18 going on... 67?

     I have come to terms with myself- I have an old soul, and there is no fighting it. Most 19 year olds (cough cough) get excited about going clubbing or hitting up a raging party. I like to read, crochet, sew, and watch BBC mini series' with my parents. Hey, but that does not mean I am a total dud- I put on a good smile in those "raging party" situations. O, and to add to my old soul, I just got a job as a librarian at an elementary school. Honestly, it's kind of ridiculous.
    Lately I have gotten really into sewing and crocheting. The only problem with this is I am not very good at either of these things, I just kinda pretend I know what I am doing. I spend just as much time taking stitches out as I do putting them in- but it is all about the journey! Right?
    But there is light at the end of this tunnel. After spending about two hours on youtube and signing up for two crocheting websites I finally learned the granny square. This technique usually involves making tons of these squares and then joining them together at the end to make a really cool pattern. My great- grandmother actually crocheted a beautiful blanket using this technique, and coincidentally this blanket happens to be on my bed, and also serves as my inspiration to master the art of crocheting! Although this technique is quite simple I decided it was still too hard, and instead of making tons of cool different squares, I made the executive decision to make just one humungous square. I am about a fourth the way done now, and am actually quite pleased!
     For anyone that has ever crocheted before, they know there is lots of free-mind wander time, but not lots of free- hand wander time, so sometimes while crocheting crazy thoughts and ideas usually pop into heads- well mine at least, but I guess this does not come as a surprise to people who know me!  Well this thought is an exception. It is exactly what I think about everything, and basically base this blog off! It is the question how how crocheting started. Which women decided that making lots of tiny knots would work really well as blankets,or scarves, or hats etc. I now see that this may be a sexist remark- maybe a man invented this technique (although I doubt it! It is the women who come up with the really good ideas- see the tamale post!) But to be fair I decided to find out the real answer of how crocheting came to be, and as usual I hopped onto the world wide web to find out. Here is what I found!
      It turns out there is little known of the history of crochet. There are theories to it's origins, but nothing definite. And even these origins are "hotly disputed"- I just picture the council of crochet masters sitting around a dimly lighted room giving each other evil stares while "hotly debating" the origins of tying knots with a hook.
     As I read further into the history of crochet I found myself just getting really bored, and I want people to keep reading my blog so I will spare the details. The important thing to remember is don't try and discuss which origin theory is right, because you might find yourself in the middle of a hot debate!

My Blanket so far!

My great-grandmother's afghan

Close- up!

Hahahaha! Wait what was I talking about?

    Tamales, tamales, tamales! They have overtaken the house, but their invasion has not limited to the freezer. They have overtaken my father too!
    Little background- My dad is the scout master for the Spanish Branch of our church, in our area. To raise money for scout trips he thought of this idea of selling tamales. But not just any tamales, real authentic tamales rolled by the hermanas themselves! That's right- he got the women of the ward involved too. So the past few weeks the conversations around the dinner table have gone a little like this:
     Dad: "Hahahahah, Well I went over to the Garcia's to check on the tamales, and they were rolling them too thin, so I bought some tamales from the farmer's market to show them how big I want them. I also brought some more of the Garcia's tamales over here so we could try them out to make sure they are good"
    Mom: " I knew you were about to talk about the tamale fundraiser because you laughed first. You can never talk about the tamale sales without laughing first!"
    (It's so true- my father cannot talk about scouts or the tamale sales without laughing first!)
   Me: "Cool Dad! But does this mean we are going to have tamales for dinner again tomorrow night too? "
Like I was saying before- the tamales have taken over- but at a pretty good trade-off. Currently my dad has sold over 700 (I feel so bad for those ladies who are making them!) and they are pretty good too! I should know I have become quite the connoisseur lately.
   But all this tamale mayhem has made me wonder how they came to be. Like any person seeking knowledge I hopped onto the internet and the culinary-cooking-schools-institutes.com seemed like a pretty credible place to explore. What I found was not only a very interesting history of this delicious food, but also a hats off to the creativity of women. Apparently dating back as early as 5000 or 7000 BC women were taken to wars and battles as army cooks, and would prepare the masa for tortillas, along with meats. But as the tribes of the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan cultures grew, the demand of making the food became an extremely overwhelming process. But the women embraced the challenge and created the tamale! Now food was easily transported and easily eaten. There is no record of which tribe initially started making tamales first, but which ever tribe did was a trendsetter because everyone soon followed, and the tamale has been going strong ever since!

      Yes all of those bags house tamales, and those are only the ones in the freezer, we also have some in the fridge!

                                               

Get the fireworks ready, I hear Bethany is coming home!

