the following is part of a letter i printed out for each of my house mates...

"Dear fellow residents of our skinner mill household, December 30, 2004
(a.k.a.-- roomies)

You’re going to think I’m *crazy*.....but I propose that we, as a “family,” make a truly unified effort this year toward conservation, reuse, and recycling. I cannot sit idly any longer..throwing away useful things..buying things I do not need...and filling landfills with what could be recycled. I believe it is our duty to be good stewards of all that we have..and part of that includes the space we have on this planet. I've been considering it for a number of months now, and see no reason not to begin our new year with this.

I know that there are about a million things we could be doing and aren’t..and thinking about all of that can seem very overwhelming...but I am willing to help us begin making the needed changes and head this effort if you, as my skinner mill family, will participate with a few guidelines and rules. I do not expect us to suddenly become completely "earth-friendly" but I do know that there are a few simple things we could start with in order to make us more environmentally conscious.

My suggestions:
1. The Compost Pile
2. Recycling
3. Use wisely/Reuse"

i followed this with a breakdown of those three points and how i expect we can easily begin to adhear to them. this is just me realising that i cant complain about the state of mind americans are in if i dont start doing something to help change my own state and the state of mind of those directly around me.

i guess i'll post updates if any good response comes of this..and i guess i should go buy a second trash can soon....i just havent decided yet if a large outdoor trashcan is what we need, or if we just need a second kitchen trash can....hrm....again..i should wait for roomie responses before this step...me thinks

this christmas almost everything i gave came from antique stores. the only non-antique gifts selected were the sweater i found for my grandmother which is a perfect color and style for her and was less than ten dollars from a closeout store...and the items for the "movie night" basket i made for the owners of the coffee shop. and since that was such a creative little idea...i dont feel bad for it one bit.

why would i feel bad for new gift giving? well..because it feels so very...sterile..to me. and so wasteful, too. i LOVE the feeling that i'm giving someone something which is completely unique...that they wont have already been given that year. i love buying things used or on closeout to prevent them from becomming trash before their usefulness is spent. i love the history that looms around old things....like the newspaper clipping that we found in the pages of the book i gave my dad last night. i gave my friend rebekah a flower chocker which god only knows the events it was worn to and on whos neck it was displayed as the latest fashion..and no one else will be wearing this where rebekah wheres it in the comming months...and she wont soon forget where it came from. the american girl books i gave my little sisters may have been read first by someone my age..maybe even me, for all we know...and now they can repeat the process. why should we print new ones when these are prefect?

my mom gave me a set of tea plates with cups which were from a thrift store and i LOVE them. i love that there are 5 cups and 4 plates and i love that it isnt something i can just turn around and see in anyone's home today...i love that there is a history of social gatherings contained within the memory of these dishes.

i suppose i like the thought of ghosts..i enjoy the mystery behind old things...and i hate to see them fall to the side for newer. its no wonder i love the story of the velvetine rabbit.

well..one of my housemates is looking for someplace new to live. i knew she would be...i hoped she would..for her sake. i hurt for her because i know her personality is simply being smothered in our house as it is. its small and we sleep when she doesnt and she has to comply with our silence while shes wide awake and would love to have people over..so for her sanity..i hope she finds someplace. i pray she finds the perfect roommate setting..and that its good for her and helps her grow..and lets her be HERSELF again...i havent seen her as herself in well..about a year, i guess.

how strange it is to say "i love you and because of that i hope you find someplace to move out to soon" yeah..its odd and doesnt seem like it should make sense...but it does..completely.

so..in light of this probabilty...what of our house without a jen?

i think carrie and i could pull the weight of the rent as just two of us..realy. carrie is going to be fully licensed and graduated to do hair in january or february..and when that happens she'll be able to pick up a lot more work..making good money..a chunk more than shes getting at the moment...and i havent realy been being frugal with my food and other expenses altely..i have room to cut back in order to still manager a bit more in the bills...and we've talked about how niether of us care much to pay for a phone line..we got that for jen because she kept going over her cell plan.

