madameblogalot

Halloween has come and gone. So have the national elections. As the end of the year approaches, we know the holiday season is getting underway and will soon be in full swing! Many folks are already getting their holiday party planning and preparations underway.

Maybe you are one of those people who is looking for some new Holiday Party Ideas this year. Houseguests, planning, cleaning, cooking, meals and gifts can all add up to holiday stress. But with some expert advice and some fun, simple planning tools, your next party can go off without a hitch.

Celebrations.com has an interactive site where you can share your party ideas, recipes and photos. You can also read about the latest and greatest celeb parties on the Platinum Celebrations blog. Get the insider tips on these hot party ideas from the experts who throw them! You can find ideas for holiday parties any time of the year! No matter if you are looking for big ideas for Christmas or Chanukah, Guy Fawkes Night or Sadie Hawkins Day, you are assured some great party ideas for any holiday throughout the year! And as you become the party expert, you can share your ideas too!

I watched part of a show on PBS this afternoon called Hunting the Hidden Dimension. It was very interesting to me. It is about the discovery and use of fractal geometry. I first heard of fractals about four years ago. I can’t remember exactly how I came upon it, but I remember trying to introduce my son to it. (He was in sixth grade and didn’t seem to really get “into” it, though mildly interested.) After watching today’s program, I can’t wait til he gets home so I can ask him if they have or will talk about this in his Geometry and/or engineering design classes.

Fractal Geometry was not really “discovered” until the late 1800’s and not really pursued until about the 1970’s. It is all about self similarity in designs. I guess what I find so intriguing about it all is the way that fractals are expressed in nature. You can see fractals in everything from broccoli and trees and clouds and cacti to coastlines and whole rain forests and the human systems (respiratory, neural, renal and circulatory)! The replication of a tree and its branches can even give a micro-view of the design of the whole forest in which it resides! In the program, of course, the scientists say that natural selection and evolution have hit upon a design that works. I just cannot believe that. To me, the intricate patterning and design that consistently works so efficiently points me to a Creator. I also wonder how tessalations (which I think are pretty much the same thing) and the Fibonacci Curl fit in with fractal geometry. I hope this is going to be taught in the schools at some level. This branch of geometry has already been used for things like measuring coastlines and making mirco-antennas for cell phones!

My son was thrilled to find out that Halloween was on a Friday night this year. I was not really sure why. After all, he is nearly sixteen years old! He said it would be so much fun going around the neighborhood with his friends and they could stay out later. I said “Aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating?” He said “No way, you are never too old!”

This gets me to thinking. I think he is too old. But he thinks it’s all in good fun and if people are offended or don’t want to give the teens candy, they don’t have to; they (the teens) aren’t doing anything wrong by trick or treating. Still, I wonder.

And then I see ads for Teen Halloween Costumes and I know that at the
Halloween Costume Stores there are costumes for all sizes, from newborns to adults. And I know plenty of adults that love to have fun and celebrate on Halloween. I don’t have anything against a good pirate costume or a gladiator costume, or a beautiful medieval costume. And I know we are never really too old for candy. I guess what I feel is, are the teenagers too old to dress up and go to neighbors’ houses asking for candy? I know some in our neighborhood will oblige and others who may not. I guess that is ok. After all, these teens are just big kids and still love their candy! And they don’t take away from the littler kids. They either go with the younger kids and help out and take what the neighbors will give them, or they wait til later when most of the littler kids have gone in and then they go around toget whatever is left…

So I guess pretty soon we will be looking for a good costume suitable for a teenaged boy, possibly Captain Jack Sparrow or something simple like Indiana Jones. And if he knows exactly what he wants, it is just as easy to order it online. I guess part of the fun is finding a good costume. And hanging out in the neighborhood and eating candy from friends and neighbors is not such a big deal for teens to do on a Friday night. I can think of a lot worse things they could be doing!

A few posts back you see where I talked about my daughter reading Tuck Everlasting. One of her assignments was to post a review on Amazon.com. You can find her review of the book here . Although she did not really review the book outside of saying “good book” and filling in four stars, I do like how she summed up the story.

