Author Archives: Mrs Marvel

Book Review: Wind Through the Keyhole

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I recently finished Wind Through the Keyhole, by Stephen King. This book is a recent addition to the Dark Tower series, in between Wizard in Glass and Wolves of the Calla. (If that means anything to you) Wizard was published in ’97 and Wolves in ’03, but Wind Through the Keyhole was published in ’12. King says in his forward that it is sort of like book 4.5. Sometimes a writer discovers that a story really isn’t finished after all, and it appears that is the case here.

If you haven’t read any of the Dark Tower series, just ignore this book and begin with The Gunslinger. The Dark Tower books are set in a futuristic/western/fantasy world that in some places overlaps our time line and in others deviates into bizarre machines that control the world. 

Wind Through the Keyhole is a story within a story within a story. Roland and his gang settle in to shelter from a stark blast – a terrible tornado/hurricane/arctic storm that will freeze everything in its path – and this reminds Roland of a story from his youth as a fledgling gunslinger (law man), and in that story he told the story of young Tim and his adventures seeking truth and also weathering a stark blast. In typical King fashion, this story reaches out and holds you from beginning to end, twisting and turning along a winding path that is all together fascinating and at the same time never losing its way. The writers talent is well known and his praises rightly sung. It isn’t necessary to read this book in order with the others, but it does help develop Roland’s character a tiny bit. He is alternately cold hearted and sentimental, a clash of his history with his conscience, and truly the much beloved anti-hero hero of the Dark Tower series.

And you thought you had it bad

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I found this reprint in a book from 1975. Purportedly, this item was found in a demolished building in England. At the time, office workers were male and often times young men and boys filled some positions. With rules like these, the demands of modern business seem trivial. If you have ever felt like “the man” is holding you down, just be glad you aren’t in mid 19th century England!

Office Rules & Regulations – 1852 – Business name unknown

1. Godliness, Cleanliness and Punctuality are necessities of a good business.

2. This firm has reduced the hours of work, and the Clerical Staff will now only have to be present between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on week-days.

3. Daily prayers will be held each morning in the Main Office. The Clerical Staff will be present.

4. Clothing must be of a sober nature. The Clerical Staff will not disport themselves in raiment of bright colours, nor will they wear hose unless in good repair.

5. Overshoes and top-coats may not be worn in the office, but neck scarves and headwear may be worn in inclement weather.

6. A stove is provided for the benefit of the Clerical Staff. Coal and wood must be kept in the locker. It is recommended that each member of the Clerical Staff bring 4 pounds of coal each day, during cold weather.

7. No member of the Clerical Staff may leave the room without permission from Mr. Rogers. The calls of nature are permitted, and Clerical Staff may use the garden below the second gate. This area must be kept in good order.

8. No talking is allowed during business hours.

9. The craving of tobacco, wines and spirits is a human weakness and, as such, is forbidden to all members of the Clerical Staff.

10. Now that the hours of business have been drastically reduced the partaking of food is allowed between 11:30 a.m. and noon, but work will not, on any account, cease.

11. Members of the Clerical Staff will provide their own pens. A new sharpener is available, on application, to Mr. Rogers.

12. Mr. Rogers will nominate a senior Clerk to be responsible for the cleanliness of the Main Office and the Private Office, and all Boys and Juniors will report to him 40 minutes before Prayers and will remain after closing hours for similar work. Brushes, Brooms, Scrubbers and Soap are provided by the owners.

13. The New Increased Weekly Wages are as hereunder detailed:

Junior Boys (to 11 years) 1s. 4d.

Boys (to 14 years) 2s. 1d.

Junior Clerks 8s. 7d.

Senior Clerks (after 15 years with the owners) 21s. 0d.

The owners recognize the generosity of the new Labour Laws but expect a great rise in output of work to compensate for these near Utopian conditions.

Gas station rip off

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As I was pumping gas this morning I happened to look around at the big advertisement out by the street listing the various prices for gas at the station I was using. $4.05, $4.15 and $4.25. (Yes, that in itself is a rip off.) But then I happened to glance at the gas pump itself. I was being charged $4.25 for my gas, even though I had selected the middle grade, which should have been $4.15.

