Are you on team Edward or Team Jacob?  Do you know which team you are on? If you don’t know what we’re talking about here we are talking about Twilight.  It has swept the nation in a way that has surprised alot of people.  But not surprisingly young girls everywhere are going gaga for the sparkly vampire Edward and for the young werewolf Jacob.  Young girls are taking sides ( or teams ) on who should win out for Bella’s attention.  This is really sort of silly because the books have all been written and we all know how this story ends.

But the even sillier part of this is the name bestowed on Moms who have seemingly become as enamored with the story as their young daughters.  Moms are reading the books and taking their daughters to the movies.  Not just in proportionate numbers but in large numbers.  So many Moms that apparently they required a name – “The Twilight Moms”.  The facts that Moms are reading Twilight and taking their daughters to the movie and buying the T-shirts and other gear is not all that silly.  The truly silly part of this story is the analysis that was discussed on TV this past week about WHY some Moms love Twilight.

On a serious news channel a serious psychologist was introduced and he said that there are so many Moms that love Twilight because they are not getting satisfied at home.  Their romance at home has faded and so they are turning the to the movie.

Really?  Could he be farther off the mark?

Twilight was originally written by a Mom who wrote a story that she thought her close friends would enjoy reading – it was written by a Mom for other Moms.  It is at its heart a romance novel.  A vampire that doesn’t turn into dust in the sunshine but instead sparkles? There have been some big liberties taken with the vampire legend.  I have been reading vampire stories since high school when I first read Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

So, when I first read Twilight I was a little put off by the soda pop version of the vampire story but as romance novels go it was really well written and a very fast read as Stephanie Meyers, the author, does have a real sense of pacing the story line to keep you involved and wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Back to the silliness.

Moms are into Twilight because they are lacking romance at home.  WRONG.

The appeal of Edward is that he is the perfect man – he adores Bella, he would do anything for her, he wants to do everything he can to keep her safe, he makes her laugh, he has a fast car and apparently tons of money and good manners but when it comes to physical contact he has to restrain himself and he leaves Bella to her self.

The problem is not that Moms don’t have enough romance in their lives – it is just the opposite – sometimes they just want to be left alone.

The Twilight series is very well written and even though we loved the story line of the triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob it really wasn’t until the movie New Moon that we all fell in love with Jacob.  We began to route for Bella and Edward in the first book but when we saw the performance of Taylor Lautner as the young Jacob tormented by the changes his body is going through in the process of becoming a grown up ( werewolf ).  He was also not bad to look at.  And even if we do have our own hunky guy at home there is nothing wrong with enjoying and appreciating the effort he took to bulk up for the movie.

So, whatever your reason for routing for one team or the other you will enjoy this new edition of the Twilight Series.  The special effects in New Moon, the soundtrack, and the cinematography are much better than in the first movie

So, enjoy the movie but leave us Moms to ourselves.

1899

By Elbert Hubbard

In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.

What to do!

Some one said to the President, “There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can.”

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How “the fellow by the name of Rowan” took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, “Where is he at?” By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- “Carry a message to Garcia!”

General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.

No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man- the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, & half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, & sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are within call.

Summon any one and make this request: “Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio”.

Will the clerk quietly say, “Yes, sir,” and go do the task?

On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:

Who was he?

Which encyclopedia?

Where is the encyclopedia?

Was I hired for that?

Don’t you mean Bismarck?

What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?

Is he dead?

Is there any hurry?

Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?

What do you want to know for?

And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia- and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average, I will not.

Now if you are wise you will not bother to explain to your “assistant” that Correggio is indexed under the C’s, not in the K’s, but you will smile sweetly and say, “Never mind,” and go look it up yourself.

And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put pure Socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all? A first-mate with knotted club seems necessary; and the dread of getting “the bounce” Saturday night, holds many a worker to his place.

Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who apply, can neither spell nor punctuate- and do not think it necessary to.

Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?

“You see that bookkeeper,” said the foreman to me in a large factory.

