MoxieLife

the edukators

Have you ever watched a movie you want everyone to see? I was that way with The Motorcycle Diaries, The Constant Gardener, The Red Violin, Cinema Paradisio... the list goes on really.

Well, I have a new one: The Edukators.

It is a German film that is about revolution, action, love, idealism, and the conflict that brings up.

Three young German revolutionaries break into expansive villa's and move their furniture around. They don't steal anything. They just leave the owners with the message that they have too many things and that they are being watched. It is a left wing thriller that is so fun to watch.

It was recently released on DVD... go out and watch and let me know what you think. It got very mixed reviews in the press, but I love the idealism of the characters. I love that they want to make a difference. I love that they are interested in being a ripple in the ocean of change.

list friday

so we are supposed to make a list of the strangest google that someone used and ended up at your site: well this week was the kicker... confessions of a closet catholic. I am not even sure where that would come up on my site. I am not a catholic and I am not in the closet although both would be fine it just doesn't define me. I love that occasionaly we just bop around the web at random sites not know where we are going to land. For future closet catholics though perhaps I am not what you are looking for... but then again maybe I am.

Oh... I see it is the book I read. Duh! It is in my sidebar not an actual entry by me. Goodness. My reading tastes to run all over the spectrum. Wow!

poetry thursdays

Growing up with a mother that was/is a poet I have only
dabbled in poetry. I was never sure of my words on the page. It has been great fun listening to the mostly unpretentious Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, on NPR and this is one of his latest poems. This is for poetry thursdays.

A Spiral Notebook

The bright wire rolls like a porpoise
in and out of the calm blue sea
of the cover, or perhaps like a sleeper
twisting in and out of his dreams,
for it could hold a record of dreams
if you wanted to buy it for that
though it seems to be meant for
more serious work, with its
college-ruled lines and its cover
that states in emphatic white letters,
5 SUBJECT NOTEBOOK. It seems
a part of growing old is no longer
to have five subjects, each
demanding an equal share of attention,
set apart by brown cardboard dividers,
but instead to stand in a drugstore
and hang on to one subject
a little too long, like this notebook
you weigh in your hands, passing
your fingers over its surfaces
as if it were some kind of wonder.

knitting noose

Well, it isn't a noose really.

I am trying to knit a chocker. It is an easy knit project, but I decided to

a) learn how to drop stitch

and

b) knit with ribbon.

I'll photograph the little wisp of a project when she is complete!

The project came from Teen Knitting Club: Chill Out and Knit Some Cool Stuff. Yes, I am nothing more then a grown up teen.

this day in the life

7:30 a.m. "Today, like most days, my roommate has gotten up before me and made coffee of the store brand variety from the groceries we share. I have most likely purchased this very tin in a moment of cheapness and refused to throw it out for similar reasons. Lately, in some new yuppie form of acting out, I have taken to buying $9 per pound Italian roast, grinding the beans, and brewing my own pot in secret while she is in the shower. I feel guilty about not sharing, but even worse that I am hiding all the evidence. I'll just blame this on the fact that I am an only child. I sip my secret gourmet coffee and watch The Today Show, calling the weather forecast to my roommate as she applies makeup. I occasionally make faces, as if my coffee is merely mediocre, to keep up my charade." Suzanne Cope, 26 Somerville Massachusetts

That is one of the delicious entries from the book This Day in the Life, Diaries From Women Across America, 24 Hours of True Life Stories. The premise is that women from across America wrote about the same day in June however that day happened for them. There are diary entries from educated professional women, working women, mothers, celebrities, homeless women, women serving in the military, young and old. It is a true mix of the women in America and a breath of fresh air. The three that captivated me most were a woman who wants to be a hippie but was too young to be part of that generation, a woman who runs a brothel in Nevada, and the entries by Roseanne Cash. The slice of life aspect is fun. It is almost voyeuristic to peek into each of these women's days.

I read about a woman that lives in the town next to mine that is on dialysis. When living in Arkansas it is amazing to read a nationally published book and see the name of the small town where you shop in print. More amazing is that, although I don't know this woman, I was at a party last weekend and many of the people at the party did know her. Small world really.

I don't write a journal that captures moments throughout the day, but now I am intrigued about what I might say. What really goes on that is worth noting in a day?

fresh starts

Today is the big Pea Planting day. We are going to try a small garden one more time. We have a devil of a time with deer, bunnies, and armadillo eating everything we plant. We are more determined this time though. So, for March it is peas.

I wish I could make fresh starts in so many areas of my life. Today, my one day off, my parents drove up while I was enjoying coffee in my bedroom.

Ok. It was noon, but I was happily alone.

I had shut the gate to our property thinking this would stop people from just driving up. They said they didn't think it was meant for them. IT WAS TOTALLY MEANT FOR THEM.

I love my parents, but I like them on my terms. I know that may seem selfish, but it is a lot to deal with and I can only do it so often. I call everyday and I try to see them as often as I can, but I just have a difficult time being with them. They are in their late seventies and have a million health problems, but that isn't the reason I find them difficult.

My mother will call me to tell me she found some great pants, but they don't fit her. She will then go on to say that since my legs are fat they should fit me great. That is what being with them is like. It is exhausting. It isn't pleasant.

