I just finished reading a really good book called Agent Zigzag. It was an incredible true story about a double agent during WWII. He was an Englishman who was a career criminal, and through a series of events went to a prison that became occupied by the Nazis. I don't want to write a book review, but I do want to write about a particular aspect of the book.
The reason that Eddie Chapman (Agent Zigzag) initially agreed to become a Nazi spy against his native country was his indifference. He was not an angry person, didn't hate his country, didn't want to "even the score" for his imprisonment. He just didn't care, and the Nazi's offered a lot of money. That was all it took for him to betray his country. I'm not trying to say that Chapman was a bad man, because he came around and realized his indifference was killing innocent British people. This book made me realize the danger of indifference.
Obviously, I'm not going to become an Iraqi spy and betray my country, but what is it that I'm indifferent about that could be harmful to others or myself? I think that any emotion, whether it be love, hate, impatience, compassion, inaction or action is better than indifference. At least the subject is breached, despite your opinion. Indifference, however, is dangerous because you completely ignore the topic, make it insignificant, no matter how significant it really is. What are we as a country indifferent about that is harmful? These are tough questions, but ones that I think I need to ask myself.
On a more "book review" level, I highly recommend the book. If it wasn't a true story, I would say it was highly unrealistic. Seriously, this guy lived one crazy life! It got off-the-charts reviews on Booklist, but I was unsure about it because it deals with WWII. I'm not a huge war genre fan, but this was completely intriguing. Go read it, even if you're not a war buff it's good, but especially if you ARE a war buff you'll love it!
Remember in Friends when Chandler had to move to Tulsa for his job? He was trying to convince Monica that Tulsa is comparable to New York, and he says "Tulsa is sometimes compared to Paris....it's the Paris of Oklahoma!" hahaha...good old Chandler Bing, I miss him.
We were in the Paris of Oklahoma this weekend to celebrate Justin's Mom and Dad's birthdays. We had a good time relaxing with the fam, looking at homes, eating yummy Nachos a la Jereme, and catching up with everyone. It's so nice that they live close enough to see on a regular basis!
Buckley adores Don and Cheryl's back yard - it backs up to a woodsy area, and there are lots of new sniffs, lots of running room, and lots of sticks to be thrown. It makes me feel guilty when we come home to a little square of grass with nothing for him to do. I told Justin we need to move to a house with a big back yard for Buckley, and he said as soon as Buckley pitches in some of the cost, he'll consider it. Oh well.
So Happy Birthday to Don and Chery, and happy play weekend to Buckley!
Don's birthday card...he's a die-hard Arkansas Razorbacks fan, so it was fitting :)
I am in a funk. I've been in one all day. It all started when I woke up and had a headache, and it was all downhill from there. I know I have nothing to be upset about, which makes me more upset that I'm upset at nothing....see that? A perfect example of my funk. Blah.
So what does one do when in a funk? Well, I went to the gym to try to release some of those fabled endorphins, but no runner's high for me. Then I decided to do something fun with Buckley, who also seemed like he was in a funk. (Yes, I believe I can read my dog's moods.) Following is a chronicle of Buck and I trying to rid ourselves of our moodiness.
ME: Buckley...(waits for his ears to perk)...WANNA GO TO THE PARK?
BUCK: (pause to see if I'm serious, then profuse tail wagging)
ME: Ok then, let's go for a CAR RIDE. FYI, all of the bolded words are words in Buckley's vocabulary.
BUCK: (scampers around excitedly. His bad mood was a lot easier to cure than mine...go figure)
I decided that Sonic drinks were a good idea because:
1. It was 2:00, thus making it Happy Hour at Sonic!
2. It was 2:00, thus making it 1,000 degrees outside.
3. Buckley can't go on a walk longer than 1/4 mile without wanting to stop when it's hot. He's a total baby.
I had to stop for a photo shoot. Ths is a regular occurance for my poor dog; he has more pictures taken of him than most children. It doesn't help that he's the best picture poser in the world. Seriously, how cute is he? Sure, his head doesn't really match his body yet, but still.....
