' Anais Nin was born on February 21, 1903 and Edna St. Vincent Millay's birthday was February 22, 1892.

So far it's been a pretty ordinary day, except that Bubba Rosser did serenade me up in the parking lot at Nifty foods and we talked about one of my favorite subjects, Grantville families. Bubba's real name is Westeia, he doesn't know if his mom meant for it to be "westeria" like the flower or if she just made it up, but everyone has always called him Bubba. He'll be 59 years old in November, but I don't think I'll break out singing in the parking lot on his birthday. He's a very nice man, that Bubba!

Happy New Blog

2007-02-19T13:33:00.000-05:00

This blog will be like an ongoing letter home, answering the age-old questions 'what have you been up to?' and 'how's everything going?' So, here we go...

This past weekend Nick and I took a weekend trip we could not afford to take, because it's almost my birthday, and because we have not been able to do much road-tripping since buying the restaurant, and because we've been wanting to get Jon and Heather to see the Windsor Hotel for a long time, and mostly because the hotel was hosting its very first Ghost Hunting Weekend! Jon & Heather tape "Ghost Hunters" on TV and whenever we go visit, we watch a bunch of episodes even if we've already seen them.

The workshop was mostly pretty lame - but the four of us enjoyed poking fun at the really bad parts of it and we did have a great time wandering around in the dark taking pictures of nothing. And we did get to go visit Andersonville the following day - Nick's been wanting to do that for a long time. Mostly it was just nice to spend the weekend with them, except that it made me miss the old days of long trips to Charleston and Memphis and other places!

Most of this calendar year has been spent stressing over the restaurant situation. It's been quite a hassle trying to nail down the deal for our new location. But we finally got that taken care of and today the Newnan paper had a front page (below the fold) story announcing that Nick's will be returning to Grantville soon. It was pretty cool that it was on the front page! We'd really like to get things done in time to open next month but most realistically we are probably looking at an early April reopening.

The new place will be simply "Nick's Pizzeria" instead of "Nick's Pizza Stop" and we'll have a totally new look, but other than that things will pretty much be the same as before, at least for the first several months. All of our staff people are coming back, and we've heard from a lot of customers who promise they'll be lining up outside the door the day we are supposed to reopen!

Our friend Scott (the artist guy who works for us) has been volunteering his time for Grantville while we've been closed. He made an awesome medallion of our "city seal" - it looks like it was cast in bronze or carved in wood, but it is actually made of foam! You'd never believe it for seeing it. Scott has also totally redecorated our city library with astonishing results. (And no, Scott is not gay. Although someone did recently call him a curly-headed pantywaist...but that's another story for another day.)

Pictures of the seal and the library work are in my online photo gallery, and there is a link to that below. You guys that came down for Calico Christmas, I hope you saw our ugly little library when you were here, so you can truly appreciate the transformation!

I am going to try and update this blog every few days so I won't go on too long with this first entry. Anyway, you'll find plenty of entertaining and enlightening information about "what I am up to these days" by exploring the websites linked below.

Even though y'all don't hear from me often, I DO love and appreciate my family and friends!

Painting History in Grantville

2006-10-01T19:29:00.000-04:00

Published in Coweta-Living 2006-2007

Church bells chimed midnight in the distance, and the artist stretched his stiff limbs to lean back and inspect his work. Satisfied, he put down his brush and climbed off the scaffold, a soft thud echoing through the empty chamber as his feet hit the floor.

Butter-cream walls reflected the warm glow of six graceful pendulum lamps, hanging low above the sloped wooden floorboards. The artist quietly walked from corner to corner, inspecting the painted plaster and pressed-tin crown molding, taking extra care to scrutinize his work on the stage area. He then gave the same careful attention the tin ceiling, smiling when he came to a tiny image of Mona Lisa, painted in a moment of inspired whimsy.

Taking a deep breath, he paused for a moment of reflection. He could almost hear the whispers of restless school children at assembly, the applause of proud parents as students took closing bows, the excited chatter of young teens rehearsing for graduation.

Tomorrow, he thought, he would hang the new stage curtain and give the floors a final cleaning. Turning off the lights, he slipped through the side door and walked into the night.

**************************

Seven years ago, Grantville residents campaigned to save the 1927 school auditorium, neglected and weather worn behind city hall. A newly created Performing Arts Board coordinated Grantville Day fundraisers, and donations arrived from throughout Coweta.

Graduates of the old school eagerly joined a letter writing campaign to support a restoration grant application. With receipt of the grant and labor assistance from the county, the city replaced the roof, installed new doors, repaired windows and gave the building a fresh whitewash.

