Christmas and Babushka

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/09/13/babushka-cupcakes/

The recipe how to make them can be found on the above site.

Babushka is a nice old story I heard growing up.

It's not just Santa that makes children smile.

It was the night the dear Christ-Child came to Bethlehem. In a country
far away from Him, an old, old woman named Babushka sat in her snug
little house by her warm fire. The wind was drifting the snow outside
and howling down the chimney, but it only made Babushka's fire burn
more brightly.

"How glad I am that I may stay indoors," said Babushka, holding her
hands out to the bright blaze.

But suddenly she heard a loud rap at her door. She opened it and her
candle shone on three old men standing outside in the snow. Their
beards were as white as the snow, and so long that they reached the
ground. Their eyes shone kindly in the light of Babushka's candle, and
their arms were full of precious things--boxes of jewels, and
sweet-smelling oils, and ointments.

"We have travelled far, Babushka," they said, "and we stop to tell you
of the Baby Prince born this night in Bethlehem. He comes to rule the
world and teach all men to be loving and true. We carry Him gifts. Come
with us, Babushka."

But Babushka looked at the drifting snow, and then inside at her cozy
room and the crackling fire. "It is too late for me to go with you,
good sirs," she said, "the weather is too cold." She went inside again
and shut the door, and the old men journeyed on to Bethlehem without
her. But as Babushka sat by her fire, rocking, she began to think
about the Little Christ-Child, for she loved all babies.

"To-morrow I will go to find Him," she said; "to-morrow, when it is
light, and I will carry Him some toys."

So when it was morning Babushka put on her long cloak and took her
staff, and filled her basket with the pretty things a baby would
like--gold balls, and wooden toys, and strings of silver cobwebs--and
she set out to find the Christ-Child.

But, oh, Babushka had forgotten to ask the three old men the road to
Bethlehem, and they travelled so far through the night that she could
not overtake them. Up and down the road she hurried, through woods and
fields and towns, saying to whomsoever she met: "I go to find the
Christ-Child. Where does He lie? I bring some pretty toys for His sake."

But no one could tell her the way to go, and they all said: "Farther
on, Babushka, farther on." So she travelled on and on and on for years
and years--but she never found the little Christ-Child.

They say that old Babushka is travelling still, looking for Him. When
it comes Christmas Eve, and the children are lying fast asleep,
Babushka comes softly through the snowy fields and towns, wrapped in
her long cloak and carrying her basket on her arm. With her staff she
raps gently at the doors and goes inside and holds her candle close to
the little children's faces.

"Is He here?" she asks. "Is the little Christ-Child here?" And then she
turns sorrowfully away again, crying: "Farther on, farther on!" But
before she leaves she takes a toy from her basket and lays it beside
the pillow for a Christmas gift. "For His sake," she says softly, and
then hurries on through the years and forever in search of the little
Christ-Child.

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"My life is all arithmetic", the young businesswoman explains. "I try to add to my income, subtract from my weight, divide my time, and avoid multiplying..."

---------------

A mathematician organizes a raffle in which the prize is an infinite amount of money paid over an infinite amount of time. Of course, with the promise of such a prize, his tickets sell like hot cake.
When the winning ticket is drawn, and the jubilant winner comes to claim his prize, the mathematician explains the mode of payment: "1 dollar now, 1/2 dollar next week, 1/3 dollar the week after that..."

Have a great Day!

Cherished Encounters

This is a wonderful story about a little girl who was born with a destiny to fulfill.

My friend told me about this book : Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo,

It is the story of a little boy that came close to dying. When he got out of the hospital he started talking about when he sat on Jesus lap. The parents showed him the pictures of Jesus and he said "Not him" until they showed him the picture of Jesus drawn by that little girl. then Colton said "that is Him" .
Amazing.
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In a class, a math professor claims that he can prove everything under the assumption that 1+1=1.
A student challenges him: "Then prove that you're the pope!"
He ponders for a moment and then replies: "I am one, and the pope is one. Therefore, the pope and I are one."

------------------------------------

The mother of already three is pregnant with her fourth child.
One evening, the eldest daughter says to her dad: "Do you know, daddy, what I've found out?"
"No."
"The new baby will be Chinese!"
"What?!"
"Yes. I've read in the paper that statistics shows that every fourth child born nowadays is Chinese..."
Have a wonderful day.

Christmas Cock Crows

The count down is on for Christmas

In medieval times, the Yule log , which is compared to the wheel of the year, was burned for 12 days of Christmas by the druids, and they left a piece to begin with next year.
The log would have written on it all their unwanted things like behavior,habits, looks, life style etc...which are then burnt away.

The food consisted of Peacock wassails (a special drink for better health) mince pies with cinnamon cloves and nutmeg, spices believed given to the Christ child, goose turkey and humble pie made of heart liver and brain of a deer, and Christmas pudding.

They used oak evergreen as Christmas trees to symbolize everlasting life.
Ash represented good luck.
Ivy mistle toe and holly were also used at that time.

For entertainment there were songs carols games dramas so every year made new memories.

Australia celebrates Christmas, on the beach and Santa takes a break there to roll up his pant legs, take his boots off to feel the hot sand and the salty water between his toes.

I always wondered how he made it on time to deliver all the presents to kids but now that I am older I think it is because he does have help with the time difference, and some places celebrating Christmas while others don't.

But usually no matter who celebrates or not, Christmas is a day of magic. It's a day of good will for the whole world.
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bah humbug

A mathematician gives a talk intended for a general audience. The talk is announced in the local newspaper, but he expects few people to show up because nobody who is not a mathematician will be able to make any sense of the title: Convex sets and inequalities.
To his surprise, the auditorium is crammed when his talk begins. After he has finished, someone in the audience raises his hand.
"But you said nothing about the actual topic of your talk!"
"What topic to you mean?"
"Well, the one that was announced in the paper: Convicts, sex, and inequality."

Have a great day!

---

Christmas in Peru

These turtles and owls are drawn on gourds.
They are Christmas tree decorations.

Golden Goose

Today I was reading some blogs and they were a source of inspiration to me.