When I went inside, expecting it to be a simple error, the clerk told me they charge more if you use a credit card. In teeny tiny writing on the sign there is a separate listing for credit card prices! He then rather rudely told me that every gas station is doing it, and turned away, which says to me that he knows it’s a rip off and didn’t want to face a paying customer any longer than he had to.

I suppose I had heard that some stations were offering a discount for cash prices, but this particular station advertised their cash prices prominently without really clarifying there was a different price for credit. Plus, the penalty for using a credit card is 10 cents per gallon! While some people might say that $1.30 isn’t much money, if you fill up once a week like me, that’s an additional $67.60 per year – another full tank of gas that I’m not getting. Taking that a step further, how many customers are paying the 10 cent penalty per day, per week, per month, per year….you see where I’m going with this. It’s just another way for this gas station to try to make a buck in a smarmy way.

They don’t need to worry about me though. I won’t be going there again, even if every other gas station is doing it. 

Medal of Freedom, the other winners

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So yesterday the news was all abuzz with the word that President Obama presented Bob Dylan with a Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in America. Every station covered how Obama was influenced by Dylan’s lyrics and musical stylings. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t really care for ‘ol Bob, so should not be surprised that I wanted to know who the other twelve recipients of America’s highest civilian honor were.

Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State and our first woman in that position

John Paul Stevens, a former Supreme Court justice

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth and Senator from Ohio – kinda more important than Dylan in my book, why hasn’t he received this honor already???

Toni Morrison, one of the most influential authors of the previous 25-30 years

Dolores Huerta, cofounder of the National Farmworkers Association

John Doar, civil rights attorney in the 1960s who helped make it possible for Obama to become PoTUS in the first place

William Foege, former director of the CDC who worked tirelessly to eradicate smallpox, you know that one, like chicken pox on steroids that would kill indiscriminately? Yeah, he should have gotten this award long, long ago

Gordon Hirabayashi, who fought against the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, are we seriously so lax in recognizing the importance of his efforts? 70 years? That’s just sad

Jan Karski, who survived the Holocaust and was among the first to share his experience in a concentration camp. Again, why such a long time to recognize the importance of his impact on the world?

Pat Summit, NCAA women’s basketball coach

Shimon Peres, President of Israel

And most importantly, a woman who has had profound and lasting impact not only on American girls but girls world wide:

Juliet Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts

But what the news covers is that Bob Dylan was given an award for his music. That to me is the most sad and pathetic aspect of this whole ceremony. First, we don’t recognize or award some of these people for their incredible courage and impact on the world for more than 50 years, when we do it’s posthumous, and then the news doesn’t even make a comment on how their contributions helped make America what it is today.

So as an American, I say thank you to Juliet Gordon Low, Jan Karski, Gordon Hirabayashi, William Foege, and John Doar, some of the less glamorous honorees, yet to me the most important, and I’m sorry we didn’t thank you with this award sooner.

Ridiculously interesting

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I was recently asked to do a guest blog post on a site I just love: The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things. I was delighted to do it because I love the site, and it turned out to be a mutual admiration arrangement because their site admin loves my blog Who Were They? So, the guest blog post is up and I hope you’ll take a second to read it, then browse around the Museum. It’s pretty awesome!

April showers bring…

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Once again I’m apologizing for not having had much to say in the previous month. I have a lot of great ideas to blog about…as I’m drifting off to sleep or driving home from work. Not really opportune moments to have a quick blogging moment!

We decided to thin down our stuff, getting rid of things we have have moved from one house to the next without ever really unpacking, things we do not need, don’t fit, are worn out, etc. It’s a good exercise and forces me to really consider the need/want motivation behind each item. My sewing room is the worst! It has become a catch-all for historical clothing, craft supplies, research books, and of course an unused crib. Don’t you keep one in your sewing/craft room? I have it listed on craigslist for sale but I doubt anyone is going to buy it. Honestly, it’s the third or fourth time I’ve listed it there with not one nibble. Last week we decided we were done with the ‘temporary’ dining set we bought of the former occupants of our house (in 2005!). I listed it for FREE on craigslist and the only response I got was someone wanting the chairs. Sigh…we wound up hauling the beast – it is very very heavy – out to our front lawn on Saturday morning. Not even 10 minutes into the project, the “free” sign not even hung up, someone was asking about it. Not 20 minutes later, the massive table, 8 chairs and two leaves were gone. We are very happy using our smaller table which gives us a lot more space in our kitchen!

