The PAUL Thanksgiving

Today the Paul family had our Thanksgiving celebration--it's been a while since they had a real family get together for the holidays. We were blessed today!

My daughters-in-law, Cindy & Robin, decorated my house for Christmas (and the granddaughers helped also!). Ralph and sons, Richard & Bradley, deep fried the turkey on the back porch and enjoyed some good father/son time.

After a good dinner the ladies took the grandgirls to several locations about Mobile in an effort to get a really good picture of them for the annual Christmas cards...those girls are so CUTE! And they are sweethearts, too.

A funny thing happened today--somehow our cat, Crackhead, ended up on the roof....Ralph & Bradley protested their innocence in that event..lol...(as if I believed them! lol!)...but Richard got him down.



Our next get together will be our annual Christmas get together...what fun that will be! BUT, before that day the ladies in the family and I will attend the ballet! A great time!

A BIG thank you!

On DECEMBER 5, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at the Daphne Recreation Center I will be hosting a bellydance hafla/recital for my students and for other dancers in the area. This event will be a fundraiser for Emma's Harvest Home which is a residential women's rehab facility for those struggling with addiction (I sometimes teach bellydance there!).

I am using this forum to send a BIG THANK YOU(!) to my VOLUNTEER publicity person, Sonja Presley. Without all her efforts this event wouldn't be getting the press that it's getting. She's working tirelessly to get the word out about the event.

I met Sonja about 8 years ago when I first started teaching bellydance in Daphne. At that time, she and her then 8 yr old daughter, Caitlin, took lessons from me. After a while, they moved and I didn't see them much at all until earlier this fall when Caitlin, who is now 16(!), returned for lessons with me. I was thrilled to see her!

Caitlin will be dancing an Egyptian styled solo to the music of "Zeina". My Daphne group, Fuze (cute name, eh?) will be dancing two tribal fusion style dances ("Karakas" and "Discovered"), and I will perform my original sword choreo to a piece of music by Corvus Corax (good musicians!). I'll also be performing a short "surprise" dance...won't say what it is...but it involves glass (hopefully the unbroken kind! lol!)

I hope you can all come and see us! The lineup of dancers promises to be interesting with a wide variety of dance styles to be presented.

Included here is a picture of my Daphne class (Fuze) taken at our last rehearsal.

Shimmies!

An Old Man in a Hat

The day we left Pigeon Forge we ate breakfast at a place with the BEST pecan pancakes. While waiting on our food to be served we noticed a quite elderly man who walked a little stooped over and who wore a hat. He was with a younger man.

Even though I sat across the room from the old man I could see that he radiated warmth and goodwill. What's more, I noticed that he had impeccable old-fashioned MANNERS. He removed his hat at the table, was cordial to his server and he seemed just plain old jolly. Of course, he could have been simply happy that he woke up that morning given his age! lol!

But I realized he is literally a dying breed. Most of the younger generation do not seem to have manners and this is from a lack of training in the home. Young men and boys wear hats, not only backwards, but inside and at the dinner table--that is IF they sit at the dinner table.

Many young women these days seem too forward. I was raised to believe that the guy should call first...these days it seems a lot of young women make it TOO easy for a guy to have them.

Another thing: I have noticed that many younger men do not stop to open or hold a door for a women anymore...some do and I always express my gratitude toward them. But, sadly, the majority of these men just barge right on in front of the woman.

What happened to "ladies, first?"

I realize that the feminist movement changed a lot of things....also with the necessity of woman now HAVING to be in the work force even if they don't want to be, men have become confused about how to act in a world where women are now asking to be treated as equals. I have no problem with that....but it just seems to me that there is no need for people to be as careless toward others and inconsiderate and just plain rude.

I think we need a return to those old-fashioned manners.

Do You Sprinkle When You Tinkle?

If so, do you wipe the seat?! lol! While on vacation in the Smoky Mountains and on the way to and from there I had the opportunity to learn a lot about a lot of people I'd never met.

Apparently, not everyone was raised with the same instructions as I. For instance, I was always told "if you sprinkle with you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat".

Well, GUESS WHAT?! Not everyone does that! If I wiped off one sprinkled toilet seat I wiped off well over a dozen! And what was even more frightening was that I observed these anonymous "sprinklers" leave the restroom withOUT washing their hands OR using hand sanitizer! Geez! How gross can this be?!?!

DOESN'T ANYONE HAVE MANNERS anymore?!?!?

Where has common sense and consideration gone??