I smiled and mentally caressed every one's spirit as I saw them uplift their lifes' journey

within their homes and communities.
And it is on days like this I can really have hope for the future of mankind.

People coming together, doing what's right and good

just for the sake of right and good.

Of course the papers are still full of bad news.

One old man sitting in a wheel chair was accosted, beaten almost to a pulp for a few dollars he had in his pocket.

Instead of calling for help he hid inside his house for a few days and then came out to show his wounds.

Takes a very brave man to do something like this to an old crippled person.

Probably if he needed it for a good cause, the old man would have given it to him voluntarily but he probably needed it for drugs and booze so he beat him up.

One young man came desperately to ask for money for bus fare for him and his friend.

He asked for 6.50 so I gave it to him and then he said each. So I gave it to him.

But I did not see him go to the bus. Instead he went to White Spot.

Another time a man came to ask for money to buy propane for his car.

I gave it to him.

Instead of going to the gas station across the street he kept going in the opposite direction with his back pack. He had no propane car to fill. He was a drifter.

Another time an old crippled woman was standing outside Superstore begging for money. She said she gets beaten at home by her family if she doesn't bring something home.

I gave her money and she follows me in the parking lot every time I go there.

Another man was standing in front of London Drugs begging for money to buy his girlfriend diapers and things she needs for her baby. I gave him and told him to make sure he spends on what he says he needs it for. He assured me he would but I could see on his face that he thought this must be a lucky place to stand to get more than what I gave him.

Another man asked for five dollars for food. I gave him and the first thing he did was run into a tavern.

Another man was living under the bridge beside a train track. My neighbor brought him to our attention and said he needs help so she brings him coffee food etc... So I sent my son with food, coffee and some things like socks a hat and gloves. We found them thrown away with the food bags when he left.

My neighbor said she wanted to invite him to stay at her house so he could wash up but her husband said no. Her argument was, what was he going to do kill me?

Well turns out he was a killer. lol

One woman walks around with her bicycle asking for bottles to recycle. People give her.

My son asked her why she was doing this and she pointed to her Mercedes and said, how do you think I could afford this?

When a person asks for money I usually cave in and give them, fully aware that they are lying to me.

but then there might be a good person out there truly in dire need and not be shown charity because of some horrible people who lie cheat steal and prey on peoples good will.

These are the people who spoil everything for everyone and as the world gets poorer and there is less to share, I wonder who that woman with the Mercedes will share her blessings with since she cheats the poor who also walk in the cold with arthritis and sores all over their bodies needing money for food and shelter.

And the young man who asked for bus fare, and the guy who needed money for his girlfriends baby?

I often wonder, am I a golden goose? Did I make a small difference in their lives or did they look upon me as a sucker?

The older you get the more such stories you have to tell.

One mother had three kids.

She makes them to get welfare.

Well the kids are friends of your kids and come begging for food when you have dinner.

So you let them in once, twice... eventually they become your kids while the parents spend the money they get on cigarettes beer drugs and bullets.

Saying no does not become an option any more. Then they have birthdays christmas and need school clothes and supplies. If you give them toys they arrogantly throw them away.

You sit and think and shake your head and wonder how does God fit into all this?

Would saying no be a good thing to do in all these cases or would it turn them into desperadoes like the guy who beat up the old man?

Did the guy who asked for bus money have a gun in his pocket?

Did you save a hungry child from malnutrition?

Our city passed laws against street begging and now our duty is to report such people so they are investigated and helped accordingly.

With the world going the way it is, nothing is written in stone.

Tomorrow can be your day to beg for a morsel of food and charity because the system failed you.

No job, stolen pension, weak welfare system and high cost of living.

A penny saved runs through bills fast.

So the next question is why have a system which has no hope in the world to succeed?

You can give a man a fish and feed him but what he really needs is a fishing rod so he can catch his own.

Have a great day!

He'll Be Commin Round the Mountain

He'll Be Comin Round
The Mountain
When he comes

ENJOY!

Bird of Peace

Many liberationists are against religion, as they are against liberalism, communism, socialism the welfare state, Nazism,fascism and Islamism.

The only thing they feel can be rationalized, is Capitalism
The rest, forces society into servitude and torture.

The Christian Cross represents to them, sacrifice of virtue and ideals, to the unideal and non virtuous.
It helps those, who lack in self esteem, to continue to live in sin, feeding as parasites on society.

Liberationists do not believe in taxes. They believe man to have free will, to decide how he wants to spend his hard earned money.
Everything comes down to free will. Man must do things because he is free to do them, not because he is forced or through fear.
So taxes must be voluntary or collected through lotteries, donations or some other such projects

It is true, that no matter what you do, the non virtuous will continue to demand more and more until those with virtues and ideals, will be either smothered or drowned out of existence.

For this reason they believe compassion, cannot be shown to the morally guilty.

Liberationists believe man must live and fight for his values and rational beliefs , against blind dogma forced upon him. If dogma must be kept secret and lead people through blind faith, then no one knows who the leader is. Is it God or Satan?

Liberationists, except for freedom, have not made clear what exactly they stand for, just what they are against.
Capitalism is favored because it allows man to lift his self esteem, through the powers of his labor and this is seen as a good thing.

The only thing about man, is that without proper up bringing, knowing right from wrong, and living by proper rules of behavior, guilt, for hurting another for profit, does not exist.

Christians are taught to forgive,
People with no morals or ethics, no guilt,
Cold blooded killers for whose sins Jesus died for.

What creates such people? Who creates killers, the guiltless criminals, the hucksters who cheat lie and steal without batting an eye.?
Who raises people who rape children and kill to maintain power?

It is true that Christians require more than faith for change to happen.
It requires action or face more people walking away or be slowly drowned by those with more and more demands.

People create abused people who abuse and create more people to abuse more and why?
Because right and wrong, good and bad is not instilled into them.

No - ism escapes evil.and so we have Jesus born, a son of God, a child who tried to teach his flock the rules, who died for the guilty, simply because
original sin exists.
We see it every day, in every man woman and child.
We can rationalize its' existence by viewing peoples behavior towards each other.

