Last weekend I went to visit my sister who lives in Wisconsin. It had been nearly seven years since I saw her, so I was really happy to go. Since I think she would like this, this entry is dedicated to her. ^v^
Once upon a time in a remote mountain village in Japan there lived an honest old man and his wife. The old man was out plowing his field one day when a little white puppy came fleeing toward him, crying. The puppy had been mistreated by the greedy old man who lived in the next field over. "Oh, you poor thing." exclaimed the old man, and taking him in, gave the puppy the name "Shiro." ("Shiro" in Japanese means white)
The old man and his wife loved Shiro very much. Shiro, in turn, became devoted to the old couple, and helped the old man with his work in the field every day. Shiro ate and ate, and quickly grew into a big dog.
One day, Shiro led the old man up a nearby mountain. When they reached the top, Shiro barked, "Arf Arf - Dig here! Arf Arf - Dig here!" As the old man began to dig, to his amazement, sparkling gold coins started pouring up from the ground.
"Let me borrow Shiro!" The greedy old man heard about this and, grabbing Shiro, forced him to take he and his wife to the mountain. "Where's the gold?" the old man demanded. Frightened, Shiro began to whimper. "Ah, so it's here," said the old man, and he began to dig. But instead of gold coins, garbage began pouring up from the ground. "How dare you!" exclaimed the old man. Furious, they killed Shiro.
When the honest old couple found out about this, they were overcome with grief. They decided to dig a grave for Shiro. Upon burying Shiro, a sapling sprouted from the ground above his grave. By the next day, it had grown into a towering tree.
"Shiro liked steamed rice cakes," recalled the old man. "Let's make some to take to his grave." He chopped down the tree that had sprung from Shiro's grave and made a mortar. Then he and his wife began to prepare the rice cakes. As the old man pounded the rice into the mortar, it began to turn into gold coins.
Upon seeing this, the greedy old couple rushed over. "Give us that mortar." Stealing the mortar, they returned to their house and began to make rice cakes. When they pounded rice, however, it turned into black mud right before their eyes. "What on earth?" cried the old man. Furious, he took an axe and chopped the mortar to pieces. Then he tossed the pieces of wood into the stove and burned them. The honest old man was disheartened. He gathered up the ashes from the mortar, put them in a box, and carried the box carefully back to his house.
"Let's sprinkle these ashes over the field and grow the radish that Shiro loved so much." When the old man sprinkled the ashes, a wind swirled up and blew the ashes into a dead tree. Amazingly, the dead tree began to bloom beautiful cherry blossoms. He then went and happily sprinkled ashes onto one dead tree after another, each which thereafter bloomed brilliant cherry flowers. News of the old man's miracle reached the town and before long, even the ears of the king, who promptly sent for the old man.
The old man was brought to the king, carrying his box of ashes. "Now I'll make the flowers bloom." He sprinkled the ashes onto the nearby trees, and immediately, beautiful white cherry flowers appeared.
"Splendid!" exclaimed the king, who was very pleased. "Well done. You are the greatest flower bloomer in all of Japan. You will be rewarded."
At that moment, the greedy old man came running, carrying the leftover ashes which he had gathered from the stove. "Wait! I'm the greatest flower bloomer in Japan." With that, he began to sprinkle his ashes. Instead of landing on the flowers, however, the ash flew into the eyes and nose of the king, choking him. "You impudent!" the king stormed, and promptly threw the greedy old man into prison.
These kinds of quizzes are ridiculous, but they can be fun sometimes. Plus, I liked how they said that Nic and I's condiment personalities were compatible. It totally fits that Nic is barbeque sauce (he loves it and most other condiments along with it), but I don't know why I have to be mustard. I don’t even like mustard 99% of the time (just on certain sandwiches and with vegetarian corndogs). Actually, I don't like barbeque sauce or most other condiments either...
Let me know if any of you take this quiz and get salsa, because then apparently Nic and I are supposed to really dislike you! Hahahaha! Ironically, salsa is probably my favorite condiment!
Tori: You Are Mustard
Your personality is strong and distinctive. You are beyond quirky.
You can stand alone in the world well. You are a strong individual.
You sometimes work well with others, as long as there aren't any other strong personalities involved.
Your taste in food tends to be simple yet high quality.
You can really get into a perfectly prepared sandwich or simple fresh salad.
You get along best with ketchup and barbeque sauce personalities. Get you with a salsa personality, and things might become downright nasty!
You are a social person. You enjoy cooking for other people.
You are both skillful and competitive. You enjoy mastering hard tasks.
You appreciate complexity more than simplicity.
Your taste in food tends to lean toward interesting flavors.
You appreciate exotic spice combinations. You tend to like cutting edge, fusion cuisine.
You get along with all personalities from a distance. Except salsa personalities, who always seem to annoy you.
