marriage

havepenis
fore ever
allowed

...starts to come together

I enter my second year of the forties this year, and I have to say I'm liking the forties.  All those things I daydreamed about having in the future when I was a teen, and then labored (in six cases literally) to make real in my twenties and thirties are real.  My handsome husband comes home from work and kisses me hello.  Six kids have completely overrun this house, just the way I imagined they would.  The must haves are had.
That's really great, but I'd be struggling if the forties weren't also a pivot point--a moment of transferred momentum.  Somewhere I came across a study that said a woman's career doesn't really take off until her forties, so I decided to strike while the eggs were fresh and make a family, trusting that when it was time to refocus on my career I'd be choosing a strong starting point.  This decade is not just about saying goodbye to my wonderful kids, it's also about becoming a published writer.   I have a lot to do, and I'm excited about it.
Happy Birthday to me!  I love it.

Mostly Muslim Movies

My parents were teachers in a small Christian school when I was growing up.  They signed a contract foregoing movies and they stuck to it. The same church that sponsored the school was struggling to work all this out.  I remember being properly shocked when my Sunday School teacher used ET for an illustration.  VHS put an end to all pretense.  Movies were back in swing just in time for my adolescence and I've found it a delicious naughty pleasure ever since.
But now I've gone a step further--ahh, the slippery slope.
I've gone Muslim--mostly.
I'm finding the films of our counterpoint interesting.  They make new all those old problems of life by dressing it up in what is for me a costume.  It is a pleasure to learn and grow.

Sabah is about a woman trying to work out a life between her family's traditionalism and her own need to explore.  There's a sweet love story.  It's sort of  Jane Austen in a hijab.

Arranged follows the lives of two young women, one Orthodox Jew and one traditional Muslim as they go through their respective processes of finding a husband.  I love the way they support each other, and the best moment in the movie when the Muslim is mistaken for a Sephardic Jew.

Salmon Fishing in Yemen  delighted me with a Muslim Jesus.  It was unexpected in this oddball love story.  The movie is truly beautiful both in how it was filmed and the literary frame it works in.

Children of Heaven has been mentioned before, but if you have children this film is an excellent introduction to Muslim Culture.  A boy loses his sister's shoes.  His family is too poor to pay for new, so the two share his shoes.  Charming heartbreak all around.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is mostly set in India rather than being Indian--Muslim or Hindu, but it's interesting.  All that thinking about death, which is also thinking about life.  The choices and opportunities near the end of life.  Death seems to walk in a veil until we are wearing it.  Sometimes it's good to give it a think.

Pilgrimage of Desire

I had the privilege of meeting Alison Gresik at the Festival of Faith and Writing.  I was immediately intrigued by her perspective and by her work.  I'm still interested, which is, I think, one of the best things you can say about someone.  Alison's current project is publishing a memoir through Indiegogo.  Indiegogo is interesting all on it's own, but when you add to that the story of a family recovering from depression by selling their home and using the money to travel the world it becomes irresistable.  Throw into the mix two charming children. and you have movie popcorn with chocolate chips sprinkled in.  To take a look or to support her efforts visit this link--http://www.indiegogo.com/Pilgrimage-of-Desire

lose ends

Sin the Sizer grapples with ablest life 
Gilt with silver 
A long way drown

That New Baby Feeling

I have been blessed with six children.  Each one still brings me great joy, but there is something about those sleepless early bits when you are trying everything you've ever heard and relying on everyone you've ever known that are particularly special.  So I was tickled to discover you can get that new baby feeling over a turtle.  Our second found a hatchling turtle wandering the road.  Our oldest decided to bring her home.  The rest of us decided to keep her.  There's so much to learn about our girl, and we are so excited.  I'm out of diapers, but into an aquarium filter.  Sounds like a good swap to me.

If you can't get enough at the grocery store

When I was young, UPCs were a novelty, and watching the cashier scan the groceries evoked scanner envy.  Then came the self-checkout, and my joy overflowed.  Now you can bring that joy home--with The Home Library App.  Just wave the camera over the UPC on the back of most books and seconds later you have a detailed record of your book.  For older books, you can do a keyword search, for really old books you can enter it manually.  So far I've scanned about 1/2 of our books, I think, and we have 1, 021 titles and the replacement value is 20,000.
I'm enjoying reconnecting with books I haven't seen in a while.  My library is one of my favorite ways of connecting with people.  Pulling the perfect book off the shelf never gets old, and most of my books get returned--though it's been a while since I've seen A Good Man is Hard to Find.
Great app!  Good clean fun.