“Yes, what about him?”

“Well he’s a fine accountant, but if I’d send him up town on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got to Main Street, would forget what he had been sent for.”

Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia?

We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the “downtrodden denizen of the sweat-shop” and the “homeless wanderer searching for honest employment,” & with it all often go many hard words for the men in power.

Nothing is said about the employer who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long patient striving with “help” that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned. In every store and factory there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending away “help” that have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are, this sorting continues, only if times are hard and work is scarce, the sorting is done finer- but out and forever out, the incompetent and unworthy go.

It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best- those who can carry a message to Garcia.

I know one man of really brilliant parts who has not the ability to manage a business of his own, and yet who is absolutely worthless to any one else, because he carries with him constantly the insane suspicion that his employer is oppressing, or intending to oppress him. He cannot give orders; and he will not receive them. Should a message be given him to take to Garcia, his answer would probably be, “Take it yourself.”

Tonight this man walks the streets looking for work, the wind whistling through his threadbare coat. No one who knows him dare employ him, for he is a regular fire-brand of discontent. He is impervious to reason, and the only thing that can impress him is the toe of a thick-soled No. 9 boot.

Of course I know that one so morally deformed is no less to be pitied than a physical cripple; but in our pitying, let us drop a tear, too, for the men who are striving to carry on a great enterprise, whose working hours are not limited by the whistle, and whose hair is fast turning white through the struggle to hold in line dowdy indifference, slip-shod imbecility, and the heartless ingratitude, which, but for their enterprise, would be both hungry & homeless.

Have I put the matter too strongly? Possibly I have; but when all the world has gone a-slumming I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds- the man who, against great odds has directed the efforts of others, and having succeeded, finds there’s nothing in it: nothing but bare board and clothes.

I have carried a dinner pail & worked for day’s wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, and I know there is something to be said on both sides. There is no excellence, per se, in poverty; rags are no recommendation; & all employers are not rapacious and high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous.

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the “boss” is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly take the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off,” nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village- in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed, & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia.

THE END-

Every Thanksgiving we make the same exact menu.  It is great.  We have our favorites of course and for years we would tweak our recipes and our list until it has finally reached the list it is today.  We love celebrating Thanksgiving.  It is all about giving thanks ( and eating food ) – no other expectations or additional requirements.  It’s simple.

Some families experience stress during this holiday when they all gather together with a large extended family that may include fringe whacky relatives.  There is also the stress experienced by the host and hostess who want to make this day perfect ( and often find more criticism and “helpful advice” than they really feel is necessary ).

Our solution to ease that stress is the posted menu.  Years ago we posted the menu ( including recipes ) for our Thanksgiving dinner on our family blog.  Then we sent the link to all of our invited guests and let them know they could provide their input up until Thanksgiving day but once we all gathered together our expectation was that the day was to be enjoyed right along with the food.

Establishing expectations and giving family members a chance to provide their input has made our Thanksgiving celebrations one of the happiest days of our year.

CLICK HERE FOR THE HESTON FAMILY TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING

You really sent me an email about Microsoft paying to forward emails!?

We got the email again.  Pass this email along and Microsoft will pay you $248 for each mail forwarded.  This is REAL ( according to the email ).  The only problem is that it is not real.  I had seen this email before and since I had just spent the day on the Microsoft campus last Friday with the team from Trusty Computing I sent them an email and asked about this one – I went to the source!  And so can you. But more on that in a second.  Here is what they replied:

This is a hoax that has been around for years.

http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailhoaxes/a/maoltrack.htm

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/microsoft-aol.asp

I would go to safety.live.com and run and free safety scan of your computer, to be sure there isn’t anything on your machine.   Then make sure your email filters are set appropriately.

Thank you Microsoft for clearing that one up!  The folks at Trusty Computing are an amazing team and they really care about keeping us safe on our computers.  For more great tips visit their site at http://www.microsoft.com/protect

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