"Oeuvres completes" or eggs

One of the reasons I love school is the depth it brings to my mind and to my conversations.

I have started reading one of my eleven (yes, ELEVEN) texts for my winter course. The first night of perusing Jean-Jacques Rousseau and The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings had me need to understand the phrase oeuvres completes. Liz, knowing French, was my side-kick. We collectively chuckled about my book having something to do with eggs. Come to find out, egg is ouef, with no 'v'. (Plural is ouefs)

Digging a bit deeper, "oeuvres" in French translates to art or work, as in a piece of work. "Completes" as you can probably guess, translates to complete.

I am not sure, but I am guessing I may have further use for the French phrase "complete piece of work"....LOL!

One of my favorite things

Last night, the Barbra Steisand movie "Yentl" was on PBS. It was so great to see this 1983 film. It is truly one of my favorite movies of all time. It was even commercial-free! My favorite line (s):

"Nothing's impossible!"

"The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn the more I realize, the less I know."

I even stayed awake until 11:30 to watch it!
:)

Ho Ho Ho!

In the Spirit of the Holidays, I was recently asked to share my Holiday Tradition(s) and or a Holiday Recipe. The request from a remote colleague was: "It would be nice to hear about how you spend your Holidays and what foods are near and dear to your heart or stomach. Of course this is all optional, but it would add some personal touches to the Holiday Season."

Here goes:
Ever since I was a kid, we have had Christmas Eve at my Mom and dad's. We still do that today and my dad always makes up a big batch of shrimp cocktail. Everyone brings a dish.
After eating some, we unwrap gifts, youngest to oldest, so the kids can go first. (Poor Mom--always last!) A few years ago we dumped the gifts and only did stocking stuffers. Made it less spendy now with all the grandkids and great grandkids.

We also have this YUMMY easy dip for pretzels:

Pretzel Dip
2 packages of cream cheese
1 bottle of Western Salad Dressing (use about 1/2 of it)

Using an electric mixer so there are no lumps, mix the two things together until it is a dip-like consistency. Great for the salty pretzels!

Christmas Day is very low key: Jammies till noon and go visiting to the nursing home to see Grandma. She passed last year so will likely do a visit to my brother's house

What do you do as a tradition?

Ancient Greek Influence

From my recent paper on the ancient Greek influence on the Apostle Paul:

"There is no doubt that the Apostle Paul influenced Christianity. One could argue that Paul was influenced by Stoicism; ergo Christianity had a Stoic influence. I believe the bigger question is truly who influenced whom? Odysseus came first of the three men discussed. The impact that Homer’s Odyssey created on the ancient world, as well as on Western Civilization, could be the beginning of life as we know it today. Did Aristotle influence Stoicism? Did Stoicism truly influence Paul? Ultimately, did Aristotle indirectly influence Paul? Or did the gods on Mount Olympus and the adventures of Odysseus have a direct impact on the world of Christian beliefs and on the Bible itself? These questions pose an opportunity for additional research and examination. I look forward to taking some action to further investigate these. As I continue to study, I look to Aristotle: “For the pleasures arising from study and learning will make us study and learn all the more” (Aristole, Nicomachean Ethics, p.116)."

Books

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
- Arnold Lobel

(Let's hope I don't have a beard! --Lori)

Lesson 642 in the book of life:

If something is weighing on you, be sure you share with your partner in life.

The longer you wait, the harder it is to remain nice in the day-to-day. I had a very deep and thought-provoking conversation with my dear friend Dorian last week. I abstained from having a similar conversation with my partner, as I was afraid to share the burden, thinking it would send her down a similar road of feeling burdened. As the days clicked by, I became passive aggressive in my ‘way of being’ around Liz. I also was short-fused; she could do nothing right. We were jabbing verbally at one another. This morning, out to breakfast we go. Jab-Jab-Jab. “What is going on with us?” I asked. She shared a bit of what was so for her and then I totally let loose.

Bottom line: All is fine now!

The moral of the story: Never make them guess....