View from the Prairie Box

I need a nap and I need to clean, but copying Lindsey’s Shuffle o’ Fun is so much more enjoyable on a Saturday afternoon. The deal is that you set your iPod to shuffle, then answer the questions. I didn’t cheat on any of the answers (as tempting as it was), however I did go through the list twice and picked the more sensible of the two shuffled titles.

How am I feeling today? “A Fine Romance” [Ella Fitzgerald, Forever Gold]
Will I get far in life? “Such Great Heights” [Iron & Wine, Garden State]
How do my friends see me? “Ants Marching” [Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming]
What is my best friend’s theme song? “Crazy” [Sommer Waite, Pass in Front of Me]
What is my theme song? “Primavera” [Santana, Supernatural]
What is the story of my life?”Complainte De La Butte” [Moulin Rouge]
What was high school like? “Sovereign Grace” [Sandra McCracken, The Builder and the Architect]
How can I get ahead in life? “Little Did I Know” [Over the Rhine, Drunkard’s Prayer]
What is the best thing about me? “Fair Phyllis I Saw” [John Farmer, Olde English Madrigals]
What is today going to be like? “Wildwood Flower” [Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line]
What is in store for this weekend? “Introduction to Romeo” [Romeo + Juliet soundtrack]
What song describes my parents? “It is Well” [Jenny Nelson, Tell Me a Story]
Describes me? “The Grabbing Hands” [The Wiseguys, The Antidote]
How is my life going? “Do You Feel Loved” [U2 Pop]
What song will be played at my funeral? “Wake Up Dead Man” [U2, Pop]
How does the world see me? “Final Storm” [Lucy Simon, The Secret Garden]
Will I have a happy life? “You Are My Sunshine” [Norman Blake, O Brother…]
How can I make myself happy? “He is Exalted” [Eden’s Bridge, Celtic Worship]
What should I do with my life? “Simple Man” [Almost Famous soundtrack]

Pecan Bars
(taken from the Southern Living Cookbook)

1 3/4 c all purpose flour
1/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 c butter or margarine
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 c dark corn syrup
1/4 c butter or margarine, melted
1/8 t salt
1 1/4 c chopped pecans

Combine flour and 1/3 c brown sugar. Cut in 3/4 c butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press mixture evenly into a greased 13×9 inch pan and bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes.

Combine 1 c brown sugar and remaining ingredients except pecans, beating well. Stir in pecans. Pour filling over prepared crust. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until firm. Let cool, and cut into bars. Yield: about 2.5 dozen.

I had an epiphany, though I’m not sure that’s truly the word for it, a few weeks ago and here it is:

Books are not perfect.

I realized that I’ve been operating through 28 years of life under the premise that books will make everything better, books bring knowledge, books equal intelligence, books are inherently good. Right. Right? Wrong.

Books, as wonderful a learning tool as they are, are as full of crud as any reality show, soap opera, or conversation overheard on the street. Books aren’t perfect and just because a person reads plenty of books doesn’t mean they are better than the average Joe. That’s the thing of my epiphany… I had falsely concluded that well-read individuals are somehow better than everyone else. Sinful thought, I know. But then it occurred to me – the majority of books I’ve read are either fairly poorly written or full of discouraging, dark concepts. Sad, but true. It is not often I read a book that really truly resonates with me or where I gain a profound, life-enriching concept from within its pages (though perhaps this only speaks to my choice of books).

Don’t get me wrong here. It’s good to read. Reading exercises the mind in a way that television never will, so whether one reads great books or just average ones, it’s still good to read. But, ya know, books aren’t perfect.

Or maybe you already knew that.

I just looked over at my daughter, playing on the yellow pine floor with her mama’s latest pair of sunglasses, a small sparkly purple clip pulls her golden-brown hair over her right ear, the rest of the curls and waves rest on her shoulders. She’s wearing a colorful, striped t-shirt and hot pink pants.

“Be careful with the glasses, okay?”

“‘kay,” she nods.

Suddenly she seems like she’s five years old. And I want to squeeze her and forever recall this time when she’s not yet two.

During Lent I had more free time because I didn’t blog. Blogging for me sometimes becomes a laborious process where I spend undue amounts of time editing pictures, writing and checking comments every other minute of my day. Now that I’ve rejoined Blogland, I’m trying to figure out a way to spend less time online. In other words, I’m going to attempt something called “self-discipline.” Go figure and good luck, right?

In order to update our movie ratings (see right sidebar), I’ll drop a few names from our Blockbuster queue and leave an applicable or completely random comment related to each film.

Two movies I enjoyed: Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. I completely fell for the talking-as-plot device and could very much identify myself and my friends within the roles of Celine and Jesse. As a late twenty-something, I’ll admit I enjoyed the second film the most. A flick I did not enjoy? Four Brothers. Complete waste of time. I was a little disappointed with John Cusack for making Must Love Dogs. It was mildly entertaining, but everything in the movie felt forced. Let’s blame the screenwriters and director for that one considering Cusack and Diane Lane are decent actors. Fever Pitch qualified as a more enjoyable romantic comedy. Predictable, yes; but definitely fun to watch. What can I say? Both Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore perform consistently with charisma and charm (which, I’ll admit, can be their downfalls as actors—the same old shtick can get old quick). A few flicks were sent back only halfway finished… Mad Hot Ballroom because I just didn’t have time to finish it and I Heart Huckabees because I just wasn’t interested. I rented the Academy Award-winning Terms of Endearment because of its film location (I see you, Highway 2! and there’s UNL!) but three-quarters of the way through the movie I remember feeling the same dread I feel every time I read Romeo & Juliet, this can’t end well. And of course it didn’t and I was forced to go get a few Kleenex. Finally, I loved loved loved Rivers and Tides. I enjoyed it so much that my husband’s lucky I didn’t force him to watch the entire thing with commentary from yours truly. So, Moreheads, if you come home to wood chips stacked in an egg shape, you’ll know why. It wasn’t the movie that interested me greatly, it was the art.

Perhaps I should get off the computer, turn off the DVD player, and get me to an art museum.