<p>mof2-
Haha-- Glad you could correct it and give credit for the recipes where credit was due!</p>
<p><em>blushes</em> </p>
<p>(apparently, there is no smiley for that)</p>
<p>(oh yes there is) :o</p>
<p>The first IKEA in Ohio is going up not far from us. I am excited!</p>
<p>A couple of years ago we bought an assembly required bookcase from some store and thought we’d let S#2 put it together. Good experience, right? Kid really didn’t read the instructions, and to this day one side shows the “unfinished” side for all to see. Fortunately it’s in our bedroom and I really don’t care. Airhead kid.</p>
<p>Some of these things run in the family. DH left bare pillar candles burning on the tablecloth last night and they melted large pools of wax on it. I TOLD him they needed something under them but he didn’t listen. He knew he was in trouble so he folded all the laundry this morning before he left for work (while I was ironing the affected area between paper towels). And I must say I did not get visibly upset. It’s a print tablecloth, in fact it’s my Indian print bedspread from the 70s…it’s indestructible!</p>
<p>And he left before I noticed the black shoe polish on the kitchen floor where he polished his shoes. It happens almost every time. I am not surprised any more. Fine. We’ll go live in a barn. 
:D</p>
<p>
Perfect.</p>
<p>(signed) Airhead mom*</p>
<p><em>who put together *her</em> first IKEA bookcase with the unfinished side wrong side out. Took it apart and put it back together again. Because there were 3, lined up in a row. So it would show. And because I will never make Design Star if I put the wrong sides out for all to see. And because DH and DS would call me Airhead Mom. Oh, wait… I already did that.</p>
<p>mythmom, who are your favorite poets? I love poetry.</p>
<p>Oh so many, so many.</p>
<p>Let’s see: Homer, Sappho, Virgil, Dante, Petrarch, Donne, Milton, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Hopkins, Rimbaud, Yeats, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich, Elizabeth Bishop, Carolyn Forche just to name the ones that come to mind, in rough chronological order.</p>
<p>My thesis: Wallace Stevens</p>
<p>Love Shakespeare, D G Rosetti, Whitman, Yeats, Anne Sexton, Derek Wolcott, Sharon Olds, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, and many more…</p>
<p>Maybe we should have a poetry reading night at the alley?</p>
<p>Each of us could post a poem or a part of a poem that we love…?</p>
<p>I’ll start with a little poem my dad taught me:<br>
Bless us and bind us,
and tie our hands behind us,
and put us in a hole
where the devil can’t find us.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if he meant this as a bedtime prayer or what, but we all still laugh about it.</p>
<p>Bar keep, I need a Golden Marg. on the rocks, with salt…</p>
<p>After three days of dilberation, my co-director and I finally cast our latest play Mulan Jr. I swear that it never gets any easier. I hate casting, because someone is always disappointed and this time we had sooo many talented kids!
This time we had an added difficulty, there are only two Chinese kids in the program and only one of them was even close to being qualified to play Mulan. Both girls were born in China and are being raised by white families who work really hard to make sure that they have exposure to their home culture. I soooo wanted one of them to be able to play Mulan, but I didn’t feel that it was right to “type” cast either. I always try cast “color blind” and I often cast girls as boys and boys as girls if we need to. Do you guys think that I should have cast the one of the Chinese girls even if they were very clearly not as qualified? I know that this could be touchy, bar keep, I may need a double.</p>
<p>Black Oaks, by Mary Oliver</p>
<p>Okay, not one can write a symphony, or a dictionary,</p>
<p>or even a letter to an old friend, full of remembrance
and comfort. </p>
<p>Not one can manage a single sound though the blue jays
carp and whistle all day in the branches, without
the push of the wind. </p>
<p>But to tell the truth after a while I’m pale with longing
for their thick bodies ruckled with lichen</p>
<p>and you can’t keep me from the woods, from the tonnage</p>
<p>of their shoulders, and their shining green hair.</p>
<p>Today is a day like any other: twenty-four hours, a
little sunshine, a little rain. </p>
<p>Listen, says ambition, nervously shifting her weight from
one boot to another – why don’t you get going?</p>
<p>For there I am, in the mossy shadows, under the trees.</p>
<p>And to tell the truth I don’t want to let go of the wrists
of idleness, I don’t want to sell my life for money,</p>
<p>I don’t even want to come in out of the rain.</p>
<p>I love the poem, SBmom! Thank you for posting it. </p>
<p>Sarahsmom, I vote for casting according to talent. I know it must be hard to make these decisions, especially with kids.</p>
<p>Well, tonight S1 announced that he wanted me to take him to a junkyard, where he can buy old broken things like microwave ovens very cheaply, to use for parts. Much less expensive than RadioShack, he says. I told him that, 1) I was sure there were no junkyards around here, 2) if there were, there would be rats, 3) I did not want junk from junkyards coming into the house, 4) I didn’t even like going to the mall. He still wants to go. Promised to keep the junk outside and throw away the carcasses after he harvests the parts he needs. I don’t believe him; he never throws anything away. Laughed at my fear of rats. My husband chimed in that he used to go to junkyards, too, found a motor for his car that way once. Not helpful.</p>
<p>Are there still junkyards these days? I hope not.</p>
<p>Yep. We just found one with this massive pile of crap (didn’t see any rats, but I’m thinking they were probably there)…Also, we have a huge “recycle” place where you can take stuff the regular garbage guy won’t take…not quite as junky as the other place we went. How about Goodwill or Salvation army in a crummy part of town? You could at least feel like you were making a charitable donation in the process…</p>
<p>SBmom: Thanks for the lovely poem. Here’s mine because I can remember it so easily:</p>
<p>so much depends on a red wheel barrow
glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.</p>
<p>William Carlos Williams</p>
<p>mythmom, That’s cool. I’m not a poet and have had little exposure. I learn something every time I’m on here! Thanks!</p>
<p>astrophysicsmom, why were you looking for a junkyard?</p>
<p>nymomof2-
Yes there are junkyards-- they are called CRAIGSLIST and FREECYCLE!</p>
<p><a href=“http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/ny[/url]”>http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/ny</a>
<a href=“http://www.freecycle.org/[/url]”>http://www.freecycle.org/</a></p>
<p>put in your city. You can get all sorts of stuff!!! Be careful-- some are scams. But we got our son’s car off a craigslist ad. It was a good deal.</p>
<p>NYmom…What we expected: a place that recycles metal (we had a bunch of ugly wrought iron railing that we replaced from our deck in our big summer backyard project). Thought we’d so something better than just sending stuff to a landfill. We were actually a bit embarrassed, as this turned out to be a MUCH bigger outfit than we expected—we’re talking semitrucks dumping things, people towing old cars in, etc. We backed our little trailer in, unloaded our stuff, and promptly collected our $14.74. (This is after driving out of our comfort area, away from civilization, and way more miles than mapquest said)…I thought I was hearing “Dueling Banjos” as we pulled into the junk yard… Let’s just say, it was my first (and last) trip there. But yeah…those places still exist!!!</p>
<p>NYMom–I second the Goodwill/Salvation Army idea for parts, esp. small electronics. Thrifty people in my town shop there all the time for things they need or…don’t need. My S found an IBM computer keyboard he loves because it’s “clacky” and has a good feel.</p>