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Friday, November 20, 2009

Friday Mieography


This one is short, because frankly, I don't feel well.


Bette Clair McMurray was born in Dallas Texas, in 1924. She dropped out of high school and married Warren Nesmith, before he left for World War II, but they were divorced by 1946. He had abandoned his family. They had one son, Michael, whom she had sole custody of. Needing to support them, she got a job as a bank secretary, and rose to the level of Executive Secretary. She had always intended to be an artist, but you do what you have to do to support your family.
She was having a hard time making ends meet, so she made extra money painting windows at the bank. She was also having a difficult time correcting mistakes she made using her electric typewriter. While she was painting a window, she had an epiphany, about how an artist corrects their errors by painting over the error, not erasing it. So, she took some tempera water based paint in a bottle, (which she had mixed up in her kitchen blender) and started using it to correct her mistakes. She used this, secretly, for five years, and made some improvements on the recipe with the help of her son's chemistry teacher. Some of her bosses admonished her for using it, but her co workers frequently asked her if they could use it, too. In 1956 she began marketing the the stuff, calling it "Mistake Out". The name was later changed to Liquid Paper when she started her own company. She was using her own kitchen as a laboratory, and mixing the product now in her electric mixer. She was using this to try and make money, on the side. She ended up making a mistake at work that she couldn't correct, and got fired. She then had the opportunity to devote all her time to Liquid Paper, and the business took off. By 1967 it was a million dollar business. She finally moved into her own plant in 1968.
In 1979, she sold Liquid Paper, for 47.5 million dollars. She died in 1980, at the young age 56. She left half her money to her son, Michael, (whom some of you may know as Mike Nesmith, of Monkee fame..) and used the remainder to finance the "Council on Ideas", a think tank devoted to exploring world problems. She believed money to be a tool, not a solution to a problem.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Eight!

Its coming up, soon.

One of my favorite days of the year.
One I await with anticipation. One of the few days I sit and watch
college football.

My beloved Navy team is coming up on the *most* important game of the season.
The Navy-Army game.
We've won the last seven times.
Last year?
a 34-0 shut out.
Thats right. The Army couldn't even get a field goal.
Not one point.
I love the Midshipmen!

So, lets make it eight, Middies, lets make it eight.
I've got some bragging to do.....

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Lets see if I can get out of the dungeon....

1. Tell us about your superstitions. Do you have any? Do you "x out" black cats on the windshield of your car, avoid cracks in the sidewalk or practice other rituals that make you feel safer?
Don't have any? Come on now! Make up some....Well I happen to have two black cats in my household, and I actually think they are pretty lucky. I will admit that I don't like Friday 13th. I have had a few bad things happen to me on that day, so I tend to just stay home and avoid them if I can...

2. Has anything paranormal ever happened to you that you can write about?Once, when I was spending the night at my sister's house, I had gone to bed in the guest room, and I "felt" a small dog jump onto the foot of my bed, circle a few times, then lay down. They have a small dog, so I turned on the light, and she wasn't there. "Your imagining things", I thought. A few minutes later, as I was dropping off to sleep, I felt the same thing.... my brother in law thinks it was the spirit of one of his old beagles...



3. Have you ever had a near-death experience?
Care to share? I almost drowned when I was a kid, but I don't really remember anything, except the finality of that last sinking, and then the sweet taste of the air when the lady who saved me pulled me out of the lake.

4. Pheromones...aka "love fireworks" (I think I remember those)...are a force to be reckoned with. Do you believe that two people can have an uncontrollable chemical reaction to each other? How do you know this to be true? Wow, this one is kind of tough. I've never really had what I would consider a chemical reaction to anyone. Attraction? yeah... I think I prefer the 'slow burn' kind that you know will last longer then that quick "boom!"





5. Do you believe that modern day witches can put spells on people?
If so, who would you like to hoodoo and why? Sorry, I don't really buy into this one, I am not convinced anyone can spell another. I guess I would put my hoodoo on the dungeon door so I could get out and get warm!


6. ESP! What do those letters stand for in your life? Everlasting Sensitive Platypus!

7. Do you ever hear strange noises in your house?
If so, what do they sound like? The strange noises heard in my house sound suspiciously like said black cats terrorizing each other, and trying to get into my fishtanks...


8. Tell us about a time you "knew" something was going to happened before it did. Are you one of those intuitive types or do you know someone who is ? Do tell. I once knew that my (now ex) husband was going to have a car accident on his way to work. He went to leave, and I just had this feeling. I told him to please be extra careful, and he kind of laughed at me. Until I got that phone call that someone had side swiped him on the freeway, causing extensive damage to his classic car. He wasn't laughing then....

9. I'm a tad gifted in the dream department. Really. Sometimes my dreams are prophetic and come true. It can be a blessing and a curse. Has this ever happened to you? If not, would you like to have this gift? (Be careful what you wish for. It can be freaky at times.) You know, I really wouldn't like for this gift to be given to me. I do have premonitions at times, and that is freaky enough for me. My dreams are so bright and vivid, I usually remember them all very well, and if they started coming true I think that I might be afraid to go to sleep, and it would make my insomnia problem worse... so, no thanks!!!