   Movies seem to always portray the immense celebrations and merriment towns undertake to welcome home a returning college student, this is perfectly portrayed in movies such as "The Graduate" or "Christmas with the Kranks", (Is it bad to use these two movies together to prove a point- I know my brother will not approve, but o well this isn't his blog now is it!). As I was saying in these two movies the respective neighborhoods threw parties and such in honor of the young minds returning to their roots. Of course this is what happened to me. While landing in the teeny airport in Long Beach I noticed "Welcome Home Bethany!" scrawled out on the plane runway in orange traffic cones. Then while for waiting for my bags, a Mariachi band came around the corner holding "Welcome Back" balloons and serenading me with a song I couldn't quite understand (I barely passed out of Spanish...). I am not even done. The kicker on the cake came when my mother turned onto our street. Streamers hung from tree to tree, synchronized fireworks littered the air, and all the neighborhood folks were outside their houses waving and smiling with tears of joy running down their faces. Yes... Tears! Have I also mentioned I am a liar?
     The real story of my arrival home is much different. After an extremely awkward plane ride ( with no free snacks I might add!), and my mother "not seeing" me standing outside on the 100 yard strip of pickup at the airport ( she will not confess it but I think she just didn't recognized me, shhh!) , I returned home.
     I guess I didn't expect it to, but my home town did not change... at all. It did look different though. I was somewhat astounded by how beautiful Southern California was, I guess 18 years of living here was not enough to know that. It wasn't until I lived somewhere else that my eyes were really opened!
     Back to the story- So coming home was hard. I had just said goodbye to all my new wonderful friends, and my best friend of 10 YEARS! Sadly her family moved far far away, but luckily with modern technology she is just a click away!
      This past month my mother has become my staple friend, and we have recently started up a new summer project- a puzzle! I am pretty cool huh huh, guys?
      While doing this puzzle, which I might add is extremely hard, I got to thinking where puzzles originated and how. Well as is turns out puzzles were first used to teach children geography. The first puzzle was created in 1767 by the Englishman, John Spilsbury. This puzzle was a picture of the world. Spilsbury created this tool of learning by attaching a map onto a piece of wood and then cutting the countries out. According to Anne D. Williams and her history of jigsaw puzzles, these learning tools became an adult pastime as well in the early 1900s. But this new form of entertainment came at a cost. A cost most could not afford on the average $50 a month salary. Puzzles, back in these times, cost an average of $5, and were much harder than they are now. Maybe we are just becoming dumber and the puzzle industry keeps having to make their product easier to keep sales up...
      Interestingly the Great Depression was a boom time for puzzles. Not only did they lower in price significantly, but they also gave people positive feelings of accomplishment during extremely difficult times.
     I could keep ranting about the history of jigsaw puzzles, but as I suspect you probably have a life. As for me, I think I will go work on my puzzle :) Thank you John Spilsbury!

Here is my mom diligently working on our seemingly impossible project!

Out with the Old in with the New

I am finally a grown up. I got a new library card. I have had the same library card for the past 14 years. I remember the exact day my mom took me to the library to get me my very own card! O the joy. I can still taste the chocolate bar I enjoyed on the car trip over, that subsequently made it into the picture as it was smeared all over my lips.
   But today was the day for change. The past three or four years every time I went to check out a book the Librarian would always ask if I wanted a new card. She was always met with a resounding "no". But now that I am eighteen she told me that today I had to get a new one. Whoever said growing up was fun never had to get a new library card, or are just not as nerdy as me. But alas the Librarian had a heart and let me keep my old card- minus the hole she stamped out which deactivated the card. Maybe she once had to say goodbye to her childhood too. 

What is the deal with Tuberculosis?

   Besides the unwelcoming wind and looming clouds putting a damper on my day, I had to go into to the medical clinic to get a Tuberculosis shot. I am not one for needles, even sissy TB needles. The TB shot is more of a skin test if anything. The test involves putting a small amount of a TB protein under a thin layer of skin on the forearm. If the unlucky person has been exposed to the disease their skin will react by forming a red bump around the test area.
    But like I said before, I am not one for needles. While in the waiting room I was trying to distract myself with my newest library loan, Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. It wasn't working too well. I felt the sweat starting to accumulate just thinking about the shot. Then my heart starting beating louder and louder. I was almost laughing at how intense the mere idea of a shot made my body react so violently. I say almost because I was too preoccupied with my body reacting so violently to think of expressing another emotion besides terror. While this battle between my mind and body was in full swing I hear a fateful noise- my name. I followed the nurse into the back, which took quite a bit of restrain. My body was saying run, while my mind was saying no. The funny thing through all of this is I am not one bit scared that I may actually come out positive on the test, I know for a fact I do not have the disease- I had a different TB reading about 8 months ago- but was only nervous for the stupid little prick of the needle.
    Well I summoned all my big girl powers and got the injection, and live to tell the tale. Now I only have to wait two days to get it read by a doctor, which is the easy part. If I have a red bump I got it, if not I don't.
    But all this tuberculosis drama got me thinking- do people actually still get this? Like I said, I have had to get this test done twice in the past year. Once for school, and now to apply for a volunteering job at a elementary school. Why is this disease still invoking fear?
      When I think of people dying from TB the only people that come to mind are writers and poets from the seventeenth century. From the extensive list from wikipedia (I know shame on me for using this as a source) names such as Henry David Thoreau, Franz Kafka, and Emily Bronte pop up. But what about in modern times? I don't know about you, but I have not heard of any TB epidemic.
     Well as it turns out, it is not a disease only found in history books, but is still quite alive and sinister. According to MSN Health,  there are 12,000 to 15, 000 new cases of TB each year in the United States. Worldwide this disease accounted for 1.6 million deaths in 2005! Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs, but can also infect other parts of the body. The disease bacteria works by basically destroying tissue, and can even eat a hole through a lung. I am telling you this is bad business.
   The disease is passed through the air through coughs, sneezes, or anything of that nature. Kinda makes me queasy just thinking about it.
      So that my friends is the deal with TB. It is very much alive- so go get tested! Even if it gives you the sweats just thinking about it!

  

Bethany? Who's that?

     Hello! My name is Bethany and I have ideas. I am 19 (actually 18 but I just tell everyone I am 19, 18 just sounds so.... juvenile), and home from my first year of college. I absolutely LOVE college, and to tell you the truth had quite a rough transition coming home, but I have been back for over a month and am starting to get back to a routine. I have ultimately failed on the job-hunting and now have resolved to make this an enlightening summer filled with new ideas and new skills. So that's me- Bethany!