Melissa's Idea Garden

I am a proud alumni of the College of William and Mary in Virginia.  I graduated in 1988, was married in the Wren Chapel the same year, and have many fond memories of my time spent in Williamsburg.

Unfortunately, our new President is making some politically correct decisions that, personally, I disagree with. First he buckled under to the NAACP and agreed to remove the feathers from the Tribe's logo. I find it interesting that the NAACP fights for such things when most Indians are proud that their heritage is remembered and acknowledged in this way. 

Now he has decided to remove the Wren Cross from the Wren Chapel to keep from offending people. The cross has been in the Wren Chapel since 1931. It was a gift from neighboring Bruton Parrish. The previous 'rules' stated that anyone wishing to use the chapel could ask for the removal of the cross if it was undesirable to them. Now Christians have to ask for it to be put in place if they desire it's presence. If you are an alumni and are reading this or if you have feeling about the matter, check out the Save the Wren Cross website for complete information, a petition and the President's email address.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, Maggie has been here for three weeks and has changed so much! The children are getting much better at picking up their stuff (without reminding). We all get up earlier and go to bed earlier (because by the end of the day we are exhausted).  We walk more. We spend more time outside.  Jungle Princess and I have become adept at pulling Maggie's jaws apart to see what she is chewing on now. Game Master is great at taking her for walks and putting her on her run.  Both kids enjoy teaching her 'sit', 'down,' and 'stay.'

She hasn't used the bathroom in the house for over a week (yahoo). She loves riding in the car with us.  She is learning not to pull me down the road behind her. She still chases our cats up trees and for some reason she barks at my husband mostly when he enters the room, but sometimes just because he is there.  She is hard on toys. We got her this really cool soccer ball with rope on two sides where you could play tug of war with her. She loved it and in the first day had managed to pul the 'harness' off the ball that held the ropes on to the ends....That was a 15.00 toy. But then there are some 1.00 toys we have here that are stil doing great.

She loves Katrina's stuffed animals and will bring them out daintily in her mouth then not want to let them go.  We have refrained from getting her a plush animal toy in the dog toy section because we don't want her to transfer her desire of those toys to the kids stuffed toys.

We love Maggie to pieces and are enjoying the changes our 4 legged friend has brought into our lives.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My 6 year old daughter loves dressing up and looking 'cute'.  She will fix her hair 'just so' and then stand in front of the mirror smiling at herself and turning her head in different angles.  Now, we don't watch much tv (and what they do watch is cartoons and animal shows (old cartoons like Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny, etc). Of course, there is always advertising...beautiful models on billboards and commercials. And she has some older friends (9 and 10 and 11) and maybe she is picking up some of it from them, but it does amaze me how it seems to be hardwired into her to want to primp. (Not something I do, heck, I don't even dry my hair most days!)

Interestingly, she does have some things to learn...she likes wearing stripes with polka dots, red with pink and tennis shoes with fancy dresses. She likes her  hair best uncombed, put in a pony tail by herself with a big 'hunk' of it hanging down beside her face....

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, we probably aren't going to be able to make them go away, but listen to these masters of the political ad and find out a little bit about how they manipulate our emotional responses with their voices and emphasis on words. It is fun and enlightening! Happy Election Day!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)