The sky was gorgeous. There are few things in this world better than:
-A dark blue sky on a summer day
-A walk in the park with a happy dog
-Sonic drinks purchased during happy hour
-An afternoon of relaxation
So after my idyllic afternoon, I came back to my house, and within 10 minutes was back in my funk. Then I felt bad about being back in my funk, and thus returned the vicious cycle of a bad mood. I promise tomorrow will be better!!
My friend Jessica is crafty. She makes really cute cards. So cute, in fact, that although I have pictures of her cards, I refuse to post them because they put my attempts at cardmaking to shame. To my credit, she is much more experienced than I am, so maybe I have hope and a future after all!
Regardless of lack of talent, I am diving into a deep expanse of sea otherwise known as cardmaking. It's pretty much like scrapbooking, except you give your projects away rather than keeping mind-numbing amounts of little books that you feel compelled to show people when they come over. I really love giving and recieving great cards. In fact, I am pretty religious about throwing away anything even bordering on junk, but cards are my one exception. I have a giant box full of practically every card I've received since I was a teenager. So when Jessica introduced me to cardmaking, despite my general lack of "craftiness", I thought I'd give it a go.
I began this venture in May with Mother's Day cards (...and they were bad), then I made Father's Day cards (which were marginally better), and following is my third attempt at card making:
This one is my Mother in Law's Birthday card. She lives in a house with a great back yard for watching birds, and she has a few "pet" birds who come around a lot.
This one is made with the same paper as the previous card, but I wanted to use a few more embellishments. I have no idea who this is for.
I'm not a big fan of this one. I must have been thinking "let's use every single pattern of paper that somewhat matches"
I was thinking of adding daily pictures to my blog. Things that are relevant to my life in any given day. Then I tried to come up with a name for my daily pictures. (again with the naming obsession...why do I have to name everything?!) My mind wandered from "a day in the life" to "this week in pictures", but then I realized that all of my names were just ripoffs of other picture sites, so that's no good.
For some reason, the jingle from Picture Pages came into my head. Does anyone remember those short videos on Nickelodeon in the 80's featuring Bill Cosby? I loved those videos, and I coveted that drawing board. So the search for the name of my pictures led me to Youtube to search for a video of this long lost treasure. If I tried to count how many times a random thought led me to either Youtube, Facebook, or Wikipedia, well, I'd get really sick of counting....you get the idea. So here's a link to Picture Pages for your viewing pleasure.
Henceforth, my tag name for my daily pictures is "Picture Pages."
I also want give a shout-out to myself, because it is a monumental victory that I was able to embed that video into my blog! Yeah, Erin!
Click and drag to rearrange page elements on your blog.
"Click and drag to rearrange page elements on your blog."
That's a direct quote from the blogger instructions on how to arrange your blog. I'm clicking, I'm dragging, and nothing is moving. Why, oh why can't I customize my blog?!?!?! Please be more specific, instruction writer! I know this is not rocket science, but goodness, please don't write one line of instructions when the one line of instructions doesn't even work!
I'm probably destined to have an off-centered blog title for life. Booooo.....
I don't know why, but I had a tough time deciding on a name for my shiny new blog. Should I go with something cute and witty? Probably can't pull that off...How about pet nicknames? Cheesy...Something about my hobbies? "Bookworm Housewife" is embarassingly unflattering...Ah, yes! A quote! Those quotes will always save you in a pinch, no?
Now that the quote idea was settled, which quote will I go with? Bible quote? Book quote? These questions opened up a whole new can of worms. What will my blog be about? Why am I even creating this blog? Why do I overthink stupid decisions? Finally, a random flashback of American Lit appeared, and my favorite quote from the clever transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson popped into my head: "The poet is the sayer, the namer, and represents beauty."
I would be completely insane if I considered myself a poet, or even a writer for that matter, but I love this thought by Emerson so much because it puts a value on writing. All writing, whether it be Emerson-quality poetry or Cowan-quality blogging (which I must admit needs some polishing), is valuable. Even though I am quite sure that this blog will be of little value to anyone but me, it is still valued because the act of expression through the written word is valued.
So there we have it. I like my blog's name, "The sayer and the namer," and will try to be a good owner to my new little online pet - After all, its name demands some respect! Representin' Emerson! :)