I love them, but it makes me tired. So, maybe I need a fresh start.

birds of a feather update

The first few entries to the Mail Art show Birds of a Feather have flown into the post office. How exciting! Entries from Oregon, Michigan, and Missouri. If you would like to participate it isn't too late! The deadline is May 1... months away!

Need inspiration? Nick Bantock creates wonderful pieces for ephemera. Everything you ever wanted to know about Mail Art is here. This site by Jenny De Groot is full of images that inspire.

I hope to see you in the mail!

list friday

Pomegranates & Paper is urging us to remember some of the more dreadful Arts & Crafts that we have done "before we knew better" for List Friday.

I wasn't your average kid. I didn't create the obligatory lanyard (unless instructed to by the Girl Scout Leader that unfortunately found me a bit too much to handle) or newspaper seat mat (also gifted to us from the above evil leader). Instead, I wrote plays that I forced my cousin Pukey Lukey to put on with me, created clubs (The Wizard of Oz club was a favorite. Again, forcing my cousin to be Toto while I was Dorthy.), and wrote newsletters that I copied on the mimeograph machine at my fathers school that detailed the origins of bubble gum, the sleeping habits of gerbils, and the life and times of Dracula.

I have, deep in a trunk, macaroni pictures that I made in First Grade that my father kept along with my first report on Dogs in Egypt. I grew up with a very crafty sister who could crochet the perfect granny square, an aunt who crocheted barbie wedding dresses, a brother with a masters degree in photography, and a poet for a mother. I don't think crafts were big in my world.

Until I had my daughter. We have painted with pudding, created the ocean in a bottle, painted on rocks, made mobiles from earrings and feathers, and every other craft that was in the every preschool craft book the library had. Our efforts weren't usually saved for very long because it was always onto the next craft for us!

Now that she is 15 we have transitioned to sewing, baking, postcard making, and stuff for her room. Move over macaroni, hello duct tape!

poetry thursdays

Although ee cummings, mary oliver, whitman, and others inspire me but it was Edward Gorey that I grew up reading.

I didn't share them with My Sparkly Girl when she was growing up... too gloomy. Although, I loved them then as I do now.

This is from the illustrated book and shows Neville. This is in celebration of poetry thursdays.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies

A is for Amy who fell down the stairs
B is for Basil assaulted by bears
C is for Clara who wasted away
D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh
E is for Ernest who choked on a peach
F is for Fanny sucked dry by a leech
G is for George smothered under a rug
H is for Hector done in by a thug
I is for Ida who drowned in a lake
J is for James who took lye by mistake
K is for Kate who was struck with an axe
L is for Leo who swallowed some tacks
M is for Maud who was swept out to sea
N is for Neville who died of ennui
O is for Olive run through with an awl
P is for Pru trampled flat in a brawl
Q is for Quentin who sank on a mire
R is for Rhoda consumed by a fire
S is for Susan who perished of fits
T is for Titus who flew into bits
U is for Una who slipped down a drain
V is for Victor squashed under a train
W is for Winnie embedded in ice
X is for Xerxes devoured by mice
Y is for Yorick whose head was knocked in
Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin

three things i love

I love soup. It is one of my goals to create the perfect pot of soup. The perfect bowl of soup is filling, smells incredible, is nutritious, is beautiful, and My Sparkly Girl will eat it.

Last weekend I made Baked Potato Soup. It was extraordinarily easy to make. The recipe was from "Not Your Mother's Slow cooker Cookbook".

It had the makings of a perfect bowl of soup except for one crucial portion... My Sparkly Girl didn't like it. My Partner in Kindness, my father, and I all loved it. It was warm and creamy. It had a velvet texture and a richness that comes from a stick of butter and five pounds of potatoes, but she just took a few bites and ate the rustic white bread instead.

Back to the drawing board.

Last week I took my daughter to a doctors appointment in our neighboring city. We went to Panera Bread and she had her customary bread bowl of chicken noodle soup. We then drove to Cheap Thrills, a used clothing store that specializes in retro clothing, on the square. She found the cutest pink blazer, a pair of jeans, a Hello Kitty t-shirt, and some semi permanent aqua hair dye. We then watched The Pink Panther with Steve Martin (definitely a renter, but cute) and Kevin Kline while munching buttered popcorn and drinking Cherry Coca Cola.

Following all of this fun we trundled off to Barnes and Noble so that Mr Pot could get a pocket dictionary. I though fell completely in love with these blank journals from Nepal. My Sparkly Girl shrieked that I couldn't get another journal. Not listening to one word from her I bought it without hesitation. The outside is the red one with polka dots, and the inner pages are made from Daphne bush bark.

It is just wonderful to sit with, even if I never fill it to the brim. The possibilities are what I love!

Colored chalk is wonderful. We have a wall in our house that is painted with chalkboard paint and we have lists, greetings from friends, scribbles, and phone numbers over the entire thing. I love this entry into our home. We use standard colored chalk, but I have a love for all kinds of colored chalk.

Our sidewalk chalk collection is definitely enviable. We are known to stick a piece in our pocket and randomly mark up the path, sidewalk, dam, rocks, or other surfaces that call to us.

There is nothing more satisfying then writing a quote on the dam for others to stumble upon. I guess it is the impermanence that appeals to me as well. I love that it just disappears.