I’ve been experimenting with various themes and finally found a 3c set that I like as well as my old. In fact, I like these better! Now, I love my coffee themes…but these are widget ready and make life so much easier! I just couldn’t get the dynamic sidebars to work with Mike Little’s Journalized. The current theme is much simpler to change and users can choose what they look at when they visit. If you will notice the colored boxes above the poll…go ahead, click one. Those blocks change the color scheme and header image. I like the blue, but come football season it will have to be the tiger for me. If you like the green and turtle, feel free to use that. cute hmmm? For my school site I deleted the style sheets for the other colors in order to make the site default to blue. Hey, school colors are royal, black, and white. I don’t need the default to be bright yellow. Maybe at my other school, but not here.
We are getting unpacked. Djembe moved all of our boxes to the garage so that we do not have to look at them. I will spend this week working on the house by day and lesson plans by night. ONE WEEK PEOPLE! WHERE did summer go? I can not believe my ENTIRE summer was taken up with this move! We need a quick vacation. I would ask Jem if I could take off to DC for the weekend, but it isn’t even feasible with orientation starting Sunday….SUNDAY! On the upside, this district decided that it would be a bright idea to hold orientations on different days so you could attend if you have children at different school levels. WHAT A CONCEPT! Isn’t organization great?!?! Something my old school lacked.
Problem of the day: Anyone know how to keep dogs from digging and/or pushing under the fence? Mine are giving me FITS and can not roam here. They are so used to being able to go where they want that the fence is claustrophobic for them…or they just like watching me try to keep them in and it is their sick way to find amusement. Hey, the next step is electric. I just don’t want to spend the money.
Your soul is painted the color orange, which embodies the characteristics of balance, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, aggression, over-emotion, danger, desire, strengthens the ability to concentrate, attraction, adaptability, and stimulation. Orange falls under the element of Fire, and symbolizes glory and fruits of the earth.
I am happy to announce that we are no longer the proud owners of a large wonderful garden tub surrounded by three bedrooms and a spacious kitchen with plenty of cabinet space. We no longer have a lake in the backyard or the sound of mooing in the distance. We have moved on…and it IS a good thing. Don’t get me wrong…I will miss the large master bath with the garden tub and double dressing area. I will miss the walk-in closets and split floor plan. I will even miss sitting out on the patio watching the water, the ducks and other birds, and listening to mooing in the distance. It was time to move on and that is what we did. It took the entire summer, but it is over. We are now working on our new place. It is our place of transition. Still three bedrooms and even an additional family room for my quiet place. A nice den for Djembe’s enjoyment is a great feature as well. The kitchen is a good size, but cabinet space is barely adequate. The back yard is fenced and total it is great for play, but easily done with a push mower. I’m happy with the neighborhood too. Very convenient to parks, schools, and shopping. We have been very fortunate.
We have one week of summer left. School supplies are purchased. I will take the girls shopping for school clothes tomorrow. There is a very strict dress code here. We have a lot to unpack or store, but the weight of selling a house has been lifted and I feel tons better…
July 20th, 2007 -- Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Friday night out with the fam and we went to see Ratatouille. VERY cute.
What’s it about? Watch the trailer…In short: Little rat, doesn’t fit in with his rat family because he has a nose for fine food. Can’t fit in with humans because, well, he’s a rat. Lanky kid who is working at 5 star fine-dining establishment because his mother’s dying wish was for her son to work there and she was friends with the deceased discovers the abilities of the little “rat” chef. They become an exceptional team shocking diners with fabulous food and restoring the ratings.
Little to complain about with this G rated movie. The phrase “welcome to hell” was a surprising unnecessary addition. Could have done without that. However, the rest of the movie was fine and kid friendly. It wasn’t ROFL funny, but it was adorably amusing with several chuckle hard moments. Djembe says the ending was strange and seemed like they needed to end it so they just did, but I didn’t get that same feeling. I can see where he’s coming from, but like many movies it bounces to a “reflective” story telling in order to close out the film.
on another note….Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows releases in 1 hour and 30 minutes…
I’m really excited about it and can’t wait until arrival! Being in a new school, teaching a new subject, and “floating” most of the day this will be a handy tool. I almost ordered the green one, but Djembe’s “um…green” stopped me. I went with the blue. It is more “professional” I guess, and it is the school colors…or Auburn’s LOL. Hmmm…maybe that is why Jem questioned the green.
Didn’t you already have a notebook?
Err…yes. I wanted more power and more speed. I will be using it more than ever and I want all of my stuff in one place. Besides, I think Jem will find having the other one full time will be handy as he is pursuing new adventures as well.
I really think I bit off more than I could chew with the Southern Reading Challenge. There’s no problem with reading the books, but taking time to properly review them is another story. Our state to state move has consumed our summer. I’m also having to redesign my school websites and prepare to teach a World Civ night class this fall. I finished gods in Alabama last week and then read Nicholas Spark’s A Bend in the Road. Both are wonderful. In lieu of writing a review I will paste a great synopsis of the book which I found at ReadingGroupGuides.com and then answer several of the questions that were there as well. Not exactly the same as writing a review, but it will have to do…
When Arlene Fleet heads up north for college, she makes three promises to God: She will stop fornicating with every boy who crosses her path; never tell another lie; and never, ever go back to the “fourth rack of hell,” her hometown of Possett, Alabama. All she wants from Him is one little miracle: make sure the body is never found.
Ten years later, God has broken His end of the deal. Alabama has landed on Arlene’s Chicago doorstep in the form of her high school archenemy, a young woman who wants to find the golden-haired football hero who disappeared during their senior year.
To make matters worse, Arlene’s African American boyfriend, Burr, has given her an ultimatum-introduce him to her lily-white family or he’s gone. Arlene would rather burn up in a fire than let him meet her steel magnolia Aunt Florence; her eccentric, half-mad Mama; her sweet-as-pecan-pie Cousin Clarice; and all the rest of her deeply racist kith and kin.
But the fickle finger of fate is pointing her south. All too soon she and Burr are on their way to confront Arlene’s redneck roots, the secret she ran from, and the crime that stole her peace of mind. Back in the small town of her girlhood, Arlene’s demons are closing in-and after a decade of running away, Arlene must face them all. Yet while the truth threatens to destroy the life she has built for herself, it just may open her eyes to a love powerful enough to revise her past and alter her future.
Crackling with humor, defiantly endearing characters, and plot twists that will astonish even the most jaded reader, Gods in Alabama will send you careening from tears to laughter and back. Most of all, it brings a unique, rough-around-the-edges heroine to life and makes her a permanent part of your own.
It really was a great book with so many ‘Bama truths.
Who or what are the gods that the title refers to? Who are the gods in your hometown, workplace, or culture?
It is refering to booze, football, and its players. If you are not familiar with the culture of southern football then you need to be aware of how massive it is. Now us Alabamians take it to a whole new level. People here are insane about their football, and not just national and SEC games. Friday nights you will find scores of people packing the local high school stadium. The players are idolized by young and old.
I think there are gods in every town. There are ‘bosses’ that control politics and business. Our work can even be considered a god and within culture there are so many things that can consume our interests.
In what ways does Arlene’s “deal with God” allow her to protect herself? How much of it is true penance and how much is a defense mechanism?
The things of home were unpleasant for Lena. I can totally understand the mentality of leave and never return. Returning meant facing her past and it was much easier not to do that. IMO it was more of a defense mechanism than a true penance.
Arlene has painted a picture of Clarice as beautiful, pure, passive, and wholesome. How does idealizing Clarice influence Arlene’s own behavior and sexuality?
Something terrible happened to Clarice and in Lena’s mind if anyone knew then it would impact how they viewed Clarice. So Lena acted out, receiving the negative attention. Lena was promiscuous and out of control because in her mind she was protecting Clarice and keeping her on the pedestal that had been kicked out from under her.
Arlene’s biological mother is almost a non-person in the book, and Arlene has surrounded herself with replacement mothers. Who are these replacements, and what aspects of mothering does she get from each of them?
When something is missing in your life you find a way to replace it. Lena’s aunt is a replacement, her boyfriend’s mother is a replacement, even Clarice is a replacement. The true mother figure for Lena is her aunt, but Lena feels like an intruder in the household. From her aunt Lena received discipline. As for Burr’s mother, Lena embraces her compassion and guidance on how to handle Burr. All in all, I think Clarice is the greatest mother figure, or influence, on Lena. They were as close as sisters, and maybe that is the true relationship parallel. However, Clarice takes Arlene under her wing and teaches her the girl things in life, and looks out for her emotionally. Yes, it is more of a sister relationship, but as with siblings Clarice seemed to mother Lena too.
The women in this novel generally tend to overpower the men, whether in conversation, romance, or physical altercations. Is this indicative of Southern society in general? What point might the author be making about gender relations in an outwardly traditional society?
Yes! I really think it is indicative of Southern society. You know the phrase…”If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” For generations Southern women had to be strong women. Think about it…who had to run the household while the farming was taking place? Who had to run the household and do the farming during times of war? The women! The idea is that men dominate and are the decision makers. To a degree, yes. However, I believe Southern society is strongly matriarchal. In the South I think there is a higher rate of single parent households, for whatever reason, and as such women have to be the heads of household.
The main character in this book is alternately known as Arlene and Lena. What are the distinguishing characteristics of Arlene? Of Lena? How do you think she would identify herself? By the end of the book, had she changed in your mind from one to the other, or had the two been integrated?
LOL, I love this question. Arlene is a very southern name. When Arlene fled the South and promised to change herself, she changed her name as part of it. She became Lena and it was a way for her to put her past behind her, leaving the “gods’ of Alabama behind as well. She identified as Lena, up until her past reared its head. In my mind the two were integrated. Our life experiences shape our person. She grew into an adult as Arlene, and dealt with her past as Lena, then merging the two characters into the person she became at the end of the novel.
Think of it this way…many people will shed their southern sound, but get them speaking with other southerners and they can’t hide it. The drawl comes out.
What role does the Southern locale play in the novel? Could such a story take place in another region? Why or why not?
Southern folkways were paramount in this novel, and the southern gal in me wants to say no way, it is strictly for the South. Honestly, I have to say it could take place anywhere. Every locale has its quirks. With a few tweaks this book could take place anywhere.
cute hmmm? For my school site I deleted the style sheets for the other colors in order to make the site default to blue. Hey, school colors are royal, black, and white. I don’t need the default to be bright yellow. Maybe at my other school, but not here. 