So, if you know anyone who needs a really beautiful, gently used crib, I am selling one. Still. :-) 

The April resolution was to read to Melody 3 to 5 times a week. I think I might have hit 3 times a week. Although she loves chapter books, Melody hasn’t been very interested in the ones I tried on her. Alice in Wonderland was not a hit at all, which surprised me. I don’t remember how old I was when my mom read us the Narnia books, but it seems like they might be a little old for her. Anyway, we have been enjoying several books that Aunt Virginia gave to her last year – 365 Penguins, Bats at the Library and Beetle the Bard.

The March resoultion is still hanging in there. I walk 3-4 times a week most weeks. We had a lot of rain recently so that interrupted me, but for the most part I get in my walk whenever possible. I also still have been off fast food for two months, which is a huge accomplishment! The thought of it now is pretty gross and I hope that’s a mindset that stays with me forever. I might have fnally broken this addiction, fingers crossed!

May’s resolution is no TV 5 nights per week. That is really pretty stupid, lol. How about no TV 3 nights a week and if I make it to 5 that’s a bonus?

March resolution recap and…

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I’m pretty late with my March resolution recap. Honestly, I haven’t even turned the calendar from March to April. Does that tell you anything? I really don’t want this year to fly by like last year did, but I guess there isn’t anything that can be done about it.

The resolution for March was to walk,3-5 times per week for 20-60 minutes at a time. That would have totaled 12-20 walks in the month of March. Looking back, I see that I walked 13 times for 20-30 minutes. Usually I do this during my lunch break, so 30 minutes is really the maximum I can do. An evening walk with Melody involves the dog and working in the park somehow, which interrupts the walk. Consequently I tend to avoid the evening walk, even if I can make it a longer walk.

I feel good about that goal and have been continuing to walk during lunch breaks several times a week, upping my tempo as I become stronger. My biggest challenge is my foot, which is still sensitive to overwork. If I push too hard, the foot aches and swells. If I don’t push hard enough, it will never pass the next hurdle of healing.

April’s resolution is reading to Melody 3 times a week. She loves this! We recently read Peter and Wendy, chapter by chapter, and she loved it, so I’m looking forward to reading to her again. She is almost at the point that she can read, just not quite there yet. I’m excited for her to discover that whole world of imagination that was so exciting for me as a girl!

What, me worry?

Posted in Growing Up OC, Melody, Misc by

This is a post i wrote as a guest blogger when the OC Register had their Mom Blog up and running a couple years ago. The Mom Blog has moved on, so I thought I would share this with you here. The feelings are still the same!

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I’ve been a mom now for just over two years, and I was starting to feel a bit more confident in my abilities. Until last week that is, when my daughter slammed a door on her foot resulting in an injury that looked a lot more serious than it really was. But, I didn’t know it at that moment.

At that moment, all I wanted to do was hold her and cry with her and make her feel better and not let her know how scared for her I was. Then I got a grip on myself and told her everything was going to be just fine. I stayed strong through the ER visit and the follow up at the doctor’s office the next day, even though on the inside I was crying. I worried she would be traumatized by the whole experience.

Moms in the 21st century really have a lot of worries to consider. Not that I lay awake at night thinking about these things (yet), but I am concerned that one day due to my own ignorance, I will allow my daughter to go to school wearing gang insignia; the school will be shot up while she’s in class; or heaven forbid, she will carry some ibuprofen in her handbag. Will someone snatch her as she skips down the street to visit a friend? Will I be able to handle it if something really bad happens to her?

My parents worried, of course, but there’s a significant generation gap between the things I worry about and the things that kept my mother awake at night. I asked my Mom about her worries while we were growing up in Orange County during the 70s and 80s. She told me she worried about smoking, drinking, our friends leading us astray, teachers influencing us in a way that was not consistent with my parents’ values, a little about drugs, and a lot about education.

Yet, we were still allowed to walk to school, bike to our friends’ houses,  and be unsupervised all summer long. My grandparents had even less to worry about comparatively. My Gram worried about my mother crossing the major street that was the boundary of where she was allowed to go (and doled out a serious reprimand when it was discovered that she had), finances, education, religious upbringing, good food on the table, and taking care of their elders. A lot has changed in 70 short years.

