After A Long Weekend

While some began their week with the letter C yesterday, I am beginning my week this morning with the number 5. I love the number 5. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. (That was an evil Count Countula laugh in case you didn't know... did anyone hear thunder and lightning?) I have had a couple of days off as this little family has enjoyed a nice 4 day long weekend. This being the 5th day, with everyone heading back to school.... and me working on level 5 homework and having 5 questions done that now need to be written up... (actually I have more than 5 questions done but these are the ones not in my book yet), and having 5 animals sitting at my feet as I work, I guess it is as good a theme for the day as any.  On top of that there are 5 weeks and 5 days left before Christmas.... so this really is a Hallmark day for the number 5.

So to start.... I have all the first section finished and ready to go in my book... I know I said that before but honestly I had a look at one of my samples and was completely dissatisfied with it so decided to redo it.  I had spun a blend of Rayon, wool, and cashmere and while it turned out quite nicely, I felt that the blend was not an appropriate choice and so redid it using rayon and alpaca at a 50/50 percent. It came off the wheel heavily overspun (to the tune of 6 twists in the skein!) but I washed it in a nice soft warm water bath with a little soap, gave it a few good wacks, and voila..... perfect. Now I am completely happy with that section. I will write it up today and get it into my book. Then onto the next section which is partially done and partially in my book.

So the five animals is the next topic... yes we have finally come to terms with the fact that on September 16th when Squeeky (the Whore) went streaking out between Teapot's feet after being in the house for three weeks, that was the end of her.... She has not been home since and we haven't even seen a hide nor hair of her. I think she was so completely besotted with the idea of sex, that she headed for the nearest male without a backward glance. We think that she has either found a new family to live with... or the coyotes that have been extremely active in the last three months, have gotten her. Either way, she is not likely to be coming home again... We thought we would see her again when the snow came... but it has been snowing for the last few days so we have given up, I think, (Daughter #1 is still holding out hope)... We still have the wee kitten (which we have named Little Monster) here living with us. She has turned into a lovely wee kitten... though she loves to eat. And while she is short in the body, she makes up for it in girth.  She has begun to look like a sweet and chunky little thing and oozes attitude. She attacks a dog bum with little or no notice... It is fun to watch, because as she does this you can watch her planning where she will run to hide as the dog of choice (usually Narmin), will turn and give chase only to lose her behind or under some piece of furniture.  Now that both Narmin and Little Monster are getting bigger and finally coming into their adult skin,

Narmin still has a puppy ish look to his face.

they are both getting too big to go into some places and that is hilarious to see, since when they try to get in and can't. The expressions on their faces are hilarious. It's hard to believe that they are both six months old now.

Little Monster has a look of eveil-ness in her face in this picture.... all attitude is this wee kitty.

Over the weekend Teapot surprised me. I had asked for him to put up the rest of the wood-burned tiles I had finished for the ceiling in the sunroom and he did it...!!

We are making progress with this project. 7 tiles went up this time.

Which is awesome... but then he totally surprised me and put up the paneling in the upstairs bathroom...

I'll finally be able to hang my towel racks. I will have to paint this since some of the wood paneling has discoloured...

so now after three years the bathroom upstairs has more than tuck tape and plastic sheeting covering the exterior wall...  I do need to paint the wall though since we had decided last winter to paint two walls in our bedroom and leave the other two natural...but now the bathroom looks odd because it is all plain. So I will paint the wall tomorrow after Teapot brings home a paintbrush this evening.  Then I will put the vinyl flooring on the bathroom  (maybe on the weekend) and a few pieces of trim around the window... It will look awesome. Still there are a few electrical things that need to be done. There are a few more outlets to finish and a light fixture that needs to go into the bathroom. Then there is a closet that needs cedar siding and there is no door to the bathroom yet but these things will come I'm sure. We just have to tackle each job as we can.  (Maybe by the time I'm 90!!! ; D)

So there you have it... a weekend update brought to you by the number 5.... Ahhh, there's the lightning now.... Count Countula would be very happy indeed! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Ha ha ha ha ha I love the number 5.

