Stuff I Like #9: Sixlets

When I was a kid, I lived in a tiny, tiny town in Kentucky. There were only two stoplights, and if you blinked, you'd miss it on the way through. Needless to say, there wasn't much entertainment. However, we kids were pretty good at entertaining ourselves back then. We would ride our bikes around town, go wading in the river, hang out at someone's house, play make-believe, and generally spend all the time we could outside. One of our favorite things to do was to head down to the local convenient store.

Ours was called Mr. Miser's. I don't think that anyone named Miser owned the store, and I don't know why anyone would call their store Miser. We loved it. They had Slush Puppies and candy of every kind. You could go in with a dollar and come out with a sack full of candy.

My favorite was Sixlets. M & Ms don't compare. These little candy coated balls of chocolatey goodness trump the other guys hands down! M&Ms all taste the same to me. Sixlets have an individual taste for each color of candy coating! I think the orange ones taste the best.

You can still find Sixlets in some stores. I recently found some at the local Dollar Tree. Go find some today, and you'll never want M&Ms again!

Stuff I Like #8: Mary McDonnell

I watched Dances With Wolves 20 long years ago(Has it really been THAT LONG?) and wondered who the actress was who played the part of the woman who had been adopted by the Indians was. This was in 1990, not before the days of the internet, but pretty close to it. I didn't get online until 1996, and by that time I had forgotten about the actress.

I noticed her again in Independence Day. She played the First Lady to Bill Pullman's president. Again, I didn't think to look her up on the now available(and beloved) Internet Movie Data Base. In fact, it wasn't until Battlestar Galactica showed up that I finally took the time to find out who Mary McDonnell was.

I got a chance to hear her speak at a local university yesterday. My bestie got tickets and God love her, picked one up for me! We had company for the lecture--friends of my friend from out of town. I got home late, but it was very much worth it!

Mary was bright, coherent, interesting, humorous, and of course, beautiful. It had occurred to me before the lecture that it is Women's History month, and it seemed very congruous to me that Mary McDonnell was the speaker and that she was speaking about women in leadership. She thought the same and mentioned that it was Women's History month at the beginning of her lecture.

It was very interesting to hear Mary's thoughts on why women still have obstacles to overcome. I don't know that I necessarily agree with her, but I do agree that women still have a heap of obstacles. At the same time, I was inspired by what she had to say. One particular thing that sticks out in my mind is that she said we need to take our whole selves with us in the things we do. In other words, we can be sensitive people even when we're wearing power suits. We can be pacifists and still view weapons as peacekeeping/life saving instruments.

That really spoke to me. As a teacher, I have a very difficult time being the authoritarian that students need and balancing it with the nurturing side of myself. It really is a matter of balance, and Mary mentioned that as well.

If you ever get the chance to hear Mary McDonnell speak, I highly recommend you take the chance!

Stuff I Like #7: People Who Read My Blog!

A writer writes because he or she can't help but write, because the stories and the things that are inside are things that have to be shared. In other words, a writer writes for an audience. I can blog all I want to, but unless I have an audience, my words are just that tree falling in the forest.

I don't have many readers. That's ok. One reader is enough for me. I think I might just have two for this particular blog! I really appreciate that there is someone who enjoys hearing about the things I like enough to return to my blog. I'm glad there's someone that agrees with me about the stuff I like.

C, this post's for you! Thanks for reading.

Stuff I like #6: My Knitting Group

I am a member of a fantastic knitting group. We meet every Monday night at a local restaurant. We are there so consistently that we've gotten to know one of the managers very well. We even made a scarf for him at Christmas-time. They treat us well at the restaurant, and most of the staff know us by sight at this point.

Every Monday, we move in and take over. We talk loudly. We curse sometimes(although we do try very hard to refrain if there are children nearby). We take over a large part of the restaurant. We think there are some people who sit near us simply to be entertained!

The ages of the group range from about 24 to 60s or so. I'm not sure how old some of the ladies are, I don't want to ask, and frankly, I don't care! They are the more experienced members of the group, as I put it. They're not older, but more experienced.

There are a range of types in the group. Some are church-goers. Some are not. We are a mostly liberal group, and there are no topics that we consider out-of-bounds. We know the details of each other's lives intimately in some cases.

These ladies are my life-savers. They were righteously angered on my behalf about the manner in which my most recent relationship ended. They let me cry in front of them and I didn't feel at all embarrassed. I know that they accept me with all my oddities and eccentricities. One let me sleep on her couch when my razza-fracka %^&* brother "forgot" to pay the electric bill last week. Another brought me food when I was grieving during a recent breakup and could think of nothing to eat. A third reads my blog on a regular basis! I don't know what I would do without them!

As one of the group members commented, "We're not your momma's knitting group!"