But bridging the generation gaps are the little things that just don’t change. They are consistent from mother to mother, generation to generation. We count our babies’ fingers and toes the day they are born and see the future in their eyes. We beseech whatever higher power we believe in for their health and happiness. We hide our fears and tears as best we can in the effort to provide a stable home. We help them with their homework, and in making the tough decisions about which birthday party to attend and how to gently give their regrets to the friend whose party they won’t be attending. We take care of scraped elbows and knees and hearts, and with tears in our eyes we might send them off to college or the military to become the men and women we hoped for on the day we counted their fingers and toes for the first time. Parents, especially moms, will always worry, and my Mom assures me the worry doesn’t end when your children are 21 or 30 or 50, married or single, living right next door or across the globe.

Maybe in the future, I will jump up a little faster when my daughter is playing with a door, or I’ll find a better way to divert her tears as she cries after falling from her bike. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there, but I will feel confident in knowing I’m not the first mom to face that dilemma, and that moms throughout history have felt the same.

Goodbye, February resolution

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Well, I could have told you that the resolution I made for February was one of the stupidest resolutions I’ve ever made! You would think that breaking the fast food addiction would be mind over matter, but in reality, it was very difficult. It started with a pizza. Then I was caught out and so hungry, with the only option being fast food. I thought, well, I don’t have to get the worst thing on the menu or do this again. “It will be our dirty little secret, now won’t it…” Next thing you know, I had abandoned the resolution. I made it about two weeks.

The good news is that I have given up fast food again, because I want to. John and I both are on a very strict diet right now because we want to be healthy, so we have gone back to Jenny Craig. While I’m not a big fan of the food, it is better for us in the short term than the way we were eating, and we will definitely lose some weight! Before Melody was born, we both lost significant amounts of weight on JC so I know we can be successful again. The trick will be in keeping it off.

For the March resolution, I selected walking 20-30 minutes, 3-5 times a week. This will work pretty well because the weather is getting nicer all the time and I can walk during lunch breaks. I also count my walking while I grocery shop, because dammit I’m moving! Of course, I’m a week late in starting the resolution but this is one I will need to keep going for weight loss and general health.

Home made chicken nuggets, booya!

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Most kids like chicken nuggets, dinosaur shapes, stars, or the weird lopsided rectangles. Those little breaded bits of chicken are famous the world over for satisfying picky eaters and omnivores alike. What I don’t like about chicken nuggets is the whole made sometime last year and stored in the freezer aspect of them. Yes, we currently have a bag of them, but I can’t bring myself to prepare them for my girl any longer. Plus, I keep thinking of the preservatives and I wonder if the chicken in those things is really chicken or if it’s pressed “parts” of chicken. You remember the old saying “parts is parts” right? Shudders…

Tonight Melody and I made our own chicken nuggets. It is so easy, why didn’t I think of this before?! This recipe is from my mother but I don’t remember her making this for us as kids. It’s just a good one! At first, Melody wasn’t real interested in helping, but eventually she saw the fun in dipping her fingers in the flour, egg and breadcrumbs. The goo factor is great for kids, ha ha. When she ate dinner, she was inordinately proud of having made her own chicken nuggets! You could make a double recipe one weekend and have plenty to store in the freezer for the next several weeks.

Chicken Nuggets

1 – 1.25 lbs chicken, cut into 2″ squares or rectangles

Italian salad dressing or other marinade*

Flour

2-3 eggs

Panko or regular breadcrumbs

Pour about 1 cup or so of marinade into a large zipper bag. Add the chicken pieces, close the zipper and allow to rest 15 minutes. Take out three plates or shallow bowls. In one, put 3 or 4 tablespoons flour, in the next, beat the eggs together, in the third, put about 1 cup breadcrumbs. Make an assembly line. Once the chicken has fully marinaded, dip pieces in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Place them on a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Do this until all the nuggets are nicely breaded. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes. Once cooled, the nuggets can be frozen and reheated in the microwave for about 60-90 seconds.

*Here’s a Japanese style marinade 

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup white wine

3 T sugar

You can also add 1/2 teaspoon ginger if you like