chickintheham

Merry Christmas to All! 

So, I have the best parents ever. I called their house and both of 'em showed up at my house after church last night WITH dinner. It's a good thing I didn't decide to practice denial too because take a look at what I found behind the fridge.







There was Popsicle goo and coupons everywhere. The coupons would have survived my denial. I don't know that the goo would have. So, it was good that I had help to pull out my refrigerator and clean it all up. Refrigerators aren't as hard to move as I had thought they would be. Still, I'm not sure I could have gotten it out of the way with out the love, support, and brute strength of my dad.



My precious Jessica Louise wanted to help as well. Here she is sticking her little nose between my closet and refrigerator trying to look behind and see what's going on.



She hadn't figured out that it was completely open on the other side yet. I had to put her in her room before that realization dawned on her. You know, you don't want to have your sweet little cat tracking Popsicle goo everywhere... no matter what her sweet little heart's desire was. To quote the late great Mark Heard, "It takes more than a good intention to make a thing go right." Wait! that's not exactly what he said. Dagnabit. It's not even close. Fraggle Rock! I really wanted to quote him and I really like his song "Winds of Time." How fantastic would it have been if I could have worked a Mark Heard song into a post about Popsicle goo and a cat? Too bad.


So tonight the whirl wind begins. I'm going to see Ten out of Tenn. I'm fired up about it. Then tomorrow, I'm ushering for the play "The Little Dog Laughed," Then Saturday is graduation (which I am required to attend) and my Sunday School Christmas Party, Sunday is church and I'm going to see Second City... This sort of stuff pretty much continues for a while. My next night off... is Dec 22. Woo! Can I do it? I don't know. I'm not as young as I once was. I am mostly looking forward to the Behold the Lamb concert this coming Monday. That concert always gets my mood right. It's sort of when the holidays move from being about gifts and spending money to Jesus! The reason for the season - you know. I hope not to break down in tears this time. But, it's not looking good. I've been listening to the album all day today in preparation... and as an act of prevention. Only time will tell if it works. I wish I could take you all with me to see it. Cause you know, I like everyone to like what I like. Hopefully, this year I won't get into a fight. That was so horrible last year.

I just got this article through a library listserv I'm on. I just thought it was sort of interesting. Apparently there is a limit to the number of words children should know. I'm not really offended or anything... well, not because of my Christian beliefs... I'm a little offended at the limitation to knowledge though. Maybe the publisher can't afford to define too many words for children. Words can be expensive you know. Didn't Dickens get paid per word? Is that true? That's what I've heard. Maybe it was Melville.... hmmm, don't know. Maybe I'll research that tomorrow... Today I simply don't care enough. Plus, I've got mounds of church records to sort through. Seriously, if your church or organization doesn't know how to use a calendar or the alphabet, let me know. I am freely available for consultation on such things. I think we Baptists are the worst though. We're to independent and don't like to be told what to do. I've seen other denominational records... they seem to be able to use calendars and the alphabet. Good for them.

Oh well... I guess everything is definable in google or dictonary.com or websters. Is there a children's version of the OED? ugh! Do children even use books for research?

Words Associated with Christianity and British History Taken out of Children's Dictionary
by Julie Henry, Education Correspondent
Telegraph.uk.com, 8 Dec 2008

Words associated with Christianity, the monarchy and British history have been dropped from a leading dictionary for children.


Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity". Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled.

The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society.

But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage.

"We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To say it is all relative and replaceable is questionable," said Professor Alan Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment at Buckingham University. "The word selections are a very interesting reflection of the way childhood is going, moving away from our spiritual background and the natural world and towards the world that information technology creates for us."

An analysis of the word choices made by the dictionary lexicographers has revealed that entries from "abbey" to "willow" have been axed. Instead, words such as "MP3 player", "voicemail" and "attachment" have taken their place.

Lisa Saunders, a worried mother who has painstakingly compared entries from the junior dictionaries, aimed at children aged seven or over, dating from 1978, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007, said she was "horrified" by the vast number of words that have been removed, most since 2003.

"The Christian faith still has a strong following," she said. "To eradicate so many words associated with the Christianity will have a big effect on the numerous primary schools who use it."

Ms Saunders realised words were being removed when she was helping her son with his homework and discovered that "moss" and "fern", which were in editions up until 2003, were no longer listed.

"I decide to take a closer look and compare the new version to the other editions," said the mother of four from Co Down, Northern Ireland. "I was completely horrified by the vast number of words which have been removed. We know that language moves on and we can't be fuddy-duddy about it but you don't cull hundreds of important words in order to get in a different set of ICT words."

Anthony Seldon, the master of Wellington College, a leading private school in Berkshire, said: "I am stunned that words like "saint", "buttercup", "heather" and "sycamore" have all gone and I grieve it.