Hope your having a good day...

Continuation Of The Gender Gap Thing

Oh dear! It has come to my attention that some have taken offense to Teapot being referred to as "Jackass..."  When I told him this, he laughed.... so he has no problem with me calling him Jackass.... as long as I didn't really mean it... and I didn't.... However, having said that, sitting on the can with one's legs unable to touch the floor because they are somewhere in the air and your butt is covered in coldish water, does tend to make you lose your sense of equilibrium.... so for those of you who think that I have a low opinion of my husband.... well I may have had for about 20 seconds. Then I got back in bed and it passed through my head that I would embellish the story a bit for the blog, but posting such a story would be hilarious and I began to laugh... that's when Teapot actually woke up and wanted to know what I was laughing at.... he snorted and promptly went back to snoring....

So here I sit trying to explain myself... Don't worry... Teapot is not being hard done by.  When I read the story to him, he thought it was hilarious.  I've always appreciated his sense of humour.  It's one of the main reasons for marrying him. If you can't laugh your way through life.... well it would be dull indeed.

Another thing that I appreciate about my Teapot is that occasionally all caution can be thrown to the wind and we can do the unexpected, without a backward thought.  On Saturday nights, we love to listen to Randy Bach on CBC radio. He has a great show called Vinyl Tap where he picks a theme each week and plays music that falls in with that theme. Saturday night past was spent listening to "Great Voices". So when Nat King Cole came on with "Unforgettable" I turned it up and grabbed my husband and took him for a dance around the living room.... at one point he caught me with tears in my eyes and started to laugh because he knew that it was not due to sadness... no indeed, it felt really good to be held in his arms as we danced around our living room and I had to wonder how many more couples were dancing in their living room too as they listened to that very same tune.  I hope we are still dancing in our living room when we are 90.

So please don't worry... just because he left the toilet seat up doesn't mean that we are on the verge of a divorce..... Really it is just one more thing to laugh about. 

"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
Voltaire


"If every word I said could make you laugh, then I would talk forever..... "
Unknown


These two quotes are great, I think, as life philosophies!
Bare that in mind next time you fall in a toilet.... or some such similar incidence.

In The Dark Of The Night.... The Gender Gap Rears It's Ugly Head

She crawled out of bed. It was 2:47 a.m. by the clock shining red in the dark of the night. Her spouse lay sleeping peacefully on the bed she just had vacated. She thought, when did he come to bed I wonder. I must have fallen asleep before he came to bed because he wasn't there... the last thing that I remember was laying  my book on my chest and Narmin snuggling into my back.

She carried on with her intent which was to use the washroom as she had had several cups of tea after supper and it was weighing heavy on her bladder. Stepping carefully, so as not to step on any sleeping dogs, she gingerly made her way to the bathroom. It was very annoying that she had to step over the training board going into the bathroom. The training board was a piece of plywood measuring 18 inches by 36 inches and it was standing up on its long end leaning against the wall and acted as a barrier to the wee dog that had a tendency to get into the garbage in the bathroom. As she stepped over it she scraped her toe. She was not entirely awake, but that was a good thing because it meant that she would go back to sleep after her chore was done. She would crawl into the bed again with her sweetheart and cuddle up with his arm wrapped around her and go back to sleep... sweet oblivion.

She stepped over to the toilet intent on relieving her bladder, and sat down.... which is when she experienced a terrible shock....there was no toilet seat.... he had left it up again! After her butt hit the cold water and she had relieved her temper of several nasty curses, she managed to extricate her backside from the offending bowl. Grabbing the toilet seat she quickly finished the business at hand, stormed into the bedroom, and hit her husband with a pillow from the bed startling him from his sweet slumber.

After the cops had been called her temper had been relieved, she crawled back into bed (with a very confused husband who was wondering if he was dreaming) where she stared at the ceiling all night planning all kinds of nasty things for the jackass she had married.