But before long, excitement and press coverage waned, and donations slowed to a trickle. Grantville Day passed into the hands of another organization, its proceeds redirected. The Performing Arts Board faded away, and responsibility for the restoration fell to the city's Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). With turnover on the city council, the project fell off the priority list. In the absence of a routine maintenance plan, the new wooden doors began to weather, ivy crept up the walls and cracked window panes went untended.

A year after my arrival in Grantville, I was appointed to the HPC. Outgoing members passed the torch of leadership, exhausted and disheartened by years of futile persistence. Whether foolish or brave, who knows, I resolved to move the project forward using meager funds raised by the annual HPC Tour of Homes and Grantville Playmakers benefit productions. In 2004, I hired a contractor to refinish the doors, repair the plaster, clean the ceiling, and paint the floor. The outcome was not what I hoped for, however, and I despaired of success.

My champion arrived in the form of local artist Scott Palmer. Sharing my goal of achieving maximum results with the scant money in hand, Scott offered to do most of the work himself, at far below market rates. Throughout 2005, Scott repaired the plaster walls and hand-painted virtually every surface in the auditorium, spending days in solitary devotion to the vision of a new community center for the city. Calling upon a few friends, he installed new lights, hung the new stage curtain, and even drove to Indiana on a mission to collect vintage auditorium chairs discovered on Ebay.

Grantville resident David Jones stepped in to clean the wrought iron chair frames, working steadily for months to remove layers of dirt and rust. Our new city council has interest in returning this project to the priority list and at press time in the summer of 2006, city employees devote rainy days to chair assembly. We are organizing volunteers to clean the leather seat cushions and chairbacks.

Funds raised thus far have been depleted, but our work is by no means finished. Benefit performances will take to the stage at Halloween and Christmas. We’re looking forward to hosting an Open House on Grantville Day 2007, much like the one organized by intrepid citizens who launched the drive for restoration. We encourage you to attend benefit events and support efforts to raise funds for expanded dressing and storage areas, bathroom installation, and sound and light systems.

Donations of expertise, equipment and labor are always welcomed! We are eager to hear from actors and musicians interested in presenting benefit performances, and Grantville natives are invited to contribute photographs and memorabilia relating to the auditorium.

If you would like to be part of this effort to preserve a part of Coweta’s history, please contact the Grantville Historic Preservation Commission at hpc@grantville.net or POB 638 in Grantville.

The Little City That Could

2006-08-12T19:24:00.001-04:00

Published in Coweta-Living 2006-2007

Grantville has always attracted folks quick to pursue opportunity, and slow to admit defeat. Even during the days of the boll weevil, the great depression, world wars and industrial decline, there has been at least one voice whispering “I think I can, I think I can...”

The railroad arrived here in 1852. Certain the rails would lead to prosperity, townsfolk shed the humble name of Calico Corner in favor of the railroad engineer’s name, Grant. Perhaps to ensure their children were prepared to make the most of opportunity, they established Grantville Academy the following year. By 1860, a bonafide Professor was in service, and according to news reports, the Academy remained open even throughout the Civil War.

Little is known about the experience of Grantville citizens during the war, or even the prevailing sentiment among them with regard to succession and slavery. What is clear is that the city hardly paused to recover afterwards. In the waning years of the nineteenth century, Grantville began an ascent to spectacular heights, primarily due to the faith of a few individuals who said to themselves, “I think I can.”

Malberry Smith was among a handful of men who petitioned the state to incorporate the city in 1868. His brother, Wiley, served in the state congressional assembly that same year. J.R. Cotton founded a county-wide farmer’s organization to foster agricultural diversification and promote cattle and dairy farming. A new Grantville school was built and social organizations began to form within every strata of the city’s population. The Baptist congregation moved into their first church building, and newly emancipated residents built the John Wesley Church.

In 1865, T. E. Zellars had arrived in town with little more than the desire to open a store. When his first merchandise arrived, he lacked even the funds for freight charges! His solution was to open for business on the spot, selling products inside the depot until he could pay the stationmaster. By 1880, Zellars and his partner, W.J. Garrett, were selling wares in a brick building – Grantville’s first - which they themselves owned. Zellars also built a home, more properly called a mansion, nearby.

Before the war, N.O. Banks had launched a successful cotton buying business in Grantville, but the post-war era necessitated a new business plan. Whatever he came up with must have worked. By 1883 he had converted a three-room house into a 2-story Victorian masterpiece in the heart of Grantville, and in 1893 he partnered with Glenn Arnold to open an impressive mercantile.

