About Dana

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I'm a dichotomy of blue jeans, pretty jewelry, frugalista, and Southern girl living the simple rural life. I want to live my life holistically, thoughtfully, economically, and most of all gratefully, and encourage other women to do the same.

Friday, September 14, 2012

True Embarrassment

I was washing laundry today and came across one of Mr. Country Belle's old outdoor work shirts that reminded me of a Saturday afternoon in our past.

At the time, we lived in a 1907 American Foursquare house in an urban neighborhood. Pre-children, Mr. Country Belle and I often spent our Saturdays cleaning house and working in our postage stamp-sized yard.

On one such Saturday morning, we were preparing to go outside and plant a few flowers when the doorbell rang. Seeing it was two elderly men dressed in suits, we opened the door to find out what they needed. They attended the neighborhood Baptist church and were bringing information to us and inviting us to visit one Sunday morning.

As they stood there making small talk, one of the men remarked to my husband about his shirt.

"What does it say?" he asked.

Mr. Country Belle, really not remembering which work shirt he had put on, stood there as the gentleman leaned in to read the print on the front of the shirt. He read it slowly and carefully.



If I tell you I wanted to suddenly bolt like nobody's business, I would be under-representing my level of mortification that day.

"It, it, it's just a work shirt," I stammered. "That's why he just wears it around the house to work in."

I should have told them they needed to save my husband's soul and get on with the housekeeping.

I'd love to hear your embarrassing story in the Comments section. Let everyone enjoy it!

Love,
TCB

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

I am always shocked by how much information I have forgotten from my primary, middle (and dare I say – high school) education years. I always enjoyed school (yes, believe it), and my grades were always good (Can you believe it?).
So it’s great for me that I have been relearning so much information from homeschooling my son. The information has come in handy. A few months ago, I was working on a writing assignment for a client and needed a launch-in to an article about big ships on the high seas. I didn’t have to brainstorm much past that morning’s history lesson about the ancient Phoenicians. Helpful, especially to someone who would just a day earlier have stumbled over an accurate description if asked exactly who the Phoenicians were and what was their contribution to society?
I felt….knowledgeable.
Stop laughing.
For the past two years, I have been learning Latin. You might think a journalism major such as my illustrious self would have had some Latin experience at least in high school. But, nooooooooooo. Public schools taught Latin in the earlier years when they were focused on providing a more classical education, skipped (my) Generation X, and now appear to be teaching it again to middle and high schoolers.
I’m learning it vicariously through my son and the homework assignments given by his Latin teacher. It’s one instance where my 5th grader has to correct my grammar, and I have to look to him to see if I’m pronouncing the word right or writing the verb the correct way.
Give me a few more months, and I will finally be able to say, “I’m smarter than a 5th grader.”
Hope you are, too!
Love,
TCB