We are born with a survival program, we don't know how to use.
but God believed we were worth letting it grow and learn from its' mistakes and one day, maybe, see the light.
He had faith in man, even though man did not have faith in him or in himself.

Jesus died on the cross not to promote torture between men, but to buy us time to figure it out.
Jesus died for love of mankind.
Man needs to live for good.

We fight between nations not understanding that the fight is really between ourselves .
The fight is to promote morals ethics and values between each other, so our laws work for us.

This is Christian belief.
We do not need to fight for God but to have faith in the tools he gave us, to fight for ourselves, our self worth and our purpose for existence to create heaven on earth.

One thing the liberationists said is true.
There is a black and a white.
There is good and bad.
It's the gray in the middle one needs to fear.
In it lies moral decay and confusion.
We trust in God but we must also trust in each other.
As for sacrifice, well this can be also called knowing ones' limits.
We limit ourselves to serve our families, our friends, our communities, and our government.
It's called, being civilized.
Being civilized is good. lol

Have a great day!
------------------------

Scientists Decode the First Message From an Alien Civilization...

scientists Decode the First Message From an AlienCivilization...Simply send 6 x 10 to the 50 atoms of Hydrogen to theStar System at the top of the list, cross off that starsystem, then put your Star System at the bottom of thelist and send it to 100 other Star Systems. Withinone-tenth of a Galactic Rotation you will receiveenough hydrogen to power your civilization untilentropy reaches its maximum! IT REALLY WORKS!

source: http://www.jokebuddha.com/Civilization#ixzz1fxwK9Xe8

Lights! Camera ! Action!

One of the neighbors is all set for Christmas
Puts the rest of us to shame lol
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Casey McCarthy had just arrived in New York City and was amazed at the enormity of everything.

Having drunk a pint or two on the flight over, he sorely needed to relieve himself.

The first door he entered happened to be a large health club, and he asked the clerk if he might use the men's room.

The clerk said certainly and told Casey the men's room was the third door down the corridor on the left.

Now Casey, trying to appear sober, weaved his way down the hallway remembering some of the directions.

When he reached the third door, he turned RIGHT, opened the door and immediately fell into the deep end of a pool.

The clerk, realizing Casey's mistake, ran down the hall and burst through the door, prepared to save him, and heard Casey shout, "Don't flush, I'm in here!"

-----------------------------------------------

Did you read about the moron who ate his pennies and asked if anyone saw a change in him?
----------------------------------------------

An American, a Mexican and an Italian robbed a bank. As it turned out, they got a lot of cash in Dollars, Pesos and Liras.

When they returned back to their hide-out, the American distributed the money in three even shares. He counted each portion aloud:

"1000 Dollars for me, 1000 Pesos for you, 1000 liras for you ...

1000 Dollars for me, 1000 Pesos for you, 1000 liras for you ...

1000 Dollars for me, 1000 Pesos for you, 1000 liras for you ..."
The Mexican said to the Italian, "Well I can't stand these Yankees, but I have to admit they are honest

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Christmas Countdown

Time to decorate.
Spic and polish
Fill your home full
Of jam and relish
The lit candles in the window
Festive table, golden geese
It is time to move
No time like now
No excuses , no boo hoos, no sob stories
come what may
Open windows to a clear night sky
Expose your self
To everlasting life.
Fill your lungs and breathe so you can feel
Love it.
Embrace it
And Thank God!
Cause you're Alive!
A Lady's Life

Shelf Life

It was fun displaying things on a shelf in Singapore and my Mom enjoyed being photographed.
You had a reason to celebrate the whole year round out there and the streets were always full of Christmas lights.

I remember one day my oldest son went to bargain with the store owner when choosing what I believe was a Sega .
The man told him( I forget so I'll make up a sum ) 120 dollars, to which my son replied
I will give you 150 and not a dollar more.

Everyone laughed including the store owner. He explained to my son that when you bargain, you have to go down in price.... not up. lol

Well we chuckle to this day remembering what a good business man my son was.

I bet the man went home to tell his family what dumb people these foreigners are.

But

When we were taking diving lessons, our instructor taught us how to go down, using the anchor rope.
He had both Chinese and American students.
Americans did well but the Chinese fared not so well.

So he chastised them.
When we tell the Americans to go down, they go down.
When we tell you to go down, you manage to instead, pull the anchor up and stay up?
How do you do that? lol

We had other funny things happen, like when I forgot to give my partner back her air hose during an instruction teaching us to share air if one would run out.

Then there were the long spindled sea urchins which always threatened to spike you at the bottom and the huge rock fish which could have taken a good chunk out of you if you stepped on them and then on top floated the thousands of small jelly fish. We had to make sure we had on long sleeved shirts but they still managed to give us a little tingle. lol

On our final test when we had to go down alone with our partners, mine brought her own scuba friend and I was left to go down with a stranger. I didn't like that and under water exerted too much energy trying to stay away from him, which in turn caused insufficient oxygen supply in my body so I could not get enough air from my hose no matter how hard I breathed. I had to go up and it took me a long time before I could get air back into my lungs.
What I did was probably very dangerous but my partner covered for me telling the instructor the current was strong. lol
Anyway.
On our way home an old Indian man was crossing the street and got hit by a car.
He lay in the middle of the street, in a dark pool of blood , his head turning blue.
As we passed him, I remember thinking that today, I was supposed to die but I didn't.
Death needed a replacement and he took this man to show me that he knew I escaped, and I better watch my back cause he was right behind me.
That man probably crossed this street every day.
I came home quite distressed from the days' ordeal.

I still got my PADI in scuba diving and dove quite well with other people.
I forced my husband to take diving as well , so I had my own loving life partner .
The instructor told me I dove better with him lol
I guess he knew it was a mistake to put me under with a stranger.