J.W. Colley established the highly successful Colley Farms outside of town, and proceeded to leave a dramatic mark on the city when he built Bonnie Castle downtown in 1896. Before long, his home would become a popular destination for performers, politicians, preachers and other folks from far and wide.

The patriarchs of the Zellars, Banks and Colley families clearly believed that they, and this city, could do most anything. As the new century began, it seemed they were right.

Mr. Banks chartered the Grantville (hosiery) Mill in 1895, the same year Zellars charted a seed oil mill, gin, grist mill, and fertilizer plant. The Grantville Mill spawned a yarn spinning facility in 1906. The landscape throughout the community changed as the mills expanded, farms diversified and families established new homesteads. The old Smith farm produced a new range of cash crops, feed corn for a burgeoning poultry and cattle industry, and a variety of food for consumption in the mill villages. Area farms also grew a staggering amount of cotton, enough to feed the mills and ship hundreds of bales to other buyers.

The Zellars, Banks and Colley influence soon expanded into banking, insurance, politics and philanthropy. Other progressive businessmen built successful retail and service businesses, and residents eagerly cultivated an appreciation of performing arts and intellectual pursuits. Through some combination of fiscal planning, luck and fortitude, the city’s primary businesses survived the depression and many thrived well into the WWII era.
But a century after we jumped on the fast track, changing demographics, modern lifestyles and economic realities finally caught up with Grantville. The mills survived into the 1950s – the successor yarn mill lasted another two decades. By then, most of the city’s vitality had been drained away in the stream of cars leaving town on the new interstate highway. Just as the railroad lifted us up, so had the automobile propelled our descent.

It wasn’t long, though, before a handful of old timers recalled the tale of the little engine that could, and newcomers arrived to join the chants of “I think I can.” In the1990s, spirit flowed back into town and rekindled faith in the greatness of Grantville. The long neglected depot has since been reclaimed, and restoration of the 1927 auditorium is underway.

New businesses occupy old storefronts, where customers are enraptured and inspired by murals and photographs of old Grantville. Descendents of Calico Corner settlers are scattered throughout new subdivisions, one of which bears the name of that humble community. A new Grantville “academy” opened in state-of-the-art facilities in 2004, and the city is currently among the fastest growing in Georgia.

The majestic Zellars and Colley homes still preside over downtown, and Mr. Banks’ hosiery mill houses a store named “ReUse the Past.” Indeed, that’s what Grantvillians are trying to do as we move fully into the twenty-first century – use the best of what Grantville was, to make the best that Grantville can be.

We think we can!

My Coweta

2006-06-04T19:19:00.004-04:00

Original version of essay appearing in June/July 2006 issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine.

Living in suburbia years ago, I spent most weekends exploring rural Georgia with my sister and her family. We’d pick a direction and head out of town, the kids making hand-drawn “travel bingo” cards with a stash of cold drinks on the seat between them. Putting the Atlanta skyline behind us marked the official beginning of what we called adventuring.

At the first opportunity, we’d find an unexplored back road -- always hoping to spot a grizzled old man in overalls, dipping an ancient coffee tin into a big boiling pot and dishing out deliciously salt-soaked peanuts. We checked out any flea market or antique shop that looked sufficiently disorganized to yield treasures even the shopkeeper didn’t know were there. Hours would pass as we wandered old churchyards, speculating on family relationships and the lives of those memorialized with poetic verse and grieving-angel statuary. We gushed at the thrill of turning down an especially dusty road, and developed the rule of always going right, then left, then right again, until we were surely in the middle of nowhere and wouldn’t soon be confronted with golden arches.

One summer day in the early nineties, we headed South on I-85 until we found an exit with no sign of fast food restaurants. The ramp looped, and following our rule we turned to the right, with faith that the long stretch of blue road would lead to adventure and not to I-75.

Our faith was rewarded. That day, we peeked through the dusty windows of a charming old school, across from a fruit stand where the kids made a grand mess eating peaches fresh from the vine. We enjoyed the breathtaking spectacle of Starr’s Mill in the sunshine, where a couple held hands as they walked along the water. At an abandoned ice cream stand, we shivered with wistful loneliness, imagining long-ago delight as now-grown children took hold of chocolate dipped cones at the broken walk up window…hearing echoed whispers of sweethearts huddled on moldy outdoor benches, in the neon glow of the “Frosty” sign, now scattered and baking on the old asphalt driveway.

