She is quite awesome. I got a package today. It included my favorite toothpaste, replacement toothbrush heads and candy (amongst other things). I will now pause so you can appreciate the irony....
OK, I'm back. And this is not the only way in which Mama Norton shows her awesomeness.
For instance, knowing that she wouldn't be able to celebrate my birthday with me (which is, I think, the first time I have spent one completely separated from my entire family), she hid some little presents in my suitcases, so that when I was unpacking them, I would discover them. I'm still working my way through the lemon drops she gave me. (Why, yes, we do demonstrate our familial love through candy! Got a problem with that?)
What does this all mean, you say? Well, clearly, my mother loves me a lot. Maybe more than yours does. Just sayin'.
And I love her, too.
The end.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
13 October 2010
26 August 2010
Surprising Surprises! Part III
Of course, since I didn't know about the surprising surprise party, I had already planned my own birthday party for Saturday at 3:30.
And there was no way I could cancel it because we had already baked a dark chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate fudge icing (my favorite!) and made 2 kinds of homemade ice cream: raspberry sorbet and vanilla.
And there was no way my mom couldn't not let me plan my own party without giving away the surprise, so... at 3:30 we had more cake and ice cream! This time with presents!
I was a lot more excited about it than I look in this picture. I think here I was very intent on opening the present. (!)
And this is a nice little panorama shot of the room with Dad's new handy Sony point and shoot digital. We like it a lot, but what we didn't realize was that you have to take a full panorama if you don't want a random black bar to appear on one side.
And there was no way I could cancel it because we had already baked a dark chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate fudge icing (my favorite!) and made 2 kinds of homemade ice cream: raspberry sorbet and vanilla.
And there was no way my mom couldn't not let me plan my own party without giving away the surprise, so... at 3:30 we had more cake and ice cream! This time with presents!
I was a lot more excited about it than I look in this picture. I think here I was very intent on opening the present. (!)
And this is a nice little panorama shot of the room with Dad's new handy Sony point and shoot digital. We like it a lot, but what we didn't realize was that you have to take a full panorama if you don't want a random black bar to appear on one side.
25 August 2010
Surprising Surprises! Part II
After breakfast on Saturday, we had about 30 minutes to get ready for a lunch with the brother's in-laws to plan the Christmas trip. We were going to meet them at the country club. I should have known that something was up when the brother kept telling me to change into something a little nicer than my denim skirt and JCrew tee (I changed into a white summer skirt and kept the tee).
We got to the club and walked towards the Tapestry room. I kind of noticed a bunch of people standing around, but didn't really pay much attention to them until they shouted, "SURPRISE!"
That's right, a surprise going away party thrown by my friends and family who lived within Kansas or within a 100 mile radius of Kansas (or thereabouts). I guess my mom planned it while I was at Spanish camp, and friend Aubrey made the decorations.
Apparently, there were a few close calls where I might have learned about it...most notably when Aubrey made me send some text messages for her since she was driving and I saw a text about a birthday gift, or when I visited friend Rob's house and the invitation was laying out face-up on the dining room table. Thankfully, though, DNortonLand breeds oblivion, so things like surprise parties remain, well, surprises.
This is the kid's table. Note the dude serving fajitas in the background. Best surprise party ever!
We got to the club and walked towards the Tapestry room. I kind of noticed a bunch of people standing around, but didn't really pay much attention to them until they shouted, "SURPRISE!"
That's right, a surprise going away party thrown by my friends and family who lived within Kansas or within a 100 mile radius of Kansas (or thereabouts). I guess my mom planned it while I was at Spanish camp, and friend Aubrey made the decorations.
Apparently, there were a few close calls where I might have learned about it...most notably when Aubrey made me send some text messages for her since she was driving and I saw a text about a birthday gift, or when I visited friend Rob's house and the invitation was laying out face-up on the dining room table. Thankfully, though, DNortonLand breeds oblivion, so things like surprise parties remain, well, surprises.
This is the kid's table. Note the dude serving fajitas in the background. Best surprise party ever!
07 April 2010
Capitalism/Democracy
I really enjoy political discussions. Not because I am very good at them or even because I hold very strong opinions and must share them with people. On the contrary, I really enjoy asking the question, "How do we go about creating the perfect world/improving the one that we've got?"
I especially like discussing these things with people who do have some very strongly held opinions (my brother, K, and his friend, V, come to mind), because I really enjoy forcing myself to see both sides of an argument and trying to reconcile them. I like the mental exercise.
Which is why I enjoyed receiving an email from K last night about an article by Charles Koch, linked here, complete with an argument by V about why Koch was wrong. K and V generally have some fiery arguments, and so I spent a long while thinking about why they couldn't see eye to eye on this particular article, realizing that whatever my thoughts were, they probably weren't going to change anyone's perspective. (Like I said, mental exercise.)
I realized that they were trying to argue two separate things, which is potentially where the disconnect between conservatives and liberals in the US lies. V was trying to discuss the political system, and K was trying to focus on the economic system; and while the two are related, they are not inextricable. In fact, capitalism has been shown to exist in several countries without democracy, but I'm not sure that you could say the same about democracy existing without capitalism.
As much as K and V (and anybody else for that matter) try to debate the values of capitalism and democracy, until they can separate the two, they are simply comparing apples to oranges and the argument will go nowhere. So yeah...in your political discussions, as in all areas of life, please be sure that you are talking TO your opponent and not AT them, because otherwise it can be very ugly.
I especially like discussing these things with people who do have some very strongly held opinions (my brother, K, and his friend, V, come to mind), because I really enjoy forcing myself to see both sides of an argument and trying to reconcile them. I like the mental exercise.
Which is why I enjoyed receiving an email from K last night about an article by Charles Koch, linked here, complete with an argument by V about why Koch was wrong. K and V generally have some fiery arguments, and so I spent a long while thinking about why they couldn't see eye to eye on this particular article, realizing that whatever my thoughts were, they probably weren't going to change anyone's perspective. (Like I said, mental exercise.)
I realized that they were trying to argue two separate things, which is potentially where the disconnect between conservatives and liberals in the US lies. V was trying to discuss the political system, and K was trying to focus on the economic system; and while the two are related, they are not inextricable. In fact, capitalism has been shown to exist in several countries without democracy, but I'm not sure that you could say the same about democracy existing without capitalism.
As much as K and V (and anybody else for that matter) try to debate the values of capitalism and democracy, until they can separate the two, they are simply comparing apples to oranges and the argument will go nowhere. So yeah...in your political discussions, as in all areas of life, please be sure that you are talking TO your opponent and not AT them, because otherwise it can be very ugly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)