Beauty fades

We have become a generation obsessed with appearances.
Weight loss programs are a multi-billion dollar
industry. We have tv shows where people get plastic
surgery, and we call it entertainment. Botax is
available at the spa 1/2 mile from my house. Yikes!
Do you know you can actually get plastic surgery on
your vagina now?...Why?
But it's nothing new really. I know you've heard it
all before. A parent says, "I spent $xxx on christmas
presents and after they were opened the kids only
wanted to play with..... ( you know the answer don't
you?) the box!!!

Why would a child care about packaging? Probably
because they don't understand the value of what is
inside.

Okay ladies read that last part again, and let it sink
in. I'll wait.......

We underestimate ourselves as women. We allow our
whole lives to be consumed with being thinner, taller,
blonder, more hair free, and when the sun sets on our
lives what difference will it really make?

I just remember good old Timothy writing, "A woman
should make herself beautiful by the things she does"

Okay just to make a point that beauty fades I built
myself a time machine and went into the future with my
digital camera that mom got me for christmas. I drove
in my flying car to hollywood to snap a few photos of
some well known celebs. Think beauty lasts forever?
Think again.
Now have a good smile and a laugh and then look in the
mirror and love yourself today. Even is you are still
short, chubby or too brunette.

Yes, it's a snake

Yes it's a snake in my classroom, and yes, I'm holding it. Aren't you proud of me?

Praying Rocks

Hey, remember Luke 19 where Jesus says if followers remain quiet even the rocks will praise him? Check out this cool photo. I wish it were real!

say what?...part2

okay, most of you know I have an facination with sayings and customs. I love to get the scoop on where they came from. My dad just sent me these, oh i'm so excited!

In the 1500...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of "carrying a bouquet when getting married".

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying ... "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water".

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floors were dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying ... "Dirt poor".

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying ... "A thresh hold".

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables, and did not get much meat. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon". They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and talk. Hence the saying ... "Chew the fat".

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach into the food causing death due to lead poisoning. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knockout the drinkers for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of "holding a wake".

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell; hence, the phrase ... "Graveyard shift". Thus, someone could be either "saved by the bell", or was considered "a dead ringer".

And that's the truth ... now, whoever said History was boring!

Parable of the Wandering Jew

Last fall my mom gave me a plant called a Wandering Jew. She said it was pretty low maintenance. I was excited about that.
But I think I was over zealous about the absence of care I had to give it and actually neglected it. It went for a while without even being watered. Oops, - not that low maintenance.
I didn't remember until I saw some dead leaves and then thought, "Oh crap!" So I did my duty, gave it a drink, then and tried to pull off the dead leaves so my mom wouldn't notice when she came to visit.
I think it worked too because every time she visits, she comments on how nice it looks. Perhaps she doesn't remember how full it had been when she gave it too me. Now it looks kinda spindly, but I hang it up high so it's harder to get a good look at it. I fertilized it and I notice some new shiny leaves on the tips. That's a good sign right?
Today I took it outside to give it some real sunlight. I was disheartened when I took a close look. Lots of the foliage is bright and healthy on the ends. It has beautiful shiny purple and green leaves just like it's supposed to.
It's a façade.
Some of the stems originating at the soil have withered away. Not the roots. Not the leaves. Just the stems.
They're dry.
Brittle.
Atrophied.
And with one gentle tug, the whole thing breaks away, -shiny leaves and all.

Not that low maintenance after all.