carrie and i tend to buy a lot of the same food products and such, too...we use the same grocery store and actually end up going about the same time to shop.so maybe we could even make groceries a roommate bonding thing in the future. i think we could realy make the house more homey just the two of us...agreeing on how things are done and stuff has never been much of an issue between us.

anyhow..yeah. this house realy is made for two people..and it could be realy fun to set it up as such...id get to paint a new room and have space for the stuff i'll be acquiring when mom and dad finish their move...wow!

dont get me wrong though..i do love jen..i do. i love knowing her..i love talking with her..but those chances are so rare lately that all we get to cover are house issues. i miss her as she was.

dear brother,
i want this for my birthday. please take me!
love,
the older little sister

um...okay...here's the thing

so...at work tonight one of my employees sisters comes in with some friends of hers...we're all happy and cheery and stuff..

dude (friend of employees sister): i'll need two medium chais
me and the girls behind the counter: (urging that at least one be chai cider instead of plain chai)
dude: are you becca?
me: yeah
dude: i'm stalking you on the internet
me: what!?!
dude:...through your blog
me and girls behind the counter: (exclaiming about how creepy that is)
dude: (tries to not sound like he meant to be creepy)

later, while i'm making the drinks...
dude: i was just surprised to find someone else from augusta and then i thought you were a friend of mine and then found you werent
me: did you ever say anything in there?
dude: no, just read it for a couple of days

a little more later...
wife of dude: i'm sorry that my husband scared you...he's realy a nice guy
me: that was REALY creepy, though.

yeah..so...should i be more interesting in the next few posts, so as to entertain the stalking readership...or should i sudenly try to be as boring as possible, to deter?

on a side...
dear peter,
you should like to know that a friend of mine at a christmas party was biding people farewell in elvish ("namarie") it should also be noted that chad..the friend..is a music and theatre sort, too. so..that makes a total of TWO people who may regularly use elvish speak around me at any given moment...you being the first, of course.
endearingly,
becca

i heard a very tiny snip of this the other night while driving from the grocery store to my house..and i need to listen to the whole program....so here it is as a reminder to myself...so i will probably delete this soon as i've sat myself down long enough to take a listen (now you can see for yourselves how busy i have been lately...by watching how long this sits here)

The Infinite Mind on "Place"

A year ago round now
I endeavored upon a great fall.
Not accidental, but thought out and acted upon
and now I stand looking back.
I see the height from which I fell.
Also see I from whence I’ve come
and to where
and I reason that the falling wasn’t a falling in fear,
because I knew that the going
would not be as though falling
-from a cliff into a rocky bottom-
but more as coming
-to a drop off-

From where I then was looking down
I saw bellow me a gentle river
and lush green things with wild flowers and shades of emerald
and the verdure sparkled.
There was music within each ripple of the brook
dancing ‘round rocks who were calling me to dance along.
I knew that in the valley there’d be dancing for me
all around and beneath and above me.

(and these, only the describable visions,
for there were bellow a many beautiful thing
as humankind may never have seen before
and certainly I could never describe here.)

Thus in me was created a glad expectation
and with it, an unquenchable desire
to experience the beauties of the valley.
This desire compelled me to let myself scale that ledge,
though difficult and possibly dangerous..and definitely messy.

I descended and I was caught up within the glorious enjoyment.
In the treats of the unexpected falling in.
And now, after I’ve come through the ravine,
I find that I am glad for the tumbles
these scars can only make me smile of the memories.

yes, it is that time of year again, my friends

the time of year when becca checks the weather almost every day and tries to predict snowfall. it if is EVER predicted to be at all damp, and bellow freezing..she's crossing her fingers for snowfall..and guess what? it *could* *possibly* happen this sunday!!!!!!

it would be *perfect* too, because sunday night is our evensong service..and what better night for snow than on the eve of a christmasy celebration of worship?

exactly....my friends...exactly!

*continues to play the roll of a little girl with sparklingly naive eyes*

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