With kids it's the same thing. We went to Honolulu for soccer and the kids went to the beach in the down town area.
It seemed safe except for a great wave that came in as I was sitting down in the sand getting me and my cameras all wet. Fluke wave. Darn.
Well there was a pier and on the other side cement wave busters.
The kids were hanging around there and decided to climb the wave busters.
The waves came in bigger and my second son and his friend, got stuck in between these two
cement pilings getting bashed into them.
The waves kept coming in and out at an alarming rate, they couldn't get out.

My son came so proud to tell me Mom we almost drowned hahahaha
The waves were strong and kept us under water but we were strong and managed to get out.
Every one was watching us on the pier Mom. lol Wow!
Good thing my other friend didn't go in cause he would have drowned for sure.
They were so excited and proud of the feat they just accomplished.

And here we are, parents, all sitting watching our kids and didn't see this happen.

As it was there would have been nothing I could do either at this point but I would have told them not to go in between these barriers for this undercurrent reason.

I guess we all have a shelf life.
Probably just like cats with their 9 lives. lol


Have a great day!

Natures Calling.

click to enlarge

Kids. Do they think to take their shoes OFF?
They know when to FOLLOW ORDERS to a T.
lol
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I love these snuff bottles. It takes so much patience to be able to paint a small bottle from the inside and this is something I never tried.

This bottle had fendi hermes chanel on it and chanel 5 may be old fashioned but it is to me, the best perfume ever . It fits my body chemistry and I could smell it all day.
Thanks to Hillary I finally found out which flower they use to make it. Ylang Ylang.
I have never heard of such a flower and now would really love to smell one.
Can you imagine a garden full of this luxurious smell emitting naturally in your neighborhood?

So I looked it up and it is a pretty yellow flower found in Australia.

and they do make hand lotion from it as well.

I will be looking for it now just to find out what it smells like.

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An Amazing bird video Murmuration

Have a great day!

Poochy Garment

Poochy here is very happy in her new body suit.

She loves wearing this stuff in winter.

The first time I put it on I thought she would try to take it off but

to my surprise she enjoys wearing it.

It took hardly no time at all to make.

Well worth it for a Christmas stocking .

:)
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A 60 year old woman went to apply for a job as a juicer at a fruit store.

The manager thought she seemed too old for the job .

“Do you even have any actual experience picking lemons ?” he asked.

“Well, I think I do.” she replied. “I’ve been divorced 5 times!”

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Working for the state police, you hear lots of funny speeding excuses. One day, while shooting my radar gun I caught an 85 year old lady doing 78 in a 55 mph zone. After I pulled her over I stepped up to her window and asked her, “Any reason you were speeding today?” She turns to me and replies, “Sure officer, I didn’t want to forget where I was going!”

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When I bought my new car, I called my insurance broker to fill out a new application. He asked me if I have any traffic accidents on my record? I replied,” no, except someone once hit me!” So he snaps, “well that’s a accident!” I snap back, “no, the guy did it on purpose!!!”

Have a great Day!

I'M RICH!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Time For Christmas Spirit.

I liked this song sent to me by a dear friend.

We seem to be sending our kids the wrong idea about Christmas.

Like we do with many things, we side tracked away from the the Birthday of Jesus
to St Nick so stores could profit.

And why did St Nick give presents to the poor?

He was touched by God to do good deeds for the less fortunate. He was touched by the idea of the three wise men who searched far and wide till they found the new born babe in swaddling clothes lying in a manger surrounded by animals and hay, bringing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.
They saw something special in a child from a poor family. They saw spiritual greatness, love and hope for the future of mankind. Their gifts were nothing compared to the glory of God in the highest, this child represented to them.

St Nick believed in the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit and because of this, he was deemed a Saint. People might not have known who he was but they knew of his goodness and the charity he showed to those less fortunate.
St Nick was a man of mystery.
His existence was based on faith as our belief in God is based on faith.

We, from our generation, remember lots of cookies, to give as gifts this time of year.
Pop corn strewn on a string to hang on the tree.
Home made candies and chocolates also hung on the tree.
Candles are now replaced by lights but they must have emitted an extraordinary halo around the tree at night adding to the splendor and magic of this holiday.
Outside the snow would glisten like diamonds under a starry sky
Many people dressed up a tree in their back yard for the animals to nibble on.
Further south where it was warm the tradition continued and people designed their own ways to celebrate and kids would be introduced to joy and God through gifts of kindness .

Lots of families made personal gifts in preparation for this big event of birth.
This was a time of year to give something personal to a loved one, to show how much their birth meant to them. The three wise men began a tradition of gift giving which was followed up by St Nick and thus the birth of Christmas, as we know it, was initiated, to brighten and enlighten the eyes of children all around the world.

Every year we'd make something special with the year written on it. A painted bulb , an egg or some gold and silver paper design for the tree. An angel would sit on top of the tree or a star.
Underneath we'd have the nativity scene we so gently pack to keep for the following years.
We'd go to church and bring presents to place under the tree for the needy.

Great memories.

So the above song rings in bells of hope that we can bring back the true meaning of Christmas
into perspective, the way it was meant to be and if you are looking for gifts to buy, support your community. Buy a person a gift card for a hair cut or an oil change or a good restaurant, support your cobbler, dry cleaner, local wine maker, butcher, knitting/quilting shop, dressmaker, etc...
Once they close down or move, they will be missed.

Have a good one.

People Crack Pots

The story below has always been one of my favorite stories because it relates to people and how every one is born to fit into a society or community.

Misfits , filling the gaps and holes required for survival.

Misfits, seen as people with cracks, who make a difference in this world.

If it wasn't for these cracked pots, nothing would ever change for the better.

If anything, they should be treasured for all the good they do.

A potter checks very carefully for cracks in his pots and disposes

of the cracked ones.

Another collects these pots and shards from them and delivers a beautiful masterpiece

sold for thousands more because of the imperfections.

So it seems to pay to be a cracked pot after all. :)

They too can make people happy, by encouraging others to follow their example, using the gifts God gave them.

Imperfections make us all different individuals but nevertheless

equally as beautiful if not more so, than the most

perfect amongst us.

They are the musicians, dancers, artists,priests,teachers, philosophers, doctors, scientists,etc...

enriching us all through the light in their eyes and smiles coming from the spirit

of the soul inside them.

