Listening to: Beatles – Rubber Soul
Reading: Ransom Julie Garwood
Weather: partly cloudy and 68!!
Trivia: It has been called "the oldest book in the world." The Prisse Papyrus, written before 2000 BC, is the oldest papyrus document ever discovered. It contains portions of two even older works, one of which is from the third dynasty (3800 BC). The Prisse Papyrus is named after Prisse d'Avennes, the French Egyptologist who discovered it. It is a copy of a work written by Ptah-Hotep, Grand Vizier under the Pharaoh Isesi, who titled it "The Instructions of Ptah-Hotep." It appears to be a book of advice for young Egyptian men. Ptahhotep encouraged honesty, gentleness, and directness. He offered advice for dealing with supervisors ("Let thy mind be deep and thy
speech scanty") and wives ("Be silent, for it is a better gift than flowers"). His work influenced later writings for thousands of years, and echoes of it appear in the Christian Bible.
Cool word: smithereens [n. smith-ur-EENZ]
If something is in smithereens, then it has been smashed into many tiny fragments. Example: "I was horrified to discover that my blue ming vase had been smashed to smithereens in the earthquake." This word is almost never seen in the singular form, although one might expect that one fragment would be a smithereen. The origin is
Irish smidirin (little fragment), which is the diminutive of smiodar (fragment). Several other Irish diminutives have made it into English, including the names Colleen, from Cailin (little girl) and Kathleen, from Caitlin. There is also poteen (illegally distilled Irish whiskey), from poitin (small pot).
Let the Bingeing Begin!
I went grocery shopping and bought every evil holiday food on the shelf. Including eggnog and Petit Schoolboy cookies. You can gain wait just looking at the cartons. These are a total vice.
And I love them.
I also bought all the makings for Irish bread. This is also not a diet recipe. Buttermilk and real butter are a big part of the fixins. The real quest is in locating golden raisins. For some reason only certain stores seem to carry them, and as far as I’m concerned in Irish soda bread nothing else will suffice. You can use regular raisins, but I think they turn to bullets in the bread.
I have some in the oven right now, and it will be the only one that gets baked tonight. This one is for my mother. I got a late start and it takes over an hour to bake each loaf, so any others will have to wait. I only have one round casserole dish to bake them in so I can’t do multiple loaves at a time.
I don’t think I’ll mention the ice cream I bought today.
Matilda was so surprised to see me walk into her class today. The look on her face was priceless. She was obviously thrilled to have me there. I loved it.
I forget how cute (and little) first graders are. A little boy named John met me in the office, took my hand and led me to the room. As we’re walking along the hall he’s Mr. Chatty, "So, who is it we’re surprising?" He was adorable.
Then I read The Tappleton’s Thanksgiving, which is about a family that, totally goofs up their Thanksgiving dinner and end up eating liverwurst sandwiches and pickles. The kids howled.
When I’d finished reading John suggested that I take Matilda home, as it was a half-day and they were leaving soon. I told him I hadn’t made those plans with Matilda’s mother and he said. "That’s okay, there’s a phone in the office that you can use."
It was a nice morning.
My sister-in-law called this afternoon to tell me how thrilled Matilda was. Made my week too.
I also indulged myself by going to my stamp store, buying new stamps that I can’t live without. (Yeah right) As well as some new embossing powder and special new paints.
Now if only I could get myself motivated and actually MAKE something!
Maybe having new stuff will inspire me.
I have the world’s worst stiff neck, and nothing is helping it. I’ve taken a bunch of Advil and packed it with ice, but nothing is relieving it. I have no idea what I did, but it really hurts. It’s probably due to too much computer, stress and sleeping in a funky position. I do have a neck collar but I hate wearing it.
Once the bread is done I’ll just take another handful and go to bed.
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