Jellybeans: Tasty Treat or Satan's Bait?

As I battle my urge for jellybeans, my mind wanders to something I read in the newspaper a few weeks ago in the Sunday Comics. There is a section for kids called Beekman and Jax, or something like that, and they were answering some kid's question about the origin and composition of jellybeans. The answer indicated that jellybeans find their genesis in two confections. The inside goo is akin to Turkish Delight. The hard outer candy coating was first enjoyed by a king in France and used to cover almonds (now known as Jordan almonds).

Well, I first heard about Turkish Delight reading C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and I didn't know what it was. Edmund, that wacky British child, was wooed and won by the White Witch who offered him Turkish Delight in exchange for information that lead to the whereabouts of his siblings. Though he was not aware of it, intoxicated by the sweetness of the candy, he was betraying his family and it was the Witch's intention to kill them all. This betrayal was punishable by death. When the White Witch (I.e. Satan) called him on it, Aslan (I.e. Christ) steps in to offer himself as a substitionary atonement for Edmund's sin. Thus, Turkish Delight is Satan's Bait.

What about the hard outer shell? The king who so enjoyed his almonds with this coating was Louis the XIV, not known for being a great humanitarian.

I finallly chucked the open bag of sour jellybeans, but not until I had scarfed down a bunch more.

I think its time for me to go back to church.

I Heart Huckabees?

I thought this movie was hysterical -- its about 'existential detectives' trying to uncover the meaning behind some coincidental meetings (or are they coincidental? but thats the point). I thought the casting of Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin as the detectives was awesome. They are very Buddhist -- everything is interconnected. Of course they have a nemesis, in the form of a Frenchie, very nihilistic -- there is only pain and suffering. Like I said, funny stuff....

Whoa, pardon me, I think I'm having a sugar-crash. Kix cereal is not all that low in sugar -- having 2 bowls probably didn't help matters. When am I going to stop eating so much sugar? I've got the shakes now and its bad for my sensitive teeth.

Back to the movie -- the title has the heart symbol in it -- I could probably figure out how to use the symbol if I tried (but the shakes thing is making any kind of thought pretty difficult for me...I need protein, but those mixed nuts are too damn salty...). Hmmm, just passed my 2 1/2 year-old with her hand down her diaper, exploring her girl parts. There is no way my husband with his Catholic upbringing can handle this without scarring that kid for life. So much for his dreams of me going back to work and him hsing...

Okay, really, back to the movie title -- I have always read the heart symbol as 'love' not 'heart.' So, I would read the title as "I Love Huckabees" not "I Heart Huckabees..." though "I (Heart) Huckabees" is what NetFlix used. When I see "I (Heart) NY" I read "I love New York" not "I Heart N Y"

Gotta go and try to work off this sugar.... Though those sour Smuckers jelly beans sound yummy, they would probably be a bad idea...

Clever, Thrifty or Stealing?

You be the judge. I'm currently addicted to eBay and have been buying books from various sellers. Most books arrive in an envelope that is either padded or the book is wrapped in bubble wrap inside the envelope; one book was wrapped in cardboard. Today's book arrived in a nice, tear-proof envelope. I opened it and pulled out a bubble-wrapped book. Looking inside, I could see that the envelope was really and inside-out Priority Mail envelope. Clever, the seller took a free Priority Mail envelope, turned it inside-out and taped it up -- thats one way to cut down on overhead. They were also annoyed that they had to take PayPal and suffer the percentage cut that the company takes (I think sellers on eBay can refuse to accept PayPal. I think these sellers indicated they wanted a cashier's check, but PayPal was also listed as an option in this auction. I would note that the PayPal option seems to include the advertisement that the seller "prefers PayPal,"which really wasn't the case here). Basically, these sellers may have gotten a bit screwed on this -- or, from a different view, they didn't do due diligence in crafting the auction.

Were these sellers really, really cheap or poor? Maybe both, I don't know. Are they thieves? The Priority Envelopes are provided free of charge for using Priority Mail; they took an envelope provided to Priority Mail customers and used it for something else. Sure its de minimis, but maybe Enron's CFO felt that way. Just thrifty or lawless?

The Spring Equinox

by Ellen Jackson is a picture book I recently enjoyed reading to my 4 1/2 year old. She indulged me, I don't know that she liked it very much. This book portrays various spring festivals throughout time and the world. The author and illustrator also teamed up for books about the other seasons as well, though I haven't read those.

In our homeschooling journey, I have become interested in learning more about the Waldorf method (this book appear on various Waldof reading lists on Amazon). There are lot of Waldorf proponents who are Pagan and its interesting to learn more about that as I peruse various websites.

Touched by Saved

I recently watched the movie, Saved! It's a teen comedy about students in a fundamentalist Christian high school. I'm probably a spoiler, so if you don't want to know what happens in the movie, don't read this, though the movie is pretty predictable.

The story is about a high school senior, Mary, who is told by her boyfriend that he is gay. She is worried about his soul and wants to save him. After mulling over her options and talking to a friend, she has sex with him in an effort to turn him into a heterosexual. What is particularly interesting to me is that she interprets what her friend tells her, that Jesus would restore her spiritual virginity if she were raped, as a sign that Jesus wants her to have sex with her boyfriend. While this sounds very naïve, I thought it was possible that a 17 year-old might think this way (I've known girls who based their decision on what the Breakfast Club said about premarital sex). Of course, she gets pregnant. No one knows they had sex and she is the only one who knows she is pregnant. Her boyfriend's parents send him off to a rehab-type facility/school to turn him. The movie is about her senior year at school, hiding the pregnancy. While most of it is predictable and teen schlocky, I find myself mulling over the religious themes in the movie.

