Oh, The Elusivity of it all. . . .

Tummy troubles circulating through the family this week.  Tuesday-Ben.  Wednesday- Katie. Tonight- Me.  Staying upright seems not to exacerbate the problem. Hence, a post at 5 a.m. on a Saturday Morning.  The boys are at Klondike (Scout winter camp) and I was looking forward to a lazy sleep-in morning.  Sighhhhhhhh!. 

Today I will:  1. Clean the two upstairs bathrooms 2. Paint the Laundry room/ Bathroom and 3. Hang 3 picture frames.  Or maybe just get some sleep in the late morning.  HaHaHaHaHaHa! I'm the mom. I sleepeth not. Got me thinking about posting my favorite sleeping photos that I found while organizing pix last night.  Enjoy.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I am on the cusp of conversion. To what? you ask. A new religion? No. Political affiliation? Again no. I am considering very carefully the origin of my food. Blasphemy! you say. After all, this is from the girl whose very recent motto has been "If Costco doesn't have it, we don't need it" Including grapes from Chile, lemons from Honduras, and Chicken from who knows where.

It all started when I watched an Oprah Show featuring a man named Michael Pollan. The one thing he said that really stood out was: "Don't eat food that won't eventually rot" then told of a twenty year old twinkie sitting on his desk. eeewwww. Also, the documentary Food, Inc.  Also EWWWWWWW!!!!.

I found this book in Costco-- 8.99 of interesting possibilities I just had to purchase.  I could not put it down.  AMAZING.  While not a huge fan of Barbara Kingsolver -- based on a "didn't love it" response to The Poisonwood Bible--I was intrigued.  A family plans to live only on what they can grow or barter or purchase locally for one year.  Would I ever do this-- probably not.  But a girl can dream-- of gardening, animal husbandry, and creative cooking.   I yearn for the satisfaction of taming the earth and elements-- ultimate power and independence.  I bet you didn't know that about me.  Digressing.  sorry.

Barbar Kingsolver has a gift.  She can make cheesemaking, chicken slaughter, and Turkey reproduction sound gratifying, indulgent and lovely.  It's 3:30 a.m. and my mind is not entirely clear.  I may even already have posted something about this book.  No matter.   But I can tell you that if you read this book, you will never look at food or supermarket purchases in the same way again.  Get it. Read It.  I DareYou.

The Tigger/Rabbit/Eeyore Conundrum

I found this Unpublished post and thought I'd finally post it:

Facebook has asked me to change my profile to a picture from my youth. Having already used Belle and she's not really from my youth anyway, I chose Tigger. Why? you ask. Cause I want to be Tigger. But I tend to be more of a conglomeration of Eeyore and Rabbit-- not finding as much joy as I should and worried about unimportant things.

I want to be MORE Tigger.

Case in point: Christmas Decorations: I DO NOT LOVE DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS. Putting Christmas lights on the tree-- tense times. I am resolved to Love it this year-- or at least delegate the task to more zealous, energetic individuals in my household.

The Rabbit part of me: scurries about worrying about getting everything done and missing things. I'm done being Rabbit. I have no use for Eeyore. I'd like to be an incredible mix of the others-- Tigger's Energy and Enthusiasm, Piglet's Positivity, Owl's Wisdom, Pooh's even kiel.

Doing What You Don't Want To Do

Check out this Blog Post from Clover Lane:  This woman speaks what's often in my heart.
 http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/2011/01/doing-what-you-dont-want-to-do.html

Book Review: Three Cups Of Tea by Greg Mortenson

I wallow in the thick of thin things.  My myopia keeps me from accomplishing that which I know NEEDS to be done--OUGHT to be done.  And I'm only talking about getting housework done, repairing the hall toilet.  Reading Three Cups of Tea reminded me that 1.  There is much to be done  2. The monetary sacrifice required by those as blessed as ourselves is minimal 3. The worth of a good character and a willing heart is immeasurable and 4. We can't continue to sit or be myopic or forget that there is work to be done.  Whether it's building schools in war-torn Central Asia, raising a boatload of children, or even accomplishing the day-to-day things-- "If it is to be, it's up to me."  The difference between me and Greg Mortenson-- he saw a need and committed himself to meeting that need.  Simple as that. 

Three Cups of Tea is about a mountain climber who fell in love with the people of Pakistan and vowed, no matter what it took, to build a school in rural Pakistan to educate girls.  18 years, many wars and two books later his organization, The Central Asia Institute, has built 130 schools and educated 51,000 students--  many of them girls.  Additionally, they provide scholarships and infrastructure throughout the region to foster their educational aims.  And all because one man decided it should be so.   Education in these rural communities creates hope-- hope that their destitute circumstances won't drive their sons to extremism, hope that their girls might return to bless their villages through teaching and medicine, and hope that, someday, peace might come.  Greg Mortenson firmly believes that all the military might in the world will not, indeed CANNOT change the extremism that rages throughout these countries.  Only education can and is doing it as we speak.

UPDATING MY LIFE

Okay, There just doesn't seem to be any point to being private since I never post.  This way, if I do post, you'll get it on Facebook which is where I do most of my communicating anyway.  AND, after 18 months, I'm admitting that our family has grown by one.  So I shall rename us The Jensen 8 even though the blog name will remain the jensen7.blogspot.com.  Since you have facebook, you won't even care.

Hope this Works!
Gail