It's about what matters. SC&A

Go, read.

Take it in.

Read again.

Tomorrow.

So tell me, is 34 scary?

Between loads of laundry, vacumming, and cleaning bathrooms (Oh what fun!), I'm undoubtedly busy, busy, busy. Yes, I've got my work cut out for me. But I've been offline long enough, and I can feel the pull. However, my online time today will be striclty dedicated to reading everyone in my blogroll.

In doing so, I will inevitably stumble upon some of you having posted a quiz, which in turn will compulsively send me off to try it myself.

You're a little gold key, and you unlock other people's hearts.
Your kindness and willingnessto be there for those you care about
lets people open up to you knowing they will be accepted.
People will rely on you, but be careful not to give more than you have.

What sort of key are you and what do you unlock?

brought to you by Quizilla

via EtherealGirl

...and because every little bit helps.

One Tiny Voice

Thanks, Elle!

What a blessing!! They've landed that airplane safely.

The Orange County Public Schools has a program in which fifth graders run a fully operational retail store. It's called Biz Kid$.

I was part of the interviewing procedure, giving the students a real life experience of what applying for and being interviewing for employment is like. I was amazed! Some of these children are remarkably talented. There was only a handful of students I didn't interview, because those were applying for either the management and security positions, and among those applying was my son BlogBoy.

Today, he walked in, proud to let me know that he was assigned the position he applied for: Junior Manager.

He starts tomorrow, and although it's only a two-day venture, I know they will learn a lot about the working world. I can't wait to see him in action, and to hear his thoughts about the experience!

trying to kill them dead.

I've managed to contact a couple of unknowing victims, as spam had been left in their blog-name.

I hate when they come back like that, after months of spam-free days.

Damn you, spammers.

Damn you all to Hell.

Scenario: After seeing the images of the damage and the suffering the people of the Gulf Coast were going through (days 2 and 3), after spending a good deal of time talking with my children about what they were seeing in the news, I decided to seek some comfort in a book, one of several I purchased a few days earlier, with a B&N gift card a dear friend gifted me. Honestly, I wanted to escape the pain I was seeing on TV, pain that was clearly seeping into me. Yes, we helped, donated money and clothes and food, but somehow -at least in my head- it didn't seem enough. It still doesn't.

The book begins with several short poems, and each of them is numbered. I didn't get too far reading, as you'll notice below.

V

Glee! the great storm is over!
Four have recovered the land;
Fourty gone down together
Into the boiling sand.

Ring, for the scant salvation!
Toll, for the bonnie souls, --
Neighbor and friend and bridegroom
Spining upon the shoals!

How they will tell the shipwreck
When winter shakes the door,
Till the children ask, "But the forty?
Did they come back no more?"

Then a silence suffuses the story,
And a softness the teller's eye;
And the children no further question,
And only the waves reply.

VI

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain'
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

* from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson