RIP: The Sacred Hour 4/6/2007 - 11/13/2008 (Click Picture for Background)

Never Too Old for Advent!

The past two Christmas seasons have been so hectic, we did not have time for advent. This year, we decided to do it even if it meant sitting around the wreath and singing on a Tuesday night. Sure enough, by the time David got home from youth group last night, Pamela was already in bed and Steve was fading fast.

So, we celebrated the first Sunday of advent on Monday! We lit one candle and cycled around the table, letting each person pick a favorite song. I can tell how much Pamela has changed because, this year, she gave me face to face contact as we sang several carols. She has a very light, sweet soprano voice and decent timing, but the lyrics definitely need more work!

Steve never sings because he has about one note in his repetoirie. This is the first year David opted not to sing, in spite of the fact that he can carry a tune and has a soft baritone voice. I did not act disappointed and was later rewarded for my patience. After we were finished with the pumpkin pie for our advent treat, David ran upstairs to his bedroom and spent about an hour practicing Christmas carols on his recorder so that he can accompany us next week!

Sixteen years old and David is still suspectible to being bitten by the advent bug . . .

Doing the UN-Thinkable

Pamela is ready for the holidays year-round because she loves watching Dr. Seuss - How the Grinch Stole Christmas and even snagged a copy of The Grinch Grinches The Cat In The Hat and Grinch Night but, thankfully, drew the line at the live-action version. She even loves Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer plus the highly cheesy spin-offs, Rudolph's Shiny New Year and Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July.

But, that is not what was un-thinkable about yesterday . . .

For the first time in her life, Pamela succumbed to the Black Friday hoopla and decided we were going shopping on that ominous day. Ominous because I hate shopping and the day I hate most to shop is black Friday! However, I will do anything for Pamela and we braved Walmart together in search of stuff for an elder basket and an angel tree child. Fortunately, because we waited until after lunch shop, we did not witness any stampeding shoppers. Of course, in a town south of the Mason-Dixon line with population 4,000, one would not expect such unladylike behavior.

We picked out three of four items on the wish list of a four-year-old girl who is part of the angel tree program hosted by our church for foster care children in our area. Pamela enjoyed picking out a Baby Alive Sip 'N Snooze for she thoroughly adores the Baby Alive (a baby, not a D-O-L-L) she received for Christmas last year. She scratched and sniff all three kinds of Dora dolls present (lemon, cotton candy, and cherry) and chose lemon, of course: Stylish Scents Dora- Lemon Drop. She smiled when she tested out the Vtech Write and Learn Letter Pad and wrote a letter on the pad. We included extra batteries that came with a wind-up panda toy plus two books: The Animals' Christmas Eve and God Knows All about Me.

Our church also participates in an elder basket program in which people fill an ordinary laundry basket with packaged food, personal care, and household items. Pamela helped me pick out items for our basket and I used up the rest of the baby blanket cotton yarn on a Basket Weave dishcloth, nubby-scrubby washcloth, and extra thick potholder and I still have enough remaining to knockout another basket weave dishcloth I plan to include two bars of Ivory soap for the under-a-dollar gift I'm supposed to bring to the monthly Bible study class next month.


David, the giant, jolly elf, decorated the Christmas tree. He also terrified our gentle parakeet Lily by putting a gargantuan lifelike bird on top of the cage. She flustered about the cage, so he took it off after a minute and replaced it with less intimidating froppery. And, when he was not busy entertaining the neighbor's grandsons, David took a picture of the Arwenator wearing a Santa hat . . . I guess all that hard work makes up for the disappearance of half a container of ice cream, egg nog, and pumpkin pie . . .


Steve nearly finished his mammoth to-do list, which included doing Christmas cards, which he decorated with the most interesting collection of stamps. . .

Thankful Thursday Thanksgiving Meme

I found this meme at a knitting blog:

1. Which do you like better: Cooking at your house, or going elsewhere? Hint: Last year, we served champagne in Dora the Explorer paper cups last New Year's Eve. I am not Martha Stewart, nor do I play her on television. Of course, I prefer going elsewhere so I do not have to overextend my meager decorating and culinary skills!

2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen bird? I buy frozen, or better yet a ham to avoid being the subject of any thanksgiving horror stories. While my dad is brave enough to manage a fried turkey without blowing up the house, I am better off with a plain-old, garden-variety ham!

3. What kind of stuffing? I like gluten-free, casein-free cornbread stuffing with mushrooms, nuts, and other goodies (but no innards or oysters, please); Steve prefers Stove Top when he is not visiting his mother, who makes fabulous stuffing that I cannot match!

4. Sweet potato or pumpkin pie? About the only thing I can do well is a gluten-free, casein-free pumpkin pie, made with a nut crust, except for this year because I blackened the outer edge in honor of my Cajun friends.

5. Do you believe that turkey leftovers are a curse, or the point of the whole thing? Any leftover is a blessing in the home of the anti-Martha Stewart! I grew up on Exxon Valdez stew (leftovers with a splash of lard to stick to your ribs).

6. Which side dish would provoke a riot if you left it off the menu? I am pleading the fifth because none of my side dishes are that popular.

7. Do you save the carcass to make soup or stock? Yes, I do and that is why I am the Queen of the Crockpot!

8. What do you wish you had that would make preparing Thanksgiving dinner easier? I wish I had someone else to do the cooking. Oh, wait, I do! It's my husband, Steve!

9. Do you get up at the crack of dawn to have dinner ready in the early afternoon, or do you eat at your normal dinner hour? Snort! We eat dinner when it is done. The year we lived in Oliver's Fun House in a fishing village in Alaska (see the image I found online of one--no, that is not me nor did I ever smile while cooking on my oil stove), the turkey wasn't ready because our dual-purpose stove (which heated the house and the hot water heater, neither very well) had a cracked kiln. We could not crank up the thing to avoid sooting up the house. So, we rotated the bird periodically to eat it evenly.