So much for a good night of peace and tranquility... 

The End. : )

PS It took guts this morning to hit the publish button.... but in the end, she did so because we've all had moments like this when Murphy has had a good chuckle at our most intimate faux pas.... right?

Ack!!! Holy Crapamoly!

"I'm a little teapot short and stout.... here is my handle, here is my spout."  I've got to keep singing... I've got to keep singing... head down arse up and keep positive thoughts in my head! 

"Oh dear! I think that might hit us....," I say this morning to Teapot as I have a look at the satellite pictures of future weather systems headed our way.

This was a scary thing for sure.

We have almost no propane left to heat our house... yes, I remembered to call for a fill-up this morning... but their not sure if they can get here before the weekend... Great! Lets hope that no nasty storm hits for a few days, 'cause that's just plain scary.... it kind of reminds me of Armageddon....

Maybe I've been watching too many movies.....

Still, I think I'll go find some extra blankets....

We can always wrap the house in wool..... right?! I think I have enough around here.....

I'm off for a day of drinking gallons of water since the d-mn UTI is resistant to the latest anti-biotic they put me on... I hate super bugs.

Confidence Restored... A Little

Level 4..... 90%

What a relief!!!!

As usual I lost mark for grist issues....  but got a comment of "Stunning" on my 150 hour project and full marks for it...

I'm so pleased.

As Promised...Shit Hot And Blue Feminism, Batt Style

I've never really supposed myself to be a shit hot and blue feminist but I think I might be after all! I have listened to two interviews with Gloria Steinem recently and she just blows my mind.  Now I am not the kind of feminist that wants to see men going around repressed as women have been for eons but I am sick to death of our paternal society. Tonight my sister, (who I rarely hear from) forwarded a link to this Famous People Painting. I had a look at it and was quite taken with the technological nohow of those who are responsible for it but the first thing that I noticed, and it really pissed me off (I can't believe that I actually spelled it out so you know I've got my gonch in a knot) was that there are only 9 women in that painting and one of them is the very youthful Shirley Temple.  The rest are as follows.. Audrey Hepburn, Queen Elizabeth the II, Margaret Thatcher, Marie Currie, Marilyn Monroe... (I can't believe someone would put her in...), Empress Dowager Cixi, Mother Theresa, and Sung Qing Ling. Oh I really got mad... have a look at it and then tell me that all those famous, and influential people shouldn't include a few more women. Sad really... then I had a look at the comments... and that made me feel worse. There are so many women that have had great influence over modern society and they are never given the due that they are owed. Even the comments kept suggesting more men for the artist to incorporate into the painting... I read down through the comments quite a ways before giving up in despair.

Over the years, women have not only done amazing things and become famous for them, but have been so strong and in support of men, (who have gotten their reputation because of the women in their lives) that it astounds me that they can be so easily overlooked.  It frustrates me no end the popular and modern culture does not recognise more, the contributions of women.  Isn't that what the feminist movement is all about? Aren't women seeking the recognition for their contribution to this world? Aren't wee seeking more opportunity?

There have been women philosophers... there have been women doctors, there have been women rulers, there have been women warriors... and on and on it goes. If you don't know them let me introduce you to a few of the ones that come to my mind...

