Boy are my arms tired ...

This has been an amazingly busy few weeks and the immediate loss of my Nana in the past few days has made it even more pronounced an exhaustion. Now, before you start weeping and keening... Nana isn't dead and she hasn't moved out, she's just gone to her daughter's house for the month of December to visit with said daughter, her grandson and her brother. These were things I couldn't take her to do, but my mom could, soo.... That's right, it's just me and the dogs.

The lonliness of this senario is only magnified by the trip I took to Nashville for the whole week before Thanksgiving with Mom, Nana and a colleuge from work for the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Annual Conference being held in the Gaylord Grand Old Oprey Hotel. What a ride! This place was huge and beautiful and delicious and expensive (which is why it was so nice that my principal paid for most of it...). I met authors, listened to other teachers and had all my suspicions confirmed as to the true evil of education, No Child Left Behind. Course as bad as I thought it was, these English teachers are mad and are not going to take it anymore. We actually had a seminar on Civil Disobedience and how we are now lobbying to fight the renewal of the bill. Oh My! Oh plus I got close to 150 books, mostly free!

So here I am now alone at home with (and talk about another anger issue) no internet! Can I formally announce my hatred of BellSouth? Turns out there are only a limited number of ports in my area for DSL. During an interuption of service that is not my fault(!) my spot got given to someone else and they don't have any more spots right now. So I am alone in my house, screaming!

I had this idea that I would enjoy the break and quiet.

I miss Nana... I miss her a lot.

Painfully Honest

Why does honest have to be painful? The other day I read a blog post about someone feeling they needed to say something "in love" to a friend of theirs who was over-weight. They were shocked and outraged that the friend got angry at them. They considered themselves righteous for being brave enough to step up on the issue. I'm not so sure I agree with that one. Frankly that part of this discussion is a bit of a quagmire so I am going to avoid it at all costs.

The question in my mind though, is why, if the truth will set you free, is the truth so painful? Hang on, I know that is actually a stupid question, but let me explain.

On my GRE one of the things I had to do was write an essay on my opinion of the idea that all political leaders had to lie in order to be effective. I wanted to say that wasn't true. By the end of the paper I still thought it didn't need to be true, but that in today's world it had become true. Why does the truth have to be painful?

Then there is this other issue of why does the fact that I disagree with someone have to mean that I am not seeing the truth? My Dad and I had a conversation on Friday (yes, the wonderful Dad I usually write so glowingly about, none of that has changed, this was just a conversation.) He thinks I am not dealing with something correctly, that I can't see the truth. Personally I just think he doesn't understand what I am expressing as everything he said makes sense to me, but is not exactly the issue... So who is not "seeing the truth" here? And why does that truth have to be painful.

No, I'm not telling you what the argument was about because it wasn't an argument and there is a good chance I am PMSing which nullifies everything said anyway...

Mom gets here Monday. We leave for Nashville and the NCTE conference Thursday. Pray for me and pray that my mother lives... Talk about Painful! (Yes, posting will continue to be erratic for a while...)

Good Eats

OK, I haven't posted in a bit, school computer is being difficult about blogging and so I have to do it at home... Add to that the migraine from hell on Monday (I was in a dark room for nearly 12 hours!) and well...

Here is an amazing recipe that I tried today... I made it up, but it sounded good in my head.

Chop up and brown 1 or 2 Kielbasas then add

1 Large rough chop onion. (I prefer Vidalia) saute with sausage, then add

2 or 3 rough chopped peppers (red, green yellow...) and sliced mushrooms.

Continue to Saute.

Add 2 big chopped granny smith apples (yes, trust me...)

then season with

3 dashes woshtishire (sp?), generous dash of Thyme, Cinnamon, Apple Cider Vinegar, Dry Mustard, Paprika (spicy and/or sweet), pepper, salt, chili powder (if you like a little more pep), minced garlic and a bit of ginger.

Add 1/2 cup real apple cider and 1/4 cup pure cranberry juice.

Mix well and simmer until veggies and apples are tender but not mushy.

Serve in a big bowl with a fork.

Oh Yeah. Sounds weird, but really neat, savory and not overly sweet... Seriously!

Additionally, it needs to be said, two of my favorite lines from TV and Movie...

"Go sell crazy somewhere else, we are all full up here!"

and

"You can't kill him, I need him for the 20% of you I can't handle!"