As usual, to see more participants, go here

Monday, November 16, 2009

The Parental Units

We had a road trip this weekend, down to visit my parents. My mom, Aunt Tuna, has recently had surgery on her foot, and she had a serious case of cabin fever. She's been holed up for a few weeks, and still has her foot in this ugly shoe thingy that she has to wear, but she needed to be OUT!
My Dad has been under the weather, too. He has been having some throat issues, and it involves him having a biopsy and cat scans and all of that. I am really hoping and praying that it is something minor. And not something else. The word we are all thinking, but NOT ready to say, yet. NOT ready to say.
Anyhow. So we went to visit, to get my Mom out of the house, to end her cabin fever. MG and I took her to the store, and around, and then we went back and got all the men, and went to dinner. It was a nice trip down. MG got to see where I grew up, even the room I lived in for years. (too many years!).
I am working Thanksgiving, so we won't be making it down there for Turkey day, so it was nice to be able to get a short visit in...

Friday, November 13, 2009

Friday Mieography


For the first time in my mieography history, I am going to repeat someone.

I did this lady before I was "officially" doing the mieographies.
I chose her, (and choose her again) because what she did for women was SO VERY important,
and I am re-doing her because I wasn't too very thorough the first time.
She is so one of my favorite women. I just admire the hell out of her!

So, another Margaret.
Margaret Sanger was born in Corning, New York. Her mother was a devout Roman Catholic, who experienced eighteen pregnancies, (with eleven live births) before she died of tuberculosis and cervical cancer. Her father earned his living chiseling tombstones, and was, surprisingly, an advocate for suffrage, free public education, and, socialism. Being the sixth of the eleven surviving siblings, Margaret spent much of her time doing household chores, and taking care of her younger siblings. Her older sisters managed to get her out, for awhile, to be educated for two years, but when her mother got sick, she needed to come home. She nursed her mother until she died, then she went into a nursing program, and married an architect. She settled in NYC with her husband, but soon developed tuberculosis herself. The couple moved, to Saranac, NY, where she gave birth to her first baby, Stuart.
Their family home burnt down, and back to NYC they went. She went to work on the East Side of Manhattan, and also started writing a column for "The New York Call" called what Every Girl Should Know". Risking imprisonment, she also distributed a pamphlet called Family Limitation. The Comstock Law of 1873 was still in place, and enforced, and this outlawed the dissemination of contraceptive information and devices.
Margaret felt like women needed to be able to decide when they wanted to be pregnant, and, that women should be able to enjoy sexual relations without the fear of getting pregnant. She was working with the poor women on the Lower East Side who were constantly suffering through frequent childbirths, induced abortions, and miscarriages. She became more verbal in her demands that women become knowledgeable about birth control. The only birth control advice given by doctors at this time was abstinence. Margaret had made a friend, Sadie, and this was the advice that Sadie's doctor gave her. A few months after, Sadie was found dead, from a self induced abortion. This was a turning point in Margarets life.
She separated from her husband, and in 1914, she began a monthly newsletter entitled "The Woman Rebel", which promoted contraception. The slogan of the magazine was "No Gods and No Masters". She coined the term "birth control in this newsletter as well.
She was indicted for violating US postal obscenity laws, but she jumped bail, and went to England as "Bertha Watson". She returned to the united states, however, in time to see her daughter, Peggy, who died not soon after at the age of five.
Her husband was jailed for thirty days for distributing "Family Limitations" to an undercover postal worker. While she was traveling in Europe, Margaret saw, for the first time, a diaphragm, and she was convinced that it was more effective than the suppositories and douches that she had been distributing. She began smuggling them in after she returned home, being the first to introduce them to the United States.
1916 found "What Every Girl Should Know" turn into a book. It was followed by "What Every Mother Should Know". She launched another periodical, called The Birth Control Review and Birth Control News", and opened a family planning clinic in Brooklyn. It was raided on its ninth day of operation. She went to prison for a month. Not soon after, a Judge finally wrote an opinion allowing doctors to prescribe birth control.
She then founded the American Birth Control League, and traveled to Japan to promote birth control there, as well. She and her first husband had divorced, by this time, and she married an oil tycoon, James Slee. With the help of money, she was finally able to open a legal birth control clinic, the first of its kind. It had an all female staff of doctors and social workers. She continued on with her work, traveling, providing information about birth control, and continued to write for her own publications, and others. In the 1960's, she actively promoted the birth control pill. She toured Europe, Asia, and Africa lecturing, and establishing clinics.
She died in 1966, in Tucson, Arizona, eight days before her 87th birthday. A few months before, her life goal had been realized. A legal decision had been passed allowing for married couples in the United States to use birth control...

Thursday, November 12, 2009

so this is how that feels...

Last night, MM and I went to meet some of his old friends from high school for drinks and dinner. One of them was visiting from out of state, so it seemed like too nice of an opportunity to pass up. Plus, I don't often pass up the chances at a good mojito...

Anyhow, we managed to get to where we needed to, and I met the friends. 2 of them were single women. One of them very newly single. And that's when it kind of dawned on me. For once, (and it hasn't happened in a long, long time), I was the happily taken woman of the group. Secure in my relationship, and not in any way, shape or form looking for love. They had some discussion of what it's like to be newly single, some giddy talk of men, (or lack of), and such.
And I had nothing to contribute!
MM and I have been together for a little over two years, now. And there I sat, acting like the old, stuffy happily married woman. (though we're not married)
and you know? I was, and am perfectly happy in that role. Didn't bother me in the slightest.
I know, and remember how hard it is to find someone in this day and age
and it makes me value MM all the more :)