Joan of Arc.... some say that she was crazy because she sad that she had God-given visions, but she died most gruesomely at the hands of the English. She fought for the peasants of France and I believe she was caught in the crossfire between the church... which she loved, and politics. She had a Cause.... And how many of us would love to have the backbone to stand up for what we believe in.... (I'm trying)
Cleopatra.... she was just scary with her power, beauty, brains, and influence. Let alone her hutspa when it came to not being taken alive... I'm not sure I could hold a snake and wait for it to bite.
Katherine the Great... also a scary ruler who knew how to control one of the largest and greatest empires in the world...
Eleanor of Aquitane who was connected to every powerful family in Europe.
Pocohontas who was really the first female American diplomat and Shirley Temple (who's actually in the painting) could only hope to stand in her shoes.
More modern rulers would be Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, Hilary Rotham Clinton is another powerful and political woman, though she should have kicked him where it hurts... maybe she did! Then there's Condoleeza Rice who was the Secretary Of State under George W. Bush, Eva Peron who married the president of Argentina and then ran for the presidency after her husband died. Benazir Bhutto who died only a few years ago and was intent on bringing Pakistan into the modern world... too bad she died. I wonder what the world would be like if she hadn't...
Then there's Aung San Suu Kyi... bet you are not aware of her. She is the leader of the Democratic party in Burma and has spent 15 years under house arrest as her country tries to shut her up for speaking about the rights of the people of her country.
Then there is Janet Reno who is less political and more legal... as Attorney General of the US, she must wield a bit of pow'r! And what about Sandra Day O'Conner who probably paved the way for some of these other American women.
Moving right along and out of politics and into health/medical fields, we have...
Agnodice who was a physician in the 4th century BCE who disguised herself in order to practice medicine without reprisal.
Florence Nightingale.... nurse extraordinaire of the Crimean War... who first established nursing as a profession and founded the first professional nursing school in the world.
Clara Barton who established the Red Cross... Yup now there's someone to look up too!
Elizabeth Blackwell who was the first woman doctor in the US and became a leader in encouraging and teaching other women to become doctors as well.
Gertrude Belle Elion who waas a pioneer of research into drugs that eventually led to AZT for the AIDS virus.
Margaret Sanger who was a nurse and sexual educator and established Planned Parenthood.
And of course we can't forget the very modern Dr. Ruth who taught us all to lighten up about our sexuality.
In other areas of science we have Sally Ride... first woman astronaut. Well if they can do it why can't we, and I should include our very own Canadian astronaut... Roberta Bondar who's right up there with all those early astronauts... ra ra sis boom ba! And then there is Simone de Beauvior who was a Philosopher extraordinaire. Also we can't forget Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper who was a significant contributor to this thing that I am typing on and you are reading from without her we would probably still be reading our news off newsprint!

Then we have civil rights activist and humanitarians in general... Of course Joan of Arc again was political but she was more so a humanitarian as she tried to free the french peasants from the rule of the English.
But we have all kinds of women in the bible who were humanitarians... all those Mary's... we can't forget them.
... but closer to home our time we have Lady Diana who almost took down the British Royalty single handedly and brought attention to the disease AIDS, and reminded us that children have a right to walk to school without the worry of having their wee bodies blown to smithereens on a land mine.  Claudette Colvin who fought against bus segregation. Susan B. Anthony, who fought for the suffragettes at the turn of the century... its a different kind of civil rights movement than that of black activists but still it comes down to basic human rights... right?
Harriet Tubman who secreted many slaves to safety on the underground train... certainly you learned of her in school.
Mary Harris Jones (also known as Mother Jones) of the US fought for the right to strike for many including and probably most importantly, miners.
Eleanor Roosevelt was a humanitarian indeed. As co-founder of Freedom House she was crucial to the formation of the UN.
Lady Baden Powell, (who is a personal hero...) established the Girl Guides and the Guiding way for many young girls and women. She helped to establish a bursary that to this day helps girls meet their dreams. How can we forget someone like her. She helped us to throw off our skirts and don hiking boots and canvas pants so that we could go out and investigate the wild and wondrous world around us.
Amelia Earhart who taught us to reach out to the sky and fly with our dreams.... she died over the Pacific ocean circumnavigating the world  and in search of her own dreams.
And Jane Goodall who befriended gorillas in the jungles of Africa... and reminded us that we humans are still apples that haven't fallen far from the tree.

Then for those sport enthusiasts... we have Nadia Komenich who won award after award with her gymnastics routines in the 70s... and is still WOW!
Billy Jean King.... does anyone remember her playing tennis.... man she was awesome. She won "the Battle of The Sexes" in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon men's singles champion, for $100,000, winner take all.
There's tons more but it is so badly acknowledged that when I Googled it I could only find derogatory stuff regarding women in sports like info on sports bras and hotty women in sports that make it worth watching women sports programs ( if you could see me now there would be disgust dripping from every orifice in my body... it might be gross but I can't tell you how incensed I am)!!!!

