AliThinks

Clouds, Field, and Fence

   

    Click image to enlarge.

The Fort

The children have a fort out back, down by the creek (or the river, as some of them call it). Yesterday the bigger girls washed some socks and things in the water down there. They showed me when I went down there for a visit.

"They smell so good! Smell this, mommy."

(My daughter is with me as I write this; she suggested the topic of this post, and she just clarified that the socks smelled good because of laundry detergent, not because of the creek water).

This morning they took a bar of soap down there in order to continue cleaning things.

Nine Children

And only two of them are mine. A friend of Amber's came yesterday, bringing her two children plus one. That makes nine kids, and guess what? They're ALL outside.

The sun is shining for the first time since our arrival, and I'm about to have coffee with the adults. The plan today is to keep the kids out of the house as much as possible. Perhaps we'll go somewhere else for a walk, perhaps not.

Anyway, it's all good.

Hiya

I don't know what to say. My brain is out due to jetlag.

Go read Allan.

Linky Goodness

Welcome to Bluegrass Airport! We have plenty of time before our flight (you need to click that link), and we've exhausted the retail possibilities here. There's always the bar, but it's not even 4 p.m. yet.

I thought I'd leave you with some links to Blogs I Have Been Enjoying Recently. I hope you enjoy them too, and that they can tide you over until my next post. [insert winky emoticon here]

It wouldn't be a day without reading The Morning Meeting, hosted by The CEO. If The CEO doesn't make you laugh, then surely Mist1 of Must Get Hobby will. Once you've made it through those, you might be feeling peckish. Go see Ms. Glaze, who recounts her life as a stagiaire in a three-star restaurant in Paris. On the other hand, that might leave you feeling fat, so check out Stephanie's Back In Skinny Jeans blog. Typepad recently spotlighted BISJ as a Featured Weblog. Yay, Stephanie! And if you're a grammarian like me, then you'll enjoy Zemblan Grammar. At the very least, check out these e-mails from university students. University! Students!

See you when we get to the other side of the Atlantic.

Flurry

No snow here, just a lot of activity as we prepare for our next trip. We leave for Paris tomorrow evening, arriving on Wednesday morning. After we check into our hotel at the airport, we'll wait for my friend Anne to arrive on the TGV, with her children and mine in tow. Then once they're checked in (to the same hotel), we'll all take the RER into Paris proper for a quick "Paris By Night."

I don't know what we plan to see in Paris, but we'll get dinner at the very least, then head back to the hotel. The next morning, Anne and her kids will fly to the States, and Allan, my kids and I take off for Glasgow for a visit with Amber and Len.

You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to this.

On Stupidity

It's Friday evening and I'm feeling lazy, so instead of writing a roundup of your comments to my post about stupidity, I'll just make you read them yourselves.

I appreciated the perspective you gave me. Especially about how we are all in different "realities." Not everyone thinks the way I do. I probably don't think the same way you do. I suppose it's all relative. Right? So people aren't truly stupid. They're just not like me—or you—and let's not even mention the whole wavelength thing.

Not long after writing that post, I did something stupid.

How Will We Live?

As always, click photo to enlarge, or go here for the really big version.

No post tonight, just a question.

Oh Ma Gawd

Have you seen Ms. Dewey?

Via Katherine

Something To Do When You Can't Sleep

How fun is this?

Dollwizard: Make your own custom dolls!

I See Stupid People

Okay, first let me say that I don't believe that people are inherently stupid, even though I am seeing more and more signs that this may well be the case.

People are unobservant, and this leads to their doing stupid things. We've all done something stupid, right? That doesn't make us stupid. At least that's what I tell myself. Because, really? There are so many stupid things happening out there that I do wonder if my theory is wrong. Unobservant, or stupid?

Today I noticed someone pointing out the obvious. I had to roll my eyes and give a snarky "Thanks." Not that the offender could hear me; this happened across the internets, after all. So was she stupid, or just not really paying attention? It's a tough call. (By the way, I am not talking about any of you, dear readers.)

Do you have any stories of stupidity you'd like to share? Please do. And what about my theory that people just don't pay much attention, (i.e. think before they act)? Do you agree or disagree?

Here's The Deal

Just so you know, because I wrote about it last week: the doctor prescribed an anti-depressant for me. So here we go again. I am doing this willingly, because even though I feel lightyears better than I did last Monday, I don't want to face another episode like that.

The doc also ordered some blood work; if I don't hear from her, it means that all is well. My blood pressure was good, my lungs were clear. Not that I was expecting anything different.

I worked out this morning. I pushed it a bit, but I think I needed it. For the first time in my life, I am exercising and sticking with it. That can't be a bad thing!

Seems I'm still trying to make sense of what happened to me last week. I say that because this entry seems very boring to me. But I just wanted to give you all an update, since you were so supportive in your comments. Thanks.

Not A Life-Changing Thing...

