Marycow's Weblog

James Birthday

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:08:31 +0000

My nephew James just turned 3 years old. He of course had several presents as he has 3 sets of grandparents that love to spoil him and several aunts and uncles as well. The highlight of the night was when he opened the biggest present from his great grandpa, Pepa. It was a hand made mandolin Pepa made himself. It was deffinatly not something for most little kids to play with as it was very good quality but James is very musically talented already and he treats things very gently. So the look on his face when he saw it was priceless. He put it on his lap, even though it was almost as big as he was, and we handed him a microphone attached to a kareoke machine. First he sang the Star Spangled Banner, which sadly he knows more of the lyrics to it than I do. He would go really high in the high parts of the song and really really low during the lower parts of the song. We were all literally rolling around with laughter because it was so freakishly cute and funny. Then I finally got my camera out to record it and he started singing Oh My Darling.. which I was surprised he knew the lyrics to that too. Then he sang a rocker’s version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The highlight for him would probably be going to the Myerson Symphony Orchestra and getting to go up on the stage in front of thousands of people and play the bells. He pulled out his mini violin and played that as well. Afterwards the whole crowd was treating him like a celebrity and talking about how funny and cute he was.

Fraiser

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:50:08 +0000

Fraiser is another ingenius show that is on my top 3 list of favorite tv shows. It combines humor with wit and the characters are so awkwardly hilarious. It took me a while to gain an appreciation for the show as I would sometimes watch it and be slightly amused but something about it at that time completley repelled me from watching it. But recently I have developed an extreme liking for the humor in it and also for Kelsey Grammar. I think he is a very funny actor and he is so unique. I love how on the show they have celebrities call in on the radio show for new voices. I had never even noticed that until someone told me. Now whenever I watch it I can recognize which celebrities voice it is in each episode. I also used to be a big fan of the show Cheers so I get all the inside jokes he makes about his days back at Cheers. When someone from Cheers guest stars it is always an interesting episode. I love that this show is a spinoff because those sitcoms hardly ever last but Frasier was so popular and funny that it won awards and lasted for several seasons. My sister’s husbands uncle dated the character Roz, in Frasier so that also makes it a little more fun to watch. I can tell that her character on the show is completley different than her real like personality.

Salem

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:24:45 +0000

There has always been a desire to explain the unexplainable and to seek out those who are associated closely with the supernatural. Still today, Americans are intrigued by the things science can’t explain. We pride ourselves with our evolution throughout history and how civilized we are in comparison to our ancestors who thought the world was flat, when in reality we still succumb to the same uncertainties they had. Without rational explanations for mental and physical diseases, it is only natural that at some point in history, people would relate these odd behavioral symptoms to witchcraft. It is even considered that those who spread the fear loved the power of being listened to. It was the year 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts when the first incidents happened that would soon be the start of many witchcraft trials to come. From the very first accusation, there was hardly a peaceful moment in Salem, as suspicion lay in anything seemingly out of the ordinary. But with the excessive amount of accusations, and the majority of the accused being jailed or executed, their was a sudden fear for a lapse in the Salem’s economy. With the rich behind bars and the children of the supposed witches unable to inherit land, the economy would surely suffer. Also the shear number of people being accused was starting to make the court have doubts. The ridiculousness of it even spread to accusing 2 dogs of witchcraft. Eventually the madness stopped when one of the town’s Governor’s wife was accused and he realized the falicies amongst people’s accusations.