---------------------------------

A water bearer in India had two large pots hanging at the ends of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house. The other pot had a crack in it, and by the time it reached its destination, it was only half full. Every day for two years the water bearer delivered only one and one-half pots of water to the master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments—perfect to the end for which it was made. The poor little cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfections and miserable that it could accomplish only half of what it had been designed to do. After two years of what the imperfect pot perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer and said, "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer, "What are you ashamed of?"

"Well, for these past two years, I have been able to deliver only half a load of water each day because this crack in my side allows water to leak out all the way back to the master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all this work without getting the full value of your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot noticed the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because half of its load had leaked out once again.

Then the bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path and not on the other pot's side? That's because I've always known about your flaw and took advantage of it by planting flower seeds on your side of the path. Every day as we walked back from the stream, you watered those seeds, and for two years I have picked these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just what you are, he would not have had this beauty to grace his house."

Have a great Day!

Kids and Suicide

Every one speaks of bullying which they say forces kids to commit suicide
but no one goes to the root causes.
Why do people bully?

Is it because they are bullied too ? Most people are bullied.
I hear stories from women who are bullied and yelled at every day at work.
They are exploited, by being forced to work overtime without pay because the boss knows they need a job.
Today people need jobs so they get bullied. They come home upset or unemployed and stress out the family or get more stressed by family issues and then the kids go out and bully as well.
The kids used to be able to find jobs but today even they can't find anything. So they spend time hanging on the streets with their friends.

And why do we have this situation to day, if banks and other companies didn't outsource jobs.
All our manufacturing jobs are gone. The environmentalists seem to live on air cause they don't worry about jobs and the utility companies buy everything out so they don't care where they get their money from. They will get it one way or another.

People are hired, especially lawyers to find loop holes, to kill the middle class.

Judges know it and do nothing about it. The lawyers present lies every day, wear people down financially for nothing, harass people for nothing, keep people away from work with their own job to destroy a man, people worry, don't sleep nights and no one says anything.

There is no such thing as lawyer client confidentiality anymore or privacy.

They find out your business and then set you up for the kill.

Bullying is not that simple an issue.

We want the trickle down effect in job creation and trying to shop so people have jobs but there are no jobs to make money to trickle down anymore.

We have one group camping objecting to economic abuse and another camping to buy foreign made products and people complain about the first guys making them out to be the bad guys when they are suffering out there for us all.

It is time to buy Made in North America products!!! People have to stop buying foreign made products and unite so bullying stops. lol

Instead, they will pass laws to create something worse than bullying.

It will involve theft and violence and broken cameras which tax payers will have to replace.

Bullying corporations and laws trickle down to the people, who are depressed and this affects the kids.

So what are passing anti bullying laws going to do, add fuel to the fire?

Happy people, do not bully.
You bully because you hurt inside.

One of the first things my parents told me when I was bullied was to fight back and remember that the person hurting you, is hurt himself. So it isn't as personal as people believe.
This understanding helps a lot because it puts the bully and the victim on the same footing and inspires you to act in self defense and this then becomes a lesson in survival skills.

Life is about survival. In the animal kingdom , which we are a part of, the strong live and the weak die.
It's always been this way.

If things keep going the way they are, pretty soon a lot of people will either be living on the street or found dead on it.

All the laws will do is fill more jails at tax payers expense and act as a bandaide solution resolving nothing.

So we need to stop and think a while why the issue of bullying has become so grave.

9 year old kids should not be thinking of suicide.

(This opinion was written because of an article in the Montreal Gazette on kids and suicide)

Why Not Recycle Love?

Why not recycle instead of throwing things away?
What a beautiful sculpture . Old toys , children, as well as grown ups, can still gaze at it and see their little airplanes , favorite cars and toys with lost parts, where they can be still enjoyed and remembered, in what we can only call .........Tech Dog.

I had a very annoying mover who would always be called to move me .
One young employee, would take over the childrens' room with all the toys. I am sure he stole toys because he took great effort to make sure he broke them apart so we could never find all the pieces and forget about the ones that disappeared.lol
You didn't want to make an issue, because if you did and they were charged with theft, they would be put into the slammer and caned. Caning left big scars.
The slammer was also not as cushy as we have here in Canada and they cannot complain as they do here.
So I thought, if they did this sort of thing, it was a question of time before the outcome, which was sure to befall them for this behavior.
I remember having a conversation with them once and they brought up David Copperfield.
They believed he was a devil, as they probably believed all foreigners were.lol
It would take a lot of discussions to get them to see the light. lol
This one young man, would make trips to the kitchen for no reason I am sure, except to dump items through the garbage chute into the basement. I found the garbage chutes very practical except for the fact rats can climb up them and theft of items is easier. lol

Well, with recycling, he would lose if his aim was to annoy people.
This is one fine dog he would not be able to break apart. lol

Today we live in a world of plenty. Lots of kids are enjoying lots of toys.

My Dad had a story about his Gramma.
That pushy little woman, made everything and every one her business.
He loved her so much and when she finally reposed, the family of kids got together to tell stories about her.
My teary eyed Dad said:
I think she loved me the most because she would come to my bed at night, kiss me and then she would give me a candy she saved just for me, cause I was her favorite, and she told me not to tell.

There were a lot of grand children and my Dad said every ones' eyes brows raised because they had the same story to tell about her.
She would go to each and every one of them, kiss them, tell them they were her favorite, and give them a candy with the same instruction about not telling.

They all loved her, because they thought they were her favorite and felt very special.
The reality was, she loved them all.

This story always brings tears to my eyes, even though I never met this woman.
She was very clever and knew how to make the most with least.

In those days, candies did not lie around.
Did she make them? Buy them?
Stores were not exactly around the corner.

Today we give our kids everything and the one thing we don't get for them, we become the bad guys, the awful parents who are supposed to provide because it's our job.

