Somehow, Thanksgiving always symbolizes the start of the Holiday's for me. Working at the mall, one would have thought that Christmas follows Halloween directly, and that there are not two months between the two holidays. I am excited that I only have a three day work week this week. Somehow having days off at the end of the week makes the week seem shorter but alas... having a day off at the beginning of the week always seems to make the week feel longer when you finally get there.
I love Sundays :-) It has fast become my favorite day of the week.
I have some personal traditions to go along with the family ones, that I try to stick to every year. On Thanksgiving, I go to the bar the night before and see everyone from high school who is in town... on Thanksgiving I eat with my family, tell the same old stories, and sometimes play cards. As the night gets later I meet up with friends "my other family" and go to see a movie, late at night. This year's pick is going to be the movie Twilight, the new Vampire movie. On Friday morning it's time to get up out of bed and go shopping. I rarely buy anything on Black Friday for some reason, but I love being out in the hustle and bustle of it all. I think it's funny how upset and crabby people get... who wants to feel like that while they're buying gifts for loved ones in the spirit of holiday cheer?
What are your holiday traditions? What's your favorite part?
~Michele~
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Cleaning
So they say that cleanliness is like Godliness... in my family, this is true. So, as I prepare for my Tastefully Simple party tomorrow, I am both exhausted and satisfied. My house is clean. If you drop something on the floor, feel free to eat it anyway... really! My roomates are pretty sure that I suffer from OCD when it comes to cleaning, and I'm sure they're greatful for it. I think it is something else though, I think I am finally growing up. I recently moved out of my parent's home and though it may sound silly, it feels good to clean. This is my house, my sanctuary, the place that I pay for, cherish, and value - and I like it clean. :-)
What else I think is funny is that I don't have any readers yet. I have one potential reader, but I keep not telling her the website. I think I'll fess up tomorrow.
Good night
~Michele~
What else I think is funny is that I don't have any readers yet. I have one potential reader, but I keep not telling her the website. I think I'll fess up tomorrow.
Good night
~Michele~
Saturday, November 15, 2008
New Car
So... I recently moved out of my house, into an apartment, bought a car, and finished getting my master's degree. Now, I don't have enough income to go any further until I catch up a bit and that leaves me feeling a little stuck. The upside is that I love the apartment that I live in, the roommates are good, and the freedom is amazing. Finally, I am starting to feel like an adult in the world. Someone who contributes things that are worthwhile, rather than just drifting from one mindless activity to the next. So... here's to being an adult... I have to go, I have laundry to do!
~Michele~
~Michele~
Thursday, November 6, 2008
First Post
A marble jar is where I keep my marbles... so that they are not lost.
To 'lose one's marbles' is to lose one's mind. This late 19th century American meaning has now been superseded by the many variants of 'one brick short of a load', 'the light's on but there's no one at home' etc. In those later expressions the literal meaning of 'load', 'light' etc don't have any special significance - the point is that the person in question has, as in another earlier variant, 'a bit missing'. Perhaps though 'marbles' meant 'mind' or 'wits' before 'lose one's marbles' was coined. That's worth investigation at least, so let's have a go.
The word 'marbles' has had many meanings. Of course, marbles are the little clay or glass balls that children use to play the eponymous game. From the mid 19th century 'marbles' was also used to mean 'personal effects', 'goods', or more generally 'stuff'. This derives from the French word 'meubles', which means 'furniture'. From the 1920s onward two US expressions have become established - 'to pick up the marbles' and 'to pick up one's marbles'. These mean 'to carry off the honours or prizes' and 'to withdraw from activity or game and cause it to cease' (like the UK variant 'take one's ball home'). 'Marbles' also meant testicles and has been used that way since at least the mid 19th century.
Despite these many meanings, there doesn't seem to be any reason to connect any of them to the 'losing one's mind' meaning. It has been suggested that the expression derives from the Elgin Marbles - the collection of sculptures, some from the Parthenon Frieze, which were taken from Athens by Lord Elgin in 1806. The supposition is that the expression derives from the loss of the artworks by the Greeks, or their subsequent loss at sea when the ship that was transporting them sank - although they were later recovered. Again, there's no evidence to support this idea.
It's more likely that 'marbles' was coined as a slang term meaning 'wits/common sense' for no particular reason. This uage begam in the us in the late 19th century and the Ohio newspaper The Portsmouth Times, reported a story in April 1898 that used marbles that way:
"Prof. J. M. Davis, of Rio Grande college, was selected to present J. W Jones as Gallia's candidate, but got his marbles mixed and did as much for the institution of which he is the noted head as he did for his candidate."
By 1927, an edition of American Speech defined the term unambiguously:
"Marbles, doesn't have all his (verb phrase), mentally deficient. 'There goes a man who doesn't have all his marbles.'"
Welcome to my marble jar - Michele
To 'lose one's marbles' is to lose one's mind. This late 19th century American meaning has now been superseded by the many variants of 'one brick short of a load', 'the light's on but there's no one at home' etc. In those later expressions the literal meaning of 'load', 'light' etc don't have any special significance - the point is that the person in question has, as in another earlier variant, 'a bit missing'. Perhaps though 'marbles' meant 'mind' or 'wits' before 'lose one's marbles' was coined. That's worth investigation at least, so let's have a go.
The word 'marbles' has had many meanings. Of course, marbles are the little clay or glass balls that children use to play the eponymous game. From the mid 19th century 'marbles' was also used to mean 'personal effects', 'goods', or more generally 'stuff'. This derives from the French word 'meubles', which means 'furniture'. From the 1920s onward two US expressions have become established - 'to pick up the marbles' and 'to pick up one's marbles'. These mean 'to carry off the honours or prizes' and 'to withdraw from activity or game and cause it to cease' (like the UK variant 'take one's ball home'). 'Marbles' also meant testicles and has been used that way since at least the mid 19th century.
Despite these many meanings, there doesn't seem to be any reason to connect any of them to the 'losing one's mind' meaning. It has been suggested that the expression derives from the Elgin Marbles - the collection of sculptures, some from the Parthenon Frieze, which were taken from Athens by Lord Elgin in 1806. The supposition is that the expression derives from the loss of the artworks by the Greeks, or their subsequent loss at sea when the ship that was transporting them sank - although they were later recovered. Again, there's no evidence to support this idea.
It's more likely that 'marbles' was coined as a slang term meaning 'wits/common sense' for no particular reason. This uage begam in the us in the late 19th century and the Ohio newspaper The Portsmouth Times, reported a story in April 1898 that used marbles that way:
"Prof. J. M. Davis, of Rio Grande college, was selected to present J. W Jones as Gallia's candidate, but got his marbles mixed and did as much for the institution of which he is the noted head as he did for his candidate."
By 1927, an edition of American Speech defined the term unambiguously:
"Marbles, doesn't have all his (verb phrase), mentally deficient. 'There goes a man who doesn't have all his marbles.'"
Welcome to my marble jar - Michele
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