"I think as well as being descriptive, the Oxford Junior Dictionary, has to be prescriptive too, suggesting not just words that are used but words that should be used. It has a duty to keep these words within usage, not merely pander to an audience. We are looking at the loss of words of great beauty. I would rather have "marzipan" and "mistletoe" then "MP3 player."

Oxford University Press, which produces the junior edition, selects words with the aid of the Children's Corpus, a list of about 50 million words made up of general language, words from children's books and terms related to the school curriculum. Lexicographers consider word frequency when making additions and deletions.

Vineeta Gupta, the head of children's dictionaries at Oxford University Press, said: "We are limited by how big the dictionary can be – little hands must be able to handle it – but we produce 17 children's dictionaries with different selections and numbers of words.

"When you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots of examples of flowers for instance. That was because many children lived in semi-rural environments and saw the seasons. Nowadays, the environment has changed. We are also much more multicultural. People don't go to Church as often as before. Our understanding of religion is within multiculturalism, which is why some words such as "Pentecost" or "Whitsun" would have been in 20 years ago but not now."

She said children's dictionaries were trialed in schools and advice taken from teachers. Many words are added to reflect the age-related school curriculum.

Words taken out:

Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe

Dwarf, elf, goblin

Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar

Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade

adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.

Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow

Words put in:

Blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail, attachment, database, export, chatroom, bullet point, cut and paste, analogue

Celebrity, tolerant, vandalism, negotiate, interdependent, creep, citizenship, childhood, conflict, common sense, debate, EU, drought, brainy, boisterous, cautionary tale, bilingual, bungee jumping, committee, compulsory, cope, democratic, allergic, biodegradable, emotion, dyslexic, donate, endangered, Euro

Apparatus, food chain, incisor, square number, trapezium, alliteration, colloquial, idiom, curriculum, classify, chronological, block graph

I often leave work in the dark. You don't have to leave work very late to be in the dark these days... still I miss the light... especially since I work in a converted interior closet of the lower level of the library. I miss the sun. And you know, It gets dark at night.... here. :) HEHE (That's for Sweetie)

Anyway, when I leave and start my climb up the hill to my car. The light over the concrete stairs in the parking lot always shuts off just as I approach. It's giving me a complex. I've seen other people use the stairs AND the light. Why does it shut off for me? I'm beginning to take it personally. Am I a vampire and only the light knows it? This is what I'm beginning to wonder. I don't think I'm a vampire. And besides even if I was, why would the light shut off? But, I'm not a vampire so it doesn't matter.

A couple of days ago I had email woes and cell phone woes... maybe I'm becoming magnetic and all machinery/ computery stuff shuts down when I'm around. That'd be sad.

Hey, a Ragamuffin Friend just started this Internet shop thing called the LolliShops. It's quite cool. Check it out. It seems like stuff MzLibrarian and Purple would find interesting... or so I would think. I just think it's cool so I thought I'd share. It sort of reminds me a little of the local Naked Art store. Fun, Fun.

Have a good weekend.

Labels: Auburn

So, I have rediscovered the beauty of a Snickerdoodle. I used to make those things all the time and then I snickerdoodled myself out. I got tired of them and I just didn't care for their taste anymore. So, I stopped making them. That is until last Friday. I decided to make some for an Iron Bowl party I was going to. They turned out okay but I still wasn't overly impressed by them. I used to be known for making yummy snickerdoodles. People would ask me to make them for parties so I thought maybe they were still good but I was still tired of 'em. BUT, then I decided to make some more for my student workers. I didn't use as much flour in that second batch and oh my goodness.... The magic of the snicker doodle is back! The batch I made for the kids are the yummiest things ever. Clearly, I have messed up on prior batches of the cookies. Recent batches have had extra flour in them. I thought that helped roll the dough. And, perhaps it did. But, oh wow, the difference that extra flour made in the taste. It's no good. Now, all I want to do is make snickerdoodles and eat them. 24 hours a day is not to much time to dedicate to a snickerdoodle is it? I feel as though I need to apologize to anyone who had a snicker doodle during my prior unfortunate period of snickerdoodle making. I'm so sorry. I've learned my lesson. I will never add to much flour again.

So, do you have a snickerdoodle recipe? Here's mine. It came out of a Betty Crocker Kids cookbook. These things are like a little bits of heaven. Yummy

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1) In large mixing bowl cream the 3/4 cup sugar and the butter. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
2) In small bowl stir together flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Stir into butter mixture till well mixed. (Note - I used Self Rising Flour and skip the BS, Salt and CofT)
3) In the same small bowl combine the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon.
4) Turn oven to 375. Grease cookie sheets.
5) Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll each in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Put balls 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Put pan into oven. Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
6) Turn off oven

Makes about 36.