Mary parts ways with her best friend Hilary Fay (yeah, no obvious pointing at any television evangelist's wife...) when HF has a prayer meeting about the gay boyfriend. Mary's view is that Jesus is not going to answer these prayers because she already tried turning him in a way she felt certain was sanctioned by Jesus. Mary is left wondering how she could have gotten the message wrong and why God is letting her down (not only did she fail to turn the boyfriend and save his soul, she got preggers). A great scene is an argument later in the movie when HF throws a Bible at Mary. Mary turns around and says "this isn't a weapon, you idiot."

Predictably, the outsiders in the film figure out that Mary is secretly pregnant and befriend her.

A side issue is that Mary's widowed mother is carrying on with the pastor/principal who is married but separated from his wife. The wife wants a divorce but he won't do it because the Bible is against it. When everyone inevitably learns about the pregnancy, there is a discussion between Mary's mom and the pastor. The Pastor claims that Mary's pregnancy is God punishing them (Mary's mom and the pastor) for their involvement with each other. Mary's mother responds "that doesn't even make sense."

I guess the next part worth discussing is one of the last scenes of the movie. The denouement comes during the Prom. The gay boyfriend, Dean, shows up with his boyfriend. The pregnant Mary is there with her date. When Dean learns of Mary's pregnancy, he smiles and says "that's awesome," which I found so striking because he seems to be the only one who realizes what a wonderful thing having a baby is, regardless of the circumstances. The pastor/principal of the school tries to prevent Dean's entrance to the Prom saying that the Bible is very clear on homosexuality. There is some interesting dialogue.

Does this all seem disjointed? It probably does. I found the movie so interesting and moving because I found most of the characters to be genuinely seeking to do God's will and not being sure of how to go about it. They can't seem to correctly discern God's will or leading, or they think they can and get it wrong. This is the point that gets me. Even honest, God-revering, Jesus-loving folks can't be certain that they are acting in God's will. They can read the Bible and pray and be in community with fellow believers, but they cannot be certain they are right.

Where does this leave us? The only thing I can come up with is that we are supposed to be compassionate and loving and forgiving and humble.

Writing Milestone

I've eased up on the learning logs figuring that they could be obnoxious. I'm keeping my own log on computer, but perhaps I need to re-think that -- if my computer dies, I like the idea of another copy floating around on the internet. Hmmm...big issues for another day.

What I want to do now is record a milestone -- Suzanne printed her name for the first time (that I'm aware). I'm really pleased because I have not 'worked on' writing with her at all. I've even debated whether I should correct her "pencil grip" (she doesn't use pencils, but you know what I mean). I decided not to correct her grip, I don't know what grip she used to write her name. Anyway, I'm just very happy to see that she's moving right along and I have additional evidence to support my unschooling approach -- not to argue it to anyone, just to know its working. This is a very big deal, as I am prone to UPAs (unschooler panic attacks) which get a bit worse as the Fall approaches when we will become official homeschoolers by notifying the state that we will be homeschooling Kindergarten.

Phew!

Getting Naked

I am very excited about getting Naked this afternoon. I was surprisingly upset that I could not get Naked last night. I have two young daughters who have many baby dolls. For whatever reason, they don't name them, except for a couple of soft cloth dolls which they have named Alice, while the dolls share some similarities, they are not identical. Both dolls are Alice, there is Suzanne's Alice and Gabrielle's Alice. Go figure.

Gabrielle adores Naked, so named by me because Gabrielle insists on tearing off the poor baby's clothes. In an effort to differentiate between that baby doll and others, I started referring to her as 'naked baby,' a descriptive term in keeping with my warped sense of humor. Somewhere along the line, it was shortened to Naked and now Gabrielle will frequently ask for her, yelling "Nekkid, Nekkid."

Yesterday, Naked was left behind at an Open House. Of course, we didn't realize it at the time. Once we realized we didn't have Naked, we were too far from the houses (we visited four or five of them) to go back and look for her. My husband was willing to take the loss; I was terribly upset. What kind of mother allows her baby to lose her beloved baby doll? My husband pointed out that my daughter was the bad 'mother' having lost the doll. Cold bastard. I was able to keep my head (I'm given to panicking in emergencies). Luckily, I had the flyers and the listings from the Open Houses we visited that afternoon and after a few calls, I was rewarded with a return call that Naked was found on the bed of the last one we visited. The realtor agreed to take Naked to her office, where we should be able to retrieve her this afternoon (I am hoping that she does not make buying the house part of the deal). No one is going to fight us for this doll -- she is a well-worn and loved Cabbage Patch Preemie. She is a dirty, dirty baby, having joined Gabrielle in various digging ventures around the yard.

The story of Naked is an interesting one. She was a gift to my eldest daughter when my youngest was born. A considerate friend thought that Suzanne should have her own baby when her mommy had a new baby in the house. Suzanne played with the doll occasionally, I wouldn't say they really bonded. The end came after Suzanne took the baby gardening -- once she got dirty, Suzanne lost interest and generously let her sister have her. Thus began the naming and constant loving of this baby doll. Sort of an Old Testament meets New Testament story.

Gabrielle took it fairly well that she did not have Naked last night, but she's been asking this morning.

I cannot wait to get Naked.