Adults dump on each other but kids also learn to dump, with words and actions they learn at school and people around them.
Kids teach kids how to get around their parents.
Little do they know we've been there and done that. lol

The thing is, what they don't understand, is that we measure, as our parents did, the level of maturity, by the pranks they play.lol

In my Dads' day, kids helped out, for nothing in return.They learned how to work as a team, complimenting each other to make the work go faster.

If they got something, it was special and
appreciated.
A gift from the heart was to be treasured , as the person who gave it, was loved.

We lost something with technology. We lose a lot every day.

Our environment, family, meaning of love, values, work ethics,
God, interdependence, and even our individual selves.

Something to think about this Christmas.

Have a Great Day!

Hope you enjoy these videos about Shagra.

Circular Shoulder Warmer

The top yellow blend is the last shoulder warmer I am making

It turned out quite nice with two double strand threads.

Depending on the occasion, I have colors to match lol

I might work now to see how to decorate them so they look less plain.

The top one is for fall The gray one is for winter

The multicolored one I put on before, is for spring and the pink one also from before, is for summer.

I put a lot of the things I made away in boxes and now I have enough for another box.

It just collects so fast. lol

I feel like I am making myself a dowry for retirement or for when my eyes cannot see anymore.

With climate change I think knitting will come back in style as people will require warmer things and it is nice to keep warm with the projects you make in winter.

I still have two sweaters to finish. I guess the reason I stopped is because I got disappointed in the sizing. They tell you one thing and then the things come out looking smaller but then they might stretch as wool usually does. I like the sweaters to look bulky on people because the warmth from the body is kept inside between the sweater and the clothes. I watched a program on Navajo Indian women. They have their own sheep and spin their own thread from the wool.
Their blankets are very beautiful. People come from far and wide to buy them.
I liked the lecture they gave on life and how important it is to live in harmony with nature. Their sheep would run away and they would wait for them to come back home on their own when the weather was bad. Their leader was an old hunchbacked gramma who was very active, very respected and the glue keeping the family together.
I really loved her as I saw her do her thing in a manner I could reminisce and see my own Gramma in her. The young people could not keep up with her. lol

I remember a story my Gramma told me about her Mom. She was a small woman and her husband was a very huge man cut down over night, in his prime, by fever.
Never the less, she would go to the homes of her children one by one, give them hell calling them lazy and ignorant about how to do things. She'd rampage through the house putting everything in order . She mended cooked cleaned gardened, canned and when she was satisfied the house was in order, she'd leave and go to the next child's house. lol
My Gramma said nothing was secret with her. but no one ever said a word to her because she commanded respect. lol
In fact they trembled when she would enter the door because they knew they were not up to par to her perfection.
The day for her, was an 18 hour day.
Today, we have to say, thank God for technology and the washing machine.lol
Thank God for the dishwasher, the stove and fridge.
Thank God for the heating furnaces.
All these things had to be done by hand a few generations ago.
It is only because of these things, women today, have the luxury of going to work and be a little independent.

As for myself, I especially love making blankets cause they keep your legs so warm and you see the project grow. It gives you personal satisfaction to see it finished.

I was sitting in a car watching my boy play soccer so the extra warmth was appreciated.lol

Vancouver won the Stanley Cup in Football .

It was not as exciting to watch as hockey is but we brought the cup home and we needed some joy here in BC.

So Congrats BC LIONS for a good job. Well Done!!

We also have a MLS soccer struggling to get up on its feet but they don't attract very good players because they are not paying them well.

It is shameful not to put out your best players and we have many in BC who will never see the light of day.

Have a great day!

Toys for Christmas

This is another picture of my Mom in Singapore.

She is sitting with more of my doll collection and over her is a very nice print I loved

hanging in my living room.
The 8 immortals were rewarded with immortality for their good deeds.
The Taoists believe in ying and yang (opposites like male female)

The Eight were called the "roaming immortals" in Taoist legends. Their images appear in all sorts of arts and crafts, including furniture, porcelain, paintings and embroideries, often to convey the idea of a leisurely, carefree life.

The best known tale that involves all of them together is Ba Xian Guo Hai or The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea. It describes how, when crossing a sea in their wanderings, each of them used a different object (a walking cane, a fan, a scimitar, etc.) as a vessel. Thes has given rise to an everyday saying: when people try to accomplish the same task by different methods, they are said to be emulating the example of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea.

(Text: pep.com.cn; Photo: baidu.com)

Taoists believe in harmony.

I didn't think anything of it at the time when this picture was taken cause we didn't have internet as such and Singapore practiced censorship, but today, putting my Mom on line with these roaming immortals, sorta immortalizes her as well.

See how life is?

Christmas was toy time and this is when I took out all the toys to display.
The rest of the year I had a spare room where I displayed all my dolls.
It was a lovely room I enjoyed sitting in. I am not sure if I have a picture of it.
Probably not.lol

Another shoulder warmer lol

This one went faster and the third one is almost done as well.

Have a great day!

Christmas Memories

This is my Mom sporting a designer dress I lent her.
She is standing in front of a Baroque Piano and my doll collection which I display on top of the piano.
The shawl was crocheted by my Motherinlaw. It was a big and hard job for her to do but she was very good at this kind of thing and I have to give her credit for teaching me and getting me to learn and take an interest in this hobby.
Now I do it all the time and think of her.

Time and life, all memories now, except for the things we leave behind.

It is dull outside and the Gray Cup is being played in Vancouver . So far the BC Lions are winning against Winnipeg.
Vancouver is not letting people watch the game on the street anymore because of the riots we had for hockey which they are still prosecuting people over.

Hope you have a great day.

:)

Neck and Head Warmer

I was not in the mood to crochet so it took me a while to finish this neck warmer but it's done lol

Once rolled down it warms the neck and unwrapped it covers the head as well.

Pretty handy if you take long walks in the woods with changing temperatures or exercising at the gym or standing in a drafty area.

I think it turned out quite good.

Oh well.

We will know when we wear it.lol
When I tried it on it was very warm and snugly.

------------------------------------------------

After the North American Beer Festival, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer. The guy from Corona sits down and says, "Hey Senor, would like the world's best beer, a Corona." The bartender dusts off a bottle from the shelf and gives it to him.