We delighted in grand old houses and tumbled-down barns, and gleefully plumaged through treasures in the very best kind of antique store. In an old city cemetery, we had the unexpected pleasure of being approached by a local resident, not to be admonished for letting children scamper through the burying ground, but to be treated to a grave-by-grave narrative of the old town’s history. Enraptured by the past, little did I know I was mere miles from my future.

Five years on, I found myself at that very same interstate exit, but turning left and heading for a weekend get-a-way to celebrate a birthday. This time, the blue road would lead to a turning point in my love affair with a man who would become my husband, and the true beginning of my love affair with Coweta County.

It was within the haunting shadows of Bonnie Castle that Nick and I first discussed marriage, our words captured by the faded parlor drapes that had guarded secrets for nearly a century. It was there that we savored Sunday eggs and Angel biscuits… there that the innkeepers regaled us with stories of textile empires and castle ghosts, town characters and local heroes, lost prosperity and renewed hope. There that we returned, time and time again over the following years, to sit on the veranda and agree, “We want to live in a town like this someday.” And it was there that we struck upon a simple shared vision for our future, “We want to have a place. And we want it to be ours. And we want people to come visit.”

In 2002, we bought a glorious old farmhouse built in 1861 by Malberry Smith, one of Grantville’s early aldermen and member of a civic-minded family that figures prominently in the early history of this area. After a few fitful years of commuting to work in Atlanta, we have finally achieved our goal of actually living in Grantville and not just owning a home here. I’ve been fortunate to obtain full time home-based work and Nick has recently left full time employment to focus on other endeavors, not the least of which is his new role as a member of Grantville’s City Council.

Two years ago we opened a restaurant in downtown Grantville, and we strive to be worthy of the loyal affection shown by area residents -- lifetimers and newcomers alike. We’ve traded in Atlanta-based hobbies for activities like furthering the Grantville auditorium restoration, organizing a local merchants group and helping residents enjoy their community through events like Grantville Citi-Fest and Calico Christmas. We admittedly harbor a dream that our business will someday be considered essential to story of Grantville, and indulge ourselves the vanity of thinking we are passing on the legacy of Malberry Smith and others who served this community.

A dozen years after that memorable adventure in what I now know to be Moreland and Senoia, and seven years past my first fateful visit to Grantville with Nick, we have indeed claimed Coweta as our own. We have found a place…and we have made it ours…and we want people to come visit.

Letter to the Editor - W Ga Beacon - June 2005

2005-06-05T19:14:00.002-04:00

As chair of the Grantville Historic Preservation Commission, I am excited that we are finally moving ahead on the next phases of auditorium restoration. The interior walls will be re-plastered in the coming weeks, and repair of the ceilings and floor will follow. However, it is important for Grantville residents to remember that the auditorium is just one part of a much bigger picture.

Railroad towns and Mill towns are a dime a dozen in this part of the state, but Grantville is unique in that we have both original train depots and two historic mills structures. The city is a microcosm of public education in west Georgia - we have Grantville Academy (1800s, now a private residence,) the 1927 high school auditorium, the 1930s WPA public school (now city hall), a mid-twentieth century school originally built as an African-American school and later integrated (now West Georgia RESA,) and the new 2004 Grantville Elementary school.

The city also boasts two exceptional homes (the Zellar's house - "first all brick home in this part of the county" and the very unique Bonnie Castle) as well as an assortment of antebellum farm homes, traditional Victorian style homes constructed for textile mill and railroad officers, and two original "Mill Villages" built for the everyday workers. The historic district also includes the architecturally outstanding John Wesley Church and Grantville Methodist Church, at least two public parks, and most of the original downtown commercial buildings.

Surely, not just the auditorium, but all of Grantville is worthy of preservation as this part of the state is being swallowed by the creature we know as metropolitan Atlanta! Let the development come - let the supermarkets and banks and chain stores be built. Like every other Grantville resident, I would love to have all of those things in our city. But must we sacrifice our unique character to get it?

Our city’s historic preservation ordinances, like many of our zoning ordinances, have not been consistently enforced in the past few decades. Perhaps even more importantly, our existing ordinances leave us ill-equipped to face the onslaught of residential and commercial development, much less preserve our small-town atmosphere and leverage the opportunity for economically viable historic preservation and heritage tourism. Expectations are high that our new city manager will turn the tide, but he can’t do it alone – and we shouldn’t expect him to.

Many residents have expressed an interest in organizing grass roots gatherings among citizens to discuss our concerns and interests. I am volunteering to coordinate the first of these, but ask your help in ensuring they are productive. If you would like to take part in some informal and unofficial “town hall” gatherings, please drop me a note with your top three concerns, and two preferred choices as to day and time of such meetings. I will collect notes the next few weeks and schedule the first gathering for late February. City officials and representatives from the regional development center will be invited, and I will try to arrange for an impartial facilitator to lead the meeting. Send notes to kim@grantville.net or POB 638 in Grantville.