I have read hundreds of dollars worth of books over the last month thanks the library! This is wonderful since I don't have any spare money to actually spend on books. I am so happy with what I've been reading too. I order all my favorites from the library network so that even when my library doesn't have the book (often the case) I still get it! I know there is lots to read on the internet, but I like to escape the cords and the bright screens and curl up with a good book (esp. outdoors). Ahhh... Bliss! I'm not gonna embarrass myself further by providing you with my reading list! For those of you who don't know, I am studying to be a librarian. I've loved libraries since I was a toddler! I want to work at either a public library or a school library. I might teach classes on the side as well...
Loving libraries is another trait I picked up from my mother (along with a love of bay windows, fireplaces, potbelly stoves, and Clydesdales). The picture below is of my mother and I when I was little (5 or 6? Looks like it was taken at Kensington Park). We used to go the library together all the time. She would also take dictation for me (when I was too young to write for myself) as I came up with an endless amount of wacky stories along the lines of Alice in Wonderland (one of my favorite stories). We read together until I was almost in my teens. I love my mommy. We didn't get along for a while when I was a teenager. I regret that. Now, I can see that I was just being selfish and not understanding. I don't see her very much now because she lives far away, but I try to make it up to her and call her all the time. I sent her flowers for Mother's day this year. I had chosen an all white bouquet in a blue vase with roses and other white flowers: all the colors and elegance that come to mind when I think of her. I wanted to make her feel really special, like a queen! She really liked them too. That made me happy. I want to go camping with her and my husband (Gomez too!!!) this Summer. I know she'd really love that too. The high cost of gas might make that impossible though...
Yay for moms!
Message for Moms: Even if your daughter doesn't say it enough, she loves you a lot!
Ahh! I am finally taking time to relax and recuperate some brain cells. Finals are over and I am taking the summer OFF for the first time in years! ^v^ My husband and I picked up a grill and a swinging bench for the lawn. We've been enjoying the outdoors with Gomez. We planted lilac bushes and are going to start growing some veggis. Nic did some landscaping work using the rocks he dug up a few years ago and it actually looks pretty great. We've also been playing bongo ball which is something like tennis, but with really loud plastic rackets. I'm really bad at it, but oddly enough, I love to play anyway and I am totally addicted! Gomez doesn't like the loud noises though and hangs out on the swinging bench a good distance away while we play. We made up for it by doubling the length of his tie out to thirty feet. His favorite pastime is chasing a tennis ball... Well, after eating. We got him some healthy sweet potato chews too. To make up for taking time off of school, I've been selling stuff on eBay and keeping up in my studies in Japanese. It's easy to study when you can play videogames from Japan and call it studying. ^v^ Of course, I have to play with a big heavy kanji dictionary next to me which slows down the fun a bit, but not so much. Life is good! I can't get away with living like this for long, I better enjoy it! I feel really blessed!
My husband holding Gomez our 11 week old merle chihuahua!
From potty training to general obedience, I have been running around in circles taking care of Gomez- with lots of help from my husband. His size changes a lot of things. While potty training, messes are extremely difficult to detect unless he is caught in the act. Constant supervision is needed. I can't let him sleep in bed, because he might get rolled over on or fall off and break his little wrists. When I train him, I usually put him up on the bed and stand so that I can reach him more easily. The "down" command is hard, this is a dog that spends much of his time standing on his hind legs and hopping up and down to be nearer to us. However, his size is a great plus in many ways. He goes almost EVERYWHERE with me. I take him to Meijers (a grocery/general merchandise store similar to Wal-Mart for those of you who've never heard of it) in a special doggy purse. Not very many people notice him in there. He is nice and quiet and sleeps a lot at this age, so generally he is on my lap or on my shoulder. When he isn't sleeping it is energy abound as he plays with toys (his favorites are bigger than he is) and runs around at a rabbits pace. I am in puppy love. Since we got him just a few short weeks ago his ears have begun to stand up and he visibly growing all over. ^v^
I filed my application to graduate from my community college today after work. I'll be graduating in June! It is only for my two year degree, and I have two degrees and three certificates left to go after that in order to reach my goal, but I am really excited anyway! When I met my husband I put school on hold for years, but now I've come so far. Coming back to school two years ago, I was happier with a better attitude and more self-confidence and now I am going to receive my two year degree with a 4.0. I am well-known on campus; I work there and love my job; I am member of an honors society; and I'm even getting recommended for additional honors in the language department. I am so happy I could burst. All this coming from someone who barely graduated from high school on time (with low grades to boot)! Let this be an example that anyone can follow their dreams. I don’t have much money for the university I am transferring to this fall, but I have faith it will all work out. Time to apply for scholarships overtime! No regrets!
Hi Tory..I'm calling in to invite you to celebrate O.W.C. Member of the week, our first of many to come, be great if you dropped in if you have the time. ta. Henry.
WIDGETIZE