The guy from Budweiser says, "I'd like the best beer in the world, give me 'The King Of Beers', a Budweiser." The bartender gives him one.

The guy from Coors says, "I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water, give me a Coors." He gets it.

The guy from Molson sits down and says,

"Give me a Coke." The bartender is a little taken aback, but gives him what he ordered.

The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask, "Why aren't you drinking a Molson's?"

The Molson president replies, "Well, I figured if you guys aren't drinking beer, neither would I."

Leaders Can't Lead???

Hey! What's Prince Charles doing there? lol

Leaders Can't Lead?

Why do we have elections then?

How is it possible we have reached a stage, whereby when you have an official representing you,

his answer to you is:

Oops. It's outside my jurisdiction.

We are not responsible for this.

You go to the Premier or Governor and he says :

Oops.

Then you get to the Prime Minister and President and they both say:

OOps.

We're Global. We can't do anything.

Everything is outsourced.

Can we blame them?

Jobs, utilities, law, banks, all outsourced?

You want to talk to someone about a power outage, you are not talking to a local.

You are talking to India, the Philipines, and God knows who else.

How do they know what is going on in your area?

Should they know?

Is it their business?

We have people we elect and pay them huge salaries and pensions, but they have no jurisdiction to do anything, except spend our money and tax us.

Nothing belongs to the people and so people have no control over their lives.

The whole system and idea of democracy has become a fraud.

At no time in history has it become so important to keep things myopic, so we can see what is happening and to keep it under control.

People lost the control and business accountability.

No one needs to listen to our sob stories anymore and so

this is why the rich get richer and the middle class is on its' way to self destruction.

Leaders Can't Lead?

Fire them.

Leaders need to know how to lead and how to take back control

so they can represent the people.

I love Wolf Blitzer lol

His program sure fires you up to speak out.:)

The corporate boat race

An American automobile company and a Japanese auto company decided to have a competitive boat race on the Detroit River. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance. On the big day, they were as ready as they could be. The Japanese team won by a mile.

Afterwards, the American team became discouraged by the loss and their morale sagged. Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found. A Continuous Measurable Improvement Team of "Executives" was set up to investigate the problem and to recommend appropriate corrective action. Their conclusion: The problem was that the Japanese team had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, whereas the American team had 1 person rowing and 8 people steering.

The American Corporate Steering Committee immediately hired a consulting firm to do a study on the management structure. After some time and billions of dollars, the consulting firm concluded that "too many people were steering and not enough rowing." To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the management structure was changed to "4 Steering Managers, 3 Area Steering Managers, and 1 Staff Steering Manager" and a new performance system for the person rowing the boat to give more incentive to work harder and become a six sigma performer. "We must give him empowerment and enrichment." That ought to do it.

The next year the Japanese team won by two miles. The American Corporation laid off the rower for poor performance, sold all of the paddles, cancelled all capital investments for new equipment, halted development of a new canoe, awarded high performance awards to the consulting firm, and distributed the money saved as bonuses to the senior executives.

I Rest My Case

This was too good to pass up and have a little fun with.

but since I am into actors today, I have to give Rusell Crowe kudoos for expressing his views on circumcision.

Now here's a man of men for you!!

I tend to agree because the reasons for doing this is not in my opinion reasonable.

For the most part, nature knows what it's doing.

As a man grows so does the skin and one never knows in life if this little piece of skin, will ever be needed in case of an accident or burn victim or something else.

In Africa they also have a ritual to circumcise women.

Just as painful with even worse after effects.

There is nothing civil about making a decision for a child, the child most certainly would not make for itself voluntarily.

It's brutal and yet?????

Many see this as acceptable.

Crap!
-----------------------
Now this can't get any better for Nissan trucks.

Have a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving America!!

We're comin for dinner :)
Sure smells good!


We thank you for this table
We thank you for our friends.
We thank you for our families
We thank you for your love.

We love you for the life we live
Each and Every day
We thank you for the sunshine
That woke us up today.
We thank you for the twinkling stars
The moon and air we breath
We thank you for the snowflakes and
Frosty picture frames
We thank you for the breath of birth
So we could all enjoy
This miracle called living
A gift to a hungry soul.

For Everything good and bad that we must experience
To become good people
We thank you Heavenly Father
This Thanksgiving day.

Have a blessed day with family and friends.

A Lady's Life.

Foreign Accent Syndrome???

Travelling around, one often asks you where are you from because you have, what sounds to them, a foreign accent.

Crossing the US border is very difficult, if you get a guard who pays attention to how you talk with them, especially if he himself is Korean, East Indian or French etc... heritage
and has an accent himself. lol
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
Are we not a multicultural continent?

You answer:
Say wha??
Watcha talkin about bro. Wa's up wid yo accent?
Wa u from, bra?

Seems people brought up, when diction was important, is passe.

So long Shakespeare,

So long RrrAIN IN SsPAIN, IS MmAINLY IN THE PpLAIN.

Sometimes I think people are just a bunch of monkeys in a cage, bred to analyze each other for lack of better things to do.

No one checked me for fleas yet lol
but I understand security does this when boarding airplanes lol

Thanks to the internet, I now know what to tell the border guards and other nosy people who think the way they speak is without an accent.

I GOT the FOREIGN ACCENT SYNDROME DISEASE. lol

One other border story is funny or sad ... depending on whether or not your cup is half full or half empty.

I remember trying to enter through the US border once and they pulled me over for
a random check. Now my van is always packed because of kids, soccer and living in an earthquake zone, I try,( to the chagrin of my son, who calls it lame to do this until God forbid one day we need stuff in an emergency,) to make sure I have survival items in it including tent, chairs,blankets,tarps, rope,
warm jackets, sweaters, pants and socks.
So every time I cross the border, is a pain in the ass.

Asking the kids and husband to unload your car after grocery shopping, is also like pulling teeth cause they always leave something behind and unless it's toilet paper, which they need to wipe their asses with, they will never go back to check for the items if you tell them you are missing something. And even then.......they have to really need it. lol
(Check the car son.lol) (ok I am not being very fair cause lately both hubby and son have been good lol.)