Kim Sasso, Chair,Grantville Historic Preservation Commissio

Spirituality of Women

1999-09-02T14:56:00.000-04:00

The spirituality of women is compromised in a culture that demands we focus on and identify with our bodies. (sexual attraction, physical safety in a culture of rape)

Our distraction with the ego is intensified because these two factors oppose each other in that we are supposed to be attractive and feminine enough that we can attract and require the protection of males but no so much so that we are an easy target...

also, the releationship between males and females - the natural energy pairing - the balance - is compromised when the female is confined to the role of the protected and the male to the role of the protector, and each of us is limited to an accepted range of emotions which thus conflict (love and war) instead of blend (compromise.)

want to contemplate this some more....

Classnotes on Being Human

1999-09-01T16:17:00.000-04:00

September 1, 1999 (More class notes)

purpose of human life >> to experience Brahmin....more than one lifetime...hopefully progressive lifetimes...moving towards Brahmin

Collins: the Upanishads contain the roots of Christianity

"bothering" = "enlightenment"

do not read from the intellect....start from where you are

stage one - compassion - empathy is the first step (unlike in western thought where empathy is perceived as being a high quality.)

stage two - essential oneness

*****

global harmonization of science and religion (what Sir Jeffrey hope will be the hallmark of the 21st century)

eastern religion moves westward and western technology moves eastward

"you can't put divinity outside of yourself"

another metaphor for the cosmic All

even despite the ego, some divinity glimmers through

human being - eternal now. not human has-been or human will-be

Negativity and Ego

1999-09-01T15:57:00.000-04:00

(This appears to be mostly quotes from a Dr. Collins lecture)

seek to grasp and experience rather than to understand when reading

ignorance is centered in the illusion that "I" am separate from reality

we have not evolved fast enough physically to keep up with the amount of information with which modern man is confronted....how can we believe we "know" anything based on what little information we take in through our five senses?

we only see one-tenth of what there "is"

Dr. C recommendation: The User Illusion (book) metaphor - the brahmin is there you just have not seen it yet.

everytime someone creates a negative - create a positive to bring them back up...rewrite the play..next time someone shoots a dart at your ego, step aside and return fire with a positive dart

evolution has been part of Hindu conciousness always...when Darwin's ideas were introduced the Hindu masters yawned.

Kim thought: my personal struggle with ego is the constant need to remind myself that my 'spiritual breakthroughs' and revelations do not set me apart [interesting choice of words] I must keep reminding myself that there is still so much to learn and the more I learn the less set apart I will be......is that what is happening? Is my ego attempting to reserve my "individuality?"

ignorance - attachment to ego
evil - attachment to ego and unawareness of essential oneness
limiting - seeing ourselves as less than what we are / evil things limit us
superior representation

ego is based on reward and punishment..the pleasure principle

conciousness flows where the attention goes....meditation

Knowledge Everywhere Accessible

1999-09-01T13:52:00.000-04:00

Notes while observing a class offered by Dr. Jeff Collins:

Collins talks about "making the moon which blocks your view an instrument for seeing the stars."
..."making the ego an instrument for seeing Braman rather than an obstacle."
Kim thought: isnt' that what we are doing when we attend this class, hold conversations, read and write words?

Collins: the internet is a metaphor for Brahmin (knowledge everywhere accessible.)

Collins just said what I have long believed...every physical thing is a metaphor for spiritual reality.

Kim note: right now I feel like there is nothing more that Collins can teach me...at least not today...I suppose I will know when I am in need of him again..

Manifested Immanance

1999-09-01T13:45:00.000-04:00

ENERGY(not visible) goes into a MECHANISM and LIGHT (visible) is produced

The energy is not created...it exists before and after, with or without the mechanism. The 'light' is merely a manipulation of that energy to create movement of a kind visible to our human eye.

The light is not the energy but a visible manifestation of it. Where there is darkness there is energy not yet manifested or motivated to movement and immanance.

Much like a cloak can cover our eyes and give the illusion of darkness, so can we be fooled by some illusion (ego?) into believing we cannot see the light and fool us furthermore into believing the light does not exist

* these might be the words of Dr. Collins instead of my own. although I was no longer enrolled at OU I did often sit in on his classes and the page with this notation is mixed in with notes from a class I visited in fall of 1999.