thankful

The pumpkin swirl cheesecake is done (so are the spice cookies, most of which ended up as crust for the cheesecake), the crust for the apple pie is in the fridge, and I have finished knitting my first sock. Mariah says the heel is a little big but she loves it anyway, which is probably one of the reasons I love her so much. I took the advice I found on the Sock Page and cast on the second one right away. I've finished the cuff. So that's good.

Mariah and I went clothes shopping today (I'm not sure I can do it on Friday, but the day BEFORE Thanksgiving works ok) and we each bought two things at H&M. So that was fun.

And Nick and I finished reading The Sea of Trolls, which was pretty great.

Tomorrow I will make apple pie and this fabulous cranberry sauce--not the horseradish one, which is a pretty color but I won't eat, but the garlicky one, though I'm an overachiever and make my own whole-berry sauce first out of fresh berries. Why not? It's actually really easy and the chutney is amazing. Really.

And then we will go celebrate with many friends, all of whom are bringing other delicious things to eat. I'm a tiny bit sad that I'm not cooking the bird, as I love the leftovers, but I'm figuring I can get a turkey breast pretty cheap a the grocery store on Friday, so I'll survive. And there are a couple of fabulous sweet potato recipes I'll just do for us since someone else volunteered them (crossing my fingers that they don't involve marshmallows...).

another new template

Sigh. It's Lizbeth's fault, really. Not that I'm in blogexplosion, but I took her point. But it's not just her fault. I loved the look I had last, but so did lots of other people. And when I learned that I was linking to at least two other blogs with the same format, I had to give it up. I used to read a blog with this template, too, but I think that one changed, so I can go with it. It's readable, I think, so I'm hoping I can stick with it for a while.

I'm just too cheap to pay for a site, right now, and I don't want to do any coding myself. So I'm going to stick with blogger templates, and I'm glad they keep coming up with new ones. But, yes, you'll probably see others out there in the blogosphere with the same template. Deal with it.

PESD

I think I have Post-Election Stress Disorder. Most of last week I tried to play Pollyanna, surfed the net and blogged a few interesting things I found. And then it all came crashiing down. Well, not all. I had a fabulous Monday. I got to meet Amy for the first time, and to hang out with Jen & Steph of Brain, Child as well. They all came and did a panel for my program, and my class, and they were fabulous. It was a lot of fun, too, hanging out with like-minded women. The dinner conversation was worth the whole thing.

But since then I've been...not so hot. I've had a headache since Wednesday, which is really a drag, especially since I supposedly don't get these multi-day headaches any more now that I'm so healthy and do acupuncture and chiropractic and yoga and take all my supplements. Feh. It comes and goes, but mostly it's hanging out right here over my left eyebrow and behind my left eye.

And it's raining. Luckily our roof no longer leaks (knock wood), but still. I don't like it. It's wet and cold and was gray outside all day. So blah.

On the other hand I bought little teeny circular needles today to try to learn how to knit socks. I'm following directions I found here, only because I'm too impatient to wait for this book, which, after all, i haven't even ordered yet. I have only done a few row so far, so it's too early to tell if I'll be able to handle this or not. But it's fun trying. It would be more fun, though, without a headache.

The Unbearable Darkness of Being

All this ink spilt on the sell-out Democratic Party, the incompetent media, and the future of a divided nation and not a word about the emotional reality of loss. Do you think it's because they're mostly men? Natch.

All the blame-mongering in the world can't erase the pain or, more importantly, the fear. My mind can handle the body blow of defeat, but it's the slow, seeping chill of dread that is harder to fend off.
Read the rest here: Alternet

No longer a Christian

Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was conceived by an unmarried woman. He was not born into a family of privilege. He was a radical. He said, “It was said an eye for and eye and a tooth of a tooth, but now I say love your enemies and bless those who curse you.” He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Mattew 5: 3-9) He said, “All those who are called by my name will enter the kingdom of heaven." He said, "People will know true believers if they have the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control.“

Check the rest out here: Common Dreams

what moral values?

I am outraged at the notion that "moral values" swung this election.  I
want a t-shirt that says "My moral values voted for Kerry" or something
like that.  How presumptuous!  How wrong!  What morality launches a
pre-emptive war, ravages the environment, awards sweetheart deals to
buddies, and bankrupts working people? What morality denies the power of love to transform?

I voted my moral values, and they lost.

nail-biting time

Edited to reflect the truth about the yard-sign incident. Somehow I thought there was more than one in our garage, but the vandalism didn't go quite that far...


I'm glued to the TV now. I can't stand it. I can't stop watching, but there's nothing new really to report, other than that Virginia went for Bush. Again.

Saturday night our yard sign was stolen, along with several others on the block. Whoever took them all also broke our garage window and stuffed one (probably ours) in our garage--ripped up and broken, no use to anyone.

I've never put up a yard sign before. I've never felt strongly enough about a candidate, or an election. I've never been so worried about my kids, about everyone's kids, before. I've never given money to a candidate before, either. This time I did.

And then someone decided we didn't have the right to publicize our opinion, to try to encourage others to think about our position. Someone (someone identifed with the party that usually protects property rights and property owners?) decided to break our window, damage our property, and stuff yard signs where they couldn't be seen.

I can't bear to watch the results tonight, but I can't look away.

a gift

Nick had a great time trick-or-treating. He had a creative costume, courtesy of a book of costumes Mariah had years ago. He was a "headless wonder"--a spooky looking critter "carrying" his head in front of himself. The trick is to put a box on his shoulders, with a hole in it for his head to stick out, and then dress the box like the top of a person--shirt, long coat--and let the head stick out through the buttons of the shirt/coat. Something read sticking up out of the top helps, too. He was scary, believe me. And he brought home a lot of candy.

Mariah, on the other hand, didn't dress up and didn't get any candy. She went and hung out at a friend's house and handed out candy--and found that that wasn't quite as much fun as trick-or-treating. (Is 14 too old?)

Nick felt bad for Mariah that she didn't have any candy, and told her he'd share. That was sweet enough. But this morning he got up and went immediately downstairs. There, he dumped all the candy he'd gotten on the floor, and sorted it out into four piles: one for each of us. Then he labeled four bags and put a pile of candy in each one. He shared it all out evenly.

I was amazed. I mean, no one told him he had to. And it's not like this is Mr. Perfect Child--he and his sister fight over stupid (and sometimes not so stupid) stuff all the time. He can be a whiner, a wild man, a pain of all sorts.

But this? Was a gift. Free grace, unearned. And all the more welcome for it.