Nevertheless, I check my car over to make sure, one more time, I have no fruit or vegetables.
This time I also checked and wouldn't you know, that guard dug and dug and found a bag of rotten kiwis.
They must have been there for months.

He walked into the building proudly parading them, high above his head, for everyone to see, like a cock who just secured his hen house.lol

If I ever rolled my eyes in my head, I could feel them rolling out of my skull that day.

The only thing that saved me from a 500 dollar fine and/or worse, is that the kiwi bag had Made in USA
written on it. The guy obviously saw I forgot about them, them being so rotten but the law is the law right?

So I learned something that day. Make sure you put your apples kiwis and vegetables in a made in the USA bags and you should be fine. lol

I guess the same would apply to Canada for US citizens???? I am not sure.

I like to keep my car empty to make for a clean in/ out experience but sometimes you screw up.

Kudoos to the guard who let me go that day.:)

but you never know from one experience to another what will happen at the border.
Once they asked me if I had drugs.
Their eye brows raised when, without batting an eye, I said yes. lol

I continued .......I have aspirin ibuprophen tylenol.....

Oh.... now they seemed depressed because it's not what they thought. lol But if I said no and they checked and found them, they could accuse me of not telling the truth.

Another time they asked me if I have knives.
Sure.......doesn't everyone? Scissors too. You need stuff like this. I'm a M.O.M.
It's my personal car used for personal uses.
Why should I keep buying stuff when I have them already?

Or should I say sorry. The A.L.I.E.N. made me do it. lol

Once Canada asked if I had a gun.
GUN??? Are they for real?
A Canadian? A country of Peace? A Mom with a kid in the car?
I felt myself shudder to that question. It rendered me speechless.

NO!
I have Foreign Accent Syndrome Disease.
Isn't that enough ?

But.......don't worry.......you got it too. lol

Have a great day!

Guys!

A far more accurate account of the events of that fateful morning....

Baby bear goes downstairs, sits in his small chair at the table.
He looks into his small bowl. It is empty.
'Who's been eating my porridge?' he squeaks.
Daddy Bear arrives at the big table and sits in
his big chair. He looks into his big bowl and it
is also empty. 'Who's been eating my porridge?!?' he roars.
Mummy Bear puts her head through the serving
hatch from the kitchen and yells, 'For God's
sake, how many times do I have to go through
this with you idiots? It was Mummy Bear who got
up first. It was Mummy Bear who woke everyone in
the house. It was Mummy Bear who made the
coffee. It was Mummy Bear who unloaded the
dishwasher from last night and put everything
away. It was Mummy Bear who swept the floor in
the kitchen. It was Mummy Bear who went out in
the cold early morning air to fetch the
newspaper and croissants. It was Mummy Bear who set the damn table.
'It was Mummy Bear who walked the bloody dog,
cleaned the cat's litter tray, gave them their food, and refilled their water.
'And now that you've decided to drag your sorry
bear-arses downstairs and grace Mummy Bear with
your grumpy presence, listen carefully, because
I'm only going to say this once....

'I HAVEN'T MADE THE DARN PORRIDGE YET
-------------

Kiddin aside Even Goldilocks and the Three Bears does not escape Philosophers.
What is the story supposed to teach?
Well we all know about trespassing .
We all know about theft.
But then there are other things to consider like being selfish, thinking about only herself.
She was also very particular trying to find things which were just perfect for herself, helping herself at someone elses' expense.
Everything had to be just right.
If we compare this story to todays' world, we could begin to understand what is wrong with our economy, with our justice system, with our politicians,

For example is it ok for one company to own everything?
Is it ok for the gas company to monopolize all gas business?

Is it ok for a small elite group to control the world?
and when confronted...... is it ok for this group to run away or ignore the problem as if it was none of their business?

Is it ok for CEO's to get huge bonuses for doing a shabby job or was their job to find a way to rob people legally? Would this then be illegal because it's entrapment?
Police could not get away with it so why do CEO's dealing in finance?

Children's books are great to teach children with but we all take them at face value as a nice story without teaching the morals and ethics behind them.
But once children grow up, philosophy brings the stories back, to bite them in the ass lol

Have a great Day!! :)

A Quest for Amusement.

What amuses you? To amuse means to occupy, in an agreeable, pleasing, or entertaining fashion.

I asked around and the following are some responses people gave.

Religion amuses me.

Love amuses me.

People amuse me cause they make me laugh. Like comedians with funny faces.

Tupoc was a gansta and he amuses me. I wanna be a G man too.

I always get amused by the unceasing efforts of hate mongers to make fun of you and your beliefs.

Dreamers, cause they are like sci fie.

People holding hands

Graffiti and Strange art cause some of it is real good.

Animals acting like people and people like animals. Both funny.
When a monkey punches a person in the face.

Bull shit conversations about nothing like Seinfeld and Two and Half Men

Understanding human nature amuses me. In particular, understanding and solving problems that seem complex, but whose solution is deceptively simple.

Playing with my kid and have it suddenly turn beat red and poop

Soccer fights, hockey fights.

People falling down doing stupid stunts.

Farts always amuse me especially when I have to conceal it.

Negative comments





http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/41963.Neil_Postman

Neil Postman had some Quotes to think about


But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.
Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions".
In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

It amuses me to see that one of these men ............seems to be right.
However like anything else, it depends on which side of the coin you are looking at. lol

Have a great day!

Psychologists think they're experimental psychologists.
Experimental psychologists think they're biologists.
Biologists think they're biochemists.
Biochemists think they're chemists.
Chemists think they're physical chemists.
Physical chemists think they're physicists.
Physicists think they're theoretical physicists.
Theoretical physicists think they're mathematicians.
Mathematicians think they're metamathematicians.
Metamathematicians think they're philosophers.
Philosophers think they're gods.

***

Question: What did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? --- Answer: Make me one with everything.


Two behaviorists have sex. One turns to the other and says, "That was good for you: how was it for me?"