Reconstruction

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:15:42 +0000

After the Civil War, America faced a period requiring reconciliation and rebuildingbonds between the Southern states and the Union. There was bitterness from the Southaltogether and resistance to end slavery and give blacks civil rights. Abraham Lincoln, however, had a plan to reunite the seceded states. He wanted to grant forgiveness to all confederates that promised faithfulness as well as implement his 10% plan. This required that 10% of the South’s voters also swear loyalty and eliminate slavery. But, before his plan had been carried out, Lincoln was killed. Andrew Johnson, the vice president, was now President with his own plan for reconstruction. Andrew Johnson was not the best man for the job and lacked the skills and discipline to carry out the role as president. Johnson wanted to extend pardons to the loyal, restore property rights and reinstate leaders to political office. Congress overruled Johnson’s plan. During this time, blacks were starting to be voted into office. But years later people like William Dunning gave reaccounts of this, making it seem like the blacks were incompetent in office. Reconstruction is often misunderstood amongst students because of how it is frequently portrayed in textbooks. WEB DuBois and Kenneth Stampp are two historians who gave more accurate recollections of the positive influence blacks had during reconstruction as well as outcomes that were not negative. They both redefined Dunning’s definitions of Scalawags and Carpetbaggers, repairing their sullied reputations from traitors to missionaries

Me

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:08:38 +0000

My name is Marilyn Buckner and I was born and raised in East Dallas in the same house I live in today. My house is a duplex and my grandparents live downstairs from my parents and I. I am the youngest of five and the only one still living at home. Three of my siblings are getting married within the year and the other two are busy having babies. I have been a Christian as long as I can remember, and the majority of the people I have grown up with attend church at my house every Sunday. Although I like my church, there are no people my age that attend it so I go to church with my friends. I was home schooled along with the other church member’s children until I transferred to First Baptist Academy in ninth grade. Because the tuition was extremely expensive, it was necessary for me to switch schools again. This is how I ended up at Lakewood Presbyterian School from tenth grade until I graduated. There I built many strong friendships with my peers and was welcomed with open arms into their church as well. While in high school I was on the basketball team for three years as well as the Yearbook committee and the drama club. Since I graduated, Lakewood Presbyterian has still been a huge part of my life. I am not attending Richland college until I can get my Associates degree and transfer to a University.

Amelia Earhart

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:03:05 +0000

Amelia Earhart is one of the most important women in our history. Her bravery, determination and desire for adventure are inspiring to women everywhere. As a child I read a book about her life over and over because her story holds a sense of mystery that never loses its appeal. Following her first ride in an airplane, Amelia knew she had to pursue this love and take lessons. Surprisingly enough for that time period, she had a woman flight instructor and after a year of lessons, earned her pilots license. Unimpressed with air show flying jobs, Amelia flew for the fun of it. Years later, Charles Lindberg was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic ocean. At that time, a heiress wanted to sponsor a woman to fly across the Atlantic as well. But as it turned out, even though they chose Earhart for this endeavor, their would be two men actually flying the plane while Amelia took a flight log. Regardless of her participation in the actual control of the plane, this trip made her extremely famous and Earhart gained much publicity from it. Five years later she decided she would earn this fame. Her flight was successful and she had accomplished it in record time of 15 hours and 18 minutes. In 1935 she also became the first person to fly across the Pacific ocean. Her last flight was in an attempt to make it around the world with only one other person accompanying her. The mystery of what happened to her is still unsolved.

Melinda

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:50:09 +0000

My best friend Melinda has been my closest by far out of all the best friends I have had throughout my life. She came into the picture the summer before my Junior year. The first night we became friends was when I spent the night at her house to teepee a boy’s house. It was very exciting and it broke the ice immediatley. She realized I was not just a lame new kid and I realized she was not just a snobby shallow pretty girl. We were very mischevious during the first year of our friendship (even more than we are now) and even though I resisted her crazy ventures most of the time, I had a lot of fun doing whatever it was she thought of next. We would climb out the 2nd floor window in the middle of the night to teepee the same guy over and over again every night of the week. We would drive by an “enemy’s” house and egg her car, meanwhile getting eggs all over each other. The weird things we do are endless, and our friendship is often very strange to other people but we have a very strong friendship and we agree on almost everything. She is very fiery in her nature and I am very goofy, so our personalities compliment each other perfectly. We have been friends for almost 5 years now and we have never gotten in a serious argument. If we do argue it is because we spend way too much time around each other.

