"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom" Albert Einstein

"A dame who knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up." Mae West

Monday, December 31, 2007

I have resolved to reduce.

I have become bulimic. I've been purging the past few days and hope to continue it throughout 2008.

I started with the easy stuff. You may have noticed that this week I deleted 155 posts, which represented everything I had written since July when I started this blog. Since I am not nostalgic in a wishful, yearning sort of way, I wiped away the slate of old thoughts and I'm on to the new. Let''s face it - who is really going to go back and read all those posts anyway?

I've also gone through a couple photo albums, giving some pictures to relatives and tossing out pics of childhood neighbors I haven't seen in 50 years and can barely remember their names. Also tossed are those family Christmas pictures which people that I barely knew sent me with their cards. For years I felt so guilty about throwing out any one's picture that my collection of stranger families had out-grown a drawer. So now they are in the trash along with the wilted lettuce. I did feel guilty for a while, but after I purged - well, you know how much better you feel after a good hurl.

I live in a very large old home. It's probably going to take me all year to get rid of the excess. By this time next year, hopefully the purging will be done and I may then rid myself of the house itself. I need no other resolutions this year. I'll be too busy slimming down.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Back in the saddle


This is my favorite sticky note pad. It says a great deal about how I've lived the past few days.

Drama belongs in a theater. Outside of that, I hate it, especially when it comes from misunderstandings among very good people who don't immediately address issues when they first become problematic. Common sense and effective communication can go a long way in those situations. That is where I am today and hopefully things are back to normal.
So now you are asking why it is I have this split and swollen lip and sore tooth that is forcing me to eat small bites and preventing me from smiling. It was not a result of the past few days' tension. No, I was not beaten silly by a gang of gray haired women in Christmas sweaters. I ended an exhausting week by briskly walking in the dark into the edge of an open door I thought was closed. It either knocked me silly or knocked some sense into me. We shall see how it turns out by 2008.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Happy New Year.

Catch Her in the Wry is making some changes in the next few weeks and will be out of commission until things are resolved. I'll be reading, but not writing. See you later.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Smart or Gifted Children

There was a discussion on another blog regarding gifted and smart children. I can state with authority from personal experience that gifted children are smart, but smart children are not necessarily gifted. Here are just some of the differences:

1. A smart toddler can be taught amazing feats, like reading, memorizing presidents or state capitals, with flash cards or by rote. A gifted child will do amazing feats and you won't have a clue how they learned it.

2. A smart kid in a regular classroom will get good grades. A gifted kid in a regular classroom may or may not get good grades. A gifted child will often be extremely bored and will either completely withdraw into his own little world or become the class troublemaker.

3, A smart kid can quickly solve math problems. A gifted kid can quickly solve math problems, skipping several, if not all, steps to solve them, and if asked to explain how he arrived at the answers, will be exasperated at having to explain it in detail.

4. A smart kid who is a social type, will have many friends his own age. A gifted kid who is a social type will have friends who are generally several years older and/or even adult friends.

5. A smart kid will ask you many questions. A gifted kid will engage you in lengthy discussions after you have answered his many questions.

6. A smart kindergartner will see the tv news and know a war is being waged in the world. A gifted kindergartner will see the tv news and empathetically perceive the consequences of a war.

7. A smart teenager will argue with you. A gifted teenager will argue with you by pointing out where you're wrong in your conclusions and will offer a logical, well-reasoned rebuttal.

Children can be taught to be smarter, but they cannot be taught to be gifted. Gifted children are special needs children and, although they have enormous and amazing potential, they are as much out of place in a regular school classroom as are special education children, with their own set of unique learning anomalies.