An Urge I Have

Per every year right after Christmas, I'm feeling the urge to be crafty. Plus I have this week off from work so now is the best time to get started.

I want to make an M.C. Escher quilt. I'm sure it will go into the pile of other unfinished quilts, but I'd like to give it a shot. Plus, my husband got overly excited about this one. Which means he'll help me with it. (He irons all of the seams open for me. :-) I even went so far as to ordering an M.C. Escher Coloring Book to use as a guide. Look at me go.

Six Degrees

I am a firm believer of six degrees of separation. I honestly believe everyone is six degrees away from knowing everybody else in the world and every once in awhile something happens that blows my mind and proves this theory accurate to me.

Last week I was reiterating my Frankenmuth post to a co-worker of mine, only this time I inserted my college roommate Martha’s last name. She just looked at me funny and said “I know her. Actually, we’re really good friends with her brother.” WHHHHAAAAA?????? Instead of going into geographical details here, lets just say that Martha and I grew up at least an hour and a half away from where I work and we actually met about 3 hours away. So it’s not like it’s just a coincidence, ya know? Apparently her brother has settled in the Metro area and my co-worker met him through a volleyball league years ago. It’s a small, small world……

Other six degree moments that I can remember-
- I worked at an art camp outside of Las Vegas one summer and my cabin mate’s brother was my next door neighbor in Michigan.
- My parents went to Europe and ended up sitting next to my shop teacher from high school on the way there AND on the way back. They didn’t make the connection until on the way back.
- Some good friends of my parents were vacationing in Florida and somehow met my Grandfather whom we hadn’t seen in over ten years.
- One of my old bosses went to high school with my mother. We made this connection at the interview.

There are many, many more but they are way too complicated to even begin to try to explain them.

Do They Know it's Christmas Time?
Yet, do they really care?

I was driving home from work this week when I heard that Christmas song by Band Aid on the radio. A flood of teenage/new wave/punk rocker memories came pouring out. Of course I remembered all of the words but then it hit me.

Isn't Ethiopia a Muslim country?

According to the CIA's World Factbook, Ethiopia is 50% Muslim and about 40% Ethiopian Orthodox. Of which Ethiopian Orthodox celebrate Christmas on January 7 and call it Ledet. So I guess the real question here is, do they really care if it's Christmas or not?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great song for a great cause, but when half of the population is Muslim, I don't think Christmas plays a big part in their lives.

Sorry for the bah humbug. It was just a deep thought I had while I was stuck in traffic.

Happy Holidays!

Tis the Season for Bad Taste

Found on Mary’s blog, please check out uglychristmaslights.com. I laughed my butt off. Be sure and scroll to the bottom of each picture and read the captions.

Froehliche Weihnachten!

I’m trying to talk my husband into going to Frankenmuth this weekend. Supposedly, it’s Michigan’s #1 Tourist attraction, but I’ve heard that Cabela’s is slowly creeping up on it.

I have a lot of weird, strange ties to Frankenmuth. My most favorite roommate in college was from there. Martha (insert long German last name here) had the most wonderful stories of working at Bronner’s and other touristy gift shops. (fyi- don’t piss off the employees and then expect them to wrap your glass ornaments for shipping. They will already be broken before the label is on the box.) A couple of my aunts worked at the world famous restaurants up there, too. My uncle had married an East German woman right after the wall went up and brought her back to the States. (He was stationed there in the Army.) She got a job at one of the restaurants and she would bring home hundreds upon hundreds of dollars in tip money a night. This was the 1960’s, mind you. It just goes to show you that people are suckers for someone with an accent.

Because my aunts worked at the restaurants, we had an overabundance of dirndls in our house. (Three to be precise.) Needless to say I was a German girl for many, many Halloweens while I was in grade school. When I moved on to college I was the St. Pauli girl. Funny how that works and hey! Reuse, reduce, recycle!

Mama Mia!

There is this lady I work with. Somehow, somewhere she got the idea that she is the best at everything. (Where she got this I have no idea.) She also thinks we are the best of friends since she found out my husband is Italian. (She is Italian. I am not. Go figure.) Since she found this out she has harassed me to no end to try her lasagna recipe. She claims it is the best in the world and her great-great-great grandma carried the recipe in her bosom pocket on the ship to the new world. After her going on and on and on about how wonderful of a cook she is and how this lasagna recipe is to die for and that my husband should just love it because he is Italian like her I finally caved in and decided to try it.

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. Bar none. My husband agrees with me 100%.

What do I say to this woman? She has been harassing me for feedback and I just don’t know what to say! My brother thinks I should tell her I followed the recipe to a “T” and that I just don’t know what I did wrong. Personally I think I should tell her the truth but then I’d have to face her everyday afterwards, too.

The next time I say “I’m the best…” at anything please slap me. I will then be reminded that as with beauty, art and taste are in the eye of the beholder.

This also reminds me of the time I tried out for “Jeopardy!”. The Astronomer I work with told me not to do it. “There will always be people out there that are quicker, smarter, faster and better than you.” I listened to his advice but I tried out anyway. :-)

Like a ship in the night....

Sorry no update. I have a million things I want to blog about but unfortunately my husband's grandmother passed away this week and we have been busy with funerary things and out-of-state family. The wonderful lady was 94 years old and hadn't been sick a day in her life up until nine months ago. We looked up a timeline of her life and realized that she lived through both World Wars, the Great Depression and was alive when the Titanic sunk. if only everybody could live that long.

Her husband was sheriff of Wayne County (Detroit) during the race riots in the 1960's. I've been trying to get her kids to tell me some stories of growing up during that time and living in a house attached to the jail. I also think it's really interesting that all donations are going towards the Anthroposophical Society in America. Some of Grandma's children are followers of the Rudolph Steiner Schools of thought (They are Waldorf teachers!) and helped grandma get through the pain with some homeopathic remedies. I definately want to learn more about Steiner and what this society is all about.