my best friend

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:35:10 +0000

Hayley was my first best friend, there when I was born, who attempted to change my diapers even though she was a year older. Our mothers were best friends which is why we remained good friends throughout 7th grade. My second best friend was my neighbor Ben. As I went through different stages I became a bit of a Tomboy at one point. Ben and I were very good friends, always making mischief in the backyard or digging up bugs and frogs from the dirt. He and I never fought and his friendship was an important part of my life. Then Maggie came along, pretty girly and kind of scandulous in comparison to how I lived my life. She always had food at her house which I am a little worried that may have been part of the reason we were such good friends. Tamara was next and my friendship with her was full of teenage drama, sometimes to complex for any adult to have to endure. It was a good friendship but it proved to be very hard for me to keep up with as we were pretty opposite in our ways and when we both went to different highschools, we drifted apart. Chrissy became my best friend, my freshman year at FBA. We were both new to the school and unaccostumed to the preppy life. But I could not afford to stay at FBA and she transferred to Pierce so I met my next best friend Michelle at Lakewood Presbyterian my Sophomore year. She and I got along very well but her family was very weird which put a strain on our friendship. She also did not socialize with others at Lakewood and I was becoming more popular with them so we too drifted apart.

Just the Way You Look Tonight

marycow — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 01:24:31 +0000

Right now… I am sitting in a quaint little room, in a house that has been turned into a public wifi cafe. They have cleverly named it Another Bite, a pun for the free internet access they provide as well as food. It is located in a neighborhood in Little Forest Hills and the yard is decorated with eclectic artwork, statues and bonfires surrounded by tree stumps for chairs. The neon sign flashing OPEN on the front gate is the only indication that this is something other than a person’s home. A shed has been converted into an outdoor indoor eating area with a cozy stove for warmth in the middle. Their specialty is wholesome comfort food and warm drinks you might find at a local coffee shop. Walking into the house, you feel a little scared that you might walk in on a random family that is not expecting your presence. But as you enter, you are warmly welcomed by a girl who immediatley makes your discomfort disappear. There are a few rooms in the house with different tables and different mood settings. The room next to the kitchen is where you order your food from a white board with the nightly specials and pay. If you listen to people’s conversations you learn some interesting things. Right now I am hearing a a conspiracy theorist, theorizing that Doctors are being paid off to keep people sick so that the American Medical Association can make money off of insurance companies. Insurance companies dont insure nutritional aspects of medicine and so they make money off of prescription drugs that people need. She is also saying that cancer research is a billion dollar industry and that it can be cured but the money made from sick people is whats keeping them from curing cancer. From what I heard of the rest of the conversation the woman ended up having to get help from a psychiatrist for her unknown health problem.

30 years from now

marycow — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:13:56 +0000

In 30 years, I will be going on 50 years old. My expectations for how my life will go are pretty simple yet detailed. If things go the way I plan, I will have gotten married by the time I am 25 and by my 50th birthday, my 4th or 5th child will have just graduated high school. Thats maybe a little too specific but something to that effect would be nice. I will still be very close to all my siblings and we will get all our families together during holidays. Of course I would love if my parents were still alive, but I am not going to think about that. My husband will have a good job that pays well so we can afford to send our children to college as well as live in our dream home. Most newlyweds are not lucky enough to start out in their dream home..They are usually earned with years of marriage and responsibility. Ours will look like it came straight out of a Southern Living catalog, complete with a big mahogony leather couch and in the kitchen an apple pie sitting on the window sill to cool. With all the new modern medicine, my husband and I will be very healthy for our age and hopefully we will still be just as in love at 50 as we were when we were young. I, of course, will be a stay at home wife with hobbies and housework to keep me busy. If I am chubby, it will be the cute middle aged Paula Dean chubby… and I will wear those big button up shirts with little patches sewn on.. I may even wear those dorky christmas sweaters with buttons and christmas trees all over the front. And I may be aiming high but hopefully my husband will be a cute older man. I will have a 3 legged yorkie terrier that is weirdly cute and smart. We will go on Oprah (who will be like 70) and she will start a 3 legged yorkie fund after us called the Dorkie Yorkies. Well… thats all I can think of for now…