Our house is cold tonight. Almost too cold to be sitting in the office doing this. We don’t have central heat, so each room away from the living room heater is progressively colder. (The bathroom has it’s own heater, so maybe I should just move the computer in there. LOL) Our bedroom is the farthest away. That’s why we have an electric blanket!
However, I can’t possibly complain tonight about our dry landscape and 25 degrees when my daughter in Vermont is suffering through a “state of emergency”. They have so much snow they can’t get out of their house and it is only 4 degrees. My year of living in Iowa was enough to give me at least a little understanding of how frustrating that can be. Days on end of snow and cold can fray the nerves. My prayers go out for all those in the stricken areas.
It was no ordinary day at school today! More like a chocolate festival! We had our Valentine’s Day parties and the children were so cute and excited. They read all their little valentines and o-o-h-ed and a-h-h-ed. I still have some of my valentines from the fifth grade. I was really sweet on the local grocer’s son and he walked me home from school and carried my books. The most notable thing about those valentines is that they are just cards with hearts and sentiments. ‘Course these days the whole holiday is so commercial and programmed like everything else. My students brought Bratz, Spiderman, Sponge Bob, and Disney cards for their little friends. Every where they look there is advertising!!!
I’ll leave you with this entry from my little 1964 journal and then I’ll go back to the fire. I guess even as a teenager I was voicing my opinion about anything and everything. This is my essay about commercials, written at the tender age of fourteen:
“October 7-Today’s Commercials
Ever see a giant in your washer or a white knight riding down the street? Ten foot washers, laughing beer bottles and pain sufferers are all part of our life today. The ones that make me sick are the ones that are obviously phony. These act as if the only listeners were children. They get our attention all right, but they seem ridiculous. I wonder what we’ll have on television in the future: probably moon men telling us how clean they can get their space cars with “Whiz Wax”.”
If I had had even an inkling about the reality of today’s commercials I would have been appalled indeed! I still remember calling out to Mom when the first live model appeared wearing- oh my goodness- a bra! Thankfully we now have the “mute” button. We use that a LOT at our house.
Stay warm.
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