Shelly recently posted her “hit or miss” list for September. My list is nowhere as long, but I thought it would be fun to post my own hit or misses.

I’ve only seen a couple of movies this month, which is really more than I do most months! Both were hits for me. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, 1945 version. It differs from the book, but overall it was pretty good. My daughter liked how they explained the mystery better than it was done in the book.
We also saw Journey to the Center of the Earth. Although it was cheesy in several places, I was ok with it and thought it ended up being a good movie for our family to see together.

As for books, maybe the only one I finished this month was And Then There Were None. I enjoyed this book even though I knew how it was going to turn out (I read the teacher’s literature guide before reading the book.) That did somewhat spoil it for me, but not too much. There were even a couple of spots where I got a little confused, in spite of knowing “who done it”.

I always enjoy reading Reader’s Digest. I have not read everything in it yet, but that is part of what I like about it. I can enjoy pieces and chunks without having to finish it. I also finished reading the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Some friends of ours are Catholic and gave this to me to read through to try to understand some of what goes on in their worship services. We will likely try to attend Christmas Eve mass with them this year. This text was hard for me to get through and I only read small parts at any given time.

I am still reading The Singer Trilogy. It is not hard to read, just hard to find the time. I am enjoying it so far and want my son to read it when I am done.

So for the most part, my reading and viewing this month have been “hits”.

My son found a towel in his closet the other day. There is a date on this towel. He found it amusing that the date corresponds with this week’s date, Sept. 3. I showed him why the towel is dated. We had painted his feet and he had walked all over the towel leaving his foot prints. (This corresponded to a shower curtain we had that was a “paint splattered” design.) He compared his foot now, fourteen years later, to the foot prints he made as a little guy.

My son and I have been chosen to be “extras” in a commercial tomorrow! Now this is not just any old commercial. This is an Adidas commercial! And we will get paid to go watch some of the Houston Rockets! The pay is very small, but it’s only a few hours and my son is so excited!! It will be fun!

We were able to do something similar a few years ago. My son, daughter and I all went up to be extras in a gas station commercial. It was at Minute Maid Park and it was the entire day! We had to be there at 5:30 am and left about twelve hours later! But with free parking, free food and snacks and getting paid and the fun we had, it was worth it. I must say that I am glad this shoot starts at noon and only lasts three hours!

I found an activity that I want to do! I came across this description of a new kind of race, Urban Adventure. There is one coming to Houston next month and I’d really like to attend. I found this description of the Urban Adventure and it really appeals to me and my family:

“Description-Adventurers receive a series of clues to solve which will lead them to various locations around their city. They have to get to each location and once there, may have to solve a further challenge.
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Course Info-Challenges may be simple problems like solving anagrams or crosswords, or may be something completely different. The common theme is that they are designed to maximize the fun of the event. Once they have solved the clues and completed the challenges, adventurers have to get to the finish line to claim their prize.”

So far I have not been able to access the website or the sign up sheet. I did send an email in hopes that I can get more information and sign us up!!

I have been so disgusted by all the candidates running for president this year. I have been really scared by the outlook of the prospects. Why, I think maybe my dog Sheba could do just as good a job as some of those out there on the ticket! Of course, I say this facetiously, but I guess someone must have overheard and taken it a bit too far!

Sunday night after church, I walked out to my car and noticed something up against the windshield. I looked at it, saw what it was, and was unsure who put it there and why. It was a record of a group from the college I went to, only several years before I attended there. I brought it home to my husband, thinking someone had told him to listen to it. Knowing there are a few folks who went to the same school, he narrowed down who had given this to us.

As I was showing it to him, my son looked at it and said, “Oooohhh, I know what this is. It’s a record! I’ve never seen one before! It’s so BIG!”

My husband and I looked at each other and did have to laugh. My son asked his sister if she knew what it was. She said “yeah, a record disc.”

My son is anxious to listen to it. I think we may have my sister’s stereo in the attic, and it has a record player on it. The kids can’t get over the size of the record and how now days that much info can be stored in a space almost the size of the hole in the middle of the record!