...but nearly a year after buying my own domain name, I finally have it pointing here.

http://alithinks.com is now associated with this blog, thanks to the good people at GoDaddy, where I transferred the domain last week.

You can change your links if you like, or leave them as is.

Edited to say: The title of this should be "Master of My Domain." [insert ROFL emoticon here]

~~~~~

Also, thank you for all the supportive comments on my last entry. I think everything is going to be okay.

Still Not Sure How To Say It

Remember Monday? That day I went back to bed? Well, going back to bed freaked me out. It's what I used to do two years ago, when I was off work for depression. I'd walk my kids to school, then go back to bed.

Monday was a bad day. I cried and raged, and wondered why I was feeling so bad when my life is pretty good right now. Allan listened, and then spoke. When I went to work my boss saw right away that something was wrong. So I told her the truth. And she told me the truth: "If you feel like this job isn't for you, I need to know as soon as possible." Or something like that. She sent me home, and said she wouldn't need me until Wednesday morning.

Right. So.

Things are happening here, and I am not ready to talk about any of it yet.

(Don't you just hate that?)

Instead, let me share a photo or two with you.

Exhaustion

I'm tired. Mind you, I'm not complaining about this. I'm just sayin'.

Starting the new job while still having a big freelance job to complete has got me in a twist. My mind is racing, my time management skills (if I ever had any) have gone out for a three-hour lunch tour, and I'm exhausted.

Did I mention that I'm tired? I'm 36 years old and my organzational skills still suck. And that makes me angry at myself. Which makes me fidgety and unable to concentrate, so I procrastinate. It's a cycle I've been through before. I hate it.

This morning I woke up after sleeping for eight hours. Allan brought me a cup of coffee (as he does nearly every morning, the sweetie). I declined it and went back to sleep for another two hours. Scary.

American Hero

Longtime readers know that I don't often get political on this blog. There are other bloggers out there who do politics much better than I can. Besides, it's hard to qualify myself, politically. Living abroad gives a person a different perspective, and after living in France...oh hell, never mind, let's just save THAT for another conversation.

That said, I want to tell you about someone who's come up on my radar in the past month: Keith Olbermann of MSNBC. I always forget to turn on the TV for his show, but thanks to the internets I can catch up on it later.

Maybe you're already aware of this guy. (Pardon me, I was out of the country for a long time.) Anyway, I have watched a number of his "special commentaries," and he blows me away EVERY TIME. He tells it like it is, and seems to be the only person in the mainstream media with the courage to do so.

Keith Olbermann is my new hero (along with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, great satirists both). If you haven't seen him in action, click here,  here, here, or here for his latest commentary.

If you can't stand the thought of patronizing MSNBC, check YouTube or Crooks and Liars for Olbermann's videos.

And, in case you missed it last night, here's Jon Stewart's hilarious montage about Bush's job, courtesy of Crooks and Liars, again. It takes a couple of minutes to get to the comment-and-snippet part, but it's worth watching the whole video. And hey, you want to start off your weekend with a few laughs, right?

Soyons Reconnaissants

Soyons reconnaissants aux personnes qui nous donnent du bonheur ; elles sont les charmants jardiniers par qui nos âmes sont fleuries.

                                                                        — Marcel Proust

This is the quote that was written on the wall at my place of work yesterday. Or, I should say, its translation was written:

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Nice, isn't it? Je suis reconnaissante ici dans ce coin du web: j'aime mes lecteurs et lectrices. Avoir des relations avec des gens de tous horizons me rend plaisir, et ça fait fleurir mon âme. Merci à vous tous!

Okay, I really need to work on maintaining my Fronch. Have a lovely evening, and soyez reconnaissants.

Day 1

So today was the first day in — *Alison calculates, using her fingers* — fifteen months that I actually had to be at work at a specific time.

I can hear you calling me a slacker. Hush!

It was also the first day in fifteen years (or more) that I actually clocked in. Times have changed! Instead of a punch card, I used a little bar-coded keychain tag. It looks exactly like the tag I use to "check in" before every workout, so I'm going to have to pay attention when I do my clocking in from now on.

And so I began to see how my gym works behind the scenes. I got to watch a video about all the machines. I got to put away inactive member files. I got to draw some flowers on a whiteboard (to illustrate a Proust quote) — and I got to correct the spelling mistake in the quote. Once a teacher, always a teacher! I folded and rolled the clean "sweat towels." Then I cleaned the bathrooms.

Yeah, so that was my afternoon. Tomorrow I'll learn how to teach new members how to use the machines. I bet I'll get to roll some towels and clean the bathrooms again, too.

I think I'm gonna love this job.

I Got Nothin'

Sorry, folks. It's not that nothing has happened. Not MUCH has happened.

So, you know, rather than bore you with tales of the French rail system (not fully integrated into the 21st century) and the cat (loves to gnaw on my elbows while I sleep), I'll just wish you a happy Tuesday.