Historical women authors of fame and influence would include... Beatrix Potter, and Emily Dickensen and certainly Jane Austin.

Then we have popular culture women who are influential (and we have only yet to learn how influential they are). Lets see... Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Gloria Steinem is also influential... in the women's movement. And, I would have to say, though I'm not a fan,  Margaret Atwood to a lesser degree than these other women.... especially here in Canada. It's a sad state of affairs, and I don't think she belongs with the likes of Florence Nightingale, but (sigh)... Lady Gaga who is certainly no worse than Cher or Madonna.... has huge influence over our young people. Still, all 3 do have the WOW factor and certainly have a rock em sock em attitude and feel they can do anything.

I'll end on that note by saying that I can only hope that young women today don't allow sexuality and the prominent display of it to be the founding factor of the feminist movement for the future.... anyone can jiggle their boobs. (I do it regularly as I move around casually... not that I want to)! But it is not everyone who can bring our gender... and our species forward into the future with shining possibilities. We are the women of the past, the present, and the future... there are so many things that we can do...  and that's the best part. Feminism is all about inspiration.... inspiration to reach for the stars and find them.
 
Go girls !!!!

PS... I'm exhausted... all that inspiration ... it just tires me out... ; }

Currently

I have been having a great time texting Teapot in Victoria... I miss him for some reason today terribly. Teapot has been going away for years for a variety of reasons. But since he joined the Rangers and became the leader of the patrol here in HH, each autumn on the first weekend of November he has had to go to Victoria for their annual planning weekend. He's there right now. Our new phones make texting easy except that they have auto-correcting on it so last night when we were texting we discovered the joys of auto-correcting. It frustrates me no end when there are mistakes in the things that I type... (like yesterday's post! which I have now gone back and corrected...) so when I pressed send and discovered that Jiggs had become Higgs, I was quite disconcerted.  Later, "Did you have any problems(driving)", became,  "Did you have any to lens?"  That got Huh? as a response!  So it has been seriously odd texting conversations going on between us.  Still it's nice to get up in the morning and find, "Good morning," on your phone, which is what I just found.

Normally Sunday mornings are quiet retreats of pleasurable radio listening, big long drawn out breakfasts and lots of tea drinking and the pleasure of each others company, some chit chatting about whatever is on Sunday Morning (the CBC radio program). This morning I am taking Mudder to church, since Fadder's vehicle is at the dealership getting repair work done on it. Not quite as awesome a Sunday morning as usual... still I can't really complain.  I don't go to church as much as I used to or as much as I should... I kind of have been taking an hiatus from all of that since I resigned as Lay preacher 1 and 1/2 years ago.... still a little jaunt off to church doesn't hurt... right?

I'm still working on the blog post about feminism so hopefully I will get time to finish it tomorrow... Today is filled with breakfast, church, lunch... (for the girls not me as I'm too full after the pan scramble I just made... eggs, ham, hash browns, onion, cheese.... mmmm.... so good but oh so filling...) and then this afternoon..... I have all the new members of the HH Spinners and Weavers coming... I will see how serious they are.

It is much milder today in temperature.... than yesterday. The roads were quite icy going into FSJ, but by the time I headed home the roads were pretty much clear... it had warmed up to +1 degree. Winter, I guess, is upon us, though it is not "in earnest" yet as temperatures of the last low pressure only got down to -18... cold but not the end of the world. Today is sunny and lovely looking.  Weather is so all fired important to us here in Canada isn't it... imagine... I can write a post each day and include some weather info and it is not one bit boring.... (snork)!

See ya'll tomorrow and hopefully the feminist thing will be done and it won't be nearly so boring....

P.S. You guys really need to get a life. ; ) I hope all the blogs you read are better than this one!