10. If you go to somebody else's house, what's your favorite dish to bring? I always bring homemade cranberry conserve and pumpkin pie!

11. What do you wish one of your guests wouldn't bring to your house? I guess it would have to be Senor Influenza!

12. Does your usual mix of guests result in drama, or is it a group you're happy to see? We keep it small and cozy to avoid the drama for my momma, who lives across the street from us.

13. What's your absolute favorite thing on the menu? My absolute favorite thing on any menu is dessert!

14. What are you thankful for this year?

• We live in a country where we can speak freely, worship God freely, and homeschool!
• My husband is a great breadwinner, who does not mind cooking or helping out with the house.
• My two kids have taught me so much about patience and never giving up.
• Our extended family loves and accepts our autistic sweetie pie for who she is.
• I am thankful for my local skin friend (and the one who moved away last spring), my skin friends from high school and college, and all of the aut-2b-home, homeschool, RDI, CM, gf/cf, whatever cyber friends.

G1 reviews

Some G1 reviews from the industry press:

Mobile magazine

MacNews World

Sydney Morning Herald

Information Week

Driving Under Influence of Cells

Bailey Goodman and four recent Fairport High grads drove to the Finger Lakes to enjoy time together before summer took them in new directions... On the way, Bailey's cell jingled arrival of a friend's text message. What's up? A curious teen would look to see... Thirty-eight seconds later, someone called 911 to report the fiery collision with a tractor trailer, which snuffed out lives of Bailey and her four friends. Phone records show the phone in use at the time of the collision. Ever wonder whether the human brain can focus on texting and driving all at once?

Joanna Young quizzed me, too, in comments following Kickstart Cellphone Smarts...

I wonder if it's maybe also the need for speed and the fear of missing something if we delay the transaction for another time when it's more convenient.

"Just listening to a cell phone while driving is a significant distraction," according to Carnegie Mellon University scientists, "and it causes drivers to commit some of the same types of driving errors that can occur under the influence of alcohol."

The use of cell phones, including dialing and texting, has long been a safety concern for drivers. But the Carnegie Mellon study, for the first time, used brain imaging to document that listening alone reduces by 37 percent the amount of brain activity associated with driving. This can cause drivers to weave out of their lane, based on the performance of subjects using a driving simulator.

Compounded by curiosity to "know" now, and not later, a typical teen's attention quickly moves from the road to the cell's new text message.

"Drivers need to keep not only their hands on the wheel; they also have to keep their brains on the road," said neuroscientist Marcel Just, Director, Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging.

Problem is the brain's ability to multitask. Some research shows that drivers engage in a distracting activity on an average one every six minutes, which frequently results in driving errors and road accidents. In fact, distraction causes one in five crashes in Australia.

"They were the nicest girls," said Elaine Deignan, the cheerleading coach. "They were the most respectful, pleasant and fun to be around. Just really good people."

Accidents that involve cells can be avoided. Ready to delay finding out who's so anxious to reach you and know what they want? Let's shut off our cells to avoid D.U.I.

This blog is my second contribution to Brad Shorr's challenge to write on cell phone abuse.

Kickstart Cellphone Smarts!

Three ladies at Applebees sat a few feet from our table. My hubby and I looked over our menu as the three of them chatted in the background. Moments later one of the ladies pulled out her cell phone and started to talk though the other two ladies sat across from her. She completely ignored them. The woman's highly pitched voice quickly raised two or three decibels as her "angry" conversation drowned ability to hear my hubby. Ever experience this?

Do rude cell phone users annoy you daily? Unfortunately that happens more than I like. For instance, last night I went to a presentation by Jean-Claude Brizard, titled "Building a Community of Excellence." Brizard talked of his vision to eliminate dropouts in the Rochester city school system and revitalize education here. Amazingly, a gentleman sitting behind us must have thought himself more important than Dr. Brizard. His cell phone went off during the talk. I watched him put his phone to his ear and wondered if he would talk. Why do many cell phone users seem oblivious to other people right around them?

Might this rudeness connect to lack of focus? self-importance? a deficit in manners? lack of civility? unawareness? Could be one or all depending on the case...

Great news is that peoples' brains can be rebooted to strengthen interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences. These two of the eight multiple intelligences, named and researched by Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University, can be seen in distinct regions of the brain through MRI's.

Here's a descriptor of these two intelligences...

Interpersonal [Social] Intelligence - includes the capacity to discern and respond appropriately to the moods, temperaments, motivations, and desires of other people.

Intrapersonal Intelligence - includes accurate self-knowledge, access to one's feelings and the ability to discriminate among them to direct behavior. Weber, E. (2005) MI Strategies in the Classroom and Beyond. Pearson Publishers.

Try rebooting with these strategies...

Teach teens good manners. We learn as we teach and we also retain more by teaching others. What if we taught our teens good phone manners by explaining how it can be done? We'd certainly learn that we needed to be courteous about how loudly we speak and to activate our buzzer in a public building with many people there. Then model it.

Reflect to adjust and change. Ask yourself questions related to your surroundings so that you know how you affect others. By doing so, this will lead you to build within yourself the capacity to show courtesy, kindness, and self control.

Additionally, humorous ads from cell phone companies would help kickstart people's smarts connected to ways they use cell phones in public places.

What positive strategies come to your mind to turn around cell phone abuse?

This blog's a contribution to help introduce Dr. Mike O’Malley's newly published book called Cell Hell - 55 Cell Phone Users You’d Like to Silence.. Brad Shorr's running a contest in which you could win $500.00, if you'd like to enter.